22 Miles in First Gear.

The Apache Loop, and certain stops along the way, are popular destination among Phoenician motorcyclists. Wanting to check it out ourselves we so we happened across an seeming reasonable local travel guide and borders and began using it to explore




Day Trips by Sheila Stein has a partiulary useful quality to this author. The trips dont require and planing, one just gets up and goes. The Wrench Wench and I were quite pleaesed this format because it fits our traveling style so well, One major detail this book has though is lack of detail, particularly in the area maps.. This has gotten us into an adventure situation a few times.

The following narrative is but one of those adventures.

This ride actually turned out to be an attempt to connect with one of the local BMW riding clubs. As these things often work out for us there was no real connection with the people. We did make an effort to go along with the plan though, but the ride captain for that day was too aggressive and I soon let us fall back and lose the crowd and then ride our own ride. This had two advantages, first, we could ride our own pace and enjoy it more. We got to turn down a road and play "where does that road go?" And in this case it was very, well interesting little exploration.

Following the group leader for the first part of the ride had put us well into The Apache Loop, or as it is known in the local vernacular, The Apache Trail Circle Road




Without the proper details on the map, we did make it to Roosevelt Dam, and we had to decide whether to go to some of the further possible destinations, or finish the Apache Loop.



Because we were both feeling a bit beat up that day we decided on the shorter route...which finishes the loop. Unbeknown to us the rest of the trail from Roosevelt Dam onward is 22 miles of fairly rough dirt road. And the lovely travel guide we had failed to mention this particular bit. Needless to say it was an interesting 22 miles.



There is a whole lot more story to tell here...but for now I hope this video keeps you entertained.

Thanks!

BMWeerman

Best of Road Show Podcast #2 - Horizons Unlimited

In 2006, during the early days of Road Show, we had the pleasure of first becoming acquainted with Grant and Susan Johnson. They are the creators of the world travel website Horizons Unlimited.

I have been impressed from our first talk about how positive they are. Mr. Johnson is particularly upbeat. Even when being held at gunpoint he remained nonplussed. His attitude is you just treat everybody like your next door neighbor and everything will be fine.

Just recently I had the chance to speak briefly to Johnson from Horizon's. Unlimited home base in London and asked him if world events, particularly the rise in energy prices was having an effect on world motorcycle travel. I was surprised when he answered no.

We told me that, overall, the cost of an around the world motorcycle trip had increase 10-15%. I do not know how he calculated that but he should know.



Grant Johnson astride the custom built "Beemerbago."

Also check out the Johnson's how to video "The Achievable Dream"

Micro-Adventuring

Yesterday was one of those perfect days for motorcycling, cool, but not too cool with the promise of warming up later. Unfortunately, I had "THINGS TO DO." It had been a long time since the right combination of available time, a running bike and my health had conspired to even make such a day possible. But I had, "THINGS TO DO."

I spent the morning and most of the afternoon in an agony of indecision..."should I stay or should I go?"

You know that eventually I had to go, even though it was getting late.

Just to the east of Bakersfield on SR58 there is a railroad service road known as Bena Road. It is isolated, fairly well-maintained, and has long straight sections, in other words the perfect motorcycle road however so short it may be.




Traveling east on SR58 I pull in the cluth and slow down to exit on Tower Line Road. A short hop over to Bena and then reign in the beast past the landfill. Just past the landfill Bena takes a turn to the north and drops off steeply into a shallow valley. Rounding the corner throttle up letting gravity and internal combustion do their work. Hit the bottom corner at close to triple digits then roll on the throttle the rest of the way. Having recently just been in the engine, can see in my minds eye the throttle bodies opening full and in concert with the fuel injection computer pump as much air and fuel into the cylinders as possible.

Being the technical marvel that that is it still just adds up to one thing. adrenaline.

Ride to redline and hold. Still no windshield on the FrankenBeemer - 125 MPH in the naked wind. Helmet straining at my neck wanting to take flight on its own. NOTHING and I mean NOTHING will focus ones attention like being responsible for half a ton of bike and rider on a road like this. The tiniest lapse of attention and a rock, pothole or unseen patch of sand could put you down. Attention does not lapse.

In the twisties now, throttle rolls back, downshift into the tall end of fourth, countersteer into the first long right. This is classic peg-scraper, can I go for it? NO! No Balls. Right leg seems to have a memories of its own and I hear it telling me to play it safe.

Next up a classic sweeper to the right, looks clear, press the bike into the turn. Right leg exposed to the pavement now, toes twitch for the rear brake as Frankbeemer edges out of the line I set. Press harder into the turn now overiding the cellular feedback from my ankle.

At last the sound of tortured metal and sparks in my rear view mirror. Better.

FrankenBeemer begins to sense I am coming back and responds, the old confidence starts to flow back. Ascending hairpins coming up. Remembering the advice of master race coach Keith Code I feather the front brake only, slowing just enough to bring the lean angle of the bike up enough to stay in my lane. Yes this is good, we do the third gear dance.

Then anger...

There are blind corners on this road where if one blows the turn one will be launched into space. They are all marked by signs, but some freakin' morons have tagged up the sign. It's a NAVIGATION sign you idiots not gang territory...then gratitude I don't have to teach anymore.

Near the top of the hill I pull in the brakes hard and decide to turn off onto Caliente-Bodfish road.



Because this is a railroad service road it more or less follow the track of the Tehachapi Railroad as it ascends into the Tehachapi Mountains. (Geez that is brilliant)





As you can see one of the many very interesting looking tunnels that populate this route is located here as well.





As you can see here though the little buggers were ahead of me again!

Podcasting and the Changing Face of the Media

It is no secret that pod casting is changing the face of the independent and established media alike. Originally embraced by the tech-savvy few who were interested in what each other had to say and had the knowledge to configure their feed aggregators, the technology is now mainstream.

Just take a look at the splash page for iTunes pod cast directory. What was recently devoted to high-quality independent content now sports names like BBC, NPR,C/Net, and the list goes on. On the surface this looks like bad news to independent content providers, but there are actually two pieces of good news here.

First, unlike the bad old days when the FCC chopped up the electromagnetic spectrum and handed out frequencies and licenses to their cronies and a few other lucky folks, the Internet is not bound by the same set of scientific limitations. There is as much room for content as there is bandwidth.

A corollary to the above example is the cost of involvement. Just the equipment alone to start a new radio station is enough to bankrupt a small country. However, to pod cast all you need is a mike, a computer and an internet connection.

Good news number two. There are still a lot of the large publishing companies out there who recognize the need to get aboard this this technological bandwagon. But, many of them simply do not know how. That, my friend, is where you come in.

Offer your services, offer your studio, it has been known to turn into a full-time job for some.

What a deal for the the big stake-holders too. They can launch themselves into what will soon be a very lucrative media stream, increase their subscriber base, and join the 21st century for the cost of one employee. They do not even have to train you. To me that just seems like a deal made in heaven for everybody.

The only thing I can see that we are doing wrong right now as pod casters is presenting ourself in the wrong light. If we want to get into business, let's act like we are in business. Get a business license, trade in that t-shirt for a polo (no pink please), and for god's sake buy some new shoes!

Let's go get 'em

Cameron Weckerley

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