G650GS: There and Back Again

Happy New Year!

2012-01-06T22:28:00.001-07:00

Dear readers and riders,

I know, I really should blog more. I should also really be riding more. This week was a full week of dry clear roads. Unfortunately, I was sick with the crud all week and didn't ride. Snow is coming tomorrow night. What can you do? I am hoping to use this non-riding time to catch up on some older blog posts. I just sort of fell off the wagon I suppose. :-/

I have been blogging about my running though. So, I'm not such a terrible blogger I suppose. :-)

Ride safely my virtual friends!

My Choice of Vehicles

2011-11-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

The other day I had a choice. The weather has been chilly but sunny. I've been driving my new Forester to work nearly every day since I bought it. I even bought a parking pass to be able to park on campus. But, I started thinking about the moto again. It sure had been a while since I'd fired up the GS. So, last Monday, I rode the moto to work.

It used to be, before I had the Forester... and I say "I" not "we" because my husband also refers to it as my car. Anyway, before I had the Forester, my winter daily driver was the Honda Civic shown above. I bought that car new and it was only the 2nd car I'd ever owned. It's a small car and served my needs well. Then I became a motorcyclist and for the past 6 years or so, the motorcycle was my main commuter vehicle. First it was the Rebel and now the GS. When I got the GS, I actually felt safer in some ways on the moto than I did in my Civic. I felt like I could see better because I sat higher, I could accelerate quicker, and I'd taken several moto classes providing me with some tools for the road. My gear was comfy too.

Then we got the Subaru. I've driven it for about a month. It has 2700 miles on it. It's really really smooth to drive, accelerates nicely, provides a commanding view of the road, and is very comfy too.

On Monday, I geared up for my first ride in about a month. Muscle memory remained but I'd forgotten how long it takes to gather everything and put it on. I checked the tire pressure and adjusted it accordingly. The GS fired right up of course. As I headed down the driveway, I suddenly felt very small. It was a weird feeling. I didn't necessarily feel vulnerable, just small. I felt very aware of my riding position, where my knees were, feet were, etc. By the time I got to work, I felt better but for the first time I thought... maybe I need a bigger GS....

I haven't told my husband about that yet. ;-)

Lamest blogger ever!

2011-10-22T19:32:00.000-06:00

That would be me....

My new car is so so nice. Some times I sit in it and eat my lunch and have this view through my moonroof.

:-)

Slightly distracted

2011-10-04T20:06:00.001-06:00

There are new wheels in the family!

This 2011 Subaru Forester (23 miles on it when we drove it off the lot) will replace my 1997 Honda Civic Hatchback that I bought new and now has 263,604 miles on it, and get me safely to and from work in the wintery snowy months. Yay!

Taos, NM - 4th Wedding Anniversary trip - Part 2

2011-09-21T14:19:00.000-06:00

After visiting the Earthships, we also stopped (again) at the Gorge Bridge that crosses the Rio Grande. We first crossed it coming into town. Now, I don't remember if I've mentioned this before but, I have a real fear of heights. When we planned this route, I knew we'd be crossing it but put it out of my mind thinking I shouldn't worry about it. It sort of snuck up on me. Since I was leading, I really had to focus on the road ahead so I wouldn't freak out. It isn't very wide and there are people everywhere. There are buses and little shops set up on the side of the road where people can park to walk across the bridge. There was also construction equipment on the side of the road, and lots of trucks crossing the bridge. As we rolled up to it, I started getting anxious. I managed it ok though and we pulled over so hubby could walk over it. I started to head out after him but stopped just at the edge and decided it was a bad idea for me to try that. So, as you can imagine, I didn't get many good photos of the canyon. It was pretty cool. We ended up crossing the bridge about 4 times I think. It got easier each time and was best when hubby was the leader and I could just look ahead at his helmet.

From there we rode up to the Taos Cow for some ice cream. That was a suggestion from the casita owner. It was a very nice ride. It's off the road that goes up to the ski resort in the town of Arroyo Seco. Arroyo Seco was a neat little town that I wish we'd had more energy to visit. Maybe next time. The ice cream was excellent and hit the spot on the warm clear day. We found a paved (yay!) parking spot right in front of a historic cabin. That was neat.

It was a gorgeous day! I've never seen such blue skies. Awesome! (It was a bit hot though.)

From there we took a different route back into town. We thought we'd visit San Francisco de Asis Church. Along the way my bike started acting up again. I was having issues with it stalling for no known reason. I couldn't reproduce it (which was why that BMW place kept it so long, they spent a week trying to make it stall.) And it seemed to happen for no real reason. The temperature didn't seem to matter either. Anyway, before the stalling, it would surge as I was keeping the throttle steady which was, to say the least, unsettling. But, there was nothing to do really. We were on the road and on vacation. Some how we missed the turn for the church. I thought we'd see it from the intersection but we never did. So, since the bike was being weird, we decided to head back to town. As we hit the square, traffic became stop and go through town for a few blocks. At a stoplight I told hubby I wasn't going to wait for the bike to stall. I hit the kill switch and started it back up. As though rebooting it, the bike was fine after that. Weird and frustrating. (I did eventually get a proper diagnosis and fix once the vacation was done so don't worry dear readers. That'll be it's own blog post.)

Since this was our anniversary day, we decided to take the advice of our host and head to Orlando's for dinner. Mapping it out it seemed close enough to walk. We were a bit hot and tired from riding, and I was a little worried about my bike. And, we wanted to have adult beverages with dinner so, walking worked for us! Orlando's was tasty. There is a nice story on their web site about how they got started. Pretty neat I think. They use lots of family recipes at the restaurant. Hubby had this:

I had this:

Yummy! And the beer was nice and cold!

The next day we waited for hubby's dad to arrive. Hubby's folks live just outside of Albuquerque, about 3 hours away. Hubby and I had breakfast, I can't remember where. (The day before we ate breakfast at a place called Michael's Kitchen, which was also very tasty.) I guess I should have written this up sooner, LOL. Oh, I remember now! We ate our leftovers from Michael's. Our casita had a full kitchen so we brought our leftovers home and put them in the fridge. Thursday morning, we ate those for breakfast and hung around the casita until my father-in-law arrived. FIL rides a Harley Fatboy.

The three of us had never ridden together before. I'd been looking forward to riding with him for a long time. Even my hubby had never ridden with him since hubby came to motorcycling later in life, His dad has been riding for years though. We decided to ride the Enchanted Circle on this day. Unfortunately, I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted to. We rode a lot and dodged the weather a bit. Next time I'll get more photos. :-) We did stop at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial near Angel Fire. I get goosebumps just thinking about it again. That's an amazing place with an amazing story. If you are ever in that area, you have to stop to see it and just be there for a few minutes. It has a fantastic museum that is incredibly well done, especially when you realize much of the funding for the place is through donations. There's even a small library. The outdoor walkway is so peaceful. The building is amazing as well.

It's a very, very nice place to stop.I'm sorry I'm not more eloquent about the place. It's just some place you have to see for yourself.

We did have one close call on the road, riding the enchanted circle. Hubby was leading, I was second and FIL was behind. A full sized pick up truck veered across the double yellow right at hubby. Hubby managed to lean to the right and avoided the truck. I also pressed right and went right to move out of his way. I'm not sure how close he came to FIL since I couldn't see him. No blood, no foul. We continued on. With our headsets on, I could talk to hubby right away. I was more rattled by the incident than he was. Huge adrenaline rush! I'm sure I kept talking to him for a while before I calmed down.

I'm sure we all have more close calls than we care to remember or even need to remember. There's really nothing to do about them except learn and carry on. But, it's one thing to have those close calls yourself. It's another thing entirely to see your loved one have a close call right in front of you. I was freaked out for the rest of the trip. I don't think hubby knows that. Even all the way home I kept thinking about that truck and what could have happened. It took me about a week after we returned home to shake that image out of my head. :-( We all ride knowing the risks. We just don't dwell on those things. We take precautions, take classes, practice our skills, etc. so that we don't have to think about what if; we just react and trust that our training will get us through. And that's exactly what happened in this case. We all did what we were supposed to do. In that moment, I didn't focus on hubby or the truck, I reacted to avoid the other vehicle. But, then I had to manage the visual for the rest of the trip. It's all good now. I can talk about it here and other times and it doesn't freak me out. Still. Grrrrr!!

We made a pit stop shortly after that. I was able to process the event, shake off the heebie jeebies and continue the ride a bit more focused. Here is my hubby and his dad. :-) FIL wasn't too happy about the double yellow creeper either. But it was a good day anyway. :-)

After the Enchanted Circle, we had dinner in Taos after dropping off the bikes at the casita. We walked to a brew pub on the square. Beers all around and some appetizers to share made for a nice dinner. I love wheat beers!

There was also music in the square. We didn't get a table on the balcony though.

After dinner we walked back to the casita.

FIL spent the night on the pullout couch so that we could all ride to his house the next morning.

Overdue Ride Report - Taos, NM - 4th Wedding Anniversary trip - Part 1

2011-09-19T23:31:00.000-06:00

For the 2nd year in a row, hubby and I have made a motorcycling anniversary road trip for our wedding anniversary. We'd planned a much different trip initially but then my GS started having issues. We weren't sure we'd get to go anywhere at all for a while. Fortunately, I got my bike back the day before we decided to leave. Or rather, once we got the bike back, we decided to do a different trip. It turned out to still have issues but we didn't really know that at the time. (Cutting to the chase, don't take your moto to Foothills BMW in Lakewood, CO. They suck.)

Our rule has been to go somewhere neither of us have been before. And on the motos, of course. :-)

Original Plans
Hubby had heard from a buddy of his who recently bought an RV about this place in Nebraska called Pioneer Village. "Nebraska?", I thought. Ok! It fit the rule and was within the 600-800 mile radius that is our one week moto trip limit. Once he convinced me it was a good idea, I set to planning. There is a town in Kansas called Nicodemus, that is a national historic site that I've always wanted to visit. It would fit as well. And there were lots of other interesting places we could stop to visit - a few parks, wildlife areas, historic towns, etc. I did really worry about the heat and all the saddle time but we'd survived Wyoming in the summer pretty well. But then, the bike started having stalling issues. I won't bore you with the mind numbing and infuriating details but I took the bike to the closest shop, they kept it for a full week, found nothing wrong with it and gave it back to me. They said I should just ride it and if it stalled again, bring it back. That week of not knowing however, made us change our plans. We didn't have enough time to really make the route we'd planned, we were unsure of the problem with the GS, and I wasn't sure we should go anywhere.

New Plans & the Trip
Hubby then suggested Taos, NM. Hmmm. That seemed like a great option. We could ride there and stay in town and just relax. We could ride around the area if we wanted, or just wander through town. Taos is also very close to his parents, who I love and wish we could visit with more often. Taos sounded like the perfect back up last minute plan! We picked up the bike on Saturday evening (grrrrrr!), spent Sunday & Monday packing and making last minute arrangements, and hit the road on Tuesday. 15,822 miles were on my odometer as we set out from Starbucks.

The skies were threatening so we made a pit stop in Jefferson, CO to put on some rain gear. And I bought a South Park sticker for the side case. :-)

We had lunch in Salida, CO. I am quite fond of the greasy spoon breakfasts.

I can't remember exactly where in Colorado this stop was. We did get gas there. It's probably in my notes somewhere. The wet seat wasn't worrying me too much since I had my rain pants. But, it was sopping wet!

Ahhh...the land of enchantment!

We didn't stop much after this, not for photo ops anyway. After about 334 miles, we made it to our casita - Taos Lodging! Woot! These were very nice lodgings. The woman who ran the place was very helpful. She gave us good recommendations for dinner and also for a nice anniversary meal. I wouldn't mind staying at this place in the future. We stayed in a one bedroom, one bath, with a full kitchen and laundry. There was also a pull out sofa bed, which came in handy when my father-in-law rode up to meet us. And we were just a few blocks from the square where there was food and beer and shopping. :-)

That gravel parking lot was a little scary. I can't believe neither of us dropped our bikes! Hubby had to help me as I backed into the spot when our neighbors car was parked in the spot next to ours. When it wasn't there, we could both pull our bikes in pretty easily.

Tuesday evening we had a tasty dinner at Eske's Brew Pub. Hubby had the green chili beer. :-)

Wednesday was our anniversary! On that day we decided to do a little riding around. We wanted to visit the Earthships. (We considered staying there but decided being able to walk into town was a better plan.) There are self guided tours through the property. When you arrive at the visitor's center, you sign in and get a badge. From there, you are free to wander through the center to view the displays, watch videos about the that building and other projects, examine the indoor gardens, and also wander a bit around some of the buildings that are under construction. It was pretty cool. I think we both enjoyed being at our own pace for this one. It was a fairly hot day so we could check out outdoor features and then return inside for some water and the cooler temps. There weren't very many other folks besides us who were visiting. Definitely check out their web site for more info about the place!

Unbelievable blue skies! This is the visitors center.

Bottles, cans and tires used as filler in the wall.

Me and my love!

This is a wind turbine that was being installed when we arrived.

This was a new building. Those round shiny things are cans.

This is the old visitors center, I think.

The motosmotos parked in front of our own earthship. :-)

The sun room and garden.

Mushroom logs. :-)

Bottle detail in the wall. :-)

I really liked this decorative feature. :-)

Rainy ride home

2011-09-18T22:16:00.001-06:00

Last Wednesday, knowing the forecast called for what the weather man was describing as "a soaker", I made sure my rain gear was packed, grabbed my Olympia AST jacket, geared up and headed to work. I thought, at the least, I'd have a good excuse to leave early (to try to beat the rain). And if not, I'd finally get to test my jacket in the rain. I wore regular (not moto) jeans under my mesh pants on the way to work, while it was still dry. I packed my jacket rain liner for the ride home - leaving the quilted liner at home. Parking at work, I decided to bring in my rain pants and jacket so I wouldn't have to go back out or put them on outside in the rain.

For a while I was beginning to think I'd jinxed it because the rain didn't start until about 4pm. It didn't seem terribly heavy but, I geared up all the same. It's about 25 miles to home and the radar was showing activity along the way. My gear included my regular jeans, under my mesh Olympia, all under my Tourmaster rain pants, a t-shirt, long sleeved shirt, light fleece jacket, moto jacket rain liner, all under my AST jacket. I also wore my Olympia All Season Gloves and my new Gaerne boots.

So, the bike sat outside in the rain for about an hour before I walked out to fire it up and head home. I wasn't too worried about the seat being wet since I had my rain pants on. The foam grips however, were soaked, so I was a bit worried about that. It wasn't raining terribly hard though, so, no worries. And, there was no lightning. Sweet!

Almost immediately, the first thing I noticed was water pooling on the seat. I'd occasionally stand or swing my legs out to try to let the water run off but, that wasn't going to work all the way home. My new boots are a bit slippery, I need to get them scuffed up a with a bit more use. When they are wet, they are really slippery. Standing on the pegs wasn't as stable as it should have been. So, I told myself not to worry about that, after all I had my rain pants on. It was a bit chilly but not unbearable.

Leaving Boulder, it seemed most of the water I was experiencing was due to splash back from other vehicles. So, I tried to position myself accordingly. Traffic was behaving well, so that was good. My visor kept fogging up at stop lights though, so that bothered me. When I'd crack it open to defog, water would drip inside. (The longer I've had this helmet the less happy I am with it.) Once I got outside of Boulder there wasn't much stopping I needed to worry about. That was a good thing because the rain picked up as I left town.

I felt very comfortable, considering how wet I must have been, once I hit the highway. My hands didn't seem too wet. I did turn on the grip warmers though. (I wonder if that's a good idea when it's raining.) The tops of my gloves weren't getting wet much at all thanks to the hand guards. But, the palms, I'd find out later, were soaking through due to the wet foam grips. My crotch was a bit chilly because of the pooling water but again, I wasn't uncomfortable. Besides there wasn't much I could do about anything at this point. I just continued on my way without stopping.

I made it home safely without much delay to my usual time. My hubby came out to open the garage door for me. I had trouble hitting the automatic door opener in my pocket since I hadn't been wearing this jacket all season. Once I pulled into the garage and turned off the bike, I felt like I was soaked. I stood on the stoop for a bit and tried to shake as much water off as I could. Haha! Right. I made a beeline for the bathroom so I wouldn't drip too much in the living room. Then I had hubby take some photos, hoping they'd convey how wet I was.

My hands have water dripping off them. When I got off the bike and let my hands rest at my side, water ran into my gloves. So, maybe it wasn't just the wet foam grips. Also, once I was in the house and walking around, I realized my rain pants didn't actually keep the rain out.

No wonder I was cold! These are my mesh pants which were over my jeans (also wet) and under the rain pants. Sigh. Yep, I was sitting in a puddle of water the whole ride.

The biggest casualty of the ride was the puddle of water that I discovered in my jacket pocket...the jacket pocket that held my wallet and my iPhone. Ugh! When I pulled them out, the water dripped off both. Grrrr! I think that was my own fault though. I am pretty sure I didn't zip the pocket. The other pocket, which was empty, didn't have any water inside. Grrrr! I immediately poured a big bowl of rice and stuck my phone inside. I laid out the contents of my wallet to dry on the kitchen table over some paper towels. Then, I started to sulk about it all.

All in all it was actually quite an awesome ride. I really like riding in the rain. We don't get much of it out here and if we do it is almost always accompanied by scary lightning. So, I was very pleased with the ride from that standpoint. It's interesting to see how much less reaction time there is in those conditions. The slick roads and wet visor made it a nice challenge. It's too bad I can't practice riding in those conditions before actually riding in them. Maybe if I lived in Oregon or some place....

I did manage to kill my iPhone. I bought a new one the following Friday morning. Bummer. I also bought some seam sealer to put on my rain pants. I'm hoping that will help with the leaks. The AST did pretty well. Not only did I forget to zip my pocket closed, but I actually put those items in the wrong pocket. There's another pocket that actually says it's water proof. Hmmmm. I should carry some ziplock bags too or maybe just put the phone and wallet in my top case or side case. I was least happy with the gloves. It took two days and a fan to dry them out. The piece of equipment that performed the best were my boots. No water penetration at all. Yay!

Good times! I can't wait to do it again!

New Boots!

2011-09-12T21:22:00.001-06:00

My old boots busted almost three years to the day I bought them. So, three years and about 20,000 or so miles later, I bought a pair of Gaerne Black Rose. They are similar, almost identical really, to the old TCX that I had. I liked the TCX boots ok but was really looking for something a bit more sturdy and without zippers. Maybe something like this. (Haha! Except for the price tag!) Both zippers failed on the TCX at the same time. Also, the shifter patch on my left boot started coming undone, losing the thread and a bit of the edge. And the back of the heel started coming undone as well on the left boot. So, I felt like I'd worn them out pretty well. But, I also thought it would be nice to have something more sturdy with buckles and more armour. But, guess what. They don't make those for women or even men's in small enough sizes for me. Most of the women's boots have enormous heels, or random buckles or fringe or some crap on them that are more about fashion than function. Not really my style. I was hoping to find something that would be more of a cross between a touring boot and adventure boot or motocross boot. Something I could still walk in but also have some more protection. Oh well. No such luck.

Here are some photos of the old and new boots.

I'm not sure why the toes are so scuffed up. Maybe because I ride so fast. LOL!

You can sort of see the heel separating on the boot on the right (in the above photo).

Nearly identical soles as well. The new boots are more narrow than the old ones. But, I have a skinny foot so that's ok. They do feel tighter though. But, maybe that's because the old ones were so broken in. Otherwise the really feel the same. Hopefully I'll get as many miles or more on these. My starting mileage for these is about 18,700 or so. :-)

I'm still here!

2011-09-04T19:50:00.000-06:00

Wow! Has it really been that long since I last made a blog post? I can't believe it either. I've been a little busy with a few things here and there. My sister got married which brought all the family to Colorado. Yay! It was beautiful and so was she!

In addition to the time off for the wedding, we also took our motorcycle wedding anniversary road trip. This year we went to Taos, NM. My father-in-law even met us, riding up on his Harley.

I also need to catch you all up on the problems I had with the bike that have since been resolved. And hubby had a garage organizing project that allowed me to admire all the bikes we have. It looks like a fleet! And, tomorrow we leave for a camping trip!

Whew! So much to catch up on. I hope to have some time to get all this writing done. I need a blogger vacation! Here are some teaser photos...

Happy trails everyone! Shiny side up!

Top Gun Class - Day 1

2011-07-25T20:10:00.000-06:00

This was the 5th MSF class I've taken in about the last 6 years or so. I've taken the BRC, the one day refresher BRC, ARC, and ERC. All of the previous courses followed a predictable MSF format - some amount of classroom time to learn about theory and watch some videos, then lots of range time. I am quite comfortable with this set up. I know what to expect and can fall right into the system ready to learn.

There were six of us in the top gun class - 5 guys and me. I was the only girl in the ERC last spring as well. And, one of the guys from the ERC class was also in this class. He said he remembered my bike from the last class. I think that was his PC way of saying he remembered me because my bike looks nothing like it did back then. Well, except for the Saints fleur de lis on the windscreen. Anyway, that was cool to see him following up on his training too.

Don Gunn was our instructor. He is a retired motorcycle cop and also a retired motorcycle cop instructor. He's not a large man. He sort of reminded me of my father-in-law in some ways. He had us introduce ourselves, say where we lived, where we were from, how long we'd been riding, what we did for a living (he wanted to know who the lawyers were), and why we were taking the class or what we hoped to learn. I said I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone. I decided to take the class because most of my riding experience had been commuting to work which I felt was lulling me into a sense of security. He liked that answer. :-) After we all went around with the introductions Don said, "Ok, that was your classroom part of the class. Lets pick a bike."

10 minutes in and we were on the bikes already?! This was already pushing me out of my comfort zone. But, I was ready to learn.

All of day one we rode the 250 Nighthawk training bikes. We wrote our names on the tape on the headlights so we'd always have the same bike. He had us get familiar with the friction zone for a few minutes asked us if we were ready and off we went. Our first exercise was a follow the leader ride. We followed Don all around the range. The cones were already set up for all of the exercises but for this ride, he just seemed to be riding around. We were supposed to do everything he did. If he pointed at something with one hand, we pointed at that same thing with the same hand. We rode around one handed, holding our left hands out. He rode up to a stack of cones, picked one up and placed it on the next pile. We did the same. We rode through a cone weave and even in a small circle following each other. We even did a figure eight. Then we parked.

From there he gave us a brief lecture about the friction zone, how to use your rear brake, clutch and throttle simultaneously to produce a desired result, some situational discussions, examples of the way we probably do things now and how he would teach us a different way of doing things. I was excited and ready for more.

After that, the rest of the day sort of went the same way. We'd walk over to the particular cone pattern we'd be working with. Either he or his son Brent (or was it Brett?) would demo the course. He'd talk us through it. And then he'd say ok and we'd do it. No matter how complicated the exercise looked, and they got progressively more complicated as the course went on, he'd always approach it as if it was the easiest thing in the world, explain it simply and set us to it. We'd look around at each other sort of in disbelief and then mount the bikes and get to it. By the end of the first day, I think I would have believed I could have done anything Don told me I could do. (That's a good teacher!)

I didn't get to take any photos of the class as it was quite intense. That was a bummer, especially for those of you reading this unillustrated tome, Sorry.

I think I'd describe day one as brimming with optimism. I didn't yet know that I couldn't do some of these things. And in fact, I was fairly successful working my way through all the exercises. We weren't graded or scored so it was all about yourself and the bike and learning the limits of both. We did some straight weaves, followed by staggered weaves, followed by even more staggered weaves. At the end of the weaving run were three pairs of cones that we also had to maneuver before heading back through the same weave. It was an out and back deal. That turned out to be harder than it looked but the cones were small so it wasn't as traumatic as things that came on day two.

The most amazing thing we did was a keyhole exercise. Here is a you tube video demonstrating the set up. We first did this individually, in each direction. Then Don sent in two bikes at a time, then three, then four, and ultimately putting 7 bikes in at a time! I couldn't believe it! We had to travel very slowly inside the circle so that as the last bike was entering the first was exiting.

On this first day we did lots of weaves and u-turns and circles. It was a good day for me. I felt quite confident and excited for the second day. It was a hot day, too. I think I was a little overheated so was glad to find out that our day was ending at 2pm. At the end of the day we rode the bikes over to the shed so they could be put away for the afternoon. Don said on day two we'd practice a few more exercises and then if we wanted to, we could ride our own bikes on the range. He said it was up to us if we wanted to do that. He emphasized that learning the exercises so that we could go out and practice on our own was the point of the class. So, there was no pressure on us to get our bikes out there. That felt good but I was anxious to get on my own bike and try out my new skills. I resolved to do that as I fell asleep, dreaming of riding the Nighthawk through a cone marked range.

Taos, NM

2011-07-25T19:27:00.000-06:00

I finally got the GS back on Saturday. They didn't find anything wrong with it. They kept it a full week and determined nothing was wrong because they couldn't find anything wrong. They did all sorts of tests and did find some computer issues but nothing that would have caused the stalling issue and nothing that would make it run poorly. So, they said, if it happens again to get as much data about the event as I could and bring it back. Sigh.

So, our planned road trip has been canceled and plan B is being put into action!

Yesterday, I asked my hubby what he wanted to do on our vacation. He said, "I want to ride!" I smiled and asked where he wanted to go. He said, "How about Taos?" I said, "That sounds good." We are a couple of few words. Then the planning began. We stopped at the public library to pick up a few books.

At this moment we are about done packing. I think we'll pack a few sandwiches and some frozen Gatorade for the road. We are planning to head south on highway 285 and skipping the super slab.

Stay tuned!

Sad moto....

2011-07-16T15:23:00.000-06:00

So, my moto stalled a couple of times recently. The second time there was some surging or something going on prior to the stall. So, that prompted me to take it to my trusty BMW mechanic. He ran a diagnostic test and found these error codes:

He said this will be warranty work. Unfortunately, he can't do the warranty work. He says I'll have to take it to the dealer because BMW makes it too difficult for him to get paid for warranty work. That made me sad. I like having my bike at his place. Oh well. So, I called Foothills BMW to make an appointment. It's there now. For some reason, they can't pull any codes because they said the computer isn't talking to the machine. They also said something about my bike's computers not talking to the bike. I sent them this image with the codes, on their request. They said they won't be able to tell me much until they can figure out what's up with the computers. And then they'll be able to start to figure out what's making the bike stall.

That was yesterday, when I dropped it off. I haven't heard anything more yet today. I'm getting impatient - I am impatient - and worried for our road trip. I told my hubby this must be payback for all the times I talked trash about his old bike and him always working on it. Sigh. Payback is a bitch.

I'm still working on my write up about the top gun class. My laptop is possessed and won't let me open any programs. I wanted to make some diagrams of the exercises we did. I may just have to post it all as a long text document. Sigh. When it rains, it pours I guess.

And, speaking of... my car is not happy either. The temperature gauge is heading towards high again, for no apparent reason.

My brother says I need a back up Honda Magna in the garage. I think he's right.

Weekend update...

2011-07-10T19:15:00.000-06:00

Two days of police style motorcycle training is very very exhausting. I saw a quote on a Facebook friend's page that said "I'm not saying it's going to be easy, I'm saying it's going to be worth it." That was a running specific quote but it helped get me through the second day of this class. More to come soon. I promise.

July 27th marks our 4th wedding anniversary. Last year we traveled to Devils Tower and places nearby. We just sat down to have dinner and to plan this year's trip. It'll be a shorter trip as we have plans for the bookended weekends. So, we'll only be traveling Monday through Friday this time and thus, not as far. We'll be heading east this time and it may or may not involve a large ball of twine....

Later!

Police Style Motorcycle Training

2011-07-08T19:49:00.000-06:00

I'm registered for this class. It's tomorrow and Sunday. I'm looking forward to being pushed outside of my comfort zone and learning new things. :-)

Civilian Top Gun Training

Sharpen your slow riding skills and you will greatly improve your overall skills.

This motorcycle riding course, as presented by former police motor officer/trainer Don “Top” Gunn, concentrates on the low-speed maneuvers taught to police officers for the purposes of increasing riding proficiency as well as confidence. Learn to operate a motorcycle at its limits, with emphasis on turning in the smallest area, use of transmission, clutch and brakes for the highest level of control, and practice maximum braking and brake-and-escape maneuvers. Smaller-sized training bikes are used the first day of this two-day course; students are encouraged to use their own (safe, street-legal) bike on the second day. This course is for experienced riders only.

I hope the weather holds. We've been having some pretty wicked thunderstorms this week.I got stuck waiting for one to pass at the end of the work day yesterday. Hubby drove out to meet me for dinner to help pass the time.

I'll report back on the training class in a few days after I process it all. :-)

Successful Braking

2011-06-30T18:46:00.000-06:00

I'm investigating taking a motorcycle safety class. I can't decide if I should take another advanced course to get more practice or something different. I'm leaning towards the Civilian Top Gun course. I think it will help me feel more comfortable on the bike. Not that I'm uncomfortable, but I think it will push me out of my comfort zone a little and teach me some things I think I already know.

On the way home today I got to use some of my previous training skills. Leaving Boulder on highway 93, the road heading south out of town is two lanes heading up the hill but merges into one lane just before the intersection with highway 170. There is a stop light here as well. Traffic often becomes backed up because no one in this state knows how to merge. Coming over the hill, with all of the traffic, it's difficult to see ahead. Traffic slowed to a stop very rapidly at this point. It was not quite an emergency stop but it was a quick stop. Not only did I apply enough gradual braking to stop safely, I even maneuvered myself into a position with an escape route. I was able to anticipate the car behind me as I shifted to the right part of the lane near the open shoulder. Everyone managed their own vehicles ok so there wasn't anything really to write about beyond that.

Since I'd been thinking about motorcycle classes and how often I think I should invest in them, this lesson put into practice sort of sealed the deal. Now I just need to find the time and the funds. :-)

Happy Summer!

2011-06-23T21:39:00.000-06:00

Ahhh, the first day of summer! It's been beautiful here in and around Boulder. I had only one meeting today and it was around the lunch hour so I didn't make it out for my extended lunch ride up the canyon. Oh well. It was a very busy day at work so the day went by quickly. After work I rode to Chautauqua for a trail run with my good friend. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I really like my side cases. I can fit most of my gear in them when I head out for a run. I lock my helmet and jacket to the bike and away I go! The only difficulty is finding a flat spot to park the bike where it either won't tip over or where I can get it off the side stand when I'm ready to go.

There are quite a few new bikes in the lot at work. And almost all of us have side cases. It makes parking interesting. So far no problems though. The day I was the last moto in the lot was a little tricky but I managed ok. There's even a new yellow GS with caribou cases at work now. I don't know who it belongs to but it looks like it's seen some action. If I had yellow cases, we'd be mirror images of each other.

As I was gearing up to leave today, I had a long conversation with a guy on a bicycle who was registered for the moto safety class this weekend. He asked me all sorts of questions about what it's like to commute. He seemed like a bright kid who would enjoy a motorcycle. I wished him good luck and told him to have fun and bring lots of water because it was going to be a hot weekend.

Not too much more going on these days other than the commute. Life is good. Motorcycling and running does a body and soul good. :-)

Honda Magna....some day, my next moto....

2011-06-08T21:31:00.001-06:00

I've been on travel, both for work and for vacation, for about 3 weeks. So, I haven't had much time in the saddle of my GS lately. Even before I left for my work trip to Fairbanks, I hadn't been riding very much. I think it was the weather or too busy or something. I don't really remember. And it isn't important now. Now, the weather has warmed, the days are longer, and the campus is on summer hours, which means less traffic during the morning and evening rush hours.

I traveled to the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. (Apologies to Richard for not getting in touch.) I worked a lot and didn't get to do much vacationing. I did manage to run a 5K while there. No motorcycling though. :-)

My vacation to Atlanta did allow for some motorcycling. :-) I visited my brother who recently purchased a 1994 Honda Magna. Oh yeah! He rode his CBR and I rode the Magna. I've always wanted a Magna but have only ever sat on one once at the dealership. So, my experience with them has been non-existent. I'm not even sure why I've fallen in love with this old moto. Well... I am now. :-)

Here is my big brother checking the tire pressure before our ride. The yellow Magna is so sweet! His CBR is in the back.

Look at how happy I am!

I have so much motorcycle gear, I mailed my boots, jacket, and gloves. I also carried on my helmet and left it behind for future visits.

Ahhh.... it's such a comfortable motorcycle. :-)

We managed one ride the day after I arrived. Then we celebrated my mother's birthday the next day. The day after that we drove to Indianapolis to attend the Indy 500. Oh, did I mention that? Here we are outside the gate ready with our tickets. And here's a view of me from our seats.

On the way to our seats we spotted this beauty.

It was our fourth time going. Awesome! Next time we will have to ride there now that my brother has the Magna. He can ride the Magna and I'll rent something.

I happened to be back in Atlanta in time for Bike Night downtown. My brother and some of his buddies occasionally hang out at this event. It was pretty fun to be a part of that scene. We don't do much of that at home. I'm not sure why. It's mostly sport bikes on display there. I rode the Magna again. :-)

By the time I got home, I'd been away from my GS for a long time. The day after I got home, my hubby and I rode 170 miles visiting his sister and brother-in-law. She just bought a 2011 G650GS. Woot! Unfortunately, they are about to move farther away from us. Boo! Here's her shiny new red GS.

I was quite exhausted from all the traveling but have been commuting fearlessly since I've been back (3 days). I'm getting used to the GS again after being on the Magna. My little GS did feel quite under powered and slow at first but... I still love it. Ok, gotta go search Craig's List for my own yellow Magna to add to the fleet. My brother needs a bike to ride when he comes to visit us in Colorado! ;-)

Riding and Running

2011-04-29T20:19:00.001-06:00

Had a good two days of commuting yesterday and today. This weekend there is talk of snow, rain and very cold (in the 40s) high temperatures. Sigh. It's the price we pay for living so close to the mountains.

Yesterday, after all my complaining about not riding when I had to run, I rode and I ran. I ran with some friends from work on a trail near Boulder. We did about 6 miles. Here is a photo of me gearing up after the run.

I just threw my moto pants and jacket on and headed home. It was a little chilly, being a little sweaty after the run, but as the season goes on, that will change. My legs weren't too happy with the ride home though. I'll have to spend more time stretching before getting back on the bike I think.

I tried to catch the brilliant red sunset on my ride home but it faded before I got to the pull out. Here's a photo of it anyway. It was something to see! Very cool! I wish I would have caught it in time. All of the pinkish parts were a brilliant red.

Yay!

Nothing to see here....

2011-04-26T12:18:00.000-06:00

There is nothing to see her, obviously, since I haven't reported anything in two weeks. Haven't been riding much. I thought I was getting sick but realized I was just worrying myself sick. Not even for anything that deserves such worry. I have been focused, or trying to stay focused on my half marathon training because I'll be out of town for about 3 weeks straight four weeks before the half. First I'll be traveling to Fairbanks (for work, not by moto) for about a week. Then the day after I get back, I'll be flying to to Atlanta to meet up with my brother so he and I can drive to the Indy 500. (It's our 3rd trip!) So, lots of traveling, not much time for training. I've also taken to driving when I need to get a run in after work. It's just quicker because I don't have to change out of my moto gear into my running gear, and since it's still pretty chilly around her, I actually have to change out of my street clothes which I still am wearing under my moto gear. It's a process.

So, not much riding. Today I didn't ride because I had a dentist appointment yesterday and still feel a bit loopy from the Novocain or whatever it is they use. It's hard for me to get that stuff out of my system. Exercise actually helps they say, so that's good.

I'm hoping to be back to my normal self tomorrow so I can ride. The weather has been wet and cold. I've been wanting to try out my Olympia jacket in the rain too. I have a review I'd like to publish about that jacket but thought I'd get a rain ride in before I write it all up.

Anyway....I'm still around, just not riding much.

Here's a picture I took of the last time I rode, which was this past Friday. We had a department wide event with some posters showing our research or, in my case, library and archives activities. We have these nice archival metal edge poster boxes to transport the posters. Since my institution is not on the main campus, I had to bungee the box to the moto to ride there. :-)

Motorcycle Training

2011-04-12T21:44:00.001-06:00

I'm investigating my next moto class. I really like taking the classes. It keeps my knowledge fresh in my mind and helps me to practice good habits. So, what should I shoot for this season? I'm looking at a couple of options right now.

Civilian Top Gun:

Top Gun (Civilian) Riding Course Cost $250.00 for both resident and non-resident

Sharpen your slow riding skills and you will greatly improve your overall skills.

This motorcycle riding course, as presented by former police motor officer/trainer Don Gunn, concentrates on the low-speed maneuvers taught to police officers for the purposes of increasing riding proficiency as well as confidence. Learn to operate a motorcycle at its limits, with emphasis on turning in the smallest area, use of transmission, clutch and brakes for the highest level of control, and practice maximum braking and brake-and-escape maneuvers. Smaller-sized training bikes are used the first day of this two-day course; students are encouraged to use their own (safe, street-legal) bike on the second day. This course is for experienced riders only.

My hubby and I went to a Police Top Gun competition a while back and it was so amazing! I've been wanting to try a class ever since. Talk about confidence building. I think I need something like that next instead of another riding class. Not that I've mastered anything, just because it might hold my interest a bit more and challenge me in ways I haven't yet been challenged.

And there is this one too offered by a different company. http://www.t3rg.com/Classes.htm#TopGunMotor It looks totally different from the other one. The first is taught by the company I've taken all my classes from. But I'm intrigued by the longer, more expensive class (and also the shorter less expensive class).

The other option is dirt bike school. There's finally a class offered in the metro area. I guess they were waiting for Spring time. That would be totally fun and also build some confidence on the bike but I think the top gun class might have more of an impact on my riding this season. Since I don't have any dirt bike riding buddies yet, I might wait to take that one later. Right now it would just be 100% for fun. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's just if I'm going to pay a couple of hundred bucks I may as well spend it on something I'm more likely to use in the real world. (I do know that there are lots of transferable dirt bike riding skills onto the street. I think it would just be too much of a guilty pleasure right now.)

Well, it sounds like I've convinced myself to do the top gun class.... :-)

Riding and Running and Stuff

2011-04-10T21:01:00.000-06:00

I've been commuting a bit but the weather has been odd lately. And I've been running, or planning on running some days, which some times means I don't ride. I don't know why. It's been an odd last couple of weeks. Some distantly related sadness but nothing that affects me directly. Doesn't make it less sad. So, riding hasn't been at the top of my priority list. I become a fair weather rider when my head's not in it. I'm ok with that.

One thought has occurred to me recently. I've got a little over 13,000 miles on my GS now, a year and a half into owning it. When I sold my 450 Rebel, I'd put about 15,000 miles on it in about 3 years of ownership. That makes me smile. :-)

3 Things that Suck about Piloting a Motorcycle....

2011-03-21T20:28:00.000-06:00

Now that I have your attention, I'll share this experience that I had a few days ago. I was on my way home from work and approaching a round about (thing 1). Behind me was a tailgater (thing 2). Ahead of me, approaching the round about from the adjacent park, was a pedestrian jogger (thing 3). These three sucky things were all converging at this point.

I was traveling south. I saw the person jogging well in advance but did not plan to stop at the cross walk because of the tailgater. Being a round about, that makes life on two wheels a bit more tricky. If I commit to the turn, I really have to complete that action or I might dump the bike. Well, I shouldn't dump it but the tailgater is making me nervous. I'm slowing, however, because it is a round about. The jogger sees me, but her actions indicate that she thinks I'm going to stop for her, probably because I was slowing and also looking at her. (In Boulder, pedestrians are invincible because they workout constantly and let nothing stop them from doing so.) So, now I have a choice, keep going and run over the jogger or stop and risk being run over myself. Apparently, my instinct is not to run over anyone. I hit the brakes before I start the turn. At the same time I glance in my mirror and see the front end of the car behind me nose dive before stopping. The jogger runs on with a thankful smile that I stopped for her. I swear loudly in my head at the tailgater and wish I was safe at home already.

It's been a long off season and I'm still shaking off the deep sleep of not riding. Lots of things seem a bit more conspicuous now that I'm back on the bike.

This morning, as I was making a left turn from the turning lane into my parking lot, the car sitting in the parking lot exit waiting to make a left turn out of the parking lot apparently decided she was tired of waiting and started to pull out just as I was making my turn. Apparently she didn't see me or something. Or was too busy talking to her BFF that she couldn't pay attention to the traffic on the road. She didn't hit me either.

That's two.

Maybe I'll drive tomorrow. Nah, it's spring break and the roads are pretty empty this week. And the weather is awesome. Maybe I need a long lunch ride to shake out the rust and build up my confidence.

Oil change and new front tire on Wednesday. :-) And I've recently rolled over 13,000 miles. Yay!

I like this forecast!

2011-03-13T20:55:00.000-06:00

Yay!!

Spring-like weather!

2011-02-28T22:23:00.000-07:00

Woo hoo!! This week should be a fabulous week for riding! Low 60s for the high temps. Still quite chilly in the morning but I can handle that. Just means I'll actually go to work and be less likely to play hooky. Well, we'll see...

On my way home today I stopped at the pull out where I took the blog photo. I took this shot with my iPhone Gorrilacam app. It has a timer and also a setting for multiple shots. I set it to take three photos using the timer so I could run to my bike and hop on. Came out pretty ok. :-)

After I shot a few photos, I rode some laps in the dirt. It's a fairly large area with some different terrain - ruts, rocks, soft spots, etc. It was pretty fun. I practiced making the bike swerve by shifting my weight while standing on the pegs.

I've got three meetings tomorrow but my one meeting on Wednesday was canceled. Maybe I'll play hooky on Wednesday. :-)

Medicine Ball Moto Workout

2011-02-16T19:34:00.000-07:00

I've been doing this fitness boot camp since April of last year. I didn't join for any motorcycling reasons but I've certainly benefited from the workouts when I'm on the bike. Today, while searching for the proper name of a particular exercise, I found this link: http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/ultimate-medicine-ball-workout. I think it would be a fabulous motorcycling workout. And all you need is a medicine ball. You don't even need a lot of room. You could even do it in your living room while watching tv. I like doing exercises with the medicine ball because it also improves my grip strength. I use an 8lb ball at home and either the 8lb or 6lb ball at boot camp depending on the exercise and who my partner is at the time.

Ride safe!

Snowy and Freezing

2011-02-09T15:05:00.000-07:00

I haven't been riding all this month! Wow! The weather has been, well, very winter like. What's up with that? I know we shouldn't complain, since it is February, but, I do. Grrrrrrr! Should be in the 50s this weekend and for the start of next week. Maybe I'll get a ride in then. It's below freezing now but the sun is shinning brightly and the roads are a lot better this afternoon than they were this morning when I tried to drive to work. I actually turned around. I just had this horrible feeling that I wasn't going to make it to work. I was either going to get stuck trying to get up the hill or be run off the road. And neither sounded appealing. My warm house sounded much better. And as my previous supervisor used to tell us - it ain't brain surgery. I'm not saving lives in my working life as an archivist and librarian. So, I called in for unsafe driving conditions. Day 2. Ugh. Last week was similar but much colder. We nearly had a frozen pipe incident but luckily I was home and caught it in time.

I miss my GS..... I actually went into the garage this morning to say hello to it. It's cold in the garage.

She who hesitates...

2011-01-31T18:11:00.000-07:00

2000 Kawasaki KLR 250

$2,095
Mileage: 44
Dark Green
Stock No. C-0142

11 year old “brand new” Kawasaki KLR! This bike really only has 44 miles on it, that is not a misprint! The KLR’s are dual sports designed to handles both the road and dirt. As you might expect from the mileage, this bike is in great cosmetic condition as well. It has been stored indoors so it does not have any weather damage or signs of aging.
-----------
Currently listed on the Beemers and More web site. I originally saw it on Craig's List but can't find that listing right now. I wasn't really in the market for another motorcycle but am always looking. :-) This seems like such a great deal. Hmmmmm.....

Thanks new readers!

2011-01-29T20:09:00.000-07:00

And welcome! I started blogging when I got my 450 Honda Rebel. It was an easy way to keep track of my new adventures on my new to me and first motorcycle. The blog was more like a journal or diary for myself. I had a few readers, mostly family or folks from the Rebel Board. But, it wasn't much other than something for myself to enjoy. When I got the GS, I thought it deserved it's own blog and, here we are. The blog is still mostly for myself. It still helps me keep track of my adventures, the places I go, the farkles I buy, the modifications that are made. That seems to be true of most blogs. But, like all things in life, we are more the same than we are different, so these blogs hold appeal for many of us. It's nice to know all of you are interested to some degree in what I have to say. Thanks everyone for tuning in! I enjoy all of your blogs as well and have lurked on all of them. I get lots of ideas from all of you. :-) So, anyhoo, I just wanted to say thanks for reading and thanks for writing!

Ride safe and ride often! Cheers!

Yellow!

2011-01-21T13:16:00.001-07:00

Not the best photos but I just had to share!! My yellow seat arrived yesterday!! I'm in love all over again with this bike! YAY!!!

I've already received compliments on it! A guy at the YMCA said "Sweet ride!" as he walked by. He said he especially liked the fleur de lis. :-)

Note in the second photo that there is no snow in my parking space. Guess what! We have a snow shovel at work. The roads are actually quite dry. There were some icy spots on some side roads but nothing that I couldn't avoid easily. Parking lots are still tricky but I knew I'd be ok at work. I could always park (illegally) across the way on the sunny side too. (Check out my new half marathon sticker, too!)

I'll post more pictures later. And, I'll also post later about my new jacket.... :-)

Parking idiots

2011-01-21T12:50:00.001-07:00

So, remember this image, of the lovely motorcycle only parking at the YMCA?

Well, this person found that too be too much for him or her to handle.

Not only is the car parked in a space designated for motorcycles but, the spaces are designated for motorcycles because they are smaller. So, the back end of the car is sticking out into the lane of traffic making the parking lot a more dangerous place to maneuver. IDIOT!

Inside my helmet...

2011-01-18T20:45:00.001-07:00

One of the things I like about motorcycling is the solitude. When I ride to work, I have some quiet time to myself. No music. No news. No passengers. People are less likely to try to make eye contact with a helmeted rider because they can't often tell if you are looking at them. People still seem to try to talk to a helmeted rider though. I'm not sure why. When I have a busy or rough day at work, I'll often spend my lunch hour on the motorcycle to get away. When I put my earplugs in and my helmet on, it's so quiet and peaceful. I can certainly hear everything around me but the helmet and earplugs do damper the noise. In fact, the earplugs seem to filter out the things I don't want to hear so that I can hear the things I do want to hear better. The engine noises are less but the emergency sirens are clear, for example. Maybe it's more about the noise that my car makes. There is a lot of road noise in my 13 year old car with 250,000+ miles. The windows no longer seal properly so there's more wind noise in my car than in my moto. And I turn my car radio up to mask the other noises - door rattles, heater rumblings, a belt screeching that I didn't warm up the car properly. My GS, for all it's noises, is blissfully quiet. Or perhaps, blissfully calming.

Some days I wish I could wear my helmet all day at work to enjoy that calm throughout the day. I'd have to lean into an imaginary turn from my chair every now and then. Some days I sit for a few minutes on the bike with my helmet on after I've parked just to be in the moment a little longer. I did that today after lunch. I pulled into the parking spot and sat on the bike. Listening to the quiet in my helmet before going back to work. I guess I didn't want that ride to end yet.

Ride often everyone and ride safe. Ohm....

eBay winner!!

2011-01-12T12:40:00.004-07:00

Sweet!! I've been hoping to find a yellow seat!! Woo hoo!!

If only I had a side car....

2011-01-11T15:08:00.002-07:00

Walked out to my car this morning to head to work and the doors were frozen shut. So, I decided to work from home. I didn't really feel like fighting the traffic anyway. I thought to myself, I'll bet my motorcycle would start right up. Too bad I don't have a side car rig.... Not sure that would have been much fun either since it was only 9 degrees this morning.

Who am I kidding? I would have had a blast! And the roads were mostly dry once I got our of my neighborhood anyway. Oh well.

Weather & Health

2011-01-09T12:11:00.003-07:00

We had a nice stretch of warm weather the last four days or so. Unfortunately, I was home with a cold, laid out on the couch under blankets, trying not to talk due to my sore throat. And now that I'm starting to feel better....it's snowing again. That's a bummer.

2010 in Review

2010-12-31T09:15:00.003-07:00

Happy New Year's Eve!!

What a fun riding year it was! My first full calendar year with the new bike was a year of many miles, lessons learned, and many farkles. Shall we reminisce? :-)

Farkles.....

Luggage mounts and crash bars were acquired from a chain gang member. The crash bars are fantastic mounts for the tank bags I bought last year. They are also a nice place to mount my camera for some interesting video angles. My hubby also added a trunk and side cases this year. The trunk he painted yellow and it matches my tank bag and tank panniers nearly perfectly. I love it! The side cases are Hardigg storm cases. Both the trunk and side cases have DIY mounts done up by the hubby. He's awesome!

And many miles......

Solo rides to Rocky Mountain National Park, I always wonder why I don't visit there more often, several "I'll be back." rides on lunch breaks at work, a work related ride to Pueblo, at the time my longest day ever, a little bit of dirt roads (not trails, roads), those were all fantastic. But the most fantastic trip of all was the ride to Devils Tower with my hubby for our 3rd wedding anniversary. We are already making plans for our next anniversary moto road trip. Utah is being bounced around (and library books have been checked out for our research).

Lessons learned.....

In March I completed the MSF Advanced Rider Course. At the time, I was just hoping to become more comfortable on the new bike. I think I had about 4,000 miles on it at the time. I remember that because as we went around the room doing introductions, and each guy (I was the only girl) talked about why they were there, most had fewer miles on their new bikes than I did. It was a great course. I hope they offer it again so my hubby can take the course. We had a near close call on one easy ride out for lunch one day. That was unsettling but reminded me how invisible I am. And, I no longer use my cell phone at the gas pump. (Grrrrr. That still makes me mad at myself. So stupid of me!!!)

I paid off the bike just before my one year anniversary (bikerversary). That was a goal and a promise made to my hubby when I bought it. I think I rode less than I would have if I hadn't started training for a half marathon this year. But, all of that training has definitely helped my endurance and comfort on the bike as well. (Who knew?!) For my birthday I almost signed up for a dirt bike class in Atlanta but decided to just spend that time with my family instead. Maybe another time.

What will 2011 bring? I'm hoping more of the same - lots of miles, lots of miles with my husband, more training, and more farkles! My goal for 2011 is to remember my recommended service and get that done on time. I hope to have this bike for a long time. I absolutely love it! It fits me wonderfully. It inspires me to learn more and also inspires confidence as I'm learning.

And since it currently looks like this outside, and is about 10 degrees....

I'm going to call it.... 12,186 miles at the end of 2010. 9,941 total miles ridden in 2010.

Happy New Year everyone! Ride safe and ride often! Woot!! :-)

Motor Cycle Only

2010-12-16T21:35:00.003-07:00

That about sums it up. :-)

Half Marathon update - Not Moto Related

2010-12-06T20:22:00.003-07:00

My goal was to finish the half marathon within the 4 hour time limit. And I wanted to have some energy left over at the end for the after party. And to have fun. Those were my only goals.

I finished in 2:49:03! Woo hoo! It was so much fun I might even run another one some day. I was quite happy with my first half marathon.

And since this is a motorcycling blog, I'll say that I plan to ride a lot more now that I'm done training.

I was hoping we'd eat here but we didn't. Maybe next time. :-)

Rock on!!

Long time no blog...

2010-12-02T22:07:00.002-07:00

Hello!! It sure has been a while since I've blogged. :-( And, I'm sad to say, it's because I haven't been riding much. Not sure why. Nothing much has been going on. No snow on the ground. Only one icy day. I think it's all the training I've been doing for the half marathon. Training, even though it has helped me to be a better rider, has also made me too tired to ride. But, the end is coming! The Las Vegas Rock and Roll Half Marathon is this Sunday! Hooray! I'll be so glad to finish it!!

I did manage to ride to work today and yesterday. Today was sort of funny. My father has been in town so I wanted to spend the day with him today. But, I needed to go to work as well. So, this morning I decided I'd leave work early but I'd still ride in, mainly just for the ride. :-) Luckily, when I got to work, the servers were down. I think I spent more time on the moto than I did at my desk. That's a good day! ;-)

Well, hopefully, when I return victorious from the half (and by victorious, I mean with a smile on my face because I finished it) hopefully, I'll be riding again more than running.

Rock on!!

Carhartt Quilt-Lined Waist Overall

2010-11-02T13:52:00.004-06:00

I found these fabulous overpants at TJMaxx for about $30. They are currently in the Carhartt online outlet store for $48. The women's quilted waist overalls come in dark brown and sandstone. (They only had sandstone at TJMaxx.) They also come in various lengths. At the time I hadn't considered these as riding overpants. I was just buying them to throw on when I needed to shovel snow. (My hubby's thinking, "When you shovel snow??) I would have selected the longer length if I had but they work well on the bike too. I wore them for the first time this morning over my draggin jeans. I wish I'd considered this option before I bought new winter Olympia pants.

So far they are very comfortable on the bike. They didn't bunch up at all during my morning commute. They blocked the wind very well too. The material is pretty heavy duty as expected from Carhartt. There even seems to be room in the knees if I had some armor in my pants (which I don't). I bought my "true" size and they still fit well over my jeans. By true size I mean I didn't purposefully buy a larger size in anticipation of wearing them over my regular clothes.

I should probably not pass judgment until I've put a few miles on them but so far so good.

Spot Personal Tracker

2010-10-24T20:49:00.003-06:00

I've heard lots of motorcyclists talk about the Spot Personal Tracker device. It uses satellites to track your location, create maps of your routes, send emergency alerts if needed, calls selected personal phone numbers in non-life threatening situations, and other things depending on the unit. I've always liked the idea of being able to track my route because I have such a terrible memory. Those I-wonder-where-this-road-goes trips are especially difficult to put down after the fact. So, when I happened to find this:
on the 70% off table at the Eddie Bauer Outlet Store, I couldn't resist. I haven't subscribed to the satellite service yet so I can't tell you anything about it. But, this link tells you all about this particular unit. It looks like the basic service is about $100 a year plus $45 a year for the tracking service. I can't wait to try it out. :-)

Birthday.....

2010-10-22T14:46:00.002-06:00

So, my birthday is coming up in about a month. I've really been wanting to take a dirt bike school class through the MSF or some other organization. Oddly enough, here in Colorado, there aren't very many close to the Denver/Boulder metro area. That still surprises me. I would think in this state, they'd be very popular. Anyway, one place I'm considering is going to Atlanta. My brother and mother live there. In Atlanta, there is a Honda campus that offers the MSF Dirt Bike School classes. And there is a class the day after my birthday. And, best of all, I have enough frequent flyer miles to get a ticket! I think my brother will take the class with me. That will be the most awesome thing ever!! Stay tuned....

Hehehehe! :-)

Close Call

2010-10-18T14:58:00.005-06:00

Nothing eventful has happened since my last post. Which, by the way, was only a one day time out. I just hadn't been very inspired to blog lately. This half marathon training is really taking up all my time. But this weekend seemed to make up for that.

The hubby and I went for a lunch ride on Saturday. We hadn't been on the bikes together in a long time. So, we were overdue. We decided to ride out to Famous Dave's BBQ in Thornton. It's more or less a straight shot up Wadsworth but Wadsworth is hardly ever a straight forward drive. It is a heavily used multi lane highway that runs north and south through town. I generally avoid it but some times it is the most direct route to take. It is an alternative to the super slab when heading to points north. Another thing that made the ride a bit more hectic is that I didn't bring my headset. So, we couldn't talk to each other as we traveled.

The first incident happened about 30 blocks into the ride. Hubby was leading and came to a stop at a yellow light. It wasn't a quick stop but apparently the car behind the car behind me wasn't paying attention. That car nearly rear ended the car behind me - squealing and smoking tires and all. In my mirror, I could see it all develop and I watched the offending car swerve to one side, into the already occupied left lane. Fortunately, he or she didn't hit anything and we all carried on. I don't know how much my hubby could see in his mirrors but he certainly heard the squealing tires. We weren't in any danger, or it didn't appear that way anyway. It certainly wasn't the first time we've had squealing tires around us. At any rate, it would have been nice to have the headsets to check in at that point.

About 5 blocks later, the three lanes of traffic merge into two.

Another 30 or so blocks later, we were approaching the US-36 overpass. This intersection can be quite frightening. The speed limit drops from 55mph to 35mph within a few blocks. Within that span, there are several stoplights and traffic is merging on and off of US-36, as well as the frontage roads running parallel. There is also a small airport nearby, a regional transit park and ride, and a shopping area with a Target store. Lots of activity. Oh, and of course, some construction thrown in every now and then making things interesting. Most of the construction is done but the merging lanes and such have been recently redesigned. We were traveling in the right lane. Traffic in the left lane started backing up because the light was red. Our lane was gradually slowing. Yes, a recipe for disaster. As we are slowing but before I had to put my foot down to stop, I checked my right mirror and see an SUV behind me that doesn't appear to be slowing. In an instant it seems, the image in my mirror became very large and close. He wasn't going to stop.

It's amazing to me the number of thoughts that can go through your mind in an instant. It's especially amazing to me because I have such a bad memory. I think it's genetic and I've told my husband to prepare himself for our future - me asking repetitive questions and him calmly answering them over and over.

I began to accelerate. I was positioned in the right part of the lane following behind my hubby who was traveling in the left part of the lane. There was plenty of room for me to pull up next to him quickly. As I began to accelerate, the SUV driver hit his brakes - squealing tires and smoke. He also pulled over into the left lane, fortunately, not hitting anyone there. Later, it seemed to me that he (or she) realized he was about to hit me and decided to pull over to hit the other cars instead of me.

Hubby didn't realize the near miss. At the next light I pulled up next to him and told him we needed to pull over. I was shaking and pissed off.

In that instant before I accelerated, these are the things that went through my mind:

1.) He's not stopping.
2.) He's going to hit me.
3.) I'm going to go flying into the air right past my husband.
4.) He's probably going to hit us both.
5.) Then I had a vision of my wrecked bike and that really pissed me off.

As soon as it was over and I/we were out of harms way, I managed to look back at the driver to glare at him. Of course, he couldn't see my glare under my helmet and that was ok. I just wanted to see where he was so that I could stay away from him as we traveled on. Actually, I wanted to scream at him - "Are you out of your fucking mind?!" - but that wouldn't have accomplished anything. Then, I had an adrenaline rush and started shaking and we pulled over.

Hubby still wasn't sure why I needed to pull over. But, I more or less calmly explained it, or not so calmly, I don't remember that part. He said he hadn't even noticed which I think made him worried. I just needed to vent and calm down before we carried on. If we'd had the headsets, I would have more easily explained to him what was going on but pulling over was probably better anyway. We considered going across the street to the McDonald's for lunch but once I calmed down everything was ok. We carried on, paying more attention to the cagers, and made it to our destination without any further incident.

Over lunch we talked more about it. We are pretty good about taking these experiences and learning from them. We like to talk things out and go through them step by step. What did we think happened? What would we have done differently? That sort of thing. I was amazed and quite happy to know that the training from those motorcycle safety classes kicked in. I don't practice those things even though I know I should. I just feel more comfortable practicing and getting feedback on what I'm doing. It's a lame excuse but true. But, I didn't even think about accelerating out of harm's way, I just did it. Wow. That made me feel good. I was able to see the situation, evaluate it, and execute. I am so taking a class every year from now on!

For the record, this is what I look like from behind. I had hubby take this photo after we got home so I could put it in this blog post.

I think I look pretty obvious but apparently, it doesn't matter to anyone who isn't paying attention. The first incident wasn't even because they didn't see me. It was because they didn't see the car behind me. Fortunately, that put me on high alert. Being aware of the conditions and potential dangers on the road we were on also helped. I was anticipating the situation we were in after the first incident. That particular intersection and stretch of road is some times part of my commute. Actually, it is no longer part of my main commute for that very reason. It's very dangerous.

After lunch, we came home via the super slab I-25. It was better because there wasn't so much stop and go. But, it's still the interstate with all of it's inherent dangers. We made it home safe and sound though.

Oh, when we got home, hubby says, "I think there's something wrong with my rear brake. It's not stopping."

What a day!

Motorcycling Time Out

2010-09-22T10:21:00.003-06:00

I can't believe I did that!!!!

So, I went to fill up yesterday morning and had a mishap at the pump. No, I didn't drop it. The pump didn't click off as I was filling. AAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!

To make matters even worse, I wasn't paying attention because I was texting!! How horrible is that!?!?!? OMG! I can't believe it. So, today, I am in a motorcycling time out to just take a break and think about what I did. Seriously, I drove today.

Here's the story. I pull up to a gas station I've used a few times. I do what I always do - take off my gloves, flip up my visor, grab my credit card, put in the pump and lock it to fill up. Then, as I also always do, I pulled out my iPhone to open the Gas Cubby app where I keep track of my fill ups and service. Ironically, I was just bragging about this app to tbolt on her blog post about tracking service. (D'oh!) I usually just punch in the info as it's filling and then when it's done, I punch in the remainder, then go on about my day. On this day, as I pulled out my phone, I coincidentally also received a text from my brother. The Saints had won the night before so we were eager to discuss that topic. I sent him one, was reading his reply and then turned back to face the bike. Gas was gushing all over the place. Holy crap!

I turned off the pump handle and stood there in disbelief for a second before going inside to alert the guy of the spill. He was very apologetic, but it was really more my fault than his. It still would have happened but if I'd been paying attention, I would have seen it right away. He gave me some soapy water and more than enough towels to clean off the bike. He even offered me a plastic trash bag to cover my seat, which I declined. I wasn't far from home so I headed back to change clothes, call work, and settle my thoughts. I also called my husband a couple of times before I drove off to have him tell me what to do.

Turns out everything is fine. I didn't blow up or even catch on fire, thank goodness. I was able to get to work and wasn't even too late. I did ride to work because I had a service appointment that day. But, today, I'm in the cage.

Maybe I just need a break anyway. I've been awfully tired these days with all the exercising and training for the half marathon. And, I'm not 20 any more. Yes, a break will be a good thing. I'm also taking a break from fitness boot camp today.

Invisible Rider

2010-09-20T12:03:00.003-06:00

The other day I drove to work and this motorcyclist was in front of me. As I followed behind, I couldn't help but notice how invisible he looked. He was on a black motorcycle, had black saddle bags, a black jacket, and a silver helmet. We were on a black asphalt road and as we traveled along the barely sloping road, he would literally disappear when the road ahead was as high as his helmet. When he needed to brake, his tail light lit up but beyond that, it was hard to see him. And I was right behind him and was looking for him. I took a photo of him with my iPhone.

I've seen this phenomenon before. The first time it was a silver motorcycle, silver gear, and the guy also disappeared as he traveled on the silvery road. At that time, I was on a silver motorcycle, with silver pants and a silver jacket as well. It was startling to know that I was just as invisible as he was. It was shortly after that I started buying hi-viz gear and also had my hubby add more lights to my motorcycle. And I already love stickers to I added some reflective stickers as well.

Today I ride a black motorcycle. I still have my silver pants but do wear my hi-viz jacket. And when I wear my silver warm weather jacket, I wear a hi-viz vest over it. I haven't had any extra lights added on just yet but it's on the list. I also have a yellow top case and yellow tank saddle bags. My side cases are a dark army green but I have lots of reflective stickers on them including large yellow panels on the sides. (The plastic side cases weren't the right kind of plastic to paint them.) And I'll always wear a white helmet, unless I find a hi-viz or yellow one that fits.

As the days get shorter I try to keep in mind all of these things. I am of the better safe than sorry crowd so will continue to add more to myself and my bike to make myself more visible. If I could get to the Aerostich warehouse, I'd probably invest in a hi-viz Roadcrafter suit. But there is no way I'm spending all that money without trying one on. Hmmmm.... sounds like a road trip might be in order....... In the meantime, I'll probably stick with the ladies Olympia AST Jacket and Promax pants. From Motogear Outlet of course.

Shiny side up everyone!!

Motorcycling Fitness

2010-09-14T10:53:00.003-06:00

I've been participating in a fitness boot camp since April. We workout 3 days a week and I've been doing it now for 23 weeks. That's about 69 days, give or take some days I've missed for travel. I tried this program last year for a couple of weeks and it worked wonders. But, I didn't keep it up. In fact, I stopped working out pretty much the day I got this new motorcycle. What a weird coincidence. ;-) Folks will often tell you to reward yourself for sticking to a workout program. When I first started, I told myself the new GS would be my reward. I was thinking big. But, that sort of had the opposite effect in the end. This summer, I told myself I really needed to stick with it and have been quite happy with myself. I've even registered for a half marathon, which was a sort of new year's resolution. I almost ran out of time to complete it this year. I'm doing the Las Vegas Half Marathon on December 5th. I'll reach that goal just in time for a new resolution.

I didn't sign up for this fitness boot camp for any specific motorcycling health related issue. But I can certainly tell the difference when I ride. Mostly, I can tell because certain muscles are sore and I can feel it when I ride. But, I can also tell the difference in my core (abs and back) strength. I don't get fatigued as quickly. I sit up straighter. I feel more aware and alert on the bike. When we did our Devils Tower trip, all those days in a row of riding was a lot of fun and not very tiring at all.

I'm hoping I can keep it up for as long as I can afford the classes. Maybe I'll add that cost to my motorcycling expense fund. :-)

Yesterday, one of the exercises we did was holding a 6lb medicine ball over head while jumping on our toes in the sand. Holy smokes! I had no idea I used those calf muscles so much on the motorcycle. Riding to work this morning I was much more aware of the effort to downshift, which happens a lot more often during the ride than I ever really thought about before. Yikes!

Here's to being 40-something and in shape for the ride!

Recent pictures...

2010-09-11T21:35:00.003-06:00

I've taken some photos on some recent commutes to work. Here they are in no particular order.

This was last Thursday. You may or may not know I was born and raised in New Orleans and, born a Saints fan. Thursday was the first game of the NFL season, traditionally played by the Super Bowl champion team. This year that champion team is the New Orleans Saints. :-) So, I wore my Drew Brees jersey over my motorcycle jacket on my ride to work. :-) Who Dat!!

On the way home one day there was a pretty cool rainbow. It faded before I was able to pull over and get a good shot of it. But, here it is.

On another trip home, the rising moon was quite stunning. My crappy little camera could not capture it very well.
On Monday, a forest fire broke out up the canyon from Boulder. While it posed no threat to Boulder, or my workplace, the smoke settled in town for much of the rest of the week. I took these photos on my way to work. They were taken from the same spot as the photo at the top of my blog.

Velcro Brush

2010-09-11T21:12:00.003-06:00

Here is the velcro brush I mentioned in a previous blog post. It's a very small thing that I bought at a local hardware store in Boulder (McGuckins). It isn't anything special really. I don't use it very often but it cleans the velcro pretty well. Then I have to clean the brush by picking out the lint with my fingers or tweezers. I use it the most after visiting my sister-in-law. They have 4 dogs. :-)

One Year Anniversary!

2010-09-11T20:14:00.002-06:00

Today is my one year anniversary with the GS! Woo hoo! I rode away from the dealership with 13 miles on the clock. Today there are 10,093 miles! My goal was 10,000 miles and having it paid off in a year. I met both of those goals this month!! Woo hoo!! Oddly enough, I didn't ride today. I have family visiting so, that takes priority. But, I did make sure to ride enough to reach that 10K mile mark. I actually rode an extra 3 miles around the neighborhood on Wednesday so that I would get to exactly 10K when I pulled into the driveway. :-) It was easier to take the photo that way. :-)Yay!

How Many Miles?

2010-09-02T08:36:00.002-06:00

As my one year anniversary approaches, anyone wanna guess how many miles I'll have on the GS? There were 13 miles on it when I rode away from the dealership on September 11, 2009. :-)

Questions about gear

2010-09-01T21:01:00.003-06:00

A friend of mine, who is looking to buy her first motorcycle shortly after taking a motorcycle safety class, has been asking me all sorts of fun questions. It's great to think about how far I've come as a rider and how much fun it still is to ride. It also helps me to think about all the stuff I still have to learn. Today we talked about gear. I'd been thinking about gear and the question of whether or not the gear has a shelf life or mileage life span even before she and I started this conversation.

For example, I've had my boots since August 2008. I think when I bought them I was told three years was a good long life for them if I only wore them on the bike and not for walking around in or at work all day. I do wear them at work but not very often because they are so hot and bulky. They are pretty scuffed up and most of those scuffs I really can't explain. The toes for some reason are quite scruffy looking. Is that from debris on the road?? I can't think of any other reason they'd get that way.

I've also had my mesh Olympia jacket and pants for a long time. The pants I've had since at least September 2007. The jacket since April 2008. The jacket is in pretty good condition. But I don't wear it year round like I do with my boots and even the mesh pants. The pants are looking a bit worse for wear. I've had one of the belt loops repaired and now another has come undone. The piping on the side of the legs is wearing thin. There's a hole in one of the front pockets. Oh, and they are stained and pretty filthy looking. But, by using a velcro brush that I bought recently, they still function just fine.

I'm planning to buy some winter pants this year. I'd also like to get a new Olympia winter jacket but my Tour Master still works just fine. It fits a bit tighter than I remember for some reason. Mostly I like the Olympia gear and I can get a hi-viz color too.

So, dear readers (I think I'm up to three now), how often do you buy new gear? Assuming no unexpected get offs, will gear wear out?

Lessons Learned on the Devils Tower Road Trip

2010-08-30T19:20:00.003-06:00

We couldn't have asked for a better first road trip. The weather was perfect. The bikes were great. The destination was great. The company was perfect. :-) We even ended up having a house guest to stay in our house while we were away.

We didn't camp so we didn't have to carry nearly as much stuff as we would have otherwise. For our first trip and only a week of travel, I just thought it would be better to spend the extra bucks for our own bed, shower and some air conditioning. Turns out, the chalet was only $4 more a night than the KOA. So, that was a no brainer really.

All of our gear fit inside our side and top cases. Hubby's GL650I had two rear side cases, a top case and a tank bag. My G650GS had two side cases, a top case, a tank bag and two tank panniers. We only had to bungee stuff to a seat once, when hubby's latch got stuck locked after we unloaded on the first night. Fortunately that happened after he had taken everything out of it. He also was able to repair a couple of nights later.

The bike-to-bike communication was a great investment. We bought them just for this trip and I think we did only one test ride. Or maybe we just walked around the house with our helmets on to test them out. At any rate, it was not something we were used to having but is now something we will probably never ride without. That was another good reason not to camp. We needed to charge them each night. Having the ability to talk to each other during the ride enabled me to be the lead rider throughout the trip. I have very poor sense of direction. Hubby can almost always figure out where we need to go. But, when he leads, he told me he constantly checks his mirrors for me. Not for any particular reason but he just does. This slows him down, which really annoys me. I tend to ride up on his back wheel when he's leading. With me in the lead, I can set the pace and he can see me all the time. It works great! :-) We were both very content with that arrangement. With the ability to talk to him, I can ask for directions and not lead us astray. We can also discuss where and when to get gas, when and where to stop for food, when and where to stop to pee, etc. It makes the ride so much easier and more relaxing.

Another invaluable accessory was the evaporative cooling vests, also purchased just for this trip. Wyoming in July is so very hot. Turns out we arrived at our motel in Hullet on the hottest day that year. The vests work in a similar way to the cooldana. You soak them in water for a few minutes so the absorbing gel gets saturated. Lightly wring them out so they aren't dripping. Put them on under the mesh jacket and off you go. Instant A/C! We soaked ours and then put them into over sized zip locked bags and stuffed them into hubby's trunk until we needed them. They stayed wet and we didn't have to find a place to soak them on the road.

We both learned that our stock seats are not so comfy after a hundred miles or so. I learned that I really needed some highway pegs to stretch my legs. (That's already been taken care of by my love!) We had just enough space for all of our stuff - probably more than enough if we really thought about it. We road at night only once but wished we'd had our reflective vests when we did. I think we had a lot of electronic gear but I'm not sure we had too much. All of the chargers and things take up a lot of space. We used a lot of faux packing cubes which made packing and finding things much easier.

The trip as planned worked well for the amount of riding per day. Being our first long trip we wanted to have relatively short travel days without making us too worn out each day. On the way home we rode the most miles to get home on Friday instead of Saturday. That was also a good decision giving us a full weekend to recover before going back to work.

About the only thing I would do differently was to bring a small cooler to keep cold drinks. We wore camelbak packs but it was hard to drink with a full face helmet while riding. I would have liked to have cool drinks once we stopped but that was a minor detail really. Stopping for cold drinks was a good excuse to stretch the legs and resoak our vests and some times even sit in an air conditioned store.

Other than that, I would not have changed one thing! It was a fantastic trip! Happy Anniversary my love! Where should we go next year?? :-)

Lunch ride

2010-08-30T19:04:00.003-06:00

Last week I needed to get away from the desk for a bit and decided to take a lunch ride up to Nederland. Nederland is about 16 miles or so up Boulder Canyon (Hwy 119). I've done this route a few times. It's a nice quick and easy ride, depending on the traffic, to shake the days worries off during or after work.

I didn't have a lot of time. I had a meeting at 1:30. I decided to run into the supermarket to see what I could round up for a quick bite. I'd never been in this market before. We always stop in the parking lot when we ride through Nederland. The public library is in the strip mall in this parking lot and has a clean bathroom. Turns out there is a deli and also hot food in the market. Lunch was an elk burger, fries and a lemonade. Yum!

Even better, when I sat down to wait for my food, I checked my email and saw that the person I was meeting was going to be about half an hour late. Good thing because I didn't even order until almost 1:00 and it takes at least half an hour to get back to work. :-) That was the best burger I've had in a while. Maybe because I was just enjoying the day but I think I'll have to stop here with my hubby the next time we are in the town riding through around lunch time.

It was a so-so day made much better by the ride and the meal. Yay! :-) And I made it back in time for my appointment. Woot!

Day 6 - Heading Home

2010-08-23T08:18:00.009-06:00

On day 6 of our Devils Tower vacation, we headed for home. Since our original plan was to get to Hot Springs, SD, we thought we'd locate a cafe there and have a small breakfast before hitting the road. Hot Springs isn't a large town but we were surprised to find that there wasn't much open this morning. There seemed to be plenty of places but we were just out of luck for some reason. As we drove through town we came upon this small drive up and walk up coffee place. You can see our motos across the street parked in front of the post office.
And here is my lovely hubby standing next to his moto. That's the coffee shop in the background with the rainbow umbrellas.

He got coffee and I got juice and we each got a muffin.

While waiting in line, we met a couple from Rapid City (I think) who were on vacation in Hot Springs. Coincidentally, they have kids living in Colorado, one in Loveland (I think) and one in Arvada. Cool. :-) They asked us if we'd gotten caught in the storm last night. We said we'd just missed it, that we checked in to the motel in Custer just before the rain came. They then mentioned the big storm that had come through Hot Springs last night. Lots of wind, lightning, thunder, hail and rain. Trees were down and the power was out. They told us we were lucky we weren't in Hot Springs.

Well that explained why so many places were closed that morning! And it also explained the note taped to the door of the post office saying they could only sell stamps and not mail packages due to the power outage. And to think we almost pushed on through to get to Hot Springs the night before. It seems our luck continued to hold throughout the vacation! Wow.

This photo is of the library across the street from the coffee shop and post office. You can see the downed branches in front.

After our breakfast, as we drove through town, there were signs and trees and branches down all over. Even some small bits of debris in the road. Power crews were out working on down power lines. Wow. We were feeling very lucky indeed to have missed that storm.

From Hot Springs we headed west on highway 18 through Edgemont, SD and crossed the border back into Wyoming. From there we went south on highway 85 to Lusk where we had some lunch. It was another fabulous lunch at some small place in a small town. It was the place to be as the crowd came in just after us. We each had wraps with chips and a drink. Yum. :-)

From there we decided to head for the interstate in order to get home the most direct route. It also continued the theme of not traveling on the same roads twice. :-) The weather looked to be threatening but we made out ok. We did stop to put our rain gear on just before getting to the interstate, but once we hit the super slab, we took off the jackets and it was all clear from there on. You can see the dark clouds that had been chasing us in the photo below.

We stopped to hydrate ourselves and our vests at a rest stop gas station somewhere along I-25. I was starting to feel very ill from the heat at this point so we took quite a long break to fuel up and drink lots.

Once we got into Colorado, we started hitting some rush hour traffic. Cheyenne Frontier Days was also going on and we ran into some traffic there. Once we got south of Ft. Collins the traffic was very heavy. So, we pulled off I-25 at Loveland, had a potty break and more fluids and made our way to hwy 287. From there it was a straight shot home and much less stressful.

We traveled about 385 miles this day, which was by far our longest not only of this trip but, ever! We felt pretty good though and it was kind of weird pulling into the driveway knowing we were done. The next day we still felt a desire to be riding. :-)

Here are the motos safe at home in the garage. :-)

The 5th Day of the Devils Tower Anniversary Road Trip

2010-08-15T19:43:00.001-06:00

On the 5^th day we checked out of our lovely chalet in Hulett and said so long (for now) to Wyoming. Our destination this morning was Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. We weren’t sure how far we’d get or which roads we’d travel because we weren’t sure how long some of the twisty roads might take to travel. One of the things I really wanted to see and had been excited to see was buffalo. We joked that I’d sort of been working my way up to a live buffalo – starting with the Vore Buffalo Jump and all the buffalo bones there followed by my tasty meal of buffalo medallions on our anniversary in Deadwood. Next would be living buffalo in the flesh! LOL. But, the more I read about Custer State Park, where there are herds of buffalo roaming around, the less safe I felt about riding the motorcycles to see them. So, Tim and I decided we’d not take the road that runs through the main part of the park. (We also didn’t feel like paying the $10 per bike entrance fee.) Instead we decided to ride to the town of Custer, have lunch and then decide where to venture off to.

Along the way, we stopped at a scenic overlook and took some photos there.

We also passed by Jewel Cave National Monument. Actually, we stopped at the visitor center since it was so close and on the way. That road, we were pleased to find out, was very interesting to ride on. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten to mount my camera on the moto so I didn’t get very many photos. In the park, which had motorcycle parking, we wandered through the visitor center exhibits and took a potty break. We drove by Wind Cave as well but didn’t stop there. The skies were starting to look questionable so we pushed on to Custer, SD.

In Custer we drove the length of what looked to be their main street and decided on a nice looking place for lunch. Oddly enough, I didn’t take any photos of the restaurant or our meals. We both had burgers – one elk and one buffalo. They were yummy and so were the roasted red potatoes that came with it. The restaurant had some then and now photos of the area by one photographer who was documenting the changes. He’s put out a book, “The Black Hills Yesterday and Today”, as well. We looked through the restaurant’s copy. Very cool.

From there, after consulting with the waitress, we decided to ride the road that would take us by the Crazy Horse Monument and up to Mount Rushmore. Our goal was to get up there and head back to try to get to Hot Springs, SD to spend the night there.

We got to Crazy Horse and pulled off to take a photo from the distance. We really weren’t that interested in seeing it up close even though we’ve heard the exhibits are pretty cool. We just weren’t going to pay for the entrance fees for each bike at each of these monuments. That was going to add up very quickly. In the photo below you can see the dark skies we were also hoping to avoid. We kept getting a few rain drops here and there and really didn’t want to be caught in a thunderstorm with no shelter.

Blue skies in the other direction.

From there we headed off to Mount Rushmore. Turns out we came at it from the backside. I kept telling Tim, as we got closer, that I thought we should be able to see it. It just felt like it was right on the other side of the rocks we were riding alongside of. But, there weren’t hoards of cars or people either, which is usually a sure sign you are near the national park. So, we kept going. Then, all of a sudden, we came around a curve and there it was! But, it was kind of behind and to our left so we couldn’t see it very well. So, we thought, we’d have to go into the parking area in order to see it. (It’s great to have the communication devices so we can discuss these things.) I pulled over so we could turn around. We’d gone around another curve at this point so we couldn’t even see it from the point where I’d pulled over. As we pulled back onto the road after making our u-turn, there it was! So cool! We then decided to just pull over quickly on the motorcycle sized shoulder of the road and snap a quick photo or two. Tim had his phone handy but I didn’t so those photos are from him. Awesome!

We were satisfied with the view we had and decided not to pay the parking fees to see the exhibits. Next time. We did pull over to check out the profile view. I snapped a couple of photos there. Then we were on our way back to Custer. We took a slightly different route back which took us part way through Custer State Park. We didn’t have to pay on this road so it was cool to be able to see the wide open space. And guess what! We even saw three buffalo!! That was so cool!! They were each hanging out by themselves so it didn’t seem terribly scary. They are very large animals. Very, very cool!!

As we got closer to town, we thought it might be better to just stay in Custer instead of trying to push on to Hot Springs. The storm hadn’t passed yet and we didn’t want to get caught in it. I remembered seeing a sign at a motel for $39 rooms. For one night, that would do just fine. It ended up being $49 but we were ok with that.

It was also right across the street from a couple of restaurants which meant we didn’t have to gear up but could walk there. We checked in, unpacked the bikes, shook off the road a bit and sat for a couple of minutes before looking outside to see that the sky had opened up. It was raining really hard. Our luck had held once again.

So, we watched some TV and waited for the rain to stop, which, of course, it did just in time for us to go to dinner. The sun even came out. We moseyed across the street to a sports bar like place and had some steaks. They were ok. Mine was very overdone so I sent it back. The beer was cold and tasty. After dinner we walked down main street but most of the shops were closed. But, it was all good. We were still on vacation.

That day we rode about 160 miles.

The 4th Day of the trip to Devils Tower

2010-08-14T19:47:00.004-06:00

This day we decided to ride to Sturgis to visit the fabled town (although I suppose it is the rally that is famous more than the town) and to visit the motorcycle museum located there. This would be the only day we would ride the same road twice.

We started the morning on highway 24 out of Hulett headed for Alma, a town whose claim to fame is a really old store that’s been in business since 18-something. It was interesting and really old but, they didn’t have breakfast. The café across the way did, and according to the stereotypical old guy sitting on the porch at the general store, the food was good. He was right. Tim said his French toast was the best he’d had in a restaurant in a long time.

We stopped at the Wyoming – South Dakota border to take a photo at the state sign. (There wasn’t one the day before when we were traveling on the service road.)

From there, highway 24 became highway 34, which took us to I-90 and into Sturgis. Sturgis is not a very large town. How they fit thousands of motorcycles into this town is beyond me. This year is the 70^th anniversary of the rally and they were anticipating a million bikers. I can’t even imagine what that must look like.

The Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame is conveniently located on Main Street. We parked there and paid our entrance fee.

There are two levels to the museum. The upstairs is pretty small. Lots of interesting old bikes stuck in small places with ok signage. There was certainly enough to keep us interested for a while. Some of the bikes you would expect to see – Indians, Harleys, Moto Guzzi, etc. And then there were a few one off bikes such as the million mile Harley.

Downstairs the space was much larger. There was even a video viewing room showing a DVD about the history of the rally. There were cases with motorcycle themed record albums on display. There was a room that looked like a rotating exhibit space, with a display about women in motorcycling. And there were more motorcycles too. Lots of dirt bikes, side cars, smaller cc bikes, and a display of Sturgis themed bikes in the video viewing room. If you are ever in Sturgis, I would recommend the museum.

Here is my lovely hubby checking out the dirt bikes.

Also in Sturgis, we visited the BMW dealership there. That was fun and where I bought my t-shirt.

For the ride back to Hulett, we decided we liked Spearfish Canyon so much we wanted to ride it again in the opposite direction. So, the ride took us through Deadwood again, and up the canyon. We’d missed the turn off for Spearfish Falls the first time so made that the destination on this trip. It was a lovely hike just off the highway in Savoy, SD. The waterfall was pretty impressive and had lots of cooling mist coming off at the bottom. The hike looped around to the top of the waterfall but we didn’t figure that out until after we turned around and went back the way we came and walked around the parking lot to view it from the top. We laughed at ourselves about that.

From there it was a nice leisurely ride back to Hulett. We had dinner that night at the Ponderosa Café again. There were quite a few more folks there this night which was nice to see. I’m not sure where they came from but there they were.

The total for this day was about 170 miles.

Day 3 - aka our anniversary!

2010-08-05T12:48:00.006-06:00

Day three was our 3rd wedding anniversary. :-) The trip to Devils Tower was our effort to visit at least one place every year we've never been before. We started the day with breakfast at the Feed Bunk, which is a little restaurant inside the local gas station within walking distance from our lodging. Well, really everything in Hulett is within walking distance so that's not saying much. The food was not untasty and we were fueled up and ready to go pretty early this day. We wanted to beat the crowds to Devils Tower so we could enjoy it.

Tim suggested we do a ranger led tour which was a great plan. The walk around the tower is about an hour long. Our tour guide turned out to be a high school earth sciences teacher from Fort Collins. He was fantastic. Here are some photos of the trail and the tower during our hike.

We had a good sized group for the tour but not so large that it wasn't fun. By the time we returned, the parking lot was full and bumper to bumper RVs and such were circling. Planning for the early start was a brilliant idea. We walked through the visitor's center one more time, hit the restrooms and then hit the road.

Our next stop was the Vore Buffalo Jump. This place was also quite fascinating. It is run by the University of Wyoming. There is a small visitor's center and a short walk to the bottom of the sink hole to view the site. This place is a natural sink hole where buffalo were herded by several Indian tribes hundreds of years ago. As the buffalo fell into this sink hole, the Indians would harvest the meat and other parts of the buffalo. After horses were introduced into their culture, the hole was used less often. Below are some photos. The first is of the visitor's center and the informational sign.

A view of the trail to the structure that covers the sink hole.

Inside the building at the bottom is a small walkway for visitors to view the bones. There is a staff person there as well to answer any questions. There are also samples available to view and handle.

The bones. I think they told us this layer was from the 1800s.

One sample of a buffalo skull. Every part of the buffalo was used for something, even the brains.

This was a very cool and interesting place. If you are in the area stop by to see it. We also played Good Samaritan here. A couple from New Jersey had locked their keys in their car and didn't have enough cell service to call for assistance. This place is located just off the interstate in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately Tim's cell phone worked. Hooray Xerox! They were very very grateful.

After this stop, we hit the road again headed for Spearfish Canyon. One of the guys at MotoGear Outlet told us about this canyon ride. We stopped to do the short hike to Bridal Veil Falls. We had to right? It was our anniversary. It was very cool.

Tim resoaked his cooling vest in the water. It didn't smell too fishy. Well, I didn't have to wear it though. :-) Here we are at the falls. Tim's holding up three fingers for our 3rd anniversary! Love you babe!! :-)

After that we hit the road and continued on to Deadwood. This town is famous for all sorts of wild west tales. Apparently they also have fake gunfights in the streets although we didn't see any. Mostly it is full of casinos. Not our cup of tea. We found some motorcycle parking and set out in search of a place to have dinner.

We found a nice place that said it was family friendly (which I took to mean no gambling). It had rooftop seating and was quite lovely. (It took us a little while to figure out that there was a bar with slot machines downstairs that was separate from the restaurant upstairs.) The service was great and so was the food.

Tim had charbroiled elk and I had buffalo medallions (below). OMG it was so very tasty!! It was a perfect meal for our perfect day! :-)

After dinner we headed back home. It was getting late by now so we decided to hop on the interstate for as far as we could in order to get back to Hulett as quickly as we could. We stopped at a rest area to pee and discovered that our headsets had died. We didn't charge them the night before. No worries though as we knew where we were going.

Once it became dusk, I got a bit afraid for all the deer and antelope we'd been seeing. I have not been that focused on the ride in a long time. I slowed way down just because I thought it was safer. We weren't in a hurry anyway. We saw lots of deer and antelope so I felt justified in my diligence. It took us a little longer to get home but that was ok with me. I also felt justified because Tim wasn't seeing the deer or antelope as quickly as I was. That was the only time we rode at night on the whole trip.

It was an awesome, dare I say, perfect day, with my love!

Day 2 - Monday July 26

2010-08-01T09:51:00.003-06:00

Day 2 we rode from Torrington, WY to Hulett, WY, our home case for the next three days. Here is a map of the route:

We checked out of Torrington after a Holiday Inn breakfast. It wasn't very tasty - powdered eggs, yuck! After checking out we gassed up and I took more photos of our motos. :-)

The long unwinding roads continued for a while. Not much in the way of photo ops until we got our first glimpse of Devils Tower. Wow! It just appears out of nowhere! Very very cool. This was taken from the first pull out. We were still pretty far away but my camera zooms ok for the photo.

This is at another closer pull out that had a display sign about the tower. We took this using the clamp mount on the moto mirror and the camera timer. :-)

And here are the motos and the tower. :-) I like to take photos of the bikes. Have I mentioned that?
Devils Tower is about 9 miles from Hulett. Here is our cabin and home for the next 3 days. Have I mentioned that there is no shade at all in Wyoming? Oh my goodness it was hot! I felt ill it was so hot. The cabin had a small window unit sized air conditioner that just could not compete with the days heat. We actually went outside to sit by the river to cool off.

We decided to get some dinner and found the local bar/cafe to be welcoming. The food was ok although my meal that night wasn't the best. But, the beer was cold and so was the restaurant so, it was all good. After dinner we stopped at the corner grocery store to buy some cold drinks, a styrofoam cooler and ice. They were out of ice. I was very sad to hear that as I was really overheated. But, they said the Hulett Motel sells ice as well so we headed back. (It was across the street.) No ice at the motel either. Their freezer was on the fritz. Ugh. We toughed it out for the night and decided to go back to the grocery in the morning when their ice would be replenished. I think the cabin finally cooled off around midnight or 1am. It was a long night. A couple of days later we found out the temperature that day was 104 degrees. Ugh.

We traveled about 226 miles on this day. :-)

Devils Tower Trip Report - Sunday, Day 1

2010-07-31T21:46:00.009-06:00

Our route on day 1:
Here we are ready for the road. Windscreens cleaned, load secured, photos taken by my friend the Captain who happened to be in town and was happy to stay at our house while we were away.

You can see the reflective panel on my side cases. They are yellow and reflect back as yellow I think. There is also black reflective tape on the cases and my reflective Rounders stickers too. And a non-reflective white Saints fleur de lis as well.

And away we go!

Well, to Starbucks first....It was at Starbucks that I remembered to mark down our starting mileage. We were only about 2 miles from home so it was official enough. That's 7,215 miles on the odometer on my GS.

Here we are at the Wyoming and Colorado state line. Woo hoo! Our first new state on the motos! :-)

Much of the roads on this day looked like this image below. Long and straight. Still, the plains are very beautiful and interesting as well.

We left home on Sunday, July 25th headed for Torrington, WY where I'd made a reservation at the Holiday Inn there. I thought it would be a good idea to have a first stop planned out and I think that was a good plan. We were tired mostly from the heat I think. It was a good time to stop and it kept us from pushing to hard on that first day. Torrington is a small town with not a whole lot going on especially on a Sunday evening. We found one restaurant open and also managed to see a movie. It was a nice leisurely start to the trip. The cold cold air conditioning at the Holiday Inn was definitely worth the $100 we spent on the room. Well, I think so anyway. :-)

Home again, home again...

2010-07-31T09:59:00.003-06:00

6 days of vacation.
2 motorcycles.
3 years of marriage celebrated.
1,381 total miles traveled.
414 photos and video clips taken (not including Tim's)
Home safe.

Fantastically good time!

Trip summary to follow shortly. :-)

First Views of Devils Tower

2010-07-26T19:39:00.000-06:00

We are checked in to the Hulett Motel in Hulett, WY. It's a neat little cabin. There's a small a/c unit but it has to work too hard to keep this A-frame very cold. It'll do but it's not as cold as the Holiday Inn was. And boy is it hot in Wyoming! And there is no shade in this state. But, we're on vacation! :-)

Saw Devils Tower for the first time as we came in on highway 14. Took some photos from the pull out near the sign. The road got a little more interesting around there. Even had some official road signs warning of curves in the road. That was a nice change of pace.

Hulett is 9 miles north of Devils Tower. We are planning to visit and hike around the tower tomorrow for our anniversary. We are celebrating 3 years of wedded bliss! Woo hoo!!! (Preceded by 11 years of blissful non-marriage.)

Day 1 - Arvada, CO to Torrington, WY

2010-07-26T07:44:00.000-06:00

We were on the road, after a stop at Starbucks and a fill up, at about 9am. It's nice not having a schedule to keep. About 200 miles this first day allowed us to take our time and stop for photos if we wanted. The weather was much cooler than it had been the last two weeks. That was nice! Tim didn't need the cooling vest until after we had lunch in Cheyenne.

Torrington was our planned stopping point. I'd made reservations at the Holiday Inn. Oh, sweet sweet air conditioning! We checked in about 3:00. There is a two screen movie theater in town so we went to see "Inception" and then had dinner. It was a nice way to spend the first evening.

Saw lots of motorcyclists on the road.

The bike to bike helmet communication devices are great!

So far the GS is doing great. I will definitely need a bead seat or something for the next trip. The GL has a loose cable or something causing the temp gauge to stop working some times. And the horn beeped on its own once too. And one side case is stuck locked fortunately this happened after the stuff was taken out. Bummer.

Day 1 - Arvada, CO to Torrington, WY

2010-07-26T07:32:00.000-06:00

NE Wyoming

2010-07-25T18:52:00.000-06:00

So far looks mostly like this...

And We're Off!!

2010-07-25T08:35:00.001-06:00

Well, off to Starbucks first. :-)

This is what I imagined when I first started thinking about this bike. Loaded side cases and my hubby and I hitting the road.

Side Cases!!

2010-07-24T16:23:00.004-06:00

Woo hoo!! Just in time for the road trip! My hubby rocks! :-) Here they are with all of the added reflective stickers. The yellow panel is reflective and so is the white strip on the back and the Rounders circle sticker on the side.
We are hitting the road tomorrow morning!! Woot!

How I caught the Motorcycling Bug

2010-07-23T13:56:00.007-06:00

From 1993 - 1995 I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal in West Africa. We were given Suzuki TS125 motos to get around the region where we were assigned. Our training consisted of the MSF BRC which was 3 days long, plus 3 days of moto maintenance where we more or less took the bikes apart and put them back together. Once we were placed in our villages, we had to do all the regular maintenance ourselves. Larger issues we could usually find someone in a village or larger town to work on the bikes. I lived in the Nioro region of Senegal, which is just north of the Gambia near the town of Kaolack.
This is part of the Sahel and we rode in the deep sand there. Good times!

Picture Test

2010-07-22T13:10:00.001-06:00

Here is a photo of the Scala on my helmet.

TEST

2010-07-22T13:09:00.001-06:00

I'm testing the email posting option.

Blogging from the Road

2010-07-22T12:49:00.003-06:00

I've tried in the past to access my blog from my iPhone but have not been successful in making posts. I'm not sure why that works that way. Or doesn't work. So, I won't be able to make updates from the road trip to Wyoming. That kind of sucks but we are going to get away from it all and recharge our batteries. :-) So, I'm just going to roll with that missing bit of technology for the week. Maybe I'll take some notes the old fashioned way with pen and paper. That would be fun too.

But..... if anyone knows how to post to Google blogs from an iPhone, please let me know. :-)

So, the email from the iPhone seems to work ok for posting. I still don't understand why I can't post from the web site on the browser but whatever.

Prepping the bikes

2010-07-20T12:08:00.003-06:00

This week I'll be taking the GS in for an oil change. I'm also going to have them look it over to make sure there isn't anything weird going on before the road trip. I can't imagine what they might find since the bike is so new but I'd feel better knowing it was done. I'll also have them check and lube the chain while it is there. Yes, I can probably do this myself I just don't know when I'll have time. Work is keeping me late this week because I have some deadlines to meet before we leave. I'd rather this small task be done by some one who isn't distracted, like me.

My lovely hubby added my grab-on grip covers for me. They do help with the vibration a lot. But, they also make the grips fatter. That was something I thought I wanted but right now I haven't gotten adjusted to them and it still feels weird. But the cramp buster does fit and work with them so that's good. On our ride to Loveland on Sunday my left hand didn't fall asleep at all. But, my right still does. Hubby thinks I need to relax my grip. I think he is right. On my ride with my brother on Monday, my hand fell asleep almost immediately. Ugh. That's so not good. It was a bit painful. I'll need to figure something out soon. Or at least on the road.

We also tried out the new Scala headsets on Sunday's ride. Those are awesome! It's so nice to be able to talk when we need to. I thought they might inspire us to talk a lot more but that didn't seem to be the case. We aren't very chatty anyway. But, when we got separated at a stop light we could talk to each other without the other wondering if they should stop to wait or what. That was nice. They could stand to be louder but they are loud enough. I think our hearing just ain't what it used to be. But, they also worked ok with the earplugs too. They don't pick up the engine noise although, and I need to remember to mention this to him, I thought I was hearing a far off siren on the ride back home that I think was actually something being picked up from hubby's bike.

Hubby is still working on the side cases.

Only 5 days until we hit the road!! :-)

Devils Tower preparations

2010-07-14T10:49:00.004-06:00

We're planning to leave on Sunday, July 25th, spend a night in Torrington, WY and then arrive at Devils Tower on Monday. We've booked a chalet in Hulett, WY for three nights. Ahhhhh...... I can't wait!

My lovely hubby is working on getting my side cases mounted. He purchased some cases similar to Pelican cases, on eBay a while back. Between those and my trunk case, and his Silverwing luggage we should have more than enough space for packing. And I also have my tank bag and tank saddle bags and he has a large tank bag too. We could easily over pack for this trip. :-) But, we haven't even started thinking about what we're packing yet. We are still focused on getting the bikes ready.

His GL has a new ignition switch. Hooray! I will need an oil change next week and also need to check my tires. I'm not sure how many miles I should get on these stock tires. They look fine but have almost 7,000 miles on them. I'll have Mike's Motorcycle give me his professional opinion when I take it there next week. I bought some Grab-On Grip Covers there yesterday. Those should help with the vibration and hopefully keep my hands from falling asleep.

I'm going to visit MotoGear Outlet this weekend too. I think we really need to have those TechNich Evaporative Cooling Vests for this trip. It's been so hot this week I have considered not riding a couple of days. But a wet shirt under the mesh keeps me cool and thinking clearly on the ride home. Definitely need the cooling vests.

We won't be camping so we don't have to worry about packing all of that gear. For our first long road trip, I think it will be great to not have to worry about building a tent and cooking after riding 4 hours or so.

Since we'll be staying for three days in the chalet, we'll probably take a day trip out to see Mount Rushmore as well. It's so close. How can we not?

The route home hasn't been planned yet. We'll probably just see how we feel and decide on that third day if we want to come home through South Dakota or go back the way we came.

Heat

2010-07-14T08:43:00.002-06:00

It's been in the 90s all week. Ok, it's on Wednesday, but the heat sure makes the days seem longer. On Monday, I bought a bottle of water, drank half of it and dumped the rest on myself to get my shirt wet for the ride home. That was much better. Almost like air conditioning. Tuesday, I planned ahead. I ran my shirt under the faucet so the whole thing was uniformly wet. I also wet the top of my socks. It was a much more comfortable ride. My socks dried up faster than I thought they would. I wear Smart Wool ski socks. They stay up, don't slouch down inside my boots and have a nice bit of cushion on the shins. They are pretty warm though. I'll have to look around for some summer socks. I think the heat from the engine along with the air flow from the ride dried them out too quickly. The front of my poly shirt dried quickly too. Before we hit the road for Devils Tower, I think I'll buy a couple of those cooling vests. I don't see how we'll survive the heat without them. It was making me a bit loopy after a while. And that's not a good thing.

It's Official!!

2010-07-05T20:00:00.000-06:00

We're going to Devil's Tower and we're going on the motorcycles!! Stay tuned. :-)

Yay!!

:-)

Half day ride!

2010-06-25T15:20:00.005-06:00

Here's my better late than never ride report of my half day jaunt home from work.

I found a fantastic route, one I'd never been on before, directly out of Boulder (where I work) and in a round about way, to home. Here is a screen shot of a google map of the route.Baseline Road west out of Boulder is beautiful! It's one of those roads that makes you stop to think, why have I not been on this road before?! As soon as the road curves a bit south, it gets very twisty, and has fantastic views. There are folks hiking and cycling all around. The speed limit is 20mph. I had to stop myself from looking at the views so I could focus on the road and the ride. Fantastic! I'm definitely doing that again!

About 10 or 12 miles later, I turned off onto Gross Dam Road which is dirt for about 8 miles. And by dirt, I mean sort of rocky. It was also way cool! I really need some instruction for riding on those roads. I keep thinking I'm going to slow and that I might stall the bike. I'll have to ask my dirt riding coworkers about that. Anyway, this road was really fun, had great scenery and was populated but not terribly well traveled. If I'd fallen over or something, I think I would have been found but there wasn't so much traffic that I had to worry about it. Downhill hairpin turns on a rocky dirt road are very interesting. I wanted to stop for pictures but there wasn't really a good place to do that. So, I did stop at this parking area that was the start of a trail head to the rapids below. Awesome!

Here is the road soon after I first turned onto the dirt. I pulled over near a view of the dam.

Here is the dam behind me. (I need to practice these self portraits.)

Another shot of my parking spot near the dam.

Me and the GS. :-)
A view of the dam.
It was really a lot of fun and I am very glad I took the time to take this ride. It had been a long week and I was about to travel again for work. Even though it was only over the weekend, that meant I wasn't getting my weekend off. So, it was nice to have this relaxing break. :-) The whole thing was about 35 miles which isn't much longer than my commute. But it did take more time than my commute. But, this could be a nice long way home route in the evenings. :-)

Half Day tomorrow

2010-06-23T13:30:00.004-06:00

I'm taking a half day tomorrow so I can be home when my aunt and uncle arrive for a visit. I'm planning to leave work after lunch and take the scenic route home. Maybe something like this:Or maybe this:I've never been on that road before.... hmmmmm....... some of it is dirt too.... hmmmmm.......

:-)

Non-Motorcycling Trip to Germany

2010-06-21T11:55:00.002-06:00

Last week I went to Germany for a work-related conference in Bremerhaven. Even though I didn't do any riding, it sure made me think about how fun and easy a trip here with motorcycles could be. The town is a small harbor town on the north sea. Not so small that there aren't big city accommodations and amenities. But small enough not to feel rushed and to be able to walk almost anywhere you needed to be. Oddly enough, I didn't see very many BMW motorcycles. Lots of Japanese motos like Honda, Suzuki, and others. Saw Lots of SVs too. Almost every rider I saw was fully leathered up. Very cool. This town seemed to be a good place for the start of a moto tour I think. Light amounts of traffic, close to Bremen, close enough to Hamburg, and about 4 hours drive from Amsterdam.

It was a fun visit. I wouldn't mind going back as a vacation trip some day.

After being away from home for about a week, this morning I threw my leg over the GS to head off to work. Ahhhhh.... this bike sure does fit me like a glove. :-) I was so glad to be riding again I threw my fist on the air to celebrate! :-)

Pueblo, CO

2010-06-08T12:13:00.003-06:00

Last Friday I traveled to Pueblo, CO for a work related meeting at the Rawlings Public Library. And even though the temperature that day was supposed to be 100 degrees in Pueblo, I decided to ride there. :-) As if there was a question....

My route there was direct since I'm not an early riser. It's about a 2 hour drive without traffic and I wanted to be there by 9:00 am. So, I hit the interstate, pointed the GS south and settled in for the ride. My strategy for riding on the interstate through town is to quickly move into the fast lane. I have the same strategy if I'm in my car. I feel more comfortable going with the faster flow of traffic and also feel as though I am in less danger because there is only one other lane that traffic can move into my space from. I also like having that emergency lane to my left as an escape path. I don't think Denver traffic is as fast as say, Atlanta's traffic. The interstate isn't as wide either. But, people seem to be more unpredictable in Denver than in the Atlanta traffic. At any rate, I'm not afraid of being on the interstate on the moto, any more than I am in my small car, but given the choice, like most I think, I'd rather travel a different road. But, with a specific time and place to be, it was the most efficient route.

The traffic luckily was very light all the way there. Even through the mousetrap and through downtown Denver wasn't too bad. Colorado Springs was like driving on a Sunday morning. Sweet! That meant I wouldn't be late and could relax a little and enjoy the ride. I'd decided not to use my tank map bag. It is pretty bulky and I've gotten used to riding without it. And since it doesn't lock, I'd have to bring it inside. I also didn't really need to put anything in it. So, instead I taped a map to the bike. :-) I also wrote in larger letters, the directions. It was very simple to locate - I-25 south to Pueblo, exit at Abriendo, go right about 6 blocks and it's on the right. :-) I am directionally challenged so was glad for the simplicity of this location.

130 miles from my driveway to the library parking lot. :-)
Towards the end of the meeting I started thinking about the ride home. I wanted to take a more scenic route for sure but wasn't sure the heat would agree with me. Ever since returning from the Peace Corps (back in '95) I've had trouble dealing with the heat. The longest way home would add an hour of travel as well and I didn't want to get home too late or be in the heat that long either. So, I opted for this:
The road that travels behind Ft. Carson (115) is very easy with beautiful red rocks along the route. I'd never traveled this way before in the car or on the moto. Not surprisingly, the base isn't marked. And it wasn't until I got home and looked at the map that I realized I'd actually ridden very close to NORAD. I hopped back on I-25 in Colorado Springs all the way to Castle Rock. From there I took hwy 85/Santa Fe Drive to C-470 and then home. Nothing really to report that was unusual or dangerous along the way. I saw one deer. I can't even remember where. Again, traffic was very light. Taking the round about way from Pueblo to the Springs allowed me to miss the rush hour traffic.

I didn't stop to take any photos. I'll have to remember to put my camera in the tank saddle bags before leaving. Before I left home, I removed my trunk and used my laptop backpack bungeed to the seat and rack. Everything fit just fine in there including a change of clothes. It was warm enough (and casual enough) that I just threw some flip flops into the bag to wear at the meeting.

162 miles from the library parking lot to my driveway at home. :-) That's a grand total of 292 miles. My longest day yet! Although those miles weren't all at once. Still, I think my previous longest ride was only about 150 miles so the ride home by itself beat that record! :-)

Some points to note.

My engine puts out a lot of heat. So much that it burns my leg through the mesh pants. I wore tights on the way down but left my shorts on for the ride back. To avoid the heat, I pulled out the passenger pegs and put my toes on those. The angle kept the heat away from my leg and was a nice change as well for my riding position.

I'm getting about 200 miles per tank lately. Very nice!

My throttle hand falls asleep on these long interstate or highway rides. The cramp buster helps a lot but I'd like to get different grips I think. Cushier ones might help a little. I think a lot of it is the vibration.

My feet also fall asleep. Weird. Also partly due to vibration. I've been told by another GS rider I should get Fastway Footpegs. Might have to look into that.

The bike handles great. I think on I-25 heading to Pueblo, I held it at 75 or 80mph most of the way. (The speed limit is 75mph.) I could pass uphill without any trouble. And I like sitting up higher (higher than the Rebel and my car) so I can scan traffic better. I could see and anticipate more things.

I should have worn my tights on the way home though. Sitting on bunched up shorts for 160 miles wasn't fun at all. Sigh. Lesson learned.

I also passed the May Natural History Museum on hwy 115 near the Springs. That would be a cool destination for the hubby and I this year. :-)

Rain and Sun

2010-05-19T11:05:00.004-06:00

Yesterday there was severe weather around the metro area. I some how managed to avoid all of it on my commute to and from work. There were a few sprinkles but nothing really to even think twice about. Halfway home I did start to see some lightning though. Not close to me but it was odd because it was coming not from the dark clouds that seemed to be chasing me, but from the blue skies and white clouds ahead of me. Lightning really freaks me out. So, I booked it home pretty quickly. When I got to my block, the street was wet as if I had just missed a short down pour.

For the rest of the evening, there were tornado watches and warnings to the east of us and also covering part of the metro area. Ominous looking clouds and thunder sounded around us but nothing too bad developed at our house. But, it was forecast to continue through today so I decided last night not to ride today.

Here's a photo of what the sky looks like right now.
Oh well. I decided long ago not to second guess my decision not to ride. And I also had to carry some large tubs to work today anyway. So, oh well. I'll ride tomorrow. :-) I'll bet I could have secured those tubs with a bungee net though... They were empty anyway.

70's tomorrow and 80's Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Woo hoo!! Might be time to dust off the mesh jacket!

PS
It's raining and quite dark outside now...

Me and My Shadow

2010-05-11T13:00:00.002-06:00

Windiest day ever!!

2010-05-04T19:27:00.004-06:00

Oh my. So, it wasn't even windy at my house when I left. I'm usually really good about checking the weather report the night before and even again in the morning before I head out. But, I some how missed the forecast last Tuesday. It was sunny and warm and that was good enough for me. Maybe I was just so excited about having a sunny and warm day that I neglected to see the wind gust predictions.

I got a relatively early start (which turned out to be a good thing) and took my usual route when I'm not in a hurry. When I got to Standley Lake, everything was still very calm and sunny. I went around Standley Lake to Indiana and made the right turn onto Indiana. The wind hit me like a wall. Oh well, I thought, I was just a little surprised but didn't think too much of it. Until... it didn't let up. And then I realized that I hadn't even seen another motorcycle out on this bright, warm, sunny day. Hmmm. That made me start to worry. But, there in the distance was another moto coming towards me. On windy days I always feel like I'm leaning way over to compensate but in my mind I think, I can't be leaned over that far, can I? Well, the on coming motorcyclist was leaned over pretty far too. Uh-oh. It was so windy, I actually shifted my weight to the outside, hanging off the seat a bit, just so I could keep going straight.

But, as usual, buoyed by the other moto, I thought, I can do this. Besides, I'm half way there. Then, on the shoulder, not long after I passed the other bike, there was another, parked on the side of the road with two guys standing next to it. They looked pretty winded and a bit worried. Not good. But, I'm halfway there, I thought, and this wind will not last all day.

So, then I started thinking about parking as I'm hanging off the edge of my seat trying to maintain a straight line. If it's this windy here, in Boulder it will be quite gusty. There is a farther away moto parking lot that is protected by a small brick building and another structure. I thought I'd first try there and if the wind was still too much, I'd just park in the underground parking garage at the 29th Street Mall.

Once I got to the top of the hill on Indiana, which is where hurricane force winds usually happen, I'd fully decided not to turn around and also had a parking plan. I also knew I'd take the longer route through Superior, which might offer more protection from the wind. The problem with that route was that the wind had knocked out the stoplights through town. Ugh. So, I not only have to try to keep my bike from being blown over (and trapping me underneath) but now I have to dodge the traffic that doesn't know how to manage a four way stop when the lights are out. I saw a few near misses, fortunately none involving me.

The hardest part was being stopped for so much of the time. That's when the wind seemed hardest to deal with. But, I managed to keep the bike upright.

When I got to work, there were no other bikes parked in the lot. (Not yet anyway, more would arrive later in the day.) I wasn't surprised. So, I was able to get the spot closest to the building.

When I pulled in, everything got very quiet and calm. Yay! I sat there for a little while to gather my wits before attempting to walk to my building. Later I took this short video walking from the parking spot and out into the open.

That was taken later in the morning closer to noon. This next one was taken right after I got to work and walked from the bike to my building.

Things did calm down quite a bit by the time I had to head back home. It was still windy but more a normal sort of windy not outrageous sustained winds like that morning. The most memorable bit, other than figuring out how to hang off the edge of my seat to maintain balance, was riding through a pack of tumbleweeds. I managed to miss every single one! Don't know how that happened but I was glad it did.

So, the lesson for that day is not to ride in that kind of crazy weather. It was so not fun. But, I did it! :-)

Throttle habits and MPG

2010-04-28T15:56:00.002-06:00

When I got the GS, the salesman at the dealership did a thorough walk through to orient me to the new bike. It was a fabulous service for sure. I liked their attention to detail. And, I'm the type of person that likes when someone shows me rather than tells me how to do something. Anyway, one of the points was about the size of the gas tank and how many miles I should get per tank. I'd also talked to my sister-in-law and her husband as they have/had an older F650GS and a Dakar. They were both getting about 200 miles per tank, which is also what the dealer said. That works out to about 70mpg (I think). So, off I went riding my shiny new bike with those figures in mind. But, for some reason, I could only go about 180 miles before the gas light came on. Weird I thought. I wonder what that's about. I made mental notes and kept checking my MPG when I filled up. I even now use an iPhone app that will do all the calculations for me. I just input the data at the pump and voila!

Not long ago I was reading the Chain Gang forum and there was a discussion about how much power is needed to run heated grips and extra lights. One person mentioned that in order to recharge the battery, you should be running a higher than normal rpms. He suggested running at 3,500 to 4,000 rpms to get a good recharge. Hmmm. That's about what I'd been running normally. Could that be the source of my low gas mileage? :-)

So, I did a test, and was a bit lighter on the throttle and paid closer attention to the rpms and sure enough, 200+ miles per tank!

The GS is the first bike I've had with a tach. It's also my first brand new bike. Prior to this, I'd been riding a Honda 450CMX Rebel. That bike did not have a tach and also did not have a whole lot of power. To get the most out of it, you really had to rev it. I'd go WOT off the line just to get it up to speed, which it did very well and was happier that way. So, that's what I'd been used to. Also, the Rebel is loud and vibrates a lot. So, I sort of thought, if I couldn't hear the engine revving on the GS, then I was ok. But, the GS needs more than just that. I'm sure there are lots of folks who think the 650GS is loud and also vibrate a lot. Well, they have never ridden the fabulous Honda Rebel. :-) I'm still getting used to how quiet the GS is.

I guess I really am a bit of an aggressive motorcyclist. And that was reflected in my MPG. I think I can get used to the 200 mile range and the 70mpg though.

Mike's Motorcycle - Boulder

2010-04-27T15:57:00.002-06:00

My second ever oil change happened recently. 4,000 miles was the magic number. I'm a fairly loyal customer and had planned to use the dealership for service, at least while the GS is still under warranty or still owned by the BMW bank. But, they really are not conveniently located, especially during the week. Fortunately, there is a shop near my work. Mike's Motorcycle is a place I'd visited before, even before I got the GS. I happened upon it when I walked to what I thought was a post office. (It turned out to be a drop box.) It is a 15 minute walk from work. Not only is it close but (surprise!) the oil change is significantly cheaper than the dealer. Win-win. I rode over to the shop to drop off the bike. They even let me leave my helmet there. Very cool! A couple of hours later, it was all done. :-)

The only thing about oil changes is having to remove the tank saddle bags. It's kind of a bummer but I think, after lots of practice, I'll be able to put them back on exactly how I want them. It actually wasn't too tough this first time. I think I'll trim the straps a bit too. That will make the process more manageable.

I may still use the dealer for other things, but we'll see. They do have loaner bikes there, which is enticing. :-)

Daily commute....

2010-04-27T13:46:00.002-06:00

I've just been riding and riding and not blogging. Nothing too exciting going on, just the daily commute. The weather is still a bit schizophrenic - snow one day, warm the next, rain, snow, warm, etc. It is a bit maddening. But, such is life in Colorado. And I can't complain really. :-) Here are some of the highlights of my recent commuting adventures...

I nearly hit a squirrel on my way to work not long ago. It was my first near miss. A couple of years ago, when I was on the Rebel, I had this sudden irrational fear of creating road kill. I spent a lot of time thinking about it, querying the Rebel board about it, and even practicing swerving (which isn't the best thing to do). But, I never had an incident and I got over it. Running over small animals with my car seriously creeps me out. On the bike I think it would be even worse. What if it bounces up and hits me? What if I hit it just right (wrong?) and stuff squirts out? The thought of it creeps me out. And suddenly I was faced with it. The squirrel did as squirrels do, it ran across the road, got almost all the way across and then decided to turn around and head back to where it came from... right in front, or under, my GS. Maybe it was because I'd recently taken that MSF class, but I kept my eyes up and looked straight ahead, didn't slow too much, definitely didn't hit the brakes, and just kept going. I don't think I hit it. I didn't see it in the mirrors. There wasn't a bump or anything either. It may have run right between my wheels. I was creeped out for the rest of the ride. But, then I shook it off - literally - and was better.

I've also seen a couple of large elk herds on the way home a couple of times. They were hanging out right off of highway 93. I didn't see them right away either, which isn't good. But, they weren't in a good spot for me to pull over and get a photo either. Elk are quite large. They are also very cool. :-)

Speaking of my MSF rider course, I got to use an avoidance maneuver we practiced in the class. The situation reminded me of tbolt's unfortunate get off. I was merging onto 28th Avenue where it stops being Hwy 36 (going from 60mph to 35mph in a short space). There were merging cars ahead of me and traffic slowing on the road to allow us to merge. The car ahead of me was moving slowly but steadily to merge. I checked my mirror and then did a head check. When I looked back, the car ahead of me had nearly stopped and the gap between us was closing. Seemingly without thinking about it, I pressed right to swerve around the back end, and hit the throttle to go ahead of him. There was plenty of room to do this maneuver since I was still in the merge lane. I didn't even blink as I executed the move and settled back into traffic. When I got to work, I was nearly there at this point, I realized I'd successfully put into practice what I learned in class. It was a good feeling.

Shiny side up everyone!

My New Top Case!!

2010-04-11T21:11:00.004-06:00

I have the best husband ever! He has a top case on his CX500 that he mounted to his rear rack. After I got the GS, he got to thinking about how to mount a similar one for me. They are army green night vision goggles cases. We found a few on Craig's List for $15 each. We bought 3. (I use one in my car as a tool box.) He painted mine yellow which just happened to be nearly a perfect match to the Wolfman tank side bags and tank bag that I have. The mount is fitted to the rack and slips on and off very easily. The box is attached to the mount and the whole thing is fixed to the rack.

I also have a matching tool tube but we haven't decided yet where to attach it. Maybe when I get some side cases it will mount there.

I love it!!

Road Tripping

2010-04-06T08:09:00.003-06:00

Yesterday was the first day of fitness boot camp so I packed a bag of workout clothes for the week. It's M-W-F. As I was loading up the bike, I realized, I had enough stuff packed and on the moto for a quick little get away. I had 4 sets of clothes (3 days of work out and what I was going to wear at work that day), two pairs of shoes, a yoga mat, a water bottle, and food for the week (32oz of yogurt, big bag of granola, 3 small packages of Fig Newtons, 2 granola bars, and a container of cashews. In addition to the stuff that's always on the bike like my rain gear, a few tools, flashlight, and various bungies. And it wasn't even packed super efficiently.
We have yet to do a road trip on the motos. I'm itching to do that and soon. The thought did cross my mind to just ride away. But, only briefly, since I do have to work and stuff. :-)

I drove to work today though. We're having some very unpredictable weather. There was rain at my house. I drove through some snow flurries. Reports of hail and lightning all around me but I didn't see any. And it is sunny and windy in Boulder. There are some scary looking dark clouds out there.

Hubby's latest project for me...

2010-04-04T20:01:00.002-06:00

He's been working on this trunk for the BMW for a little while. It's been too cold to really work on it much, especially the painting. But, now that the weather's warmed up, he's been on a role. I love the yellow color! It is very close to the same yellow as my side tank bags. The part he was still working on was how to attach it to the rear rack so it wouldn't come off. Today, we figured it out. I'll post more photos and details when it is done.

The other project is this tool tube. I saw one on eBay and asked him if he wanted to make one for me. Of course he did because he's the best! It's now the same yellow as the trunk. And, he's going to coat it with some reflective finish spray paint. We aren't sure how that will work but it can't hurt I suppose. I'm thinking we may try to mount the tool tube on top of the trunk. Here's the spray paints he's using.
Stay tuned for more!

Parking Pass

2010-04-01T14:09:00.003-06:00

My motorcycle parking pass expired today. The university has some odd rules about moto parking passes. The pass is a sticker that goes on a plate next to your license plate. They have two versions you can purchase for $5 (when I bought mine a few years ago). The passes come in about three varieties with different expiration dates. The expiration dates seem to be fairly random. And the parking department seems to have no control over the range of dates. They get what is sent to them. This time around the options were a pass that expires in May 2010, a pass that expires in August 2010, or a pass that expires in March 2012. Yes, 2012, that's not a typo. I was hoping to get one for a year but that wasn't an option. They let you know that if you want to get a refund, for example, you purchase a 2 year pass and decide you don't want to use it for a few months, you can bring the pass back and get a refund. Keep in mind, it's a sticker. So, you have to peel it off to get your refund. And then, when you want to buy another, you can get another.

Another odd thing is you can't buy a new pass until the old one expires. So, I couldn't buy a new one yesterday. They also won't mail them to you unless you do a payroll deduction. So, you can't pay for them online, like you can a car parking pass. But, if you have a car parking pass, you get a free moto parking pass.

So, I guess I'll be at this job for at least another two years, since that's how long my pass is for. Oh, if I want to pay for the longer pass using payroll deduction, they'll charge me the monthly rate, which goes up each fiscal year. But, if I pay for it outright, I pay the current fiscal year's monthly rate for the duration. I'd set it up as payroll deduction so I didn't have to shell out all of that cash right now. But, I think I'll save myself some money and just pay for it outright.

more on the class...

2010-03-29T08:42:00.002-06:00

Now that my brain has processed the class a bit more, I thought I'd write more about the range exercises. I tried to find some of them on You Tube but haven't had much luck. And MSF doesn't publish the range exercises on their web site either. That's too bad because the descriptions would make more sense if you could see the way the cones are set up for each exercise.

The exercises all built on previous ones, much the same as the ERC and BRC classes do. The Advanced class focused on braking, swerving, and cornering and ultimately, all three. Even though we were still in a parking lot, shared with another class even, our speeds were a bit more lively than the less advanced classes. And we were encouraged to pick up our speeds during the later exercises.

One of the swerving exercises involved coming around a corner and into a situation where we needed to avoid an obstacle (line of cones) by going around it, and then coming to a stop after the swerve was completed. That was an exercise that will probably come up in real life fairly often - 2x4's in the road, road kill, rocks, etc. You may not always need to stop after but the swerving is good practice. There's a big difference between doing a cone weave and an avoidance maneuver although they both are more or less the same technique. An added feature at the end of the exercise was an acceleration to one side and another stop. So, it went something like this:
1. ride through the corner, accelerating out of it.
2. approach the obstacle at speed (20mph or so)
3. swerve around and return to your initial lane of traffic
4. come to a complete stop with a foot down
5. accelerate while swerving to the inside
6. come to a stop with a foot down
7. accelerate to the next corner and repeat on the opposite side

I liked that exercise. I had trouble accelerating quickly. I also missed getting all the way into first gear once and was in neutral as I tried to accelerate after the swerve and into the avoidance maneuver. It was a very good exercise.

We did the same quick stop or emergency stops that are done in the other classes. Hit the first set of cones and then brake, stopping quickly without skidding. I kept activating the ABS on this exercise. It was our first one after the warm up cone weave. It took me a while to get the hang of it and it wasn't until the final loop that I think I got it. But then we moved on so I couldn't practice it more. I'll have to do that on my own. I had the same problem as before in the ERC. I don't use all of my front brake. I practiced that on the way to work today to try to build some muscle memory. It's hard for some reason. I mean the lever is really hard to squeeze. Maybe hubby and I can take a look at adjusting it later. Thanks to the ABS I didn't lock up the wheels. But, still, I wasn't doing it properly and need to get that technique down before it's too late.

Another cornering exercise involved a new leaning technique. This exercise started in the classroom with images of various riding positions. The typical lean where the rider and the bike both lean. The high speed sport bike hang off the side cornering technique. The counter balance lean for slow speeds. And a combination. This involves shifting your weight forward and to the side in the direction the bike is turning. You do this by dropping your elbow down to the side of the tank and leaning forward and slightly to the side. By doing this you can turn your bike without as much lean which maintains the contact patch of the tires on the road. So, you can enter a corner at the same speed but at a less dramatic lean angle. This will enable you to stop quicker if you need to because the bike doesn't have to travel as far back to the upright position and because you already have more of your tire contacting the ground. Again, this makes more sense when you are doing it on the bike. Even sitting on the bike on the center stand it doesn't really make much sense. I practiced this on the way to work this morning too. While riding a slight curve at about 35 mph or so, I alternated between the bike leaning and this newly learned riding position. The bike could maintain the same speed and as I shifted between the two positions, the bike would change the lean angle to suit the riding position. It was pretty cool to be able to do that. I'll have to show hubby later. Very cool. :-) On the range, this position made the difference between dragging a peg and not on some of the tight turns we practiced. That's a good lesson to have learned as well. The GS seems so tall and yet I easily scraped a peg. Maybe I should slow down? Or correct my riding posture? Very cool skill. This you tube video demonstrates the riding position a bit. Without throwing the knee out is how we practiced it.

The other parts of this exercise involved slowing on a curve. There were two circles set up on the range, one smaller than the other. On the smaller one, we practiced the riding posture to demonstrate how you can increase your speed without increasing your lean, if you use the correct riding posture. On the larger one, we did the same but at a higher speed because the circle was larger. Then a second part was added to each circle. The smaller one added an obstacle we could either avoid by going around on the outside or going inside. That was a good one too, as we had to maintain our path of travel after avoiding the obstacle. On the larger circle we were instructed to slow at a certain point in our path of travel and then accelerate back to speed. That was to demonstrate how the bike adjusts to the different speeds when you are cornering. Also a very good exercise.

The decreasing radius exercise was also pretty fun and interesting. The course was set up like a corkscrew where we traveled on a decreasing radius and exited into a curvy path of travel. We did this in both directions. The key to this exercise was to look well ahead through the exit and into the next entry. Keeping your head turned and looking where you wanted to go was the only way to make the next curve. This one is hard to explain without a diagram. I was so focused on making the correct entry and exit that I forgot to use the new riding posture. So, I scrapped some pegs on this one until the instructor asked me if I'd tried the new riding position. After that it was all good and much more fun! I must have also increased my speed a bit as both instructors made comments to me about that.

It was on this exercise that one of the instructors gave me the most compliments of the day. He said he thought I had excellent riding technique and posture and handled the bike very well. The other also complimented me on my smooth throttle control on this exercise. That made me feel good because those were the main reasons I wanted to take this class. I needed to work on smoothly controlling the new bike, getting used to the throttle and the friction zone, and just start feeling more comfortable on the bike in general. I think I succeeded! I certainly have a good base on which to grow now. Starting out with good habits is much better than trying to break old ones and learn new ones I think. Yay!

The last exercise we did involved a lane change. This wasn't my favorite but did involve using and canceling our turn signals which is also something I like to practice. Because there were only 5 of us, we didn't have to slow too much for traffic because we were all traveling in the same direction. There was supposed to be a point where we could potentially cross paths and need to yield but that didn't really happen. But, we all got the idea.

After the range exercises we went back to the classroom to recap and take a test. I missed only two but we didn't review the correct answers so I'm not sure what they were or even what the question was. Oh well. Our course completion cards were passed out along with some schwag. We finished about 2 ours early because of our small class size.

Advanced Rider Course

2010-03-28T18:41:00.006-06:00

Today was the MSF Advanced Rider Course held at the Mile High Marketplace (formerly the Mile High Flea Market). This class was originally scheduled for last weekend but after the big snow storm, they pushed it back a week. The official description for the class is:

Based on the Military SportBike RiderCourse, this one-day course is for experienced riders who desire to learn and practice more in-depth riding techniques. Classroom activities use small group discussions and interactive activities to address personal risk management strategies; to discuss options for cornering, braking and swerving; and to improve visual perception to identify collision traps. On-cycle range exercises provide practice in cornering, braking and swerving. There is no skill test in this course.

It isn't just for sport bikes. There were 5 students, including myself on the GS. There was a Harley Road Glide, an SV650, a CBR Blackbird, a Honda 919, and I can't remember the 5th one. Bummer. One of the students was actually an instructor. Here's a photo of some of the bikes lined up.

It was pretty chilly leaving the house at 7:30 am. It was about 30 degrees. But, fortunately, we spent the first few hours in the classroom. We spent the classroom time introducing ourselves and discussing some basics - braking, curves, attitude, etc. We did some interesting exercises that tested our road sign knowledge and ability to recognize the signs in a short amount of time. Another exercise involved viewing a photo of a real road situation, usually an intersection, and then trying to analyze what we saw. The image was only on the screen for about 2 seconds. Then we were given three choices and had to choose which was the most appropriate based on what we observed. It was very interesting and a bit unnerving too. But, I think that was part of the point. Stuff happens very quickly and you need to always be aware in order to make the proper choices.

Then we hit the range. Here's a shot of the range. It was a beautiful day! It was comfortable enough with our gear on until a little later, after lunch, when it really warmed up.

We did a warm up exercise riding around the range and doing some swerving between the cones. After that, we did some quick stops. The quick stops have been hard for me on the new GS with ABS. It's been hard getting used the ABS. I've never even driven a car with ABS so I wasn't sure how they worked. And I wasn't even sure when they were working or if they were working when I would brake. Well, the class helped with that. I had this problem on the Rebel too. I don't use all of my front brake for some reason. On the Rebel, I just stopped squeezing the front brake. On the GS, it is much harder for me to squeeze the brake lever all the way. My hand isn't strong enough or something. But, on the GS, in addition to not squeezing the front brake all the way, I'm also using too much rear brake, which sets off the ABS. Which means I'm doing it wrong. So, I got to practice the correct way to brake and eventually got it down. I really have to think about squeezing the front all the way and doing it smoothly. And also think about less rear. I really need to practice it more.

After those two exercises, the rest were all new to me. We practiced some cornering techniques, decreasing radius turns, going around obstacles in a curve, slowing in a curve, and also changing lanes. The exercises all built on the previous ones so by the end, I was doing quite well and started to feel much more comfortable on the GS. Which was my main goal.

I wanted to take the class because the new bike is just that - a new bike, a new experience. Even though I had lots of miles on the Rebel, all of that was like starting over with the GS. In fact, that was one of the factors we talked about in the classroom. The Hurt report found that most crashes happened to riders with more than 3 years of riding experience but less than 6 months experience on the particular bike they were on when they crashed. Except for the crash, I fit those statistics. And taking the class was my way of working on not being a statistic. I feel much more comfortable now than I did before. The friction zone is becoming more clear. The braking is getting better. I now have some skills I can build on.

Our class wasn't the only one going on. These Nighthawks were part of the Experienced Rider Course for riders who have been riding for a while but don't have their endorsement. That was interesting to watch too. Lots of engine revving going on and horn honking. LOL!

It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. I even learned some new techniques that I plan to practice when I'm carving canyons. :-) Ha, not that I do that often but now I feel more comfortable about it.

Balancing your risk level with your skill level will allow for safer riding. As your risk taking increases the chances for crashing also increases. As your skill level increases your chances for crashing decrease. However, most people tend to increase their risk after learning new skills which offset each other. Managing risks while increasing skills is a better risk offset. This lesson was discussed in detail. Ride within your limits. We hear it all the time and know it's a good idea but do we put it into practice? Minimize risks, increase your skill set, ride well. It's not just about the ride. It's also about the return home. If you summit the mountain but have to be rescued or die on the way down, does it count?

Some books where mentioned as good references for keeping up with your skills. Anything by Pat Hahn, was mentioned. "Sport Riding Techniques" by Nick Ienatsch was in the classroom but I didn't get a chance to look at it, it was highly recommended. A new Pat Hahn title, "Maximum Control: Mastering Your Heavyweight Bike" was also mentioned. I'll have to check some of these out from the library.

So, it was a fabulous day and I'm very glad I participated in the class. I got some good feedback from the instructors. One was quite impressed with my skills. :-) That is always a good thing. And the other instructor commented on all of our improvements during the range rides. I could certainly tell I was improving as the day went on. We started at 8:00 am and were scheduled to go until 5:00 or 6:00. We finished closer to 3:00 because there were only 5 of us doing the range exercises. That was good too. I wasn't nearly as tired after this class. Being March and not July helped too.

It was a good day. I think hubby will enjoy this class too.

Shiny side up!!

Toasty warm!

2010-03-12T19:18:00.002-07:00

Rode to work this morning and got to test out the Hippo Hands for the first time. It was pretty chilly this morning even though the high today ended up in the 50s. The Hippo Hands are fairly narrow but they fit the bike ok. It was a bit weird not being able to see my hands or the controls. I practiced a bit before leaving the driveway. It was a quick adjustment. I started out without the heated grips turned on and was comfortable. I thought I'd take highway 93 part of the way so I could get up to speed for this test. The weather is certainly getting warmer so I may not need these at all in a few weeks.

About half way to work I turned on the heat. High got warm very quickly and was a lot warmer than I remembered. :-) It was toasty warm! I actually had to turn the heat down. Sweet! On the highway, the bike didn't seem to handle any differently. I didn't think it would but you never know until you try. It wasn't a windy ride anyway so that was a good thing too.

The openings are not very large. My right arm would catch the edge if I wasn't careful. But, I can adjust that. Because they are so narrow, the tops of my hands touch the top of the inside of the hippo hands. But, not enough to make me worried. The hang guards will keep the hippo hands from collapsing.

I'll post photos later.

I think I'll like these very much. :-)

Warm weather is surely on the way!!

2010-03-09T13:14:00.002-07:00

I just received my pair of Hippo Hands in the mail yesterday. Warm weather is surely on the way now! In fact, this morning, it was too warm to try them out and I didn't even need my grip warmers for most of the trip. So, I suppose the review may have to wait. They are a bit oddly sized it seems to me, but that's the way they are designed. I went home sick yesterday so luckily was home when the mailman arrived. But, I also didn't get to try them out. Oh well.

I did manage to ride to work almost every day last week. Didn't ride on Friday because I had some place to be and needed to be there in the car. It was glorious to be out again!

On Saturday, while hubby worked on replacing his tires on the GL650, I did a short ride to Boulder to try out a new app on my new iPhone. There is an app called iMapMyRide that is for bicyclists to track their routes, mph, and time. I was hoping it would work to map my routes as I some times have a hard time keeping track of where I travel exactly. It didn't work. But, I think I'll try it again and do some fiddling with where I store the phone. I went to Boulder because of the phone actually. I needed to have the AT&T store submit some proof of employment so I could get my discount on my plan. I also went to Whole Foods to have a snack for lunch. After that, I realized that one of the nice things about traveling solo is that it takes me so long to get geared up again. My hubby is often waiting for me when we ride together. I like to take my time, gather my things and my thoughts, and then get going. Not that he ever makes me rush. But, I am quite slow. So, it is nice some times to just be on my own. :-)

Forecast - fingers crossed

2010-03-01T11:48:00.003-07:00

I sure hope this forecast for the week holds!! :-) So far, there hasn't been any new snow today and what fell yesterday is rapidly melting.

Rocky Mountain National Park - there and back again

2010-02-28T16:44:00.005-07:00

FINALLY!!!! YAY!!!!!

Headed out the door at 10:30 am. Destination - Estes Park. I grabbed my laptop thinking I'd stop and sit somewhere with a warm beverage and maybe get some work done. I took my usual route up to Boulder and stayed on Broadway through town to get to Lyons. There is lots of construction still going on on Broadway but it wasn't any worse than sitting in traffic and stoplights on 28th through town. I made one pit stop in Lyons and then headed up towards Estes Park.

Estes Park is one of my most favorite places to be in Colorado. I know it fairly well, having spent several weeks working on various archives projects with my library school. I took an archives class as a student and then spent the next few years assisting current students with the projects. The history of the area fascinates me. And having spent so much time there, I can usually avoid the tourists and the crowds. But, yesterday, it was very quiet. I guess the cold weather and snow might be keeping them away.

I stopped and had a bowl of chili, sitting outside to enjoy the moment.

I stopped in the Beaver Meadows visitor center to check on the road conditions. On the board they were officially listed as icy but the ranger said they were actually mostly clear. So, off I went. I bought a year pass. I hope to spend a lot of time riding through here this season. :-)

Once in the park, I headed up Trail Ridge Road. I like to look at the road past the road closed sign to see how high the snow is. Here is some video of me leaving the parking area at Many Curves Park, where the road is closed. (Hopefully the video works.)

The roads were very clear, even clear of gravel or sand. Some of the shaded curves had some gravel so I just took those very slowly. No traffic, no people wandering the roads, I didn't even see any wildlife. I road up Trail Ridge Road to the road closed sign and back down. Then took the road out of the park at the Fall River entrance. There was a gaggle of cars pulled over at the fork in the road to go into downtown or up to the Stanley, so I went through town instead. They were probably taking photos of elk so I thought I'd just avoid the situation.

I headed back home the way I came. When it was all over, I'd traveled 152 miles in 6 hours. It was a good day. It could have only been better if my hubby had been with me. Maybe next time. This time it was nice to have some solitude. And, I didn't get any work done, so that was ok too.

So depressing...

2010-02-26T07:01:00.003-07:00

Snow every three days has been the norm around here. Sigh. Very cold morning temperatures, slick roads in the morning, 40's in the afternoons. Those 40s are nice, and we even had some sun this week, but those cold slick mornings are not conducive to my riding. Today, I have a workshop in the morning until about 2:00. Maybe I can make it home in time to get a quick ride in. Saturday it is supposed to be nice too. We'll see. Sigh.

so much snow....

2010-02-14T20:22:00.001-07:00

I got a short ride in yesterday. We had a plumbing issue that took up most of the morning so I didn't get out until about 2:30 or so. And, once the sun goes down, it gets cold quickly. So, I just made it a quick jaunt to Golden and back. I wanted to keep going but, laundry was calling. Sigh. And now there's snow on the ground and colder temperatures in the air. Sigh. It has to warm up some time, right?

Sigh.

Not motorcycle related....

2010-01-31T14:06:00.003-07:00

Right now, the New Orleans Saints are the only thing that can distract me from riding. :-) WHO DAT! GO SAINTS!!

Quick trip to Boulder

2010-01-17T19:19:00.003-07:00

I did this loop this afternoon. Points D through J are on dirt roads. Not really offroad roads, just unmaintained roads. An easy fun way to get used to being on something slipperier than pavement. Most of it was dry but some places, especially in the corners, were wet and a bit muddy. Mostly just slick. But, it was a nice ride. And for once, I followed my outlined route. :-) The weather was nice and cool, mostly cloudy. I even got sprinkled on a bit coming back through Boulder. My goal was to get some video from the bike. We took the bags off to put the crash bars on, so, while the tank bag was off, I loaded up the camera mount on the handle bars. The mount doesn't work with the bag there. After the loop, I decided to try mounting the camera on the crash bars to see what kind of action shots would come out. I was quite happy with how it turned out. It took me a long time to get the mount situated but eventually I did. Take a look at the results below.

I'll have to figure out how to manipulate the camera and video settings to help with the focus. I can actually see the screen, sort of, as I'm sitting in the saddle. And I can also reach the power button and start button too. Not a good thing to do as I'm moving but once I'm stopped safely or at a stop light I'll be able to turn the camera on or off. The camera eats batteries when the video is recording. That's the main issue. I'll have to figure out if I can plug it in some how to the bike. A task for another day.

Tomorrow is a holiday for me so I may get out again and shoot more video. Even though the clouds were quite ominous looking over the foothills, the forecast says tomorrow is supposed to be similar to today. Maybe I'll head south tomorrow. Or east. I'll have to check the statewide forecast to get a better idea of what weather to expect where.

1st International Journal of Motorcycles Studies Conference

2010-01-16T21:04:00.001-07:00

This looks like it could be interesting and it's very close to home.

http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=781940

1st International Journal of Motorcycles Studies Conference

Thursday, June 03, 2010 - Sunday, June 06, 2010

University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
(719) 255-4037
1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway
Colorado Springs, CO 80809
USA

Farkles!

2010-01-16T14:31:00.002-07:00

Just got these! Givi luggage mounts and fairing crash bars. Sweeeeeet!