So today I skipped out of work at 3pm to go for a ride. My plan was to go to Cape May NJ which is about 99 miles from my house. I went home from work first to find my Throttle Rocker had finally arrived. I threw that on.:
My Sheepskin cover for my seat had arrived on Monday so I threw that on too. I ordered it Thursday or Friday from Alaska, and it got here Monday...uhmm..wow? Or do they drop ship? Not really sure but that is an awesome turn-around time. More info about them can be found here:
http://www.alaskaleather.com/
Anyway, I jumped on my bike and slowly tried to fight my way out of the city. I finally made my way over to Jersey, and explored some of the back roads on the south bay side of the state, working my way down towards the southern most tip, Cape May. To make a long story short, I rode 225 miles, over about 5-6 hours of riding time. I could have covered much more ground, but I spent a lot of time on 45mph roads. To compare, it took me about 4 hours to get down there, and an hour and 50 minutes to get home, because of a more direct route, faster speeds, no traffic, etc etc.
BTW, i'm doing these trips to prepare myelf for my drive aross country next month. Its to condition myself for longer rides, and to make adjustments where neccisary. Here are my observations based on tonights ride.
- My back feels a little sore after about 30 minutes of riding, but never really gets any worse. I think im just out of shape. I'm also trading my stock clip ons for a taller set with a guy from the fj list, so that will raise my bars about 1-2 inches and improve my seating position greatly. I think I could eventually drive all day with them as they are, but I think the taller bars will definatly make life more comfortable.
- The throttle rocker was cool, but my wrist still hurt a little after 5 hours or so. Once again, that might get better with tiime, or its possible i might have not had it adjusted properly. I'm thinking of ordering another one for the left side because it does take the pressure off the palm of your hand and spread it out more. It is definitly nice to not have to grip the bars the entire time, and I can actually operate the throttle with one finger if I choose.
-sheepskin seat cover is awesome. That, coupled with padded bike shorts under texttile pants are really going to do the trick I think. At least as comfortable as a corbin seat, and about $200 cheaper. the sheepskin also helps to insulate you from the heat coming up from under the seat. Good stuff. It was like $40 shipped.
-the most important thing i did today, was physically spend 6 hours on the bike pretty much nonstop. My plan for my big trip is to put in 8-10 hours days, and I think with some breaks here and there that will not be a problem. I was gone tonight from 3pm-10pm and I was on the bike all but maybe 1 hour of that total. I find its nice to take a brake and stretch about once every two hours. Riding during the evening, although not deer friendly, is definitly more comfortable then in the middle of the day. I may ride early morning for my trip, stop mid day and relax, take in some sites, then get back on and ride from 3 or so until dark.
Other developments; I was lucky enough to win a set of hardware to mount Givi hard bags to my bike on ebay. They havent made them in 5 years and they're hard to come by, but I found and purchased a set for $75. I still need a wingrack to mount the bags too, and the hard bags themselves of course. I have a line on a set of used givi sidecases from a friend, but Im not sure if ill be able to afford them before my trip. We'll see. If not then I have some bicycle panniers that will suffice. They just might look kinda dumb.
I need to revisit my wiring for the gps, and i still need to insta,l the new brake pads. I actually have to do that now because during this trip my rear brake started to grind and make noises. Luckily, i didnt do any damage to the rotor.
The bike ran great, and overall im happy with the results of the trip. I think the new clip ons im getting will help a lot, and I expect to get stronger the more I ride. I should look into some exercises I can do to strenthen my upper back muscles...
Ive found out that wearing earplugs really helps cut down on fatigue, although i didnt wear them tonight. Im havng trouble finding a set that fit well. Im also thinking of looking into the ones that have headphones built into them. Or, I might just get one of those helmet skirt things. If i put my hand under the helmet to block the wind, that really cuts down on noise so I think one of those would help a lot. I just havnt been able to find out where to buy them yet.
Anyway, here are the obligatory pics I snapped from when I actually made it to the coast. Oh and, I didnt go to Cape May, ended up in Avalon instead since I spent so much time on the slow roads.
I'd start walking at maybe 6PM and by the time I was ready for dinner (9pm, remember I was on California time) all the restaurants were starting to close. On a couple of those walks I wound up going back to the hotel and eating from my stash of protein bars 'cause by 1am almost every place was closed and I had no other choice. I was at a job site on Walnut St. a week working through problems with a system my employers sold... between getting pissed off at the pathetic cowardice on display at the "national historical park" and wandering around at night wondering where everyone was, I was more than a little confused by the end of the week. I did figure out that a "wiz with" isn't nearly as disgusting as it sounds though. 
