alfalfa

There are friends, good friends, dear friends, and people who change your life. This is a story about the latter and the efforts a dear friend expended to honor that great friend in his life. First, a little back story. Riding motorcycles is one thing, traveling by motorcycle is another, more fulfilling activity. Everyone here probably agrees, and there probably wouldnt be this forum, if that wasnt a true fact. I have ridden motorcycles since i was 14, growing up in Alaska, and learning how to hotwire my friends street 70 Honda. (you just unplugged some wires going into the headlight and plugged them into each other). Back then, riding motorcycles was a first taste of freedom, taking you further and faster than your bicycle. If you were lucky, your friend(s) had a bike you could ride two up on, or borrow. I had those friends. Fast forward a couple of years and i was able to get my own first motorycle, a 1972 Honda CL125 twin. I didnt buy it, as my parents wouldnt let me. So, my sisters boyfriend at that time ended up just giving it to me. It did need some work and some parts, which a summer job took care of. Being a street bike, knobbies were added. It was Alaska, afterall. You could get your license for a bike at 14, and there were no restrictions on where you could ride offroad. for the most part, that is. That bike was abandoned when i moved to California in 1974, and my brother probably beat it to death (i should ask him sometime what happened to it). When i was finally able to afford one, my next motorcycle was a Honda CM400T, a triumph looking wannabe. But, being a Honda, it was reliable and fun and i was able to get back up to speed as a motorcycle rider. Bikes remained in my environment for the next two decades, more as simple transportation than anything else. There were no rallies that i knew about, no Road of Bones to lust after. I'm sure they were there, just not on my radar. Then, along comes 2006 and LWR. Having a BMW SAV, i was automatically entered into the BMW Car Club, which has a great monthly magazine. One of the articles that still sticks in my mind was about these two guys riding bikes around the world. Something called GS's. Wasnt sure what those were, but i did know the brand, having owned a K1200RS. Within a few weeks of reading that article, i get a call from my brother talking about this series he watched about those same two guys i had read about. Ewan, or Charlie, or something. He said i had to watch it, so i jumped on Amazon and ordered the DVD (remember those?) box set. Well, it happened to show up on a Friday, so i went home after work and stuck the first disc in the player after dinner. At 4am the next morning, having finished every episode, i started searching frantically for more episodes! I mean, there had to be a season 2, right? Well, there wasnt (not for awhile, at least), so i started wandering aimlessly about the house. About that time, i get a call from my brother, asking if i had watched the series yet. I said yeah, straight thru. He then asked that question that's started a million journeys "when do we leave?". I had never vacationed on a motorcycle. I had ridden one from Anchorage to Los Angeles, a Honda 750 Interceptor. The one with a board for a seat. So, I knew that sight seeing could be done, and fun roads discovered. The two of us planned a trip to Yellowstone, our first on bikes, and our first together. Little did we know the addiction that was to follow .....

Welcome! have been to and ridden in France twice now. Beautiful place! All pavement rides, so far, tho.

all part of the story to come soon. wanna have fun, google "ODOM POINT" and see what has happened since 2017. and, that is only part of the story. as it stands now, someone has taken down the sign (we figure thieves and not rangers, as they left the sign post, etc). I have a new one waiting to go back up there as soon as snow is gone. hurry your butt over and you can participate

Hey, Mawsley Damned glad to meet you. Damned gladder to hear you are over the hump on Covid. I think you always have to joke about life - good or bad. My own mom (89) and her 82 yr old boy-toy are coming down the backside of their infection. Mom never event went into the hospital with it. Her husband was hospitalized with it. He went thru - on oxygen and feeling good, to full oxygen and probably not going to make it, finishing up with "I'm not dead yet!" and is home recuperating. There is hope!!!

That was a quick start, soon to be edited. I see that Stephen took down previous videos. not sure why, but they were just as great. I want to do justice with the Odom Point story, as that was done for a friend's friend. Here is another of the AGALOS band's take on Odom Point - http://nyemoto.com/index.php/2017/08/15/billysride/ This is Billy. Billy would destroy sport bikes on Tail of the Dragon, while on his GS. Billy would do anything for anyone. Billy is the kind of guy you would erect a monument to him, on top of a 12000 foot mtn, in Colorado. The story of Odom Point will blow your mind.

We "discovered" Colorado back around 2012. We being a friend from TN, Frijole (trying to get him on here), and some good ol boys from Louisiana. Names you might know. Camped at Ridgeway and decided to check out Engineer pass, having heard of it from other sites and reports. Should have listened to the people warning us we would "die" riding up to the Pass, from Ouray side. We didn't die, but it felt like it. Trips back almost every year since. We've slowly roped in more and more people to these trips (check out the excellent Steven Gregory video). The place has become so special, that Frijole spread the ashes of a great friend at the top of Engineer, and BJD had a sign prepared. That's a separate story I am still trying to put together, to capture the spirit of riding with friends. Video: While out in Ridgeway, we also took a side jaunt to Moab (that's the weird red rocks you see in pics)

I'm getting used to picking it up ?

kind of was, wasn't it? so many peeps, trips and stories ago. Last I heard you were in the US, now it looks like back in the UK?

thanks all! let's get this party started! stay tuned for some riding stories.

uh, oh. Ian is here? How many know how nice he really is? ? (rode with you in New Mexico, 2010)

I've had other bikes since last seeing you, too. And, finally made my maiden voyage to Europe. Did the Edelweiss Extreme Alps Tour, followed by the Pyrenees and then France. Found a great tour company in Tours, France and will holler out when next over that way. In the meantime, come to the states when the quarantine is listed and we can ride some good asphalt in California!

yep, this be Rick Giroux! Great to see all y'all again! Some cabin boy pointed me to this forum. Great, modern look to it! For some reason, the busboy is obsessed with the world's only GSA with flames.

Some of these names look familiar ? Good to see em again!