Found Valencia's Picture on Ebay....

Just goes to show you how one's pictures, when posted on the Internet, can end up in the most unforeseen spots.

Happily, the person who used the picture, did somewhat of an attribution in that the source was listed as "redlegsrides", which a google search usually renders my blog's location. (10,200 hits on their search engine)

Still, I never figured it would be found on ebay.com of all places!

I get an email from pinterest.com you see, listing boards I might be interested in looking at and possibly following.  I saw one offering calling itself "Colorado!" and it peaked my interest as you might imagine.  After all, I am always looking for new locations to shoot in this great state I live in.

While perusing the "Colorado!" board's pins, lo and behold I spot what is unmistakably one of my photographs of Valencia!

Now, seeing my stuff on other pinterest boards is not a surprise, that's why one shares one's stuff on pinterest right?  What drew my attention was that the board owner cited the source as ebay.com.

Ebay?  Huh?

So I clicked on the picture which pinterest hyperlinks to the source.  It led me to this page on ebay.com where the author is showing a listing of pictures in an article called: "10 Spectacular U.S. Road Trips You Didn't Know Existed".

Yep, there was the picture of Valencia on the Million Dollar Highway from a posting I'd published back in May 3, 2012:

So, since when is Ebay.com in the business of listing such articles?  I couldn't see that it was for auction or sale but then again, the publishing date of this article was May 29, 2014.

On the one hand, I was happy to find attribution by the article's author.  On the other, it makes me wonder what the purpose of this article was to the author.  Sure, it's to list what carhoots.com considers some great Road Trips.  But on Ebay?!  Not exactly the place I'd pick to drive traffic to my website.

Anyways, here's the original picture from my posting, I believe the ledge that Valencia is sitting on is no longer there, must have "fallen off" or been removed by CDOT to stop folks from using it.

Link to the blog posting

a better view of the ledge, from the original posting as well
but tweaked a bit using google photos tools

Previously: Mosquito Moon

Valencia is published on Motoplus Magazine

The lady who runs www.annouckwelhuis.nl, a graphics design company in the Netherlands, contacted me before Christmas asking about a picture she'd found online showing Valencia, my 2011 URAL Patrol Sidecar Rig, who is now owned by a lady in Washington State.

She wanted to use it in an ad for Motoplus, a Dutch motorcycle magazine.

After some brief email exchanges, a fee was paid for a First European Use License.  (Thanks, Jack Riepe, for coaching me through this process).

Here's the original picture from back in December 2012:

Link to Blog Posting: The Rider and the Christmas Tree Mission

The magazine was published on the 17th of this month and today I got a scan and photos of the magazine:

 Google Translate:  We Wish you Happy Holidays

The ad sponsor is apparently a site similar to autotrader.com where 

one can sell or buy used motorcycles/vehicles:  

http://www.ikwilvanmijnmotorfietsaf.nl/

It's always gratifying to me, especially if they're willing to pay, for folks to ask for the commercial use of my photos; it helps pay for gas and tires you know?  Thank you Annouck, this made my day.

Valencia is repaired and for sale.

I got a text message from Darrell S this morning as I worked around the house.  He and his 2014 Patrol, Babe, were at Unique Rides in Fort Collins.  There is an updated "configuration" for his Patrol's Electronics Control Unit (ECU) (still find it hard to imagine a URAL with an ECU) which is supposed to improve performance so Babe was getting it installed by the dealer.

Anyways, the reason Darrell texted me was to tell me he'd seen my 2011 Patrol, Valencia, sitting pretty in the dealer's lot.  She was next to Yoshie, my 2006 Suzuki DL1000 V-Strom/Dauntless Sidecar rig, though neither sported a price tag yet.

I asked Darrell for pictures and this is what he sent along:

Valencia and Yoshie

This post finishes what this previous post started in terms of reporting status on Valencia's condition.  She's got a rebuilt engine, all her other components should be fine.  I am sure she'll be a fun machine for whomever eventually buys her.  I think Randy, of Unique Rides, is planning on separating Yoshie from the Dauntless Sidecar and selling them as separate units if she doesn't sell easily.

I went for a ride today on Brigitta, my '87 R80 BMW Airhead, an 80 mile loop through Parker, Wolfenberger Road to CO105, North to Sedalia and then US85 to County Line Road which took me home.  Sorry, but didn't see a single instance for picture taking, the sun was bright and harsh, washing out what little color there was around here.

Typical Colorado winter day, snow overnight leading to snow-covered lawns but not much sticking to the roads, which is why I was able to ride this afternoon on dry roads.

A Dusting of Snow and a new Two Wheeler in the Garage

We woke to perhaps an inch (tops) of snow, accumulations were on the grass and vehicles parked outside, none on the streets.

I went to breakfast with a couple of friends of mine and it snowed lightly on me on the way there, nothing remarkable really, more like fat rain.

After breakfast, I stopped at a nearby tree-lined row for a shot of the snow on the trees before the warming sun melted all the snow away; after all, the forecast high temperature for today was 48°F!

Now, as to the new (to me) two-wheeler I've added to my garage.

No, it's not another motorcycle for the collection.  It is instead, another tool in my self-recovery repertoire of tools.  Today I bought from Darrell S. a friend and fellow Uralista, his Aluma 638 trailer.  Now I no longer have to impose on folks with trailers, for when a motorcycle or sidecar rig breaks down on me while out riding.

Oscar to the Rescue, again.

Full story here: LINK

The above picture shows when one of my rigs has had to be towed:  Now Oscar, stalwart fellow and friend that he is, always responds with "Ready", whenever I go on a long ride and text him: "Ready the Alert Trailer!".  Now, that won't be necessary as I have my own trailer and it's easy to hook up onto Martha's BMW X5 Urban Assault Vehicle.

I brought the trailer home this morning, as I was off from work, and Darrell was able to meet me briefly at his home to do the transaction.  Being of aluminum construction, this trailer is very light at 300 lbs but can hold my sidecar rig comfortably and allow cruising at 75 mph with no issues.

Darrell said it's a 2012 model, so newer than the reliable trailer I recently borrowed from Craig H., another fellow Uralista and friend, who owns an older version of this same trailer model.  It was Craig's trailer that I borrowed for a week long trip to Wisconsin this past July: LINK.

The trailer fits in the garage, parked mostly in the same bay used by Valencia.  I'm thinking of either widening the fence gate to allow me to roll the trailer into the backyard.  Or cobbling up a wheeled platform onto which I can put the trailer on, sideways, then roll it through the gate, tilting it back onto its two wheels once clear of the fence.  More thought required on that.


Update: Gate to backyard widened.  Now she sits outside in the elements, but since she's aluminum....

The Family Trip to Wisconsin : Day 1&2

My family and I are currently on day two of a three and a half day ride to Lacrosse, WI to see family.  My father-in-law is turning 80 and most of the regional clan is gathering to celebrate.

We left yesterday, in the early afternoon, in truly sunny and hot conditions in the state of Colorado.  For the first time ever, I was trailering my motorcycle to the final destination.  Yep, trailering.

At a fuel stop, somewhere in Nebraska

Being on a trailer, Valencia achieved unheard of sustained speeds for a URAL.  We averaged 70 mph with no issues, Valencia resting comfortably on the trailer, probably wondering why she was on a trailer.  I must admit, the heat of the day (it would peak at 102 degress Farenheit) would have made for miserable riding conditions while following ATGATT.  

I saw plenty of motorcycle riders though, some with gear, most without much in terms of protective gear.

As we weren't in a hurry to get to Wisconsin (we're not expected till Monday evening), we did some touristy stops along the way.  First stop was the Strategic Air Command's Air and Space Museum in Omaha, NE.

 A pretty good museum, specializing of course in the aircraft used by the

Strategic Air Command

 The first thing one sees as one walks in, the SR-71 Blackbird.

 The "Goblin", never deployed, it was apparently going to hang in a B-36's 

bomb bay, and be dropped/launched when needed to provide fighter

escort services to the bombers!

The front entrance to the museum has missiles displays.

We continued driving eastward and soon were pulling off of I-80 and heading south on State Rd 169 to the town of Winterset.  The objective had been to go look at the birthplace of one of my favorite actors of the silver screen: John Wayne.

 John Wayne's Birthplace

Coincidentally, it turns out Winterset, the town where John Wayne was born is also the county seat for Madison County of "The Bridges of Madison County" fame.  In addition, there was a small vintage car show in the downtown area today so it was all bonus tourist stuff.

 I liked this car the best, and while it wasn't a bad turnout, it wasn't 

exactly a great one in terms of vintage car examples.

Madison County Seat

 A bit anti-climatic, here's one of the "Bridges of Madison County"

Cedar Ridge Covered Bridge

Tourist stuff over with, and with night closing in on us, we found lodging north of Des Moines in the town of Ames.  Long day on the road and yet it was done in guilty comfort within the confines of the BMW X5, I could get used to hauling my rig over the long boring interstate slab portions of trips.....

An Iowa Sunset, almost as good as a Colorado sunset.

Alaska Load Out Test

Back in the day, when the Soviets and NATO stared at each other across the IGB or Inter-German Border; I was a young officer in an American Field Artillery MLRS Battery attached to the 1st Armored Division of the US Army..

We faced, I dimly recall, the 14th Guards Army stationed on the east side of the IGB.  The running gallows humor in the division was that we were the First Armored, or First Tank, and also: First to get rolled over by the Soviets as they charged through the Fulda Gap (wiping out the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment) and into West Germany.  Interesting times to say the least.

Anyway, with that as the historical background, we'd practice fast deployments to our GDP or General Deployment Positions.  These were pre-selected field positions where we'd deploy as war warnings were sent out by SACEUR (Supreme Allied Commander, Europe).  The idea being, we'd not get caught in garrison and easy targets.

Part of the fast deployment was doing fast load outs with all assigned gear and vehicles, hence the title of this post.

Today, as a remnant of that training, I tested out packing out my 2011 URAL Patrol with all the gear I plan to take with me on the long road to Alaska.

 The yellow waterproof bag contains my sleeping bag, the rubber ground cloth on top

and the foam kneepad for my old knees when working on the motorcycle.  Note

the shovel secured to the cargo rack on the hack, along with two new tires.

The Tailbag contains, camera gear, gloves, hats.

 All the above fits inside the tub, with cover in place:

1. chains, 2. camp supplies, 3. Fuel Cans, 4. Cooking gear

5. maasdam rope puller gear,  6. tripod, 7. tent, 8. heated vest

9. camp chair, 10. cold weather boots, 11. Lysol, 12. campstove, 13. sandals, 

14. Ural Spares and 15. bungie cord bag.

 A view of the five gallon spare gas can I am carrying in addition

to the Kolpin 1.5 gallon can on the left side of the tub.

 On the pillion seat: Sleeping bag in yellow waterproof bag.  

Rubber poncho to serve as ground cloth.

Nice weather helmet and the Nikon Camera Bag.

All that is missing (besides sundry small items) is a smaller yellow waterproof bag which will contain my clothes; it too will fit inside the tub with the cover in place.  Oh, and my sleeping mats which I will lash to the front of the spare tires.

I am quite happy everything fit with no hassles to speak off.  I was able to unload the rig in less than ten minutes and to load it takes about the same amount of time.  I went for a short ride to the bank to test the rigging and nothing fell off!  

Here's a link to the current packing list: LINK

Previously: Spring Snow Storm

Going on a Ride-About

Hi Folks, my present contracting gig is ending really soon, end of March at the latest; so I'll be doing some long distance riding with the "free time" I will have.  An extended kitchen pass has been approved my the ever loving and enabling Martha.

The idea is to take a month or two or three off (more if I can't find the right gig) and get some motorcycling miles under my belt, outside of Colorado!

Nothing really specific so far, except for the first week of April which is Spring Break for the kids. I'll be with the family in Flagstaff, AZ spending time with my father-in-law and seeing the surrounding sights:  The Grand Canyon, Route 66, Sedona destinations come to mind readily.  I will, of course, ride there.

After that, the plan is a bit more vague, perhaps head west to California and ride the Pacific Highway to the San Francisco Bay Area and go see my folks in Marin County.

Then, perhaps continue north along the west coast, see what there is to see and do, visit with fellow moto-bloggers if schedules coincide/permit.  The plan is to camp whenever possible to stretch the budget allocated for this "ride".

There are some planned activities in Moab during the last week of April so that might preclude my going north until early May.  I've not made decisions yet on that, so more to follow.

The above should use up April, at which point, the general idea is to head north from wherever I happen to be near the beginning of May, through Canada to Fairbanks, AK and points north during May when road conditions might not be so death-defying while riding Valencia, my 2011 URAL Patrol.  The idea is to avoid going to Alaska during the annual lemming-like migration by dualsports and such in June/July.

So, I seek input from you, gentle readers and fellow moto-bloggers of sights to see and roads to ride along this general route.  You know, stuff I "shouldn't miss" if at all possible.  I know it's kind of vague, but that's the idea.

I plan to not really plan, but to listen to where Valencia tells me to go, using of course y'all's input for the areas you're familiar with in your home states.  This is Martha's gift to me, what a wife huh?

Previously: Snowy Uraling at Red Rocks Park

12/12/12 12:12

As the last instance of consecutive date numerals that this author will see in his lifetime, I give you a picture of my Ural Patrol on the occurrence of 12/12/12 12:12 PM.

Though there's still some snow/ice in the neighborhood streets, the main streets are clear and dry.  Temperature during the ride to the high school sign was a balmy 50°F!  I was almost overheating in my riding gear.

Snow Chains for Valencia

There's an expression that I've always found to be amusing:

Sticks and Stones

May break my bones

But whips and chains excite me!

Now before your mind goes into the gutter immediately, I am just using it as an introduction to today's posting.  

A few weeks ago, I placed a group order with oldtimergarage, a provider in Poland of sometimes hard to find parts for vintage motorcycles and sidecar rigs.  Three other fellow Uralisti and I had ordered two sets of eight chain links for our rigs.  

The chains finally arrived, they apparently were delayed a bit by Hurricane Sandy as they entered the country through the customs office in New York City.

Some trial and error, some emails exchanged with the suppliers and fellow riders who've used these chains and I got them fitted to the pusher tire on Valencia.  The other set of eight will go on the sidecar tire for when I am in 2WD mode.

Why the slight issues?  There's very little clearance between the sidewall of the pusher tire and the drive shaft coming from the transmission and into the final drive on the rear wheel.  The chains and straps I bought were modeled after the ones used by the Wermacht apparently for their army sidecar rigs during WWII.

My initial fitting went OK, but you could tell the leather strap was contacting slightly against the rubber boot that protects where the drive shaft splines mate onto the final drive.  This was a bit worrisome though I'd been told some slight contact was OK and snow would act as lubricant in that case.

Today, after getting some emails from the supplier, I bent the hardware mount that goes on the right side of the tire so that it comforms more onto the tire's sidewall.  Now, the straps clear the rubber boot just fine!

Here's a couple of videos showing the chains on the pusher tire, roughly in the spot I will use them in, come the first decent amount of snow.

The second video shows how the straps are now clearing the rubber boot with zero contact.

The squeaky noises you hear are not the straps, it's the "rubber donut" which acts as coupler
device between the transmission and the drive shaft.

There's snow forecasted for Sunday, guess where I'll be?

Ural's Yamal - Limited Edition Sidecar Rig

Apparently every year, recently anyways, Ural has been producing a Limited Edition model as a marketing device of sorts.  At least, I think that's the purpose.

For 2012, they've come out with the Yamal.  The theme is based on a nuclear powered Russian Icebreaker Ship called the Yamal and styling cues and themes have been taken from it:

source: URAL

The Icebreaker Ship: Yamal

Today, via the Irbitz Informer, Ural showed the first official pictures of the Limited Edition Yamal.  The Uralisti community had been slightly abuzz about this upcoming revelation and reaction is still flowing in on the SovietSteeds online forum.  The reaction is "mixed" at best.

The 2013 Yamal

More pictures of the Yamal here: LINK

I do like the flat orange paint and the blacking out of the chrome parts that are on my 2011 Patrol: Valencia. The coating of the underside of the sidecar is a great idea as well.  The one thing though that I am not liking, is the sticker with the "teeth".  I'd been hoping for something more shark-like:

Source: Internet, I believe from a Polish Sidecaring Club

Following the theme of the icebreaker, the Yamal comes with a wooden oar.  Yep, an oar.  It's Russian humor I am told.  It does come inscribed with some humorous instructions though:

So there it is, only 50 Yamal Rigs will be produced and you can have your own for about $14,250+.  Those wily Russians, what will they think of next?  

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Here's hoping you all had a great Saint Patrick's Day....it was warm and sunny here in the great state of Colorado. I installed Oxford Heated Grips on Valencia.  Martha and I then went to lunch on Valencia, later on the Tangerine Tango colored sidecar rig took my youngest son a short ride for some fast food.  Short rides, good weather, it's all good.

Tangerine Tango according to Pantone

Also, Pantone's 2012 Color of the Year!

I have the world's best wife...

The best wife indeed, especially in her ability to "enable" my addiction to being able to ride in all sort of weather conditions and to do it safely.

After much talking with her and the realization we're entering into what is usually the snowiest month of the year here in the great state of Colorado; she talked me into getting a "spare" sidecar rig.  Martha just couldn't see me enduring the next few snow storms trapped in a rental cage you see.  Nor did she want me out there on Brigitta, my two-wheeled "spare" motorcycle on days when there might be a chance of snow.

After resisting weakly (OK, not at all), she convinced me and we went up to Fort Collins, CO this morning to take a serious look at their offerings.  They had two Ural sidecars in stock at Unique Rides, a 2011 Orange and Silver Patrol and a 2012 Forest Fog Gear-UP.

Our first inclination had been to look at the green one above though the orange one had a "can you see me now" fascination for yours truly after my recent accident.  A closer look at the Gear-UP with its Forest Fog color scheme, which to us resembled an dark green formica counter top, pretty much eliminated it from the final choice.  Being a 2012 model, it was also a few hundred dollars more in price.

The 2011 Patrol above, looked very nice in her orange color scheme with silver trim.  I knew there were no significant technical/engineering improvements between the 2011 and 2012 models; and that the 2011s were improved quite a lot in many small ways over previous years of Ural Rigs.  Please see here for a listing of changes/improvements between Ural model years:  LINK.

Here's a link to Ural's website with some professional pictures of the Orange Patrol:  LINK

I was also convinced the bench seat on the Patrol would be more comfortable during long hours in the saddle than the single tractor seat on the Gear-UP, this conclusion having come from reading Scooter in the Sticks' wonderful reviews of the Ural Patrol rig he had a chance to ride:  Becoming a Ural Adventurer

These were the only two Urals in stock, it's a small shop after all but Randy the owner runs a tight ship and he was most helpful in answering questions from me and other patrons who were looking at his motorcycle offerings.  Randy and Tammy, his wife, sell Trikes, Royal Enfields, Genuine Scooters and more.  The website for the dealership is here:  Unique Rides.  Randy told me you can order the Ural of your choice, and if they've got it in stock at the warehouse in New Jersey, it can be here in as little as a week!  If they don't have the one you want, the next shipment from Mother Russia comes in Mid-March!

Soon, it was time to test ride the Patrol and Martha took the following picture of me in their practice area and even shot a video of me getting a feel for the rig:

Can you see the big old smile I've got?

After a full up ride on the frontage road, I returned to the dealership.  Surprising I am sure none of my regular readers, I ended up buying the Orange Patrol Rig!   Her name is going to be Valencia!

I got all my riding gear out of Martha's car and she left me behind to handle the paperwork to complete the sale.  What's a little more debt in one's life right?  You can't take it with you and Martha really knows what it takes to keep me happy.  

Here's Randy in front of his office.  Valencia looks pretty good, don't you think?

"Can you see me now?!"

Before you go thinking I bought the orange color one because I think it'll make me more visible, don't worry.  I know that cagers don't look, that one remains invisible while on a motorcycle and to ride as "unhittable" as possible.

Randy did the post-sale prep of the motorcycle, including a fresh oil change!  He walked me through some of the new stuff that my poor Natasha didn't have and I left the dealership shortly after 12:30 PM.

It was very windy today here in Colorado and that made Valencia a bit squirrely sometimes when hitting bumps at speed or when doing sudden decelerations.  I fixed this by letting a bit of air pressure from the front tire and from that point on I was good to go.

The difference in performance between my 1996 Ural Sportsman (Natasha) and this 2011 Ural Patrol are impressive!  Good acceleration, no crashing/crushing gear noises when shifting up on gears, stopping when you want with little effort or concern and the engine is quieter, though one can hear the whining noise coming from the Nippon Denso alternator's location.

This being a new motorcycle, I have to take it easy on the engine for the first 1500 Kilometers.  So the combination of high winds and needing to not run the engine hard led me to take county roads all the way home.  I headed east out of Fort Collins on CO14 until I got to its junction with US85.  The winds were coming out of the West so the occasional gust would try and shove me sideways, but Valencia and I soon adjusted to this and motored along.  We passed through the city of Greeley which had a few interesting sights, I'll have to return one day when I have more time.

I took US85 all the way down to Fort Lupton and from there picked up CO52 eastbound, across the junction with I-76 and soon enough was turning South onto CO79.  The winds buffeted Valencia and I all the way to the farming town of Bennett, CO where I stopped for a break and some pictures.

The smaller grain silo at Bennett, CO

Just to give you an idea of how big the silos are....

As Valencia has no windscreen (yet), I was getting a bit chilled even though the temperatures were in the low 40s.  I continued riding west out of Bennett on US36 and soon neared the Denver Metro Area's easternmost boundaries.  I continued on back roads, which took me through the small town of Watkins and got home a bit shy of 3:30PM.

Here's Valencia in her new home.

Here's hoping to a long and mostly (she is Russian after all) trouble free relationship between Valencia and myself.  I'll bond with her while waiting for Yoshie to be repaired and then there will be two capable sidecar rigs in the stable to ensure I can ride for work and play in any kind of weather!  I am not sure I'll keep two rigs long term, but we shall see.

Thanks Martha....you're the best!