turn signals in the new saddle bags

Hubby met me in Boulder for dinner yesterday. He followed me home and when I asked him about the turn signals in the new saddle bags, he said they are insufficient, maybe dangerously so. He says they are not very bright and they are very small. I think maybe he'll play around with them when I am out of town this coming week. I don't think we can make them bigger but maybe we can make them brighter. Stay tuned...

Fleur de lis reflectivity

The new saddle bags have some added reflectivity! I got these fabulous fleur de lis stickers on ebay. Yay! I really like how they look on the bags. They are the perfect size and seem fairly sturdy as well. Yay! Now I need something on the sides. I've got some sheets of black reflective stickers and also the pinstripe tape. Maybe I'll just frame the bags in the black. Or just add the sheets on the side as a full panel. Can't be too reflective I think. :-) Conspicuity is my friend.

Lunch break

I'm considering doing this for lunch. We'll see how the day goes. I've been pretty busy lately so I may not get to break away. Sigh. I can feel the end of the season coming. It's been in the 50s in the mornings. But, it is supposed to be hot again this week.

I just remembered...I have a telecon over lunch.... Dang it.

Shocks, stickers, cabinets...

Hubby adjusted my shocks yesterday morning. What a difference! I hadn't really realized how soft they were. They've always been that way and I guess I just never thought about it. That reminded me how little riding experience I really have. But, now, when I am leaving or returning to the driveway, that huge bump where the street meets the sidewalk isn't so horrible. I think this winter we'll have to change the front and rear. The right front and the left rear have leaks.

I also got my fleur de lis reflective stickers in the mail yesterday! I was hoping one would fit on my helmet but they are a bit too large. I've already got other stickers on their anyway so that's ok. I bought these with the intention of putting them on the saddle bags. I haven't sat down with them yet to see what they'll look like. They are silvery so they won't blend in like the sheets of black that I also bought. But, we'll see. Maybe they'll fit on the back and I can put the black sheets on the sides.

On Sunday, hubby hung the last of the cabinets in the garage. I now have my own! I promptly filled them with the parts from the black rebel parts bike. Yay! :-) I've got other spare parts as well, oil filters, air filters, spark plugs, and some other random accessories like my Saints license plate frame and my grip warmers. I really hope we add those this season. I'll have to get new grips, which I want to do anyway, some fatter ones would be nice. These sport bike ones are too skinny and hurt my hands. I feel like I have to hold them too tightly. I may need to get some risers as well if I switch out the handle bars.

New Boots

I bought these new boots from MotoGear Outlet last Friday. I really like them so far. I think they are a half size too big but with some inserts and hiking socks they work just fine. I didn't realize how much my foot slides forward in them when I was wearing them around the store. But, a couple of trips on the bike and putting my foot down at stops made me realize that. Something to keep in mind when I try on my next pair. They are TCX Oxtar Sun Ray women's boots. Italian made, waterproof (haven't tested that yet), leather, gore-tex lined, CE certified, shift pad on both, and very comfy. Didn't take anything to break them in either. No velcro, only one inside zipper. Very nice!

work parking lot

This was the day before Ride to Work Day I think. I got the last spot on the end! It's been almost this full everyday this summer.

P-U!

Yuck! I washed my gear last night and put way too much spray and wash on them. I even did an extra rinse cycle and I can still smell it. Maybe I put too much soap. A few days on the road should clear it up though. :-)

New Bags Installed!

Yippey! Hubby comes through again. :-) He installed these today. It was a nice cool day to be working on the bike too. Didn't get out to ride today but we did ride with his sister and her husband yesterday. It was really fun to hang with them all day. Nice to have a hobby we can all share.

They're heeere!!

The saddle bags have arrived in the mail! Woo hoo!!!!!! :-D

Not Motorcycle Related but....

That bumper sticker is on my car. I'll never sell that car. Who dat!! I stole the other image from the Saints web site. :-) Go Saints!!

Park-n-Ride

It rained a lot last night. And since hubby came out in the car to meet some friends of ours for dinner, and it was really late, and I decided it wasn't so fun riding in a down pour on the highway with cars passing me at even faster speeds, we parked the bike for the night and drove home in the car. It'll get picked up hopefully today. Seems safe enough (fingers crossed) and definitely dryer. It is supposed to rain again this evening. I was very sad leaving it there. Still am. Guess I will be until it is home. I miss it. :-(

Rainbow

I found this photo that I took last year (Aug 15, 2007).

:-)

Post rain ride....

I've been pondering what steps I should take now that I've ridden in a down pour. I'll buy some chain wax on the way home I think. Aside from the chain, I'm not sure there is anything else I really need to worry about. I should probably check my mileage as it should be close to time for an oil change again. Hubby's windshield adjusted itself in the rain on the ride. He said he was going to pull over to fix it but since it was even he left it alone. Water must have gotten in and lubricated the mount or something.

I've also noticed, not that this has anything to do with the rain, my MPG have been pretty consistently at 57 or so. I also have been filling it up more closely to the top of the tank lately. Seems like I got much more gas in when I last filled up.

Estes Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Trail Ridge Road

Estes Park is one of my most favorite places in Colorado!

Here are our bikes warming up for the ride! Hubby's is a green CX500, mine is the silver Rebel 450. We packed lunch, beverages and rain gear.


So, the plan was to meet up with my sister-in-law and her husband (on their Beemers) at the Beaver Meadows visitor's center at 10:30 where we would then head up Trail Ridge Road.

We, hubby and our friend on her Ninja250, got there amazingly enough right at 10:30. Here are the bikes at the visitor's center...

and with Long's Peak in the background...


The Beemers were a little late, running on dog time and also into some traffic on the way. For some reason, maybe because it is so dang hot in the big city, the place was really crowded. Took us a while just to get through the entrance gate. But, it was nice and sunny and not even close to the 100 degree temps we'd left behind. So, no worries! We were off!

I was the leader of our pack since it was my personal riding goal to go over a mountain pass that put us on this path in the first place. We start heading up the road - so beautiful in the park - and I start seeing cars with their wipers on. Then the drops start. I find a nice wide pull out and we all put our rain jackets on. We pass a sign that says be prepared for rapidly changing weather, and I swear as soon as we pass that sign it starts to hail. Holy smokes! Not really big hail but big enough that I can see it landing on my tank bag. The speed limit in the park is 35mph and we are probably going between 25 - 30 depending on the road conditions and surrounding traffic. So, it isn't painful enough that any of us want to stop.

We then come to a larger scenic pull out where I pull over again. I had my mesh pants on and needed to put on my liners. Our Ninja friend did the same. This area was pretty crowded with lots of cars, vans, campers, motorcycles and people walking through the lot to get to the restrooms. While I was changing I heard this honking and some people talking but by the time I came out I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Later hubby told me a guy on a Harley was moving slowly through the parking lot and a car backed right into him and knocked him over. I guess he and the bike were ok and they made their peace with each other about it.

So, we head up the road again, riding through rain, hail and sunshine all the way. Fortunately it wasn't windy. That would have probably been the end of it for me. I was warm enough even though I'd forgotten my warmer gloves. We were traveling slowly enough that I could rest my left hand out of the wind and keep it warm.

Up above treeline it got a bit clearer so that was good. But it also got more crowded. People seem to think it is ok to drive on the tundra to take pictures of the animals. There was a traffic jam because of a few elk near the road. Cars stopped just anywhere blocking the road, causing dangerous situations for everyone else. But, we did ok and got through it.

And then beyond the bend was the Alpine Visitor's Center. Yay! We could finally stop and warm up and eat our lunch. But wait, where in the heck are we going to park? It was a crazy mad house in the parking lot! Unbelievable. And yet, there is was and there we were in the midst of it. People were about to throw down over parking spaces it was so crowded. Brother-in-law grabbed a spot at the end of the row with the stripped lines for no parking. We all clambered into that same area but it wasn't flat enough for all of us to fit and lean the bikes on the side stands. So, sister-in-law and I, being at the head of the bunch, were planning to scoot up to the end of the row ahead when we saw that the truck in the end parking space was leaving. We managed to scoot between the traffic and pull right in behind him as he pulled out. That was much better and much safer for all of us.

So, with the sun shining we put our helmets and jackets on the bikes, grabbed our lunch and walked to the visitor's center.


While we were sitting outside we felt a few drops and decided to head it. The sun had gone behind the clouds too so it was getting chilly. At some point, while we were eating inside, someone looked out the window at the sunshine and said, "Is it raining?" And it was. It was pouring. That good old southern kind of rain that comes straight down and drenches you, except it was much colder. We sat around a bit pondering how wet our gear might be, how wet we'd get walking over to the bikes, and how long it might go on.

Sister-in-law then says, "We still have to go further down the road to meet your goal." We hadn't crossed the divide yet. But, we eventually decided that the weather was bad enough and the park close enough that we could try again another day. Really it was my call. I didn't think going on only to have to come back was worth it. And I was getting cold. And then we saw the lightning. That sealed it. Time to head back down.

The entire way down we rode in this down pour. Ugh. Hubby led us down. He has more discipline to go slowly than I do. We queued up and took our place in the line of traffic heading down the road. But wait! Another traffic jam! Grrr. This time we are stopped in a line of cars, in the rain and lightning, trying to keep our bikes from shutting off. We were all thinking (or trying not to think) about the same thing - who knows CPR when one of us gets struck by lightning? But, what can you do. Eventually, we saw the reason for the traffic jam, elk, on the side of the road, and cars strewn about trying to get photos. Grrr.

It rained the entire way down, all the way back to the visitor’s center where we started at the entrance to the park. We were all completely drenched all the way down to our toes. Squishy boots and all. Sigh. Should have sealed them a long time ago. Oh well. We then drove into Estes for some hot beverages and of course by the time we parked the bikes it had stopped raining. And by the time we crossed the street, the sun was out. Sigh.


The Givi bags on sister-in-law's bike were vacuum sealed from being nearly 12,000 feet up and they had a heck of a time getting them open. And here is a shot of the Rebel and the CX.


A good time was had by all in spite of the traffic, the weather, and the unmet goal of going over the pass. We all had smiles on our faces for sure. This was the longest ride yet for our Ninja friend who told us the longest ride she’d done so far was 30 miles.

We traveled about 184 miles or so. Our highest point was the Alpine Visitor’s center or perhaps somewhere along the road to the center. First time riding in a group for me and hubby. First time riding in a down pour for us. First time riding in hail. It is also the highest we’ve ever been on the bikes. It was tons of fun!!

I drove to work today though. I was so tired this morning and my boots weren’t dry yet. We have already begun discussing our next attempt at the pass. Maybe Saturday since our passes will still be good and we won't have to pay the entrance fee. And the next time we think we'll go all the way over so we don't get stuck on the top again. If we do that we'll have to cross another pass to get back home! That'll be fun!



The Rebel did just fine at altitude. I think the slow going was hard, traveling at 20mph at 11,000 feet as opposed to going at higher speeds and higher RPMs. It did die once but fired right up as I was rolling along. Well, it died twice if you count the time I accidentally hit the kill switch.

The Willie and Max bags are NOT waterproof in a down pour. Neither are the rain jackets and liners of my mesh pants. I was soaked through.

We hadn't ever waterproofed our shoes either. In Colorado we use waterproofing stuff for snow. It just doesn't rain enough to worry about it in the summer. So, getting soaked yesterday certainly wasn't very fun. Our feet were dyed blue from the leather.

We did well riding together through the park even though we'd never done that before. Our friend's Ninja was having a little trouble staying running. She's had problems with it dying when she pulls the clutch in but she seemed to manage it ok. It is under warranty so I hope she can get it taken care of soon and wants to ride with us again. Yay!

I was too tired and cold, and too busy concentrating on riding safely in the weather, to notice if my butt got tired. My back was tired from leaning over so much in the weather.

There were tons of motorcycles on the road and they all waved. Well, except in the really bad rain, nobody was taking their hands off the handlebars at that point.

Pay day! Woo hoo!

I just ordered some of these! Hehehe. I've been wanting some and thought, what the hell. If I keep waiting until there aren't any bills or other pressing things, well, I'll never get them.

Quick Stops

After bragging yesterday to my hubby how well I executed a quick stop at a light, this morning on the way to work, I wasn't so successful. :-( It was quite dramatic actually, squealing tires and lots of smoke and a big ol' pick up truck behind me who fortunately was paying attention. I wasn't. That's why I had to quick stop. It was basically the same scenario as yesterday's successful one - I'd turned my head to look at something and when I looked back the light was yellow. Yesterday was very smooth and no witnesses. There wasn't any traffic behind me or around me. No squealing tires. No locked brakes. This morning, well, it was my own fault really. I did several things that I shouldn't have. I was behind a large delivery truck although not too close behind or so I thought. I was starting to think about backing off more because the lanes went from two to one. I knew there was a vehicle behind me but I wasn't paying very close attention to it. We were also coming to an intersection were there has been some construction and the lights are positioned differently because of that. Right when I was thinking I was too close to the truck in front to see the lights clearly, I also looked away, probably at some bird or something, and when I looked back the truck was already passing through the intersection cleanly giving me a clear view of the yellow light. I couldn't really tell where I was in the intersection, because of the construction there are no lines painted there at the moment. There was a car in the on coming turning lane and another preparing to move through from my right side. I had enough time to see them but not enough to see if they were all stopping so I just hit the brakes. And I hit them much too hard. Rear tire locked, loud squealing, lots of smoke, a little sliding, but I remained under control and didn't drop it. And I managed to stop before entering the intersection. It wasn't until I stopped completely that I looked in my mirror (at the smoke) and saw the pick up behind me. Yikes! Thank you pick up truck driver for paying attention to me.

I need to practice those quick stops.

Sigh. Gotta stay focused too and pay attention to everything. I find that I fixate on a problem instead of scanning for everything. For example, the other day, well ahead of me, a fox ran across the road. So, I've been scanning the grass for foxes and in the process not seeing all the cars around me. I'm not sure how to correct that. I'll have to check the Proficient Motorcycling books and maybe do some of the practice exercises in there. Maybe I should vary my route to work more too. I'm starting to get too comfortable and anticipating good rides (instead of preparing for the unexpected) since I've been so fortunate in my riding. If I take a different route it will make me look for those unexpected things.