Jun 13, 2011
NOTE: This is the third in a series of articles following the preparation and eventual participation of Harold Grissom for this years Stampede ride.
Now that the bike is together, I’ll have about two months to work out the kinks on the Beemer. Two months is a lot better than a few hours to break it in (like the 2009 Stampede), but the scoot still needs to be rode hard in a short time. In the meantime, I’ll do all the little trivial things that have to be done (ie., fit the saddle bags, put raincaps on the exhaust, fit the bike with cameras, etc.). Let the break-in begin.
To start off, I wanted to go to the foothills and Georgia and camp with a bunch of BMW purists at David Woodburn’s place. David is a BMW guru that has traveled the world abound on his BMW. David puts on a BMW seminar once or twice a year for his friends. This was at a time when there was some terrible weather in the south. I couldn’t leave the house until the tornadoes passed. All I could do was try to run behind the storm. The Weather Channel and minute by minute radar is definitely your friend. I followed right behind the storms until I made it to his place. The bike made great time getting there and although I ran the snot out of it, there were very little issues. David and his lovely wife, Amy were great hosts as the BMW folks started to pile in as we camped, ate and stayed merry. I camped there a few nights and had to leave early Saturday morning so I could go to Dice Magazine and Garage Company Custom’s get together in Pelham, Alabama. In route I could see the damage of the tornadoes. Some paths were as much as a mile wide. I’ve never seen a mile wide tornado and hope I never do. The Garage Co. get-together was a blast. Larry and his comrades were great hosts and the party went off without a hitch. It was packed with some great scoots and everyone seemed to have a big time. I put gas in the bike on the north side of Birmingham before I headed home. Remarkably, I ran hard all the way back to the Mississippi Gulf Coast without getting gas. The only issue I ran into was that my jacket pocket came unzipped and my cell phone apparently went bouncing down the interstate somewhere between here and yonder (so if you want me to have your number, please send it via text or email because my phone book went from 450 to 0 in one regretful bounce down the highway).
On the second weekend of the break-in, Alyson was out of town so I got up and headed to Ocean Springs, Mississippi to eat breakfast at one of my favorite spots. The bike was still packed with tent, bedroll, tools, etc., and the more I thought about it….I sure was craving a caramel apple with nuts. Now where would I be able to get one of those rascals? I got it….Panama City Beach, Florida. OK, I’m game. So from breakfast in Ocean Springs, MS I took the scenic route to Panama City Beach, FL where I got me a big ole caramel apple. After working on the bike to deal with an oil leak and stretching clutch cable, I loaded up and came home.
On the third weekend I had planned on going to Ricky Lewis’ shop in Rainsville, Alabama (close to Fort Payne), for his customer appreciation day. Once again the weather was not cooperating. Tornadoes were ripping the south a new one. In order to get up there in time, I watched the radar and left the house at 2:00 a.m. and followed the tornadoes up. It was a very windy and somewhat wet ride, but it was tolerable. When I got there it was a lot of tornado damage everywhere. Sheila and Ricky were awesome hosts and I got to stay with them that night. They really know how to throw a party. They had a band, great food and good company. There were a lot of awesome bikes there. Adding to the collection was some of the bikes of Ricky’s son, Michael Lewis (who owns Violent Choppers), and he had some cool scoots there for all to see. I got to see Doug Wothke (Around The World Doug) and he is always a pleasure to hang with. His stories of his travels always amazes me. I have never (and probably never will) traveled around the world and to hear the stories of different cultures is intriguing to say the least.
On the fourth weekend I just went riding. Headed to Meridian, Mississippi where my folks live. Went to Seminary, Mississippi where R&C Cycles can be found. I basically just rode until the cows came home.
All in all, over the past four weekends I had put over 3,000 miles on the bike. I’ve learned a good bit about this bike in that amount of time. (1) the bike’s sweet spot is 79 mph (it will run here all day long without a strain), (2) the bike when fully loaded with tools, bedroll, tent, clothes, etc., and I run the bike around 85 mph, it gets about 29 mile per gallon. (3) the reserve on the 10 gallon Heinrich tank (on the backbone) gets me an extra 25-30 miles at 80 mph. Now I’m loaded with all the info I need to plan my race strategy (and it will be a good one). Based on this info, my strategy is to run the bike at about 80 mph until the tank on the backbone runs out. As it starts spitting and sputtering and is on it’s last squirts of petro, I’ll switch over to my 4 gallon auxillary tank and run the bike for an hour and forty five minutes and start looking for gas. If the auxillary tank runs out, then switch to my reserve on the main tank and that will give me an extra 25-30 miles to locate gas. Other than that, my strategy is to consistently stay on the bike, stay on the bike, stay on the bike. We’re only hours away from our departure from the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Alyson, Alex and Preston have big vacation plans from West to East, while I have my game face on for the Stampede. Next, the departure and venture west. Stay tuned.
