Where did you ride today?

gunsmoker said:
I Took my first ride in over three weeks on my bike -- all that time it's been down for electrical work. Not repairs but adding new lights and a new USB charger port on my handlebar. (A year ago I put one in my trunk but I wanted one up front now that I have a phone holder on my left handlebar.)

The Z-Moon fog lights are brighter than my car's headlights and this motorcycle's low beam headlights too. Z-moons are comparable to the ST 1300s upgraded bulb high beams, but in the color yellow instead of white light. (The Lights can be hooked up to give you either yellow or white light, but I chose to only connect the wires to give yellow. So my choices are "bright yellow" or "off" per the selection of my illuminated toggle switch mounted up on my left handlebar.

I rode for an hour while the sun was still out and then later went out again well after dark to see how these lights performed at night.IMG_3283.jpegIMG_3282.jpeg
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oh... I don't know about having a flat pc of metal near your hand/arms there..... an abrupt stop and it could slice a hand off... maybe I watch too much TV.
 
Rode the bike to my Dr appointment for genetics testing in Iowa City from West Des Moines. Gonna find out if I'm human or not.

Actually my kids and grandkids all have 2 genes that have an anomaly. One gene anomaly causes lower extremedy development issues (thus all the surgeries my grandson has been going through to lengthen and straighten his leg and fix his hips as well as my older son having similar issues). The other gene anomaly causes pulmonary hypertension. That's an issue for new born babies as well as when we get older (issues with heart/lung circulation). My wife was found to be the source of the first one. Now I'm being tested to see if I have the second one.

Anyway, rode the bike 263+ miles round trip. About 70 miles on Interstate... half to start and the other half to end. I hate Interstate riding. Others are stupid AND crazy out there. But the bike performed great all around. Especially when a long heavy 22 wheeler big rig (3 axles at the rear) decided to pull out of a side road onto the 2 lane highway I was on right in front of me. I was going 55 and he was taking a very long time to make his turn across the road from right to left right in front of me. All I could see was 3 sets of axles just in front of the rear of his loaded flatbed. Iron and equipment I think, but I was too busy pulling hard on the brakes and horn (not that he could hear me... and I know he wasn't looking). Sorry, wasn't able to get a picture. :eek1:

edit: forgot to mention I had topped off the tank before this trip, then filled up in Iowa City before the return trip, then filled up when I got back home. The trip there calculated out to 54+ mpg. The trip back calculated to 59+ mpg! Must have had a tail wind coming home.
 
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A small town (Nanton) to the south of us has a group of dedicated aviation enthusiasts. They have (amongst other things) a Lancaster bomber that, although not airworthy, has all 4 operating engines. Periodically they fire it up. Today was one of those days. Can't overstate the bravery of the young men who flew those things into combat!!
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I celebrated the end of winter with an 8-hour blast up to Opononi and Kaikohe and back. Managed to dodge the heavy showers forecasted and had a mostly dry ride. The twisties through the Waipoua kauri forest were a highlight as always, plus the views at Opononi of the Hokianga Harbour. Time for new tyres again now, the T32s have given their best.IMG_7511.JPGIMG_7512.JPGIMG_7514.JPG
 
Rode about 80 miles as part of a group ride from Gainesville Georgia to Clayton Georgia then due west to Hiawasse, GA (and Lake Chatuge) but while the rest of the riding group had lunch in Hiawassee I jumped across the North Carolina border to the first town so I could get a photo there for the North Carolina alphabetical A-Z picture challenge.

Met my riding group just as they finished lunch and we all came back to Gainesville together. Total about 200 miles for me.

Some of it was twisty mountain roads with 20 mile an hour curves.

BUT... on a fairly gentle curve with probably a 35 mile an hour speed limit, I slid several inches sideways because I ran over one of those hot tar road crack repair strips --a "road snake." I instinctively put my foot out ready to put it on the ground for balance

(as if that would do anything ...with a rubber sole boot scraping a street at 45 miles an hour on a bike that weighs over 700 pounds and about 1100 lbs with me and all my gear.)
 
Took the new to me BMW K100rs out for a 75 mile test ride. Had a stop at skulls gap overlook. The last ride was a failure with it coming back on a trailer because of a failure to restart because the fuel pump would not run. Once home 4 hours later it started like nothing was ever wrong. Spent time with the wiring diagram and figured the 2 possibilities was the ignition module or fuel pump relay so having both as spares they went on it. So far so good.IMG_3129.jpeg
 
Needed to get out of the City and decompress a bit, so I took the FJR on an early morning ride up to Echo Lake. It is one of my favorite local rides once I am across the Metro Area and into the foot hills. 140 mile round trip garage to garage. The weather was the best this morning. All the colors were just sharp and vibrant, and once on highway 103 to the lake, not a soul to be found. Had the road all to my self.


maps.app.goo.gl

CO-470 to 1267-1399 County Rd 65

maps.app.goo.gl maps.app.goo.gl


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If you've never been to the "Ride the Ribbon" rally in John Day, OR, the idea is simple. Meet up with some good friends and make new ones. Then ride on some of the best motorcycle roads west of the Rockies. It seems these roads follow the path taken by wagons and skirt along the banks of local rivers. As a result there are few straight roads. And those that there are, bring you to more twisty roads in short order. There's little traffic and the pavement is beautiful.

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My gaze wants to go out and appreciate the scenery, while that sign tells me to pay attention.
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I spent Sunday riding out to Baker City and then south to Cambridge. The Snake River was glassy smooth in this spot.

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My riding buddy and I split up as we came back and I went north into Hell's Canyon. The quote below is from Wikipedia. A couple quick details to pick out.
  • The canyon is the deepest river gorge in North America. You just cannot grasp the scale of what you're passing through.
  • The Snake River flows more than a mile below the top of the gorge.
Hells Canyon is a ten-mile-wide (16 km) canyon in the Western United States, along the border of eastern Oregon, western Idaho, and a small section of eastern Washington. It is part of the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area which is also located in part of the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.[2] It is North America's deepest river gorge at 7,993 feet (2,436 m),[3] running deeper than the Grand Canyon in Arizona.[4]

The canyon was carved by the waters of the Snake River, which flows more than one mile (1.6 km) below the canyon's west rim on the Oregon side and 7,400 feet (2,300 m) below the peaks of Idaho's Seven Devils Mountains to the east. This area includes 214,000 acres (87,000 ha) of wilderness.[5] Most of the area is inaccessible by road.[6]
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It looks so inviting in the picture. The temp was 102F. Hooray for a cooling vest. ;)
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The scenery isn't just on the ground, but also in the sky.

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I left early on Monday morning. At this point, I'd probably been on the road an hour.

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Almost home...Snoqualmie Pass.

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Chris
 
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