Family Affair

Here we are as fam in the Waterford Lakes Town Center.  We LOVE riding together as a family.  The freedom of hitting the open road together is exhilarating.

Sugarloaf Mountain

A couple of week ago my wife and I went for a ride near Apopka. I'd heard that the Sugarloaf Mountain ride was nice. Imagine my suprise when we rode through an area that had the above signage. What was even more suprising was that it was accurate. It is the highest point in central Florida and the road is both curvey and hilley for about 10 miles. It more than lives up to its reputation. Definately a ride worth taking.

Beating the cold.

This weekend two mornings in the 40s. At 40 plus MPH on a 30 minute commute that is COLD!! The answer is to be found in two words: thermal underwear.

SOLD

The PT is gone! Yeah, I sold it about a month ago so it's for real now. I only drove it one time in the last 3 months, but still, it was there if I 'needed' it.

It's been a while since I last posted. Now that I've been at it for a few months (about 8,000 miles put on the 2 motorcycles by my wife and me) here are a few of my thoughts on riding daily :

• Monkey butt solved with Under Armour compression shorts on longish rides.
• Stinky helmet solved with 1) a new helmet, and 2) lysol spray on days I sweat. Turns out its bacteria that makes the stink and Lysol kills it. My old helmet is back to smelling fresh, but I don't wear it much as my new one is much lighter and has a built in sun shield.
• If your going to ride everyday be prepared to spend the money in order to get the right gear, if you're uncomfortable, you can't ride safely.
• Maintenance is more expensive on a motorcycle. tires replaced every 5 thousand miles or so - these are expensive. The good news is you only have 2 tires. Oil changes are about the same as a car. I do these myself. You need to tighten the chains every 1,000 miles or so. The point is, motorcycling uses less fuel and insurance is cheaper, but overall it is not dramatically cheaper.
• Riding is a great way to destress at the end of the day: no one can bother you while you are riding, it's just you and your thoughts.
• Rain riding is a great experience with the proper gear.
• Plan ahead for shopping as you can't carry much while riding. This has led to an unexpected bonus - much lower grocery bills.
• Leave early and arrive early - depending on the weather it will take 2 - 5 extra minutes to suit up and un suit. Once you have this down, you find that you are seldom rushed and this adds to the low stress.
• The more you ride, the more comfortable you get with the handling of your motorcycle. I now feel at one with the Nighthawk. I've ridden it for over 8,000 miles. I think you need about 10,000 miles on a motorcycle before you really 'know' it and can read all the feedback it gives you.
• Our fuel bill is really low (under $50 a week and we travel about 100 miles a day during the week between the two of us).

HOT!!

I've been riding everyday now for about a month. The most difficult challenge has not turned out to be the rain, but the heat. We ride everywhere. Now that my wife is getting more comfortable, we take the kids everywhere on our bikes. Last Monday (Memorial Day) we rode to Okeechobe and back. Nice ride down, but on the way back, we rode through pouring rain for 90 miles. It was miserable, especially for the kids. Since then, we have invested in rain suits for all which we put to good use yesterday afternoon on the ride home from I-drive.

The greatest challenge is the heat. The high heat (103 index yesterday) makes you sweat. A LOT. This, combined with rain and high Florida humidity leads to some unpleasent issues: namely stinky helmet and monkey butt. Stinky helmet I think we have solved (FYI: normal Febreze and air drying does NOT work.) I'll let you know when I have evidence for a permanent solution. Since the safety course, my wife insists that I wear jeans and a riding jacket whenever I'm riding. This combined with the heat has created some serious monky butt. Still working on this one. If you don't know what it is, look it up. Just know that it can make riding very uncomfortable. Here in Central Florida if you ride in the summer you are going to sweat heavily and often, so might as well get used to it.

O well, I knew daily riding would bring its set of challenges, but so far I'm still in it for good. The positives far outweigh the negatives.

Rode to church today. Very nice! It's great to ride with my wife. She's doing awesome!!

The New Girl

Thsi is the new family member parked at work. It's a 2003 SV650S found on Craig's List (only 7,000 miles). It's a sweet ride. Notice the Two Brothers Exhaust. The twin sounds awesome with the aftermarket pipe. My girl rode it last night for the first time and I think she's now hooked on sport bikes. Uh-oh. A raging momma!

Old reliable parked at work.

My daily ride parked in the parking lot at work. Notice the windscreen/flyscreen I added. It's small, but it keeps the wind from hitting me square in the chest. Much more comfortable for commuting now. I had the carbs redone at Cycle Pro in Orlando. (They are the best shop I have found. Great work, great people, and great prices.) The bike runs better than it ever has since I have owned it. On a cold start after sitting for a few days I need the choke for less than 30 seconds.

My darling wife with the instructer after ACING the driving test!!!!

I took the MSF basic riding course with my wife (she was uneasy to go by herself). She ACED the driving exam. Yeah, I admit it. I also learned a lot. It's amazing how many bad habits you pick up in 20 years of riding. My wife is awesome! She's 100% on board with this daily rider thing. She hopes to ride often too. For now we just ride together in our development (Not as lame as it sounds, the posted MPH is 50 on several of the roads and there are two 5 mile straight stretches. It's actually a perfect place to learn to ride.). Just ask her though, and she'll proudly show you her 'Motorcycle Also' endorsement.

BOLTED

Challenge #2:
OK, so here's the deal. Last Friday I meet the wife and kiddo's at the local Big Blue W for a final pickup of a few items for back to school. A terrible storm comes up, so I put on my Frog Togs and head for home. It went pretty well until I got about 5 miles from home when it began to dump. It was raining so hard I could only see about 100 feet ahead. I heard thunder but nothing close. I slow down to turn into my development and, BAM. I'm hit by lightening. Not a direct hit, but certainly a scary jolt. Suddenly my whole body is on fire and it feels like I'm getting zapped by an electric fence all over. You know the look when you spread a blanket in the winter in the dark and the sparks fly? We'll that's what my whole body looked like times 1,000 and it was broad daylight! I could hear the charge disperse through the overhead powerlines as the sensation subsided. When I told my family, my son got real excited hoping I had achieved some sort of super powers. But alas, no. Other than my left hand and right foot tingling like they were asleep for the next day, I seem to have gained nothing but a new respect for lightning. Guess I'd better go buy a lottery ticket.

The Commitment

This week I took the plunge. I'm becoming a daily rider! My beloved PT Cruiser is on Craigslist. This site will chronicle my joys and sorrows, tribulations and triumphs as I learn to deal with the challenges of daily commuting. We are adding a second steed to our stable of bikes so that our family is not immobile should our lone remaining car fail. My wife is taking the riding course this weekend to learn how to ride. She rocks!!!

Challenge #1: I found out the hard way yesterday that my bags aren't waterproof!!