Mid-Michigan and the Thumb area chatter thread

Due to the popularity of the Mid Michigan and the Thumb photo tag thread (http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=824099) , and my propensity to drag the thread significantly off topic, I thought it might be worth a shot to start a separate area talk thread so as not to clutter that one up with my semi-coherent ramblings. Otherwise, the tags can be obscured by my verboseness.

So, who all has their bikes out so far this year? I've got 1100 miles on so far.

Entertaining the idea of storage insurance on the car until Fall since I rarely use it this time of year anyway. Do any of you go bike only during the spring/summer/fall?

This is probably a good idea to clean up the tag threads .

I'll give a millage update later. Usually to drive my truck once the ice n salt is off the road I have to air up a tire or jump the battery.
I 'm only in the cage when I have no other choice .
I picked up the bike in late November and as of Sunday I'm over 4100 miles ...




So this state wide tag once it's started ..... Are we just going to post the GPS coordinates for the location each time it's dropped somewhere ????

I'm hoping it will include either coordinates, a searchable address or some method of finding it other than knowing the specific place or some obscure hints known only to people from the immediate area. I mean I don't mind trying to figure a tag out from clues, but I would hope the hint(s) would be solveable via some googling or something.

Also, maybe someone can keep an up to date map for it like jbmac is doing for the mid-MI/thumb one.

I was just thinking it might be interesting to have a recommended minimum distance to move the tag, just to keep it from being stuck in the same area all the time. Of course, it might be a giant hassle too or keep people from playing due to time constraints.

I just got home from wintering in NM and thought I would join you Thumbers in your thread even though I live in Central and Western MI while I am up here. I do a lot of riding around the state and would join you for a RTE on my WeeStrom or a dirt ride on my 500 EXC KTM. I already know one of your friends, Mike Sova from riding up North near Mesick one day.I will keep an eye on your thread.

Hey everybody.

Hey back at you Sova. Come up North this weekend and see my new scooter.

I'm taking the MSF class with my wife this weekend, otherwise I would!

is food involved?

well, we're thinking of going to the World Expo of Beers in Frankenmuth Saturday night.

I know a meet'n'greet has been mentioned a few time. Maybe we should actually do something about that. I know I am tied up for the next 3 weekends, but I hope sometime this summer I can start putting some faces to the names.

Other than that, I too will have to double check for a mileage update. I will likely drop coverage one of our vehicles very soon. Need to keep at least one covered with a baby and all.

Since March I have been riding to work everyday, unless there was ice on the roads, and people here think I am significantly crazy. My workplace has a lot of riders that only come in when the chance of rain is zero and the daytime/nightime low is 65. Personally I prefer them thinking I am crazy, but I wasn't sure if it is because it is so "safety first" oriented here or if other get the same treatment.

If nobody starts it by this weekend......I will doing some camping, so I will get one started if I don't see one.

Personally I don't care how it is tagged. Address, GPS, clues, etc. As long as I don't have to spend more than 1 hour googling I don't mind.

I know when I played in Norther VA, some of the tags/clues were quite creative and fun. Not to mention informative with all of the history in that area. Some took longer than others, but I enjoyed it.

I rode to work last year pretty exclusively to the end of November. I'd have kept doing it but the original battery finally gave up and I didn't want to get a new one just to have it sit all winter. Most people thought I was crazy, got plenty of stupid comments about how cold it must be, etc. Same thing in the spring now.

Just like your workplace, mine has plenty of people who commute on bikes, but only when it is forecast to be warm and sunny. There has been many a day where my poor KLR sits all by itself in the work parking lot with no other bikes to keep it company. When I told them of the torrential rainstorm I rode through in Wisconsin, the UP, and continuing on our side of the bridge to finish up my (so far longest roadtrip on a bike), they all thought I was crazy for not getting a hotel to wait it out. They're probably right but that's beside the point, neither the time nor the hotel were budgeted for. Not to mention carrying on was like giving nature one big extended Adv rider salute rather than quitting.

So, riding in March, do you have heated grips on the wee or just some really good gloves? I'm ok down to air temps in the mid 30s but if it gets too much colder, my hands get too chilled to work the controls very well.

I have a 15-20 minute commute, so with the "winter" gloves I have I don't have any issues. No hand guards or warmers, although I would assume at least guards would be required for a ride over an hour if I wanted to keep my hands functional.

I don't really ride below the mid 30's. My man-hood shrivels at the thought of ice and 2 wheels.

I have about the same trip to work . Gards , Gloves & Heat !
I have riddin as low as 24 . I hate driving the cage unless I'm pulling the trailer heading to the track , Been lucky enough for dry pavement . Usually my dirt road ices ditch to ditch before I have to worry about the pavement ,..
I guess I need to add that @ the colder times of year its usually dark when I'm heading to and from work so that happens before the ice sets in ....

Are you riding to Higgins? I would like to.

Anybody else been out in the rain the last couple of days? Both yesterday and this morning, the hard rain chose to start just as I was leaving work. (Not) surprisingly, I didn't see a single other bike anywhere out in it on the way home either day.

I was out here in TC both days, rained pretty hard both days tho, yesterday I rode for about an hour in a full on rain.

I got caught in some of it Tuesday afternoon but I was heading home so it wasn't to bad .
Did get pretty wet in a sudden fast down pour at one point ..

All part of it I guess . I quit listening to weather guy a few years back when I lost most of the riding season do to the 80% BS . Wish I could get away with being totally wrong and still get paid .........

Now I just look at the radar and ride .

Yep. As long as it isn't raining when I step out of the house, and more frequently lately, even if it is, I'll still ride. I can't count the number of times the NWS has been wrong significantly this year. I think they're actually getting worse, not better, as time goes on despite advances in technology, computer modeling, etc.

Why not just say something like "there is a 100% chance of between 0 and 10,000 inches of precipitation today, with an expected temperature somewhere between -140 and 140 degrees Farenheit." The forecast would always be spot on, and think of all the money they could save by not bothering with buying all the new computers, etc.

The thing that gets me is the weather folks can't even put together an accurate 7 day or even 3 day forecast, and we have people claiming they can forecast the climate decades or centuries from now. Uh, what? Oops, I guess that bit about climate change probably belonged in CSM instead.