Wednesday morning. Day three from Los Angeles; I was up before dawn. One of the things I enjoy most about Colorado are the cool crisp nights followed by wonderfully comfortable days. If it’s too hot head to the mountains or find a stream for a refreshing dip.

This also means one can decide to put up with a bit of a chill over the first few hours of riding or layer up and plan on stopping. I decided to take a middle path which worked out well but did result in a bit of a chill for the first hour or so.

This was to be the day when the shutdown and its effect would become very clear. So far I had been on roads that would have been relatively traffic free in the best of times; now I was in Colorado which suffers from a lot of seasonal traffic. My plan for the day was to ride from Dolores to Taos, New Mexico and then east into Oklahoma. My wife and I camped in Angle Fire, New Mexico last summer before the GS Giants rally in Doloes so I knew the ride would be pretty good, plus I would be traversing Pagosa Springs. Pagosa Springs is home to a very nice resort and some hot springs; we stayed a night there last summer.

I left Big John’s and took 184 east to Mancos then 160 into Durango. Normally 160 would be frustrating. It’s a major route and usually has RV’s and sightseers who struggle to maintain the speed limit, especially on the grades.

On this day it was all mine. It felt like someone closed the state just for me; from Mancos to Durango I saw no other traffic. Entering Durango I had to check my speed as there was no natural resistance to make the 25mph zone anything but a speedway. This was to be my experience to Pagosa Springs as well.

I wanted to visit Pagosa Springs because from our previous visit I knew that tourism is the major if not the only economic engine. It’s a beautiful town with the springs front and center with a nice main street with shops, restaurants and real estate offices. It was very close to a ghost town with the only activity being maintenance on the springs which were all closed.

Downtown Pagosa Springs, Colorado Wednesday morning May 1, 2020

Pagosa Hot Springs Wednesday morning May 1, 2020

Pagosa Springs, Colorado Wednesday morning May 1, 2020
Looking west

After Pagosa Springs I continued east to Taos, New Mexico. This is a great ride, very fast and desolate any time of year. It was a beautiful day to be on a bike and I enjoyed myself immensely. I crossed the Rio Grande and noticed the visitors center was closed, the lot was open and there was one vendor selling crap out of a van; usually there are a half dozen or more.

In Taos I stopped at a local burger joint. It was open to come in and order, then one waits outside for food. There were a few outdoor tables which were not closed off. The bathrooms were closed. This became what I considered a “good” stop, I was able to get fresh food and a seat to eat. The lack of bathroom was an inconvenience that would be repeated often.

After lunch I departed Taos and took some of the Enchanted Loop east to Angle Fire. Angle Fire is where we camped last summer. Little did we know that late July in New Mexico is the rainy season but after six days of rain on a seven day visit we do now. May is not the rainy season and it was an absolutely fantastic day.

I continued east and dropped into the great plains to take 412 across Oklahoma. 412 is a fantastic two lane road that offers the opportunity to make great time without a lot of interference. It’s a road I’ve never used as it’s too far south and too hot for use in the summer but it was fantastic for the first week of May. It’s a great place to get lonely.

GPS shows my next turn is a rotary. In 121 miles.

Oklahoma is an energy producing state

I was making fantastic time. I was treating this like a transit; I had enjoyed the twists and turns of Colorado and I was anticipating some twists and turns in the Ozarks. Now it was time to beat feat east and 421 was happy to oblige. I started to think about where I might spend the night and I was delighted to discover there was a Hampton Inn up the road in Woodward, Oklahoma

My GPS agreed that Woodward, Oklahoma would be a perfect destination for my ride across the greatest country on earth.



Woodward is a city in and the county seat of Woodward County, Oklahoma. It is the largest city in a nine-county area with a population of approximately 12,000. It is home to the Plains, Indians and Pioneers Museum which was closed. I arrived somewhat late and broke into my emergency rations of beef jerky and granola for dinner.

Dolores, Colorado to Woodward, Oklahoma. 645 miles in 11:04

Next: Skunkwerks

Tuesday April 28, 2020
Day Two

The previous day had been hot. I didn’t get the big sleep I had hoped for and I woke up feeling a bit off which in the age of Corona leads one to run though the catalog of symptoms which are broad enough to make confusion reign. Nothing breeds anxiety like confusion.

I had decided to take my time. I figured my malaise was the combination of stress, not enough food, hydration and sleep and an easy morning would be a good way to confirm this. I also had plans to visit a friend which if I felt anything less than 100% I was going to cancel.

Big John lives in Dolores, Colorado. He’s a Veteran who served with honor, expert marksman, has a vineyard that produces some nice wines, fosters dogs, hosts a great program on the local public radio station and makes a wicked good pie. I’m proud to know such a man and consider myself very lucky to have an open invitation.

Back in my room I checked in on the weather. The other day I had considered repeating my ride last fall which would take me into Big Bend and south Texas but a chat with Big John changed that. Looking at the weather lady’s graphic I was very happy with my choice of a “southern central route.” across the west.

Record heat. Normally when I go west it’s record rain.

I enjoyed a leisurely departure and set off for Dolores. This was not going to be the most exciting day of riding but I had a great destination and it was another day of no interstates.

I was feeling better. I had a morning snack and made sure I was drinking plenty of water and my temperature was fine.

Without planning it I wound up riding by the Four Corners Monument. I was pretty sure it was going to be closed but it was on my route so I was going to see for myself. I pulled in and there was one other vehicle there, a white car with Connecticut plates! Holy cow! I have Connecticut plates too!

He finished up his phone call and came out to chat. My first encounter with a talker and it seemed natural that our “personal space” was now about a 10′ radius. He was on his way from Connecticut to Long Beach, California to start a new career and I was on my way from LA to my home in Connecticut! By random chance we both decided to visit the same remote spot at the same time and were the only people there.



Freaky.

As I departed I was absolutely 100% delighted with the encounter. When out on a big ride seemingly random, freaky events can take place. Sometimes they’re great and other times not so much but events like this happen all the time when you go exploring.

This one was pretty wild, completely positive and gave me my first clue that this was going to be a fantastic ride and I haven’t even sat with Big John yet!

We had discussed plans for my visit in advance. My accommodations were to be their 24′ travel trailer, upon arrival I would go straight there. Big John and his wife Debbie came down in their gator to say hello and we made plans for dinner outdoors. John had a mp3 player going in the trailer; imagine having the DJ’s personal collection on shuffle. I kept on taking photos of the screen to capture the name of the band I was hearing for the first time. I love music and this was an unexpected treat; I’ve “discovered” more new to me bands in the last year of Big John’s radio show than any other time I can remember.

My visit was on too short notice for pie so Big John threw together some Bananas Foster.

After a wonderful evening with Big John, Debbie and the dogs I retired to the trailer and got a wonderful night’s sleep.

Flagstaff to Dolores. 326 miles in 6:34. A relaxed day.

Next: Cool Colorado

Over the last two years I have been incredibly fortunate to have a winter spot in Ventura, California for my motorcycle in Gandalf’s garage. Who is this Gandalf? He is the wizard of the west and knows the roads like no other. He’s also a Civil Engineer in the most geologically challenging place in North America so it’s safe to say he’s a cut above the rest.

He leaves much of the discipline of his profession at the office and has become the de-factor leader and world headquarters of AGALOS which is a name given to our riding group. AGALOS stands for Ain’t Got a Lick O Sense which is how we were described by a rider on one of our tours.

As a proper Wizard, Gandalf knows all the best roads, best places and the best people too. Over the last few years we’ve been taking advantage of this with a weekend in Paso Robles and last year a trip to Baja. This year plans included another weekend in Paso Robles, a trip to Baja and the California Back Road Discovery route.

Then along came a virus.

When we got together in early February the writing was on the wall. This was the weekend that Wall Street decided to take the virus seriously; the following week started the run on toilet paper.

The plane tickets for the BDR ride got cancelled, then rescheduled before cancelling once more. Delta was great about issuing a full credit and my original economy ticket became a first class ride.

With our plans scrapped my issue became how to get my bike home. Shipping is an option from Las Vegas. Flying to LA, riding to Vegas and flying home felt to carry more risk than riding the back roads across the country. With encouragement from my wife I reached out to Gandalf on Friday, April 24.



As you can see I waited until 8:24 which was 05:24 at AGALOS HQ. I chalk it up to Wizards never sleep, my wife considers it fair play after all the 02:00 drunken shout-outs we’ve received.

I booked my ticket. I had a choice of two itineraries both of which went though Delta’s hub in Atlanta. One trip had a shorter duration with less time in Atlanta. First class in this flight was pretty full. The alternative was a longer trip but this one only had three passengers booked in first class and very few overall so this was my choice.

24 hours after booking my ticket I was on my way. I was the only person going through security at 06:30 and was also one of a handful of passengers for the entire plane.

The astute observer might have noticed the shiner. The previous Monday evening I had an incident playing Platform Tennis which resulted in a trip to the Emergency Room for three stitches.

I went to a smaller hospital and found on that Monday I was their only patient. They had yet to have any Covid-19 cases. The ER staff were fantastic and started off with a temp screen and a check of my lungs before taking care of a cut.

I spent close to two hours on the ground in Atlanta. Considering it was a hub it was deserted. Three of us took the middle and each end of a bar for much longer than anyone would have been able. I decided that for the first time in close to 35 years that a beer with breakfast would be a good idea. As an aside the entire trip had an underlying layer of stress involved and a beer with a tater tots seemed like a fine idea.

The flight status monitors at Delta’s Hub. All the flights for the day.


Back on the plane I’m sure I was quite a sight. What was an empty flight from Atlanta to LA yesterday was announced as a full flight today. Everyone was wearing a mask and some took more precautions than others.

In flight meal.

I survived the flight. After take-off and the distribution of the snack bags the flight attendants were scarce and with everyone wearing masks conversation was non-existent.

Flying into Los Angeles was interesting. We were reminded that masks were required in the airport. It was a beautiful day and it was a bit jarring to look down at somewhat empty freeways and sub-divisions with little movement.

405 in Los Angles, California 13:20 Saturday.


.Next: California Style

With Drew heading home on the “quicker picker upper” I headed back to the camp. I was looking forward to the post ride happy hour, dinner, bench racing around the campfire and most especially the arrival of my wife, The Lovely Chace who was riding over on her GS.

Due to my extracurricular activities with the Sprinter Chace was on-site when I returned. We had a wonderful evening. Wade Jarvis and the Colebrook Fire Department served up a fantastic dinner, we enjoyed adult beverages and we burned shit.


Photo by Rob Schobert

My plan from the get-go was to ride big bike hard with my buddies on Saturday and tone it down for a day in the woods with Chace. She’s a hell of a touring rider with over 100,000 miles blasting around North America on the big BMW but big bike hard isn’t her cup of tea. I was looking forward to having her join us for the evening’s festivities and for a ride Sunday; with the Honda in the box we had the option of working a bit on the intermediate route or going romantic and scenic on the Explorer route with the big bikes. A consideration to keep in mind was the Trail Boss promised Sunday would be a step up from Saturday so we decided to go for romance.

The Explorer route turned out to be a really wonderful ride. We’ve become hooked on our Sena’s and we enjoy chatting on these rides and we found plenty to discuss. The ride started with great paved twisties with farms and incredible views. We noted on what a great ride it was and that this is a part of New England we don’t get to that often.

We did find some nice dirt on the way, with the dirt leading to some mud. With Chace on the 1200 GS with street tires and luggage I decided this could quickly end up as us being in the wrong place at the wrong time so we turned around. When we did so we encountered another couple; he was on a 1200GS and she was riding the new 310GS fitted with knobbie tires. They were not going to be turning around.

It can be quite a challenge finding the “right” adventure bike that’s not a heavy monster. The smaller the bike the less comfortable it will be for long days and it will have less capacity for luggage, fuel and gear for an extended dual sport tour. On paper a bike like the new BMW 310GS looks like it could fit the bill until one gets to the suspension along with the understanding that BMW didn’t intend for this model to be a dirty girl, its place is more as a light weight urban adventure bike (BMW’s own description). The little Honda is wonderful in the woods but if your normal ride is a GS after a half day of on an off road riding it becomes a little on the painful side and you can forget about loading it up for a big tour, although I did recently spend some time on the Mid Atlantic Back Road Discovery Route with a guy who was doing on a Yamaha 250 so it can be done, although this rider was traveling with friends on big bikes who carried the cooking gear. If we ever find the perfect dual sport we’ll let you know. It will have KLR durability with KTM performance and light weight, while being capable of riding to Colorado and back. It will be called the unicorn. It might even be electric.

Re-route in place we continued on, having a wonderful ride. We saw the GS couple again along with some other happy riders.

One thing I keep in mind when doing these rides is not to become a slave to the GPS. I think it’s easy to start the day following a provided route and end in some sort of self defeating feedback loop about “finishing” the ride. I always look at GPX files as a suggested route, especially on pavement or in areas where there are plenty of choices. My exception to this are rides like the Back Road Discovery routes out west were a wrong turn can lead to serious consequences. Today we had no such concerns and decided before we left that lunch at the Bistro Box was in order.

For those of you that have never been, the Bistro Box is a fantastic roadside eatery in Great Barrington. Located on 7 south of town it’s always worth the visit and the wait.

We enjoyed our burgers and started back to camp. Given how close to home we were at one point we split off with Chace heading east while I returned to camp to get the gear after one of the best rides in a very long time.

Weekends like this don’t come all the time and they don’t happen without a lot of effort from a small but dedicated group of people. The other vital yet always underappreciated ingredient is the attitude of the people in this group. I’ve been to events were the folks in charge are aloof, too busy or miserable for one reason or another and it sets the tone for the weekend. In this case this group had done so much pre-event work (just look at those ,GPX files!) that when combined with their experience at hosting events it was impossible to find anyone that wasn’t smiling; even the folks busting their butts for our fun looked like they were enjoying themselves. It was that kind of weekend.

Solid Gold. Vince would be proud as would all the BTR members who came before of the ride and good times provided. Thank you.

I’d like to close this out with a huge tip of the keyboard to the following:

Dave Boiano: Trail Boss and BaseCamp professor.
Dave Seften (IT & Online Registration Guru, Pre-Rider and Mentor Extraordinaire to the Trail Boss.)
Chris Tooker and Chris Ballerini who laid out Sunday’s Intermediate Route.
Wade Jarvis, food (Colebrook Fire Department) and Pre-Rider.
Girl Scouts for Sunday Breakfast
Rich Mazzei, Check in
AkaRob Schobert, all around doer of what needed doing
Norbrook Farms Brewery
The members and officers of the Berkshire Trail Riders

And finally all the riders that came out to play. The crew above set it up and you all showed up to make it epic and to once again prove that if they build it, we will come.

Thanks to all for a Real Good Time.

#Fini

A few years ago I relocated to Suffield, Ct. Suffield is a beautiful town on the Ct River. Sharing a border with Massachusetts, Suffield is a farming town with tobacco as the key crop. My house is 35 miles from the host facility, yet I planned on bringing the Sprinter, Casita, three bikes and spending the weekend on site.

There were many appealing reasons to do this. The ride had been moved from a private (and primitive) back yard to a kids camp and the Saturday dinner was going to be on-site. In the pre-ride materials they mentioned camping and I felt this would be a good one to stay over for. I also wanted my wife to come over and while we’ve tent camped across the country a few times together, nothing says come on over like a memory foam mattress and private facilities in a water tight egg; I also had the Honda 250 in the van for her to enjoy on Sunday.

The site was advertised as opening at noon. Being close I planned on arriving shortly after, setting up and going for a ride, perhaps back to Suffield if necessary to work for a few hours. I arrived as it started to rain and was greeted by registration czar Dave Seften who directed me to a perfectly wonderful spot.

Any plans to go for a ride were put on hold as the rain increased. I decided to take a nap and fell asleep giggling at the rain. The BBA is never short on mud and deep water, after all it’s late May in the Berkshires however this spring has been particularly wet and we were being taunted with even more water the day before the ride.



Sometimes setting up a ride means taking one for the team. Registration Czar Dave Seften discovered how deep is too deep on this scouting run. D. Seften photo.

One of the many things that made this weekend so great was rides that started on the property as well as some loop trails. With 350 acres there were some great options. The Trail Boss had set up some arrowed routes that also showed how they were graded, i.e. Hero II, Hero III etc. This was announced in advance and gave everyone a great opportunity to get a feel for what to expect. The challenge loop also started on the property and as Dave said at the riders meeting if you get to pavement after starting here that’s the spot to figure out if you want to keep on the challenge route as it just gets harder. I did not know this Friday afternoon.

I got dressed and decided to explore. Down the hill in the back was a pond and over there in the woods was a chapel; I rode around both. While over by the chapel I saw what looked like a deer run with a single tire track. It was an easy choice, circle the chapel again or see what’s up there. Up there won and I was rewarded by finding some arrows which I followed.

I will admit to uttering “F me” a few times under my breath along with a good chuckle at the reminder that the BBA is no dealer day ride. I wasn’t at all prepared; I was way over dressed and sweating hard which guarantees my glasses will be fogged up so I couldn’t see so well either, yet it was great fun working the big bike over the wet and slimy rocks, roots and mud. I was happy to find the road and used it to find my way back to camp for typical Friday night fun. Big thanks to the BTR member at the grill for dinner.

Saturday morning came early; my alarm went off for the first time at 04:30. The two Daves had the equipment and a plan for producing coffee but they were a little thin on labor. Ironically I don’t drink coffee but I’ve been making it at rallies for almost 20 years so I offered to take care of it. The proper equipment was provided by the camp, however their big coffee pot is definitely a very high mileage unit. I’ll laugh off a complaint the brew is too strong but too weak is a cut to the gut and Saturdays batch was weak. Pendulum swing hard the other way Sunday, reports were you could almost chew it.

Let’s Ride Bikes!!

Saturday dawned as a picture perfect day for just about anything and I was very excited. My friend Drew was on his way over from New York. We rode the BBA together a few years ago and I was looking forward to doing it again. He arrived with his buddy Scott on a first year BMW 1100GS which means it’s just about 24 years old. We attended the riders meeting to get some critical information.


Trail Boss Dave Boiano providing key information at the riders meeting.
Photo by Rob Schobert

After the riders meeting we had a quick conversation and decided that we would do the intermediate route with all the hero sections. This looked to be as close to the “traditional” roll chart BBA of years past; the challenge looked like a ton of work on GSes and the Explorer route had too much pavement. Like Goldilocks I felt the middle choice would be just right.

The ride was absolutely fantastic. We loved a Hero section that had markers in the GPX file for an HIII hill, a wet rocky downhill and mud. How much mud must there be to be worthy of a waypoint? Join us next year and find out or ask the Registration Czar. As Drew and Scott rode out that morning they informed me they needed gas. Following the route files I saw marked gas off the trail which turned out to be the Blandford rest area off I-90 with a note to “go around the gate” to get gas. We fueled up and it was requested that we stop for coffee.

There is no way I will enter a truck stop for a rest on a ride like this, especially in the Berkshires where fancy food is in almost every town. We agreed to continue. A few minutes later I chuckled as I zoomed out the map and saw marked gas right on the route in another few miles; the truck stop visit was unnecessary but interesting. Especially for the eastbound tourists getting gas.

We continued on having a truly epic experience. Part of why I love this ride is it’s one of the very few rides where I know the HP2 will be put to the test. Most rides that are big bike friendly scale it to the BMW GS with the telever front end. It’s a fantastic system, amazing on the street and even though the total travel is generous for dirt, the actual travel of the shock and spring is much less which can become an issue in hard off road riding. KTM’s have big, beefy (and long) springs up front and a long piston in the back and I am pretty confident that 99% of the big bikes owned by Berkshire Trail Riders members are orange. <bias alert> The HP2 is the BMW that can go head to head with the big KTM’s and come out on top. < /bias alert>

We found Drew his coffee which turned into an early stop for lunch. Drew revealed he was running on fumes as he attended a Friday night game at Yankee Stadium, stayed in the city late, got a few hours sleep and then came out for the ride. I have no sympathy because I live in New England and every good New England boy knows the Yankees Suck.

After lunch we were out again just having a ball. We came up on a big group, probably almost a dozen riders. We got to an intersection and the advantage of knowing which way to go allowed me to pass; Drew and Scott filtered up to the front at the next stop sign and once again we were off.

As I popped out of the woods I discovered a large group of riders working their way across two sets of train tracks. The crossing was marked and probably active at one time but any improvements or lumber for a proper crossing had been removed and was in a pile next to the tracks. Given the primitive nature of the crossing I thought it must be an error so I rode down the east side a bit only to determine that the crossing was indeed on the route.

The group ahead was pretty casual and they were using lumber from the pile to made a bridge over the rails. I think they needed the lumber as some of their bikes didn’t have the clearance ours did or perhaps they didn’t have experience manhandling big bikes over obstacles. Regardless they all made it across.

The big group was leaving and I dismounted to work my HP2 across the tracks. I get off the tracks, put the bike on the stand and then hear the whistle. Drew and Scott heard the train while I was working my way across and held back.

The Great Northern, out of Cheyenne, from Sea to Shining Sea.

A post event conversation with the Trail Boss revealed there will be some internal discussions about how this ended up on the route. I will say that we got Drew’s GS Rally and Scott’s oil head over the tracks as a team and set a pace that would qualify us for the GS Trophy.

With the adventure of crossing the tracks behind us we continued on. Mud, rocks, hills and descents we were having a ball.

Right up until Drew’s bike broke.

It was a rock. More like a pebble. It came up, possibly from my tire and left a little telltale mark on Drew’s right crashbar as it traveled upward on a perfect trajectory for his throttle connector on the right grip; snapping it off and putting the bike into limp mode.

I suppose at some point I’ll be old and cranky enough to take this moment to launch a diatribe on fly by wire throttles, traction control and computers without which some modern bikes would be uncontrollable by us mere mortals. I’ll hold off because the alternative is the moto equivalent of groundhog day where we’re all stuck riding the same airhead and fiddling with carbs and crappy electrics for the rest of our days. I sure do find a bike like the HP2 to be the best of both worlds.

With Drew’s bike in limp mode (essentially fast idle with no throttle control) we started back to camp which according to my GPS was only 32 miles away. 32 miles. Might as well as been Mars as after 30 minutes we had covered not quite five miles. Basic math indicated that happy hour, dinner, date night and perhaps even the bonfire were in jeopardy at this pace so I found a spot for us to chat. We decided that Drew and Scott would stay in place, try to fix the connector and see if they could get the bike better while I tagged the location as a waypoint (Drew’s mechanical) and started back for the Sprinter. This proved to be a good plan. They were able to repair the connector but without a reset tool they could not clear the fault and the bike remained in limp mode.

Once in the Sprinter I head Drew making calls to coordinate the rescue of him and his bike. I pointed out I had an extra slot in the van and I live near a MAX BMW store which is where he goes for service. After a few random turns and circling the Big Y parking lot by I-90 we came up with a plan.

Remember Scott? He followed all our gyrations in the Sprinter. We stopped and Drew explained his plan.


Rob’s gonna take my bike and I’m going to ride home on this roll of paper towel.


End of part two

Part one

The Berkshire Big Adventure is a two day ride in the Berkshires, aka the Berks. Hosted by the Berkshire Trail Riders; the BBA has a well earned reputation as a fantastic ride with plenty of challenges.

Unlike clubs that include street riding the Berkshire Trail Riders is essentially a club for riders who like to ride and compete exclusively off road; using pavement for transits to the next trail. Their mission is to advocate for responsible off-road motorcycling, competition and philanthropy.

They maintain the trails they ride and promotes their preservation through trail work parties several times a year, while working alongside various local, state and federal agencies.  Other than those on private lands, the trails are open to the public for other uses.  Clubs like this don’t accept virtual members; to join you must attend a meeting and commit to a minimum level of participation in trail maintenance, charitable giving, event help and on occasion riding the hell out of your dirt bike with like minded individuals. Clubs like this are full of great riders because of the commitment just to be a member means members are all in. When they describe a trail as Hero 4 you best have your big pants on.

Once a year they invite big bike goons like me to come play with them in one of the best dual sport regions of New England. I’ve answered the call more times than I can remember; which could be as few as five. Or six. But I think it might be as many as 8.

One of the things I love about the BBA is the navigation is old school. As in a paper roll chart. That’s the moto equivalent of being handed a sextant and being told to find Bermuda in a hurricane. To make it even more fun your “roll chart” was presented on 8.5×11 paper. They did provide a table, scissors and some tape; riders new to the concept were lucky if there was a grizzled old timer to tell them to run a line of tape all they way down the back of their roll lest it tear halfway through the ride. There was also a gentleman who sold the world’s best roll chart holder. It has a convex cover so it magnifies which for these old eyes is a blessing. It’s still mounted with a route sheet from a last time I rode the HP2 in the BBA. It says “SLOW PAST HOUSES LOOSE HORSES POSSIBLE”. I may never remove it.



New for this year was a .GPX file which was a work of art.

This year was also the first year for a new Trail Boss. The Trail Boss is responsible for everything regarding the ride and most of the stuff that happens at the start / finish too, which this year turned into a rally. Trail Boss Dave Boiano announced that the route would be provided as a .GPX file. No longer would I be playing rock, paper and scissors 45 minutes before the start. I was mildly disappointed if for no other reason that this ride is my only chance to ride a roll chart but when it comes to having a great ride it’s just impossible to beat a good GPS with a pre-loaded track file to follow. I could write volumes about the quality of the .GPX files and the obvious care, attention and countless hours of effort with a keyboard involved but I will keep it short. In addition to a track to follow they had coded hero sections of varying difficulty, warnings, gas stops, recommendations for food and things that were not on the route but great to know about. The gold standard for a .GPX file has been set by Mr. Boiano. It almost makes me want to learn Basecamp.


A thing of beauty. Can you find where my friend Drew’s bike broke?

My initial exposure to the BBA was via Adventure Rider. Advrider.com was the first social platform dedicated to adventure riding to gain traction; some might say it helped the segment take off. Back in the day conversation was very free-wheeling and participants (known as inmates) often became good friends who would get together for rides. Once such user was a rider named Vince who was highly entertaining, thoughtful and led a life many would envy. He was also a member of the Berkshire Trail Riders, and served as Trail Boss for multiple editions of this ride before succumbing to illness. He and his friends in the Trail Riders made me want to give this a go and I’ve had a ball with them many times since.

When I lived in Rhode Island I’d be up early, and ride about 140 miles to the start in Tolland. I’d have a nice ride and then an egg sandwich from the local Boy Scouts at the start, do the Adventure, and come home. Fast and light although sometimes the ride home requires a stop at a pharmacy.


If only the landing went as well as the launch.

Now I live about 40 minutes from the start, yet this year I brought the Sprinter, Casita and three motorcycles.

End part one Part Two