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New to BMW...Took a Ride Today


Koop

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I bought my R1200RT a couple of weeks ago and put about 700 miles on it since then. My wife, Donna is out of town for a seminar so today I couldn't think of anything better to do than ride...

 

I left NE Mesa around 7:15 this morning. Temps were fine, upper 60's. But after I got over the hill (Usury Pass) and down by Saguaro Lake the temp chilled down to 52f. Yikes! It didn't take me long to figure out how to switch on the grip heat.

 

The grip heat didn't kick in quite as quickly as I hoped. As I made my way up the Beeline Hwy, the temperature would fluctuate as much as 15 degrees every few miles. If I dipped down into a gulch with steep sides, the sun hadn't warmed it yet and the temperature was ~50f, on the mesa tops the temperature was in the mid 60's. I left the grip heat on (low)and after a bit it penetrated my gloves and I decided to leave the heat on until the ambient was 68f. The seat heat was less than I imagined, but I only used the low setting.

 

First stop, breakfast at the Beeline Cafe in Payson:

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From there I headed east on AZ 260 and took a short detour to Christopher Creek. This small town has been isolated since the "new" 260 bypassed them.

 

Road to Christopher Creek:

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The general store and post office. Love that full size elk sculpture:

 

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Back on AZ260 East:

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It's not just cactus and desert in Arizona!

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From there I rode to Snowflake, Show Low, over to Hon Dah and down through the Salt River Canyon. At the junction of AZ73 and US60 I met a couple of cruiser riders at the Chevron station. I wish I would've taken my camera out for a photo...they were nice guys, one was an older gent from Germany and they really admired my BMW.

 

Salt River Canton shots - loved the handling of the RT going down and back up the canyon!

 

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From there I hit traffic and took my time getting home via US60 to Loop 202 to Brown and Ellsworth. Beautiful day, after breakfast temperatures ranged from high 60's to 89 degrees f.

 

366 miles, 7 hours of bliss. Averaged 48mpg per BordComputer and 59 miles per hour (many stops and runs through small towns).

 

I'm loving my RT.

 

 

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You linked to the pages the images are on. Instead, when you have the image up on your pbase gallery, right click on the image itself. Then choose "copy image location" Paste the result in img tags as you did before.

 

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I just clicked through them all in your gallery. Worthy. I want to ride there.

 

Jan

 

Thanks again. Come on down sometime - we may be tempting the weather gods at this point though. Most of that ride is 5,000 to 6,000+ft elevation.

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We're still riding to about 10,800' up here, which is about as high we can get on pavement around here. Soon though, things will change. We left our bikes at my mom's in Phoenix last winter and rode SoAz and SoCal over xmas-new years. Was good. We missed the route you just showed, however. Next time it will be on our list.

 

Thanks for posting,

 

Jan

 

 

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Okay, in the second picture, is that a flag with maple leaves on it on the left side of the pic? Do all the non-conifers have flags on them? Do you have to put out flags with pictures of leaves changing colors to indicate the season is Fall? Sure looks different than around here. Hope to see it for myself someday.

 

 

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Hi Mike, I enjoyed your photos. Not what I had pictured in my mind for AZ here in Indiana. Looked like an excellent ride on the right bike. :thumbsup:

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Thanks for all of the nice comments - as for the flag in the second picture, I don't know. I will say when I headed down Hwy 73 and got into a section of deciduous trees I wanted to stop and take a photo. Unfortunately it was midday and the light was so harsh, they looked more like dead trees than fall colors.

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Nice pics! Thanks. That's touch and go weather this time of year isn't it? Sounds like 50 degree range could be a win.

 

It's just a beautiful part of the world.

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Mike, that's what I really like about the ride tales. It's such a wonderful view into different worlds. We have nothing like your canyon around here and it would take me all day to gain a thousand feet of elevation. I'll make it out there one day and see what a "dry heat" really feels like on the bike.

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