SANTA BARBARA BMW RIDERS, INC.

Charter No. 165

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MARCH 2000 NEWSLETTER

John W. White

EDITOR'S COLUMN

"I saida hold on babe, don't cha know it's rainin' outside" SAVOY BROWN

Get enough rain yet?

Riding is now coming back to me, there is a break in the rainy weather and I’m out on the blacktop once again, watch out!

The above photo was taken in Ouray, Colorado (on the Southwest Trip, yes, mentioned once more, sorry Jim) and I’m talkin’ to the Bear asking him about the road south over the summit. The grunt response was to put the rain gear on and to give him a ride to the nearest forest, (pulling him behind the bike, of course).

At the last meeting there was an excellent annotated video of the Paris to Dakar to Cairo Ralley, (thanks Jim! )and in this issue there is a nice re-cap from BMW’s perspective, 1,2,3,and 4. We also have a photo of the the new F, for Fun, 650.

Tom Reiderer has given us a story of motorcycles, moons and water. What did you do for the finality of the old century?

Mike the Prez, and Dibble Hoyt have contributed some great digital photos of their annual trip to Baja, Mexico-what a fun time that group had.

There was a Board Meeting last week, and according to the survey, we will essentially continue what the Club has been doing. Please attend the next meeting to pick the slate for elections (current Board has stated they want another go at it) and choose your monthly ride. A new position has been created, Membership Chairman, with Dan Franier being nominated. By the way Dan, how is the Club day at the track shaping up? Dues were also discussed, (only 17 have paid), please send or bring the $15.00 in, it helps run the paper and Club activities.

The Club web page needs a volunteer to “kick it up” to a new level, how about it?

This is Dave Keirs’ last meeting with us and then it’s back to New Hampshire, wish him well and welcome new member Dagmar who rides an F650 and is a native of Deutschland, Tag Dagmar!

Coming next month: Guest Speaker Ed Vernon on Missions of Mexico. See Calendar for other interesting things, riding season is here!

Enjoy this issue, see you at the next meeting on April 17, 2000 !

John

 

Mike McQuiggan ?? El Bandito!

PRESIDENT'S NOTES

I recently returned from a wonderful short holiday in San Gonzaga Bay in Baja, California. Lots of great motorcycling and watched Tom bring his beemer to its limits.

I kept turning around while riding my xr to see Tom smiling and storming his gs up some unbelievable harsh terrain. (In the collage is a photo of Tom and in his hands you’ll see a good sized rock. The rock was being used to straighten the rear rim of his GS after hitting a large boulder which squared it. Rumor has it that there are “TR’S” {Tom’s Rocks} out there gunning for Tom. Unfortunately this last one split his rim and he is looking for a replacement, his contact info is located on the last page., ed.)

Clockwise from left into a corkscrew: Casper, Don, Rivit the traveling dog, Diane, Dibble, Tom in the mirror, Mike the bandit kissing senorita, Steve, Kelley and Charles

Elections are coming up and we encourage new candidates and have openings for all positions. Please help your club through the new millennium.

Thanks to all who responded to the recent survey, its clear the meetings will continue and we should have more frequent club events.

The recent rains and current sunshine means time to go riding! See you at the next meeting.

Survey Results out of 12 responses:

MEETINGS- Sizzler,7; Ride Destination,2; Every other at Sizzler,1; Trade off ea. month, SB and VA,1 and Meet at a Campout 1.

RIDES- Rotate between all members, 8; Keep sign up sheet as it exists,4

SEASONAL- Keep all Events,11; Keep all and drop Pig Roast,1 (was that you Doug?)

-- Mike McQuiggan

Third Moon's a Charm

by Tom Reiderer

It was billed as the biggest, brightest full moon of the last century and then some. The moon was going to be full just before Christmas ‘99 so we needed to do something unique to remember it by.

McQuiggan suggested a full moon dirt bike ride to Pendola’s Little Caliente Hot Springs, in the back country behind the Front Range of the mountains. Sounded good to me – it’s a ride we’ve done dozens of times in good weather and bad, on bikes and in trucks, in summer and winter (whatever “winter” means here in SB), but never at night.

It’s a great spot to sit and soak in some muddy, smelly, hot water while solving all the world’s problems. The road should be good since the autumn drought was happening. A non-BMW bud, Glenn Wensloff, agreed to join us on his Suzuki 350. Mike’s lovely wife, Latifa, would also go along, doubling up with Mike and keeping the boys on reasonably decent behavior. OK – meet at Tom’s house Wednesday at 6 and we’ll be off. My usually trusty, studly steed “El Toro Bravo” (’91 Bumblebee GS) was ill with centrifugal advance woes (since fixed but then I trashed a rim in Baja last week…waaaaa!) so Mike loaned me his Honda XR400. It should be simple to ride on the good dirt road.

Wednesday came and I had the bike gassed up and ready to roll. Mike and Latifa showed up at 6, also ready. Where’s Glenn??? We waited and waited and I finally called. “He’s on his way,” said his wife Kathy, so we went back to waiting. About 6:30 the moon started coming up. So much for the back-country moon rise, we thought. Its brilliance did, however, live up to its big-time billing. It was beautiful!

I had another couple puffs on a Te-Amo (a nice cigar, for you non-aficionados) and, sure enough, here comes Glenn. Off we went in the darkness, down Mission Canyon, around Rattlesnake Canyon and snaking up Gibraltar Road. Gibraltar was its typically-paved-but- trashed self, as usual, and the little 400 zipped up the switchbacks easily, though I would have preferred the Steed. We rounded the hairpin at the corner of El Camino Cielo and put-putted up the pavement.

Rounding the last uphill corner we came into full view of… …the brightest moon of the Century, again! Oh Yeah – that’s why we’re here. We were down in canyons ever since we left my house and this was the first we’d seen the moon on the road. Now the pavement ends but the road is well lit by the Monster Moon. Twisting carefully down through the dusty dust we made our way to Juncal Campground and the river crossing. Mike had to stop so Tif could take some sea-sickness medicine (imagine sitting on a bike behind someone twice your size down a bouncy dirt road in the dark!) while Glenn and I blasted on.

We past the Pendola Ranger Station road and kept put-putting. The smaller dirt road up to the Hot Springs was much more rutted and rocky than the main road but far from the worst I’d seen it. We got to the parking spot and doffed our brain-buckets, exoskeletons and monster-mashers. Mike and Tif showed up shortly and we walked down into the steep, dark canyon with our little picnic. The only other humanoid around was a cowboy soaking in the upper pool. We put on our Birthday Suits and jumped into the lower pool.

It was dark in the canyon. We got in and sat down and said “yeahhhhhhh.” Just then the moon came up over the ridge. The third moon rise of the biggest moon of the Century! I think we’ll remember this trip

GET 'EM WHILE HOT

by Secretary Doug Haigh

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These shirts are high quality cotton with the famous

SB BMW Club Logo.

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(2) Medium (40)
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Don't Delay. Call your Treasurer Today. 805/687-8997

Sensationally exciting as a Sleep Shirt

ALSO FROM THE TREASURER:

Every year some think that it is hardly worth a 33 cent stamp to send our modest dues of $15. so they forget about it and have to be bugged. Some don't remember later that they sent in their dues and then contribute again. COUNT ON THIS: if our tight-fisted Treasurer, Dough Haigh, gets his hands on more than one check from anyone, it goes into the kitty and stays there. So, make it easy on yourself- send it in now and remember that you did. Please bring your dues to the next meeting. It is such a bargain in return, the great newsletter to keep you up to date on what's happening, the pic-nic and campouts, and don't forget about my great jokes!