whee! i did it again
Got up on the highway again today, this time by myself. Oddly, darkwolfie is not nearly as worried about me being on the highway as he is me riding by myself at night. I'm sure there is logic here somewhere, but it's buried beneath his "it should be self-evident" defense, and encountering it is like encountering a large, friendly, but unfamiliar animal, who just wants to protect you. It's sweet, but weird and sometimes frustrating.
Anyway, I got up on the highway at Pelham Street. I went out that way because I could always chicken out and not get on 93 at all, Or I could take the on-ramp and then chicken out, and duck down to 213, get onto 28 and head up Broadway.
I didn't chicken out.
Actually, it was my longest highway trip thus far: I went all the way up to Derry, at Exit 4, stopped for gas, and then picked up 28 to head home. The ride on the highway was fine, and I could have ridden even more aggressively to pass a van that was kind of annoying me by not really maintaining a steady pace, but why bother? I just wasn't up for that. I was already doing between 65 and 70, and I just wasn't interested in going faster than that, especially without a windshield.
My windshield, BTW, is supposed to be delivered to my mom's on Thursday, thank goodness, along with the sissy bar and luggage rack. I'm hoping that it will turn travel on the superslab from the grim determination and deathgrip that it is currently, into something somewhat more fun -- grim determination for the concentration required to ride the superslab safely, and deathgrip because the wind at that speed is trying to rip me off my bike. Hopefully Thursday will be nice enough that I can ride down to Mom's and install everything.
Today the UPS guy delivered a battery retention strap which had been was promised to me by the guys at National Powersports. I went out to my bike and tried to install it, and discovered two important things. Firstly, the battery is a pain in the ASS to get at. The retention strap remains uninstalled. I think a Haynes manual is in my future. Secondly, the place that I thought was for my tool kit, which did not contain a tool kit, is not for a tool kit after all. (I don't know what it's for, but it's not the the tool kit.) I found the place where the tool kit is supposed to go, and the tool kit was in it! I don't think it'd ever been out of that little recess, never mind having the tools taken out of it. I was stoked! I never expected a used bike to still have the tool kit. And there's room in there for my headlamp, screwdriver, and ViseGrips! At least I think there is... Headlamp, anyway.
Oh, and one last revelation -- I've ridden over 300 miles on this bike since I got it on April 24th. I rode almost 1000 miles on the GZ250. My 1000 mile mark came and went and I never even knew. Heh.
I should go out and take some pictures. The one from the National Powersports website is wearing thin. darkwolfie took one of me with the bike, but it's sort of nose on, and doesn't reflect her true glory.
Anyway, I got up on the highway at Pelham Street. I went out that way because I could always chicken out and not get on 93 at all, Or I could take the on-ramp and then chicken out, and duck down to 213, get onto 28 and head up Broadway.
I didn't chicken out.
Actually, it was my longest highway trip thus far: I went all the way up to Derry, at Exit 4, stopped for gas, and then picked up 28 to head home. The ride on the highway was fine, and I could have ridden even more aggressively to pass a van that was kind of annoying me by not really maintaining a steady pace, but why bother? I just wasn't up for that. I was already doing between 65 and 70, and I just wasn't interested in going faster than that, especially without a windshield.
My windshield, BTW, is supposed to be delivered to my mom's on Thursday, thank goodness, along with the sissy bar and luggage rack. I'm hoping that it will turn travel on the superslab from the grim determination and deathgrip that it is currently, into something somewhat more fun -- grim determination for the concentration required to ride the superslab safely, and deathgrip because the wind at that speed is trying to rip me off my bike. Hopefully Thursday will be nice enough that I can ride down to Mom's and install everything.
Today the UPS guy delivered a battery retention strap which had been was promised to me by the guys at National Powersports. I went out to my bike and tried to install it, and discovered two important things. Firstly, the battery is a pain in the ASS to get at. The retention strap remains uninstalled. I think a Haynes manual is in my future. Secondly, the place that I thought was for my tool kit, which did not contain a tool kit, is not for a tool kit after all. (I don't know what it's for, but it's not the the tool kit.) I found the place where the tool kit is supposed to go, and the tool kit was in it! I don't think it'd ever been out of that little recess, never mind having the tools taken out of it. I was stoked! I never expected a used bike to still have the tool kit. And there's room in there for my headlamp, screwdriver, and ViseGrips! At least I think there is... Headlamp, anyway.
Oh, and one last revelation -- I've ridden over 300 miles on this bike since I got it on April 24th. I rode almost 1000 miles on the GZ250. My 1000 mile mark came and went and I never even knew. Heh.
I should go out and take some pictures. The one from the National Powersports website is wearing thin. darkwolfie took one of me with the bike, but it's sort of nose on, and doesn't reflect her true glory.