the latest rides

March 15th I rode out to Mother Cabrini Shrine. Hubby must have been away or something because it was just me. Here are some photos.

This is a shot of Jesus on the top of the hill. A couple of years ago he was struck by lightning and it blew his fingers off. He's all fixed now though. The line of trees is a path of steps to get to the top. The stations of the cross are along the route. People come here for Easter to trek up and pray. At the top is a rock structure Mother Cabrini built when she founded this place. To the left of this view is a small grotto where you can sit and pray or reflect and light candles. There is also the spring Mother Cabrini discovered when she came to this place. She stuck her cane in the ground and found it and it has been flowing ever since. It is one of her three miracles.

Here is the Rebel parked near the interpretive sign.

And parked near the chapel. It wasn't terribly crowded but there were more than enough folks there for my taste. I was hoping for some quiet reflection time but oh well. Maybe next time.

I have ties to Mother Cabrini through my high school in New Orleans. Her feast day is also the same day as my birthday which was nice to have that day off from school for four years. :-)

But, anyway, back to the motorcycle part. Here is a Google map of the location.




It is a bit windy and that day there was a lot of gravel on the road because we'd had a good bit of snow. I happened to fall behind someone on a Triumph so I followed their line up the hill. Turned out to be a good plan. The curves are pretty sharp 10mph ones all the way up the hill. It isn't a very long way but it is narrow and cars like to take up as much space as they can. And there is wildlife up there too. But, it was a good trip.

I did have a bit of a close call backing out of my parking space. I pulled out but had to go around the lot to make my way out again. I managed to put myself behind an SUV that was about to back out. I was also on gravel so I couldn't speed away or even stop because the ground was so loose. And I couldn't find my horn for some reason either. Fortunately they took their time backing out and I was able to pull away. It was a bit scary for a second there. But all's well that ends well, and the lesson was learned.

More later......

Blogging

I sure haven't blogged in a while. We've ridden too. Maybe that's why. :-)

Ear Plugs

I wear the disposable ear plugs now but they give me a headache or earache I suppose. I switched to a brand new pair because the others were getting hard. I thought maybe that was the problem. But the new ones, which are nice and soft, still hurt my ear. Mainly just my left ear. I guess I should look into a different kind. It is difficult to know how they'll fit or work since it usually isn't until the end of my ride that they start to bother me. Hmmm. Some thing to think about and research I suppose.

Yay!

Rode to work yesterday and today! Supposed to snow tomorrow or Friday.

Grrrr... grumpy me

So, the story in the previous post just got worse and worse and began my downward spiral into grumpiness.

The good news is there is absolutely nothing wrong with the bike. The bad news is my memory is worse than I thought and ain't getting any better. After determining that my gas tank was actually empty, I thought, ok, I was just distracted by the extra miles and forgot to fill up on the way back home. But then, I found a receipt proving that I did fill up that day. So, we wondered what could it be. I posted on the Rebel board looking for advice which was promptly given. (I am so glad I have them!) Obviously my gas tank was empty so what could have happened? What indeed.....

What happened was, I rode more after filling up. And I forgot all about it. I filled up, proved by the receipt, on 1/19. I'd forgotten about my ride to Boulder to play hooky from work to watch the inauguration on the 20th. I rode quite a bit that day. But, it must have slipped my mind. Anyway, bike problem solved.

Lately I've been quite grumpy after driving my cage to work everyday. I find myself swearing at other drivers (which is normal really) but it puts me in a not so happy mood after arriving at my destination (work or home). Sigh. I need some warm weather so I can get some good vibes and good miles on the moto! It has been warm and sunny but really windy too. Really windy. Too windy to ride. For me anyway. Grrr. Maybe Sunday I can get a good ride in.

Carb Ice? Bad gas? Filter issue? (edit with update)

Took the bike out and headed to work this morning. I got about 4 or 5 miles away from home and the bike died. Ugh. That's how I felt too. It was acting as if it were out of gas even though I know I have a full tank. It was very weird. The bike started up as usual without any trouble on the third try. Had the choke on the usual amount of time for me which is when it starts to rev really high. The warm up begins when I walk out to the bike. I start it up and let it run with the choke all the way open. While it warms up, I put my duffel bag on the back, my earplugs in, my helmet on, my glasses on, my jacket on, and my glove liners and gloves on. During the gearing up, I usually have to close the choke but it continues to run and warm up. Then I close the garage and hop on, put it in gear and slowly roll down the driveway. This morning, as I was leaving the driveway, it bucked a bit as if it was losing power or running out of gas. But, as soon as I hit the street and rolled on the throttle it was all good. I double checked the petcock to make sure it was on and it was. I figured it was just cold, even though it had never done that before and it really wasn't cold because I'd warmed it up. The temperature this morning was in the 40s. I could see my breath but it wasn't at all unbearable. Just a regular cold morning. I've ridden in colder although not this season.

So, then about 4 or 5 miles later, the bike really loses power and I think, that's weird. I had the throttle open but it wasn't going anywhere and wasn't even sounding like it was trying. But the bike was still running so I thought maybe it would pass. (I don't know what I mean by that!) But, then I'm going to slow for traffic and figure I need to pull over. As I pulled in the clutch to pull over, it died right away. Just like I'd run out of gas. Crap! That's what I thought. I am out of traffic more or less, in the fairly wide bike lane. It isn't as wide as a shoulder but there is little traffic here and I'm clearly visible so I get off and take off my helmet to think about it. Nothing is leaking. Nothing fell off. The lights are on so the battery is ok. Checked the petcock again and it is still on. Shake the bike - full tank. I tried to start it and it made the out of gas noise. So, I call hubby. While I'm talking to him, telling him what's going on and where I am, I decide to switch to reserve and try to start it. He kept saying it sounded like I wasn't getting gas too. Flip to reserve, hit the button, and it starts up. It idles just fine. Weird. But, hubby says I shouldn't drive it to work so I head home and get the car.

Later he finds this article about carb icing. That sounds like it to me. Weird. The conditions didn't seem any different or cold or anything to cause ice but what do I know. The garage is pretty cold and we've had huge swings in the temperature. Maybe there was condensation on the bike. Could very well be. I hope that is what happened because that means nothing is wrong with the bike. It didn't feel or sound like anything was different or wrong aside from, you know, the dying part. :-) One thing I noticed, when I started it up and getting back on it to head back home, there was a whistling noise. That was different. I'll have to remember to tell hubby about that bit.

So, I didn't get a good ride in today after all. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice and even warmer!

Edit:
So, nothing is wrong with the bike. I need to take some ginko. Even though I thought I'd filled up my tank at the end of the last ride. Apparently, I did not. So, I'll be riding tomorrow and going straight to the gas station. I should google which is closest. D'oh!

2009 Riding Goals, cont.

One idea for a trip hubby and I are batting around is to visit his folks who live near Albuquerque. That is an 8 hour drive so if we took a full week off to take our time getting there, have time to visit and also have time to ride, that would be really fun. His father rides a Harley Fatboy. That would be really fun to ride with him and even more fun if his sister and brother in law went with us. I should send them an email to put the bug in their ear.

This morning I thought a trip to Telluride, CO could be fun too. It is really pretty there and a good destination town.