New Helmet!

I'd narrowed it down to the Shoei RF1100, the Shoei Qwest, or the Schuberth C3W. Motogear Outlet is where I try to buy all my gear. They had an XS RF1100 in stock so I tried that one on first. My brother has one and I think my sister-in-law also has one. They both like their Shoei helmets. But, helmets are a very personal item. You can't really decide much based on how others feel about theirs. I liked my Icon pretty well but lately it has had lots of wind inside which creates lots of noise. The RF1100 fit pretty well. I wore it around the store for a while and didn't have any trouble with it. But, I wanted to try the Qwest as well. So, Mary ordered an XS in white for me. She also ordered an XS in white in the RF1100 just in case I wanted that one.

While I waited for the Qwest to come in, I stopped in the BMW shop and tried on the Schuberth.

OMG.

It was so comfortable, so light, so quiet, and so light. And so expensive. The C3W is a modular helmet with a women's fit. That means it has a smaller bucket, check pads that are contoured more for a woman's smaller narrower face. It fit like the proverbial glove. XS. For some reason though, only the man's version comes in hi-viz yellow. Did I mention the price tag? Are you sitting down?

$699.

Yep. It's a $700 helmet, which is more than what my husband paid for his CX500. So, when the saleslady asked me what I thought, I was honest. I told her I really liked it but the price tag made the helmet purchase a group decision. She said she hears that a lot. She also said she couldn't afford one either.

So, today, I went to back to Motogear after getting a call that the Qwest was in. When I picked it up, it felt really light to me as well. When I put it on, it felt comfortable right away too. No pressure points to speak of and no weirdness with the fit. I tried on the RF1100 again just to compare and I could tell a difference in the shapes of the two immediately. It was something I didn't notice when I tried on the RF1100 the first time. The Qwest was much more comfortable.

So, I now have a brand new Qwest. And I'm writing this blog post so that I have a record of how long I've had it. Apparently, I've had the Icon since Christmas 2008. I couldn't remember so I just looked it up on my old CMX450 blog.

Did I mention it is white? A blank canvas, just waiting for some black and gold fleur de lis stickers!

20,000 miles and counting

 Hit this milestone yesterday.

I'm smiling in that photo. :-)

I've been getting compliments on my faded hi-viz Airglide jacket. "Lots of miles on that jacket!" they'll say. Yep. Lots of miles. :-)

Back in the saddle again....

Yesterday I was able to commute to work on the GS. No one told me it was going to be so windy. I rode to Boulder in the morning and worked until about noon. Then I rode down to Castle Rock, about an hour all highway, for a meeting. it was really flippin' windy and I wasn't expecting that at all. I don't mind the wind so much. It's the debris that I hate. It was like a spoof of a horror movie where all the stereotypical things happen and then more outrageous things start happening just to be silly. First there was gusty wind, then dust, then dirt from construction areas, then paper trash like fast food bags and cups and then pizza boxes. Then there were leaves, sticks and tumble weeds. And of course the random pieces of large plastic caught on fence lines blowing in the 40 MPH winds (or whatever they were). And then it seemed every odd type of vehicle with various potentially dangerous objects inside just waiting to blow into my path - pick up trucks with furniture precariously tied down, trash trucks with crap blowing out the back, dump trucks with tarps flapping out the back. You name it, I saw it yesterday. Luckily, none of those items ever touched me or the bike, except for the dirt and dust of course. (I think I need a new helmet. This one lets in too much wind.)

Hubby was returning home from Colorado Springs so called to see if he could follow me home. He said they were talking about hurricane force winds. It was nice to have him follow me although I did lose him on the highway. I wasn't even going that fast. ;-) It was gusty but not too unbearable. A relaxed but firm hold on the grips seemed to work well. And leaning when the gusts came.

While at my meeting at the library in Castle Rock, I found this book for $1 in their used book store. :-)

On Saturday, my lovely hubby and I took a short ride to Golden and had lunch. Ahhhh... that was a nice time as it always is. He kept his bike on the battery tender all winter (unlike moi) so it started right up. My bike has been charged and is running great. But, I think we killed the clock and trip odometer in the process of jumping it. We are still looking into that.

This weekend we also decided on our next moto road trip. We always try to go somewhere neither of us have been. This time we are planning to stay in Colorado. I'll have a separate blog post about it later when I have time to do it up correctly with pictures and links and all that. In the meantime, feel free to try to guess the location. :-)

Spring time!

Yep. That's me. In my office. Wearing my motorcycle jacket. :-)

Dead Battery

Well, it was bound to happen I suppose. I decided to ride to work today. My mom and aunt decided against getting up early to come to work with me so they could spend the day at the mall. That opened the door to commuting by GS! My lovely hubby even did me the favor of checking and correcting my tire pressure last night. This morning I got geared up and walked out to the garage to back the bike out. Wait a minute I thought. I should really check to see if it'll start before I push it out. Sad, sad moto noises when I turned the key. :-(

Oh well. I wasn't too surprised. I hadn't ridden since I bought the car (except that one time) which was in October. That's 4 months of sitting over the winter. Sad, sad moto. :-(

The good news is, I get to buy my own battery tender! Hubby has his bike plugged into his battery tender. Maybe I'll stop at MotoGear Outlet on my way home from work. The forecast for the next week is showing 70 degrees mild and sunny. Woo hoo!!

Rock on my friends!!

Still not riding...

It's all good though. I've been home with my mother for about 2 months as she recovered from knee replacement surgery. I guess that explains why my last post was January 6th! Her surgery was originally scheduled for Jan. 9th but was postponed a week at the last minute. All went well, for the most part, and she is well on her way to dancing at her 70th birthday party in May. But, I did stay home for two months with no riding and very little running. As of last week, however, I am back at work full time. She also got the final ok and blessing from her surgeon yesterday. Her recovery is ahead of schedule he says. The man does great work! Anyone looking for a knee surgeon in the Denver area, I highly recommend him.

The weather has been a little crazy too. We've had odd snow storms and crazy winds. 80mph gusts today that are supposed to die down this morning. I saw a sad moto last week that had been abandoned in a wind storm. It was laying on it's right side with the side stand up in the air! And then, that night, it snowed. The next morning it was still there and covered in snow. That evening the snow plows had covered it even more. The day after that I think it was picked up. Very sad.

I was terrified just driving home in my Forester! I can't imagine trying to ride in those conditions. Although, I did see two others still upright and moving. Our neighbor across the street lost a nearly 50 foot tree as well that evening. It landed just a couple feet from our cars. And just missed his neighbors truck. It was a bad night.

The good news is, my sister-in-law and her hubby now both have motos again!! I am so excited for the spring! Even though they live in Wyoming (speaking of wind) that just means we have an excuse to ride up there. Woo hoo! He has a new to him KTM. She's getting a Sargent seat for her G650GS and plans to farkle it up now that he isn't riding it anymore. :-)

I'm thinking about signing up for the Top Gun class again and also signing up my hubby. I think he'll like it. I've been away from riding for months now. I think I need a class. I do like the classes. :-)  (That reminds me, I never did finish the write up about that!)

Oh, and did I ever mention that there are babies on the way? No, not mine. My step- daughter and my niece are both due this summer. We are going to be quite busy!My old Civic, by the way, has now transitioned to my step-daughter so she can have a back seat for the coming grandkid. But, now, we still have just as many vehicles as before. We traded her my car for her small pick up truck. Sigh. So many cars... In case anyone else is counting we now own a 2000 Chevy S10 red pick up, a dead Bronco, an F250 XLT (shown above), 2011 Forester, 2009 G650GS, 1981(?) Honda GL650I, an 86/87 Honda Rebel 450, two CX500s (or is it really three?) and hubby also drives a Ford Escape for work that also lives with us but we don't own. When people come to visit us, they can't park anywhere near our house! LOL! All but one of the motos lives in the garage. Everything else lives outside. (Oh, we also own a cargo trailer.)

Ride safe everyone!!

Happy New Year!

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!