MINIs On Top 2007 - Mt. Washington, NH
dugmar
Registered Users Posts: 756 Major grins
So at 8:30PM on Saturday night I found myself at 6288 feet above sea level looking for a ride to the bottom of Mt. Washington, in New Hampshire. I was covering the photo duties of the "MINIs on Top" event this weekend. 250+ MINI Coopers start at Loon Mountan ski resort at 8AM and make an all day rally, over the Kancamagus Highway, to Bear Notch Road and eventually to the top of Mt. Washington for sunset. I took over 2GB of photos for the national BMW Club magazine, Roundel. By the way, if you've never driven the "Kanc" or Bear Notch road, do it, trust me.
After a long day, a ride to the top from MINI owner Pete Basiliere, and a great tour of the Mt. Washington Observatory I had full 2GB memory card, so I went looking for a ride down. Since I was on two wheels I figured a head start on the ride home would salvage the last few minutes of daylight, golden time for a motorcyclist in critter country. I found a ride to the bottom with the Mt Washington Stage Coach drivers and observatory staff, characters to say the least. We had a lot of laughs and it turns out the driver was a big F1 and racing fan, so we bored the women on our ride for the entire 20 minutes. Once back at the base I jumped on the back of my R1150GS and headed south at 9PM. I dodged all kinds of critters on the way home, including a grazing female moose in Franconia Notch, all kinds of ground varmints (both alive and dead) and about a half dozen un-helmeted Harley Davidson "riders" that had no regard for the double yellow line. Luckily, I have two giant PIAA flood lamps on the front of my Beemer that turn night into day, these lights probably saved me from something bad. Oncoming drivers didn't agree on how cool they were but without the glow of a nearby city it was just too dark up in north country to have it any other way. My BMW's alternator got a workout... High beam, low beam, two PIAA floods and my handgrip heaters were all on "high." I finally rolled into Newburyport at 11:30PM.
What I had forgotten prior to my departure, it was the final weekend of New Hampshire "Bike Week", a northern version of Daytona's fest of the same name. Over 400,000 riders come and turn the entire state into a playground for two-wheeled mayhem. There were so many riders that most of the gas stations I rolled into on the way home had paper bags over their pump nozzles with "SOLD OUT" written in black Sharpie. I was a bit nervous as it was getting late and half the gas stations I passed were closed. The ones that were open had no gas, or if they did, 87 octane only. BMW Boxer Engines don't like anything but 93 octane fuel. Low octane fuel results in the dreaded "ping" under acceleration, not good and potentially damaging to the internals. Finally, with the low fuel warning light on, in Ossipee, NH I found a station that had 91 on tap. Not great but it kept the dreaded pinging away. After a fill-up of $3.45 a gallon fuel and a de-bugging of my helmet visor I was back on the road. By the way, and interesting and disturbing fact, once I figured out the reason for all the bikes on the road, that morning I decided to keep a mental tally of the amount of riders I saw that had helmets on. Get this, I had to see at least 3500 riders, I could count on both hands how many had helmets on. Most considered safety gear as a T-shirt and shorts. Amazing. Needless to say I got some funny looks as I was dressed from head to toe in fully certified motorcycle safety gear, with not one inch of skin showing. I did look dark and menacing however, so not too many comments were thrown my way. :0)
Once home I had a nice snifter of 4 Copas Anejo Certified Organic Tequila (plug for my friend Brad that runs the distillery outside Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico) and a cold Fat Tire Ale. It really hit the spot. Physically I was fine, but mentally frazzled. I have never had a brain shut down quite like this one. It was a struggle to talk about the day's events with Hilary as my brain just wanted to stop thinking. I did however, and managed an good hour of debriefing on both of our day's events. Hilary (my wife, a professional cake maker) made "THE cake" this weekend, probably her best effort so far, I only wish I had been home to see it. Photos don't do it justice I'm sure but from what I saw in those photos, it was quite amazing. Think of a miniature version of the Beverly Hills Hotel, only edible. We should have the cake photos up on the site today.
So 345 miles of constant peak alertness takes its toll, especially after almost three hours in the dark. Soon after our conversation I was flanked in Shih-Tzu and down for the count, TV remote in hand. I woke at 6AM the next day still fully dressed, TV blaring, on the couch in the same position I fell asleep in… the dogs hadn't budged either.
Anyway, the photos from the event are up, some stunning views up there, New Hampshire is really one of my favorite states. We are lucky to have this all in our back yard...
Link to all the photos: http://www.dugmar.smugmug.com/gallery/3015370
Not my bike, but and Adv rider that was meeting friends at Loon. I believe his first name was Forest. He was on a four month tour, originating in Oregon...
After a long day, a ride to the top from MINI owner Pete Basiliere, and a great tour of the Mt. Washington Observatory I had full 2GB memory card, so I went looking for a ride down. Since I was on two wheels I figured a head start on the ride home would salvage the last few minutes of daylight, golden time for a motorcyclist in critter country. I found a ride to the bottom with the Mt Washington Stage Coach drivers and observatory staff, characters to say the least. We had a lot of laughs and it turns out the driver was a big F1 and racing fan, so we bored the women on our ride for the entire 20 minutes. Once back at the base I jumped on the back of my R1150GS and headed south at 9PM. I dodged all kinds of critters on the way home, including a grazing female moose in Franconia Notch, all kinds of ground varmints (both alive and dead) and about a half dozen un-helmeted Harley Davidson "riders" that had no regard for the double yellow line. Luckily, I have two giant PIAA flood lamps on the front of my Beemer that turn night into day, these lights probably saved me from something bad. Oncoming drivers didn't agree on how cool they were but without the glow of a nearby city it was just too dark up in north country to have it any other way. My BMW's alternator got a workout... High beam, low beam, two PIAA floods and my handgrip heaters were all on "high." I finally rolled into Newburyport at 11:30PM.
What I had forgotten prior to my departure, it was the final weekend of New Hampshire "Bike Week", a northern version of Daytona's fest of the same name. Over 400,000 riders come and turn the entire state into a playground for two-wheeled mayhem. There were so many riders that most of the gas stations I rolled into on the way home had paper bags over their pump nozzles with "SOLD OUT" written in black Sharpie. I was a bit nervous as it was getting late and half the gas stations I passed were closed. The ones that were open had no gas, or if they did, 87 octane only. BMW Boxer Engines don't like anything but 93 octane fuel. Low octane fuel results in the dreaded "ping" under acceleration, not good and potentially damaging to the internals. Finally, with the low fuel warning light on, in Ossipee, NH I found a station that had 91 on tap. Not great but it kept the dreaded pinging away. After a fill-up of $3.45 a gallon fuel and a de-bugging of my helmet visor I was back on the road. By the way, and interesting and disturbing fact, once I figured out the reason for all the bikes on the road, that morning I decided to keep a mental tally of the amount of riders I saw that had helmets on. Get this, I had to see at least 3500 riders, I could count on both hands how many had helmets on. Most considered safety gear as a T-shirt and shorts. Amazing. Needless to say I got some funny looks as I was dressed from head to toe in fully certified motorcycle safety gear, with not one inch of skin showing. I did look dark and menacing however, so not too many comments were thrown my way. :0)
Once home I had a nice snifter of 4 Copas Anejo Certified Organic Tequila (plug for my friend Brad that runs the distillery outside Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico) and a cold Fat Tire Ale. It really hit the spot. Physically I was fine, but mentally frazzled. I have never had a brain shut down quite like this one. It was a struggle to talk about the day's events with Hilary as my brain just wanted to stop thinking. I did however, and managed an good hour of debriefing on both of our day's events. Hilary (my wife, a professional cake maker) made "THE cake" this weekend, probably her best effort so far, I only wish I had been home to see it. Photos don't do it justice I'm sure but from what I saw in those photos, it was quite amazing. Think of a miniature version of the Beverly Hills Hotel, only edible. We should have the cake photos up on the site today.
So 345 miles of constant peak alertness takes its toll, especially after almost three hours in the dark. Soon after our conversation I was flanked in Shih-Tzu and down for the count, TV remote in hand. I woke at 6AM the next day still fully dressed, TV blaring, on the couch in the same position I fell asleep in… the dogs hadn't budged either.
Anyway, the photos from the event are up, some stunning views up there, New Hampshire is really one of my favorite states. We are lucky to have this all in our back yard...
Link to all the photos: http://www.dugmar.smugmug.com/gallery/3015370
Not my bike, but and Adv rider that was meeting friends at Loon. I believe his first name was Forest. He was on a four month tour, originating in Oregon...
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