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So, where did you ride your F800 today? :)

627K views 915 replies 99 participants last post by  SteveT 
#1 · (Edited)
Consider this a thread not for globe-circling tours or death-defying achievements, but just reports of little throwaway day rides that we do because we like to ride F800s. 30 mile coffee runs, trips through a forest, a visit to a shop or beach for fun. Try to include a pic, location, miles, condition. If you've done something major, do a separate post.

Here's a small ride I did yesterday-- Pinner to Leatherhead in the UK, to visit a GetGeared motorcycle shop. 70 miles round trip. 50 miles up and back on the M25. Pic:



A few notes-- the ride was fun for me, because I needed cleaning supplies (SDoc100, ACF 50. visor and helmet cloths) and this was the first time I tossed the Vario panniers back on the F700 since the day I drove her home. GetGeared has good ratings as a shop, but I was a little underwhelmed by their selection, and it didn't seem like anything was on sale (like I hoped it would be). I believe the Infinity Motorcycles shop in London (Great Portland Street) is better, at least in terms of selection and some sale prices. Before spring, I'd like a pair of kevlar jeans...

One thing about the ride-- the M25 was windy going down, but the tail wind coming back made it an entirely different ride. There was still frost on some of the small, neighborhood roads to look out for. Shop guys were nice-- one asked about how I liked my Helite vest. I need recommendations for cool gear shops within decent driving distance.

Okay, that's a throwaway ride. So, where did your 800 today?

UKRider

p.s. Happy new year to everyone. Now I'm off to take my daughter out for dinner.
 
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#604 ·
Despite having an F700GS, I'll bite. Spent the past week in upstate New York, based out of Lake George, for the BMWST "Unrally" which alternates between east and west of the Mississippi river. The Adirondacks offer nice riding opportunities. Highlights in ~1000 miles included taking the oldest ferry in the USA from Vermont to New York, and a ride to the top of Whiteface Mountain, which offers spectacular views - on a clear day you can see all the way to Canada.

Cloud Sky Mountain Plant Bedrock


Sky Cloud Water Plant Asphalt


Sky Water Boat Fence Flag of the united states
 
#606 ·
I have ridden to each for thise spots myself. Would love tp get back up that way.

Despite having an F700GS, I'll bite. Spent the past week in upstate New York, based out of Lake George, for the BMWST "Unrally" which alternates between east and west of the Mississippi river. The Adirondacks offer nice riding opportunities. Highlights in ~1000 miles included taking the oldest ferry in the USA from Vermont to New York, and a ride to the top of Whiteface Mountain, which offers spectacular views - on a clear day you can see all the way to Canada.

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#605 ·
No pics today but did about 190 miles - going into NY State around Harriman Park area. Weather was beautiful and hit some nice technical roads.
 
#607 ·
High Bridge Road is a favorite of mine, and many other riders. It skirts along the base of a ridge line and a farming valley. Today, I took it farther than I ever have before, then headed toward the foothills to the east to a place called Langlois Lake.





I always like this part. The curves. The green. And today with a lot of people either out of town, and early enough in the day to miss any commuter traffic...the road was wide open. :)








When I got to Langlois Lake, I found a small hidden lake. Really a gem, in the middle of the sprawling metropolis of the Greater Seattle area. All I could hear was the sound of birds. No traffic. It was wonderful.


Obligatory bike photo. (Don't worry, there's more.)



I helped this guy carry his inflatable pontoon boat to the water. He offered to take my picture, so...





On the way home, I stopped at the town of Carnation...and Carnation Farms. If you live in the area, you've probably seen Carnation milk in the stores. Well, this is where it comes from.








This was their prize-winning cow...the top image, not the bottom one.





It was a wonderful ride. No traffic. Good roads. Good views. And a place that I'd never been to before.


Chris
 
#608 ·
I was going to ride with a friend today to Mt. Rainier, but he dropped a brick on his thumb and besides the pain, he couldn't get a glove on it. So rather than brave the traffic down south, I headed north to one of my favorite locations, Artist Point on Mt. Baker.

Heading north on Hwy 9. This used to be the main highway to British Columbia before I-5.





The ride up Hwy 9 is sweet. Valleys with some high hills rising on each side, probably a result of glaciers coming through here a long time ago. As you get farther on Hwy 542, the Mt. Baker Highway, the curves get tighter and more frequent. Unfortunately, either my suspension is getting worn out, or the frost heaves are getting deeper and more frequent. I had a Ducati rider catch up and pass me. After about a minute, I let him go. I chose to enjoy the scenery and not the "race course".

As you get closer, not only does the road get more technical, but the views open up.







There's no shoulder, so you need to decide whether to pay attention to the road, or the scenery. You can't go fast on these roads and look around.







We didn't get much snow here this year. The major snowfall went south to Oregon and nothern California. But the world record for the most snowfall was set here at Mt. Baker in 1988-89, with 1140 inches or 95 feet of snow.



i find something so incredibly...dumb. Every time I'm up at Artist Point, I see bicyclists and motorcyclists ride up to Artist Point. Maybe...ride or walk around the parking lot...and then head down hill and home. They miss so much.

There is no other place in the Cascade mountains that I know of, where you can drive/ride to the top of a high alpine ridgeline and then hike from there with only about 25 feet of elevation gain. There's a trail that heads towards Mt. Shuksan on the far end of the parking lot. Another trail heads off towards Mt. Baker. After getting out of the parking lot, both are relatively level. The pictures below are on the first trail leading towards views of Mt. Shuksan. Today was a brief window between a weather system that just passed, and another headed in Tuesday evening. So until I got ready to leave, both Mt. Shuksan and Mt. Baker were shrouded in clouds. Still, I think it was beautiful.

Mt. Baker is somewhere in those clouds...













Down in the bottom right is a tight 180 degree turn where your biggest concern is to not stall your bike. Forget the speed limit.





Zoomed in to show Mt. Baker in the clouds.





I stopped here to eat my lunch.



I might make this the background wallpaper on my phone.



This picture has an interesting effect that I hadn't planned. From the bottom, you have a curve in the windscreen. then a different curve in the pavement. Then the curve of the snow. Then the curve of the road.



On the way down.







At the end of the day, the clouds started revealing Mt. Shuksan.



I keep coming back here. The roads are great. The scenery is jaw-dropping. I can't get a combination of the two anywhere else nearby.

Chris
 
#610 ·
Rode down to Winlock, WA on Tuesday to meet up with a friend who just sold his home in Seattle and moved to where there's no traffic. I envy him. :) Left on Wednesday and headed east on Hwy 122 past Mayfield Lake and then northeast through the southern portion of Mt. Rainier National Park. Kept going east to Yakima and rode north through the Yakima River Canyon. Then headed north and west to Lake Easton where we camped overnight. Lastly, home on Thursday after a nice relaxing breakfast at a local diner.

Some pics (to prove it really happened! ;) )

The route.

Map Parallel Atlas Screenshot Terrestrial plant


Mayfield Lake



Mt. Adams in the background.



Heading toward Mt. Rainier





Mt. Rainier in the clouds.



I love signs like this one.



We stopped at Lake Tipsoo for a snack. The wildflowers were in bloom.





Lake Tipsoo





Yakima River Canyon. This road is a real revenue producer. The speed limit is 45 mph...but it begs for 65 mph. I saw three LEOs on this trip.













Lake Easton



Doug, my riding partner.



That's the dam in the background at Lake Easton. The river is the Yakima River.



In the lower right corner, you can see the edge of the cliff I was standing next to. Luckily, I had brought a flashlight, because the light was gone in a few minutes after this.



Our campsite.



This was hiding behind the sign for the diner we ate breakfast at. Per the diner owner, the woman who owned it was restoring it and staying in one of the rooms there.



Chris
 
#612 ·
Hi Friends,

Last Wednesday, when temperatures here in the UK reached 33C (something we are not used to) I took a trip of 235 miles, enjoying fish and chips in Hunstanton, up on the Norfolk coast, and returning via Kings Lynn on the edge of The Wash, and back to Rugby, my starting place.

F800R ran beautifully, although towards the end my backside was getting a little numb!

Best wishes,

Rob.

Ecoregion Map World Atlas Font
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#614 ·
Top of Mt. Washington for the sunrise this morning. New Hampshire, USA. They only let vehicles up it for the sunrise 3 times a year. It's a scary drive climbing 4,618 ft in 7.6 miles (average of 11.6%) in the dark. There are no guard rails and one mile of it is gravel/dirt.


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#616 ·
I scheduled this weekend back in early Spring. Had my hotel booked and time off from work. However, I then had a wedding invitation and needed to attend - so trip cancelled. As they say, 'there's always next year."

Thnks for the photo. How was the crowd? Many folks lined up or relatively relaxed?
 
#617 · (Edited)
This retirement gig is really tough ya know... Just last week I woke up to a dilemma. Mow the back yard before it gets hot or take a ride up Hwy 410 to Chinook Pass. The cheeseburger, fries and shake I had at Wally's in Buckley (a real drive in) for lunch on the way home tasted really great! No pics though. Bike is still 'naked' and no place for a camera. Tank bag is next on my shopping list.
 
#621 ·
It was a bank holiday in the UK today and the weather was forecast to be particularly warm with 33c expected. With this in mind we set off early this morning to Lincoln to visit the RAF Bomber Command Memorial and pay respect to the memory of a deceased family member.

The plan being to visit or pass close to the site of as many of the WW2 RAF and American air bases that were operating in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire using no more than a tank full of fuel for the trip.

Managed 205 miles with out running dry and we stopped at or passed :-

Bracebridge Heath
Diggby
Cranwell
Anwick
Holbeach
Market Deeping
Glatton
Alconbury
Bourne
Gravely

Ending up in the Chapel of the American Cemetery in Cambridge.*

A good day's ride and a great way to say farewell to my current F8GT before I exchange her for another this coming weekend.

*I've attached a few pictures below for those who may be interested.


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#622 ·
I've been out quite a bit recently. :) I'm now on my second set of tires this summer. [:0]

Here's just a couple photos. I'll post ride reports later.



Lava Beds



Painted Hills





Mt. Hood



Maryhill Loops Road. I shredded my tires here.





Stonehenge



Mt. St. Helens



I'm probably a total fool, but I'm headed to the John Day area in Central Oregon tomorrow morning at the start of the Labor Day weekend.

Chris
 
#623 · (Edited)
Just a ride to and from church on Sunday. The colors were awesome.



The GS is Gerty's. He plays lead guitar on the worship team and is incredible. In the summer, that area will have a lot of bikes parked there, but when the weather turns cold and wet, it's usually just the two of us from now till next April.




We have a cold snap now and a tree in front of my house is just raining leaves. The beautiful colors won't last long and will be a slippery mess on the roads. But for now...it is beautiful.

Chris
 
#625 ·
Instead of a picture all I see is a large blank square with a "-" sign surrounded by a circle. :confused:
 
#628 ·
It was a photo that Chis attached to post # 643 that drew a blank for me. :confused:
 
#627 ·
Snow snow, quick quick, snow!

I was out towards Tomintoul with work during the week and the Cairngorms were white with a decent first winter blanket of snow, so thats where I was headed, seeing as Fridays now belong to me and not the man!
Big Bird & the Alp have both been SORN'd, Big Bird for the winter and the Alp for just a month whilst I give it a little bit of TLC. So now the F8GS gets to come out to play.

Scenic route along the banks of the Spey towards Grantown, then Lecht bound and into the ever lowering clouds. Had planned to brew up around here, but the clouds were kinda wet, so just took a photie and moved on . . .



The low clouds obscured any chance of a scenic snowy scene being captured . . . but even without the clouds I'd have lucked out - all the snow had gone! So off on a tangent I headed

Wandered a little way up this track the other month, but today, seeing as I was on a K60 Scout shod bike, I thought I'd venture a bit further up the hill :rolleyes:



It went downhill after this point at quite an angle . . .





Didn't get the kettle on till I got home, some 100+ miles later. Chilly on the pinkies, slippery under the tyres, but still a great way to spend a Friday morning [:D]

SteveT

[8D]
 
#629 ·
Went for a ride into the Poconos with my son yesterday. Temp read 30.2F when I left the house just before morning twilight to get to the meetup point in PA. Of course, had to be our coldest evening of the season with the first hard freeze. First time this season that I heard the hard scratching of the windshield wipers as I moved the car from in front of the garage door. Once underway, I was thankful for the Gerbings jacket and heated grips. Temps were in the low 40s through early afternoon but never really felt cold.

It really was a glorious day of riding with bright blue fall skies and sunshine and some twisty roads. We kept the pace moderate due to leaves and gravel in light of rains a few days prior. The leaves had mostly fallen by now in the Poconos so not much color to be seen. The storms of Friday also knocked down many of the leaves here in NJ.

All in all, a good day of riding with 258 miles tracked when back home in the garage in the late afternoon. No stopping for pics today - just riding. The ST did her job well and performed flawlessly on a day of sport-touring in the countryside.
 
#631 ·
A couple pics from some trips to the prison in Monroe last weekend. The leaves are past their prime, but still nice.

Cloud Sky Plant Tree Grass


Sky Plant Cloud Nature Motor vehicle


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On Sunday, we went to celebrate my MIL's 92nd? 93rd? birthday. I had to leave early to go to the prison. The sun is going down, so the pictures aren't crisp and clear in the low light. But still pretty.

Sky Automotive lighting Road surface Plant Natural landscape


Sky Automotive lighting Natural landscape World Branch


Sky Motor vehicle Plant Automotive lighting Road surface


Sky Automotive lighting Road surface Asphalt Natural landscape


Chris
 
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