The last time Mrs K had a ride on a bike she was 15, and her brother scared the daylights out of her. Miss K, however, had her first ride with me, and by then I was too old to show off (well, sorta...)
It still took a lot of persuading to get the Mrs on board, but she's had several rides since then. The first time, she said "Well, that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be", but now she actually admits she kind of likes it.
When I take a passenger I go about half as fast as I usually go, and I take the corners veerrrry slowly.
When I bought the XR I never thought either of them would go for a ride with me. If I'd known, I would have bought something with a comfier pillion. Max ride time on this thing is about 45 minutes before the passenger enters the Zone of Agony.
Yep, a motorcycle would be fun.. They are a lot more manly than a scooter. But I still like scooters, because they are easy to work on and not difficult to ride. Elementary...lol
Today, this very day, I registered for my basic rider course which I will attend Tuesday and Wednesday next. The weather forecast is perfect, I have scheduled two days of vacation, and the class should be smaller than the ones on the weekend. I do not, however, think it would be prudent to tell Mrs. Hanson that I have done this on Valentines day.
Hanson wrote:Today, this very day, I registered for my basic rider course which I will attend Tuesday and Wednesday next. The weather forecast is perfect, I have scheduled two days of vacation, and the class should be smaller than the ones on the weekend. .
Congrats! I wish you the very best on it!
Tell us how it goes, maybe even start a blog here about it and your first weeks of riding experience.
Susi had a minor crash yesterday while I was at an IDPA pistol competition. She was taking the boys to a Scouting service event and everyone is OK except that her hand hurts. Her truck had to be towed to the garage and I had a lot of messages and missed calls on my phone when I finished shooting for the day. When I am competing I normally just empty all of my pockets in the truck, including my phone, as it helps to minimize distractions.
One consequence of this crash is that Mrs. Hanson will be driving me, in my truck, to my motorcycle training classes on Tuesday and Wednesday next while her truck is at the garage. I was a bit worried about how she would feel about this, but all I got from Susi was a stern lecture about being ready on time so that she could drop me off without interfering with her schedule. Mrs. Hanson has never been all that enthusiastic about my desire to ride a motorcycle, she certainly is aware of the danger, but I am relieved to know that she has become resigned to that reality even if she is not particularly enthusiastic about the idea.
I have three payments left on my truck and a few expensive items on the spousal priority list, and then I should be able to get my moto. I will start a blog when I get the bike.
For now, I have ordered a Spot Gen 3 gps messenger/tracker and it should arrive on Wednesday. I will use it next weekend on a Scout backpacking trip. We are doing a shakedown on the Crosstimbers trail in far North Texas, and it will give me a good opportunity to explore the features of the Spot 3. It can send 5 different messages, all of which contain GPS coordinates which range from automatic position messages on a time interval, to a message to summon emergency rescue services.
There is a very interesting site developed by some people in the long distance motorcycling community, SpotWalla.com, which can automaticaly access tracking data from Spot and then use that data, along with Google maps, to create maps that report your location as you are traveling. Basically, I can go on a ride and have a secure map that my loved ones can use to know where I am as the Spot tracker will send my location data to Spot every 10 minutes through a satellite communication system and then the SpotWalla will download this information and build an updated map. I can also send an OK message, "Hi Baby, I am just stopping for fuel for me or the bike or both!", a custom message, "I am stooping for the night, give the kids a hug for me.", and a help message, "I am broken down but OK, please call for roadside assistance." If I crash I can just send an SOS and Spot will provide my GPS location to emergency services. This works anywhere around the globe and spot allows you to send your messages to a list of email accounts and/or in SMS format to a list of cell phones with configuration options for each message type. At the same time, Mrs. Hanson can check on my progress anytime she wants by just checking the SpotWalla trip map. SpotWalla has been greatly expanded to use data from a wide range of sources including other GPS tracking devices, the ham radio APRS system (there is a reason my license plate on my truck reads W5JF), and even an Android application called Bubbler GPS.
Next summer I am taking a group of Scouts backpacking in Colorado and I intend to use the Spot 3 and SpotWalla to allow all of the parents to track our progress in a wilderness area near Gunnison, but I also think this is going to work great when I want to go for a ride on my motorcycle. I have a very strong desire to do some motorcycle touring / adventuring / camping / long distance riding, and I think SpotWalla is going to provide a lot of comfort to my wife along with a good tool to help document my excursions.
