May 2023 Newsletter
2023.05
NEWSLETTER
Pikes Peak BMW Riders
Monthly Group Mtg
3rd Sunday of each month, 8:15am,
at Mimi’s Cafe
7133 N Academy Blvd, COS (map)
Next Group Meeting
May 21, 8:15 am
Monthly Dinner Out
2nd Thurs of each month, 6:30pm
Next Dinner Out
May 11, 6:30pm at Rudy's BBQ (map)
Click->Event Registration
Sunday Meetups
Breakfast meetups every Sunday
(except Group Mtg Sunday) 8:30am,
at The Coffee Cup Café,
251 Front Street, Monument (map)
Group Rides often follow (weather permitting)
Next Meet-up
May 14 & 28, 8:30 am
PREZNOTES
The summer riding season is upon us and our club has hit the ground () running; member turnout has been wonderful (Taos ride, Thursday Night Dinner, the Hill Country Hangout, Sunday meet-ups at the Coffee Cup and the Tire Repair Workshop)!
One of my favorite events (the club campout) unfortunately won’t happen on the dates we had planned but “could” happen later this year? We will work with the new owners of the Arrowhead RV Campground to get next years campout scheduled at our normal time.
We have a number of members who are planning on attending the BMW MOA Rally in Virginia this year (8-10 Jun 23) and Brent Berry has graciously offered up his home for us to plan our trips/routes to the rally on 13 May 23 at 10 am.
On a serious note, I truly hope everyone is very safety conscious as El Paso County already has really bad motorcycle accident/fatalities this year!
I am looking forward to seeing everyone at one or all of our upcoming activities!
ON THE CALENDER
May 6
Tire Repair Workshop
(Great turn-out, check it out here!)
May 11
Sign up: Thursday Night Dinner—Rudy's BBQ
May 21
Monthly Club Breakfast Meetings
May 7, 14, 28
Weekly Sunday Breakfast
The Coffee Cup Cafe (map)
Re-cap: CLUB OFFICERS FOR 2023
Club officers for 2023 were elected at our March breakfast meeting. A listing of our officers and their positions, along with email links are shown in the final section of this newsletter.
Re-cap: PRIMITIVE CAMPOUT: APRIL 28-30
Weather was "iffy" so for safety, the club cancelled this event; however, a few of you decided to tough it out on your own and posted a few photos on Facebook shown on the right...
Here's for hoping for better weather next year!
BACKGROUND: The club has a history (brief, but historic) of having an early season Campout. It is a great opportunity to get together as a club and do a shakedown on our equipment and to blow the cobwebs out. Day riders are welcome to come down too as the area is rife with great riding, both on road and off.
Re-Cap: TIRE REPAIR WORKSHOP - MAY 6
A huge shout out to Jay Kuhns and Tony Galles for hosting this great event! What a huge turn-out! There were over 17 riders present. Jay taught and many practiced a few tire repair techniques using different styles of plugs. A favorite was the mushroom style but the gummies were demonstrated as an alternative. Due to their limited supply, we only talked about using the original BMW butterflies. Each style has their advantages in different flat tire scenarios.
For your basic puncture (e.g. nail/screw), then any of them work. The gummies and the BMW butterflies are also helpful for larger or longer punctures. Regardless of your puncture, the objective is to get you safely to a new location so that you can assess your situation and tire replacement options.
A few take-aways:
- Avoid the highway shoulders as that's where all the cars push out the debris
- Avoid riding behind garbage trucks in Mexico (from a rider story!)
- Know your tools and how to repair your tire (AAA is not always available and besides, why have a tool kit that you are not going to use)
A common tire repair kit discussed was the ones made by "Stop & Go". Some of us ordered our kits on the spot (e.g. S&G 6000 24 Piece Tubeless Puncture Pilot Tire Repair Kit & Air compressor)
YouTube Playlist of Videos collected: 2023 motorcycle tire repair workshop
Example Video Below: "How to use the mushroom plug to repair your tire"
2023 Hill Country Hangout (Kerrville TX)
Several of us got to attend the Kerrville, TX Hill Country Hangout, sponsored by the San Antonio BMW Rider's Association for Colorado showed up in force with many of us from our club (Tim, Jay, Ross, Rich, Dean, Theresa, Andy). We also rode with...Bolt (COS), Donnie (Longmont), Mario (Houston), and Gary & Andrea (Lake Havasu, AZ).
INTRODUCTION TO... Tim Tracey, Club President
For those who don’t already know me, my name is Tim Tracey and I am your new club president. I’ve be
en a member of the Pikes Peak BMW Road Riders for approximately 10 years and on the Events committee for half of that.
I began my love of motorcycling growing up in Minneapolis, MN and, like many others, started on a 3HP Briggs & Stratton mini-bike; which was also my introduction to the police (riding on the street “was” fun). Moved up to trail bikes and I used the railroad tracks as my path to different riding locations around town. Fast-forward to joining the Air Force in 1975 and getting my “dream” location (i.e. warm climate) in central California (Castle AFB). Was so fortunate to have a squadron commander who was cool, funny, a motorcyclist and he liked me! He loaned his pickup truck to me so I could purchase a dirt bike and sold me his 1972 R75/5 when he got orders to Japan!
I went everywhere on that Beemer, took my future wife on our first date on it (well all dates) with Yosemite National Park being the second date which I believe locked in and expedited the future wife part! The R75/5 was the perfect bike for use in central California and we explored extensively.
After being discharged and being hired by the Air Force as a civilian employee, moving to Sacramento our motorcycling flourished; racing all around (Laguna Seca, Sears Point, Sacramento Mile, Hangtown, Speedway in Auburn) and we were part of the group who began the River City Beemers. I was also a member of the Dirt Diggers North Motorcycle Club (AMA Hangtown motocross promoter).
Along came our kids and there went the R75/5; the bright side was I moved to Hare scramble racing!! Job opportunities moved us to Colorado Springs and dirt bike racing for many years (me and then the kids). Kids graduated from high school (one from college too) and full circle back to Beemers!! 
Riding in Colorado is special, on or off-road, and we’ve travelled a lot of it! Unfortunately, I lost my wife (Pat) to cancer going on two years ago and have been finding my “solo” path since. On the bright side I know she’s always with me.
I’m looking forward to watching our club get back to good times (post Covid) as it has a wonderful history with so many awesome members; the club campout in Buena Vista at Arrowhead campground has always been my favorite along with the picnic at Robin’s house.
See you soon!
Website instructional
YOU CAN ADD CONTENT BY POSTING TO OUR SITE
Did you know that you can add content to our website by submitting posts to the stie? Your post(s) can contain both text and files (i.e. pictures for example). To do so, first select SUBMIT A POST from the CLUB MEMBERS drop down menu, as shown here
Next, you will be presented this form. Simply fill out the form. Near the bottom of the form, select [Choose Files] to, for example, upload pictures with your submission.
All USER SUBMITTED POSTS can be found by selecting SUBMITTED POSTS
from the CLUB MEMBERS drop down menu, as shown here.
A list of USER SUBMITTED POSTS is also shown in the right margin of website pages, other than the initial landing page, as shown here.
As stated in our by-laws, our purpose is to provide for the social and educational advancement of our members, the dissemination of general and mechanical information concerning BMW motorcycles, events, the encouragement of sportsman-like conduct, courtesy, safety and the furtherance of public respect for all motorcycles and their riders.
| PPBMWR Officers 2023 | ||
|---|---|---|
| President | Tim Tracey | president@pikespeakbmwriders.org |
| Vice President | Jay Kuhns | vicepresident@pikespeakbmwriders.org |
| Secretary | Susanna Parkhouse | secretary@pikespeakbmwriders.org |
| Treasurer | Theresa Henderson | treasurer@pikespeakbmwriders.org |
| Web Master | Brent Berry | webmaster@pikespeakbmwriders.org |
| Newsletter | Andy Dills | newsletter@pikespeakbmwriders.org |
| Events Committee | John Spencer | events@pikespeakbmwriders.org |
| Robin Lopez | ||
| Scott Hellzen | ||
| Open | ||
| All Officers | officers@pikespeakbmwriders.org | |
| Web Links to Pertinent Area Organizations | |
|---|---|
| Organization | Web Links |
| Pikes Peak BMW Road Riders Assoc | Our Pikes Peak BMW Riders Organization |
| Web Site | Pikes Peak BMW Riders | Main Site |
| Facebook Group Page | Pikes Peak BMW Riders | Facebook |
| Google Group Login | Pikes Peak BMW Riders - Google Groups |
| BMW MOA | National BMW Motorcycle Owners Association |
| Web Site | BMW MOA | Main Site |
| Forums | BMW MOA | Forums |
| Facebook Group Page | BMW MOA | Facebook |
| Colorado GS Girls | Colorado group focused on Girls and GS Motorcycles |
| Facebook Group Page | Colorado GS Girls | Facebook |
| Instagram Site | Colorado GS Girls | Instagram |
| Area BMW Dealers | BMW Dealerships in the area |
| Colorado Springs POWERSPORTS | Colorado Springs POWERSPORTS | Main Site |
| 945 Motor City Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80905 | |
| 719-635-3004 | |
| BMW of Denver | BMW of Denver | Main Site |
| 10350 E Easter Ave, Centennial, CO 80112 | |
| 303-755-6400 | |