The Pale Moonlight

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IcyHound
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#121 Unread post by IcyHound »

Poor me, I dropped my helmet.

I was hot and tired and for some reason put my gloves on first. I dunno why. I had been out for about 3 or 4 hours at that point.

I had to drive down to the shop where we had the vstrom drama and drop off the second key and the certificate of origin. I then headed back home and its a bit over an hour each way super slab the entire ride.

I stopped fro some groceries and after thats all done and loaded, I pick up my helmet and it slips out of my hands, bounces off my seat, and to the ground where it happily rolls away.

Ugh. My mirrored visior is all scratched up and I'm traumatized.
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IcyHound
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#122 Unread post by IcyHound »

On my list of things that happened to me today was a dude trying to merge into my lane. He was halfway there before he noticed me and I admit I was to shocked to hit my horn.

Now I'd been riding near this minivan for a few miles. I had been a bit ahead of it actually so it only came up beside me when I slowed for the exit ramp. It is a two lane exit ramp from one big highway onto another. There was NO reason for him to merge into my lane (left) while on this ramp when both left and right become part of the even bigger highway we are merging onto.

He actually was a bit behind me. However, when I snapped my head around I saw him trying to dial his cell phone with his thumb and his eyes widen as he notices my bike next to him in the lane he is halfway in.

I was applying more throttle without conscious thought as I rocketed away from him. He jerked back into his lane and then got in behind me. I had been thinking the other day that I had not had many near death experiences of late. Some of that comes from riding unpopulated country roads at non travel times of the day. Since I was up around DC things changed drastically and people made sure to try to kill me several times before I got to that shop.

I do blame myself for many reasons. One was that I was not in my powerband. I had kicked up to 6th for the long slabbing ride that it was to save on gas so my engine was not at a pitch that would have caught his attention long before.
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Patrick
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#123 Unread post by Patrick »

I am sure glad it worked out where he finally saw you and it was only a near miss.

Patrick
Keep the wheels on the road.

If you want check my blogg at this site.
http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/BBS/viewtopic.php?t=25466&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

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IcyHound
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#124 Unread post by IcyHound »

I had my first hot ride yesterday.

Friday morning, we are sitting at work watching the sun come up and I notice how hazy and cloudy it is. "Is it about to rain?" I ask, a bit shocked. One, no report of clouds, and two Nalian was on her way down and I didn't want bad weather.

"No, its just the humidity."

Yeah it was. The air was like soup when I left work and it only got worse. A head advisory had come over the interdepartmental communications system. These are from the national weather service and dictates what weather 'alert' the county will be at.

However, last week, half the time it was 40 degrees at night and 70 in the day, raining, and cold.

Yeah, thats all over. It was hot. Hot all day and only got hotter. When Nalian called me to tell me she was an hour out it was hot. When I went to get her, the only cool air I felt was because of my sweat. Wow.

However, she is down here and we get to ride! We are going to get her tires changed out and hit some roads.
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IcyHound
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#125 Unread post by IcyHound »

Ahh:

Nalian came down from Boston and stayed from Friday afternoon until this morning. It was a very nice thing. She made incredible time rolling down on Friday. I was quite startled when she called me a bit before 4 that she was only an hour out.

When we planned this trip it was during the cold windy wet weather at the end of April and into May. We had been worried that it would be to wet and cold. Oh my, if only it bad been. Friday morning, at work, a message comes across the terminal from the national weather service that we are in for a heat index warning.

Lovely.

Saturday we went to my shop to get her tires changed. I had ordered in a set of pilot powers for her. However, the front tire was not in so we almost didn't do the tire thing. However, they had Dunlop Qualifiers and she decided to give them a go. The shop was very apologetic about the mistake to the point of it being a bit amusing. She told them it was okay and then was quiet pleased when they had the tires on in an hour.

However, it was hot. We hit some back roads and I tried to keep to shaded roads. We twisted through the county and then crossed over to Maryland. We rode for about 2 hours and then headed into Frederick for lunch. After lunch and a nice long cool down we headed back home to chill for the rest of the day.

Hot and sweaty was the name of the game. I need to break down all of my gear and wash it. It smells of sweat, yuck.

To be continued...
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#126 Unread post by IcyHound »

Part two:

One thing I did not mention in my previous post was the rolling fan club that Nalian and I wound up with. It was rather strange. It started when she got to the waffle house in Winchester, VA and was waiting for me. She was accosted repeatedly by men boggled at seeing her on a motorcycle. By the time I reached her, she was like 'what is up with these people?"

I told her it was normal. It was then intensified by our waitress dancing around and cheering to see not just the one girl on the motorcycle, but a second come to meet her. She has always wanted to ride and of course, we encouraged her to try, short legs and all.

This became the theme of the weekend. Friday, a host from TGIF was staring at us with a worshipful boggled expression as we rolled out of lunch. We are her heroes it seems. When people see the bikes they are impressed (FZ6 and Ninja 650R) but when we wander out in our full gear helmets in hand, they get all worked up and excited.

I don't get this much excitement with my husband but I realize that they probably think I'm tossed over the back of his bike. And yes, I do have a problem with that and I will never ride on the back of anyones motorcycle.

Anyway, from MA to VA, Nalian was amazed at how friendly people where. No ignoring others around here. Nope. We almost got mobbed at times. I had a very elderly man flirt with me so I just smiled and flirted back. What does it hurt?

That reminds me of an incident in the grocery store about two weeks ago. I was hunting down something, wandering through the store in gear, and this guy is like 'you riding a motorcycle?" Now the urge to be very sarcastic is always there but I ignore it and say, "Yes." and he is like "Thats a real turn on." So over my shoulder I laugh and say, "Thanks" while shuddering inside at his gold teeth and the kid in his cart.
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#127 Unread post by IcyHound »

Continuation of above: I've been dealing with work, power outages and a downed internet connection.

Anyway, on Monday I led my first groupish type ride. Just Nalian and the husband, but I was still the leader. I made a handful of mistakes which sucks. I hate doing crap wrong but leading a group is different from riding on your own. The constant reminder to check out what the other riders are doing for one.

I have a habit of slowing down by letting off the throttle. This is fine when I don't have two people following me. Nalian mentioned that on our first stop and I corrected it. I felt moronic but I don't pump my breaks as a habit. I don't do it in the car and I don't do it on the bike. I don't often travel with traffic so it has not become a habit. I'm now working on it a bit more.

Also there was a bit of a lack of hand signals. We worked on it.

But for the most part I hooked up my GPS and found roads for us to ride. I was pleased with the over all effect of it. The heat did suck and chased us back inside after about 2 or 3 hours. We didn't do distance we did roads. I found a bunch of curving, sweeping, twisting, mountain base roads for us to take.

It was a productive day. The husband has a lot more confidence on the vstrom as well.
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#128 Unread post by IcyHound »

I got the wrong size battery.

We are standing in walmart trying to decide what size battery to get. The one I selected was not correct. We will have to go back and try again or I will give in and go to the bike shop for one.

I drained it totally on Tuesday morning and after a 20 minute ride it had not recharged enough to restart. This is the third time I've drained this battery, once in March and once last Sept. I'm assuming its giving up the ghost and I'll just put a new one in it.
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Shorts
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#129 Unread post by Shorts »

IcyHound wrote:
I have a habit of slowing down by letting off the throttle. This is fine when I don't have two people following me. Nalian mentioned that on our first stop and I corrected it. I felt moronic but I don't pump my breaks as a habit. I don't do it in the car and I don't do it on the bike. I don't often travel with traffic so it has not become a habit. I'm now working on it a bit more.

I do that too. DH mentioned it when we first started riding. I still have to think about it when riding to quick tap the rear brake to show my intention. I'll still slow by rolling off and downshifting, but I'm a flasher now.

You're right about not doing it when driving too.

Ultimately, its for my own safety so morons behind me not paying attention can be alerted. I don't understand how some folks have such underdeveloped spatial awareness, peripheral cognition and object timing.

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#130 Unread post by Skier »

Shorts wrote:
IcyHound wrote:
I have a habit of slowing down by letting off the throttle. This is fine when I don't have two people following me. Nalian mentioned that on our first stop and I corrected it. I felt moronic but I don't pump my breaks as a habit. I don't do it in the car and I don't do it on the bike. I don't often travel with traffic so it has not become a habit. I'm now working on it a bit more.

I do that too. DH mentioned it when we first started riding. I still have to think about it when riding to quick tap the rear brake to show my intention. I'll still slow by rolling off and downshifting, but I'm a flasher now.

You're right about not doing it when driving too.

Ultimately, its for my own safety so morons behind me not paying attention can be alerted. I don't understand how some folks have such underdeveloped spatial awareness, peripheral cognition and object timing.
They can get away with it because if they do get in a wreck, chances are they won't collect many injuries if any. Little to no repercussions means no desire to avoid the crash. Stupid cars with crumple zones, air bags and other safety features. Actually, stupid drivers for letting those items replace skill.

:(
[url=http://www.motoblag.com/blag/]Practicing the dark and forgotten art of using turn signals since '98.[/url]

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