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Pics of the rider

Ok....here you go.

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Excellent shot!
 
I'm the little guy on the right. In front of the Barber Mortorsport Museum 6/11.

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Me on the dragon a few weeks ago. The "Artsy" version.... See avatar for original shot.

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Stopping for lunch on the way to Urique,Copper Canyon MX..riding an ATK 604
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Mike Green
 
OK here is the worst one I could find

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bustin a move :mrgreen:
 
Me, the evening after a get off at 70mph and sliding face down on a chip sealed road...
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Beth at the first Pie Run, and Sarah (our first) six weeks old...
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Will "birdwh" Bird on his new ZRX 1100. Me on a 92 Nighthawk 750 and her on a 96 Virago 535 Special, our first bikes. I got the Nighthawk from Will at the special friend price :thumb: That is what started all this insanity... :doh:
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Close up of the Nighthawk and Virago
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Another of the guys that provided the friendly "push" to get us into riding, Brian Jones on an old Yamaha 600 of some kind. Brian, Will and I go wayyyy back... This was somewhere out on FM 337 on Y2K New Years day. We had the whole place to ourselves!! It also convinced me I needed a better bike... and the insanity continues... :giveup:
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The Nighthawk gets sold to Brian's nephew and enter the 1998 VFR 800, bought new and promptly set up for doing trips!
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:tab I get a new bike... Beth needs a new bike... a precedent of things to come...

Beth's 1999 Triumph Legend 900 at the Tn end of Deal's Gap, NC.
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Ready to head out on our first BIG trip across the country to North Carolina
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:tab Unfortunately, Beth had a mild get off and her bike was not rideable. However, we had just spent the last few days riding with a messload of other Triumph folks for a rally and several were from the Dallas area. So one voluntered his spot on the truck for her bike and he rode back with me! It was in the mid 50's and raining for the first half of the day as we rode over the Cherohala Skyway into Tellico Plains. It was one of the most memorable rides I've ever done!

Even load down like this, the VFR rocked through the twisties!
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My riding buddy's Triumph Sprint ST
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:tab Riding in North Carolina and surrounding states got under my skin. I've made quite a few trips out there since, for street and DS riding. It has never failed to deliver on the goods!! Beth's bike was fixed, but during this trip, Beth got to ride a friend's Triumph Sprint ST and she decided she needed a bike that was sportier than the Legend. Enter the 2001 SV 650 S. At this point, Beth still has the Virago and the Legend. She has THREE bikes and I have one... Something is not right here :scratch:

Here it is set up for traveling, posed atop US 191 in Eastern Arizona
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:tab I did manage to sell the Virago shortly after she got the SV 650 and get her back down to a much more reasonable two bikes :roll: But then, JUST before the Colorado trip where that pic above was taken, I had my first ever drop on the 98 VFR 800 while riding in Arkansas. Somehow I managed to convince Beth to let me buy a new 2001 VFR 800 and we'd convert the 98 VFR to OEM blue and it would be her bike. She actually fell for it!! :lol2: But then she had three bikes again... wait... :brainsnap

So here is the new 01 poised atop the Grand Mesa in Colorado, just outside Grand Junction
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and both together near the South Rim of the Grand Canyon,
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:tab After this trip, it was time to get the 98 VFR back in shape... New full TwoBro Titanium cannister and Stainless headers. Power Commander II with custom map. Heated grips. Luggage. Stripped wheel rims... BLING! :cool2:

Somewhere on an overlook on 1431 West of Marble Falls
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:tab Well, the 98 became Beth's ride, I had the 01, and we racked up the miles in the next few years. The SV 650 sold quick but not the Legend. We finally took a beating and sold the Legend. We were finally back down to one bike each. By the time we sold them, the 98 had 60K miles on it and the 01 had 47K on it. Beth accounted for about 20K of those miles and the rest were from me between Jan 2000 and about March of 2004. All those miles on the street and I was itching for something different...

:tab Enter the REAL addiction... dualsport riding :rider:

:tab After five years of trying to start a family and having three miscarriages, I had given up and decided to fly out to Colorado to ride home on my next bike...

2001 BMW R1150 GS - Bought in March 04 with 10K miles on it
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:tab Two days later we found out Beth was pregnant with Sarah... If I had known that all I had to do was fly out of state and drop a boat load of cash on a bike to get the family going, I would have done that years before and saved a lot on Doc fees :doh:

I had some... uhhh... "good times" on the GS :flip:

First trip to Big Bend... it RAINED the night before :doh:
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I didn't learn my lesson about the GS and mud the first time...
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Or the second... :doh:
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And then somewhere out on FM 337 just West of Leakey... :tears:
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:tab I got the final drive fixed, thankfully under warranty, and then I got knobbies :mrgreen:

The next DS trip...
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:tab Apparently a lack of knobbies wasn't my problem... :eek2:

On top of some mountain somewhere West of Telluride, Colorado.
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A quick flip and it was back to riding... With a few "scars"...
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Later that same day on Scotch Creek Rd. in SW Colorado
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The next day on Engineer's Pass, a great day!
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The next day was not so good... I had a NASTY highside :flip: Yes... That is a patch on a hole that was ground through the valve cover... :huh2: I did not look much better :twitch:
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:tab So after the Colorado trip and getting a $7000 repair estimate on the GS :eek2: :eek2: I decided I needed a better bike if I was gonna be doing this kind of riding... Bill "Wasabi" Joye had loaned me his KLR 650 while he was recovering from foot surgery. So I got to shopping and found a nice one in Dallas, bought it and rode it to the South side of Dallas to a friends house to spend the night.

I barely made it to his place and found out I had a flat... :-?
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:tab Undaunted, I got it fixed late that night, ironically by loading up the wheel and heading over to Wasabi's house in Arlington since he had tools and a spare tube. What are good friend's for!? :thumb:

Gratuitous Wasabi pic at a maintenance day at our place
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Right way, I knew I was gonna have some serious fun on this bike :clap:
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A cold March day near Clayton, Oklahoma
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Yes... there is a road there... Somewhere NW of Clarksville, Ar.
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:tab In August of 2006, Daniel was born. Time to sell my beloved GS and hang on to the KLR :tears: So now I am down to just the KLR. Both VFRs have been gone since Sarah was born in Dec of 04. In Oct of 06, just a few months after Daniel arrived, we borrowed a friend's ST1300 and Beth and I took off for a long weekend to Southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas. The photo from the very beginning of this thread was from the last day of that trip... :huh2: We hydroplaned going in a straight line :giveup: I did have his bike on MY insurance with full coverage :deal: By this time, Beth pretty much stopped riding just because of time demands with the kids and much of my riding focused on commuting and the occasional trip.

Enough to make you cry... :-|
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Anyway... getting back to the KLR...

Somewhere in the desert in Mexico, SW of Del Rio...
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Around Midnight that same day... Yes... it was a LONG day!!
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Mexico was awesome and I cannot wait for a chance to go back :dude:

This time the desert is in Arizona and it is HOT!!
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Camped near a river when it became apparent we were going to be here a wee bit longer than we had planned...
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Yes... it WAS that brutal the next day as we tried to find a way out :giveup:
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Our salvation arrived a day and a half later... The water was pretty deep and moving FAST!
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Things rarely go as planned... :roll:
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:tab I was having a great time trying to kill myself and the KLR, but I really started missing street riding and the KLR fell a bit short in that department. Things were going well so I decided to keep the KLR and I got a smoking deal on a nicely setup 04 Vstrom 650 in Sept 07.

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And I promptly took it to Arkansas and Missouri for some fun :rider:
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Getting RaceTech fork springs at maintenance day in Mansfield...
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:tab The Strom is a great bike. It complimented the KLR nicely. It was setup really well for touring. However, in Aug of 08, Rachel was born. My riding time had pretty been reduced to commuting when I could, the random Pie Run, and maybe one trip a year. I went from an average of 25K miles per year before the kids to about 5-8K miles per year now. All in all, not a bad trade :-P I continued doing some great trips on the KLR.

Big Bend again... near Moon Valley
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On Black Gap Road, shortly before shedding the left foot peg on River Road (someone from TWT later found it and mailed it back to me :clap:)
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Getting people lost in the Hill Country during one of Trail Boss's Junction rides
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Losing in a head on collision with an ATV on MY side of the road :angryfire (I was okay).
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Sarah and Daniel began helping me maintain the bike...
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The KLR has struggled with Narcolepsy over the years... :wary: Black Gap Road again...
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I just have this "thing" for "roads" in Arkansas... :shrug:
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It was STEEP! I slid backward quite a ways before I was able to get it stopped after stopping for a downed tree... Had to put a BIG rock under the back wheel to keep it in place.
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Another nice Arkansas road
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A common event on DS rides
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:tab Remember me mentioning that I wanted to go back to Mexico...? Well, in Oct of 09 I was getting all set for a trip down with Trail Boss to do his MexTrek event. I spent weeks getting the KLR all in tip top shape: new brakes, new brake fluid, new tires and tubes, new chain and sprockets, a fresh tune up, blah blah blah... So one Friday, the week before the trip, I rode the bike to work to make sure everything was good to go. I hit a deer on the way home from work and broke my ankle, requiring surgery :doh: Three years in a row I had been thwarted from attending this event by some unexpected circumstances the week before the trip... Maybe someone was trying to tell me something... :ponder:

:tab Well, the ankle eventually healed and my foot finally fit back into the boot around the end of January. Still though, the ankle was not real strong so I did not do much serious riding in the dirt until late in the Spring. Once again I was trying to make a MexTrek trip. This one would be in May. However, violence along the border was escalating and I finally decided to bail, as did a few other riders. They urged me to put together an alternative trip to Cloudcroft, New Mexico on the spur of the moment... No problemo :-P

I swear this thing picks the darndest times to nap :doh: :shrug: Exploring and ATV route South of Cloudcroft, NM.
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Yes... it is rocky and crazy STEEP!
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Which apparently makes the bike get tired again only moments later... :huh2:
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Riding East of Ruidoso, NM
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:tab Well, as much fun as I was having with the KLR and as much as I liked the Vstrom 650, I was REALLY missing the R1150GS. A deal showed up on the TWT site and I jumped, selling the Strom to Kommadore Obvious (Soozy's daughter) here on TWT and bought this... :trust:

05 R1200 GS with about 39K miles on it, Ohlins front and rear.
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I don't use this bike as a DS bike. I promised Beth I would take care of it ;-) I do keep it on the pavement and simple dirt/gravel roads, saving the KLR for the REAL fun!

Back to Colorado :dude:
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The KLR often plays the PackMule support vehicle role on these rides :-P
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The infamous "Steps" on Black Bear Pass... YES!! It is freaking steep and terrifying :lol2:
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Resting near the Power House and Bridal Veil Falls after clearing Black Bear Pass just East of Telluride
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The roads in Colorado are just incredible...
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:tab Oh yeah... remember that 1200 GS...?? I found room for it on the trailer :mrgreen: So I spent the last day of the Colorado trip riding solo on some of my favorite roads :rider:

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:tab Unfortunately, circumstances have not favored me doing any trips as of yet for 2011. I never intended for this post to get anywhere near this long, and I left out a TON of stuff! I just got going down memory lane and thinking of all the great rides, events, trips, maintenance days, etc,... that I have done since I started the site back in Feb of 2003 with a handful of email addresses for some riding friends. I have met some of the greatest folks as a result and had some fantastic experiences with them. I feel VERY fortunate and privileged to have met and ridden with so many of them. I look forward to many more years of riding with the long time friends and new ones as well!
 
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Here is me the day I got my Connie last year. I have less hair now... pretty buzz cut.

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Dad on the left, a buddy in the middle, and I'm on the right.
 
The wife snapped a shot after I shaved my head
 

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In the middle with Rusty and red Brown last year's Beyond Epic..

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Camping in Davis Mts State park. 95 degrees during the day, 45 degrees at night. The cold made the coffee taste better!
 

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Dang... I was hoping to inspire people to post up a bit more... :lol2: Show us your bikes, give us your story, etc,...
 
a ride report on ADV has a great shot that for once shows how steep something is. Black Bear..

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:tab It was a bit intimidating when it got to be my turn to start down. I looked down to that last corner where you make it or go off the mountain and there were several people standing there with cameras waiting... That's usually a sign of things to come... :wary:
 
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