Practice for Rally

I used to ride a bicycle from my house in the south part of Ogden, UT, out to Hill AFB, to play racquetball in the base gym. US-89 went from about 4500' down about 800' to cross I-84 as it came out of Weber Canyon, and then back up to about 4500' at Hill. Cold air from Wyoming would flow downhill toward the Great Salt Lake and could hit speeds of 60mph or better. I'd usually be doing about 50mph and would go from absolutely no wind to those strong winds in the space of just a couple of hundred feet. Plus, trucks would be coming down the hill at 70 or better and would cut off the wind and then pass and I'd be hit again.

I'm rarely bothered by high winds on the motorcycle!
 
It's funny you mentioned that GL500 fairing because...the first long ride I took on my first motorcycle I owned was from Fort Morgan, CO, to Colorado Springs and back. I had ridden my-now-ex-wife's wife-to-be's Honda Shadow 600 probably 4K miles in the six or seven months before my ex moved out. The day after she moved out I found a GL650i in our little town for $2500 and bought it. It had the same big fairing and had the biggest windscreen you could find for a Gold or Silver Wing in JC Whitney's catalog. I smoked a pipe in those days and I'm convinced I could have smoked easily in that air pocket. But, on my way back from the Springs, I was on a fairly narrow, not-too-smooth 2-lane highway to Limon and the wind was blowing hard at mostly a 90-degree angle to my course. And trucks were passing me or being passed by me. I'd feel that turbulence coming up behind them or as they came by me. The worst was just as I'd break out of their bow wave or as their bow wave would hit me if they were passing me. By the time I'd ridden about 120 miles, I was having cramps in my arms and hands. Plus it was getting cold. I didn't have any motorcycle specific clothes and I sure didn't have any heated gear. And, double Plus, it was the first time I'd ridden at night for more than a few miles. I was beginning to think that maybe I had made a bad mistake. But that was really the worst I've ever done with turbulence.

I came back from south of Wichita to Greeley a few years ago and about the time I got 15-20 miles south of Salina, KS, the wind went from a 15-20mph south wind to a 50-60mph north wind. And on top of that, my engine had a problem that turned out to be a fuel pump that didn't get diagnosed as having insufficient output for nearly 9 months. I was leaning at a pretty extreme angle once I got onto I-70 between Salina and Russell, KS, and couldn't get my speed above 55-60. I stopped for gas and the bike nearly blew over while I was gassing up. That stop did let me get my heated jacket on, though. By the time I got to Russell, it started snowing. I conned the motel into lettin me stay till noon the next day and by the time I got to Goodland, the wind had died down. Coming from St Francis to Greeley, it completely died and my poor pitifiul bike would actually run 70mph.

Since the fuel pump got replaced, it's run fine.
 
My associate pastor at the time had bought a 500cc Silver Wing for his first bike. He did a lot of two-up riding with his wife. I looked at the GL650 on Sunday afternoon and told Jim about it when we got to work on Monday. He made a face and I asked him what that was about. He told me that it had been kind of weak, especially two-up. I wanted him to look at it and we went out and the seller told me to take it for another ride. I tried to talk Jim into driving, but he said he'd just be my passenger. We did about a 50 mile loop and when we got back, Jim said he was impressed that the extra 150cc and revised gearing had made such a difference. He had a 1200cc Gold Wing at the time and we rode together quite a lot. I could stay with him on acceleration but he'd pull away about the time we got to 75. My GL650 was drag limited at 94mph. I rode it happily until one day I left my son's house in Montrose and rode CO-92 from Crawford to US-50 west of Gunnison. 92 is one of the best rides in Colorado, with lots of elevation change and twisties. I kept being passed by sport bikes and a few sport touring bikes. I realized I'd like to have a stiffer frame, better brakes, and more power.

Then after I'd crossed Monarch Pass and was riding through Salida, a couple riding two beautiful mint-green BMW R-1100RTs pulled out of a gas station behind me. They passed me within a mile or two. Then they proceeded to stop at every thing of even marginal interest on the side of the road. By the time we all three got to Colorado Springs, they'd probably passed me 20+ times and I had fallen in love! I needed an R1100RT!! But then I learned what they cost and I didn't need one that much .

Then one day, I was riding my Silver Wing home for lunch and saw a green BMW parked at a house a few blocks from home. I flipped a U-turn and went back, because thee was something different about it from the RTs I'd seen on my trip a few weeks before. Turns out it was a '98 Kawasaki Concours. I'd never even heard of the Connie, but the next day "Rider" magazine had a long report on the bike and of the author's ride from the factory in Lincoln to Amarillo and then down to Corpus Christi. I rode to Greeley and looked at one, but the guy wouldn't give me anything for the Silver Wing or take anything off the price. A few days later I found one in Denver and they wouldn't take the Silver Wing as a trade either, but they gave me $1500 off of list price. I called my fiancee and told her we ought to buy a new bike before our wedding 4 months out. She said "OK!" and Sun Kawasaki made a sale.
 
As far as passing the land barges with the turbulence. Lower the windshield (ST1300, FJR1300) duck yourself down below the faring, give gas and let her dance. Move out smartly and swiftly and get around those trucks as quick as possible. Don't pass them until you have clear road ahead. Don't let some cage box you in along side of trucks. I admit it was a bit easier on the ST13 or the FJR13 thn it was on my NT700.
 
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