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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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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