- Jan 2, 2006
- 10,455
- 35
- 91
Got 800 miles on the odo now and some interesting thoughts and stories:
1. I started to feel really comfortable with the bike around 500 miles. I guess the bike and I both broke in at about the same time, as well as my leather gear. When I first got the bike it felt heavy and cumbersome. Now I feel more in tune with it, and it is a very nimble machine. Heck, it even feels lighter stopped at stop lights now.
2. I find excuses to ride. Need to go to the movies? How about the one five towns over? Need some coffee? I think I need to ride all the way to the coast to get that.
3. Other bikers are really friendly and always give a hand wave, which can be kinda annoying when you pass a biker once every 10 seconds or so - I feel like I'm always waving back.
4. Lots of people have told me I have an awesome bike
5. Is it just me or do the sport bike riders adhere to ATGATT the best? They've always got leathers, full face helmets, racing boots, and racing gloves. Harley riders wear vests, jeans, and half helmets. Scooter riders wear just a helmet. Cruisers wear in-between sport and Harley riders.
5. Close calls are everywhere. Yesterday I almost got rear ended by some Mercedes doing 100+ on the highway. I was switching lanes, checked my mirror, saw a guy way off in the distance, did a head check to confirm there was nothing, started switching, and did a second head check and this time there was a front bumper 3 feet from my rear. I didn't jerk anything, stayed smooth, accelerated, and the guy blew past me, and kept on blowing past everyone else. Today a guy texting pulled out right in front of me. I predicted it way in advance and slowed down. Sure enough, he came upon and went through the fucking turn with his eyes glued to his cell phone screen the whole entire time. I honked at him for good measure and he looked up and still seemed oblivious.
6. Had a really scary ride at odo reading 550. Up in the mountains at near midnight for 100 miles. Constant hairpins and twists, no lights except for my headlights which don't shine into the turns worth shit, and rain and fog making my visor and glasses visibility very very poor. At times visibility seemed to be only 10 feet, and this is on top of foggy optics. And it was cold and wet. Basically one of those rides where you know that there is a very real and immediate danger to your life, AND you know you've gotta tough it out for a long time because you're already in the middle of nowhere and you've gotta just ride it through. Went too wide in a hairpin once and crossed into the other lane, and fought to not slide out after I pulled over into the dirt shoulder letting a tailgater pass. Having mountain biking experience and knowing how to be gentle yet effective with the brakes helped.
7. Riding is so not sexy at times. Most of the time it's hot and sweaty as hell. Gearing up and down takes time and isn't spontaneous. Helmets make you look like a giant bobble head. Duck walking a bike backwards is awkward. Your hair is all matted down and flat looking after you take off your helmet. You have to gear up in a specific order. Take keys out of pocket, put in ignition, put in earplugs, put on helmet, put on glasses, and put on gloves last. Can't tell you how many times I've got all my gear on only to realize I forgot to put in my ear plugs, and I gotta go it all over again.
8. How are you supposed to park the bike in a parking spot? Most riders park as far into it as their bikes can go, but I park just enough inside so my tail can easily be seen from a distance by other cars searching for a spot.
9. I don't understand sleeve length for leather jackets. You guys say they come up to halfway up you palm. But when they're zipped up, they are at the bottom of you palm at your wrist, right? So the sleeves feel bunched up? And when you have gauntlet gloves, the leather from the jacket at the wrist and the leather of the gauntlet gloves makes a double layer of leather that makes wrist turning difficult...
1. I started to feel really comfortable with the bike around 500 miles. I guess the bike and I both broke in at about the same time, as well as my leather gear. When I first got the bike it felt heavy and cumbersome. Now I feel more in tune with it, and it is a very nimble machine. Heck, it even feels lighter stopped at stop lights now.
2. I find excuses to ride. Need to go to the movies? How about the one five towns over? Need some coffee? I think I need to ride all the way to the coast to get that.
3. Other bikers are really friendly and always give a hand wave, which can be kinda annoying when you pass a biker once every 10 seconds or so - I feel like I'm always waving back.
4. Lots of people have told me I have an awesome bike
5. Is it just me or do the sport bike riders adhere to ATGATT the best? They've always got leathers, full face helmets, racing boots, and racing gloves. Harley riders wear vests, jeans, and half helmets. Scooter riders wear just a helmet. Cruisers wear in-between sport and Harley riders.
5. Close calls are everywhere. Yesterday I almost got rear ended by some Mercedes doing 100+ on the highway. I was switching lanes, checked my mirror, saw a guy way off in the distance, did a head check to confirm there was nothing, started switching, and did a second head check and this time there was a front bumper 3 feet from my rear. I didn't jerk anything, stayed smooth, accelerated, and the guy blew past me, and kept on blowing past everyone else. Today a guy texting pulled out right in front of me. I predicted it way in advance and slowed down. Sure enough, he came upon and went through the fucking turn with his eyes glued to his cell phone screen the whole entire time. I honked at him for good measure and he looked up and still seemed oblivious.
6. Had a really scary ride at odo reading 550. Up in the mountains at near midnight for 100 miles. Constant hairpins and twists, no lights except for my headlights which don't shine into the turns worth shit, and rain and fog making my visor and glasses visibility very very poor. At times visibility seemed to be only 10 feet, and this is on top of foggy optics. And it was cold and wet. Basically one of those rides where you know that there is a very real and immediate danger to your life, AND you know you've gotta tough it out for a long time because you're already in the middle of nowhere and you've gotta just ride it through. Went too wide in a hairpin once and crossed into the other lane, and fought to not slide out after I pulled over into the dirt shoulder letting a tailgater pass. Having mountain biking experience and knowing how to be gentle yet effective with the brakes helped.
7. Riding is so not sexy at times. Most of the time it's hot and sweaty as hell. Gearing up and down takes time and isn't spontaneous. Helmets make you look like a giant bobble head. Duck walking a bike backwards is awkward. Your hair is all matted down and flat looking after you take off your helmet. You have to gear up in a specific order. Take keys out of pocket, put in ignition, put in earplugs, put on helmet, put on glasses, and put on gloves last. Can't tell you how many times I've got all my gear on only to realize I forgot to put in my ear plugs, and I gotta go it all over again.
8. How are you supposed to park the bike in a parking spot? Most riders park as far into it as their bikes can go, but I park just enough inside so my tail can easily be seen from a distance by other cars searching for a spot.
9. I don't understand sleeve length for leather jackets. You guys say they come up to halfway up you palm. But when they're zipped up, they are at the bottom of you palm at your wrist, right? So the sleeves feel bunched up? And when you have gauntlet gloves, the leather from the jacket at the wrist and the leather of the gauntlet gloves makes a double layer of leather that makes wrist turning difficult...
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