BlueBomber's Blog Of Awesomeness.

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BlueBomber
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BlueBomber's Blog Of Awesomeness.

#1 Unread post by BlueBomber »

Let's start witha little background. If you want to find out some information about me you can snoop around here: http://www.myspace.com/faygo409 or here http://ubergeek2.livejournal.com

If you have any questions...just ask. I actually enjoy answering questions.

I am new to this...not new to blogging...new to motorcycles. I'm just starting out and I have a somewhat familiar tale of getting into the mix of motorcycles, but maybe with a different perspective. I will write about how and why I got into these marvelous machines, and my progress, and my plans.

Eventually this will just become a "stuff me and my bike did today, and my thoughts on it" type of blog. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Also I may link to other posts or blogs I've made elsewhere, and I may even set up a podcast (since I have a very nice stage mic set up on my computer now)

Hang on tight. We're going for a ride.

\/\/
Suzuki Boulevard M50 - Bright Blue

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The Beginning...

#2 Unread post by BlueBomber »

In the beginning there was nothing, then there was a spark of an idea, followed by much research, followed by much spending of money and much rejoicing. (and grumbling from my lady friend.)

As I keep mentioning, I used to race Go Karts. I had a lot of fun with that when I was a kid, but it really took a lot of time out of my life...time spent not actually racing and having fun...time spent waiting for other people to race, and time driving to the track and 6 days a week that I had no method for using my most expensive toy. So when I started thinking about a way to get some of that feeling back I was looking for something more practical. For once Motorcycles are more practical, and I'm not talking about saving on gas money.

With a motorcycle I have that same type of fun just driving to work, or when I get home from work I can take the bike out for a ride around the countryside, follow the roads along the lake and carve through some hills.

I loved the idea of that, and I have liked motorcycles for as long as I can remember. I'd only ever been a passenger a half a dozen times on the back of my Uncle Greg's Honda (I was like 12 I don't know what kind of Honda!)

Some of my classmates were riding motorcycles and I was slightly entrigued...a few semesters later and one of my partners in my class bought a used Ninja 500 for pretty cheap and he was having a lot of fun tooling around on it, and saving a ton of gas compared to his Ford Explorer.

I happened to be behind him on the drive home one day and I was pretty jealous about it. *I* wanted to be riding a motorcylce too!

So I looked into it. I did some reasearch online. I read TMW's Beginner's Guide. I bought The Complete Idiot's Guide To Motorcycles and The Motorcycle Safety Foundation's Guide to Motorcycling Excellence and I read them from cover to cover.

I stopped in to a dozen different cycle shops. I sat on at least a hundred different motorcycles. I researched all of the ones that I liked and I made a list of certain things I wanted and got a feel for the type of prices involved.

I went to the DMV and took my Class M Permit test. I now had a motorcycle permit...but zero motorcycle experience and nobody with an old bike kicking around that I would be willing to ride. I know one guy with a nice full dress Vulcan 1500 that he had JUST BOUGHT and one guy with a V-Rod. Then two other Harley's (a fat boy and I think an anniversary 1200 sportster) none of which I would dare even look at too closely for fear of hurting something let alone tool around a parking lot and learn to ride.

So I did "the right thing" which turned out to be the *best* thing. I signed up for the MSF Beginner RiderCourse.

I'll do a write up about my experience in the course, but overall it was a great time and I learned a LOT and I became rather comfortable operating a motorcycle.

Actually this is part is out of order, and a lot of people complain about doing things the way I did...but I got lucky and it worked out for me. I believe this is because I did a lot of research before making any deicions...

I bought my motorcylce before I had taken the MSF course. *pause for eye rolling, smiking and finally acceptence* A lot of you probably did it as well, and that's probably why a lot of people always urge you to wait, because it didn't work out as well for them.

I toally agree with them though, take the course and then get a bike. Any experience you have to work with will make your final bike selection a better one.

Anyway I ended up buying a Suzuki Boulevard M50 with the "Special" color - Brght Blue (I think there's also a grey...) I got a pretty good deal on an '06 model in July of '06.

Before buying the bike, and after I had made up my mind I started ordering my riding gear: First Gear MeshTex 3 jacket (blue) FirstGear HT Mesh Overpants (black is your only option) JoeRocket mesh gloves, Joe Rocket waterproof ballistic gloves...etc

I bought the bike and my dad drove it home. I later bought a cover for my bike and my new helmet (blue to match).

so THEN I took my RiderCourse and recieved my license. Now I had to do all of those things...on my own bike *eep*.

To be honest I was pretty nervouse about laying it down or something. I had driven it around a parking lot for a dozen miles when I had a permit...but the flow of traffic, or at least streets, is pretty intimidating when you're already nervous.

On Halloween I got home from school and I still had some time before the traffic picked up at 5 and the kids would come out to trick-or-treat and it wasn't raining so I decided I needed to get some riding time in. I set out on a path I had thought up that would include both right and left turns, both happening after a stop and while just turning. Plenty of stops, lots of intersections and speeds ranging from 25-55mph.

I completed my loop of about 13 miles and it felt good, but I still had some reservations. I need more practice, and I really needed to reflect on the experience overall.

I'll do that in my next post.

\/\/
Suzuki Boulevard M50 - Bright Blue

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#3 Unread post by BlueBomber »

I've been meaning to write this up for a while...but I've been spending my free time trying to squeeze in some more miles on my bike before the serious snowfall.

On Halloween I got home from class at 3pm. Still early enough for light, and early enough that the kids won't be out yet as well. I geared up and headed out for the first time on the "open road" on my own bike.

It was really nerve wracking (sic?) at first. Trying to remember all of the things I learned in my RiderCourse. Trying to keep my speed correct, trying to get used to the engine speeds on my bike. Being nervous about taking out a brand new bike and having to deal with new situations I'd never dealt with before.

I pull left ouf of my "suburbanit" driveway and I've got a car pretty far behind me and I had decided to take a left up the road a ways.

This particular turn is shaped like so: -| with me heading up towards the top of the page, attempting to turn left.

Of course somebody just HAD to be coming the opposite way, so I had to slow way down, and then even stop and wait for the car to pass. That's pretty freaky the first time...car approaching from behind and you just praying not to stall...and I didn't.

About 1/10th of a mile later I came to a stop at a sign and turned right at the sign. There's a bus loop and parking lot down there, figured I could get my bearings a little bit there....bus loop is closed for construction...the lot is full of gravel.

I decide to make a U turn and then left and back out of the street and onto the rest of my planned route. As I was slowing down after my U turn to make sure no traffic was comming I locked up the rear wheel. Downshifted into first instead of second. oops. But I controlled it and it wasn't a problem.

Another right at the stop sign, followed by another and I was headed up a steep hill in a school zone (opposite end of the school that had the bus loops) Got to worry about speed, incline, and traffic behind me. Did I mention this road ends at the top of the hill...not at all level...at a stop sign? Oh and it's a left turn. Seeing that up ahead made me almost panic. But I kept my cool and pulled it off just fine.

A short jaunt past another school and I turned right onto a back road with little traffic. My first time hitting anything higher than 30. I only went up to 45 because it was my first time, and I had the road to myself and it was pretty windy. I slowed too early for my turn and felt like an "O Ring", but took the right hand 90 degree turn well enough. Back up to 45 and then slowed to a stop at the end...again WAY to early. Then I stalled my bike while paying too much attention to the traffic that I'd be pulling out in front of eventually, and not enough to my clutch operation.

The rest of my ride was pretty uneventful, but I made it home just as it started to sprinkle...which let up 10 minutes later, but I had to get ready to pass out candy to the kiddies anyway.

It was a good first ride, I liked it.

\/\/
Suzuki Boulevard M50 - Bright Blue

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#4 Unread post by BlueBomber »

The Second Trip:

I was feeling ambitious, and my gas warning light had started to flash. That means "You've still got some gas, you should probably get some next time it's convenient, maybe you needed some water anyway?"

This blinking light goes out eventually, and then after several more miles turns to the death ray red light that says "I TOLD YOU TO GET GAS! YOU NEVER LISTEN TO ME! YOU'RE ALWAYS JUST OUT GALIVANTING WITH THAT MOTORCYCLE AND YOU DON'T CARE WHAT I HAVE TO SAY! I'M JUST TRYING TO WATCH OUT FOR YOU BUT YOU DON'T LOVE ME!"

So I thought about where the least hectic gas station around is...I wasn't coming up with a good answer, so I asked my dad. He reminded me of The Little Country Store. It's pretty much in the middle of nowhere, only a few miles away from town. Perfect.

I headed out my previous loop (forgoing the bus loop area) and got the feeling for being back on the bike. It was pretty cold out and I had all of my liners zipped into my gear. I made it to the gas station and filled up ($8.38 HELLS YES) Then I decided to stop by work and see if the time off I had asked for had gone through, and to show off the bike my to the cow-orkers (mispelling intentional).

On my way back towards town I had a strong head wind, doing 55, no windshield. My neck was COLD. And I was wearing my Summer Gloves as I was a bit nervous about using bulky gloves while being inexperienced.

I decided to try my hand at driving in traffic and headed to main street. I accidenty tapped the horn when I squeezed my clutch fast for an unexpected stop...and got flipped off by the passenger of the car in front of me for doing so.

Oops.

I switched lanes a few times and really enjoyed the freedom the bike allowed me. I headed up towards my Bike Shop (Canandaigua Motorsports) and stopped in to say hello. And to buy a TurtleFur ShellaClava. It's a Bellaclava with a really tall thick double layer of fleece to keep your nectk and chin warm.

That really made it a lot more comfortable out there. I drove around backroads a TON and put about 50 miles on. I went out later that night, but I'll have to write about that later as I need to leave for work *right now*

\/\/
Suzuki Boulevard M50 - Bright Blue

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#5 Unread post by Wrider »

Nice, I love doing that... Just riding around! Sounds like you did fine, and don't worry, I got flipped off the other day for accelerating up to the speed limit after getting out from behind a car... :laughing:
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MMI Graduation date January 9th, 2009. Factory Certifications in Suzuki and Yamaha

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#6 Unread post by BlueBomber »

Day Two Part Two: The Night Rider.

So It was about 2 in the morning, and It was pretty dang cold out. But I wanted to ride...it FINALLY wasn't a rainy day (night) and I wanted to get a little bit of experience riding with my headlight.

I put all of my gear on...this time including my new ShellaClava and my WINTER GLOVES. I took my original short loop because it was the section of road I was most familiar with on the bike. All went well but I quickly realized that I'm going to want some more lights on the front of this thing. There's a couple of odd holes in the high beam - pretty close to me and on the sides. I dealt with it made sure not to go faster than my headlight.

I decided to go down main street, which I knew would look like a ghost town at this time of night. That's really for several reasons, my town almost entirely shuts down (super walmart, 2 grocery stores and 4 gas stations stay open...oh and one pizza shop is open until like 3) and all the bars close at 1:30 or 2 don't they? And there's always like 5 cops on the 2 mile stretch just waiting to pull you over for ANYTHING.

I went to one of the previously mentioned grocery stores. I saw some hand warmers and they were only a dollar so I decided to grab them. I also picked up a bike magazine and a bottle of water.

I don't have any type of luggage on my bag so I drank the water, folded the magazine and put it inside my Visor Pocket and put the hand warmers in another pocket. Starting my bike was a pain in the butt because I couldn't see the ignition. The next day I bought a little keychain light to fix this little problem.

I finally get underway and I feel like I've got some more riding in me, but I want to stay somewhere that has some street lights so I head back on up main street. Outside of town Main Street just becomes Route 332 and it's pretty well lit for the most part. I rode up to the next town and back. I also stopped at an ATM because I was contemplating stopping for Coffee, but I decided not to.

I headed home and cashed in about 25 more miles on the bike. 75 miles in one day, bringing my total up for just over 100 on the bike.

Not bad I'd say. Confidence way up.

\/\/
Suzuki Boulevard M50 - Bright Blue

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