Saturday, September 25, 2010

Out of the Suburbs

brace yourself. i'm about to extoll one of the (few) virtues of living on the eastside. are you ready?

you can ride for less than 10 minutes and essentially be in farm country.

there it is. an advantage of living in bellevue.

my dad and i went for a great ride today. out south of bellevue on coal creek parkway, and onto may valley road. we hit issaquah-hobart road to highway 18 and up past 90 to 202 by snoqualmie falls. into fall city, and down through preston to jump back on 90 to newport way, and home.

overall, it was a far superior ride to wednesday's. the weather was gorgeous and within 10 minutes (as i mentioned above) we were on a little twisting road heading past fields and horses. couldn't ask for anything more. no real traffic, good roads and very little getting lost (ok, i turned the wrong way on 18 at first, but there was an exit fairly quickly). had i known 18 was a limited access highway, i might have tried to avoid it, but we were only on it for 8 miles or so.

on 202 we hit the dreaded construction, just after snoqualmie falls. we waited for at least 5-10 minutes, but other than that the ride was blessedly orange-free. and technically we took the wrong turn out of fall city and got back to 90 further east than planned, but no worries. i don't know if i'd ever been through preston before, and now i have.

throughout the ride (and over the past few months) i've been trying to work on clutch and throttle control, and i think i've been making some good progress. for those who don't know, using the clutch on a motorcycle is much different than in a car. while in a car, you have the point of engagement and then you're going, motorcycles have this awesome thing called a friction zone, where you can use part of the clutch to help control speed, along with the throttle. also, if you have a sweet bike like vixen, the throttle control is nice and sensitive, so when you pull back on the throttle, instead of straight coasting, you'll slow down.

this technique gives you a lot more control over the bike as a whole, since you are hardly ever using the brake (and whenever you're braking you have much less control over any vehicle), and since you have constant contact with the throttle. plus, slowing down by down-shifting instead of by braking means you're always in the proper gear should you ever need to escape from a harrowing situation, or just put on some unexpected speed. you wouldn't believe the control you have. for instance, given the proper distance (not as much as you might think), i can slow from freeway speeds to a complete stop without touching the brake. i can also decrease my speed, while going downhill, without any braking. pretty cool, huh?

the whole ride was about 60 miles, and lasted around 2 hours. not a bad way to spend a saturday afternoon, really.

in other news, i'm getting ridiculously excited about my florida trip in april. i've considered trying it earlier, but i'm not quite sure about weather. onec i get south, it would be fine i'm sure, but you never know if it's february or march. i guess we'll see how restless i get.

until the next time, rftc.

scott

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The World Gone Orange


i should really just dangle this sign in front of my bike like a carrot because everywhere i go, i can't seem to avoid the damn things.

i went for a nice afternoon ride today, since the weather was nice, i had nothing to do and, well, when is an afternoon ride not a good idea? the idea was to head up to kirkland to drop in on my mom, then head out via 70th to old redmond road, take redmond way to east lake sammamish parkway and cruise around the lake, coming home through issaquah on newport way.

things started out well. i headed up to kirkland via my normal non-freeway route. up lake washington boulevard, through my favorite turn in downtown bellevue (yes, i do have a favorite turn), and up 112th to my mom's neighborhood. it wasn't long before the bad omens started, though.

coming up 112th, i remembered that they'd been paving it for the last few weeks. deciding i didn't want to sit through all that to bounce around on bad roads, i backtracked a bit and jumped back onto the boulevard to come at my mom's from the north. no luck, though, since they were replacing a telephone pole. trucks all over the road, flaggers galore, and i had to wait behind the first of many large truck exhausts to get through. when i got to my mom's house, i laughed it off as bad luck before heading off on the rest of my ride.

oops. the entire way, literally, was filled with construction. i can honestly say that every road i stayed on for more than a mile, had construction at some point. orange phantoms haunted me at every turn, and unpaved roads, gravel and steep dropoffs abounded (not to mention waiting behind all those trucks). what should have been a nice hour-long jaunt turned into a 2.25 hour epic trying to find clean roads. it was like highway 1 all over again.

now i don't pretend that roads fix themselves, and i have nothing against construction workers (well, i do, but that's a different post), but things are different on a motorcycle. variations in the road surface can be big hazards, especially with lots of loose materials like gravel or dirt. two wheels is a lot less stable than four, and it's quite easy to slip sideways if the road isn't in good shape. even those tar strips to fix cracks can send you slipping on a hot day. that plus it's just annoying to have to stop every few miles to wait in a long line of cars to be let through single lane chaos at 12 miles per hour. it can really mess with your motorcycle-mojo.

don't get me wrong, i still had a good ride. the parkway around the lake was gorgeous (i got plenty of time to stop and look around) and i had good tunes to keep me company (flogging molly for most of it). the weather was perfect and vixen performed admirably. i even got a second look from the one cute flagger i passed. but seriously, folks, do we need to have the entire eastside under construction at the same time? maybe mix it up a bit, do some work at night, or at least stick to the freeways, so i don't have to deal with it.

anyway, a good time was had in the end, and a construction-filled ride is still better than no ride at all, so i'm not complaining. much.

rftc,

scott

Friday, September 17, 2010

My New Bikes

today i bought two new motorcycles. being the lush, impulse-buying machine that i am, i couldn't resist. here they are:


aren't they cool? i really broke the bank on them.

the flashy one on the left is little ewan. the one on the right that looks like he could take on some dunes is little charley. if you don't get the reference, google "the long way round."

yes, i'm a nerd. you knew that.

rfts,

scott

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Cuttin' Down the List

well, we took a trip to aurora suzuki today, in hopes of pricing out some accessories and getting some advice. my little bro pat and i took the explorer, since the weather wasn't the best and pat had just ridden across the state yesterday in a downpour, and his gear was still all wet.

we stopped by ride west bmw first, since pat needed some bolts for his radiator cover and, well, why wouldn't you want to stop by ride west bmw? we wandered around a bit, looking at the cool new bikes (the bmw s1000rr was pretty sweet, but actually very small, pat's knees were practically in his chest). i decided i may actually like the r1200r better than the gs at the moment. perhaps my tastes are shifting to more road-based bikes? plus, the seat was far superior. the best bike they had was a ducati monster 1000, with bar-end mirrors, a chopped back end and some sweet custom paint. since i don't think a post is complete without a picture (and since this bike was awesome), i found the picture on the dealer's website. here ya go:



very pretty. anyway, pat found out they didn't have his bolts in stock, but he could pick them up at any hardware store. he also drooled over some fancy helmets with built in flip-down sunvisors. i wandered around wondering how anyone can afford to fully gear up on bmw stuff. after doing some detective work for my dad (top secret, sorry), we headed to aurora suzuki.

i actually struck gold at the suzuki dealer, since the guy in the parts department actually rides an '05 sv. he could speak first hand to my windshield questions, and answered a lot of questions i had. i may be leaning a little more toward a givi screen. tried and true, reviewed well and actually not much of a price difference to the national cycle screen i was looking at. he also answered some questions i had on gel seats and textile pants.

as a result, i have decided i need neither a gel seat or textile pants. the seat just seems superfluous, especially since i've never had any problem with the stock seat. the pants, well, they just looked and felt exactly like my snowboard pants, with a few pieces of armor (in fact, a lot of the winter gloves were exactly like my snowboard gloves. so far, i could just wear all my snowboard gear and save a lot of money). it seemed like they would be just as bulky and hot as my chaps. so that answers that. leather it is. so, cutting out the gel seat and textile pant saves me around $250-300, plus leather is sexier. he also recommended just putting together my own tool kit from a hardware store, as opposed to buying a fancy kit for more money. also makes sense.

all in all, i'm looking at around $700 for gear and classes to be trip-ready. totally doable, in my opinion. unfortunately as far as timing goes, my first maintenance class will have to be put off until november. transferring the title ran me a cool $320, and i'm a little spent this month. but overall, things are still on schedule, and i'm still psyched about the trip. now i need to solidify my route a bit more. find some good roads, avoid some freeways, and find some couches to crash on.

the moral of today is: i like saving money, and you don't really need that much to take a trip if you do it right. and salesmen will also try to sell you things (the suzuki guy tried to convince me i needed a locking top case, which requires its own mounting system. at almost $300, i think i can do without). but good planning was done, and i'm that much closer to being ready for my trip.

til next time, rftc.

scott

Monday, September 13, 2010

The Next Step

well, now that we've managed to make it to the present, let's not waste any time in moving on to the future! next month, i'm riding around the world. i'll be gone for around 8 months or so...

i wish. unfortunately, there are approximately 8,000 reasons i can't go around the world next month, but that doesn't mean i can't start eliminating them. and, since i'm a very goal-oriented person and one of my short-term goals is to do more distance riding, i've decided to take a solo trip next spring. so, instead of circumnavigating the globe, i will be riding to... florida.

ok, it's not peru or norway (both places with great riding, i hear), but it's a start. why florida, you ask? well, several reasons. one, i have places to stay there, with friends and family, all over the state (not to mention a free trip to disney world). two, it's the furthest i can ride from seattle without a passport, and three, why not florida? i've heard it's nice there. beaches, seafood, old people. the perfect road trip destination.

i've thought a bit about my route (though not a whole lot), and i think i can manage the whole thing couch-surfing with more friends and family, thus saving money on hotels. the general idea is: head down the coast (i hate freeways) to california, hitting up salem, arcata, los altos and LA on the way down. then over through phoenix, albuquerque and oklahoma, down to mississippi and over to florida. visit family in amelia island, head to orlando to chill at disney for a few days, and off to see my cousins in miami.

This route also allows me to leave a little earlier in the year, since i won't be dealing with lousy weather in the northern states. the plan is to set aside april. i figure a month should be long enough to get there and back without rushing things too much.

as for preparations for the trip, there are a few things i have planned. there are definitely some things i need to purchase, mostly for my bike. so far, my list includes (this is by no means complete, mind you):

-a good tool kit
-a touring windshield (right now i'm thinking a national cycle f-16)
-a gel seat (suzuki)
-saddle bags (ortlieb high profile dry-bags)
-a tank bag (cheap, since by this point i'm already broke)

i'm also toying with the idea of buying some textile over-pants instead of using my chaps. the textiles wouldn't be as much protection, but they might be a little more flexible temperature-wise, and a little more comfortable with my riding position. on the downside, they are not nearly as stylish as leather. 2 of one, 3 of the other.

also, since i am a complete idiot when it comes to all things mechanical, i will be taking some motorcycle maintenance workshops offered by the lovely people at puget sound safety. they have several maintenance workshops you can take, and i'm hoping to run the gamut by the time i leave (the first may be as soon as later this month). it'd be nice to at least have a little familiarity with my machine if i break down on some backroad somewhere.

so, that's my plan. if you have any suggestions, comments, critiques (places to crash) or anything else about gear, training or my proposed route, please let me know (here or on facebook). i'm up for any advice i can get. this is all about learning, anyway. that and riding. lots of riding.

until next time, rftc.

scott

Saturday, September 11, 2010

My Motorcycle History, part 2

so, at this point i must admit my chronology gets a little hazy. there was a chunk of time i went without a bike (the first of two such periods), though i did manage to get some riding in. it must've been the summer between freshman and sophomore year of college when my dad purchased a 1996 yamaha virago named miss vicky down in the bay area. that being where my uncle lives combined with the fact that bike prices are much, much cheaper down there, we've actually purchased a few bikes down there and brought them up here. the best part was, i got to do it.

and so, in the summer of 2003 (i think), i took my first long bike trip, delivering miss vicky from palo alto to bellevue. jim accompanied me approximately halfway, on his little honda reflex 250 scooter (which, i have to admit, was also a blast to ride). oh, before we went up the coast, we took a short overnight trip down highway 1 to san simeon (one of my uncle's favorite rides) and took a tour at hearst castle. always fun, and a good way to get used to a bike, though miss vicky was not the ideal bike for such twisties that highway 1 can offer.

for the actual trip home, we also took the coast, a combination of 1 and 101 all the way up to crescent city, where we spent the first night. then we jumped over to grants pass on 199 before taking I-5 the rest of the way north. jim turned around at grants pass and left me to my own devices through oregon and washington. i thoroughly enjoyed my solo trip, spending the night in salem. a few things i learned on this trip: one, a cramp buster really helps your throttle hand. and two: i travel much better with music. i had no music on this trip, and basically spent the time singing through every song i could think of in my head. i got a little bored. but, i got to put 1000 miles on my dad's bike before he rode it 10, so overall it was a good trip.

about this time, i was starting to seriously hanker for another bike of my own. luckily, i didn't have to wait too long to get the opportunity. spring break of my sophomore year i headed back down to los altos to stay with my grandparents and find myself a bike. i know a week may be a bit of a tight timeline to find a bike, but i felt confident i could find one, especially because i wasn't terribly picky.

i test rode a honda nighthawk for sale by a private buyer and honestly, i remember being thoroughly underwhelmed. by the end of the test ride i was already bored and while it was a fine bike that would probably last forever, it didn't do anything for me. luckily, once again jim stepped in with his connections and wiles. at this point he worked part time at cal-bmw-triumph, and they, being the wonderful dealer they are, are filled with all the best bikes on earth (i'm betraying my bike preferences a bit here, more on that in future posts). at the time, they had a 2002 triumph tt600 sitting around the lot which, though more than i had intended to spend, jim somehow convinced me to try (i'm sure it was a very hard sell). i'm sure it's not hard to guess that i loved it. for those of you who don't know, the tt600 is somewhere between a sportbike and a standard. it looks pure sport, but is not quite as aggressive as a machine like a kawasaki ninja. in fact, here's a picture:



isn't she pretty? i called her my pretty blue sportbike (pbs). this bike rocked. after purshasing it, we took yet another ride down the coast to san simeon (the tt handled the twisties much better). among our riding group were a few of jim's friends who were absolutely crazy on their bmw GSs. the GS is the adventure tourer, but you wouldn't know it the way these guys rode. once we got out of the twisties and headed slightly inland before actually reaching the hotel, these guys apparently decided they needed to open it up a bit (keep in mind, i didn't witness any of this becuase they had left me in the dirt long ago). all i know is that when i got to the hotel, a few of them were swapping stories about getting pulled over for going 120 mph. yeesh. (for the record, i did take my pbs up to 106 on the way home, but this was an abandoned farm road, and that was as fast as i dared take it.)

after that nice little trip, i once again headed back up home, on my second solo bike trip in as many years. not a bad average, really. this time, however, i didn't go the coastal route. i was already late back to school, so i really had to put some pavement behind me and take I-5 all the way up. not the prettiest route, but my bike performed brilliantly. i stayed in ashland the first night with an old director of mine, having my first meal of taco truck mexican (awesome). the next morning when i woke up, it was raining. all right! i broke out the rain suit and headed off. the rain didn't stop. in fact, it got worse. by the time i pulled into roseburg, i had gone through sheets of rain, huge crosswinds and hail. let me tell you, riding in hail is about as fun as it sounds. especially when you're passing semi-trucks on I-5. by the time i hit eugene, i had stopped several times to change my socks and let my hands thaw. the weather finally cleared around 30 miles from salem (my final destination), and i rode a triumph-ant (ha ha) victory lane right up to willamette university's theatre building, parked right outside the door and headed into class in full leathers. it was, to put it mildly, somewhat of an entrance. i'm not sure jon cole appreciated it. oh, and i also got a ticket for parking outside the theatre. a fitting end to a day of crappy riding.

the tt became my primary mode of transportation, lasting me the rest of the school year, throughout the summer and into my junior year. unfortunately, a few different circumstances led to the forced sale of my beloved pbs during winter break. mainly, it was oregon weather. at the time, i worked at the campus cafe, often closing at 1am or later. too many nights of riding the bike home in late november at 1:30 in the morning, slipping on black ice with numb hands and feet made me pause a little, and the fact that i had an independent study in portland that spring (starting in january), i had to admit i needed a car. sad day.

this led to my biggest bike-less gap to date. there was a big gap with absolutely nothing, until some time in 2008 when i moved back in with my dad (way to be broke). once there, i had a few bikes i could occasionally ride. my dad had sold miss vicky by this point and had upgraded to a honda shadow 1100. quite the ride, and one i wasn't really interested in (that would change). also, dad had acquired a honda rebel 250, which was actually not bad for riding around the neighborhood, but anything over 60 mph, it would start to shake like crazy. it was not fun. my little brother actually rode that bike across the state twice, which i can't imagine doing.

flash forward once again to about 2 months ago. two things happened in quick succession that thrust me back into bike-dom. one, i decided to join my brother pat's ride down to california for our summer vacation (more on that later), and two, my good friend brad was leaving to teach in england for 2 years, needing something to do with his 2008 suzuki sv650. hmm...i guess i might be able to help him out. thanks to the bank of dad (great interest rates, easy loan applications), i managed to scrape together just enough funds to help out my friend brad and assure him his bike would be well taken care of. and so, after a 6 year hiatus, i am finally a bike owner again. here she is:



sexy, no? since she is an sv650 (svsix), quite sexy and definitely an enabler, i have christened her "vixen." i love her. she makes my commute so much better. right now i need to get some good winter gloves so i can keep riding her in the coming months, but don't worry. i will. she will also be getting some touring gear in the coming months but again, more on that later (probably a future post).

forgive me, but i am bypassing a long description of my recent california trip with pat. it could easily fill up several posts on its own, but i have already written about it somewhat on facebook, and posted many, many pictures (you can check it all out there). here are some bulletpoints for a quick reference:

-I-5 is lame. escape as quickly as possible.
-my dad's shadow 1100 is a beast, but great for cruising straight at 70 mph.
-the oregon coast was awesome. i'm sure the california coast was too, but we never saw it thanks to fog (same with the golden gaste bridge).
-construction on highway 1 can really slow you down.
-highway 128 through sonoma and boonville is absolutely gorgeous.
-12 hours is too long to spend on a bike seat.

for photos see my facebook page.

that's it for now! next up, i'll lay out a little rundown of my immediate plans, and the next step in my quest to conquer the world on 2 wheels!

rftc,

scott

ps- just a quick note. these posts have been quite long, since it's trying to get everyone up to date on my last 14 or so years of motorcycling. this should be the last ridiculously long post. in fact, from here on out, posts may be much more sporadic. and short. we'll just have to see.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

My Motorcycle History, part 1

i honestly cannot remember a time when i haven't been interested in motorcycles. it was probably sometime in elementary school when i started getting really into them, around the same time my uncle jim started sending me crusty demons of dirt videos. awesome freestyle motorcross. perfect to infect a 12 year old's mind.

it was also around this time i got my first rides on a motorcycle, also thanks to jim. my very first ride was in walnut creek, california while visiting my cousins jason and andrew. i think it was jason's bike i rode on. i remember it was a blue harley davidson. jim took me around the neighborhood, and i distinctly remember the red and yellow leaves being stirred up off the pavement as we rode over them. it was enough to get me hooked. jim's constant barrage of motorcyling magazines didn't hurt.

over the next few summers, whenever we were down in california i would go riding with jim. i was still on the back at this point, but he was already giving me the basics on our rides up the palo alto hills to alice's restaurant. on sundays there would be upwards of 50 or 60 bikes lf all kinds parked at alice's, and we would just wander around, jim explaining the differences to me. in a shed around the back of the restaurant they had a boss hoss which, if you don't know, is a beast. a boss hoss is a 450 v8 engine taken from a camaro, or some other muscle car, and mounted on a motorcycle frame. insane. i loved it.

the bike we took on most of these rides was technically my cousin andrew's, though by this time he was at college and it was being looked after by jim. this was the first bike i truly fell in love with, and sadly missed the opportunity to buy it when andrew finally sold it a half dozen or so years ago. it was a 1982 bmw r90 (i think). a beautiful machine with an old cafe-style fairing, and the tried and true bmw boxer engine. i did my best to find a photo of something close, and here's the best i could do (just picture it in black):


as i said, a beauty.

flash forward to my senior year of high school. i was 18, and finally (don't ask why it took so long) convinced my parents to let me take the motorcycle safety course. this might be because my dad decided it might be fun to take it with me. anyway, late fall in the pacific northwest might not be the best time to get on a bike for the first time, but with a little help from my snowboarding jacket and some new rain pants, we braved the elements for a weekend and passed the course.

(don't ask how i did. as our instructor said: "no biker bar in the world will ask how you scored on your motorcycle safety course. you all passed." i do know i was the only rider to speed up the entire time i was going through the prescribed turn, which earned me the speed demon award. that was probably the only time i've been called fast on a bike.)

at this point, my history gets a little fuzzy. i think for christmas that year i got an old honda xr100 dirt bike. i rode this a total of about 3 times, mainly because it was at my aunt's ranch in sandy, oregon and i hardly ever went there.

the more significant piece of my history would be my first "real" bike, a 1982 kawasaki spectre. this bike belonged to my choir teacher at the time, who was tired of it sitting around in his garage. we borrowed it for an elongated test ride, and i promptly crashed it into a ditch while riding around our neighborhood. i remember going into the turn and thinking, very calmly mind you, "huh, i'm going way too fast. i'm not going to make this turn. i'd better bail out." so i did. i rolled off the bike, which went into a ditch, cracking the speedo (it never got fixed), breaking off a turn signal and scratching up the whole left side. needless to say, we bought the bike. here's a picture of what is essentially a carbon copy of my bike:


i rode this bike for the rest of the year, and never went above 35 mph! at least, according to the speedo, which would go to 35 and then stick. i ended up selling this bike to my best friend at the time, john. he painted it and tried to ride it to ASU, where he was going to go to school. unfortunately, th head gasket burst about 50 miles outside of vegas, and he had to hitch a ride, abandoning the bike to the will of the highway patrol. when he finaly located it in impound, it wasn't even worth the money to get it out. i'm guessing it was probably scrapped. a sad end, but one hell of a good story.

well, this post is getting much longer than i anticipated, so i think we'll call it here for the evening. part two of my motorcycle history (when my condition became terminal) will have to wait until tomorrow.

till then: ride fast, take chances.

scott

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Welcome!

hello! welcome to my new blog. i'm pretty terrible at introductions, so i'm just going to jump right in.

my name is scott herman, and i live in seattle, wa. firstly, i don't like using the shift key when i type, so get used to no capital letters.

this blog is a documentation of my current adventures with motorcycles, with the overarching goal of eventually riding around the world (or at least all over it). i'm not sure what all these preparations will include, but some of the plans i have include:

-learning motorcycle maintenance
-learning to ride off-road
-gaining more long distance experience (more on my past experience later)
-getting new and exciting toys for my bike (because that's the most fun part)
-traveling around the world (OK, this one's a long way off, but it's on there)

i hope to update fairly regularly, though much of these goals are limited by the fact that i am broke, and most of these plans cost money. until i get that money, i'll be posting stories, thoughts, anecdotes (different than stories) and experiences from my day to day life as a motorcyclist.

for instance:
today i (finally) transfered the title of my new bike at the licensing office. it only cost $321 and took around 45 minutes. i love licensing. luckily, everything went far smoother than some of the other people ahead of me in line. it helps to have all the necessary documents (here's a hint: if you don't have a title, you need a bill of sale). and that my bike is new enough to not need an emissions test. i'll have a shiny, new title in my name in 6-8 weeks. government efficiency at it's finest.

wasn't that interesting? over the next few days (give or take) i'm hoping to post a little about my background with motorcyling and maybe a few fantasy posts about what my dream garage would have in it.

this introductory post, however, is coming to an end. if you choose to keep following, i hope you enjoy. and, in the immortal words of citybike magazine (and my uncle jim, whom you will hear much more about): ride fast, take chances.

scott