2010 in Review

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

That about sums it up. :-)

Half Marathon update - Not Moto Related

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...

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

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

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.....

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! :-)