These Moto Weekends

These Moto Weekends

Hello from Las Vegas! I'm sitting in my hotel room at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino updating you all from the 10th floor. I had an interesting thought this morning: I might be the only person in Vegas that didn't come to gamble. Matter of fact I haven't played so much as one slot machine. I stopped here last night to see a favorite comedian (Kevin James) after 2 days spend dirt riding with an old friend. At the same time Gary Orr, Mark Pohlson, Ed Bell and Sergio Rico are at Willow Springs racing an assortment of S1000RR's and one very tuned R1200S. Jason Turner, Jeremy Toye and company are in China of all places for a TT style race! Our good friend and client Sondra Lagnado is somewhere along the Baja Peninsula.
You can follow her here:
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0SQl8BRPYJfS1aBGLudWL4oWuYV6WHYPW

And certainly other friends are enjoying weekend rides in various places. Where am I going with all this? Well it occurred to me that San Diego BMW Motorcycles has become something of a hub for a living, breathing wheel that is our moto lifestyle.

On any given Thursday the shop is a bee hive of activity with various employee's, clients and friends gathering gear, bikes and picking up last minute moto-goodies before a weekend of riding. The race team guys fire up the forklift and load the trailer with slicks, generators, tire warmers, etc. The dirt guys (Myself included) are throwing gear bags, tents and gas cans into the pickup trucks. The travelers are stopping in for a new tire plug kit, spare quart of oil or a new visor for a helmet. The Romeo's are taking in a cup of coffee before stepping off in search of fine Southern California cuisine. Then, as if someone tossed a firecracker right in the middle of the madness, vehicles, motorcycles and riders head off in every direction from the hub like so many spokes. Each spoke ending at a favorite or sometimes new riding spot.

This time yesterday I was exploring a friends tiny, home made motocross track in Indian Springs. At that same time Jason Turner was swapping out a set of slicks on Jeremy's race bike on the other side of the globe. Gary, Mark and the guys were exchanging pointers in a garage at Big Willow. And Sondra was negotiating sand washes in Mexico.

Today (Sunday) bikes will be loaded back into trucks and trailers. Proper dual sport riders will strap tents and gear back onto GS's. Baja explorers will turn 180 degree's and head back north toward the US / Mexico border. I'll spend the next 6 hours behind the wheel of an F150 driving southwest on I-15. Jason and Jeremy will sit 13 hours on an international flight. Gary and the race guys will drag the race trailer south from Lancaster. Each traveling along their spoke from the outer reaches of the rim back toward the hub. Some of us nursing wounds (I managed to sprain my right foot), some reliving near crash moments (Mark is always good for one or two of those!), still others smiling all the way home with trophy's nestled safely at their feet.

Tomorrow (Monday) the entire proceedings come to a proper close. Monday mornings at the greatest BMW Motorcycle Dealership in the nation are something not to be missed after moto weekends. Gary will most certainly be giving all those with a willing ear the Cliff's Notes from a successful weekend at Wilow Springs. Clients who have arrived for an early morning service appointment will take turns at the coffee counter while Gary's play by play holds their interest. The Romeo's will be there too filling Scott, Geoff and I in on the local roads (and restaurants). Sondra promised to stop by and tell us all about her first solo Baja dual sport adventure...also mentioned she's probably need a couple new turn signals. Jason Turner will probably have an entire book worth of stories from his international travels but no one ever listens to him. I keep telling him it's all about the delivery!

So if You had a good, great or epic moto weekend travel back toward the center along your spoke and tell us about it. Because after all, it all starts and ends at the hub. You might even get mentioned on the ever prestigious San Diego BMW Motorcycle blog!

Thanks for reading
-Sean DeAngelis