Registered at last!

I returned from Seattle to find my formal registration packet and an acknowledgment of my initial deposit! Signed forms are due back within a week or so. Since all donations ultimately will be made in GBP, the free fall of the currency relative to the dollar makes it very tempting to forward-fund the minimum needed to participate. We'll see what the home office thinks.

Off-road training?

So, since getting an M-class endorsement to ride in MD 3 years ago, I've put about 20k miles on my 1997 BMW R1100RS road bike.

I've not ridden offroad in many years, and only then on mountain bikes. So while I know about feathering and trail braking, weighting the outside pegs on off-camber trails, and the joys of the endo (demonstrated here), gaining some offroad training before the ride will be critical.

Unfortuantely, off-road training centers are hard to find. BMW has one of the few schools on the East Coast. There aren't many other options.

And then there's the question of what to use to learn to ride offroad. Over the Xmas break, I developed a respectable addiction to checking eBay listings for second/third hand, dual-purpose, 450 - 650cc BMWs, KTMs, Hondas, Kawis, Suzukis, or Yamahas. I mean, I'll need to practice on something, right? Cripes, here it comes again -- the euphoria, the sweats, the shakes. Must ... change...topic....

Arrgghh!!

Registering for EA2009 continues to something of a nightmare for we non-Brits. In short, it has taken over 10 calls and several weeks just to get the information needed to get registered. All of my e-mails seem to be routed straight to the circular file cabinet, calls to HQ introduce me to a cheerful yet clearly disorganized crew, and countless calls were needed to the organizer's own bank to correct erroneous mailing or account information needed to transfer funds internationally.

After much back and forth with my bank, I finally succeeded in doing what PayPal or others would have required only 5 minutes to accomplish. I'll have to "om" my way through this stage. Patience is not one of my strengths. Breathe in, breathe out...