Dancin Dave’s Mileageslaves
By Dave Cwi
BMW OWNERS NEWS
January 2012
It’s About Time
Jack Shoalmire had a
mission: A Saddle Sore 1000
in every state. He was making
progress before he died.
Howard Entman asked for
volunteers willing to
“memorialize Jack’s dream by
riding in-state SS1k’s in each
of the 50 states on one day.”
So on October 15th past, 160
of us started off, at least one
rider per state. There were
several Mr. Indianas and at
least one Ms. I never met or
saw any of them.
At the start of the ride, I was
not in the best riding mood.
So I was grateful that the day
began with some amusement.
Everyone doing a Saddle
Sore needs someone to sign
a “witness state-ment” and
validate their start mileage. So
at 5 a.m., there I was chatting
up the kid “manning” the hotel
front desk. He listened with
some amusement and then,
to make sure he “got it,”
asked the usual question.
“You are doing what today?”
Gotta love the “you’re nuts”
look some folks can’t help but
give you.
We were alone in the hotel
lobby at that hour and my bike
was parked right there at the
front door, just to make his life
easy. He was happy for the
break in routine, stepping
outside to peer at the
odometer and sign my
witness form. He joked that it
was cold enough that morning
to snow. Then he gave me
that look.
I
digested his weather
information along with two
cups of coffee and a pile of
quick cook oatmeal with dried
fruit microwaved earlier in my
room. I’d packed this
concoction ahead of time in a
ZiplockŪ bag and stopped on
the ride there to fill up my
thermos with coffee. I can
keep coffee hot for 10 hours.
Since I’m addicted to coffee in
the morning, this thermos is
ever present when I ride.
To complete my rolling kitchen,
the bike was packed with Cliff
Bars and a jar of shelled
peanuts, along with a starter set
of fluids—my diet for the day. It
would be gas up, get receipt, and
go to get this over with, ending
16 hours later with a real world
dinner and a beer. Sixteen hours
or less. Set the cruise. Gas. Go.
Receipt. Snack. Pee. Sure was
gonna be fun. Now you know my
mood.
Back outside, I quickly realized
that the kid was right and it was
colder than I reckoned. I flipped
the heated grips switch to max
heat and checked the time. You
see, it’s all about time and doing
the little things to stay
comfortable. All day I’d be
checking what needed to be
checked to stay stress free. But
Harrison Ford in that famous
movie quote had it wrong. It’s not
about the mileage. It’s all about
time. (To prepare for this ride, I
even bolted up an easy-to-view
day-glow-on-demand $8 dollar
clock!)
At this point in my BMW life, a
1000-mile day is not a challenge.
I’m not “bragging” but just
remarking, and it’s true for lots of
other riders. For 2011, the
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