• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

The GS Giant 2014 - It's kind of a BIG deal!

Riding the T-word... the GS Giant's Gypsy Tour from the south.

ChadBerger_IMG_0005-XL.jpg

Photo by Chad Berger

Oh hell... it's called the TWAT. Get over it! :ha

Thanks to the generosity of fellow GS Giant Chad Berger of Lone Wolf Expeditions, we have access to the route info of the Trans Wisconsin Adventure Trail.

To suit the needs of the Gypsy Tour, Chad helped make a few modifications to the route so that it started at an affordable/accessible campground (Pikes Peak Park in Iowa) and ended with the rest of the Gypsy Tours at the St. Croix Campground in MN.

This is a 2-day ride like the rest of them... meet up on Sunday evening and ride Monday and Tuesday. The Monday night stopover is The Black River Lodge and Resort, on Lake Arbutus near Black River, Wi. Contact them for reservations.

There are two GPS files attached to this post, one in Garmin format and the other in GPX. These have been prepared using the latest version of Garmin City Navigator, so if you don't have that, please do not recalculate the route.

Here's a map (rough), and please do not use the routes available via this service, as there are some incompatibilities due to the Google base map. If you zoom in far enough, you'll see the problem. :doh

<iframe src="//ridewithgps.com/routes/4806477/embed" height="800px" width="100%" frameborder="0"></iframe>

There's a lot of chatter in the GS Giants Facebook group about this.... but we still need a volunteer leader/kitten-herder to help show the way.
 

Attachments

  • TWAT for 2014 GS Giant.GPX.zip
    100.2 KB · Views: 14
  • TWAT for 2014 GS Giant.GDB.zip
    64.8 KB · Views: 17
Somebody gotta ask....

... will there be a pannier sticker or t-shirt available indicating that we.... have ridden the TWAT?

Something like... "GS Giants on the TWAT" 2014 MOA International Rally .:blush

... may good fortune guide your travels
"travel'n" john
13' R12RT outfitted for bush travel
 
Sault Ste Marie Riders

I am planning on getting to Sault Ste Marie (from Cedar Rapids Iowa) on Sunday July 20th and picking one of the three routes at that time.

Anybody have an idea regarding the number of riders taking each route?

Being a first time "gypsy tour" participant, I'm hoping I can latch on to a good group and learn some things....
 
I am planning on getting to Sault Ste Marie (from Cedar Rapids Iowa) on Sunday July 20th and picking one of the three routes at that time.

Anybody have an idea regarding the number of riders taking each route?

Being a first time "gypsy tour" participant, I'm hoping I can latch on to a good group and learn some things....

Hard to say how many people there will be, but at the starting point you'll meet the 2013 GS Giant, Claude Gagne. He's a good rider and will have some fellow Canadian Giants along.
 
Well, The ol' GS Giant is on a budget this year....

Does the budget include an Adventure Mountain like at the MOA Rally last year? Or is it going to be more like the wet grass track we had at the RA Rally this year? I'm wondering how much gear to pack!

~Jessie
 
Last edited:
ChadBerger_IMG_0005-XL.jpg

Photo by Chad Berger

Oh hell... it's called the TWAT. Get over it! :ha

Thanks to the generosity of fellow GS Giant Chad Berger of Lone Wolf Expeditions, we have access to the route info of the Trans Wisconsin Adventure Trail.

To suit the needs of the Gypsy Tour, Chad helped make a few modifications to the route so that it started at an affordable/accessible campground (Pikes Peak Park in Iowa) and ended with the rest of the Gypsy Tours at the St. Croix Campground in MN.

This is a 2-day ride like the rest of them... meet up on Sunday evening and ride Monday and Tuesday. The Monday night stopover is The Black River Lodge and Resort, on Lake Arbutus near Black River, Wi. Contact them for reservations.

There are two GPS files attached to this post, one in Garmin format and the other in GPX. These have been prepared using the latest version of Garmin City Navigator, so if you don't have that, please do not recalculate the route.

Here's a map (rough), and please do not use the routes available via this service, as there are some incompatibilities due to the Google base map. If you zoom in far enough, you'll see the problem. :doh

<iframe src="//ridewithgps.com/routes/4806477/embed" height="800px" width="100%" frameborder="0"></iframe>

There's a lot of chatter in the GS Giants Facebook group about this.... but we still need a volunteer leader/kitten-herder to help show the way.

Thank you very much Chad and Vision. Now I just have to steel myself for the sand on the northern part.
 
I've Got Mail!

Thank you for putting all this together, Ian! :clap:clap:clap This is gong to be a great time!

#THEGSGIANT2014

~Jessie
 
Last edited:
Trip Details

Bloodyhell,you could of worded that a bit better,this is a motorcycle forum not a dating agency,if my Mrs sees that she'll let me tyres down.:)))

Righto then, call when your'e ready.

Terry; I am up for going on the Brimley State Park route from the east. I would like some details on how you think the trip should happen. Leaving on Saturday, sat nite hotel or camping, etc. On these trips do you cook at the camp sites or just eat out somewhere? Anything you could think of to help me plan for this would be appreciated. You can email me at: cftsanvil04@yahoo.ca

I enjoyed the ride on Friday.
 
Routing

Bloodyhell,you could of worded that a bit better,this is a motorcycle forum not a dating agency,if my Mrs sees that she'll let me tyres down.:)))

Righto then, call when your'e ready.
Another question for you. I was planning on putting the GS route into my gps but it is too small and would except all the track points (over 2600) so how are we going to navigate the route?:banghead
 
Another question for you. I was planning on putting the GS route into my gps but it is too small and would except all the track points (over 2600) so how are we going to navigate the route?:banghead

Terpster - You must not have any memory in your GPS.

PM me your e-mail, I will send you the routes that I made from the tracks. For a number of reasons, I didn't distribute these, but will send them to you off-line.

Ian
 
Does the budget include an Adventure Mountain like at the MOA Rally last year?

Well, it will be more like an Adventure Plateau. :p

Here's a look at what we'll be building.

14_0708_TrackPlanSketchUpdate-XL.png



Or is it going to be more like the wet grass track we had at the RA Rally this year? I'm wondering how much gear to pack!

~Jessie

You must've missed the "red" course through the woods at Barber, or the 2-track trail we rode on Saturday morning. I think the tracks we had available to us at Barber were the best we've ever had.

IMG_1082-XL.jpg


IMG_1193-XL.jpg


IMG_1172-XL.jpg
 
Well, it will be more like an Adventure Plateau. :p

Here's a look at what we'll be building.



You must've missed the "red" course through the woods at Barber, or the 2-track trail we rode on Saturday morning. I think the tracks we had available to us at Barber were the best we've ever had.

Adventure Summit looks Awesome! :clap:clap

Holy cow! I totally missed the "red" course. Was that the section on the other side of the track? They told me that one was for small dirt bikes.
 
Pikes Peak

I reserved a campsite at Pikes Peak. It's site # 22. They said 6 people are allowed per site. If anyone wants to tag along instead of reserving your own site, you're more than welcome.
#THEGSGIANT2014
John
 
Gypsy Tour or Bust

My backbone of my GSTour is HWY200 crossing ND, so if we stray off that its not far and Hwy200 crosses all the way. Look for the camps and towns mentioned above, you'll likely find me or a GS in adventure mode. Make contact if ya need to. Ive posted my data a few times. Minnesota crossing will be wild and small roads I wont post again, due to much alternatives crossing MN.. I am exploring the Mississippi River as its headwaters flow that region. Only time frame I am concerned about is making St.Croix Haven Campground by a reasonable hour to camp. I have a long list of byways that I will encounter and you want off the beaten path, better be in my group of riders:). You're very welcome to beat your own trails, just find us later anywhere. Ride safe, stay dry:).

Randy, wasn't sure we were going to make it this year, new job, "homeless" while in-between houses, but we will be meeting you in ND. Not even the 12 stitches in my hand today (bicycle accident):banghead won't keep us away. See you Sunday night :wave

Dutch
 
Holy cow! I totally missed the "red" course. Was that the section on the other side of the track? They told me that one was for small dirt bikes.

Yeah, we laid out a pretty cool section of single-track at the edge of the woods.

The "other side of the track" was the ride on Saturday.... some excellent 2-track roads, plenty of elevation change and a practice course that's normally used for the Porsche Cayenne off-pavement driving school.

I swear, the riding we had at Barber Motorsports Park is some of the best I've ever seen at a Rally for this kind of thing. The people who took it on had a blast!

IMG_1168-X3.jpg
 
Polarbear is on the loose!

For those of you not using Facebook, Randy Owens is on a roll!

He's on his way to Medora, North Dakota... :burnout
 

Attachments

  • RandyOwens_2014.jpg
    RandyOwens_2014.jpg
    59.3 KB · Views: 30
Back
Top