Trapped Inside : Dreaming of Adventure

[-Holiday]

My friend sent me a logo for a the website(that I still need to build) i'm going to be updating while I'm on the trip and afterwards. I think he mght still be tweaking it, but here's a version of it anyway:



I like it, except that I wish the bike looke more like an FJ. But since I'm not paying my friend to do this I can't be too picky

[Myself002]

can we get some pictures of the bike all loaded up? And when you go if you camp what are you bringing with you for it and were are you gonna camp? Just on the side of the road or something?

[-Holiday]

sure thing on the pics. In fact, I'm going to be using some luggage from http://www.motopakluggage.com/index.html I offered to use thier luggage and write a reivew on it during and after the trip. Ryan over at motopak was nice enough to send me the gt-35 tank bag:

http://www.motopakluggage.com/gt35.html





and I also decided to order the gt roll :

http://www.motopakluggage.com/gttail2.html



in addition to those things, I'm going to probably be using a set of soft saddle bags that I already have. I've also recently ordered a cruise control system from Aerostich, and some other goodies.

I rebuilt the clutch slave last weekend, put on the new tires, and swapped out the clip ons for some that are taller. I've been riding the bike a bit to get a feel for it with the new stuff, and I'm happy with it. Tomorrow I'm doing another longer trip out near lancaster pa.

So look for more pics in the next few days. Im getting really excited as I'll be leaving in just over a week.

I had a scare at work, which is why i havnt been posting as much. My contract came to an abrupt end , and for a bit I wasnt sure if I still had a job...such is contract work like. Im still not sure where ill be working, but im still getting paid for sitting at home, so life aint so bad...

ALso, turns out I'll be riding with some people from this site for a day, and Loonette andd Scan are putting me up for the night. Im very excited about that, and cant wait to meet some people from here.

Thats all I have now, but Ill get off my butt and get some more info/pics posted when I get back from my trip tommorrow.

[imorgan202]

Very cool. Can't wait to see how the trip goes. Cruise control on a bike? This is news to me. Please post some pics and info of this! I could really use that.

Ian

[-Holiday]

LESS THEN ONE DAY!! I'm leaving tomorrow. I cant wait!
I would have already left, but im waiting for the luggage i listed above to show up at my door. I will be here today though. I guess its a good thing that im not leaving until tomorrow though, because we have been having a heat wave, and it is literally 100 degrees out today. Its only supposed to be 84 tomorrow.

So, the cruise control. It didnt fit on my bike. All it basically is , a little clamp thing, that holds the trottle in place when you turn on a mechanical switch. Unfortunatly it just didnt fit right with my controls, although I may try to "modify" it later today to make it work.

I'll also get some pictures of it all before I leave. I still need to run up to -the pharmacy and et a back brace. Several people have recommended these to me for comfort reasons. They are those things people wear when they are going to be doing a lot of lifting. Apparently it keeps your mid section from vibrating as much on long rides and helps with fatigue. This was suggested to me from some long distance riders.

I've been using my little 9 dollar headphones from aerostich and i love them. They are just cheap littel padded speakers that fit in your helmet, and those, along with the helmet wind blocker I have, make it so you can actually hear the music at highway speed.

I also FINALLY got some riding pants. I spent all day one day last weekend driving to different moto shops, and finally found a pair of Joe Rocket Phoenix 2.0 mesh pants that will work for me nicely. The benefits are:

-They're mesh, so i wont die from heat
-i can put them on over street clothes
-they have hip and knee armor
-big zippers down the sides so i can take them off right at the bike if i wanted.
-they zip right into my joe rocket jacket.



http://www.newenough.com/joe_rocket_pho ... s_page.htm

No, they wont protect as good as leather, but I think especially with pants on underneath they will do a decent job. And, being as its late July, this was the best option as far as heat, aside from weather shorts which I never do on a bike.

Other News: So I actually have a new job, and I start the day I get back from this trip. ACtually, I take a red eye home from San Diego, then go straight into work
ANd actually, its not a new job, its a job working or the same ccompany i worked for before i started to do consulting work. I got them to pay me the money I wanted, and i dont have to worry about if i'd be working next week, unlike with contract work. I was worried for a while becuase I didnt want to spend this entire trip wondering if i had a job when I got home, and now i dont. So, yayy!

Also, i'm meeting up with several people from TMW this Friday night/Saturday in Ohio! I'm so excited. Loonette and Sev offered to put me up in thier place Friday night, and a few other TMW'ers are going to meet up as well. Then, I believe Zoo is going to ride all the way to St Louis with me the next day! So since Ohio is only 500 some odd miles away, and Im leaving so early I have 3 days to get there, I'm thinking about checking Pittsburgh out a bit this Thursday. I'm not really sure yet, but I'm really itching to get on the road, and after today i'll have all my gear ready to go.

Well, I have some last minute things I need to get done today, so I need to get going. My ex has my camera card, so I wont be able to post pics until later tonight.

Anyway, this should be my last day home then its ON THE ROAD for me! Woohoo!

[-Holiday]

Day 1

399 Miles - Philadelphia Pa - East Liverpool Ohio

Ok, so its actually day two, but they barely have cell phone service in East Liverpool Ohio, let alone an internet connection. Also, pics will have to wait until probably tomorrow.

So day one, 399 miles, not too bad. I rode Lancaster Pike, rt 30 almost all of the way through pennsylvania. Basically from Lancaster PA to Pittsburgh. Once in Pittsburgh, I tried to look for a hotel, but couldnt find one in my price range, so I pressed on to Ohio. I found an Economy Inn for $56. Still a little higher then I wanted to pay, but it was late, I had a splitting headache, and I was tired.
The bike is doing great, getting about 50 mpg. IT really is loaded up pretty good, but I really dont notice the weight anymore. The tang bag from Motopak is great (thanks Ryan!), its larger, and its nice to lay on top of to move some of the weigh off of my butt for a but. I actually moved the top part of the bag off, and put it behind me because I decided I dont like the tank bag stacked up so high in front of my. I'll take a pic to explain what I mean. I may change this later, we'll see.

During a gas stop in Ligoneir PA some sport bike riders came up to me. One of them, before he even said hi, came up and yelled in my face " I sure woudnt want to sleep with you tonight after wearing all that gear!".
I really wasnt sure what to say, so I just said "thanks". The sport bike guys were all wearing full face helmets, t shirts, and shorts. To each his own, but they seemed to think I was crazy wearing full gear. Even at 90 degrees it wasnt so bad unless I got stuck in traffic.

I did get stuck in traffic, twice. Once on some back road they were doing contruction on. THey stopped traffic and didnt let us move for about 15 minutes. It really sucked. My air cooled 1200 cc's werent very happy about that either, but we eventually got moving.
Later, while bearing pittsburgh. i started riding next to a girl on a ninja 250. At stops she kept asking me questions and giving me advice on roads. We ended up riding together for about 30 minutes, and after this I found myself literally in downtown Pittsburgh. I had meant to go around the city to avoid traffic, but whatever. I was able to get some nice pics of downtown Pitt. I had never been there before. I took a break right outside thier baseball stadium and made some phone calls, trying to figure out where I was going to stay. I called my mom to have her check out expedia for me, but nothing seemed prices reasonably. So i drove another two hours, through west virginia, and into Ohio and found a place. THis place even had a pool and I was able to jump in it quickly before it closed. It felt GREATT after being on the bike all day. I went back to my room and fell asleep inside 5 minutes.

Overall, I'm happy with the results of day one. I spent some time fooling around the morning of, and went kinda out of my way getting out of southeast PA. The 399 miles took longer then they will in the future I believe. And the good news is i had almost no pain as a result of the ride. My back felt great, hands felt great, legs felt great. I think the back brace im wearing really helps support your back. I dont plan to find out what it feels like without it.

day two will be a short day as I only need to get to Yellow Spings to Loonette's and Scan's house, and I dont want to get there much earlier then they were expecting me.
Tune in later for the pics to go with this developing story.

Ride Safe!

-Brian

[-Holiday]

Day 2

260 miles

Yes, its 10 minutes after my last post, and Day two already. I wasnt able to post yesterday so I'm catching up.

Today is a shorter day, and I'm further alone at this point then I thought I was going to be. I want to be in Yellow Springs Ohio by friday, and its 3pm on Thursday and I'm only like 80 miles away.

ANyhow, so far today i've gone 160 miles. Almost all of this was on rt 22 through Southeast Ohio, and I have to say, I was surprised. IT was beautiful! Rolling hills, some nice twisties, lakes, streams, little traffic. It was great after spending all day yesterday besically going through flat farm country. Yes, there are hills in western pa, and it is pretty, but I'd also ridden those roads before. Today was the first day that was all knew material.

So right now, I'm in Lancaster Ohio, at the public library typing this. Its about to storm something fierce, plus i needed to use the computer and some of the other phycilities, so this town worked out nicely
Thats really all I'm going to type right now because I'm going to go figure out where I can steal some wireless internet so I can upload some of the pics I have so far.

Talk to you soon!

-Brian

update: I'm at Loonette and Scans house. I got here a day early and they were nice enough to put me up for an extra night. I believe T Bone and Zootech will be here tonight (friday), so we should have a party

[-Holiday]

So here are some pics as promised. I'll start out with how the bike looked loaded up before I left. I made some changes not long after. I decided I liked laying on the tank bag, so I moved the top bag to the back of the bike. I also rolled up the sleeping matt a different way because as it was in these pics, it took up too much real estate on my seat.

You'll notice that might bike is slight cosmetically challenged. It is 20 years old afterall, and has been down at least once by a previous owner. It is however in very good mechanical shape, aside from a slight oil leak:)

What fun would it be riding across country on a new bike you dont have to worry about? Where is the adventure in that??We'll see, hopeully it makes it..

So far, so good. BUt there is a long way to go.







the saddle bags actually belong on a bicycle. But they are what I had a vailable at the moment, and they work

p.s., try not to make too much fun of my rubber sandals

[-Holiday]

So at about 8am on day one I left Philadelphia, and drove the 30 miles through rush hour traffic to my home town which was in the direction I was going. More importantly my mom was there and I wanted to stop by and show her the bike, and assure her I wasnt going to die. I got into West Chester Pa to stop by her work, to find that heavy wind and storms the day before had taken out electricity to a lot of places, and knocked down a lot of trees.

mom posing with the bike in front of her work:



After a quick visit and answering a lot of questions from my moms co workers I headed out of town into the farmlands and river basins to the west. I did however have to take detours 3 different times because of scenes like this:



It seemed my home town didnt want me to leave.

So after finding my way around the road blocks I ggot on my way. I unfortunatly didnt take a whole lot of pics because I've ridden PA before. But I did get some nice shots in Lancaster County PA:





what was nice was that it was only about 90 degrees. For several days before I left it was 100. It's really not bad if you keep moving when its 90, but I think 100 would just all around really suck.

So I pushed on into the hills of western PA. There were some really nice mountain passes with some twisites. I was able to bring myself to stop for a pic a one point:



After most of the day driving through the hills i started to get into the Pittsburgh suburbs. My intention was to not go directly into the city to avoid traffic, but I found my self riding with a girl on a ninja 250. We kept talking to each other at the lights, her asking about where I was going, and me asking what the road was like ahead. We kind og got in a groove riding together, and did so for about 30 minutes. Eventualy she turned off, and before I knew it, I was sitting in stopped traffic in downtown Pittsburgh. So much for not going into the city. Oh well, I'd never been in the city before. I stopped in the parking lot at on of the sports stadiums and snapped a few pics:







but there werent many cheap hotels or camping opportunities in the city, so it was time to keep heading west. I made it through the little piece of west virginia, then into ohio where I called it a night at a hotel. 400 miles on my first day wasnt bad, and I have absolutely no back, leg, hand or neck pain. I have a bad headache probably brought on by the heat, but that was it. I hit the pool real quick then went to bed and slept well.

[-Holiday]

its hard to get pics of yourself when you ride alone, so this was the best I could do:



what you dont see is about 5,000 bugs on my facesheild.