It's the first attempt for both riders. Charlie and Bo, both have been into that long distance stuff for a while.
I met them both through the Motorcycle Tourers Forum which is an Ant Hill of long distance ride enthusiasts.
While I seriously doubt my qualifications as a sideline reporter, I did find some things interesting about their approach to the Rally. From the outside it looks like they are contrasts in style.
Both guys are riding BMW's. Both riding without a network of support teams, and both told me the goal is just to finish and to place well. From there though, there is some humor in the their differences (funny to only us MC people I'll bet).
Bo is riding a BMW 1200 Adventure... Charlie a BMW 1200 RT.
Bo's riding with a stock fuel tank/system... Charlie has an Aux tank.
Bo has been doing practice runs all over the country, Colorado, Tennessee and such, while Charlie admits he hasn't done any ride training.
Bo has 2 GPS's and one computer... Charlie came from the Department of Redundancy Department and has 3 GPS's, multiple cameras, and 3 cell phones!
The kicker for Charlie and maybe no so funny to us BMW riders... is he's carrying a spare Final Drive complete with a vial of pre-measure FD lube!
Too much!
Both Bo and Charlie are great guys. I hope everyone gets the chance to meet and talk to them some day. You'd find the experience interesting.
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