Chilly, foggy rides

[caption id="attachment_719" align="alignright" width="327" caption="Weather.gov calls it 'ice fog'"][/caption]

It's been cold the past few mornings as I rode into work. Yesterday and today were both foggy and below freezing. If you travel through it long enough, the fog freezes on the surfaces of your bike, face shield, and even on your gloves and jacket. The road surface was fairly dry, although it had a nice shine to it in my neighborhood as I first headed out. I took my time and rode cautiously, as as if it were raining (which it did three days ago).

In addition to the freezing fog, the stock battery on my 2007 V-Strom was finally due to be replaced. It served me well, 35,000 miles over 4 years (my bike's 4th birthday is a week from today) which is better than normal. I swung over to Yamaha Sports Plaza in Fairview, OR on my way home yesterday and bought a new gel battery for $87, then Steve, the service manager, installed it for me right there, free of charge. They not only sell Suzuki parts but their service techs are fully qualified and experienced Suzuki wrench-heads, some of whom worked for Action Motor Sports, the previous dealership where I bought my bike four years ago (in the same location). Although they didn't have a lot of people browsing the shiny new bikes in the showroom, Steve told me they are third in the world for Yamaha parts on-line. Way to go!

Commuting in the rain

It was 37 degrees and raining when I rode into work this morning, yet I was completely comfortable and actually enjoyed the ride. "There's no such thing as bad weather, only poor choices in clothing."

Late January local rides

I've had some time off of work and took the opportunity to get some long day rides under my belt. My first trip was up the Clackamas river road to Ripplebrook ranger station. Not wanting to turn back, I kept going up toward Lake Harriett. My intention was to keep riding toward Timothy Lake until snow or road conditions forced me to turn back. Unfortunately they had the road gated closed about a mile past Harriet and I had to turn around and head back.

[caption id="attachment_712" align="alignright" width="212" caption="Gated road to the back side of Timothy Lake"][/caption]

I veered off onto the gravel road to Lake Harriet and rode past a half dozen die-hard fishermen trying to catch brown trout at Harriet. Several looked at me funny but nodded in approval anyway as I rode past.

Two days later I took a jaunt south toward Stayton. I stopped at the Silver Creek Coffee House in Silverton for a mocha and chatted with Greg, the new owner. He had ridden a lot as a young man but now had too many other hobbies to afford a motorcycle (including working 7 days a week at his coffee shop). Warmed up, I continued south until I got to a crossroad with highway 214. I headed east on 214 and rode the loop past Silver Falls State Park which brought me back into Silverton. There was quite a bit of gravel on the road from recent freezes so I had to take it slow when riding through the park. I fueled up in Molalla on my way back home.

Between the two rides my bike was filthy but happy sitting in my garage. Riding this time of year usually involves cold temperatures and precipitation, so my bike tends to have a dull well-ridden look. I also have my outdoor water faucets turned off to prevent freezing so washing the bike is not an easy option.

In a product related note, I've been wearing a pair of Aerostich triple-digit glove covers during the colder rides lately. They work as advertised, keeping moisture away from my gloves underneath and adding warmth. A more accurate way to describe their function is they enable me to ride longer in the winter before my hands get cold -- which they eventually do no matter what.

Cold and foggy with a full moon

I rode into work for the second day in a row today. It's been foggy both days, but today was colder -- 28°. We had a full moon last night and it was setting in front of me as I rode toward town. My bike has over 34,000 miles now and although I commute a lot, usually once a week or more year round, the majority of those miles are from the big trips I take. During the summer I also take a lot of weekend day trips of 100 to 200 miles each.

When I see my bike parked behind the building at work I think in my head, “Be patient, my friend, we will be going on a trip soon enough.”

Describing the experience

I am conflicted when it comes to writing about my bike trips. Part of me wants to describe every detail and every experience and provide photos of the entire trip. When I'm standing atop an amazing viewpoint, looking down on a remote river valley or gazing up at a majestic mountain, I think of my friends and family and wish they could be there to experience it and see it as well.

[caption id="attachment_701" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Overlooking the Pacific on Hwy 1, north of San Francisco"][/caption]

There is another part of me, however, that has a different view of the issue. Sometimes I even hold a slight resentment for those that didn't make the trip. I'm the one that rode hundreds or even thousands of miles to get there, I'm the one that put in the time, effort, and expense to make that experience possible. Why should others benefit from the photos and descriptions without having to pay the price to obtain them?

Selfishly, I love reading the ride reports provided by other people when they visit exotic places. I get frustrated when they don't provide enough photographs. We all like to live vicariously through other people and to experience what they have as well. It's exciting to hear about other people's adventures and to see what they went through.

[caption id="attachment_702" align="alignleft" width="426" caption="5,000 feet below"][/caption]

It's hypocritical for me to want to read about other people's adventures without wanting to share my own. I realize this. On the other hand, I like it when people take an interest in my motorcycle trips. I also hope that someday it will inspire others to want to take up the activity as well, although I am under no illusions about it. Maybe 1% of the people that hear my stories take the action necessary to do it themselves and I can accept that. Motorcycling is not for everyone, and many of my friends and family think I'm nuts for doing it.

That may be true. But that doesn't stop me from doing it.

Perhaps my stories and photographs inspire people in a different way. Instead of motivating them to take up motorcycling, it may instill in them an appreciation for the diversity and wonder of our planet. When they see a photograph of a mountain or a desert or river and hear my description of the geography and topology of the area, perhaps it will inspire them to visit that place (regardless of how they get there, on two wheels or four).

[caption id="attachment_703" align="alignright" width="300" caption="I've seen some amazing sights"][/caption]

When I'm on a trip the thought that goes through my mind more than any other is, "I wish so-and-so could see this." It's not just the places that I stop and see, it's the whole experience of traveling through those areas as well. Not all wonderful things are static, many are dynamic as well. Zooming down a curvy road at the bottom of a river canyon is a completely different but equally magnificent experience than standing on a viewpoint above it looking down. I try my best to describe it in words but it's something that just has to be experienced in person to be fully appreciated. When I'm having a good ride, the last thing I want to do is stop and take pictures -- I want to keep riding!

Maybe I should put a disclaimer at the beginning of every ride report that says, "You really should see this for yourself. It's worth the trip."

It truly is.

Chilly rides into work

[Updated 1/4/2010] It's been a pair of chilly rides to work this week. The temperature gauge has been below 25 every morning. Air seeps around my face shield and chills my cheeks and forehead. I got a pair of 'Triple Digit' glove covers from Aerostich as a Christmas present and they work great in the cold weather. After taking a week off between Christmas and new year, it was good to get back to work. I only got a few short rides in during the break, all of them cold or wet. This time of year, that's about the extent of my rides.

Crash bars and skid plate

I am slowly preparing for a trip to Alaska (Prudhoe Bay, specifically) and part of that preparation is equipping my bike to handle the trip. The V-Strom is a very capable motorcycle and can be accessorized in many different ways - relatively inexpensively - half the cost of equipping a BMW with equal or better reliability. It can be equipped to handle pavement as well as off-road riding. When I head North, my bike will need to handle both.

The underside of the engine of the 650 is relatively unprotected. I extended my front fender ("Fenda Extenda") to reduce road spray and rocks flying up against the engine, but sometimes that's not enough. I decided to add a skid plate to protect the engine even further.

Through a scratch-and-dent sale, Twisted Throttle offered discounted prices on crash bars that were shipped improperly from the factory, some of which had minor blemishes (hence the discount). I jumped at the deal and ordered a pair as well as a matching skid plate, both made by SW-Motech. After the parts arrived I inspected them but couldn't find a single flaw or blemish. I really only wanted the skid plate but it requires the crash bars for installation and extra protection is a good thing.

I laid out all the parts, inspected the instructions, and noticed that although it described all of the parts used during installation, it didn't give any directions describing what order installation was to occur. Because the skid plate attaches to the crash bars, I had to install them first.

Installing the crash bars is a relatively easy process, and the only thing I had to remove were two black plastic fairing pieces from the sides of the engine. A single hex head screw was all it required. The instructions said to only remove and install one side at a time to prevent the engine from shifting. Easy enough. The Suzuki factory uses Loctite on its screws so it took some torque to remove them, but once that was done the crash bars installed fairly easily using the hardware provided.

I noticed a problem with the instructions once I had started the skid plate installation. The bracket that joins the two crash bars in front of the engine can be installed one of two ways; with the mounting nuts facing forward or backward toward the engine. The crash bar instructions show the nuts facing backward toward the engine. Once you install the skid plate, however, the instructions show the nuts facing forward. Because of this I had to remove one crash bar and flip the bracket around once I began installing the skip plate.

The skid plate installation was a little bit more difficult, in part because it's on the underside of the motorcycle, but also because some of the bolts that have to be removed are much more difficult to access. The mounting bracket on the right side of the engine was easy to get to, but the two mounting bolts on the left side - which are used to attach the kickstand - were very difficult to remove. The rear bolt is difficult to get to. Perseverance solves many things, however, and eventually I got the skid plate mounted successfully.

These protective accessories, once added to the bike, increase its weight slightly but offer a great deal of protection when riding off road. I think they add a little bit to the ugly beauty of the bike as well. After riding the bike a bit afterward I can tell it turns into corners a bit quicker than it used to, presumably because of the added weight.

Here's the full view, showing several other farkles as well (see my 'Gear' page for the complete list):

[caption id="attachment_694" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Fully farkled"][/caption]