Confessions of a Commuter

[CNF2002]

Thursday
Miles: 7,301
Mood:

Confession #32- I daydreamed today.

If you had seen me on the freeway this morning you would have noticed that my eyes were glazed over. Yes, I was daydreaming. Daydreaming about my upcoming weekend bike trip.

Saturday morning at 4am I will leave the city before the sun has risen, out along the freeway north. It will be a really gruelling pace, but traffic will be light. The whole trip is a good 360 miles, but the first 90 miles will be freeway at 75mph. Not a great ride for a bike without a windshield.

Fortunately at that point I will head off the freeway and take a 2-lane highway, cut through the state between the big square of interstate routes that Mapquest insists I take, riding at a more peaceful, slower (50-60 mph, less wind problem) pace through a series of small towns.

As the bike runs about 120 miles until it hits reserve, I will make the journey with quarterly stops every 100 miles to gas up, rehydrate, scarf some grub, and stretch (and wake up my butt).

Then, Sunday evening, it will be the same path in reverse, heading south from the center of the state and into the dark of night. It will be an interesting trip, my first long-range bike ride. I will bring the camera, will take pictures if I see anything interesting.

Inventory for the trip: Full riding gear, extra pair of socks, extra shirt/shorts/boxers, sunglasses, clear & tinted visors, ICE card, map, camera, first aid kit, flashlight, cellphone, duct tape, small tool kit, quart of oil, wd40, tire pressure gauge, mp3 player, sheet of clear bold road directions.

The commute this morning was routine.

[KarateChick]

Where are you off to on this trip or is it just riding around for the heck of it? On your own or with riding buddies? (I am also daydreaming about a trip heading out tomorrow to the mountains for a couple of days.)

Remember to bring some water, like a refillable water bottle or camel pack. Have fun!

[CNF2002]

Friday
Miles: 8,187
Mood:

Confession #33- My butt hurts.

If you have been paying attention to the mileage meter at the top of each confession, your eyesight is fine. During the course of the weekend I rode 900 miles, 350 on Saturday and 450 on Sunday.

Needless to say, I commuted this morning in a cage.

There are many people out there who will tell you that the Buell Blast, a small 500cc single-cylinder motorcycle, is not designed for touring across a state. They will tell you that the Blast is a city vehicle, ideal for inner-city jumps but certainly not for long-distance runs. Well, I just took this particular Blast on a long-distance run, and I can safely say...

...they are right.

The first day was wonderful. Left at five in the morning (for what would be an eight hour ride) in the dark, watched the sun rise in my rear view mirrors, took 30 minutes of interstate and then hopped on a small highway through rural America. Around nine-a.m. more bikes started showing up, and I was happily cruising along the two-lane road stopping at various gas stations along the way.

Allow me to provide a few tips for the would-be first-time long-distance biker.

1) Wrap your wrists, or put plenty of sunscreen on them. I have a thin, horrible sunburn between the edge of my glove and the edge of my jacket sleeve.

2) A cheap camelpack from Wal-mart does wonders. It allows you to stay hydrated but it becomes hot very quickly, so be prepared to dump out some of the water at a stop to refill with the cold stuff.

3) Bring more supplies than you think you need. I never thought I'd need scissors and tape, until I decided to tape some directions to the tank.

4) Drivers on small highways are infinitely nicer than drivers on interstates and it makes for a much nicer ride.

5) Spend money on a proper seat.

I'm sure there are more, but that is what comes to mind that I wasn't able read from the Internet.

The trip back was, in a word, grueling. Going out I headed north-west, but going home I headed east to a major city and then south on what I thought was a small highway. It wasn't. 5% highway, 95% freeway. 75mph most of the time with annoying, selfish cars wanting to do 90 (and most of them getting pulled over - how stupid can you get?).

The Blast is not designed for long trips. Maybe for a midget. Although a windshield would have been nice, most of the time I did not notice any wind at all, except near the occassional semi. What made the trip awful was the seat. It was too cushy in the middle, not the right shape in the back, so my tail end was sore and swollen after 9 hours.

Upper body strength is useful as well. My shoulders were pretty sore the next morning.

The ride was fun, but too long and I did not have the proper bike. Would I do it again? Sure, but I'd keep it to 3 hours a day, or get a bigger bike with a proper seat.

In the meantime, I'll save the bike as a commuter workhorse.

[dieziege]

I'm glad you liked the parts you liked.

Can't really help with the bike... I suspect the ninjette is a bit better touring bike than the blast but honestly without having done any 900mi weekends I'm just puffing smoke.

Windshield... is it something you can buy or build? The ninjette comes with a postage stamp windshield... first mod I made to the bike was to build a bigger shield out of hardware store lexan. It isn't perfect by any means (it isn't all that pretty, it starts warping if you go more than about 90MPH, etc) but it kills a lot of bugs that otherwise would've embedded themselves in my jacket. And it helps with the wind-blast fatigue. I don't know if the blast has any provisions for doing something similar, but it might be a good thing to fiddle with for a couple hours.

Seat... I've heard that the Alaskan Leather "buttpad" is a good all-around comfort improver. I don't have one so that's not a personal endorsement. Another trick that works very nicely on my bike is to consciously put more weight on the pegs. If I just sit there with my legs dangling the stock ninjette seat gets to be a pain in about an hour... if I consciously ride the pegs it takes closer to 2.5 hours to become saddle sore... but of course the first few times I did that my legs were sore for a while. Now I don't really notice it.

The back of my neck is what gets hit worst... I have a little bottle of sunscreen in the jacket pocket for just that reason.

When I need tape or scissors or the like I go to the first aid kit I put under the seat. It has a leatherman (one with scissors built in) and some surgical tape... not ideal but it works.

Tank bags (even the thin ones) are cool too... they have map pockets and you can put the camelpack inside the tank bag and keep it out of the sun a bit better so it doesn't heat up so fast. They are great for commuting.

Finally, what I've learned through many a trip (though not as many as I wish I'd taken ) is to plan (if possible) for the last day to cover at most half the distance of the the first. For e.g. if you went 400 miles on startday, you should try to arrange things so you only have to go 200 miles on endday. That may reduce the total number of miles, but helps prevent what in flight training (at least my flight training) was called by the cutesy-poo name "gethomeitis" ... the strong and often irrational urge to get home when you are nearing the end of a trip, even if it means making bad choices (starting in bad weather, cutting margins for fuel or other necessities closer than you normally would, keeping going when you are fatigued, etc)... it is all too easy to find yourself 500 miles from home as the sun is setting on a Sunday night when you have to work the next day... and suddenly you are stuck driving until 2AM, often in inexplicably jammed traffic, perhaps not making the best decisions along the way... I'm speaking from experience... when I'm actually thinking ahead I try to plan things to avoid that.

[CNF2002]

Friday
Miles: 8,201
Mood:

Confession #34- I didn't order the roadkill special.

Men are bad drivers. Start a book with a sentence like this and it will instantly be on the top seller list and featured in Opera's book club. I exaggerate, but like a conservative listening to Rush Limbaugh bash the liberals, say something to a group that already has an opinion and they take every word for gospel. It reminds me of back in college when a friend of mine suddenly declared at the bar that "men are pigs" to which he received a standing ovation, the audience all of whom probably took the walk of shame home the next morning. That being said, men and women aren't all that different. Especially when they get behind the wheel.

The guy in the black Ford F-150 behind me this morning took my blinker (which I put on and then casually began to change lanes) to mean that he should slam on the gas...but not before I had changed my mind and returned to my lane, deciding that the series of offramps would prefer me in my current position. Oh no, how dare I change my mind. He was 10 car lengths behind, but that didn't stop him from racing up to me and riding my rear tire.

Men and women are pretty much the same behind wheel of a car. They're both "o-ring"s. So, ladies, the next time someone tells you that "Men are better drivers than women" you can safely respond, "great, that just mean's they're better at being complete "o-ring"s on the road."

I didn't order the roadkill special, but I sure got offered the plate. I was greeted by a white GSXR-1000 on the freeway into the city (I recognized it because I've seen photos of a particular red one fairly frequently). I knew something was wrong when I saw him on the on-ramp, clunkily changing gears and lurching forward - and sideways.

This guy was a real character. Helmet, t-shirt, jeans, tennis-shoes. Now it was a beautiful day, so the heat could not have been an excuse to forgo the jacket. I can only assume it was vanity. Please, if you are an anorexic on a motorcycle, put something on or tuck in that t-shirt. No one wants to see all the bones in your spine.

So this guy starts out by looking around. Alot. At first I thought he wanted to change lanes but, I soon realized, he just wanted to see if anyone was watching him. He looked left, looked right, turned his whole body around and put his hand on his tail to look behind. It was like watching a little kid on a diving board jumping up and down screaming "Mommy, mommy!" Apparently satisfied, he tightens up, tucks, cranks the throttle.

Not much happens. I assume its because he's in 6th gear going 60 mph. His bike inches forward for several seconds...he backs off and tries again. A few times. I quickly realized; is this guy trying to do a wheelie?.

That stunt not accomplished, he starts to look around and fidget again. The bike occassionally jiggles as he barely maintains control, switching from taking his hand off one handle or the other. We get to our offramp, and I'm still behind him. Now he drops both feet to the side, dangling precariously near the screaming roadway, loses balance, drifts into the other lane, overcompensates and swerves back into our lane, sticks his foot out to stop himself from falling over at 60mph (which fortunately for him did not meet the pavement), finally regains control and, again, sticks both his feet out.

Then, he goes onto the overpass ramp, leans the bike for the turn, and leans himself...way over. I've seen people try to drag their knee, this guy was leaning like he wanted to drag his helmet.

Finally, at some point he left the freeway. It's a good thing, because I didn't have my spatula.

[roscowgo]

Heh you crack me up....

great blog. glad your trip went well. and that you didnt have rashed calamari on the menu.

[rapidblue]

best....blog...ever...

[noodlenoggin]

[NorthernPete]

dragging your helmet....thats sweet...... Verms going to try that soon....

[CNF2002]

Tuesday
Miles: 8,281
Mood:

Confession #35- I'm an attention mean!

So I'm on my commute in the middle of downtown and I come to an intersection that is turning red. Another biker on a little naked Honda is rolling up to the light on the other side with oncoming traffic. I slow to a crawl, approaching the yellow...no, now red light and give him the underhand hip wave. He slows to a stop, plants his feet down, and waves.

We're sitting at the light and he's staring at me. I stare back. 10 seconds go by so I wave again, a high floppy-handed enthusiastic wave. He waves back.

Another several seconds go by and we are sitting at the red light across the intersection from each other in opposite directions with no traffic around us just staring at each other.

So I wave again. He doesn't wave back, but he's still staring.

I turn around half expecting to see a couple of nude college cheerleaders making out on the sidewalk behind me. Nope.

Now I stand up and start doing the Macarena, figuring this guy wants to see a show. I get to the final booty roll and the guy starts laughing. What a nerve!

So I sit down and flip him off.

He's still staring, but now he looks really pissed. And I can tell he's saying something because his lips are moving but I can't hear anything.

All the time I'm wondering what the heck is wrong with this light! I look at my watch, then the light, then my watch, then back to the guy. He's still staring!

So I happily wave again, but finally the light turns green and I slowly go ahead, watching his eyes follow me across the intersection, probably wishing a big bus would come screaming by at this point, and finally shaking his head as he takes off.

True story (mostly).