I have been wanting to start a blog page on here for sometime. I just never got around to it and never really had any random info to put in a blog. This year I am keeping track of every ride I do. This is not going to be ride reports just where I went, why and how many miles I rode that day. If I have something interesting to note about the ride I will. If there is a ride report associated to the ride I ill let you know. So, here goes.
MILES TO DATE: 18,191.2
January 1, 2012 - Rode up to Alta Sierra to visit with Rodger and Mary. Andrea rode with me. 112.8 miles.
January 2, 2012 - Rode the short Woody/Poso Rd. loop. 67.5 miles
January 7, 2012 - Rode Glennville Loop through Woody. 81.4 miles
January 9, 2012 - Rode out to Death Valley and had lunch. Weather was great. Left the house at 0800 and returned home at 1700. 467.1 miles
January 14, 2012 - Rode what I call the Caliente/Bodfish/Glennville loop. 150.3 miles
January 28, 2012 - I went out hunting the boni out in the desert for the Big Money Rally. 324.9 miles
January 29, 2012 - I went and bagged 3 more boni for the BMR up in the Glennville area. 98.7 miles
February 12, 2012 - I went and bagged 14 BMR boni over on the coast. 456.7 miles
February 18, 2012 - Andrea and I rode up to Modesto to visit with her Grandparents. 401.4 miles
February 20, 2012 - Rode the short Woody/Poso Rd. loop. 67.6 miles
February 26, 2012 - Andrea and I rode to Cayucos, CA for lunch and then went to the Jan Kris winery and picked up six bottles of vino. Stopped at the market in Lost Hills and bought some nuts and olives. 306.3 miles
March 04, 2012 - Andrea and I rode up to Modesto to check on the Grandparents. Changed up the route and went west to 33 and then rode it North until it ran out into I-5. Followed the GPS the rest of the way to Modesto. Added 20 miles to the trip and took the same amount of time. I was able to maintain a 69.9 moving MPH for the day. 423.2 miles
March 09, 2012 - Nice day so I had to ride! Glennville/Woody loop with a side trip down into Poso Flat looking for Boni. 91.2 miles
March 24, 2012 - Hard to believe I have not been on a ride in 15 days! Put new tires on the bike this morning at 37,288 miles. Never really kept track of how many miles I get out of a tire so here we go! After getting the wheels on I had to go scrub them up! My friend TJ just bought a F650GS so I got her to go for a ride. Her boyfriend Chris followed us in his Mustang Cobra and two GoPros rolling. We rode out old Hwy 58 to Bitterwater Road and took that over to 46. Went and had lunch at the Jack Ranch Cafe which is right where James Dean crashed and died. We came home via 46/33/58. We left around 0900 and I arrived home at 1342. Nice little ride. Radar detector 2, CHP 0.
181.5 miles
March 26, 2012 - I was supposed to do a Saddle Sore 1000 today with my friends Brad, Bobby and Shelly. I did not trust the weather as we were going to be going as far east as Ash Fork Arizona. I think I made the right call. We went and rode the Naciamento/Ferguson loop. Had a great time with everyone. The weather was great and traffic was light. There were two construction zones on Hwy 1 but that played out to be in our favor. Thanks everyone for a great day and a great ride! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! 384.5 miles
April 6, 2012 - Yup, first ride of April! Wonderful weather for riding here in Bako! I got off work and went for a fast one. Did the Glennville Woody Loop. 81.4 miles
April 7, 2012 - Got to get out there again today. The weather is great for riding. I went and collected 2 BMR Boni locations and scouted one for the DKC rally. 96.5 miles
April 12, 2012 - Rode to Morrow Bay with some Pashnit friends. On my way home I went head to head with a Pashnit Tour that was west bound on Old 58 just below the summit. Must have been 25 riders or so. Looked like Tim was leading. Pretty cool thing to see. I might have to do one of those tours.
270.1 miles
April 27th thru May 6th, 2012 - I left Bakersfield on Friday the 27th and headed for San Diego. I was collecting boni for the BMR and the TOH. On the 28th I rode in the LowCal250 and got 14th place. I spent the night in San Diego and headed north on Sunday again collecting boni for the BMR and TOH. I spent the night at home on the 29th and on the 30th headed out for more boni collecting. Went all the way to Weed Ca and back to the Sacramento area on the 30th. During the early morning hours of April 1st I finally called it a day and landed in a hotel someplace about 0130. Not really sure were I was at. I will figure it out when I write the ride report. I was asleep by 0200 and up at 0600 ready to collect my final boni for the BMR and TOH. Just as I was wrapping things up I got a call from Andrea who asked me to go to Modesto and check on her Grandfather as her Grandmother had just been taken to Hospice. I went and checked in on Buck and then headed home. I got home around 2200 hours or so. Next day Andrea heads to Modesto to take care of Buck and check in on Grandmother. Things are not good so at 1400 I head to Modesto again. I stay there with Andrea for a few days. On Saturday the 5th I head home to get some things for Andrea. I am back in Modesto by 1730 hours. On Sunday the 6th I head home at 1300 hours and arrive in Bakersfield at 1600 hours. I was basically on the road for 10 days. I did not ride for three of those days while I was in Modesto with Andrea. During the 7 days of riding I put 3620.0 miles on the clock. I will be putting a ride report or two together to cover these days of riding. I finished 2nd in the California TOH. The BMR ends this weekend in Minden NV. Not to sure if I am going to make it or not.
May 11th - I rode up to Modesto. Gramma is still in Hospice so it is a no go on the BMR finish.
199.7 miles
May 12th - Took Andrea for a ride up Hwy 104, Sonora Pass, in the afternoon. It was warm and she had not ridden in a while but I think she enjoyed seeing some new things.
201.4 miles
May 14th - Gramma died at 2330 hours on the 13th. Spent most of the day making arrangements for Gramma. I rode home that evening.
199.1 miles
May 20th - Rode up to Modesto with Andrea to check on Gramps. 404.0 miles
May 21st - Rode 33 over to Santa Barbara. Ya, I know 33 does'nt go to SB. You figure it out. I rode 33 today, over and back.!
304.2 miles
May 26th - Rode the Glennville/Woody loop. It was 56 degrees in Glennville! We are 5 days away from June!
84.3 miles
May 27th - Went on a ride with TJ and another rider Kevin Lackey. Kevin is a good rider on a Honda ST. He likes doing LD stuff. We rode the Canyon, around Lake Isabella and up to McNallys for a Hamburger. I headed home from there but they rode another 100 or so up over Sherman Pass out to 395 and back over Walker. Good day of riding.
181.4 miles
June 3rd - Rode the Glennville/Woody loop. Weather was cool.
84.1 miles
June 5th - Pulled the rear wheel off and I am replacing the rear tire. It probably had 1000 miles left on it but with the Cal24 this coming weekend I need more miles than that. This rear tire lasted 6,281 miles. Lasted less than 3 months. Sam at Valley Cycle told me I buy more tires than any other customer.
June 7th thu the 9th - Rode up to Gerlach Nevada for the start of the Cal24. Rode in the Cal24 which ended in San Jose Ca. I then rode home from San Jose.
1927.0 miles
June 23rd - Andrea and I rode over to the coast with another couple. We went to Cayucos and had lunch at Duckies Chowder House. We then went to the new Sextant Winery tasting room. The owner, Craig, was there and he took a minute to talk with us and gave the girls each a bottle of wine. That is going to be a very nice winery when they get it all put together. We then rode over to the Jan Kris winery and the girls did another tasting. I brought home 9 bottles of wine total. It is a good thing I have a big bike to haul that on. Had a great day of riding and hanging out!
273.8 miles
July 1st - Went on a little bit of a ride today. Left the house at 0600 and headed for Modesto with a 12 pack for Buck. Hung out there for about 30 minutes and then headed up and over Sonora Pass. Rode out to 395 and then north to Tioga Pass. Went all the way through Yosemite to the 41, out of Yosemite to the 99 and home. I arrived at the house at 1930 hours.
623.3 miles
July 7th - I went down to Valley Cycle to go on a lunch ride to Pismo with the local club. I was the only one able to go. Did not want to ride to the coast by myself today so I rode over Greenhorn Summit down to Lake Isabella and then south to Breckenridge Mountain. Up and over Breckenridge east to west and then home.
142.6 miles
July 20th - 23rd - End Of Days Zombie Apocalypse in Ely Nevada. My house to Ely Nevada is 520 miles. I then rode in the EODZA which was a 32 hour rally around Nevada and I rode 1626.3 miles. I then had another 520 mile ride home. Grand total for the weekend..........2666.3 I got a flat tire durning the rally and was running a really ragged rear tire for the rest of the weekend. The next morning it was flat on the stand. Lucky to have made it home!
August 24th - Took rear wheel down to Valley Cycle to get yet another rear tire. The last one I had mounted on June 5th. If you notice the dates, I have not ridden in a month! That is un-heard of! Well, I did go to Alaska and take a few day trips with Andrea during that time so it was well worth it! So, lets do some numbers on the tires. My front tire currently has 11,625 miles on it. That is a big number for one of my front tires! This rear I am having taken off today went 5344 miles! That is running one 24 hour rally in California and Nevada and then one 32 hour rally in Nevada with a plug in it! I am really suprised by the numbers I am getting with these Metzler Tourance tires.
August 27th - Have new tire, must ride! Having not been on the bike in a month I thought I would just do a nice day ride. Did my Sequoia loop which brings me back into the Visalia area via Hwy 245 which is a kick in the pants! I was suprised how out of "riding" shape I am after a month. After 256.5 miles I wanted off the bike. Usually I am just starting to think about where to get gas at that point. Guess I am going to have to ride some more!
September 2nd - Andrea and I rode over to Cayucos and visited with some of my family. Rode 58/41 over and then 46 home. 256.2 miles
September 3rd - I have officially started hunting bonus locations for the DKC200. 121.8 miles
September 17th - I had to put a new battery in the BMW today. The OEM battery lasted 49,800 miles. Not to bad for never being on a tender. I am going to use a tender with this battery and see if it makes any difference. After installing the new battery I went out and hunted more boni. 133.2 miles.
September 24th - I have been having some pretty bad shoulder pain for the last year or so and I have been trying to figure out what is causing it. I took my bar risers off today and went for a ride. Hmmm, no pain! Go figure that one! Come to think about it the shoulder problems started about the time I put the risers on! On this little ride the Red Barron turned 50,000 miles.
80.4 miles
October 1st - Went out bonus hunting for a bit. 122.0 miles
October 8th - Spent the day hunting bonus locations. 331.8 miles
October 13th - Spent a couple of hours hunting bonus locations. 120.6 miles
October 14th - Took Andrea up to Brekenridge Mountain to hunt for pine cones and acorns. 90.6 miles
October 20th - Rode in the BMWCOSC Park and Ride Rally. Finished in 2nd place. Really suprised me! 480.7 miles
October 21st - Went out bonus hunting for a couple of hours. 117.4 miles
October 28th - Spent the day bonus hunting. Should be the last time for the 2012. 380.0 miles
November 4th - Took Andrea for a ride up in the Twin Oaks area and had a picknick. 129.8 miles
November 5th - Bonus hunting again! 103.0 miles
November 8th - Bonus hunting for the last last last time this year!!! I rode 1930.6 miles in Kern County just hunting bonus locations. 290.6 miles
November and December - I forgot to add two rides and I cannot remember the dates; however, I do remember the miles. Andrea and I rode over and visited a couple of wineries that she likes. Hauled home 12 bottles of wine on the GS. That was 220.0 miles. In December I only rode one time and it was just a head clearing trip of the Glenville/Woody loop that I do, 81.0 miles.
Grand total for the year............18,191.2
