First Ride of Season!

Late first ride this year. I have been doing a lot of walking and yard work exercise and am feeling very good these days. Weather improved today (17 C) and half the deck is stained, so ...

I took the bike out of the garage. Noticed how easy it was to raise the sidestand and deploy it again. That's due to the Touratech foot extender. Damn fine item.

Put on the Roadcrafter. I've lost twenty ponds and it still fits. In fact, fits great.

Motored off. As usual, very careful out the cul-de-sac and over the main road to the traffic light. Foot down securely, then off for a ride.

Not an exciting ride and only 40 km long, but it felt fine. At first, I thought the hip cramps would attack, as they always do on the first ride, but I was able to hold them off. Never had a problem on the rest of the ride. That is likely due to the Touratech 20mm bar risers. Modest rise and no additional rearward movement but felt quite good. Not really noticeable - that's probably an indication of correct rise. Sure felt good.

On the way back, I stopped at the local Go train station ( commuter train). On Sundays, it's empty and great for practicing low speed tight turns. I was surprised how empty it was today, a Friday before a long weekend. It had lots of empty space at the north end, so...

The idea is to keep your head up and crank your head right around to look where you want to end up - not to look dead ahead and down at the road. I always had trouble with this before. No trouble today. The bar risers let me sit straight up, or almost, and I found it much easier to turn my head. Much tighter turns, felt really in control. Boy, it felt great! The bike feels a bit smaller and more nimble. Don't know if 20mm can make that much of a difference, but if it does, I am grateful. I'll be back there on Sunday, for more practice. If I can learn to really manoever the bike better in low speed tight turns, I'll be very happy. It's got to be the improved riding position.

The GPS was positioned a bit differently. A barbell connector-type of RAM arm lets me use a small arm and a large arm to be able to move it around. I am still experimenting. May get a second large arm. Not really long and it may cause too much vibration. We'll see. The GPS is likely always going to block a portion of the speedometer, but that is acceptable. May use a different handlebar bolt hole for the RAM ball mount to move it a bit left, providing no interference with the clutch hydraulic reservoir results. Or not.

So, the farkles are a great success!

And, yes, for the observant, the secret farkle is still secret, for a few more days.

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Exercise is Good for Me!

After my bout with Pneumonia, reported in an earlier blog, I was in severe need for some exercise. So, I went about getting some, when it was not raining, which was not often enough in the last while.

So, I made a video and will try to embed it here:

And, hope it works. I'll try it and come back to finish the post...

Well, I first put in a link and that worked, but I wanted to embed the video. Was not too difficult and you can see it above.

Hope you like it!

Made some tea, and while there, I thought of another related piece of news.

I was at the shoe store with Dianne looking for shoes for her when I spotted some MBT shoes on sale. These have high rocker, turn up at the heel and toe. Yes, that makes them unstable, compared to normal shoes. This causes one to work harder to balance. Lots of muscles are involved, so they all work harder than normal. This is called exercise.

I love them. Not everyone does, but I love the deep cushioning. When I stand still, my posture does improve, just like advertised. Recently, I have noticed that I can't stand in lineups without my back announcing it is not happy. Not with MBT shoes, because you use the correct part of the foot and the body just lines up above it.

And, I bought a pair of 4 lb hand weights. Trying to get arm and chest and shoulder muscles stengthened.


Motorcycle news: Handlebars now properly bolted. Sidestand foot extenders (wider, longer) installed. So, a bit safer on soft surfaces - hot asphalt, grass, mud(?), etc.

OK, that's all for tonight. Well, on second thought, here is another video:

And, as you can see, I get some exercise here too!

1am - off to bed.

My Kingdom for a Bolt

Went to Home Depot, Rona, Cdn Tire, 2 Marine stores, 3 bike shops (including my BMW dealer), Brafasco, and Fastenal. Talked to two friends in BC and one in Florida - for a stainless steel socket head cap screw, M8-1.25 x 70 or 75 mm. No luck!

Then, I went to the Fastenal web site. I had visited the store and saw nothing in the bins. Did not talk to the clerk. EBay had some for $6 + $17 shipping - and wait 10 days too! But, by phoning the local store and giving them a SKU from the web site, I got a special order. Will get them next Monday. One 70mm and one 75mm.

Yea!

This bolt will go through a RAM B-367U ball, the left bar casting, the 20mm Touratech bar riser, and into the triple tree. The ball allows mounting of my Zumo 550 GPS.

Yea! Success!

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Latest Farckles for Bike

Enough about sickness, let's talk Farkles!

Touratech Bar Risers

Last year I added peg lowering, but still wanted to get bar risers. The Touratech ones go straight up 20mm and no backwards offset. Seemed to be a reasonable kit. So, I ordered them.

Easy to install, except - my dealer provided me with a RAM ball on a special bolt for the the GPS. Needed a longer one, which he did not have available. The RAM folks do, for $10. Works. Just not sure the aluminum 70mm bolt is strong enough or long enough. Going to try to find a 75mm stainless bolt.

Touratech Sidstand Foot Enlarger

Got the $45 one, not the $80 size. Should be fine. Sitting out there, awaiting installation. Right side incisions are saying, not today, Ed...

This will be about the easiest install ever, 3 bolts. But, the bending down...

Secret Farkle

Have lusted for one of these for a while. Will tell you what it is later.

Garmin Map Updates

Maps now up to date. Was an exercise. Secret seems to be update the computer only, then the GPS unit.

Death Came for a Chat

For those of you who had to struggle to read the black-on-black original version, my appologies. The entry was composed on the iPad and posted via the desktop where some invisible hand did a fine job making it tough to read. Hope this is a bit better. 

It seems I'm not fit for him yet. Which is fine, but still un-nerving, and, well, way too soon. The earlier time, the prostrate cancer, just seemed so much more real than pneumonia. More technical.

Pneumonia makes it hard to breathe, so, without normal oxygen levels, you are very weak. Last Wednesday, or ???, Dr Price showed me my X-rays. Dianne, Suzanne, several nurses too. A teaching moment for me and likely others. On admission, the right lung was not functional, but recovered and was not in play. The right was crazy pushed flat by water at the back and between the three lobes. An initial small chest tube was followed by a fire hose, installed in the OR. Dr Segretti did the first, bedside, and he was very good at it. Dr Berzadi did the big one and got the thickened water trapped under each lobe to flow. He was the one calling the shots from then on. But, Dr Price was instructional and supportive. A great team should you need one, and I did. So, my thanks to them all. Lifesavers,they are.

Unless I deteriorated in blood oxygen saturation overnight, I will be discharged this morning. It will be great to be home, but decidedly not normal. Too weak. Must exercise and rest. Build strength. More on that later.

And indeed, I was discharged, am at home, recovering. Naturally, the main floor toilet float thingy failed, so will need to go shopping. 4 deg C, and getting warmer. So, great time to start walking and re-join all of the living.

Dianne did the shopping, and my good neighbor Joe did the installation. Many thanks Joe.

For those of you who were sending me best wishes, they were most appreciated.

More later.

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Provinces and States Ridden In

There is a free utility to make maps like these:

I'm delighted to be able to say I have ridden a bike in all these areas. And, all but Quebec  have been done this year, most since June 2012, on my BMW R1200RT.

Still lots to add...

If you want your own map, go here http://www.visitedstatesmap.com/

Ride to Virginia

A little over a week ago, I rode from just west of Toronto to Reston, VA and back. A fine ride.

Dianne moved the minivan to help me leave at 9am on the Tuesday. She was in a bit of a rush, so I forgot to plug in my electric vest, made for a coolish ride down Niagara Falls way.

Heading towards Lewiston Bridge, I took the last exit looking for a coffee shop. None close. Found a paved spot to park, with a path into woods. Good enough, shielded by a tree. Then back to the road to the bridge and a painless entry into the US.

As always, the GPS got confused and I-90 was replaced by rural roads to Batavia, where I picked up US 63, I-90, and then US 15. That goes basically to my destination.

I was having knee pain and overnighted at Williamsport PA. That was about where I planned to stop anyhow. So far, the weather was great, and the bike ran flawlessly, as it did for the rest of the ride.

Next morning, off again about 0730. Light traffic, nice scenery of yesterday was replaced with more urban roads until south of Gettysburg ... And then into Maryland! Soon, a lovely Welcome Centre offered a place to stop.

I took the opportunity to put the low seat into the high position. Amazing how the lowered pegs and high position help the knees. Nice roads down to Virginia, and by 1400, I was in my room. Visited for a few days and departed 0745 Saturday morning, aiming for Mansfield PA, just south of NY border.

I passed there by 1330, in light rain, and decided to keep going. I was concerned the weather might turn and give me grief if I delayed until Sunday. Besides, it was too early to stop for the day.

Soon, I was past Corning, then stopped in Batavia for coffee. Picked up I-90, on to the border at Fort Erie, ON. Sometimes border crossings take a while, a pain to inch forward on a bike. This time, no cars in front of me, I rode right up to the booth, and was cleared through quickly. Continued down to my next coffee stop, and then home by 2000.

The very last 20 minutes was in darkness. First time really with the R1200RT at night. Great lighting forward, not so much on the road where I set my left foot on the ground. One stop was all it took for me to re-learn to watch ahead very carefully when coming up to a stop!

All in all, a great trip. Bike felt great. Now, one year and one month old, it has 17,500 km on it. My old Triumph, from May of 2000 had only 40,000 km on it by September 2011. Says something I figure...

 

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