After my terrifying ride home from RPM Cycles I stashed the BMW R 1200 GS in the garage and hid from it for a few days. Over Labor Day weekend I found the nerve to saddle up and do some turns in the foothills.
I spent ten minutes in a cul-de-sac doing figure eights. I’m finding it a challenge to get used to the heft of this bike, along with a flat spot in the low end of the throttle. It’s very difficult to maintain smooth acceleration in the 0-15 mph range, something that I’ve heard is a characteristic of the boxer engine coupled with fuel injection. I’ve also heard that taking up slack in the throttle cable might help, but I’m not at the tinkering phase yet.
Satisfied that I was getting my moto chops back, I headed up to Wheeler Canyon Road to do some low speed twisties. A lot of rangy ranchland back there. Nice Sunday drive that I wouldn’t have normally gone on.Â
By the end of the weekend I had enough nerve to try some dirt riding. I rode to Fillmore and followed Goodenough Road up toward Squaw Spring. It’s a nice graded dirt road, some gravel, yet it goes through some remote territory in the Sespe region. There are some stunning geological formations…I’ll have to snap some pics next time I go.Â
People are quick to tell you that the GS is a touring bike that can go offroad…and not necessarily a dirt bike. I will tell you that it is like trying to drive a tugboat in the sand. Sand riding is interesting in its own right–you have to steer right to go left. But the BMW has so much mass that you also have to compensate for its momentum, until you hit a rocky patch and then very suddenly you don’t. It’s a recipe for a spill and I rode this track like a little girl on my tippy-toes.Â
I made it most of the way to Squaw Springs when I realized that I had no food or water or anything that Bear Grylls would bring into the outback, so I turned tail and rode home. Gingerly.
