The weekend…

In other news, I’ve practically sold my Icon red and white Tuscadero jacket to another woman at work who just bought a spanking new SV. And I bought the Teknic Violator jacket from Seattle Cycle last Saturday. They need to order it for me and hopefully I can go pick it up this weekend and drop it off at Eugene’s who will zip it up with the pants for me.

Last Sunday I went on a loooong ride by myself on the SV. It was the first time I took her out on the freeway and I was amazed at how well she handles as compared to my Virago. So stable and hardly any vibration. Of course, the first plunge on the freeway on a motorbike is always scary to me as I feel the wind blasts on my helmet from both sides. I try to crouch down as much as possible, but that feeling of utter panic carries itself into my handling of the bike as well.

In any case, about my route – I took the ferry frm Edmonds to Kingston on Sunday morning and rode on WA-101 along Hood Canal. From there I turned back up north to the other side of the canal to the little town called Tahuya.

My intention was to do the Destination Highway from Tahuya to Gorst, but I think I missed the turn someplace and got in North Shore Rd. instead that goes by the water.  It was gorgeous and twisty and there was hardly any traffic!! Don’t get me wrong – it was lovely to see so many bikers out there, but after a while I got tired of waving. :P

I rode as far as I could, but it ended in a rather steep, un-engineered, uphill, one lane route and I stopped and turned around. I don’t like heights, and I wasn’t keen on turning a corner to see a car directly in my face.

From there I rode back to WA-3 and took it all the way north back to Kingston. There were almost 20+ bikers on the 5:45 ferry back to Edmonds! I think I rode almost 250 miles in one day! Suffice to say, I’ve broken the SV in! :) The curious thing is that I was having so much fun riding that I never actually wanted to stop and take pictures! So not much of a photo record this time.

Ranting…

You know it’s going to be a lovely day when you drop your shiny, new bike in the frontyard when you are leaving for work. Fortunately, it didn’t exactly crash – I just lowered it onto the ground when I felt it falling down, and it was on some soft grass, so no scratches or things breaking off.

After I got it up though I was horrified to find out that the screws fastening the front seat to the bike were missing!! They weren’t anywhere to be found on the grass (and I’d have been very surprised to have seen them there). I know I fastened them pretty tight when I replaced the seat a month ago, so it’s either some screw gnomes that took them, or they weren’t tight enough and had fallen off while I was riding it. Can that even happen?!

Either way, I should be relieved that I found out sooner rather than later. I can imagine it’d be quite dangerous if the seat slipped around under me or even slid out or something while riding. Now I’m going to have to find the right gauge screws for it before I’m able to ride it again. Trip to Sears hardware then?

Good thing I had another bike to ride to work, although it felt almost like a toy bike after a week of riding the SV. So low and so… puny! I felt like a right idiot riding it, and it took some guy riding a red Hayabusa waving at me enthusiastically from some crossstreet to cheer me up again. :) *grin* Wow… hmmm… let’s revise the part where I said that biker guys don’t do anything for me anymore, shall we? ;)

Oh, and I had at least two feckin’ idiots in cages trying to race me. The speed limit is 35mph and I’m going 40mph in the left lane, and they *still* overtake me from the right. WTF? I thought this only happened when I rode the SV, but apparently morons find even a little 250 bike threatening. I mean really, are you an idiot? What the hell do you want me to do? Go 55+ mph on a 35 mph street in peak hour traffic?

Not to mention the fucking idiot in the minivan yesterday… I decided to take the long way home and rode by Lake Sammamish, which is normally a pleasant non-eventful, less traffic-y route where I pass lots of bikers. What I get is this giant, blue, ugly fucking minivan tailgating me for the entire length of the ride. Keep in mind that this is a very narrow street with only one lane going either way. There’s no way I can pull away to let him through. To my left is the lake, which is not an option, and to the right is just steep, uphill private driveways. What the hell is one to do? I just rode the entire way feeling hot and bothered and pissed off as heck. What I’d give to have had a gun, stop, and shoot his tires out under him. Yay for road rage!

Okay, so I thought I had calmed down from this morning’s fiasco, but I obviously haven’t.

More on leathers…

Last night was the first night that I’ve actually slept well without once coughing my lungs out. I’ve been sick for an entire week now with a really bad head cold. Thankfully, the worst is over, although I did manage to pass on the virus to my manager as well.

I think my leathers conundrum has finally been solved. Vansons leather pants would have cost me at least $650 less armor, and a one piece would have been close to $1400. If I were a serious racer, I might have considered it, but it just seems overkill. Besides, if I really were a serious racer, I’d probably go the extra mile and spend $2000 on a Spidi kangaroo skin suit – so much ligher and more abrasion resistant than cowhide leathers. Plus Vanson are notorious for not delivering on time. Even the BMW guy said that if I were to put through an order, it would be the last order they would take because they were planning to stop dealing with Vanson entirely. He told me to expect a 3 month wait (something had warned me about), and there’s no way I’m going to wait that long.

Next up I called Barnacle Bill to get his prices, and ended up speaking to Barnacle Bill himself. :) He seemed like the loveliest guy with that charming Southern accent that I’m such a sucker for, and I really wanted to go through him. He also guaranteed that he would have them ready in 8 weeks. I told him that I would go home and look up the designs and think about whether I just wanted pants made or a one-piece. I really, really just wanted to order with him because little one-man operations like his are so rare to find and seem so much more human and endearing than gear churned out by some factory.

As luck would have it though, I happened to wander back to Renton Motorcycles a couple of weeks ago and found a pair of Alpinestar Stella track pants that fit okay. They were a bit loose around the waist, and the knee armor was positioned such that it was just an inch below my knee, rather than covering my entire knee. The knee puck too was so low, that a racing boot would not fit over the pant leg. I bought the pants anyway “just in case”. I figured I’d see what Vanson said and decide what I wanted to do.

I rememberd an acquaintance of mine from Eastside Motosports mentioned that her husband had had his leathers altered by a tailor who worked very close to where I live – guy by the name of Eugene. I got his contact info and called him this morning and he said that he did indeed do racing leathers. His shop was open from 9-5 but he offered to work late if I couldn’t make it during that time (how many times have you ever had that experience?). I rushed out of work at 5, got home, picked up the pants and went to see him. He turns out to be this really nice Russian guy (original name Yevgeny :P) who said that he could cut the pants at the knees and raise the lower halves so that they fit like they were supposed to. It’s going to cost me $150 but I figure it’ll be worth it, as the overall cost of the pants will still be way lower than what customs would have cost. Plus Alpinestars is a good enough brand and the leather is good quality.

I need to go find a jacket and bring it back to him next Monday so that he can set up the zipper so that the jacket and pants zip together correctly. Fortunately, I have a wide choice to pick from. On my shortlist are the matching Alpinestars Stella Dyno jacket, Teknic Violator or the Dainese Trax jacket. I’m leaning toward the Teknic jacket because it seems reasonably priced, has good specs and is decent looking.

I’m eventually also needing to get some boots. My Oxstars are just fine for commuting and touring but they don’t have any ankle protection. It’s a little confusing though because there are so many different types out there. I’m thinking about the Sidis obviously, but they make so many different types of boots!

Oh and finally I should mention that I finally feel comfortable on the SV and am LOVING riding it. I rode it for a couple of hours yesterday around Lake Sammamish and thought I would burst with happiness! It handles so wonderfully and my cornering and braking and throttle control has improved dramatically. Lying sick in bed and reading Sport Riding Techniques really helped, it seems! :P There is so much more to riding a sportbike than I had even dreamed possible. :) I finally feel like the bike doesn’t own me.

Sometime soon when I sit down and calculate exactly how much money is going into this little hobby of mine,  I think I am going to silently curse Liz for creating this monster, what with all her links to Femmoto and Mike Sullivan’s school and making me watch Faster. :P

I love them! I love how the palms are so thin that you can feel your bike. I love how it is so well armored for a glove. And I love the little squeegee that you can use to wipe the rain off of your visor! It really works! ;)

Making plans…

After having the most delightful weather for most of this week, it looks like it’s going to be raining all weekend! Grrr…

I had been planning on going down to Port Townsend for the weekend and staying at the youth hostel. I promised myself I would return after spending a night there last November, and this weekend sounded like as good a weekend as any. Not so sure if I can do it if it’s going to be pouring rain though. We shall see… I guess I’ll just leave it until the last minute. It would be so delightful though… it’s down by the water and there’s lots of boats and dock type things. There’s Fort Warden itself that I never really got to explore the last time I was there. There are lots of delightful little rides in those parts. Lots of little theatres and coffeeshops too, just like in Portland. And the youth hostel itself is dirt cheap.

Maybe if it really comes down to it, I’ll drive. Yeah right, says the person who goes green with envy at the very sight of another biker when she is behind a wheel. Not sure I could stand not riding for an entire weekend. Speaking of which, deep down inside there is just slightest twinge of annoyance inside me when I see hordes of fair-weather riders out on the streets now, especially after I’ve been riding in all kinds of shitty weather.

In other motorcycling news, my SV is in the shop at the moment, as I’m getting the handlebars replaced with Heli bars – let’s see if that alleviates the bad ergos a little bit. I also got the frame sliders I had ordered from Ron Ayers in today. I’m scouting around for a used service manual and tank bra. Have I mentioned that I find the shiny red of the bike embarassing? :P The last extravagant thing I might purchase is a slip-on exhaust to make her sound like she doesn’t have a bad cold. I mean really, my Virago sounds better than a machine that has almost 70% more bhp!

Finally, I really need to get Outlook working on my laptop so I can organize my calendar for this year, especially in terms of various motorcycling events, like my MSF Experienced Rider course, the Mike Sullivan’s class that I still need to sign up for and fervently hope is not full, the motorcycle maintenance class, NESBA’s trackday schedule, and all the assorted rides I want to do.

My long ride for this year is definitely going to be doing the Cascade Mountain Loop. I did the northern half last year by car and it was the simply one of the best weekends I had last year. I promised myself I would return with a bigger bike the next year, and I intend to keep my word. The only hitch is that it’d probably take me a week to do the entire loop while still have the time to stop and smell the roses, and I’m not sure I would have a week to spare anytime soon. Perhaps a long weekend of four days would do the trick.

*sigh*

It’s going to be a great summer. :)

Motorcycle Maintenance class

I registered for this class at Lake Washington Technical College yesterday:

Motorcycle Maintenance

COVM 048 Non-credit $189

Roll up your sleeves and get ready to get your hands dirty. This basic course for enthusiasts includes engine theory, electrical and fuel systems, lubrication, brakes, tires, and tools. This course is not manufacturer specific. (7 Weeks)

Item 9375 4/24-6/12 M 6:00pm-9:00pm Rookaird D E158

It’s taught by the service manager over at Eastside Motosports, so that should be interesting. I’ve never actually spoken to the guy, only just nodded at him whenever I’m down there, but he has a good reputation among bikers on the Eastside. I’m hoping this course with finally get me started toward doing all my own maintenance.