Day 9 Recap

I'm going to tackle Karl's demise and the rise of the K1200RS in another post, so this will seem a little under dramatic.

We get up, relatively early, because we have an appointment to get tires put on Karl at 10:00, but I want to get there early. It's a 30-40 mile speed shot down I-90 to Max BMW Motorcycles in Troy, NY. I bought the tires a couple days before, and everything is ready and waiting. We get there at 9:30, which would be great, but I now know the full extent of Karls's issues (re: dead clutch). And it's not good. While I'm at the service counter trying to assess how badly life sucks, Eric spots a K1200RS he wants to take for a test ride. As he should. I've been trying to talk him into buying one of these for 4 years.

I decide it might be in my best interest to test ride some other bikes. '09 GS, '05 GS ,etc. I get Steve to start running numbers on bikes. Much agonizing and number crunching. Steve isn't exactly known for his sense of urgency, and I'm not certain about buying a new (to me) bike. There are all kinds of issues along the way. How to get down payment cash. How to deal with my insurance company that isn't open on the weekends. How to salvage what I can off of Karl. All in all, it's one of the most stressful days I can recall having, and certainly the most stressful day for me ever on a mototour. Texts are flying in wondering what I'm going to do. Encouraging phone calls are being fielded. Overstimulation and mental overload are the order for the day.

I felt bad for ECG. I tied him up all day at the dealership. I have no idea how he kept himself entertained/sane. But he did. He was awesome. Supportive. Excited when he should have been, and skeptical when called for. He was fantastic. And any time I brought it up, he just encouraged me to do what I needed to do, offered his assistance, and did his own thing when I was tied up.

We're at Max from 9:30 until 4:00. Our average speed is down to 15mph. I end up trading in Karl and buying the K12. We have to unpack the giant Jesse cases on my bike, and strap everything as best we can to Connie and the K12. It's a shitshow. We had considered bailing on the rest of the route in order to just get home, but I talk ECG into staying with the planned course and going over Mount Greylock in Massachusetts' Berkshires. I want to run the new bike through its paces. In practical application, it's a very aggressive road that goes from 700 ft to over 3000 feet in 4 miles. I'm so hesitant on the new bike that it becomes a totally nerve wracking ride.  Greylock has a cool history, though, and it's neat to see. We head from there over to the Taconic.

A couple stops to gas up and adjust all of the bags strapped on, and it's a fairly uneventful and easy 130 miles down to Hopewell Junction. We pull the K12 into the garage so we can go over it, celebrate our own homecoming with scotch and beers, and stay up way too late wondering just what I've gotten myself into.

Day 8 Recap

Woke up in Rutland which, from what we saw of it, was a dirty little industrial town (used to mine marble). We decided to pass on breakfast and just get out. I had to fix my tail/brake light, which has been acting up for a while. This was the third time, but it only took a few minutes.

The plan was to grab the first thing we saw for food. Of course it took ages. We were headed to the Adirondacks, the problem is that everything east/west there has to route through a pinch point between Lake George and Sacandaga Lake. And that means traffic. We rode totally boring roads stuck behind cars until just after Fort Ann. It was good to be out of Vermont, but the traffic was a killer. Road construction meant a detour south, but i didn't like the looks of it. So we stopped for a couple hot dogs and i sent some time with the maps.

We found NY 9L, which rides along lake George, and then dumps you into town. From there we strung together some roads that get increasingly nicer and decreasingly trafficked. We finally hit NY 28, which was great. We were behind ann SUV the whole time, but this guy was a baller, and he never held us up. We shot from 500 ft to 2000 feet in a few miles. It got colder, but then we hit our only real rain of the trip. It was only 5 minutes, but the temp was down to the low 60s at altitude, and we were freezing. We stopped off at a Stewarts to warm up and put on some layers.

From there we got on 30 south, through the lower Adirondacks. This road definitely gets top five status of all the roads we took this trip. Great condition, perfect for speed, no traffic, and beautiful. We spent a big chunk of time on it, but it felt like it went by so fast. We stopped for gas about half way through and ECG commented that it was more like flying than riding. He was dead on. If that road was 2500 miles long, i'd be happy to agree to doing an entire mototour on it alone.

We went from there to NY 10. This was much twister, and i was thrilled to get the chance to run Karl through some real twisty stuff. I wish i had known it would be my last chance to do it. I played it pretty conservatively, but would have really wrung it out if i knew.

From there we followed some recommended roads hat turned out to be total crap. We were about 25 miles from our destination (Amsterdam, NY) and decided to bail out and do a speed run down I-90 to finish off the day.

The wind had been picking up all day, and by the time we hit 90, it was awful. We were getting blown everywhere. It was more a matter of trying to hang on and keep things pointed straight than it was about enjoying the ride. We finally got to our exit, and i had to pull over on the off ramp because my shifter was jammed. Our nerves were so frazzled from getting blown all over the place that ECG forgot to put his kickstand down and dropped Connie. I've done that before, myself. Twice. We looked things over, and finished getting off the throughway, and started looking for our hotel.

I took a guess, and decided to try 30 north. 5 miles of crawling bumper to bumper traffic later and i realized we needed to be on 30 south. But these weren't any normal 5 miles. Amsterdam, NY is a shit hole. Carpet factories are the only reason it exists, but it looks like it does a healthy side business in crime and seediness. It was a totally unpleasant town. Probably one of the worst any of the 4 mototours has hit.

We finally get to the hotel, which we realize was right at the base of the interstate off-ramp (if only we had bothered to look left). It's miles from anything, directly next to the interstate, dirty, ugly, and the only people staying there are the Suzuki Owners Group, who are a nice group of people of the kind i never like to hang out with. Our hatred of this hotel is palpable. The lack of food, drinks, amenities is obvious. And we hit a 4pm, so we have a lot of time to kill in this nightmare.

We take a restaurant recommendation from the desk clerk (Olympia Diner: bad idea) and it's supposed to be close (1 mile). We go the mile, and it's not there. We followed the clerk's directions and we're on the spot google maps says, and no restaurant. So we start heading north looking for anything else. 4 miles later,we spot the place. We stop. It's awful. We realize we didn't lock up the room and get it to go. ECG waits for the carryout. I head down to check the room, and stock up on beer at the gas station.

We eat in the room. And drink beers. And finally decide  to head outside to the hotel's only amenity. The picnic table. The room is awful, so it's nice to be outside. But outside it's I-90, the school bus maintenance facility, the parking lot and mosquitos.

We played spades, listed to 70's brown rock, cursed the hotel, cursed Amsterdam and drank vodka and beer until we were drunk enough to be able to stand heading back into the room.

Seriously, that place was awful.

The only other note is that the magnets in my. Tank bag finally fried my EZ-pass. I'm blowing through all the tolls unpaid. We'll see how well their system works for recognizing vehicles that are in the system but don't register at the toll booth.

Day 7 Recap

Woke up late and were moving slow after a night at J's Corner in Gorham, NH. After dragging for a while, we managed to be the last people to check out, and barely made checkout time. From there it was a half mile down to the gas station, where we proceeded to kill another 40 minutes gassing and rehydrating and talking.

From there it was 8 miles to Mount Washington. I had entertained the idea of heading up, taking the motorbikes up the fabled treacherous road. But once we got close and saw that the top of the mountain was wrapped up in black storm clouds, I decided to pass on that, so we kept rolling.

I was in a funk all morning, and couldn't get my head into the ride for a while.  We took a different route across the white mountains, which wasn't nearly as good as the route we took 2 years ago. There were a couple stops along the way. One 30 minute stop to discuss a business venture led to a treacherous bathroom trip into the brush. No snakes, but some steep slopes.

We wound our way over to Vermont 102 after winding in kinda lost but generally ok circles. I liked the road a good bit, ECG was less enthused, but it turned out to be one of the most interesting little runs. About halfway in, we rounded a turn and came a cross a dead turkey, sprawled across our lane. The thing was recently killed (all of its feathers in place and ruffling in the breeze), and took up almost all of the lane. It was huge. ECG and i both managed to miss it, but i still wonder how that thing got there. In all of my years, including 17 on bikes, I've never seen a roadkill turkey. They just aren't "getting killed on the road" animals. My guess would be that a hunter had recently shot it and it fell off of his truck. But I don't think it was anywhere near turkey season. So it remains a mystery.

The other eventful thing about the road was that we saw our first real cop of the trip. We had gone days without seeing anything. No speed traps, no cruisers, no nothing. We got behind an Essex County sheriff's cruiser for a few miles. After a bit he turned off on some obscure road to some park. We thought nothing of it. Turns out he knew a shortcut, and was getting out ahead of us and looping back on us. 10 miles or so later, he came at us in the other lane. I was out in front and was doing 60 or so in a 50. He hit the rollers and i thought i was getting my first ticket. He just wagged his finger and made a sloe down notion, and kept on going. A rolling warning.

At the end of that road we hit Brunswick we made a pit stop to get our bearings, hit the head and drink a little gatorade. There was a Suzuki Boulevard there that we didn't even bother looking at. Turns out it belonged to Mike Cyr. I did a "people we like"post on him, so i won't go into detail. I will say that even though we were so far behind the day, and not nearly as far as we wanted to be, we were happy to spend an hour talking with him in the parking lot. Great guy, Mike Cyr.

From there we tried a couple more recommended roads, that turned out to be traffic clogged messes that wouldn't have been that great if there were no cars around. And then we hit the school buses. There were three of them, traveling in formation. Too tight to pass one at a time, but taking up too much length to pass them all at once. Moving slow enough to infuriate. And of course the road got tons more interesting after we got stuck behind them. ECG was in the number one spot, and was looking for a chance to pass at every passing zone and around every turn. After 15-20 miles, I figured out that we were 10 miles from a spilt where we could take whichever branch they didn't. That eased things a bit, but it was still painful. Inevitably, they turned off right before we came to the split where we could have lost them.

Some more misguided maneuvering and finally we hit VT 100 south. 100 is a pretty well known road in VT. It runs the entire state north to south, and goes through Stowe, has the Ben & Jerry HQ/factory and hits a bunch of other stuff you'd recognize. But it was awful. Traffic was thick, and all of the towns it rolled through were clogged messes. If you're in DC, it's like when you're rolling down the GW parkway and hit old town. Moving, moving, moving, stop lights, traffic, not moving, traffic, slow, traffic, stoplights, and then it opens up again. We were stuck behind a blue Chevy Impala for ages (VT tags: ELF 400). The impala driver was willing to tear up the road, but kept getting stuck behind other slower cars, and we were behind her. ECG did ages behind her, and we swapped positions, and i got to stare at the thing for forever. We were both sick of looking at that thing.

We made it as far south as Stowe, and then pulled off at a gas station to reassess. A couple gatorades, smokes and some map reviewing later, weT met a nice couple who were riding bicycles from Montreal to Boston. Super-nice, friendly people. The girl was riding this crazy folding bike that had a case which doubled as a trailer to tow. I would be leery of riding that thing down to the grocery store. We were amazed at what she was doing with it.

We decided to bail out of 100, and hit I-89 south. 89 is an incredibly gorgeous interstate. And not just by interstate standards. It's a joy to ride. We did 30-40 miles in what felt like 10 minutes (acclimated to road time) and saw maybe 5 cars the whole time. One was a VT state trooper I spotted about a mile behind us (straight roads with big rolling hills), and slowed down in plenty of time. We weren't even moving fast enough to bother pulling over, but ECG caught my cue from up ahead and adjusted his speed to "prudent" as well.

The hop from 89 over to Rutland was nice. Deserted little back roads in fine repair. The only battle was racing sunset with our tinted visors on. We were trying to figure out if we could power through and make it to rutland before it got too dark, or if we should take the time to switch out the gear.

Red Roof Inn for the night. It was surprisingly nice, even with the shirtless rednecks drinking beers in the parking lot. The only restaurant around was a Ponderosa. I won't go into the horrors of the ponderosa here. Rest assured it was a total nightmare. It's as if they are trying to drive the brand into the ground.

Picked up some beer at the Hannaford to take back to the room, grabbed a martini at 99 Horseshoes, and headed back to the RRInn. A little maintenance on the broken wire to my PIAA lights that caused them to go out. And then back to the room. Rain hit heavy that night, but the red roof turned out to be a tin roof, and the rain sounded great all night. Looking back, i think that hotel was the most unmolested of all the ones we stayed in come morning.

On a side note, Google maps are a mess. The distance calculations aren't even close. We've seen distances off by major amounts. Google says 300, turns out to be 350. Google says 275, turns out to be 225. Totally unreliable. We have to triple check against other mapping apps. Everybody else nails it. Google never does.

Day 10 Stats - Finals

Hopewell Junction, NY to Washington, DC

Day 10	RP	EG
Time out on bikes	7h10m	--
Moving time	5h46m	--
Miles (GPS)	295	--
Miles (Odometer)	--	90ish?
Overall average speed	41.1	--
Moving average speed	51.1	--
Max Speed	86.6	--
Totals
Time out on bikes	75h33m	61h51m+
Moving time	43h51m	32h12m+
Miles (GPS)	2536	--
Miles (Odometer)	--	2077
Guaranteed miles (GPS)	--	--

Day 9 Stats

Amsterdam, NY to Hopewell Junction, NY

Day 9	RP	EG
Time out on bikes	12h23m	12h23m
Moving time	4h09m	4h17m
Miles (GPS)	201	201
Miles (Odometer)	--	--
Overall average speed	16.2	16.3
Moving average speed	48.4	47
Max Speed	84.4	83.0
Motorcycles Purchased	1	0
Totals
Time out on bikes	68h23m	61h51m
Moving time	38h05m	32h12m
Miles (GPS)	2241	1945
Miles (Odometer)	--	--
Guaranteed miles (GPS)	2551	1945

Connie and Karl, Hanging Out

People We Like: Mike Cyr

Mike Cyr. A remarkable guy. We came across Mike at a gas/food stop in Bloomfield, Vermont. We were late to start the day, ambitious about how far we needed to get. And yet we still spent over an hour talking with him.

Mike's a true renaissance guy. He's a retired history professor, originally from Fort Kent, ME. designed and is building his own house. He's a motorcycle tourer extraordinaire. His son is a conductor and musician. His wife is in education administration. 

We got more from this guy than you can get from most people in a month. 

He was on a Suzuki (that he hated) but has toured almost all of Eastern Canada on Goldwings. The islands, the ferrys, the long hauls and the local roads. He was just out wandering. He had a map with him, but it was from eastern Canada and had nothing to do with where he was. 

He talked a mile a minute, and everything you said launched him into another story. Sometimes this happens and you can't wait to end the conversation. But with Mike, it was pure gold. Every story, every word.

Day 8 Stats

Rutland, VT to Amsterdam, NY

Day 8	RP	EG
Time out on bikes	6h30m	6h30m
Moving time	4h34m	4h34m
Miles (GPS)	222	222
Miles (Odometer)	234	--
Overall average speed	34.1	34.1
Moving average speed	48.6	48.6
Max Speed	80.5	86.5
Totals
Time out on bikes	56h00m	49h28m
Moving time	33h56m	27h55m
Miles (GPS)	2040	1744
Miles (Odometer)	2147	--
Guaranteed miles (GPS)	2434	1860

Day 7 Stats

Fort Gorham, NH to Rutland, VT

Day 7	RP	EG
Time out on bikes	8h42m	8h42m
Moving time	5h35m	5h35m
Miles (GPS)	277	277
Miles (Odometer)	291	--
Overall average speed	31.7	30.9
Moving average speed	49.5	49.5
Max Speed	410*	83.4
Totals
Time out on bikes	49h30m	42h52m
Moving time	29h22m	23h21m
Miles (GPS)	1818	1522
Miles (Odometer)	1913	--
Guaranteed miles (GPS)	2274	1690

* GPS read error

Day 6 Recap

Bangor, Me to Gorham, NH

ECG was up early to head to Bangor Powersports for a new tire. He's gota  history with them. http://moto2our.blogspot.com/2008/07/finishing-up.html. A check of his front tire showed the pressure was 25 PSI. That should have been 36. Not a mechanical problem, just good old fashioned ignoring. 

Rain came through during the night. I guess he hit a little in the ride to Bangor Powersports, but I slept in and didn't see any of it. Was definitely swampy and humid and hot by the time we were rolling. 

We started the day with a 30 mile interstate run, which seemed to go by so fast we were both wondering if we were taking the wrong exit. We changed up the route during the night to avoid having to go back into Canada. It's just not worth the hassle for what we were going to do. 

I've got a really weird feeling in the back end of my bike and did a final drive oil change in the parking lot of Quality Auto Parts to look for metal. It looked fine. The thinking now is that the tire is the problem. It's totally squared off and needs replaced a few hundred miles ago. We're looking for a place to get it changed. 

The roads were nice enough. More desolate Maine roads. I'm really starting to like these things as much as the really twisty roads that are deeper in the mountains to the south. But the real treat was Moosehead lake. "The second biggest freshwater lake entirely contained within a single state east of the Mississippi". A total old-school summer vacation resort town with little hotels and lodges, all local businesses and a bunch of tourists. 

The scenery was beautiful, and the people were great. Lunch at the Black Frog was awesome. eating on the pier on the lake. Pretty waitresses. Huge lobster rolls, the perfect Arnold Palmers. 

We hit Kamp Kamp, which was a fantastic souvenir shop, where ECG got a terrific Pendleton dress jacket and a Dremel engraver ($5!). 

We stopped at cool general store, that really was a general store, for a bit and took a stretch. Eric took my bike out for a bit to feel the back end weirdness. All kinds of kids in swimsuits who had been out tubing on the river coming in to buy cases of beer and bags of ice. They all looked like they were having a blast. Fun to see. 

On 201 South, we got stuck behind 3 school buses, doing 10 mph under the speed limit (we're used to going 10 over) for about 15 miles. We couldn't manage to pass them. It was maddening. 

Then we got on 2 and made the pass over the mountains to New Hampshire. Great road, except for the construction. Huge chunks of road missing. It was rideable, and plenty of bikes were taking it. But it was a little hairy. That pass will be fantastic when it's all repaved.  

I've hit the spot where my brain and body have switched over to riding mode. Feels more natural to be on the bike than off. 25 miles feels like 2 minutes when riding. Off the bike, I can't figure out time at all. It's great crossing this point. 

A Top Notch Inn is great. Dinner at J's, and sleeping in. We're off to ride up Mount Washington today. Tallest peak in the east.

People we like: Charlie & Stowie

Met these two at the gay bar in Bangor. He rides a BMW LT and a HD
Softail Custom he built himself.

From Pittsburgh. So nice. Great sense of humor. Drinkers, laughers,
riders. A joy to hang out with.

Day 6 Stats

Fort Kent, ME to Bangor, ME

Day 6	RP	EG
Time out on bikes	8h53m	8h52m
Moving time	5h50m	5h49m
Miles (GPS)	309	309
Miles (Odometer)	329	--
Overall average speed	34.8	34.8
Moving average speed	53.0	53.1
Max Speed	101	89.6
Totals
Time out on bikes	40h48m	34h10m
Moving time	23h47m	17h46m
Miles (GPS)	1541	1245
Miles (Odometer)	1622	--
Guaranteed miles (GPS)	2527	2115

Day 5 Recap

Day X recap

Fort Kent, ME to Bangor, ME

Hit construction right out of Ft Kent, and got to do a few miles of gravel to start the day. When they do road construction up here, it often means removing the road completely. 

Rain threatened,  but never really materialized. Rained over night in Bangor, but we were asleep for it. 

Took 11 pretty much the whole way to Bangor. It's amazing. We've done a lot of long days on a single road. NY-22, Transcanadienne 20, ME-11account for 800 miles of riding. Tomorrow is a string of little roads.

ME-11 is a fantastic road. Deep in the Northwoods of Maine. It starts out a little twisty, then straightens out and goes up and down over endless rollign hills. The Northwoods are amazing. Dense pine forests. you have to keep an eye on the gas gauge and gas stops, since it's so remote. You have no idea when the next gas station will pop up.

It's super desolate up there. You don't see cars. Occasional logging trucks. But you can go 5 minutes without seeing another vehicle in either direction. 

A little routing trouble in Bangor, but we eventually found the hotel. The Econolodge out by the airport. A miserable place, but we knew what we were getting into. The only food option was the Ground Round. My first time there. I won't be back. We hit a few airport hotel bars. The Ramada (Barnaby's), the Holiday Inn (Pete & Larry's) and the Howard Johnson's (Therapy). Therapy is supposedly Bangor's hottest gay bar. I have stories to tell from there about some of the characters there, but won't put them on the blog. Just ask. Baranby's was closing up, so drinks. But we missed ladies night by one day. Apparently it's thottest ladies night in all of maine. 700-1000 people come every wednesday night. 

Other notes: 

• The Hangar Restaurant at Morris Field in Patten is a nice place to stop for sandwiches. 
• It's amazing how clean the logs are on the logging trucks. You'd expect bark and stuff to be flying off, but it never does. 
• Didn't see any cops all day. None anywhere. 
• Stopped at a nice little gift shop in OxBow and saw some neat stuff made by locals. Super nice lady working there. 

289 S and 11 S

Roads of note: 289S from Quebec City to Fort Kent, Maine and 11S from Fort Kent to Bangor, Maine. Lovely active motorcycle roads. Scenic and practically car free. Lots of logging trucks, but that's quite interesting. Long, long sweeping turns, pretty trees, big rolling hills.

A contemplative ride. Soothing. Engaging enough to be engaging, interesting enough to be interesting.

And the constant threat of hitting a moose keeps you on your toes.

-- ECG

Bell Vortex Helmet -- 2010 Model

Brand new helmet out with me this year -- the new Bell Vortex. History? Bell made the best helmets in the business back in 1970. Then the company became a big conglomerate and got out of the motorcycle helmet business entirely. Sunk all the attention into helicopters, I suppose. And bicycle helmets to sell at Wal-Mart.

Now they're making motorcycle helmets again. I love mine.

Extremely comfortable. High quality. Great venting -- including a vent that dumps air down onto your sweaty brow. Handles fast air brilliantly -- no buffeting, no turbulence. And very quiet.

Definitely a major road comfort, and a safe one at that.

-- ECG

Day 5 Stats

Fort Kent, ME to Bangor, ME

Day 5	RP	EG
Time out on bikes	6h56m	6h52m
Moving time	4h42m	4h42m
Miles (GPS)	240	232
Miles (Odometer)	252	--
Overall average speed	34.5	33.7
Moving average speed	51.0	49.4
Max Speed	101	106
Totals
Time out on bikes	31h55m	25h18m
Moving time	23h47m	17h46m
Miles (GPS)	1232	936
Miles (Odometer)	1293	--
Guaranteed miles (GPS)	1915	1765

People we like: Kyle

Kyle was the bartender/DJ at Garde Manger in Montreal. We ran into him
on the street. Super nice, great with recommendations. Hooked us up
with free fresh raw scallops and some PEI oysters. Good sense of
humor. A foody who works the New York restaurant. We like Kyle.

Things are getting ugly in Maine

Day 4 Recap

After limping around montreal, looking for a coffee shop with free wifi, doing a little route planning and hotel finding and checking out of the Delta, it was off to Fort Kent, ME.

Not a lot to say about most of the ride. 300 miles of interstate is hard to talk about. It doesn't mean the ride wasn't great, it's just that the things that make it great don't translate. The road is flat, straight and kind of unremarkable. But that doesn't mean it was boring. It's hard to explain. We spent 10 minutes last night rte-hashing a single pass of a tractor trailer. And 5 talking helmet air flow. And in their own way, these things are as exciting as a twisty road, or a cool fort, or a casino.

One thing we rehashed, which I want to bring up, is how the Canadians always ride in the right lane unless they are passing. People who camp out in the passing lane and block it up are one of my biggest pet peeves. It's a uniquely American thing. Everywhere else, people understand the concept of a "passing lane". It was so nice to do 300 miles and not see some jerk clogging up the left lane once.

Quebec, north of Maine, is some pretty country. Logging towns, mostly.  Beautiful woods, pretty lakes. 289 Sud is a fine road. The north end is pretty remote. The gas station up there feels like the kind of place you'd come across in the desert, with a sign that says "Last gas for 400 miles".

We fixed Connie's fairing at a little service station in Nowhere, QC. The place was manned by a cute little girl who couldn't have been more than 16, named Sabatina. She didn't speak english, ECG and I only speak restaurant French (and not much of it). But we managed to gesture our way through it and get the right parts.

The border at Fort Kent was manned by the nicest border agent I've ever come across. We talked for about 5 minutes about road recommendations, places to go, things to do. I don't remember his name, but he was a great guy.

The Swamp Buck wasn't much to speak of. Average steaks, decent vegetables. Still waiting for the salad to show up.  Bee-Jays was fine enough, until the sad old broken guy busted into our conversation to talk about being sad and old and broken.

Once we figure out how much we have to pay for using the hotel towels to wipe down the motorbikes, we're off to Bangor.

Mileage

Karl does best, mileage wise, on the highway. Today was a total mileage day. 330 miles, almost all on Canadia interstate. Karl pulled close to 50 MPG. 48.2 MPG, to be exact. Connie came in lower, at about 41. We're still analyzing why.  It should have been more like 45.

At any rate, When Canadia gas is super expensive (almost $5.00 per gallon) it's really nice to see Karl pulling through with the big mileage numbers.

Day 4 Stats

Hopewell Junction, NY to Montréal, QC, CA

Day 3	RP	EG
Time out on bikes	7h41m	7h37m
Moving time	5h51m	5h31m
Miles (GPS)	332	330
Miles (Odometer)	351	--
Overall average speed	43.1	43.3
Moving average speed	56.6	59.8
Max Speed	104	96.6
Totals
Time on bikes	24h59m	18h26m
Moving time	19h05m	13h04m
Miles (GPS)	992	704
Miles (Odometer)	1041	--
Guaranteed miles (GPS)	1888	1343

Day 3 Stats

Hopewell Junction, NY to Montréal, QC, CA

Day 3	RP	EG
Time out on bikes	9h19m	9h19m
Moving time	6h43m	6h43m
Miles (GPS)	344	344
Miles (Odometer)	361	--
Overall average speed	--	--
Moving average speed	--	--
Max Speed	101	84
Totals
Time on bikes	17h18m	10h49m
Moving time	13h14m	7h33m
Miles (GPS)	660	374
Miles (Odometer)	693	--
Guaranteed miles (GPS)	1188	718

Day 3 Recap - Niagara Falls

A (relatively) low drama, fun day of riding. Lots to cover, and little time to do it, so this is going to be a little rapid-fire today. 

LP was off early to catch the train (I missed saying goodbye by inches!) and we got right to it. Early start. 

80% chance of rain was no problem at all. Never saw a drop, much less any clouds that looked like they even knew ho to rain. Weather was fantastic. A little chilly in the morning, a little warm at the end. But not too extreme on either of those ends.

Out of 344 miles, about 300 of it was on the same road, NY-22. That rarely happens if it's not interstate, but 22 is an awesome road. scenic, some twisties, cute little town. A pleasure to ride from end to end.

Best business name spotted all day by both of us. "Associated Lightning Rods". Nice little squat building not far from Amenia, NY.

The foot hurts. No way to sugar coat it. Shifting hurts, just having it in boots hurts. It's tolerable, and not threatening the tour or anything. But it's definitely a thing. And it looks gruesome. 

Last time we came to Montreal, we did it from Brooklyn. That ride took almost 14 hours (thanks to major traffic). We got that down to 9:22 this time. Pretty good with all the stops and slow speeds through the little towns.

We did this route before in 2008. And it was very familiar. You see a gas station and remember stopping there for gas. And which pump you used. And what the bathroom was like. Lots of memories and deja-vu along the way along the way. 

Fort Ticonderoga was neat, until we learned that we didn't actually win it. We got beaten down there. And only got it after the British abandoned it later. If you go, avoid the "Michigan Dog" in the restaurant. It seems like it's going to be a chili dog, but the "meat sauce" is super sweet.

The BMW RA rally was in Bennington VT, and ended in the morning. The first half of the trip we saw hundreds of BMW bikes heading south on 22. Everybody was going home. I'm used to seeing a BMW for every 15 other bikes I see. Today it was 15 BMWs for every one of something else. Pretty great to see. 

Mechanical issues: My tail light and brake light weren't working all morning. Some bulb jiggling in Peru cleared that up. ECG lost the main bolt that holds his fairing on, and it fell down in Plattsburgh. It's being held on with zip ties until we get a bolt in Bangor, ME.

The border crossing was a breeze. Last time through, it took over an hour of sitting in line. This time we had trouble even getting our helmets off and papers out in time. 

Dinner at Garde Manger started out fantastic, the food took a slide toward the end. But the people were great. Look for a "people we like" about Kyle soon.

No winners at the casino. Casino de Montreal is a major affair. Huge casino. But oddly, no alcohol allowed on the gaming floors. I've never seen such a thing. Coffee is the only drink allowed while gaming. 

Day 4 will be a haul. Same distance, all highway. Montreal to Fort Kent, ME.

C'mon, he's fine.

No need to panic. RP just took a little spill in the driveway at Tall Pines. Kind of dropped that little Razor 650 on his flip-flopped foot. Nothing major. Big toe, missing a nail. RP kind of hopping around a bit, swearing. Smiling, and swearing. Swearing. And smiling. That kind of thing, you've seen it around.

He'll be okay, right? Sure. We wrapped up that little toe with a nice bit of gauze bandage and treated the patient with three airplane bottles of J&B.

He'll sleep well and live to fight the good fight tomorrow.

Dyl brings the fun - pt 3

Dyl brings the fun - pt 2

Dyl brings the fun - pt 1

Electric mini bike!

Killing it by grilling it

Warning: Exhaust Header Pipes Are Hot

And the burns on your wrist will blister.

Day 2 Stats

Hopewell Junction, NY

Day 2	RP	EG
Time out on bikes	1h30m	1h30m
Moving time	0h50m	0h50m
Miles (GPS)	30	30
Miles (Odometer)	32	32
Overall average speed	--	--
Moving average speed	--	--
Max Speed	64.9	--
Totals
Time on bikes	7h59m	1h30m
Moving time	6h31m	50m
Miles (GPS)	316	30
Miles (Odometer)	332	--
Guaranteed miles (GPS)	602	30

Day 2: Tech Day

We decided on a tech day to prep the bikes. We rode around a bit picking up supplies and getting Connie inspected (she was set to expire at midnight tonight!).

Karl needed a new oil filter, which meant a whole oil change. I also replaced the gear oil in the Transmission. It was burnt. Pretty badly. smelled like hell. Might explain the spotty shifting and the rumbling I've been feeling. Problem may not be the final drive after all.

Some adjustments to the handlebars, and GPS mount, and Karl should be good to go.

Connie hasn't needed too much. ECG had a list of stuff we could do to Connie, but a lot of it seems to be unnecessary, so we're skipping most of it.

Looks like there's a chance we could be seeing a lot of rain for the first 3-4 days. So now we're trying to sort out rain gear and luggage configurations for the bikes.

Day 1 Recap

If you've been checking @moto4our, you'd probably think day 1 was pretty hellish. Truth is, it wasn't too bad. Pretty typical commute to TPL from DC, with a little extra traffic thrown in for Friday beach goers, etc. I was grumpy, and probably made it sound worse than it was. It's a ride I've done many times, so not many highlights, but here goes.

• Traffic was backed up at the 495 - 95 North junction
• More traffic in Delaware heading up to the Del Mem Bridge
• Lots of construction about halfway up the NJ Turnpike meant crawling for a while
• The Garden State Parkway was totally crawling around Newark
• iPod Shuffle battery died 100 miles out, and had to do the rest silent
• Tried a new route to TPL, and shaved 20 miles off the previous shortest known
• Liberal application of the throttle when it was open road made up a lot of time. 6.5 hours is great considering the traffic and the fact that 6 hours has pretty much been the standard up until now.
• Showing up at TPL was a treat. Made it before dark. Beers in the fridge. Food at the ready.

Spent the evening wrestling with the new shuffle which I intended to use as my main music. iTunes wouldn't recognize it. Tried all night. Super frustrating. But when I woke up this morning, there it was. Recognized and ready to load. It's full now and works fine. I scheduled a morning call from Apple Tech Support, but told them it was working when they called (right on time). Crisis averted.

A little Famous Grouse to round out the day, and off to bed.

Morning moon

The moon hangig out between some tall pines.

Day 1 Stats

DC  to Hopewell Junction, NY

Day 1	RP	EG
Time out on bikes	6h29m	--
Moving time	5h41m	--
Miles (GPS)	286	--
Miles (Odometer)	300	--
Overall average speed	44.1	--
Moving average speed	50.2	--
Max Speed	87.9	--
Totals
Time on bikes	6h29m	--
Moving time	5h41m	--
Miles (GPS)	286	--
Miles (Odometer)	300	--
Guaranteed miles (GPS)	572	--

TPL - Proof of arrival

Made it before dusk.

Scenes from Moto2our 2008

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The Blog

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Real time location updates on twitter. Follow @moto4our

Karl's good to go (I think)

Gone are the days of the shakedown rides and obsessive bike prep before the big tour. I've been trying to figure out why. Here's what I have:

• Too damn hot to ride this summer. Severely cuts down on the miles.
• I've had to sink about about $3000 into Karl since last fall. Everything had damn well better be fine.
• I know this bike so well that I can tell if anything is acting up on it. Last weekend was a 450 miler, and everything felt fine.
• Karl just turned 50k miles. My mind is already starting to wonder what my next bike is going to be. (I'm looking at you, KTM.)
• Despite this bike's issues, it has never left me stranded. 
• The BMW motorcycle network of dealers/shops/riders is good. Really good. They take good care of people if things go sideways while out on the road.

With all that said, here's what can go wrong this year:

• Three final drives replaced since last summer. The latest went in October. This is a 80k mile replacement usually, and I've been three, starting at 36k. I'm not 100% convinced things are completely sorted out yet. Another final drive failure would be a trip ender, but not a complete surprise.
• Something is up with my rear suspension. Maybe it's just due to be rebuilt (it is) but the preload isn't quite right. Won't fail in a way that would end the trip, but it's something to keep an eye on.
• The starter is sticking. I had them clean and lube it at the shop a couple weekends ago, but it's sticking again. It's days are numbered, just not sure what that number is. This is a side effect of storing a bike outside all the time. Having that fail would kill a day of riding (and $300-500), but not end the trip.

Despite the issues, Karl's a trooper, and I think he'll pull through just fine.

Getting closer to a route

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Connie Gets Her Guns Back

After a month in the shop, the Conc gets back on the road. Ethanol busted the needles in the carbs, an aftermarket petcock let all the gas bleed into the crankcase, the crankcase sloshed all the oil (and gas) out the air intake onto the back tire, leading to a tow. All solved now though -- carbs rebuilt, plugs swapped out, new oil and filter, everything else checks out fine.

Concours Problems Already

Yeah, some sort of oily blowout yesterday on the way to the gas station.

You can read about it here:

http://cog-online.org/clubportal/mboards/viewmessages.cfm?clubID=1328&forum=1406&Topic=22575

And see it here:

http://www.pbase.com/egoeres/conc

Fug.

Getting Started

Kicking of the planning stage. Working on:

• Route planning
• Bringing bikes back into service (de-winterizing)
• Setup of blog (check!) and Twitter (TK)
  

Moto4our planning is underway

Here's what we know:

Dates: July 23 - August 1, 2010

Guiding Principles:

• New-England Centric.
  
• Less miles, quality over quantity. Total of 2000 or so miles, instead of 3000-3500. Individual days under 200 miles. Back roads, no slab.

First proposed route:

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