November Club Meeting
After the weather-related postponement of our October club meeting, I concluded that it was time to resume our winter "weekend club meeting schedule." Hopefully this schedule will make it easier for you to attend a meeting, if you are reluctant to ride at night.
For November, we are going to try something different in terms of scheduling our meeting. Our club meeting will be held on Saturday, November 12th, 4 p.m., at the PT's Olde Fashioned Grill, 1437 Military Cutoff Road in Wilmington. The meeting will be held, rain or shine.
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If the weather cooperates (i.e., no rain), I am planning a back road ride that will leave at approximately 2 p.m. time to be confirmed) from Buy & Go Exxon, 808 North College Road and will end by approximately 4 p.m. at our club meeting at the PT's Grill on Military Cutoff Road.
The currently planned dates and locations for the next few club meetings are now posted on the club calendar. You will also find an announcement for each month's meeting on our club web site.
December 17 – The Harp Restaurant, Wilmington
January 14, 2012 – The Mad Boar, Wallace
February 4, 2012 – The Boundary House, Calabash
March 3, 2012 – TBD
October Meeting
As mentioned earlier, the threat of rain and an after-dark ride back to Wilmington caused me to postpone our October 10th meeting. Instead, we met at Yacht Basin Provisions Company the following Saturday, October 15th, for lunch. We had an extremely light turnout – I assume everyone was out enjoying the beautiful weather that weekend. Thank you to those of you who were able to come for lunch, and to those who joined me in the ride afterwards.
Trip Reports
Well some of our club members have taken some trips over the last month or two, and we have trips reports to tell you all about it. Tony and Jill Barcia have attended both the Return to Shiloh Rally, held in Tennessee on September 30-October 2, and the Beemers and Biplanes Rally held in Virginia Beach, VA on October 7-9. Jill Barcia has submitted a great set of trip reports for each event, including some terrific photos.
In addition, Paul Winter, Jerry and Barb Dockery, and I attended Unrally X held in Little Switzerland, NC in August. You can also read my trip report about my Unrally ride with Paul.
2012 BMW RA Rally
I have heard a rumor that the 2012 BMW Riders Association National Rally may be held, once again, at The Biltmore in Asheville, NC. The source of the rumor, which I would characterize as fairly reliable, did not provide a specific date for the event. An official BMW RA rally announcement has not been posted, thus far, on the BMW RA web site. Stand by for further updates.
10/31/11 Update: The BMW RA has now officially announced the 2012 National Rally will be held June 14-17, 2012, in Copper Mountain, Colorado. This information comes from Michael Johnston, the BM RA Chartered Club Coordinator. (So much for the previous "reliable rumor.")
2011 BMW MOA Mileage Contest
If you are a BMW MOA member, here is another reminder that the 2011 BMW MOA Mileage Contest ended on October 9th. The Mileage Contest Ending Form was provided in the October issue of the BMW Owners News, and can also be downloaded from the BMW MOA web site. Your form must be signed by two BMW MOA members in good standing, or by a club officer. If you need your form signed, contact me at ccbmwridersclub@gmail.com to make arrangements. All mileage forms must be mailed (postmarked) no later than November 14, 2011. Be sure to list our club on your Ending Mileage Form (we are Club #306, Coastal Carolina BMW Riders Club).
Club member Jerry McCumby passed along an interesting article, posted on a Miata car forum, about Deal's Gap.
http://forum.miata.net/vb/
This article discusses the 10-mile segment of U.S. 129 that stretches from U.S. Highway 411 to the Calderwood Dam,otherwise known as "the dragstrip to The Dragon." The Dragon is one of those roads that many motorcyclists believe has to be ridden at least once. If you have never visited The Dragon and Crossroads of Time store, it is worth a visit, but be aware of the law enforcement in the area. Also, being a U.S. highway, be aware of the potential for truck and RV traffic on this section of road.
GPS Tip-of-the-Month
In addition, Paul Winter, Jerry and Barb Dockery, and I attended Unrally X held in Little Switzerland, NC in August. You can also read my trip report about my Unrally ride with Paul.
2012 BMW RA Rally
10/31/11 Update: The BMW RA has now officially announced the 2012 National Rally will be held June 14-17, 2012, in Copper Mountain, Colorado. This information comes from Michael Johnston, the BM RA Chartered Club Coordinator. (So much for the previous "reliable rumor.")
2011 BMW MOA Mileage Contest
If you are a BMW MOA member, here is another reminder that the 2011 BMW MOA Mileage Contest ended on October 9th. The Mileage Contest Ending Form was provided in the October issue of the BMW Owners News, and can also be downloaded from the BMW MOA web site. Your form must be signed by two BMW MOA members in good standing, or by a club officer. If you need your form signed, contact me at ccbmwridersclub@gmail.com to make arrangements. All mileage forms must be mailed (postmarked) no later than November 14, 2011. Be sure to list our club on your Ending Mileage Form (we are Club #306, Coastal Carolina BMW Riders Club).
Article on Road Debris
I recently encountered an interesting article on the Motorcycle Sport Touring Association (MSTA) web site about group riding and whether or not, during group rides, riders should point out road debris to trailing riders in the group. The author cites an article by the late motorcycle safety instructor Lawrence Grodsky about pointing at road debris as you pass by (e.g., with your foot), presumably to help those following you. The author observes that in most of the cases he observed, the act of ‘pointing’ at some passing debris served to increase rather than decrease the hazard it represented.
Those of you who have joined me for one of our group rides have probably seen me, at one time or another, point to road debris to alert those following me to the potential hazard. However, during my riding years, I have never considered that doing so my actually be counter to the safety of those following me.
I am not saying that I agree or disagree with the author's views in the article, but it has caused me to reconsider the practice. So what do you think? Does the act of ‘pointing’ at passing debris serve to increase rather than decrease the hazard it represents? Post your thoughts as a comment to this newsletter.
Deal's Gap ArticleClub member Jerry McCumby passed along an interesting article, posted on a Miata car forum, about Deal's Gap.
http://forum.miata.net/vb/
This article discusses the 10-mile segment of U.S. 129 that stretches from U.S. Highway 411 to the Calderwood Dam,otherwise known as "the dragstrip to The Dragon." The Dragon is one of those roads that many motorcyclists believe has to be ridden at least once. If you have never visited The Dragon and Crossroads of Time store, it is worth a visit, but be aware of the law enforcement in the area. Also, being a U.S. highway, be aware of the potential for truck and RV traffic on this section of road.
GPS Tip-of-the-Month
I have recently begun making the transition from using Garmin's Mapsource program to their BaseCamp software. As I have previously mentioned, Garmin has announced their intention to discontinue development and upgrades of the Mapsource software and instead focus their future efforts on BaseCamp.
The PC version of BaseCamp is probably not as developed as it should be when the Garmin programmers decided to release the current version. BaseCamp manages your GPS data in a very different way compared to Mapsource,and learning its idiosyncrasies can be difficult.
A very helpful resource for learning BaseCamp (and one that I wished had been available to me when I made the transition) is a BaseCamp Wiki started by several members of the Garmin user forums. The Wiki moderators have assembled an outstanding tutorial to help the novice BaseCamp user get started. You can find this BaseCamp Wiki at http://garmin-mapsource.wikispaces.com/BaseCamp.
I encourage you to try the BaseCamp software. It has some interesting features and will continue to improve as Garmin release further upgrades.
2012 International Motorcycle Shows
The dates for the Progressive International Motorcycle Shows has be announced. The Washington, DC show is being held the weekend of January 13-15, 2012. The closest show for our area is moving from its previous location (Greenville, SC) to the Charlotte Convention Center on the weekend of February 24-26, 2012.
If you have never attended an International Motorcycle Show, you owe it to yourself to do so at least once. You find more information about these upcoming shows, including ticket information, at http://www.motorcycleshows.com.
BMW Scooters Coming
When I attended the 2011 International Cycle World in New York City earlier this year, in addition to the new K1600LT, BMW also had a new concept scooter on display. A few pictures of the scooter are posted in my Picasa photo album from that trip. We it appears that BMW plans to bring those scooters to market. Bob's BMW recently posted a short online article about these scooters. On will be powered with a standard gas engine, based on the F-series engine, while the other will be electric powered. You can briefly see the Concept e scooter in this Youtube video.
Video-of-the-Month
I end this month's newsletter with a link to an interesting video of three riders during their ride through the Hattah Desert in Australia. Who says a BMW R1200GS cannot be ridden like a dirt bike? I hope you enjoy watching this dirt riding demonstration.
See you next month. Until then, ride safe and ride far!
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