20161112 - Mexican border, Yuma

There comes a time in a motorcycle riders life that he, or she, stops commanding and starts listening to what the bike wants.  The motorcyclist learns that if the inputs are given just right, thoughtfully, gently and with expert timing, what happens between the legs will be simply earth shattering.  I am proud to say that I have graduated to this level and practice regularly.  I am not an expert and, we still 'fight' on occasion, mostly about the right way to get through a corner, but, I learn from her each time and I continue to get better.

It's early afternoon and I'm in the California Desert.  The temperature is a beautiful 70 something and, as usual, it's a beautiful clear day.  I spent the morning playing in the twisties and my rhythm was impressive.  I surprised myself with how well I was riding today.  Up ahead, there was a 35 mph turn to the left.  Once the turn breaks, I can't see the road anymore.  The previous turns on this road were all posted well short of a reasonable speed and I felt that dropping one gear would scrub off enough speed to make the entry.  I had been working on three things all day long - nailing my entry point, body position and most specifically letting my upper body take control, instead of my heavy hand.   I was doing 70 mph when I started to set up for this particular turn.  Right side of the lane, check; limp elbows, check; light pressure on the bars, check.  I was being remarkably patient with the entry.  Sometimes I rush it and that will cause me to crowd the double yellow line.  I was patient, even though I was a bit hot coming in, perhaps a bit too hot.  Nonetheless, I waited, and the second I needed to to hit my entry mark, I did.  I still hadn't picked up the exit point; but, as usual, I dropped in aggressively.  At this point, I was clearly committed.  With my face into the turn, I discovered that my aggressive lean angle simply wouldn't do.  I was in a decreasing radius turn, and my exit point was going to require one of 2 things - more lean, or less throttle.  With only a fraction of a second to make my decision, I decided that more lean was what we both wanted.  We had a beautiful rhythm going and there was no way reducing RPM would assure the most awesome outcome.  In fact, more throttle was in the plans.  Ordinarily, I would exit by slowly, consistently and deliberately rolling on more throttle, and with every drop of fluid hitting the cylinders, my smile would get bigger and bigger.  There are two possible finishes, and it just depends on what my mood is.  One possible finish is to roll that throttle to the limit and wait for the rev limiter.  Another possible ending is to grab a gear and keep things going a little longer.  That wasn't what happened this time around.

Rewind for a moment to that part where I'm at the apex, leaned in hard and looking for my exit.  Right there, I have to say, my body mechanics were perfect.  The ball of my right foot was on the peg, my right knee was on the tank adding a little pressure.  My left foot was slightly ahead of the peg with my heel against the bike and turned into the turn.  My knee was leading me into the turn, as it is supposed to.  The knee is a hinge joint and in order for that to happen, the foot must rotate.  My foot had rotated.  This is important because something very interesting happened when I needed to lean more - the front part of the sole on my left boot (more than half of it) came in contact with the pavement.  Now, on a Harley, this is not exciting.  It's a usual occurrence.  On a K1600GT, this is a big deal.  The bike stands tall and to do this, you're nearly at the absolute maximum lean angle of the bike.  This is what happens when the rider is truly in touch with the machine.  It is a beautiful thing that requires a gentle touch, expert timing and the correct inputs.

While I'll look forward to this experience again, I don't expect it to.  Should it happen again, I'll be just as ecstatic as I am now!

I didn't plan until this morning.  I knew I wanted to put some miles on my bike to get more out of my consumables before I replace them in my next service.  I had 845 miles before that was to happen, so I wasn't going to get too far.  I would have to do a smaller, local type trip.  I decided to take a trip down to Tacate, where I plan to cross the boarder into Mexico in the near future.  From there, I really had no plan and made it up as I left.

The ride down was nearly the same as my last trip down to Jullian.  In fact, I made the trip from Redlands to Julian in two hours flat.  Continuing south, I made Tacate before noon - about 3.5 hours.

At the border, I learned from our Border control folks that you do not need anything to cross the border.  If they want you to buy a visa, they will ask you to do so.  There is no need for a visit to the consulate or anywhere else beforehand.  There is also no tax for the vehicle you drive over.  That happens when you're trailering a vehicle.  The one you're on/in is not taxed.  That said, you are expected to either stay on the Baja peninsula, or within 200 miles of the border.  You may have problems crossing Mexican state lines if you don't pick up a visa.  I nearly started over the border today until I realized I didn't have Mexican insurance.  I really think a trip anywhere on the Baja peninsula is going to be a non-event and I can't wait to go.

There are some interesting things about our southern border.  The first is that the circle to the left has two primary crops...hay (and a whole lot of irrigation to accomplish this) and solar power.  I have never seen solar farms this big.  I checked my odometer when I saw it coming and started to pass it.  2 miles had elapsed of rows and rows of solar panels on both sides of the highway for about 200 yards in both directions.  That is a massive amount of solar power being generated.   The circle to the right is all sand dunes.  These are awesome with lots of people spending the day or more (plenty of RVs) riding dune buggies, quads and motorcycles on the sand dunes.

I saw this blimp flying over the Yuma Proving grounds.  This blimp is so big, I saw it for at least 20 miles away.  I was reminded of the same model blimp that came down in Pennsylvania and took out power to multiple counties as it dragged those mooring lines across power lines.

No video today.  This was a local trip to recon the boarder.  Mission complete!

California trips taken this contract.

All trips on the K1600 to date.