Monday, April 1, 2013

April 2013 Newsletter

April Club Meeting

Our next club meeting will be on Monday, April 8th, 6:30 p.m., at the Two Guys Grille located at the entrance to the Waterford subdivision in Leland, NC.  The address is 2013 Olde Waterford Way in Leland. For my fellow GPS geeks, Two Guys is located at N34.22055 W78.01920.



I hope you will come for our first Monday evening meeting for the 2013 season. We'll see you there!


2013 Rally Season 

Spring has finally arrived, and it's time to begin planning some of your motorcycling trips for the 2013 riding season. If you enjoy attending BMW-related motorcycling rallies, information on upcoming events is available from a number of online sources.

Most BMW-related rallies are listed on the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America (BMW MOA) and the BMW Riders Association (BMW RA) web sites.

BMW MOA Rally Calendar

BMW RA Rally Link

You can also find upcoming motorcycling event information at Sport-Touring.net, HSTA, ADVRider.com, and BMWSportTouring.com.

As most of you already know, the BMW MOA National Rally is being held this year in Salem, Oregon, July 18-21, 2013. Closer to home, the BMW RA National Rally is returning to its 2007 location at the Biltmore Estates in Asheville, North Carolina, on June 20-23, 2013. If you do not have the time or ability to travel to Oregon, the BMW RA rally is a good alternative to the BMW MOA event.

Another great rally being held during the week following the BMW RA National is the 12th annual Un Rally, in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. You can register for the Un Rally online.

For those of you who enjoy long-distance trips, there is the annual Americade event held in Lake George, New York in June. And don't forget this year's Curve Cowboy Reunion, which is being held August 27-28, 2013, in Bend, Oregon.

If you are curious where some of the upcoming motorcycle events are being held this year, try using this link  to see the event locations in Google Maps. And if you know about a BMW-related event that is not shown, post the information here or send it to us via email, at ccbmwridersclub@gmail.com, and I will add the event location to the map.

Finally, for those of you who are local members of the Coastal Carolina BMW Riders Club, if you have joined Google+, you can create post on our Community page about your plans for attending these events. This can be a great tool for you and your fellow club members to communicate and coordinate your trip to a rally or event. And don't forget to post a short ride report and/or pictures when you get home!


Packing for the Road 

I discovered an interesting article on the Cycle World web site about Helge Pedersen and how he packs his motorcycle for a 15,000 mile strip from Seattle to Tierra del Fuego. The article describes his approach, but I found the various photographs very enlightening. We can all learn something from this master-of-motorcycle-travel.


Volunteers for the 41st annual BMW MOA International Rally 

The 41st annual BMW MOA International Rally in Salem, Oregon is quickly approaching. The rally offers numerous opportunities to pitch in and help make the event a great experience for everyone. The BMW MOA asking for volunteer staffing for the rally. If you are planning to attend the rally and are interested in being a volunteer, contact the Volunteers chairs atrallyvolunteer@bmwmoa.org.

Paul Mulhern
BMW MOA Chartered Club Liaison
pmulhern@swbell.net
210-279-6074


Garmin BaseCamp Update 

Garmin released two updates to their BaseCamp software (for Windows PCs) during the month of March. The latest version is 4.1.2. Here is a list of the changes made from version 4.1.1 to 4.1.2:
  • Fixed an issue with Basestation mode.
  • Fixed an issue where BaseCamp would not remember the positioning of the toolbars correctly.
  • Fixed an issue where the Custom POI symbols from POI files where incorrect.
  • Fixed an issue with the address search.
  • Fixed an issue where refreshing a search was using the last location on the map, not the current one.
  • Fixed an issue where Cutting (Ctrl-X) a photo on a device would delete the photo and prevent the user from pasting it.
  • Fixed an issue with some Asian language map products.
  • Fixed an issue with deleting track points.
  • Fixed an issue with route creation in a folder.
  • Fixed an issue where the hand tool was not always set as the default tool.
  • Fixed some menu inconsistencies between find results, context menus, and map popup menus.
The update can be downloaded from this link.


BaseCamp Feature – Managing Custom POIs 

I recently discovered that BaseCamp now includes a feature to manage Custom Points of Interest (POIs). I am unsure when the feature was added – a review of Garmin's change history seems to indicate it may have appeared in version 4.1.1. In any case, if you use Custom POIs, you may find this feature in BaseCamp helpful.

So where can I find this feature in BaseCamp and what does this feature offer?

Under the BaseCamp Maps menu, you will now see a menu entry for Manage Custom POIs... Selecting the Maps | Managing Custom POIs menu without your GPS connected will yield only an empty display window. However, if you have Custom POIs loaded on your GPS and your GPS is connected to your computer when you select the Maps | Managing Custom POIs menu, a window will open that lists the POI files residing on your GPS receiver.

Note: I have a \Garmin\POI folder residing on both my GPS receiver and on the µSD card I have installed in my GPS. My experience was that BaseCamp saw the custom POI files residing on my GPS receiver, but did not see the custom POI files on the µSD card.

Each set of POIs listed include a checkbox on the left hand side. By default, all of your POIs will be checked. 




Unchecking a POI in the list will hide the POI on your BaseCamp map. 




When trying to view your Custom POIs, keep in mind that the map zoom level when they are displayed will depend on the detail level that you have set in BaseCamp. For example, when I had the BaseCamp detail level set to Highest, the Custom POIs started appearing on the map when the zoom was at 0.5 miles or less, whereas when the detail level was set to Higher, they did not appear until zooming to the 800 foot level.

Being able to displaying your Custom POIs is helpful, there is another part of this feature that is also useful. When you select the Section Arrow tool and double click on the POI, a pop-up balloon will be displayed. The balloon shows the POI's name and will provide you with several icon buttons underneath. One button allows you to create a Waypoint at the POI location. Another button allows you to create a Route starting with the POI's location. A third button allows you to add the POI to your current Route. A fourth button provides you with more information about the POI including some of the same data fields that you can normally see for a Waypoint.

If you use Custom POI files on your GPS, take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with this handy new feature in BaseCamp.



Google+ Community Page Reminder 

Once again, I would like to encourage everyone to join our Google+ Community page. You do not have to be have a Google account to read the items posted to the community page. However, if you want to be able to contribute comments or new posts to the community page, you will need to have a free Google account. Please joining the club's Community so you can keep up with the very latest news and announcements for our club members.


Video-of-the-Month 

And we end this month's newsletter with a short video called The Chase.  It is set at the Barber Motorcycle Museum and racetrack and includes AMA motorcycle racer Jason DiSalvo and two very talented motorcycle drifting riders. It is extremely well done and worth your time to view. Be sure to watch it in HD resolution. If you are like me, it will rekindle your desire to go see the Barber Motorcycle Museum.


That's the news for this month. Until the May newsletter, ride safely and ride far!

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