The Blog of Blues

[Hanson]

B2C,

I remember you extensive discussion of these issue earlier in you blog and it was quite helpful. About mid morning, at the office, I make a pot of coffee and while it is brewing I will take the elevator down to the parking garage. I like to go look at the bike and it is interesting to see who else rode in that day and then I go for a short walk to stretch my legs.

This week the daily bike count was as follows: Monday 1, Tuesday 3, Wednesday 6, Thursday 1, Friday 3, and I bet you can guess intelligently as to which two days it rained and who it was who still rode their bike to work.

I enjoy riding in the rain and all of my gear is waterproof except for my gloves. Thanks to you, at least in part, I think I made good choices and I had all of my gear before I had my bike. I believe that the more experience I get in the rain in my commuter environment, the easier it is going to be to deal with similar weather on road trips.

Safe Travels Blue,
Richard

[blues2cruise]

If you can't afford waterproof gloves just yet....a pair of large black rubber gloves over your riding gloves will work.

They are the kind used by workers in fish plants and such...

[blues2cruise]

Allow me to share a couple of pictures of my 8 year old nephew.

This cost me a dollar.

This was free. I had picked him up after school and he wanted to play in the "forest" before going home. It makes him feel like an adventurer.

Also free....we had a crazy hair day. My friend's grandson in Calgary had a crazy hair day at school. So I asked my nephew if we could do crazy hair day, too.

A straight face picture is so hard to capture. He owes me for a toy I bought.....We had made a deal. With the tax, it cost me $33.00. He now owes me $31.00.

The other two are the "normal" pictures.

I help my sister and in-law quite often by looking after him. When I manage to get him away from the I-pad, we actually have a good time .

[blues2cruise]

An interesting observation....

On Monday when the weather was a bit sketchy....the 2 motorcycles parked at work both belonged to women. The next day when the weather was nice...the guys rode, too.

To get to my workplace I have to go through some farmland areas. This morning the ripe smell of fertilizer was evident. UGH.....mouth breathing time....

I chose a different route home and along an area that is slated for development.....currently just tall grasses, buttercups and clover....smelled so good. The clover made for very fragrant air.

The traffic behaved very well, too. Nobody tail gating...nobody cutting me off....

It was such a nice way to end a day.

[blues2cruise]

A few years ago (5) my friend Connie and I went to Colorado for a women's motorcycle conference. That's where I got to ride some bigger and different motorcycles than the 650 I had at the time.

At the conference we learned how to pick up a motorcycle. At the time I was still having some major problems with my back and ribs and really struggled to lift the bike off its side. I was still in a lot of pain then.

I'm happy to report....I remember how.....

Today as I was moving my bike into the garage, I felt me and my bike go off balance. At first I tried to just hold it up, but I knew if I tried to get it upright I would hurt my back and still weak shoulder.

So I let it lay down. It was safer for me than trying to get it straight up from that tilted position.

I had to take everything out of the saddlebags and remove the top bag.....I put the kickstand down in place...held the brake lever...got down low....

I lifted my bike back into an upright position.



I am glad to know I can do it...so if I'm ever somewhere riding alone I won't be stranded waiting for help.

[dr_bar]

Yay for the lift, boo that you had to lay it down...

[blues2cruise]

Yay for the lift, boo that you had to lay it down...

It was the lesser of the evils.

[blues2cruise]

Days like today are why I am so glad I had a very loud horn installed on Zena.

A dumba$$ in a Lexus SUV was going to merge onto the highway...so I moved over....he came onto the highway and then immediately tried to move over into my lane...while I was beside him.....Thankfully the loud horn alerted him and he moved back.....

I kept my finger to myself....but I did give him a good glare.

I don't understand what would possess someone to move into the passing lane immediately when there was nothing immediately ahead of him in the driving lane.



Once I passed him, he moved in the passing lane behind me....but he sure kept a huge following distance. I suspect he scared himself as much as he scared me. Once I passed the slow moving traffic, I moved into the driving lane.

I also learned today that wet manhole covers are extremely slippery. It had started raining..again...as usual....I had to stop at a stop sign and had not noticed that my rear tire was stopped on the manhole cover....I scared myself....the rear end of the bike started to slide out from under me....fortunately I knew to ease off the power and get stable....

I'm house sitting for a freind...so I'm not familiar with the roads as much as at home. I'll be more alert for road hazards tomorrow.

[blues2cruise]

A few months ago, I had a couple of potatoes in the ridge that had grown eyes. I cut them in pieces so the pieces each had some eyes.

I filled a pot with soil....in layers...and planted the cut potatoes in layers and added more soil.

The plants outside my garage as they grew.

And...the results....

It has nothing to do with motorcycling....but I feel pleased that my experiment worked.

[blues2cruise]

. I am so glad I packed rain gear....and also very glad I re-treated my boots with waterproofing.

I rode from Victoria to Chemainus for lunch...which meant riding the Malahat highway. It is a lovely highway...when it's dry....It was nice enough when I left Victoria but the clouds were darkening. I had taken the precaution of putting on the rain gear before I left Victoria...

It started to rain moderately but as I got farther along the highway and higher in elevation...the rain got harder and harder. At one point it was so hard to see I pulled over for several minutes. A fellow on a motorcycle came by and was stopping.... but I gave him thumbs up...he then pulled away. It is comforting to know that if I had a real problem someone might stop to offer assistance.

The rain eased off so I rode to Duncan. I fuelled the bike (it was 16 cents a litre less than at home).

I had started off looking for a particular winery but missed the turn off...no sign....so I kept going to Chemainus. I got instructions from the Info Centre there.

This is Zena parked across the street from the info centre...the Chemainus waterwheel is beyond...