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Thanks to seeing the thread on the Hog-tie, I am pondering riding my bike from there up to Ohio in late September for the AF marathon (21 Sept), and can't remember when the real cold weather rolls in. I remember it getting snowy by about late Oct / early Nov, but I may be wrong. (I used to head over to Lancaster every couple months when I lived in Upstate NY) Ignoring the intelligence of running a marathon 1,200 miles away from home, and planning on riding back after a few days, what about the weather considerations? (My first/only marathon I ran I spent several hours sleeping besides my bike in the parking lot before I could swing a leg over the *censored* beast and have a hope of not either dropping it, and having the strength to push on the bars.)

Well January is almost finished and since the work ride I haven't had a chance to go for a ride. Sure I've done my normal commutes, but no recreational rides. Christmas Holidays wasn't really a good time, my Mrs worked most of it, so I was looking after the kids... they are several years from being old enough to be left on their own. Secondly, the police runs a double demerit point system in most holiday periods so whilst the chance of a ticket is small the way I ride the repercussions are severe in the holidays. So I stayed home. Now well into January we've been having a most peculiar summer. It's been wet and not just the odd rainy day, we've had weeks of rain, showers, drizzle, overcast, high twenty temps. Normally we're having sun, bush fires and mid thirties and forties. The long range outlook is the same. So no rides. So no posts for you all. On then to a goal I have set myself. I'm considering getting a second bike. Mrs says it will replace the VFR, but I'd like to keep it. And in reality selling the bike would get me very very little money and trading it in would get me even less. With 120,000kms, two crashes (albeit minor ones) a heavily scratched top box, ridden and left out in all weathers (though normally garaged at home, at work or away it misses out) it doesn't sound like a great buy for anyone shopping. So my second bike - I have a very short list (currently a leading contender with a couple of reserve choices). It won't be a VFR12 - bigger than I want, way too expensive here, and really much the same style of bike as my VFR8. No I want something different. And about the same size (capacity) as my VFR. There aren't a lot in the 750-850 range to choose from. Hopefully by about late in this year I'll be able to purchase it. Just in time for next summer which I hope, is a lot nicer than this one. .... which probably means we'll have no end of bush fires next summer :( Oh, here's a little tease of the leading contender....

Last week, I was planning a mini VFR tour in Northern New Mexico, Utah and Nevada but the weather “froze” my plans for one last tour hurrah for 2011. I was leveraging a trip to Texas for a wedding and stowed my VFR in the bed of my pickup. My much anticipated VFR tour route included big miles, high altitude travel, twisties and mountain roads. Unfortunately after a day in the rain on the way to Albuquerque my launch point, the forecast that evening called for even more rain, thunderstorms, snow, ice and dare I say wind over the entire area to the north. The TV weather channel reports confirmed the Internet forecasts. While my Chevy routine gave me more options it also added a certain element of “what do you think…what should we do?” Ultimately a decision to forego the potential sleigh ride was a no brainer (if I had one), as my route traveled thru Torrey UT (about 7K ft). And I was planning to ride higher still. Not sure but the reports I saw indicated the storm was worse than forecast. This gets me to thinking what methods do you use for accessing the weather reports on tour? What sites do you visit?? This is what I access dependent on my bike and where I stay: 1. Wi-Fi Laptop… sometimes I sponge a Wi-Fi connection with a mobile hotspot if camping in an area with cell access. I usually tap into weather.com or the NOAA site for forecasts. 2. Weather TV channel if not camping. 3. AM and or WB radio. Other devices I am considering or have evaluated: 1. XM weather integrated with a GPS to include NEXRAD (weather radar). 2. iPad 3. Smartphone (most likely will add next year)……I am not any early adopter. Instead, I recorded this VFR tour highlight as I my bride shopped for some valuable RT66 heirlooms on the way back to San Diego. Should, woulda, coulda!!!!!!!!!!!!! May I should have saddled up the VFR but 500 mile days days in the twisties in that weather was not the best choice. I listened to the Winter Storm Warning...........in early October who woulda thunk? One always wants to justify a decision and I was good to have a German on tour tell me he was stopped at the Grand Canyon south rim for hours because of this.