Now that Spring is here and we have switched to Daylight Saving Time, we are resuming our monthly club meetings on the second Monday evening of the month.
April Club Meeting
Our next meeting will be held on Monday, April 9th, 6:30 p.m., at P.T.s Olde Fashion Grill in Leland. P.T.'s Olde Fashion Grill is located at 1035 Grandiflora Drive, Leland. The GPS coordinates are N34.21187 W78.02910.
View Meeting Locations in a larger map
In case you missed our March club meeting at The Front Porch Restaurant in Elizabethtown, here are some photos.
The New BMW Scooters
BMW has decided to enter the high-end mega-scooter market with their new C650GT and C650 Sport. Of course, BMW does not refer to to these as scooters, but rather as Urban Mobility Vehicles.
The folks at Cycle World magazine recently had the opportunity to test drive these new machines in Spain. You can read the full review at Cycle World's web site.
Ohlins Open House
Did you know that the shock maker Ohlins has their US headquarters in Hendersonville, NC? If not, here is a great chance to visit them. Ohlins will be hosting an open house at their offices on Saturday, May 12th, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Ohlins is located at 703C South Grove Street, Hendersonville, NC [GPS coordinates N35308795 W82.451035].
GPS Tip-of-the-Month
This month's GPS Tip-of-the-Month is mapping and mobile phone tip for those of you who use an Android-based phone and Google Maps. If you are an iOS phone user, and you the Google Maps app installed, this tip should also work for you.
Then you take a trip, motorcycling or otherwise, it's always a good idea to have a list of the hotels where you are planning to stay, along with their phone numbers. This tip makes it easy to take this information with you on your mobile phone.
Before you take your trip, use your desktop computer's web browser to visit Google Maps (https://maps.google.com) and log into your Google account (you do have a free Google account, right?). This tip only works if you are logged into your Google account.
Next, use Google Maps to look up your hotels, restaurants, and other points of interest that you might be planning to visit and for which you would like to have contact information readily accessible during your trip. Many of these hotels, restaurants, businesses, and places of interest will probably have a "Google Places" page that looks something like this:
As you locate each one, mark the hotel/restaurant/etc. by clicking the star symbol next to the place's name (it will initially look like the outline of a star). After you click the star, it will fill in like this:
This means you have marked that location. Marking a location adds the location to your list of "Starred Items" in your Google Maps account.
When you are finished marking places, click on the My Places button on your Google Maps page.
You should now see each of your starred items in your "My Places" listing.
Now, get your Android phone and open the Google Maps app. From the menu in the Google Maps app, select "My Places." Two "tabs" should be shown – one labeled "Starred Places" and the other labeled "Recent."
Selecting the "Starred Places" tab will now display for you a list of all those locations that you marked from your desktop computer. If you decide that you need to call one of your starred places, like a hotel or restaurant, the Places page should list the location's address and phone number, and if you look closely, their phone number should be displayed as a link that you can select to immediately dial with your mobile phone. Pretty handy, right!
Special thanks to Daniel Zimbrich for sharing this helpful tip!
2012 World SBK, MotoGP Calendar
In case you missed the Phillip Island World Superbike races, BMW posted a second-place finish in one of the two races -- BMW's best finish thus far!
Here are some of the upcoming World Superbike, MotoGP, and AMA Pro Racing events that are currently scheduled to be shown on SpeedTV):
April 1, 2012 - WorldSBK - Italy (broadcast 4/1@2PM and 3PM, 4/3@1PM and 2PM)
April 1, 2012 - WorldSupersport - Italy (broadcast 4/3@12PM and 4/9@2PM)
April 8, 2012 - MotoGP Moto2 - Qatar Grand Prix (broadcast 4/8@2PM and 4/10@1PM)
April 8, 2012 - MotoGP - Qatar Frand Prix (broadcast 4/8@3PM and 4/10@3PM)
April 10, 2012 - Moto125 - Qatar (broadcast 4/10@12PM)
April 21, 2012 - AMA ProRacing - Atlanta (broadcast 4/21@8:30PM and 9:30PM, 4/22@11PM, 4/23@12AM)
April 22, 2012 - WorldSBK - Netherlands (broadcast 4/22@5PM and 6PM, 4/24@1PM and 2PM)
April 29, 2012 - MotoGP - Spanish Grand Prix (broadcast 4/29@8AM and 5/1@2PM)
April 29, 2012 - MotoGP Moto2 - Spanish Grand Prix (broadcast 4/29@12PM and 5/1@1PM)
May 6, 2012 - MotoGP - Portugal Grand Prix (broadcast 5/6@8AM and 6PM)
May 6, 2012 - MotoGP Moto2 - Portugal Grand Prix (broadcast 5/6@1PM)
May 6, 2012 - WorldSBK - Italy (broadcast 5/6@2PM and 3PM)
Newsletter Contributions
With the riding season finally beginning again, many of you will be taking trips in the coming months. When you return home, please take a few minutes to write a short trip report to share with your other club members. Trip reports (or any other kinds of articles) are welcome!
Your trip report or article can be one paragraph, or it can be a page, or it can simply be a few photos. It's a great way to share your motorcycling experience with everyone, and perhaps inspire some us to take the same trip sometime. Send any contributions to ccbmwridersclub@gmail.com.
Video-of-the-Month
This month's video is an interesting "confrontation" involving two racing bikes. You may enjoy watching their very unique "dance."
Video-of-the-Month Link
That's all for this month. Ride safe and Ride far!
