BMW rally report

[DRxBMW]

One word to describe the MOA rally ____ HOT.

Arrived Tuesday, helped erect the tower banners all day ,free dinner that night.

Storm gathered in afternoon, promptly blowing the tent over and saturating my gear with rain. Nothing worse than being clammy and HOT at the same time, read NO sleep. Plus, the ice AC generator kept cycling on and off all fucking night.

Wednesday, I retreated home to AC,  only 99 degrees & 70 % dew point.

Rested, ride the GS down, work registration Thursday PM in the tent of hell,101 degrees, drink bier with my camp-mates from Chicago who were 420 cool, GREAT band on stage, spent the night in the tent only because I was drunk.  Passed out is probably a better description than actual sleeping but upon rising did NOT feel that bad. Almost better than a night of NO sleep again due to the heat & noise.

Friday AM, rescued a guy on a K 100, 25 miles north, fuel pump issues. I was damn near the point of going to ER from heat exhaustion after working roadside, 105 degree's with a heat index of 130. Elected to stay home, fuck Curry's seminar,Motoradd gala, GS shoot,fuck everything, just NOT worth the discomfort.

Several riders landed in the hospital ER Friday. Combo of beer and heat did them in. Telling you, dirt donks like to drink & party hard, a real MC club.

Boatload of vendors inside and outdoor, couple of outdoor shops closed up, it was that brutal. Mostly farkles and riding gear and typical BMW yuppie shit.

New 1600 was NICE, I actually got to take a perch on one for a short time frame.

Saturday AM I arrive on badge to pack my shit and go home for good as another 103 degree day is forecast-ed.  Only to discover, some bastard stole my tie down straps for my camping gear bag. Pissed, as I did NOT want to buy BMW branded straps for $40, seemed to the only game in town.

Anyway, I mange to jam everything in the saddlebags and a early adios from the 2011 "rally to Hell and back" forever.  Missed out on the closing ceremony who gives a fuck ?

Weird, didn't buy a damn thing other than a German MC plate for $3.00. Even has the original metal registration yearly stamps intact, rare, German law requires you remove them. This  plate manged to slip through the cracks somehow.  Way cool Black Forest background. Looked at a magnetic oil drain plug for the F, expensive.

For the record, highest temp in a 3 day time period ever recorded in PA !

Gary the WILD child & hot to trot ________________.

[frankenduck]

Damn, with the heat you guys have been having I don't know if I would've gone in the first place.  Good on you for the effort you put in.

[bobw]

^ +1

I've ridden in hotter temps through the desert, but thankfully the humidity was in/near single digits. Too bad, a bunch of work to put on the event and so many made the trip just to get a fist in the arse from Momma Nature.

Safe travels.

Cheers

[frankenduck]

just to get a fist in the arse from Momma Nature.

You owe me a keyboard not covered in Coke. :)

[Ocelot]

Bionic Freckle and I rented a B&B eighty miles North via beautiful winding mountain roads for Tuesday thru Sunday. Rode up on Annie the 2003 R1200CLC, intending to ride down to Bloomsburg for a day or two. Thursday, we descended the mountain about twenty miles, ran into hot humid haze, it got thicker, said fuh-uh-uck this, hung a U-turn, and fled back into the mountains. So we never made it. Absolutely stifling down there. Spent our rally time riding shady mountain roads instead. Spotted tons of beemeristas religiously sweltering in their ATGATT to the hilt, riding round the mountain roads as well. Any we spoke to agreed: impossible down there.

On the other hand:

We hit a bear.

Yogi came barrelling out of a hedgerow and buried his face in Annie's right side. Scootched her sideways. I struggled but kept her rubber side down. Bearswatter (the artiste formerly known as Bionic Freckle) got a booboo. His face was tucked down between our legs, into the rear shock area, but his shoulder thumped her knee damn hard. She reached down and swatted him away. Apparently, all these years swatting me on the snout has given her these quick hands. Down he went face first, gathered himself up, and shot off into the woods. Slobber on my leg. Bent panner crash bar. Did not go down. Bear slobber from front fairing pod to trunk rack. Couple blood droplets on my pants. Appears as though Annie knocked the snot out of him and gave him a bloody nose. This is mating season in the woods. Bears do crazy stuff, like elephants in musth. So he may have had a sow in the cross hairs on the other side, or else he may have been fleeing from a fight lost on this side, or he may just have run amok. Either way.

Our total protective gear at the time, in 90+ heat, consisted of:
  - me: sandals, shorts (commando), T-shirt
  - bearswatter: tennies, shorts (not sayin), T-shirt, helmet
  - yogi: fur

ATBATT = All The Bear All The Time

I'm not kidding. We have bear hair scraped off the tragkorb emblem to prove it.

Stopped at Lopez Winery. This area up around Dushore, eighty miles north of the rally site, is all chock full of wineries. Borrowed a 2x4 and a maul from the two old winery duffers to beat the crash bar off the tragkorb lid so it would open. Next day, discovered the rear brake banjo bolt was leaking. Tightened it up with vice-grips. Will bleed the rear this weekend. Other than that, no damage. Annie is built like a brick shithouse.

One more item to scratch off the bucket list: Hit a bear... check. On a motorcycle... extra points.

Things come in threes. After stranding Ocelot up a goat path and having a miraculous rescue the week before, then the bear last week on Annie, I am anxious to see what comes my way this week aboard Biffy.

[frankenduck]

Pretty amazing to have your murdersickle mate with a bear and stay up. :o

Glad to hear that you (and the bike) survived.

[DRxBMW]

Yogi came barrelling out of a hedgerow and buried his face in Annie's right side. Scootched her sideways. I struggled but kept her rubber side down. Bearswatter (the artiste formerly known as Bionic Freckle) got a booboo. His face was tucked down between our legs, into the rear shock area, but his shoulder thumped her knee damn hard. She reached down and swatted him away. Apparently, all these years swatting me on the snout has given her these quick hands. Down he went face first, gathered himself up, and shot off into the woods. Slobber on my leg. Bent panner crash bar. Did not go down. Bear slobber from front fairing pod to trunk rack. Couple blood droplets on my pants. Appears as though Annie knocked the snot out of him and gave him a bloody nose. This is mating season in the woods. Bears do crazy stuff, like elephants in musth. So he may have had a sow in the cross hairs on the other side, or else he may have been fleeing from a fight lost on this side, or he may just have run amok. Either way.


Consider yourself lucky the bear did NOT have much contact with the human species.

I've been damn close to bears, even with a gun they can be VERY dangerous, read don't miss,BIG caliber,kill shot cape Buffalo style.

playing dead might be another option but hard to do balanced on a top heavy K bike.

Funny, I used to carry weapons on dual sport rides. After a rogue dog attack, a pistol is totally useless for defending on the fly.

[Crapdealerbob]

I was there also, here was the weather report for Bloomsburg the week of the rally



The wife & I still managed to have a good time...