DirtyTwin said:
Nice Job US Rider, exactly why we ride!, now the post ride break down!!, what tires are you going to be putting on next?, what do you think you will change before the next ride? and how much did you use that radio?for me, and after all it's all about me, not impressed with the Dunlop's, I have 8500 miles on them and they howl like a 3rd grader at chuckee cheese, don'tknow how, but I am going to find some place to store a couple of micro fibre rags and and a can of plexus, and other than the weather channel, I don't even know where the radio is!
Now, the really important stuff, how was my lobsteryou were going tohave for me?
Great Job, lovedriding with ya.
Thanks DirtyTwin.
I'm not sure what tires I'll put on next, but it will probably be another multi-compound tire. I'm not very impressed with the original Dunlops either, as mine only lasted 11,500 miles. I would use these Michelins again, as I had no issues what so ever. The Michelins howled too, while leaning off center, when the middle tread was way down -- this may be a geometry thing, channeling air out the grooves in the tires in one direction, like blowing into a horn to alert the village that the Vikings are coming...
I listen to music nearly the whoe ride, and most of it comes off the MP3 player built into my Garmin GPS. Plus, it is BlueTooth'd to the Sena on my helmet. I use noise isolating ear buds vs. speakers -- so that I keep the overall volumne down. Sometimes I join my phone to the BlueTooth as well, to hear incoming calls and messages, but mostly not.
The microfiber cloth and polish is a good idea, but I'm a Pledge guy. I was trying to limit storage, so I left the pledge at home. I just took terry cloth, and then used hotel garbge cans to haul water to the bike -- where I gave it sponge baths each morning.
I'm afriad that I failed miserably on the goal of consumption of many crustaceans. I only had one meal with lobster in it -- when in Maine. Mostly I was eating only twice a day -- early and hearty breakfast, then pretty good late lunch (2:30-3:00). By the time I got off the road, I would check into a hotel, find and acquire a couple of fermented adult grain-based (for the fiber) beverages, and maybe snack on a small bag of popcorn. Then, I would settle into the room, download pictures from cameras, view and select some highlight pictures, then post them to theVog and to Facebook. That would usually take a couple hours, after which I would shower and turn in.
Oh, and my loster meal was Eggs Benidict Lobster -- and it was fabulous!
Did I say that it was FABULOUS?
What would I change?
Next time, I would go the last two weeks of September -- moving my start date 2-3 weeks earlier. Most of Maine, that I saw, had already peaked and lost the leaves -- but I saw plenty of color still. Plus, the local tourists were out in force duing the Columbus Day weekend, so the hotel rates were high in MN and VT.
I would centralize for afew days in NH, and then make some "loops" into VT, NH, and MN. There is a lot of FABULOUS roads and scenery in that area -- I only did a drive-by.
Finally. I arrived close enough to home to stick a fork in this trip. Stopped off at one of my favorite Taco establishments for a celebratory meal and cervesa. Cheers!
I purchased and packed Gerbing gloves and jacket liners, wired up my bike quickly on the day before departure, but actually never used them in a plugged-in mode. I did put them on, and I rode with them, but I never had the need to turn them on. I did use my heated hand grips lots during the morning hours.
I need a seat cover to put on at night. The dew was present each morning, and the seat (Ultimate) was wet. I should have packed a cover. The last two days my butt felt wet for the first couple hours of riding.
Packing was good. 6 undies, 3 pants, 6 shirts, Garmin liner and lined Windbreaker, rain suit, chaps, denim vest and two long sleeve shirts. Did laundry one time in VT hotel. I did have to double-dip on undies and socks the last day.
I would have liked to connect and use Sirus XM sattelit radio on my Garmin. I have the antenna, and would just need to mount it and sign-up for the subscription. My MP3s on the Garmin are just getting old. A little variety would have been nice. I don't like the idea of another subscription, but I would have tried it for a month. With it you get more than raodio -- weather, sports channels, etc...
I would have preferred to travel withother riders -- very small group (3-4) , but, unfortunately, I had a ton of vacation to take this year and others did not. However, I was not going to sit around home on vacation, so I rode and blogged.
It was a lot of work posting to theVog AND Facebook. I think in the future I would like to post to one and link to it from the other -- to save time for eating more crustaceans.
Other than that, I'm okay with this trip! Now, I need to plan another trip back east...I left too many crustacens on the table!
Where to next?
Hm....
