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Heavy Iron Run to Williams Jim, Mark (Goolie) and I met up at Jim's shop early Saturday morning to trek up to Williams (near Flagstaff) via some back roads. Since this would include nearly 400 miles in the saddle, I prepared for the ride by sitting on an old radiator for a few hours the night before. (The KTM seat has to feel better after that. Right?!) Anyway, my butt training proved unnecessary, because Jim had picked up a brand new BMW 1150GS Adventure earlier that week (beautiful bike!), and asked if I wanted to ride his '95 1100 GS. I've always been curious about these big bikes, so I jumped at the offer. After getting everything ready, we all climbed on our bikes and prepared to take off. I'd been on Jim's bike for all of about five seconds, when I DROPPED IT. (As I rolled the BMW off its center stand, the bike was leaning a bit. Unlike the KTM, you can't simply adjust your weight from a standstill and correct the lean. Unless you've got some momentum, that baby's goin' down.) Obviously, I felt like a complete schmuck, but Jim was great about it. (I think he was still euphoric from sitting on his new toy.) So we picked it back up and headed out. Once it's vertical, that 1100 GS is truly a fun bike. (The 530+ pounds really seem to drift away when the bike is in motion.) It's got a heap of power that comes on very smooth and handles great. We made our way up through Seven Springs and headed down Bloody Basin road. After stopping to grab a couple of shots of Jim and Mark, I jumped back on the bike and slipped it into 1st. Since I'm an absolute idiot who can't learn from previous experience, I took off too slowly, hit a rock and DROPPED IT. Again, Jim helped me pick up the bike and was really cool about not strangling me. After convincing myself to relax and get over it, I started to loosen up a bit and really got a feel for the bike. I was surprised how well it handled the rocky road -- much better than I had expected. After making our way over to I-17, Mark had to turn back for home, so Jim and I turned north. We took the highway to Dewey, AZ for lunch, then alternated between dirt and pavement while making our way up to Jerome (a beautiful old mining town up in the hills). After grabbing a drink, we took the back way up to Williams and hung out with some locals at a roadside cafe. (Elvis even stopped by to sing a song or two.) As a nice bonus, the clouds were starting to turn a little dark, which helped cool us off. We took the back way down to Prescott and completed the loop by heading down I-17 to Smokin' Joe's steakhouse for dinner. While it was a very humbling day for me, I still had a great time and really appreciate Jim letting me use (i.e., beat up) his bike. Shown below are a few images from the ride.
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