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November 5, 2017
Shake-down Cruise #9
So today, I decided to do another shake-down cruise. I've done a couple up to boulder, and a few closer to home.
But this time, I decided to focus on cold-weather riding. I wanted to see if I could put on enough under-armor so that I wouldn't freeze to death at 46F, which is supposed to be the high on November 12th, the day I leave.
So, I put on my under armor, some long jongs, my jeans, my riding pants, shirt, riding jacket, and my North Face ski gloves that I got in Whitehorse, up in the Yukon when I almost lost my hands up there in July three years ago.
I decide to head out to Grant, and then go across Guanella Pass, and come back that way. See, I'm thinking that it will get colder as I get closer to Grant, and then going across Guanella Pass will be a good test of my cold weather riding gear, as it will probably be colder on top of Guanella Pass, I figure.
So I ride out Highway 285, pretty much following the speed limit. All of my gear is working pretty good. My helmet is missing a little piece on the front that's supposed to allow you to regulate the air flow into the helmet. That piece sort of fell apart and disappeared at some point this summer and new freezing cold air is blowing in, so I stuff a napkin into the gaping hole as I'm driving down the road and that fixes the airflow issue.
My chin is cold though, so I keep shoving my neckwarmer up over my chin and it works until in falls down again. So I sort of periodically shove my neck warmer up over my chin as I'm driving out Highway 285 towards Grant.
The temperature drops from the 50's down into the 40's, but I'm actually not insufferably cold. My plan is to ride due south out of Denver in I-25, heading for warm weather (as opposed to going the scenic route through the mountains).
So, I'm just trying to see if I can ride comfortably at 46F. That's the real purpose of this trip. Well, that, and I've now strapped my gas can onto the back seat. So, I'm trying to see how well that rides back there. Also, I have my iPhone 6S Plus in the Ram mount, and so we're trying that out and making sure the GoPro Hero 5 is working. And the Canon w/ 17-85 mm lens, and the Canon with the 100-400 mm lens.
Like, after years of being on the road, I've finally realized the value of shake-down cruises to test out the gear. It's much easier to get it right while you're at home, than it is to sort out when you're in Lima or the Atacama Desert.
I'll never forget the first time I ever rode a bike through Baja. I was getting ready to leave San Diego on a Honda XR650R, and I had this backpack shoved full of crap, and tied it onto the back fender. I was going down the interstate (I-5) heading for the border when the cars behind me started honking and I realized it had fallen off of my bike into the freeway. So, I doubled back and got it, and took it back to the house where I was staying, and basically said "fuck this...i don't need all f this and I don't have any place to carry it" so I left it. So, the lesson is....pack only the bare essentials. Don't carry too much stuff. That's just stupid. And, do some test rides with your gear so that you don't have any big surprises before you even get out of the country. That's where we are now. Trying to make sure that the gear we've purchased is practical and functioning as desired. THis is the purpose of these daily shake-down cruises.
At some point, I realize that the clock on my motorcycle doesn't match the time on my iPhone 6S Plus. So, yes...note to self. We have to synchronize all of the clocks. However, this is a little tricky, because daylight savings time ended last night/this morning at 2:00 a.m. So, yeah...note to self - I've got to synchronize several clocks. (GoPros, Canon Cameras, Honda AT, etc.)
This is why we do these little cruises. To get everything working just right.
I love having 2 GPS units. They're both mounted on RAM mounts, and they sort of argue about the best way to get somewhere, and they differ by a mile or three and this is good. It's like two people debating about the best route to get somewhere. And, in some cases where I don't have cell coverage, somehow the Waze app keeps working on the iphone. How? I have no clue.
At some point, the Garmin Montana 600 just dies. Just checks out. It's sort of hard to diagnose, as I have a cigarette lighter adapter that goes to 2 usb outlets. And it has a glowing blue light that indicates it's working. And my iPhone 6S Plus indicates that he's getting juice. But the Garmin Montana is just toast. He's not getting any juice, or something else is wrong. I'm not clear. Might be the cable. Might be the cigarette-lighter-to-USB. Might be the Garmin Montana. I have a new cigarette lighter to 3 usb adapter on order and it will be here Monday, I think. At home, I plug in the Garmin Montana with the same USB cable to the laptop and it starts working immediately. So I have to think that it's something with the cigarette lighter to USB adapter.
But this is why we do this. Try to iron out the little bugs.
Also, I'm watching my instrument cluster on the AT. It's mind-numbingly complicated, but I'm getting better at it. Better at understanding the flow. I figure out how to make the digital dash show me the outside air temperature, if that makes any sense. So I can see the temperature while I'm riding. I also get it to display the Trip Meter A. (I set Trip Meter A & B at the same time, but we'll leave that for now.) So, I'm following Trip meter A. I'm watching my fuel level. And, I also have it configured to show me my average mpg, and I reset this value when I filled up last time. So, the goal here, really, is to run the bike completely out of gas and see what the range is, knowing that I have 2.2 gallons in the spare gas can on the seat behind me where a woman would ride if I could find one suicidal enough to ride with me.
So, I'm testing out the dashboard gauges. So far, it says my average mpg is 53.3, so that means in theory I should be able to go 250 miles on this tank of gas, but so far I've only gone 190 or so. This is a huge deal. Like...riding the bike until it stops is something that every person with a brain should do so they know for certain, what their range is. I've run out of gas in some very bad areas before. Knowing your range is very important if you're fixing to cross the Great American desert (ran out of gas between Ely and Tonopah), the Punta Prieta Desert (hit reserve before the exit to Bahia Los Angeles), hit reserve at the Yukon Crossing on the Dalton Highway in Alaska. So yeah...this is important. Hugely so.
At some point, the iPhone 6s Plus starts showing an icon that indicates "Volume - Mute", which is hard to comprehend. And, it did this last time also. But now, I have an idea. The Ram mount is squeezing the volume control on the iphone. Score! Slide it up 1/2" and the problem goes away.
I can do this. I can figure this out. I'm not dead yet. But, I am struggling with an INSANE amount of new technology. Like, the GoPro Hero 5 is brand new. The iPhone 6S Plus is brand new. The motorcycle is brand new, and the instrument cluster is more complicated than what the astronauts had when they went to the moon. All of this. All of this has to be working perfectly. I have to learn the details and nuances and complexities of all of these devices, and I'm no spring chicken. My memory's not what it once was.
OK. So, the Garming Montana 600 is checked out. But everything else is working fine and I get to Grant. They usually serve food here, but there not here for some reason. There's a sign that says push a button and they'll come out, but I don't want to put anyone out. I decide to ride over Guanella Pass and get some food in Georgetown. So, I start climbing and climbing and it gets colder and colder and finally, I start seeing ice on the road. Now, a smart person would turn back. But my GPS tells me it's only two miles to the summit, so I keep riding over worse and worse snow and ice until finally, I crest the summit, creeping along very slowly, and now I hit a patch of black ice and the bike goes down.
Now, mind you, I was not going fast, but the bike crashes to the ground and slides across the ice. Somehow, I'm not hurt at all, but the left hand guard is shattered and the clutch lever is badly bent. No one else is around. I stand up in the middle of the road, delicately perched on this sheet of ice. I don't see another soul. I do see some parked cars in a parking lot at the summit, but no one is in them. I wonder what to do. I put all of my gear on the side of the road. Cameras. Gas can. And I put it on the side of the road. I start trying to lift the bike but it's impossible for me to do it alone on the ice. I imagine a car cresting the summit, seeing me in the middle of the road, and sliding into my bike totaling my Honda.
I'm not sure what to do...eventually, I see a car crest the summit, and I walk torwards them, waving frantically, so that they might stop before they plow into my bike.
They park and 3 people get out and walk towards me. One young man and two young females.
"Do you think you could help me stand it up?" I ask him.
The two of us quickly stand the bike up on the slick black ice. I point it in the direction I came from, not wanting to try to proceed any further. Praying that I can make it back down the mountain the way I came up, without crashing again.
"I think I'll let some air out of the front tire," I offered to no one in particular. And I let about 20 seconds worth of air out of the front tire. Like, I'm not overly bright, but deflating the front tire is a smart move when you're on ice. It's the best call.
"Could y'all hand me my gear there?" I nod towards the pile of cameras on the shoulder.
"Could you strap the gas can on the back?" I ask.
The whole time, I'm precariously perched in the road, trying to hold the bike up on the slipperiest substance known to man.
They strap the gas can onto the back seat and hand me my cameras. My left hand guard has broken off and is laying on the side of the road. One of the girls offers it to me, but I decline.
"You keep it. As a souvinere" I insist.
And I start riding away uphill on the ice-skating-rink of a road. I never even managed to say goodbye or thank you. Nothing. I just road away, praying I would not crash again.
Somehow, I made it home alive. The temperature kept dropping and dropping as I rode home, but the only thing that was really seriously cold on me was my hands. Also, now I'm missing my left handguard, So, that's a lot more cold air directly on my left glove/hand.
Somehow, I make it home in one piece. And now, I've already told myself. I've got to start doing my daily routine. Every day, I have to go through my end-of-the-day list, starting tonight. So, I'll make my daily task list, but I'll do that as a separate post, as I'll refer to it every day, I'm sure.
Posted by Rob Kiser on November 5, 2017 at 6:03 PM
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