[PiZdETS]

Is it just me.......
..Or does anybody else feel this way?

After weeks of snow, ice, freezing wind and sleet, days without power due to downed power lines; slush and ice, and then cold grey windy crappy sandy, salty roads....we had two days of HEAVY rain....enough to wash most of the crap off of the roads.....

...Friday and Saturday went up to 65 here in 'Balimer....and I snuck out of work early, bopped on home, shucked off the work clothes, snugged into my leathers (time for another diet), sprinted out to the garage and rolled my little tri-color wonder out into the glorious sunlight.

Fuel tap ON, ignition ON, rotate the throttle three times fast to activate the accelerator pumps, hit the starter button....and HEAVEN. The motor comes to life with that lumpy, snarly, rumbly-bumbly cadence reserved for performance V-Twins....shakin' and smooth at the same time.

Do a walk-around while she's warmin' up, check the chain, tire pressures, check to make certain the brakes are still attached...check all zippers, helmet on, gloves on and throw the leg over, snap up the sidestand, and...eeaase on down into the saddle while my hands fall to their places on the grips.

Just like sayin', "Hi" to an old friend.

Clutch in, snick it down into first, give a couple of slight blips...a little gas clutch out more gas clutchout more gas and.....ahhhhhhhhhh....that invisible hand in the back, launching you down the road as only a torquemonster motor on a superlight bike can do....

.....and all the daily living, the worries, the deadlines, the gotta do's just fall away like so much chaff in the wind; the feel of the bike and the road fill my senses and free me from the "surly bonds of earth"....and I'm right with the world again.....


Or is it just me?

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Sport-Touring
As I write this, the outside temp is hovering around 7 F, the wind is blowing at about 20 knots, and I haven't had power at home (no well, no heat, no septic, ect.) since Tuesday night. I'm writing this on my laptop, and I'll shoot it off at work when I'm done. Right now, I'm busy feeding the better part of a half-cord of well-aged oak and cherry into the maws of my fireplace; it's one of those hybrid fireplace/woodstove units, and it keeps the house around 68-70 as long as I keep it well fed with dry hardwood. The power company says I can expect restoration of electrical service sometime this evening or tommorrow. Bummer.

So what better way to be transported out of the bleakness of frozen creeks, blustery winds and salty, sanded icy roads, then to sit down by oil-lamplight with some area and regional maps, and start planning the First Spring Ride.

If any of you have read any of my previous posts, you'll know that I loooove to ride; can't get enough of two-wheeled travel as a matter of fact....and I prefer to do it scrunched up on whatever sporty piece of mechanical marvel happens to be ensconced in my garage. Two and three day weekend trips are the norm for me, with miles travelled in the 600-1000 range. Four or five hundred mile days are not out of the question. The little Bimota has proven as cramp-free as any sportbike I've ridden, even with my 50+year old surgically altered knees, so I'll expect it'll suffice as good as anything as an all-day mount.

That being said, riding sportsbike long distances over multiple days creates some challanges and forces some compromises that I wouldn't have if I were riding a bagger or even a well-equipped sport-touring bike, like a Concours, an ST or an FJR, with their plusher seats, more compliant suspensions, ample room and baggage. But, I also get to skip the high weights, wallowing suspenders, limited groundclearance and slower acceleration of the bigger bikes.

There is little more painful and boring than droning on down the superslab hour after hour on a stiffly suspended sportsbike, weight on wrists and a tiny contact patch on that tiny, thinly upholstered seat, as the forks meant to transmit the subtleties of road feel at the limits of adhesion now transmit every little bump and juddering square-edged superslab seam up through my sore and tired arms, wrists and elbows. I have ridden on stretches of frost-heaved freeway that were so bad, that fifteen minutes of rythmic slamming into the turned-up edges of the slabs had my guts hurting so bad that I had to pull off and find and alternate route.

And this, my friends, is the key to having a successful (read: fun) tour on a sportsbike; PLANNING.

Depending on what part of the country you live; you may have the kind of roads we all adore right out at the end of your driveway, or six hours away in the mountains. For me, it's somewhere in the middle. Decent roads without the urban traffic require that I ride at least an hour. Getting to some of my buddies in Penn or WV may require 4-6 hrs of inconvienient travel. So, some planning is required, if I'm not going to arrived burnt out on slabtravel and eighteenwheelers.

First, a couple of truths, gained through hard-won experience:

A. IT ALWAYS takes longer than I thought.

B. If I have to leave work at a precise time on Friday in order to hook up 6 hrs later with my buddies; a work emergency ALWAYS HAPPENS, delaying my departure by at least 2 hours.

C. If I have been delayed 2 hrs by that work emergency, and my buddies will be waiting for me, there is ALWAYS CONSTRUCTION OR A MAJOR ROAD CLOSING ACCIDENT ON MY ROUTE....ALWAYS

D. If none of the above happen, that marginal battery or marginal tire or sporadic carb glitch I've been "meaning to" replace or work on will chose NOW to put me on the side of the road....miles from nowhere.......in the dark.....with a dead cell battery.

E. Whatever piece of gear I've left at home in the interest of saving space; THAT is the gear I will need most. I once left my rainsuit out of my tankbag so I could stuff more "everday" clothing in; we were in the middle of a weeks long drought, the weatherman predicted more of the same for many more days....hot, humid and no rain. I got a hundred miles down the road, and that nasty jet stream took a dive down from Canada without consulting Accuweather......temps in the 50's and it poured for days......................

I plan my trips carefully now, giving myself ample time to adapt and take an altenate route(S) so i don't arrive stessed or beat-up. I have a standard "pack" in my tank bag and backpack that I take always. No exceptions.

I plan my routes so that, whenever possible, I stay off of the superslab. Sometimes, due to destination or time constraints, I have no choice; but when I can, which is usually, I keep to the secondaries. I enjoy the ride more, and I get to meet and talk to people, which , for me, is the whole point of the trip, anyway.

See ya out there.

OTB