Storm aftermath

Day 7 stats

Asheville, NC wikipedia | Google Map

Day 7	RP	EG
Time out on bikes	10:53	10:53
Moving time	6:43	6:51
Miles (GPS)	304	302
Miles (Odometer)	320	-
Overall average speed	31.9	27.9
Max Speed	110	88
Totals
Time on bikes	75:00	67:51
Moving time	48:50	43:29
Miles (GPS)	2606	2312
Miles (Odometer)	2849	-
Guaranteed miles (GPS)	3077	3109

Connie dead. And resurrected.

Post-lunch, Connie was completely dead. Eric and I exhausted our
electrical knowledge quickly.

A 30 minute phone call with a tech at Griffith Kawasaki led to a
defective main fuse. Not blown, normal appearing, but non-functioning
fuse.

Eric's putting everything back together now.

Roadside BBQ

The 'Georgia Boy Special".

Day 6 stats

Dawsonville / Lumpkin, GA wikipedia | Google Map

Day 6	RP	EG
Time out on bikes	11:02	11:01
Moving time	6:09	6:15
Miles (GPS)	351	351
Miles (Odometer)	368	-
Overall average speed	31.9	31.7
Max Speed	97	88
Totals
Time on bikes	64:07	56:58
Moving time	42:07	36:38
Miles (GPS)	2302	2010
Miles (Odometer)	2471	-
Guaranteed miles (GPS)	2933	2941

Day 6 recap

Nashville, TN to Lumpkin, GA

What a great day.

Got up late, of course. Took our time going about things. Finally rolled out of Nashville, and went about mile before we stopped at a Kawasaki dealer ship. Some more nice folks took a look at Eric's Concours, to try diagnose his shimmy. It's looking less and less like a mechanical problem, and more like aerodynamics induced by his fairing.

Hit the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, for geeky appreciation of rockest. Blew a ton of money in the gift shop. Took many pictures. Spent 3 hours there, but could have done much more.

Bullet points:

• Ended up buying another Crampbuster. My wrist and shoulder have been sore. This in itself is wholly unremarkable. The thing that makes me remark is that I do this all the time. I have 4 at home, and specifically/consciously decided not to bring one with me. So I'm out another 13 dollars. (Note: I also do this all the time with voltmeters. I now own 5.)
• There are few things more impressive than standing in the shadow of a Saturn V rocket.
• Eric is up to 18 states and provinces on his motorbike already. I'm at 26, now that I add ON, MI and GA.
• The speedometers in the new Honda civics are incredibly, remarkably accurate.
• We saw a bull dozer graveyard today. Must have been 100 of them, easily. All spaced out and perfectly aligned.
• I could very easily keep total trip GPS miles in my GPS, if I would reset it for every trip. But instead I have to add up the numbers every day. But I hate the idea of doing that. I have had this GPS since I started touring, and have never reset it. It's just about to turn 22,000 miles. That's the kind of history you can't get back easily. And if I did clear it, 2 to 3 years from now, when I get it back, I'd be saying "That should read 44,000."
• I wanted desperately to get to Prince's Hot Chicken Shack in Nashville. It was the entire motivation for the original Mototour. I just couldn't make it happen, though. And that is the one regret of this tour.
• We had a strange moment yesterday, that we only talked about today. I don't think either of us thought the other saw the same thing. We crossed into Tennessee, and passed this very distinct car. We were on, what we thought was, the only road in that direction. A few minutes later, that car turned off onto a side road. About that time, we decided we needed to make up time, and locked the throttles and burned off about 50 miles at 75-80 speed. And sure enough, we came up on that car again, and passed it. Lord knows where she found that short cut. She should publish it.
• Tomorrow is the day I've been waiting for all year. It's a real rider's day. No slab. We ride the North Georgia mountains. Then hit one of the best roads ever, the Cherohala Skyway (story | map). Then it's on to one of the most challenging: Deal's Gap, AKA The Dragon. (story | map)
• We're totally into the ride right now. By that, I mean that a) we are at one with the bikes, and it feels more natural to be on them than off them. b) Skills are at their highest. I can do u-turns in the size of a parking space. I know every little thing about my bike, from strengths to quirks. c) Time and space are skewed to touring. 100 miles feels like 15. On and on and on and on. It all just comes together, and touring kind of takes over your reality.
• The Space and Rocket center was amazing, but not just because we are both space geeks. It was a return to Space Camp for me, 22 years after the fact. I was amazed at how much I remembered, being there. At times, it was creepy for me. ("There's where I did that one thing. Here's where I had that other thing. I was there when I crashed the space shuttle. I was there when I kissed that girl named Casey.") Honestly, I can only say it was a treat to be back there.
• It was also a treat spending my birthday there with Eric. We met just at that time I went to Space Camp. And we have been best friends ever since. And as fun as those memories of that week in Alabama were, it was even more fun being there with someone that I have been making memories with for the entire time since then.
• I rode Connie today for about 50 miles. I think her shimmy problems aren't the result of a mechanical problem. I think it's just the way she's designed. Those bikes have fairings, and weird airflow. Turbulence makes it more prevalent. IOt self corrects, and just is what it is. You can try to fight it with fork braces and such, but in 3 years, you'll just chalk it up as "character" and laugh it off. Other observations: a) Yes. It is hot. b) those forks are soft. I know I ride a stiff suspension, but that front end really submarines. c) all that fairing and the windscreen make for a big cocoon of still air. I know that's the point of a touring bike, but I like to be out in the elements more, and feel the forces of propelling yourself along at high-speed than I feel on that. d) leg space is cramped. A peg lowering kit would be at the top of the list. And the edge of the fairing is right there. I don't know how many times I tried to shift the fairing, instead . Comfortable (minor niggles aside). Pretty. She pullof the shifter. Also, the fairing sucks for braking. e) I tend to be critical, and it may sound like I have issues with Connie. But I absolutely don't. It's a wonderful bike. Powerful Comfortable (little niggles aside). She pulls like nobody's business, and looks pretty the whole time. They weren't even on my radar before, but after today it would be a top 5 contender for me if I were buying a new bike.
• Eric is asleep, and it's my time too.
• I may forget, but I should put up a whole post about GA route 52 from Chatsworth to Ellijay. An absolutely amazing road. Incredible. Doing it at night was like riding Space Mountain. I'll try to put up more tomorrow, but if I don't get to it, know that it was a) just what the doctor ordered after a couple thousand miles of slab and b) it is a perfect blend of major twisties, pristine road condition, low-traffic and I would love to live on it. In fact, in the moment I wanted to make out with it, love it, share my life with it. All future Mototours should include this road.

Alabama welcoMe center

Road memory

It always amazes me how much you can remember a road you were on once,
years ago.

On some of the roads Brian and I did 3 years ago. I totally recognize
them, not just because of how they look, but how they feel and ride.

And some of them, we're even riding them in a different direction than
I did before. Like the Bluegrass Parkway in Kentucky, out of Lexington.

Connie still has the shakes

America Motorsports, Nashville

Set the alarm, please

Woke up to this.

The Tin Roof

"the only glassware here is the bottle your beer comes in." -bartender
guy.

Shots come in these: http://www.waresdirect.com/zoom_product.asp?prodID=SCCR3
And they fill them.

Competing bachelorette parties. Out front.

Nashville, TN

Just arrived. Cleaning up. Bar across the street for a cocktail. Restaurant next to that. I'm jet-lagged from the time difference here. Or maybe it's from just getting 3 hours sleep last night.

PSA: 5 Hour Energy really works.

Comfort Inn tonight. Much better than the independent hotel at the Dayton airport last night. That place was a hole. More later in the recap.

Day 5 stats

Niagara Falls, On, CA wikipedia | Google Map

Problem with today's stats, since we ate up a lot of time at the museum and getting Eric's bike attended to at Vista Kawasaki.

We're taking actual miles, time moving and average moving speed. The rest are accounting for non-riding time.

Day 5	RP	EG
Time out on bikes	13:03	7:28 (post-repairs)
Moving time	7:15	6:16 (post-repairs)
Miles (GPS)	418	381 (post repairs)
Miles (Odometer)	439	-
Overall average speed	31.9	51.0 (post repairs)
Max Speed	97	88
Totals
Time on bikes	53:05	45:57
Moving time	35:58	30:23
Miles (GPS)	1951	1653
Miles (Odometer)	2049	-
Guaranteed miles (GPS)	2717	2647

Dayton to Paris

Ohio 68 is a real turd of a road. Traffic. stoplights. Lame scenery.
Big trucks. But once you cross the river, Kentucky 68 is pretty
pleasant. Long high speed sweepers, no traffic, horse farms. More of
what we were expecting from the recommendation we got.

Connie got her sixes

Logo mod

Vista Kawasaki

Diagnosing some rear end shimmy in the Connie.

Air Force Museum

Dayton, OH

Major rain coming

1 to 2 inches of rain, we're heading right into it.

Day 4 recap

Alternate title: Eric's first 500 mile day.

Lots of interstate, yesterday. 500 miles of it. Eric likes the stuff. I can see it's charm. Hundreds of Iron-butt riders swear by it. It's just not my thing. I need to get out into some twisty roads soon. 4 days in, and we've spent half a day off the slab.

Speaking of which, my rear tire is totally flattening off. If we do more interstate today, I might try to buy new tires in Nashville. I get 5-6000 miles out of a rear tire. Yesterday was 10% of the life of this one. All on flat roads.

The bullets:

• They don't care about Cuban cigars at the border. But we saw some old people get arrested. A couple, hauled across the booths in cuffs.
• Highway alligators all OVER the place. Tons of them. Which doesn't surprise me. If you think 18-wheels are a lot, they have 24 and 32 wheelers up in Canada.
• Ever see a vulture trying to take off from a piece of roadkill, and think it won't make it off the ground in time and become roadkill itself? But they always seem to make it? Well I saw one that didn't. That was a first.
• We saw a fifth wheel camper that cam unhooked from it's car. smashed the hell out of the camper, mess on the interstate. Must have been quite a ride for that driver.
• 43 mpg all day for both of us. Best I've ever seen on my bike. 3 separate fill-ups yesterday.
• Downtown Detroit looked cool from I-75S.

Not much else to add that isn't in the Twitter feed. Eric might have more to say.

-RP

Norm

We like him.

Day 4 stats

Niagara Falls, On, CA wikipedia | Google Map

Day 4	RP	EG
Time on bikes	11:27	11:18
Moving time	8:03	8:03
Miles (GPS)	503	503
Miles (Odometer)	526	-
Overall average speed	43.9	-
Max Speed	110	112
Totals
Time on bikes	40:02	32:54
Moving time	28:41	23:08
Miles (GPS)	1533	1235
Miles (Odometer)	1088	-
Guaranteed miles (GPS)	2001	1729

Port Huron, MI

Back in the US, back in the US, back in the USSA.

No Michigan sign in sight. So you get a map.

Today's theme...

... is "take no prisoners". Let's just say we're passing more cars
than are passing us.

If you're wondering what exciting things we're seeing, go outside,
find your nearest interstate highway, and stare at it for 8 or 9 hours.

Day 3 recap - Niagara Falls

Just the bullet points, today. Long night, late morning. Calling it in.

• We hit 5 minutes of rain right outside of Canton. It was light. We thought we were lucky. It was a sign of things to come.
• We crossed at Ogdensburg, NY. Took us forever to find the border crossing. You think it would be easy to find the only bridge crossing the St Lawrence river anywhere near there. Not so much. A special thanks to weird redneck guy and his kids for pointing us in the right direction. Sorry to disrupt your morning swim.
• Border crossings are so much better at little towns. I've waited an hour on the highway on I-87 trying to get through. But you come to a little place like Ogdensburg, you're the only person. Literally. Plus, leave it to the Canadian border crew for maintaining a spotless bathroom for the morning business.
• But the other side of the crossing ... There was this steel grate bridge across the St Lawrence river...I can already tell you that's gonna be the worst part of the trip. This thing was slick and squirrely. It had a mind of it's own. We went over this thing just trying to keep things upright. I am seriously glad it wasn't wet. That bridge must take down at least a few motorcycles a year. Do you have anything to declare? Yeah, that bridge sucks.
• Our ride was 250 miles of slab to Toronto. It was mind-numbingly dull (For me, anyway. EG is much more in tune with the zen of highway riding than I am. He liked it just fine.)
• Major rainstorms all day, off and on. The last one was easily the worst rain ever -- the clouds loomed over the horizon all full of lightening, and we just rode right into it. The first time either of us has stopped under an overpass to let the storm pass.
• I'll admit it. We come to Canada for the caché of riding to another country. But the roads up here are just terrible. Straight, flat, horrible condition. If I lived up here, I probably wouldn't bother owning a bike. And they have to do all the road repair in the warm months, which in Canada means July, so everywhere you go, it's all torn up.
• We saw very few motorbikes on the road yesterday. Personally, I think it's because Canadian roads suck for motorcycling and nobody wants to bother. Everybody else has different theories.
• Everybody in Canada uses daytime running lights. Sure, it's safe, but it makes it much harder to pick out Eric's headlight in my rearview mirror. It's a sea of headlights, and I'm constantly having to search to make him out and make sure he's still out there. Which, of course, he is.
• I just need to remember this for next year (because I forgot from last year) but E just prefers to ride in the number 2 position. I think that's fine. I like being up front. But I should stop trying to give him time up front. He'd rather be in the back taking pictures and doing his own thing.
• We passed this factory on the 401 that looked like a Demuth painting. It was pretty awesome. I could have looked at it for hours.
• We passed some great places. Hardscrabble Rd. Cobbledick Rd. The kind of signs you want pictures of, but they pass so quick, you have no chance. Also Wild Cat Zoo, Nuclear Information Center, Hell Hole Landing, Ontario.
• The hotel is fine. Full of bikes/bikers. Close enough to everything.
• Niagara Falls is a circus. I mentioned it earlier, but there seriously are 10 wax museums and a thousand haunted houses. It's tourist-kitsch-extreme. Ripley's is making a killing on paid admissions.
• We hit the Beef Baron for dinner. so-so steaks, but the best waiter ever. Nathan was a lot of fun, and super helpful. He's just the sort of guy you want taking care of you when you're in a strange town. He definitely earned his tip. About a local bar, his sage advice: "I haven't been there in years, but I heard it's getting better."
• From there, it was a night-time look at the falls, fireworks and the casino.
• We spent a couple hours at the roulette table. I left up 60$. Together we left up 10$. The place was too crowded, which is why we left. But we were hitting numbers left and right. Eric's first time playing roulette, and he hit 22 twice in a row, on his first two spins of the wheel. Beginner's luck, indeed.
• We ended up at a bar on the west side of town. Sketchy place, which is apparently in the prostitute district. And I'll tell you, the prostitutes here are rough. Seriously, they walk funny -- let's not forget that.
• Today is the biggest ride of the trip. 460 miles across the top of Lake Erie and South to Dayton. Lots of slab. Should get our tires all squared off for when we hit the mountains. (For those of you that don't ride, that's not good.)

Fireworks and ferris wheels

Niagara Falls is insane. 7 wax museums. 2 Ripley's. 11haunted houses.
Every crazy tourist trap rolled into one. And this:

Hmmmmm. I'm dubious.

Hotel desk guy says this is the only steak we want to eat. We shall see.

Day 3 stats

Niagara Falls, On, CA wikipedia | Google Map

Day 3	RP	EG
Time on bikes	9:45	9:42
Moving time	6:20	6:32
Miles (GPS)	334	334
Miles (Odometer)	351	-
Overall average speed	34.3	34.3
Max Speed	102	107
Totals
Time on bikes	28:35	21:36
Moving time	20:38	15:03
Miles (GPS)	1030	732
Miles (Odometer)	1088	-
Guaranteed miles (GPS)	1517	1086

Another view

This is maybe a third of the bikes out front. Bike friendly place,
this one.

Niagara Falls hotel view

Destination: Niagara

North around Lake Ontario. Heading to this lovely establishment. 325 miles coming right up.

Eric's morning quote

"I'm never going on a motorcycle tour again. It's the inconveniences that get me."

(re: he woke up at 7:30.)

I-87

Canton, NY - Day 2 recap

The day started out rough, as there was a bit of a martini hangover involved, and I forgot my evaporative cooling vest and had to go back, thus delaying our start. But from there it was fine. The highlights, as remembered by Eric and me over a scotch debrief session:

• Bike inspection. Erics bike passed no problem. Duchess Recreational Vehicles took care of him. I got stuck with the $6 bill.
• From there it was a pleasant but unmemorable ride across the corner of Conn. into Mass.
• Slow going up Mass 7. We stopped for lunch at this crazy roadside burger/ice cream shack, manned by a flirty 16 year old in pink hot pants that have her mother doing novenas. She is hereby referred to as Suzy Q. The food took forever. There were a million motorbikes that passed by as we waited. The bathroom was "Through that door. Through the kitchen. Past the dishwashers. On the back wall."
• We had planned to run up through Vermont, and ride the Green mountains, but we lost so much time that we bailed out, cut West, and did a high-speed run up I-87 to make up time.
  
• Eric and I have very different techniques for riding on the slab. Discussion has started, and is ongoing. We'll have it sorted out in a couple days.
• There were no trucks out all day. Not even on I-87. It is Saturday, but still, You usually see some. Was a welcome change.
• On NY 87 N, we rode alongside an impossibly long train traveling in our direction, but at half our speed. It was oddly captivating for both of us. I found it fascinating that there were several open-top train cars full of loose mulch. I didn't expect to see that.
• Williams College in Williamstown, MA is a beautiful campus, in a beautiful town. I have no idea what there story is, but send your kids there. (Um...turns out that they're doing pretty OK for themselves.)
• The streak of just missing rain continues. We rode into a couple areas where rain had just finished (wet roads, misty weather. ominous clouds.) And when we pulled into Canton, a storm started as we were unpacking our bikes.
  
• We stopped at a great outdoors shop called The Mountaineer in Keene, NY. Nice people, great shop.
  
• From Keene to Lake Placid is a great run from 1000ft to 2300ft, in no time at all. Winding your way up, feeling the air get colder, watching the plants change with elevation. (Side note: most people don't realize because they haven't needed to think about it, but when dealing with the Appalachians/Eastern/US mountain ranges, if you want twisty roads, head East-West. If you want sweeping roads, head North-South.)
• I can't even begin to describe ski jumps. They're absolutely unbelievable. This was the second time I've seen the Lake Placid ones. You can't miss them as you come up on them. They're like 30 story tall industrial structures. But when you get in close...they're mind-blowing. Definitely take a trip near them and see them if you can. Lake Placid, Salt Lake, wherever you can.
• We stopped for a snack (which ended up being dinner) at a pub in Lake Placid. It was a welcomed respite. We got off the road, reset, and were totally set for the final run of the day.
• E had some drama with the bike. We were both totally worried, thinking he had some clutch issues. Ghosts in the machine, and all. But it turns out we were just not realizing his bike has a sidestand lockout/kill switch that was jacking with our simple parking routine.
• I haven't seen all of America, but I've seen a lot of it. And I can honestly say that the Adirondacks are the most beautiful place I've ever seen here. The Grand Canyon...Yellowstone...the Maine coast...all favorites. But routes 73, 86, 3 through the Adirondacks are just amazing. Breathtaking. Unreal.

Best Western in Canton, NY. A few drinks in. No dinner to speak of except for the snack in Lake Placid 8 hours ago. time for sleep, but having a wonderful time.

Day 2 stats

Canton, NY wikipedia | Google Map

Day 2	RP	EG
Time on bikes	12:27	11:54
Moving time	8:29	8:31
Miles (GPS)	398	398
Miles (Odometer)	418	418
Overall average speed	31.9	33.4
Max Speed	94	91
Totals
Time on bikes	18:50	11:54
Moving time	14:18	8:31
Miles (GPS)	696	398
Miles (Odometer)	737	418
Guaranteed miles (GPS)	1097	686

Lake Placid

There is no way a photograph can capture the scale of ski jumps.

Grasshopper hunting

They're in season.

For Brian

Summer home

If I ever buy one, it might just be in the Berkshires. It's pretty
lovely up here.

G'morning

Connie

Karl

Day 1 stats

Day 1	RP	EG
Time on bikes	6:23	-
Moving time	5:49	-
Miles (GPS)	298	-
Miles (Odometer)	319	-
Overall average speed	46;	-
Max Speed	93	-
Totals
Time on bikes	6:23	-
Moving time	5:49	-
Miles (GPS)	298	-
Miles (Odometer)	319	-
Guaranteed miles (GPS)	596	-

RP's gear at Tall Pines Lodge

Day 1. Hopewell Junction, NY

Here inHopewell Junction. Made it safe. I just beat the storms that I can only describe as biblical. They literally started 15 minutes after I showed up and haven't let up yet. This town is underwater.

The first half of today's ride was one of the worst I've ever had. Just terrible.

1. Got up 2 hours late.
2. Broke both locks on the left saddlebag. Couldn't latch the thing shut. 30 minutes to repair.
3. Got 10 blocks away and had to run back to my place.
4. Hit 495/95 and it was a parking lot. I made it 20 miles in the first hour. 100 in the first three hours.
5. Earbuds kept coming unseated which is like riding without earplugs. Which I seriously don't like.

6. Delaware memorial bridge was backed up. Took 30+ minute to cover the 5 miles up to the bridge. Bike was on the verge of overheating the whole time
7. All the way, my EZ-pass wasn't working. I went through 10 tolls, and it only registered 5 out of the 10 tolls I went through. Cameras were flashing on my tags as I blew through the booths.

8. I went through a construction zone at mile 7. Caught a bunch of sand like grit in my left eye. I didn't manage to get it out of my eye and flushed until , oh about mile 75.

But then I hit the NJ turnpike and everything changed. Now normally the tpk is the worst part of this ride. Hands down. But today, whole different story.

The NJ turnpike had zero traffic (as in nobody but me) and zero cops. Normally it's crawling with both. So I set the throttle lock at 78 mph, and never let up. Turnpike, Gardens State Parkway, Palisades Parkway. I made terrific time. The ride was great. Everything is set up just right. My morning valve job is still smooth as can be. In the end I averaged the same time I would have if there were no traffic.

As soon as I hit, I changed the final drive oil again, just to look. there's still metal fuzz in it. And now it's martinis on the coasters and steaks on the grill as I type. We're both super stoked about the ride tomorrow. More packing and setup to do tonight, but it's mostly fine tuning at this point.

Valve drama - ready to roll

Got a late start this morning. Wanted to get up at 7, stayed up a little too late last night and got up at 10. I was hoping I'd be able to write this 2 hours ago, but at least I can now.

When a bike is running well, you should never change anything on it before leavingon a long trip. Too many chances to mess things up. Well, I'm tempting that fate.

My valve adjustment has been overdue. Coming back from the beach last weekend showed me how badly it needed done. I was getting a lot of vibration through the grips and footpegs. After 2 hours, my hands and feet were going numb. I knew I needed it done.

Now the last time I did my valves myself, it was a disaster. I never got it quite right. Made things worse and worse, until I had to take it into a dealer. Having learned that lesson I decided to look for a shop that could do it. I checked every dealership near where we'll be, and nobody could help out. So I knew I was on my own.

Called up Aaron a couple days ago, and borrowed his throttle body syncing tool. Spent a couple days reading up. Decided to go for it.

Now you have to do the adjustments when the bike is cold, which means morning was the only option. Had to work this week, so couldn't do it before then (takes too long). That meant I had to take off all day today to do it in the moments right before the trip.

I'm happy to report that it was an unqualified success. Took 2 hours. There was much sweating. But everything came out great. Valves adjusted. Throttle bodies synced. Bike is smooth as silk.

Now I have to load up everything onto the bike (It's all in my living room. Saddle bags and all.) and I'm ready to roll. No point in taking a shower. It's a hot one out there and I'm going to be a sweaty grimy mess in an hour anyway.

Should be rolling up to Hopewell Junction in 30 minutes.

Update and a question

I'm jealously viewing all this talk of moto3our while recovering from knee surgery.  (You should see this thing.  It's disgusting.  It's bigger than RP's head).  

Update - The R1150R is officially totalled, according to the insurance company.  They're not happy at my insistence that I be fully compensated for all the aftermarket stuff, but if we have to litigate that, I will.  That lady owes me a fully-tricked R1150R, and that's that. 

Question - Road comms?  What's the plan?  Just hand signals?  

Any discussion of a radio solution?  RP and I kicked this around years ago, but ultimately decided that (1) we didn't want to hear each other's opinions that much; (2) we thought it would be distracting; (3) tunes were more important, and a solution that allowed for tunes to be cut out by voice comms was prohibitively complicated and expensive.  

But it's still an interesting idea.  I'm not sure why it's so hard to have a system that would (1) have a voice activated mike that would output through any old headphones and (2) would cut out the music when voice comes in.  

The trick is keeping the "any old headphones" - we all have some that we want to keep and it's a very personal choice.  All those helmet speaker systems are useless, because I can't ride without earplugs of some sort.  

In the end, the hand signals worked out just fine for us.  If a perfect system existed for voice comms, it would be cool and arguably safer ("Watch out for the guy parked at the curb - he's about to open his door").

But then you'd have to deal with the "singing out loud in the helmet" problem.  

Brian's ZG Heat Shields for the Concours

So, we talked a bit about the in-the-saddle heat of the Connie -- it's a little much. I can def. see how it would be awesome in the chillier spring and falls days, but for the summer its a little hot. Not deadly -- but an issue. And if you have thick blood like me and heat drives you crazy, well, its a problem. To me, San Franciso has the right approach to high temperatures. The Connie would do great there.

I have been hearing about this great Concours "community" and so I gave them the test and started searching their sites' forums for heat solutions. After about 30 minutes of searching I came across DIY kits and also what everyone seems to recognize as the undisputed heat abatement champ: Brian's ZG Heat Shields.

Basically, its custom molded ABS inserts that seal off the engine cavity accompanied with gaskets that divert hot air out under the bike instead of out the sides onto your legs and thighs.

The community has left post after post praising these things, so I sent Brian a note today and asked if he could express ship me a set. Two hours later, I had a FedEx tracking number.

If these things work half as good as they're supposed to, I'll be plenty thankful. And I am mightily impressed with this, my first experience with the Concours community -- those who say, "Come for the bike, stay for the people."

More posts on how well these bad boys work out to come.

Here's some photos of them installed on other people's bikes.

For Reference (on Route)

Here's what we did last year:


NB: Day three, we spent three hours at a maintenance stop (Bangor Power Sports) and day seven included a two-hour ferry transit from New London to Point Orient.

Advanced route planning

Getting specific

Day 0 (RP only) - 294 mi

Day 1 - 329 mi

Day 2 - 329 mi

Day 3 - 453 mi

Day 4 - 384 mi

Day 5 - 330 mi

Day 6 - 323 mi

Day 7 - 297 mi

Day 8 - 375 mi

Day 9 (EG only) - 294 mi

Total - 3144 mi

Side note: If you told me I'd spend my birthday riding from Nashville to Atlanta, I'd be underwhelmed. But if you told me I'd spend my birthday passing through Huntsville going to the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville it gets a lot more interesting.

Returning to Space Camp, 22 years later, and seeing the simulator where I tragically crashed the space shuttle into the northern Texas panhandle...that's awesome.

Some stress kicking in, with a little perspective

OK. So down here in DC, things are a little stressful.

Less than 4 days, and I'm way behind. Normally by now, I'm mostly packed, and testing out things like the ergonomics of my Gobstopper holder. But I've overbooked my social calendar, and have put myself in a tight spot.

I've started throwing some things together, only to realize I'm missing essential stuff. No spare bulbs for the bike. Or fuses. Or earplugs. Or enough pairs of decent riding socks. Bag seals still not replaced (and it looks like it's going to be a wet tour). I lost my sunglasses and haven't replaced them yet. The route still isn't figured out. My bike still needs a valve adjustment and the final oil swap in the final drive.

Basically that little module on the right that says "Planning is 87% complete" is a big fat lie. And it taunts me.

And I have plans every night this week, until I leave Friday.

I'm hoping to find time to get it all done. But if I can't, one thing I've learned about motorcycle touring is that on the road, preparedness can ultimately be substituted with a decent limit on the credit card.

Would I be happier to have the extra quart of Mobil 1 in the saddlebags instead of having to by the cheap quart of oil at the 7-11 in the middle of the night a week from now? You bet. But in the end, it's about the ride, not the planning. And the midnight run for that overpriced quart of generic oil that I cringingly put in my bike will make for a more memorable story than making time for a run to the auto parts store tomorrow.

And now: Home.

And, you know, happy to be here. Walked the dog. Stretched. Took a shower. Need to get a drink -- but settled for ice tea. I was distracted by riding, so I didn't do any stats, but I do know I was home by about 5:30. Not bad for a 300-mile trip that started around 11 am.

Oh -- forgot to say. I ran out of gas on a quick victory lap on the Taconic State Parkway. I don't think this is really a 7.5 gallon tank. Had it been, I would have been good for 300+ miles, instead of running bone dry at 217. Yes, the gauge showed empty -- and had been showing that for a while -- but I thought the odometer and the factory specs would be more accurate than the gauge. I was wrong. Gas in the reserve tank got me to the next Gulf station.

All in all, great day. Very successful and overall very fulfilling. Spectacular.

Special thanks to RP for all his help. EG out!

Route 206

Route 206
Originally uploaded by Tall Pines Lodge

This is on 206, near Princeton, NJ. A nice 25-mile 2-lane break from the slab between DC and NY. Just a quick stop to stretch and reposition myself.

Speaking of route, let's talk about it. I live up in Hopewell Junction, NY -- about 60 miles north of Manhattan. So, coming from DC, the idea is to skip all the congestion of NJ and the NYC approach and try and get some nice roads as a substitute.

Today was:

• 95 North out of DC for 170 miles
• 206 N for 25 miles
• 287 N, 50 mi.
• 87 N, 30 mi.
• 84 E, 10 mi.

Interstate 95 was exactly what it was -- Interstate 95. Full of cars, lots of speed, lots of bull crap. Then 206 through Princeton, NJ was nice -- a 25 mile breather of quaint 2-lane and small-city driving. Calming.

287-87-84 is a really nice part of the trip. I know these roads up here, and these last three are really nice. Big, long, sweeping super slab all winding through some really gorgeous NY scenery. RP -- next time, do it this way.


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99 Mile

99 Mile
Originally uploaded by Tall Pines Lodge

You can't really see it (click on the pic, then click "other sizes" right above the photo), but the trip odometer on the right is just showing itself slipping into its 100th mile. Hot damn!

A hundred miles into the first 300-mile day on this thing. Things are going really well -- but I wished I had got the clock in this photo. I'll try to remember doing that going forward.

Later in the day, I also had the good fortune of happening to just glance down and see it rolling into 200, and then 300, miles. Its just nice watching that.

The Connie is HOT as hell. I mean, this fairing takes like 90% of the wind away. Still, I'm not suffering too much. The riding pants are like my new best friend with the mesh panels, and the Vanson mesh jackets is great too. I had a Buff neck gator with me, soaked with water, too -- and that did surprisingly well, requiring only rewatering every hour or so. Yes, the bike is hot, no doubt about it -- but my gear is very cooling, so it all works out. Bottom line? Manageable.

RP and I stiffened up the suspension this morning and things are feeling real good. Throttle lock is working well. Mirrors are good, but things look a LOT farther away then they really are. Gotta watch for that.

All the gear checks out. Boots, jacket, pants, gloves, helmet -- all are less than a month old. And they all cut the mustard. Fantastic.

Mechanics

Mechanics
Originally uploaded by Tall Pines Lodge

Right out of the gate this morning, there's problems. I didn't figure it out for about 150 miles, but somehow this little black knob in the bottom right of this photo (just under the carbs, on the right) got played with. We could have done it last night, or even this morning.

That know? It's the idle speed adjustment knob. And it got cranked to its lowest setting. Which meant hard starting this morning, followed by a ride where every time I had it in neutral or pulled in the clutch long enough for the RPMs to fall to zero, the bike stalled out. Endlessly annoying and a real, real inconvenience and safety issue in traffic.

My in-progress work-around was dialing in the choke to fuel up the mixture and inflate the idle to 1,100 RPMs. After finding that to work reasonably well, it was just a minor mental leap to start thinking about the idle speed adjustment.

At lunch, I dialed up the idle speed, and everything been fine since.

There's also a weird oscillation in the front end, so I am going to check the fork dampening tomorrow, make sure they're at the same setting.

Ah. Last issue. I don't think this bike has an Anti-lock Braking System, but when I brake real hard on the front brakes, it sure feels like ABS. Pulsating brakes. Going to have to hit up the user group about that.

RP has been in DC too long.

RP has been in DC too long.
Originally uploaded by Tall Pines Lodge

Wow, yeah. Its like an untrained dog. I've never seen a picture of the Scissor Sisters, but in my mind, this is what their day off looks like.

Anyway, here's the Connie, all owned and picked up and dealt with. As you can see, RP is already taking liberties. This is Saturday morning in DC, the back of RP's apartment, just before heading off on the initiation ride to NY.

Yesterday I hauled ass to work on the Metro-North (60 mi.), then jumped on a BoltBus (Never tried it? Not bad, really!) to DC (250 mi.). Then, RP picked me up and I rode backseat to Ram Cycles (in Rockville, MD, 30 mi.) and then back to RP's (25 mi.). That's 365 miles for the day, 55 of that on a motorcycle, 25 in the driver's seat. Its a long day no matter who's driving.

We got ripped to the tits afterwards.

Bike prep status report

The GS is almost ready to go.

My last point of paranoia (finding metal fuzz in the final drive fluid) has been taken care of. Repeated flushings of the fluid have cleared it out. I've been running cheap gear oil through it and changing it out every couple hundred miles (normally you do it every 6000). The last flush finally showed it clean. All the metal has been flushed out. After heading to the beach this weekend, I'll swap it out one more time with the good stuff and ignore it for 6k.

Last weekend's trip to WV was great. I got two things squared away that I had been hoping to do, but wasn't sure if I'd get to.

First was tuning the performance chip. Thanks to help from my dad, I managed to find baseline settings and get the chip programmed. From there it was just some test riding and one more adjustment until everything was just right. No more surging, no more backfiring. I could try to fine tune it to get the gas mileage optimal, but it's a major pain in the ass, and for not much payoff. I might be able to get 1 or 2 more miles per gallon out of it. I can save more gas than that by riding a little more conservatively on the first couple days.

Second up was more suspension tuning. I think I have things where I want them, now. everything is feeling great. Of course I'll have to adjust when the bike is loaded and under full weight, but that's easy enough.

The GS's to do list:

• Replace saddlebag seals
• Replace saddlebag frame bumper
• Final final drive oil change
• Final suspension adjustment
• Touch up peeling state lettering on the passenger seat plate
• Clean out oil cooler radiator fins
• Come up with a gobstopper holding/dispensing solution

Geek out!

The '83 Interceptor is history, the '01 Connie is registered and ready to be brought up from DC Saturday. Going to be a great day -- but what about all that rain? (Update: Chance of rain down to 10%. Cool! --ecg)

OK -- who wants to geek out? Here's a little side-by-side action:

Spec	'83 Interceptor	'01 Connie
Rake	28.5º	28.5º
Trail	3.7"	4.8"
Length	85"	90"
Width	30.3"	37"
Height	47.8"	55"
Ground Clearance	6.1"	5.1"
Seat Height	32.3"	31"
Weight (Dry)	511 lbs.	595 lbs.
Wheelbase	60.7"	61.2"
Alternator	300w	400w
Fuel Capacity	6 gal	7.5 gal
Range	270 mi	340 mi

Detailed route planning (RP)

Yes, those are all maps. Route through St. Louis is complete. Second
half in progress.