I am glad to hear how many of you are curious about my bike, Red Velvet. She is a 2009 BMW R1200 GSA (Gelende Strasse Abentuer - Off-road Street Adventure). I have owned her since December 31, 2011. She has ABS brakes, traction control, electronic suspension adjustment (presets for soft, norm or sport handling), heated grips, throttlemeister cruise control, on board computer that tracks, MPG, average speed, how many miles left for tank, oil condition, ambient temperature and tire pressure. I have added a GPS, LED rear lights, PIAA fog lights that I leave on all day (very bright), a larger windshield, a SPOT Tracker (tracks me on Satellite and can be used if I need help), RAM mount for my phone, awesome ear plugs with speakers to listen to music (made by my awesome wife Cathy), Pivot PegZ ( which are foot pegs that swivel and are 1 inch lower than stock for my long legs), I custom made shims that raise the seat 1 inch higher (another tall person mod) and two power outlets for heated jacket and gloves, plus chargers for phone/iPad etc. and a Wolfman Luggage tank bag. Red Velvet is a fine machine.
So this morning started fine. I noticed Red Velvet's front tire was at 35 psi and I had filled it to 41 psi the previous day, as it was a tad low then. I filled it again and will keep an eye on it. The ride in the morning was boring.
I had lunch at Buffalo Inn on Pink Mountain and put on warmer gear, the warmest it has been is 63F.
The road so far is pretty good. I am crossing a major area of oil and gas production. Huge trucks go by all the time. I've only seen 3 motorcycles today on the road with me or passing south. This picture was taken on a hill that descended 4 kilometers at a 10% grade! There are many warnings of checking brakes, chains and snow tires required Oct to April.
After lunch I talked to a guy who had just come from the north and said traffic was lite but there were a few areas of light rain. I geared up with warmer gear and after 10 minutes of riding it started to rain and get colder. It rained hard, then harder...I plogged along. It cleared and then rained again. This happened four more times. I was getting sick of the rain and finally made it to Fort Nelson, a sort of civilized small town. I pulled over and filled up Red Velvet with petrol and wonder what layed ahead weather-wise...oddly enough I was tired/sleepy but also tense because the riding sucked. I talked to a truck driver heading south and he said I could look forward to rain the rest of today.
Now I was bummed because the are not many places to stay between the big cities of 1000 people or so and the next big stop is 400 kilometers ahead. So I checked into a hotel and now I am happy to be dry and warm and I am watching TV and typing away on my iPad.
This is what it looks like outside and what I rode through all day.
Cathy told me Indy is doing better and taking his meds pretty well, so that makes me happy.
Tomorrow I plan to ride hard to White Horse good weather or bad. I am anxious to get to Alaska but know I need to call it a day when the weather does not cooperate like today. I miss Cathy, Conor, Zach, Indy and you all and appreciate all the kind words.
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