This year I volunteered my graphic design work for the GS Giants Event that took place July 10-13, 2016 in Sigel, PA (only 2.5 hours from my home). It was called Back to the BIGinning, because I guess that is where the first event originally took place. I can’t believe how much work it was. I also don’t know how many times I had to make revisions and complete 180’s in the design. All in all, it turned out OK. I had designed T-shirts, posters, cards, stickers and more. The sad part was very little of it was the way I wanted it to turn out, but it was finally done. I even had my girlfriend come out for the first day so that she could deliver the T-shirts to the Rally.

Since I lived so close, Sibley, Sigrid and Jordan all met at my house, we had a grand breakfast that Jordan still talks about. We stopped at a brewery for lunch before getting there and headed to the event. It was in Cooke Forest.

This was the first time my girlfriend got to see what all the commotion is about. I think a night of moonshine and camping was more than enough for her, and she headed home hungover the next day, luckily she drove her car out there. The campgrounds were fantastic, the riding was beautiful, and once again people showed up from all over the country, about 135 of them. The weather was great for the riding, and cool enough at night for fires. The food however, sucked. it either didn’t taste great or there wasn’t nearly enough to go around. Thank god I wasn’t in charge of any of that.

There was good offroading and scenic road rides too. Phil, from Montana, wrecked his bike pretty bad and was the center of all pictures once they got hit back to camp.

After a fun GS event, we headed over to Hamburg, NY for the BMW Rally. I think that ride was less than 2 hours as well. We all set up camp at the fairgrounds and ran out for food and drinks and bought more than we could use, well not the beer.

view from my tent.

The heat was just as bad as it was in Montana at the previous years’ rally. And of course there was very little shade. But none of that slowed down the fun. Sigrid’s husband Marty came out and I finally got to meet him and his friend John, who just got rid of his Harley and got a BMW GSA. I didn’t do any riding at the rally because I was definitely going to ride the GS Track at this event. It looked awesome. It was built into an existing dirt mound and was rather a large area, with plenty of obstacles.

GS Track

I did run the track and did pretty well, but lost some points when I came off the tractor tire and missed the water hazard. I didn’t mind it too much, as it was pretty gross water in there.

The ride home was pretty nice too, as I didn’t take any freeways, rather followed the edge of Lake Erie back home on a beautiful summer day.

After a long winter, and knowing that another rally was about to take place, I could hardly wait to get on the road. The bike has been fixed and was ready to roll. This rally known as March Moto Madness, has been taking place for a few years, but I only found out about it on the USA trip last summer. It started off as a group of probably less then 20 in 2006 in Tellico Plains, TN, and now had over 500 people. find out more about it here: http://marchmotomadness.com/event%20details.htm

I started off for Tennessee in the morning, got a motel for the night, and got to the rally site the next morning. It was March 31st cold as hell in Cleveland and rained all day on the ride down there. As I pulled into the rally, the hard rains were just about to start. I remembering going to hang out in the GS Giants tent to wait for a lull so I could set up my tent. Eventually I got set up and met up with Sibley, from Ohio and met her friend Sigrid. We instantly became great friends, as she seemed to be the female version of me! We had the same sense of humor and outlook on life.

One the first day of the rally, I rode with group of riders and we did the Cherokee Challenge which was a mapped ride, and much like a scavenger hunt taking pictures of specific places. It took us through some scenic places and was well worth it. It rained a bit as I recall, but the thing that stuck out was that my helmet was a bit damp, so I borrowed a hair dryer from Sibley. It turns out that even with 5-600 motorcyclists around, somehow at least 100 people will see a guy using a hairdryer at a campground, and 100% of them will make fun of you for it. There is no stealthy way to dry a helmet with a hairdryer at a campground full of dudes. Damnit!

I generally ride alone and have been trying to get used to riding in groups, but I decided the next morning to ride alone to the Tail of the Dragon at Deals Gap. The weather was perfect. It was a Saturday and I got there about 11am. I was told it would be crowded, but I got lucky and only had 2 cars in front of me, that let me pass eventually. I also saw maybe 2 police cars. I was told it’s very beautiful out there, but with 318 curves in 11 miles, I didn’t have too many opportunities to look around. After that I rode the Cherohala Skyway which is a remote 60 miles of breathtaking scenic mountain highway. I hate to say it, but I think I liked it better than the Tail. The cool thing at the Dragon is that there are photographers at many of the turns. I ended up not ordering any of the proofs shown here, but they are pretty nice.

Once again, there was a trials course, and as badly as I wanted to try it, I was intimidated by the very first obstacle; you had to drop down into a creek and ride back up and out of it. I don’t completely feel I made the wrong choice after watching plenty of people get stuck in the mud, but also know that I would have most likely done fine. The other issue was that my foot was still messed up from the tumble at Wailyn Wayne Weekend in the Fall.

The food was great, the drinks were a plenty and I made many more friends and saw many I met the year before.

While I was out on the USA trip, I met Chad Warner, from Columbus Ohio. I found out he puts on a rally in Southern Ohio in Wayne National Forest in September called Wailyn Wayne Weekend. This was to be 2nd year for it, so I felt since a motorcycle trip was involved, and even better, some offroading, I should go.

It took place Sept. 11th thru the 13th. The weather was great the first day, raining the second day, and just a little cooler the 3rd. Lori was there from California with her “Chateau to go” it made things a bit easier to bear when it rained.

I remember getting there and the excitement I had to go ride the trails. I met up with a few guys for lunch and 3 of us headed back on the trails. Most of them are not difficult, but I managed to snag a tree root sticking out of the side of a narrow path (about 2 inches) with the left side crash bar.

Here is what happens when you do that:

1. The bike stops in about 1.7 seconds from a speed of about 15-20mph.
2. Your body mysteriously shoots directly upwards, not forwards as Einsteins’ laws would have you believe, all while spinning you perpendicular to the path of travel, to about 6 feet or more above the ground, and bike below.
3. Gravity does take over eventually, and your head hits one side of the bank, your feet hit the other side, and your body conforms to the shape of the bike laying on it’s side beneath you.
4. your right foot hurts, and you have no idea why, and a slight case of whiplash starts to scare you a little, especially when waking up in the mornings after sleeping in a tent. I was not sure I would be able to move without causing permanent damage to my spine.
5. you cause about $7,500.00 in damage to the bike and your helmet.

I hung out for the rest of the day assessing my damage, realizing I could still ride home Sunday morning, and then accepting the days events and moving on to drinking, eating and just having fun. Sadly, the only riding I did after that was to go home at the end of the weekend. I was sad that I was unable to compete in a the trials course that Chad set up, especially because I had to skip the one in Billings, Montana for fear that if I broke the bike out there, my USA trip would have been cut short.

On Saturday, one of the guys I also met in Wyoming, Kyle rode with few people on the roads which were wet and covered in leaves and he ended up totaling his bike, so I didn’t feel too bad about my situation.

All said and done, I did have a fun time hanging out with all the riders, of which probably one third were out west just months earlier, like Sibley, Lori Payne, Tobin, Chad, Kyle, Kevin Shrader, and I few others I can’t remember at the moment.

I am looking forward to the next Wailyn Wayne Weekend next year!

Hello everyone,

I have to apologize for not updating my blog for several weeks now. Though I should let everyone know that I am fine, nothing bad happened. I read an article recently about many bloggers stop blogging after about the 3rd week of a motorcycle trip, and viola!, I was at my third week. I can only attribute it to the heightened sense of freedom. Freedom from the daily monotony of work, tasks, chores, appointments, etc.The odd part of this was that I still jotted down notes for most days, and while riding, I was always thinking of things to include in the blog. I think I also let myself down in my writings, as far as I envisioned it being more entertaining than it probably was, and also a little more of a rough guide for anyone else that may do any similar adventure.

That said, I will still update this blog with the trip, but now I may switch directions and try to write it as a story, rather than as a blog or trip report, (since it’s already done). But I think I will add pics and quick descriptions from each travel day, since I have notes and good pics for them.

One thing I know that slowed down my writing progress, and this serves as a warning to others, more than an excuse, is that since I was blogging on a tablet, the typing became a royal pain in the ass. Auto correct would take over more often than not. And many times, it would put in words that as I re-read the entry, I would have no clue what I meant to write. I am guessing anyone blogging on a phone would have it worse. A great work around is to get some kind of small keyboard, as a laptop would take up more space than it’s worth, and would most likely die if you do any amount of offroad.

Mon July 20
Woke up in the morning and it was still cold. The day started off with breakfast. Then people startedsplitting off into groups of every size. I met brad from Ohio the night before and we decided to ride together and just before leaving, we joined a group of 7 others whom we knew may ride some harder stuff. I was actually a bit concerned as these guys have been riding enough that the stories of broken bikes, crashes, and crazy adventures from the night before, made me think i might be in over my head. But i still remember my days of off road riding and figured I would just fall back into it, and besides, I did just ride a few hundred miles of the TAT. One of the riders had completed in the GS Trophy event before, and 2 more were trying out for it. It’s a 4 man off road event that takes place every 2 years somewhere different in the world each time, I suggest looking it up, there are great videos of past events on YouTube.

We left camp and in moments were cruising at 50mph on twisting gravel roads. I was sure I would crash at any moment, but the more we rode, the more confident I got, but stayed cautious, because once you get comfortable, that’s when things go wrong. Glad to say I remembered that! Then we turned off onto some dirt trails and the fun started. There were some jumps, water crossings, trees, turns, and everything else an adventure rider can dream of, this was what I had been waiting for!  Then came some nice open trails that quickly became rock laidened trails. It became my most technical ride in 20yrs and I escaped unscaved. My bike though got a thorough initiation. There where a few ruts where the bike stood on its own and since it never fell over, didn’t count as a crash, we all agreed. After a particularly difficult pass through crazy rocks, steep terrain and a water crossing, we took a break, and were all congratulating each other and already reliving some of the tales. From our perch on a ridge, we saw someone riding 2 up and thought holy crap, they must be crazy or really talented. It ended up being a father and his son. He worked his way through the water crossing, solo, and then his bike proceeded to quit working. We spent probably 2 hours trying to get it going and towing it up a steep incline, as going back through the mars-like terrain didn’t seem like much of an option. During all the standing around and waiting, i walked off a little to go pee, and all i could think about was how mad i would be if i got attacked by a grizzly while peeing. Luckily, none where sighted.  After realizing a bike couldn’t tow the dead bike up the steep incline, we met a retired principal on a 4×4 gator that did the job. Our group had grown as earlier we had picked up a straggler, as we determined this is not the place to ride alone, not to mention it was grizzly bear country! Lesson learned, don’t ride back country routes alone. After the second hill, the guy that was riding the broken bike was able to get it going, but couldn’t get it into neutral. So part of the group split up and we all arrived back at the lodge. I think some of the guys went out for another ride, but I was exhausted, so I opted to drink beer instead. 

Some of the fellow Giants in that group where Brad, Kevin Schrader, Dimitrious, Kyle, Randy Owens, Claude, and I can’t remember the others that joined in along the way, but we all became better friends that day.

Miles 70, mostly off road.

Sun July 19

So my plan was to I leave Fort Collin’s early in the morning with the plan of riding back roads to the Big Horn Mountains. I stopped for gas and water and decided to check my oil level, it was a bit low. So I got a quart at an auto parts store and proceed to put in 3/4 of it. Not good I thought. Then I decided to eat breakfast and after realized that I left my cooling shirt at Tom’s house, so back I went. It was running late and in order to make it to the GS Giants dinner on time, I took the much despised freeway, which surprisingly was very scenic. I really cruised through Wyoming, which Tom told me is the windiest statemin the country. Well it turns out, it probably is. I had to tighten the chin strap on my helmet as tight as I could make it, which is usually quite tight already, but the winds were whipping me around from just about every direction. It didn’t make any meteorological sense. Wyoming is also a rather large state, and at one point, a long one at that, I spotted 11 dust storm looking tornadoes out in the farmlands. They were probably less than 20 feet high, but an odd thing to see on a beautiful sunny day.

I also passed the 10,000 mile mark on my bike just outside of Cheyenne, a very happy moment, as I had had the bike for just over a year. 

As I started up onto the mountain, I was stuck on a single lane winding road behind a semi that was obviously carrying a full load. I thought what a great road this would be without a semi in the lead. After what seemed like an eternity, it let me pass when there was a turnout, only to allow me to then follow a full bus size RV. Eventually I got past that too, but the best part of getting up there was gone. Registration  for the GS Giants Stampede started at 5pm with dinner at 5:30 and I got there exactly at 5. There were BMW’s everywhere. It was an exciting moment, as this was the first time I was going to be part of an event like this. As I pulled up towards the Bear Lodge, there were BMW’s shooting off in different directions and excitement seemed to be all around. I made my way to the office to get my campsite. A woman took my credit card, walked over to the bar to run it, and when she came back, couldn’t find my card, amazing. I doubt she had walked 20 steps. After 5 minutes of searching, she found it against a far wall.  I met Sibley, also from Ohio, whom I had friended 2 weeks earlier on Facebook as I was walking out of the bar (registration area, I swear). My college roommate knew about my trip and said someone he knows was going to the same rally, and that’s all it took to become better friends in person.

One of the Arkansas guys setup.

Got a campsite and proceeded to meet alot of fellow riders from all over the country. Had dinner and drank around a fire till 11pm and walked back to my tent on the other side of the camp, it had gotten pretty cold, around 42°. I knew bringing cold weather gear would pay off! I had to sleep in fleece long johns, socks and under armour gear.Just before getting back in my tent, I saw a group around their fire, so I stopped over and met the BMW group from Arkansas, of which I think the majority were from Tennessee. Really a great group of mostly older guys, and it was funny to be called a Yankee. I told them if I heard banjos, I was not staying in camp.

Riding 422 miles

Sat July 18
This morning i remembered that my tent may have still been a little wet from 2 days earlier, so i put it outside to air out, even though it was completely dry. We decided a day earlier that we would drive out to the mountains that Tom said I should see. It was pretty good to be a passenger as the scenery was amazing. Visited Roosevelt National Park, saw rock climbers rigged up and climbing 3 feet from the edge of the road and tons of really cool rock faces. I desperately wished I was still climbing, but being out of practice and not able to pack my gear on the bike, we moved on. We stopped for lunch at River Rock Cafe in Walden, but only after finding that the spot Tom had been telling me was really great, had been closed for a few years, guess he hasn’t gone out here for a while. He ordered a volcano burger and I had to try some it. I eat spicy and hot things almost everyday, so I expected it to be just OK, but after getting the hiccups after about 2 bites, I was a bit surprised. Then I got to sit back and watch him power through it with determination, and had to have some more because it really was so good.
We stopped at a bunch of sprorting good stores as I wanted to get some rope to complete my emergency z-pulley system in case something went awry when I would be riding in the Big Horn Mountains over the next few days, I didn’t get any though. When we got home, my previously dry tent was sitting in a pool of water and couldn’t possibly get any wetter. It was 5pm and cloudy. I mentioned that i just need the sun for a little bit and within minutes it was out and the track of running in and out of the house rotating the tent and the separate rain fly began, and amazing they both dried over the next hour, which was helpful, as i would be sleeping in it for the next full week. I think we skipped dinner that night.
Riding 0 miles (rode in car over 250)

Fri July 17
My first full day in Fort Collins and the moment I have been anticipating had finally arrived, I was going to the New Belgium Brewery! The only bad part is that I was a bit hungover. We grabbed some lunch first at a great BBQ place and I had a hopeful “hair of the dog” cure, it was rough but I drank it, although it was a great coconut rum porter.. Next we got to the New Belgium Brewery and I got my own private tour, which lasted at least 3 hours. I tried a pretty good variety of beers, and amazingly the hangover held strong. The brewery and the people I met that work there were great and it made me wish I was younger and working there. After the tour, I took an obligatory siesta, still in search of a cure, to no avail. That night we went back into old town and had a great dinner and I had a mixed drink as I couldn’t stomach another beer this day, and I had skipped a tequila nightcap this time.
Riding miles 0