A meeting with the California Highway Patrol

No, I didn't get pulled over.  Now that that is out of the way, I went to a scheduled event at Irv Seaver's BMW in Orange California.  The topic was BBQ and questions and answers with the CHP.  I'm not usually critical of BBQ; but, I found the pulled pork, ribs and brisket lacking something...Well, they were lacking all together.  They served brats.  Brats <> BBQ.  Maybe I could refer them to some caterers that would be more than happy to put a pig on a spit.  I can understand though.  I'm sure the intent was simply to draw bikers into the showroom and not spend more than the days take doing it.

Interestingly enough, I understand the CHP to be the biggest motorcycle advocates among all the police departments.  They do these public safety briefings fairly frequently and it's not just a public service message they are delivering.  They stood before us and answered the hard questions.  They spoke from a bikers point of view; and they also told us where the law was, as well as the gray areas.

There were some interesting take home points:

1)  CHP motor officers are hammered on covering the clutch ALL THE TIME and not covering the front brake.  When they go to their 2 week training course, they lose points every time they're caught not covering the clutch.  Some cops wash out of school because of it.  It's that important.  To me, it make a ton of sense.  In a panic situation, grabbing the front brake could be the wrong action to take.  Not covering the brake gives you that split second to think about what you're about to do; and, pulling the clutch is enough to change the geometry of the bike by causing slight compression of the front shocks and increasing the front tire's contact patch.  When the front brake is pulled, the front tire will have more surface area to work with making braking more effective.  They didn't say all that; but, after thinking about it and other things I've learned, I bought the idea and incorporated it into my riding.

2)  Motorcycle accidents seem to happen for one of two reasons, and sometimes both.  It's either lane sharing or excessive speed.  They do advocate lane sharing and are concerned that it might become a think of the past if motorcyclists don't learn how to do it right.  They spend probably 25 minutes or more of their 1 hour talk on lane sharing alone, so they see it as important.  Speed got less than about 15 seconds of coverage.  Some of what they said about lane sharing made sense to me, like lane sharing in the far left lanes only.  What didn't make sense is that they believe you should be sharing the right side of a vehicles lane with them, not the left.  That to me is counter intuitive.  They were also very emphatic about not crossing the double yellow line into the car pool lane  If you're there to start with, fine; but, you shouldn't be sharing the left side of the #1 lane and crossing the double yellow consistently.  If the car in the lane strolls over toward you and you have to, fine; but, they really don't want you there in the first place.  The law is not this explicit on which part of the lane to share; but, they gave their recommendations.  Also, they recommended not lane splitting above 35 mph.  Apparently, the law made it onto the books in California for air cooled bikes, which would clearly overheat in the California  sun and traffic.  Interesting; but, not covered in the presentation, it is illegal in California to impeded a motorcycle's path of travel.  There's also a specific law for those motorists that decide to open their door to stop a motorcyclists path of travel.  Both are illegal.  The CHP has a motorcycle safety program.  Click here to view their web page.

3)  Riding long distance and want to stretch your legs?  Standing on the pegs is fine as long as the bike is stable and the front tire is on the ground.  Enough said.

4)  Stuck on a pressure pad at a light that won't turn green for you.  That sucks and sorry, you can't run the red-light.  Try waiting a few minutes for a cage to pull up behind you.  If that doesn't work, you're on your own.

Another good biker event.  I met some other interesting riders.  Unfortunately, I saw a rider tuck entering the highway on the way home.  He was coming out of a gas station and for whatever reason, he grabbed his front brake in the lean and the next thing he knew, he was down on the pavement.  I helped him get back up and he was uninjured; but, his fairing was damaged and I'm sure his pride was also.

Now, I patiently await my next ride...

Spot arrives

Well, I was going to go to Utah this weekend; but, everyone talked me out of it.  They tell me it's hot out.  When someone that has spent their whole life in the low desert tells you it's hot, it's time to pay attention.  If I were in some local in a foreign land told me not to go, for whatever reason, I'd definitely reconsider.  The story is that the best and only reasonable way to get to where I'm going is a disaster on a Friday night.  They thought I would be uncomfortable in the 107 degree air, 150 degree pavement while I sat in traffic that wasn't moving.  Well, I can see their point.  They suggested that I wait until October, when the temperature is more reasonable.  Point taken, I'm going to wait.

That said, I got out in the 107 degree air and purchased Spot.  Spot isn't a puppy, it's a GPS locator.  People can track me if I want them to.  I can also push the distress button and summon emergency services.  This could come in handy if I'm in an accident on some isolated road and I don't have cell service.  It also has a help button, that I can configure with a message and gets sent to the email address of my choosing.  Chances are, I would configure this to tell someone I need BMW roadside assistance...again, if I couldn't use my cell phone.  Unfortunately, there's no way for someone to communicate back with me.

So, spot is home now, strapped to my deck.  It's been there for the last hour or so.  Here's the map I have so far.  Spot started getting more accurate from it's first point; but, seems to have lost it's way after 4.  I'm actually somewhere between points 3 and 6.  This makes me wonder whether or not the emergency services folks get a more accurate display of Spot's location.  I suppose that if they looked at this map and took out the stray points they would be pretty darn close to where I actually am.

Go spot go!

08/24/2013 Redlands California to Torrey Utah and back - The plan

Well, tomorrow will make 3 weeks since I arrived back in Redlands and I'm thinking a road trip would be righteous; to hell with my laundry.  It will be here when I get back.  Since the 6k service is out of the way, the bike is ready too.  I need to go to Utah.  It's one state in the West that I need to add to my list - just in case I never make it back this way on a motorcycle.  This trip will bring my total states visited on a motorcycle to 27; righteous indeed.  I will pick up Nevada, Arizona (small Northwest part) and Utah.  When I get to Utah, I plan to ride the The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument tour.  I find these cool rides on www.motorcycleroads.com.  Here's the map and weather:

I leave tomorrow after work - about 5pm.  My stretch goal is to make it to Mesquite Nevada; but, I'll settle for anywhere near Las Vegas.  The temps you see are a lie.  I already know this.  I will probably be baking in 105+ degree heat until the sun goes down.  Wherever I land, I land.  I'll find a place to stay.

The next leg takes me up to my starting point in Panguitch, Utah, where I will head south on US-89 and pick up Rte 12 towards Bryce Canyon.  I'll follow that another hundred or so miles to Torrey Utah. The weather man says rain.  Mother nature, please undo your plans and make that sunshine.  I did say please.  You can keep the temperatures right where the weather man has predicted.

I may or may not stay in Torrey.  I'm not sure yet.  I would really like to make it part way back if I can.  I need to be back by 2:30 Sunday if at all possible.

I'm not planning on taking my laptop with me, so I'll post all the pics when I get back.

08/23/2013 - 6,000 mile service

I brought the bike in with 6,005 miles on it.  I was 5 miles over the recommended mileage for the service.  If I didn't have to run home first, I would have hit it exactly.  Oh well.

So this service is pretty much a glorified oil change and I'm upset that I had to bring the bike in for it.  I like to work on my bikes myself.  Unfortunately, there's a rule at my apartment complex that you can't work on vehicles in their parking spaces.  As it was, I had a slow leak in my rear tire and the cause was what looked like a pin that had penetrated the tread in a sideways fashion, must barely getting deep enough to cause the air leak.  If I were to plug it, I would have to ream it out bigger first and I'm not really excited about running around on a plug.  I don't think I could have patched it because the hole was in a spot where I wouldn't get a good seal around the hole.

Either way, my service is done, and I'm ready to ride another 6k.  I have to say that Riverside BMW is really great.  I made my appointment the day before without any fuss - online!  My "loaner" was the sales demo BMW K1600GTL with 800 miles on it.  How could I possibly be upset about that.  In fact, I figured that while I had an empty top case and bags, I'd stop on my way home and fill them with groceries.  Baddabing!  They were done with my bike by mid-morning, so instead of waiting for the end of the day, I brought them their sales model back and grabbed my ride at lunch time.  It was 106 and it felt like 160.  I really like a big fairing.  On my Harley, I've ridden in temps that high and can say that it's like being in a convection oven where the heat is blowing from a fan.  Not cool.

Tariff for service and new back tire:  $511.25

Anti-lock brake and slow ride review

I read an article  posted by my friend Jeff Kurtz today and caught the statement that you should really know the braking limitations of your bike.  I bought this bike 1 month and 6,000 miles ago and the statement resonated with me.  I know what to expect with my other bike and can bring that to a very quick stop; but, I've never done any hard braking on this bike.  Further, the K1600GT comes with ABS standard.  I don't have the first clue how that's going to feel if it should be activated.  Since I was planning to go out and do some slow ride practice anyway, I decided to put some braking practice into my plans.

Leaving work, it was 100.4 as recorded on my dash.  I'm pretty confident that the pavement was more like 150.  I was thankful that I put the bikini top on this morning.  I left with the intention of finding an open parking log.  It seems that every parking lot was hosting a cage convention, so I started exploring.  I had no idea that I was going to find myself in a gorgeous canyon.  I will have to go back and get some pictures.

As rush hour would have it, I got behind some traffic.  I was tempted to just pull a u-turn; but, the width of the road I was on was about 16' and there was a commuter behind me.  I decided instead to start my slow riding practice.  I've done lots of this; but, I had one burning question - will this bike stall, or idle at a certain speed if given no throttle inputs from me?  My Harley will stall.  You're working the friction zone intensely if you're in traffic.  For what must have been four miles of pavement that was on a slight incline, I idled, with my right hand off the handle bars at 8 miles an hour.  There wasn't a cough or sputter.  There was no indication that the engine was straining, except that the fan kicked on to cool the bike down...but, who could blame it?  Did I mention the air temp was 100.4 and at this point, I was idling for 4 miles.  I digress.  When I was satisfied, with the idle performance, I decided to see how much feathering I could do with the clutch, again, with no throttle inputs.  I was able to work around the friction point to about 5 miles per hour.  Any less than this, and I really needed some rear brake and throttle to stabilize the bike.  With rear brake and a little throttle in the friction zone, I was able to keep the bike pretty stable at 1 mile per hour.  Wow.

So, eventually, the traffic gave way and I was getting pretty hot, so I set a course for home.  I didn't forget that I wanted to do some braking work; but, still couldn't find an open parking lot.  My first opportunity to test the ABS was at a railroad intersection.  I wasn't leaned in at all, so this was a good opportunity.  If I were to choose, and I'll bet any experienced rider would choose, I'd prefer that the rear wheel get loose long before the front.  So, I went with a firm application of rear brake going over the tracks.  I was impressed - no skidding at all.  I felt the pedal vibrate as the ABS kicked in.  It was all very anti-climactic.  

When I was getting close to home, I found myself on a side street with no one in sight for a mile in front or behind and decided to test out hard braking.  On a straight away, I accelerated to 45mph and grabbed a fist full of brake.  Remember, when grabbing the front brake, the lever is linked to the rear brake as well.  Also keep in mind that there are 2 independent disks up front and one in the back.  That's the same brake surface area as a car with only one wheel!  Before I did this, I realized there was a real possibility of the rear end coming off the ground, skidding, and/or being lifted out of the seat, so I was mentally prepared for all of it.  Mind you, I did not just slam the lever to the bar, I squeezed it quickly; but, did not stab at it.  For maximum braking, it's always better to load the tires first.  It increases the surface area in contact with the ground and allows for quicker braking.  Also, given that the pavement was probably about 150 degrees, I expected maximum braking since the tires were hot and pliable.  

The results were not what I had anticipated or thought possible.  The braking was fast and mostly smooth.  The ABS kicked in about halfway between the time I started applying brake pressure and the time I actually stopped.  The ABS remained on and vibrating 90% of that time.  Somewhere about the middle of that time, the ABS kicked off for a brief moment and the front tire slid, after which the ABS came back on.  The ABS was back on probably a full 2 seconds before I would have let up on the brake handle.  The ABS stayed on until the very moment I was stopped.  The stop was so sudden, I could feel the blood in my head rush to my face.  I am a pilot and am familiar with G forces.  I am sure I was pulling G's.  That said, the rear end stayed firmly in contact with the ground, as my butt did with the seat.

I need to do this again so I can measure my stopping distance.  I also want to work on this more.  I realize that this bike puts me into a whole new riding capability and that capability includes more braking than I thought possible.  On my other bike, I'm very comfortable with where maximum braking is; but, on this bike, there is more than I thought possible and I better get my brain in alignment with the bikes capabilities.  It would be very bad if I hit something and had the ability to stop quicker and just didn't know it.  It would also be bad if I counted on the ABS and for some reason they didn't perform.  There's work to be done!

NJ to CA : 8/3/2013 Trip Analysis and cost

4741 miles in 10 days.  It wasn't all even days either.

Here's the approximate mileage break down:

Day 1: 207 miles
Day 2: 871 miles
Day 3: 773 miles
Day 4: 230 miles
Day 5: 436 miles
Day 6: 225 miles
Day 7: 762 miles
Day 8: 343 miles
Day 9: 319 miles
Day 10: 473 miles

I will say this.  Mileage doesn't matter.  Endurance riding is all about hours in the seat.  You could put a bike on it's center stand and sit on it without getting off, except for simulated fuel stops for 12 hours and feel the same way as if the bike were moving.  Also, how far you can go depends a lot on the scenery.  The worst riding places were from Fort Collins Co to Cody WY and Petaluma CA to Redlands CA, where the landscape changes very little.  In contrast, places like the Rocky Mountain State Park, Yellowstone, Nebraska and Iowa and the Redwood forest, which are all simply gorgeous, were very easy to ride.

Oh, if you're in Oregon, make sure you pronounce it Ore*gun.  If you pronounce it Ore*gone, the locals will have a fit.  Who knew.  Also, if you're going to ride the coast in this state, ride it when it's warm.  I'm told they get their summer in September, when the temp gets up to 70 degrees...or simply bring heated clothing for the ride.  The segment from Hillsboro OR to Crescent City CA was also very hard.  I'm sure it's fantastic in the sun; but, the constant gray skies, cold and mist made the segment less enjoyable than I had hoped for.

I left 2 days of contingency, which I did not use.  I'm not sure I would have used them if I had it to do over again.  The first 2 days, I was doing an Iron Butt Association Butt Burner ride, so I was glad to not have to use them during that.  I could easily have spent another day in either the Rockies or Yellowstone or the Redwood forest; but, they wouldn't have been days off the bike, so that wouldn't have been a good use of the contingency time.    Also, once I got to Loveland, CO, I was starting to move away from my final destination, so holding the contingency time was the right thing to do.  Lots could happen between there and Redlands.

Here's the cost breakdown:

Dining Total: $  310.37
Fuel Total    : $  474.97
Hotel Total  : $1094.31
Tolls Total   : $   39.25
Grand Total : $ 1918.90

Need to save money?  Start with the hotels.  I didn't chose fancy hotels - Super 8's, Best Western's and Sleep Inn's.  You could easily go with motels or even camp.  I didn't camp.  I had too much to carry to begin with - a tent and sleeping bag were out of the question.  Also, the tolls in the northeast  could be avoided, and probably with an increase in scenery, if you're not in a time crunch.  You'd pay more in gas; but, it's all about seeing stuff, right?  As for the fuel, my bike can handle 89 octane just fine.  I choose the highest octane I can fine.  You could save a little there.  My gauge was reading 39.5 mpg most of the way.  I think BMW's claim of 56 mpg at 55 mph is a big stretch.  I never saw those kind of numbers.

Here's the final route.  I had to split this up in two maps because Google limits each maps to 25 way points.  I chose Atwood, CO as my split and had to omit two stops in southern California.

...Off to plan the next set of trips.  I need to plan a trip that gets me Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona to complete the states I haven't ridden to in the West.  I may also ride my bike back to NJ when this contract is up.  I would take a southern route then and ride in more states.

NJ to CA : Day 11 : 8/2/2013 Final leg Petaluma CA to Redlands CA

I'm just north of San Francisco, so I'm expecting traffic this morning.  I'll take a late start and hopefully, be able to third lane some of the trip.  I'm taking the interstate to shave a couple hours off my riding time since I've already ridden the Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco already.

Today's weather looks great, and I'm past that stationary front.  Hopefully, the air will be still today!

The day finished with 40 miles of slow moving LA rush hour traffic.  Fortunately, I was able to third lane quite a bit, which kept me moving in the 90 degree heat.  On a big bike, it's not nearly as effective as the little crotch rockets that can zip between smaller spaces.  I'm a bit more cautious.

The last miles are always the hardest and I was definitely counting miles and time for the last couple hundred.  California desert is not enjoyable.  The landscape doesn't change much.  No pics from today.

NJ to CA : Day 10 : 8/1/2013 : (Pics) Pacific Coast Highway Crescent City CA to Petaluma CA

Today, I plan to get a little later start than usual.  I will head out about 9, after it warms up a couple degrees.  I also plan to have breakfast first, something I don't ordinarily do.  Generally, I've been stopping after I have my first hundred miles or so in the books.  This morning, I'm kinda hungry and it can be slim pickin's on 101 until you get to town, which can be far in between.

I've been mucking with this stationary front for the last how many days now?  I'm expecting more gusty winds and not believing the weather forecast below it.  I'm thinking that it will be overcast and cool, like yesterday; and that will continue most of the way.  I'm not buying the 80 degree thing at all.  In fact, I don't think I'll see warm temperatures until I'm a bit south of San Francisco.  Hopefully, I'm wrong.  The good news is that there isn't any precipitation in the forecast, so that's good.

I started the day with a trip into Redwood Forest, even though a large part of my route on 101 covers it.  "Rough Narrow Winding Road" doesn't really cover it.  It should read "Rough, Narrow, Unstable Road with severe inclines, drop offs and switch backs, not recommended for 2 wheeled vehicles that aren't trail bikes."  There, now that should fit on the sign.

This is the good part, where I could safely park my bike and get a picture or two.

And no photo set would be complete without the obligatory picture showing how tall the Redwoods really are by lying on your back and shooting up...

I thought some local color pics would be in order before I left Crescent City.  These would make a good painting or even a puzzle.

Then I heard some sea lions barking.

...and rode over for some close ups.

I blew this image up a bit in case you were having trouble counting whiskers.  It's at the end of the photo reel.  I probably shot a dozen pics showing some preening and nursing action.  They're available if anyone wants those.

So, this guy is walking his dog on the dock and this exchange takes place:

Him: "Those damn things are a pain in the ass.  The ones in the front are California Harbor Seals and the ones in the back are Sea Lions."

Me:  "Why are they all laying there together like that."

Him:  "Well, we built these platforms (there were 2) so they would do that.  We can't stop them from coming in the harbor and without the platforms, they would climb up on the boats and shit all over the place.  They also break pieces off the boats.  You used to be able to kill the damn things."

Me: "Hmmm, well, a couple great whites would take care of your problem; but, there's never a great white around when you need one."

Him: "No kidding."

Me: "Well, you know where the great whites are now, right?"

Him: "No, where?"

Me:  "Getting their pictures taken for shark week.  It starts in a couple days."

More pics.  These were taken on 101 - the Redwood highway.  The original pics are bigger than the blog will allow you to view without panning.  If anyone wants any of these pics, just let me know.

Mike, thanks for the kick stand thingy.  I needed it here!

The northern part of today's leg was pretty crummy.  Not too cold; but, no sunshine.  This picture might as well have been taken in the arctic.

60 miles north of Eureka on 101, I see this.  So, I pull over.  It was a good excuse, my butt was sore by this point.

There was some other scenery as well.

...and Cal Fire had ground units on the scene.  The fire wasn't really large; but, there's a house on top of this hill.

This truck was sent to go up the hill and protect the house.

Commercial break:  While this fire was going on, I managed to snap a picture of these logging trucks.  There are hundreds of them.  It's depressing.  I'm not going to get liberal crazy on anyone; but, the next time you wrap half a roll of toilet paper around your hand before wiping, or print out that email, please think about how we're chopping down a very beautiful forest.

The first helicopter comes in for a look.

It's very cool the way Cal Fire does this.  First, they send in a supervisor plane (not pictured), which is really high up.  That plane coordinates ground units with the arial drops of fire retardant and water.  Everyone follows the same pattern, attacking the fire from upwind.  They're like bees swarming.  In no time, there were 3 airplanes and a helicopter working this fire.  Check out the Cal Fire web site.  Apparently, they have 747's in their arial arsenal to drop retardant.  It is truly amazing.

He's low.  See him below the tree line?

Here's some blow ups.  You'll have to pan the picture.  It's big.  Apparently, these sea lions have had some close calls.

And just in case you couldn't read the tail number...

I have video also; but, I can't upload that here.  Just ask.

This leg of the journey was really fun.  It started you a little chilly and overcast; but, the sun finally came through and I had mostly 70 degree temps.  The ride was a bit gusty and at times a little unnerving as I'd go through some of the twisties and get pounded by a gust.

The road itself is great.  Mostly 55 - 65 speed limits with plenty of hairy turns thrown in there.  I'm used to east coast high speed highways being relatively straight.  Not the case from Montana west!  You definitely need to pay attention.  I'd have to say that my riding skills have improved dramatically since the time I left NJ.  I also got plenty of action on milled roads, dirt roads, rain riding, and high wind riding on this trip.  If you're thinking about doing it and have some riding experience, go for it.  If you're just starting out, pick some smaller trips and get some experience first.  This isn't an ideal trip for new riders.