LA, behind bars

[pchast]

Sounds like a great day!

[Jamers!]

Pre:
miles YTD: 65.5
mile Lifetime: 65.5


Just a quick update. Rode home from poker last night in the dark. Luckily the main streets are well let and i borrowed a safety vest. I think night cruising may be in my future. something about the cool air, the lack of people it all just felt right. Today i rode my street route to work, Burbank is a bit more challenging than my lil neighborhood. More crazies making turns they arent allowed to and people changing lanes without the blinker. yikes! but slow and with good spacing and i felt just fine. Did a lil ride in the country this afternoon, working on lean and predicting how to handle a curve. Then to end the day i took it on the freeway. Granted for less than a mile but it got it up to 65 and it didnt scare me and i wasent as nervous as i thought i would be. I chose a segment where you dont have to change lanes to get on or off which was nice.

Things i need to work on are finding the right speed before entering a curve and remembering to take uphill turns from a stop slow and counterlean. Twice today on uphill spot turns i scrapped my right peg having to lean extra hard due too excessive speed. Gotta just take those babies in first and not crank the throttle.

Another fun day of keeping the rubber side down.

post
MIles YTD 136.8
Miles Lifetime: 136.8

[Hanson]

Congrats Jamers ... it is wonderful to be riding.

I liked the comments about working on skills. When I come to a stop it is always left foot down and right foot on the break unless I mess up. Try to keep the tires just to the left of centre so that your left foot is not in the oil patch in the centre of the road.

Keep posting your experiences and pictures even if few get a response.

Safe Travels,
Richard

[Jamers!]

Pre:
Miles YTD: 136.8
Miles Lifetime: 136.8


Been riding for a whole week now YAY!.

Things i have learned in these 7 days have been many, i put for me a fairly heavy amount of miles on my machine in a 7 day period. First and foremost, Zootech one said this to me and i remember it well; "don't let a motorcycle take you somewhere your head wasn't at 5 seconds earlier." Too darn true. I have had a few slip ups and oh my moments this week. Glad i still have that bag of luck with me and trying to fill the experience bag before it runs out!

First off, commuting is not my cup of tea. I usually ride my bicycle to work and i think i shall continue to do that for financial reasons as well as the fact that sitting in traffic and putting on all the gear and storing the gear hardly seems worth it for a 10 min hop to the grind. If i am going to get up earlier to get ready to ride i may as well just ride my pedalbike. That being said, the around town errands and just around town riding as well as the commute to work have been great learning. Having the roads on the early AM allows me to practice searching scanning and looking for danger and practice riding alongside cars and trucks without the craze that is rush hour. It has been a pleasant ease into riding on the main roads. Still though, it just doesnt do it for me. I like to cruise, i like the wind in my hair and the feeling of the back roads and the smaller state route highways. Tis why i got a mini cruiser or baby bagger and why I don't need to go 150mph or get my knee down. I like cruising. Commuting is not cruising. At all

I did notice the first few days that i was being perhaps too worried about the fellow folks on the road. I needed to and need to continue to ride my ride and while i look out and predict and try to avoid others i need to not let that take me away from what i am doing. What do i mean? Yesterday on the early am ride into the hospital i have a downgrade slopping right turn of an offramp from the interstate. I did my SMOG and moved into the exit lane and right behind me a pickup moved over and got real close. I was beginning to decelerate and tapped my front brake a few time to try and entice him to back off but it was no use. He was RIGHT behind me. It made me very nervous to have someone that close at the higher speeds. I continue to slow down but instead of braking, shifting for engine braking then braking routine i prefer to do i slightly panicked. I was worried that i was going to downshift and end up going to slow for this guy and get rear ended. I ended up just braking and clutching and did not brake nearly enough. As we moved down the offramp i tried to calm myself and do my turn but i knew i was going to fast. I shifted down to second but did not engage it as by the time i was even close to second speeds i was at the turning part. I looked, leaned and did my best. I was fearfull that if i had engaged my clutch i would have jerked from the heavy engine braking and either low sided or been rear ended. Instead i coasted through it and tried to lean. I ended up with the inside of my wheels on the outside of the Left lane marker and then swung back into the lane and got back into gear as the turn exited. With no traffic it was a harmless scare yet a very real wake up that i need to brake and control my speed, tailgaters be damned. If a car had been in that Left lane chances are i would have at THE LEAST clipped their mirror with my body and that doesn't sound like a good time.

Interstate riding isn't as bad as i was thinking it might be. It isn't much fun either though. I don't have the fastest bike nor all that much desire to go much beyond the limit so i stick to the right and second to right lanes at 65-70mph. Passing when i need and moving over at onramps but not doing much in terms of getting going and really getting into the end of those higher gears and the left lanes. While i have avoided the especially hairy freeways so far it still isn't all that comfortable. I am just so damn small and those trucks so damn big! ah! And its loud, i need some earplugs if i am going to start doing longer stints on them.

Today i went for a ride into the hills near my home. Looked it up and found what is considered the easiest of the runs. Little Tujunga Canyons. A 18 mile canyon road through the lower section Angeles national forest. It was fun! After leaving the homes and the traffic it was nice to just focus on the riding, oh what I was doing. No cross traffic, no driveways just me working on looking, leaning and gauging speeds and curves. I was really smiling for this ride. I was reminded a couple of times that you can never hit anything to slow when i had to roll off and make correctional adjustments in curves i was going to fast into. I kept wanting to get the bike into 3rd gear due to the straining it seemed to be making when i was doing 30mph in second. Though thinking now, i took first to 35 to get onto a freeway today and second to 50 so perhaps its not nearly as big of a deal as i make it out to be. Not to mention when in third if i ended up slowing in the turn i would hear it clunk and need gas badly. I KNOW i know i need to get my speed right before the turn and roll on as i go through. And if i am going to fast i need to lean more, i know. It just doesn't happen in a week. : ) I did lean a bit more than i thought i could/would. Scrapped both pegs a couple of times on long angled turns. Was surprised that i did that! I kept trying to get my head over the inside mirror as i made the turn to force my body to lean. I don't think i was too successful. I am sure a more experienced rider could lean my bike with ease on the shorter turns on this road but i did not. Most of the turns required minimal lean and just enough to turn and then straighten. I was a touch bummed in that i was hoping to plunge my bike into some turns and really try and lean. Perhaps my bike and or my style isnt the plunging type. I didn't stray out of my lane one way or the other at all which was very nice. Got a nice fun yet educational ride in. a GREAT ride if you ask me.


Biggest whoopsie of the week happened just an hour ago on my turn to my street. Turning left on the main drag uphill to my cross street i stalled it bad as i began the turn. i had the bars cranked left and my body open to the turn to help it lean and make the sharp turn at slow speed. It certainly did that. As i stalled it i was leaned a lot to the left. I had to plant my foot and really catch the whole bike. I hauled it upright, restarted and made sure to give EXTRA gas the next time. Yet again, reinforcing that i need practice turning at slow speed, especially from a stop and when going uphill. I plan to spend a bit of time tomorrow in JPLs extra parking lot working on just that and probably some quick stops. Something I have yet to do but something i was to experience in a safe setting before i really need it.


Here is a view point rest stop on the ride through little tujunga canyon today! Also, an early turn out on ACH the other day.

Post
Miles YTD: 302.2
Miles Lifttime: 302.2

[Hanson]

Looking great Jamers, and you are thinking and learning.

I wish I could find some place that nice to ride that close to my home. You are a luck man.

Safe Travels,
Richard

[Jamers!]

Pre
Miles YTD: 302.2
Miles Lifttime: 302.2


Been doing more and more riding the last week. My confidence is really starting to flow. The first few weeks i was carefully planning my routes to avoid tricky streets, almost all left turns and anywhere that has increased hazards. This week i haven't gone reckless but i have let myself take the same routes i would if i was driving. That has been great. I havent had any hiccups which has me feeling great. The biggest issue i have had this week is something that i suspect will be working on for a while. I find that on turns, from big sweepers on the canyons to the 90degree from a stoplight; i dont always have the right gear or speed picked out. Today while up in the canyons of Azuza i was doing pretty darn well on what i was told was an intermediate twisty range. I was going MUCH slower than my friend on his ZX10R but even still i was having fun. A few issues though, I would say its 60-40 that i have the right line and speed picked for a turn. I am finding that i have to straighten the bike, go a bit wide then drop back into a lean in order to stay at my speed( a powerful 35mph) and stay on my side of the road. This is an improvement over what i was doing two weeks ago of rolling off or just clutching it through a turn to dump speed. I hope to continue to increase my comfort with leaning and maintaining my speed and line that what. I would say TWICE i picked a big sweeper perfect. I was in a good lean the whole way and making sure to maintain throttle and rolling on a bit as i hit the apex. it was an AMAZING feeling. It lasted long enough for me to go through my progression and know that at that moment, i was riding and riding well! i leaned my bottom over, got my head and torso over the ignition and kept my head up and eyes on the far end of the turn. so much fun! so thats what sportbike riders are addicted to huh?

As my turns around town and in the canyons have increased i have of course had to lean a bit more. I have noticed an increase in scraping my pegs or my foot on some of the slower turns or turns heading uphill. While i have yet (and hope i just dont) have a panic moment, i have had to remind myself to keep my legs up against the tank and toes pointed in to help increase the minimal clearance i seem to have. Anyhow, i have taken those sounds as lil reminders that im doing it right. Leaning the bike instead of rolling off. : D

Did a big chunk of interstate riding today, about 55miles. I still dont love it, but getting into the carpool lane or finding a nice speed limit abiding truck to follow has helped. I still dont enjoy the crazy drivers of LA highways and i would prefer a backroad or a State freeway. But i am starting to feel alright about getting on the big ones.

I seem to have cured my numbness problem in my right hand. I position my hand a bit different. using more of the thenar space to grasp the actually throttle. When on an area where speed increases are modest i just pinch it with that and leave my fingers gently splayed out across the brake. It had reduced my discomfort a lot. When in a series of back to back to back type turns in the canyons i did experience some moderate numbness as i fully gripping the throttle to make adjustments and braking before turns. Even during this, i was attempting to have soft hands and not death grip it. Big Improvement in that area.

I am just about up for my first maintenance and i am feeling great about the bike. I am not sure it would love me as much if it could talk. Sometimes i know i keep it in a gear i perhaps shouldnt and i have to really roll on hard to keep it from laboring when im turning. Also all the engine braking around town, poor lil red guy.


Here are some shots from my 60mile canyon run this AM. Glad we did it early in the day when it was mostly empty and still cool out.

I also had a zinger against some tank top wearing 1000RR riding tool. while getting fuel he looks me over and says something to the extent of 'nice vest, its cute' So i look up and in a moment of wit brilliance fire back 'bro, dont you know Orange is the New black?' I was pleased with myself

Post
Miles YTD: 529.0
Miles Lifttime: 529.0


George's ZX10R and My Bolt in the Azuza Canyon and me on my scoot.

[blues2cruise]

Your orange vest looks great. And yes...your comeback was good.

Your excitement about riding made me remember when I first started. So much enthusiasm. It's nice.

[Hanson]

I have to ride about 300 miles into Oklahoma to find an environment that looks that good. You are lucky to live where you live. Enjoy!

Safe Travels,
Richard

[Jamers!]

Pre
Miles YTD: 529.0
Miles Lifetime: 529.0




Been a bit since an update. Took a nice long ride down to Del Mar, CA this last weekend to get some time in surfing and get some time in at opening day at the track. Get to that in a moment. I was sitting about a week ago on a ride up a local scenic rode when i got a message from a friend. i was sitting at the top replying to texts and he had said to me 'HEY! you have missed our tennis match for 5 weeks now! Whats up!?'. It dawned on me that If i had free time i was out riding. I had missed my tennis games, i was MIA at the gym and i was behind in my books. I was having a hoot riding all the time. But i have other things i like too.

So i tried something. I put my bike into my carport covered it and didnt ride it for a week. I made my tennis games, struggled at the gym again and finished my book (Love in the time of Cholera, great read especially if you are going to colombia soon!). Anyhow, after a week of enjoying my other hobbies I hopped back on my scoot and just took a simple little ride around a pristine and scenic neighborhood in a nearby city. I enjoyed it more, much more. The time away from it even just a short bit made it all new again in a sense. It was wonderful and probably healthy to get some balance back into my life.

On Wednesday of last week I got up early, washed and waxed my bike in prep for my ride. (Cant be looking dirty on the PCH!) I must admit i had never hand waxed something before and i learned that a dab will do ya. I way over applied and had to do it twice. In the end though, it came out nice and shiny.

I mounted up and headed south. My route was going to be about 75 minutes on an interstate then i would be able to get off that junk and onto a smaller state road for some scenic twists and better riding through temecula towards Escondido and then encinitas. About 50 mins in i was squirming. If there was a slow down i was stand way up on the pegs and try to shake some blood back into my butt. I was almost constantly sitting up, then slouching then leaning forward. All trying to get comfy in the saddle. I had read reviews before i got this bike that the OEM seat was not meant for longer rides. Being a bobber urban crusier (whatever that means) i suppose its expected. I did some googling later and i know the saddle im going to save up for. Rated as much more comfy, looks better and adds the passenger seat so i can strap some luggage to the bike without scuffing the rear fender. I was able to find some ok positions that i could maintain for a decent period. It took me a while but it dawned on me that my gloves are tacky leather, they will grip the grip without me gripping it too hard. being able to just hold it open with my palm and laying my fingers over the brake allowed my hand to feel just find. Though for $10 bucks i may invest in a throttle rocker anyhow for cursing trips and see if its better.

I have wanted to order up a small fork bag for a while. To keep things like emergency shades, benedryl, tire gauge, cards etc. I found a new thing i need to add. masking tape. So i can write down directions. I got lucky that the place i stopped to eat at had some!

directionssmall.jpg (134.36 KiB) Viewed 16615 times

Had no issues with the bike, had no issues on the road EXCEPT that traffic on the big super slabs is dangerous. I also tried my hand at lane splitting a bit. With a bad accident keeping my flat footed for over 5 minutes i thought 'what the hell, give it a shot'. i probably went .5 of a mile before it freaked me out too much and i pulled back into line and just waited my turn. I didn't like it. Didnt clip anything or have any close calls really it was just nerve racking and not worth the extra few minutes if you ask me.

I did some cruising up and down North San Diego County but like a goof i didn'tget any good pics. on my last cruise up before heading north yesterday on the freeway i snapped this guy just so i could have something. It was 275miles, my longest trip/days so far. And i cant wait to do it again!

beachbike.jpg (146.03 KiB) Viewed 16615 times

Post
Mile YTD: 1093
Miles Lifetime: 1093

[Jamers!]

Just a quick update. Haven't ridden my Bolt in over 2 weeks. Because i was in Cartagena Colombia on Vacation. I did manage to get behind two wheels. One day my friends and i found a tour that included being ridden by the guides into the Sierra Nevadas behind Santa Marta to a private beach for scuba diving. I insisted i could ride my own bike. Here i am riding a 100c Suzuki motobike through a barrio in Santa Marta. It had an all down transmission, over 200K kilometers on the odo and a LOT of play in the clutch. was quite an experience.