Red Rides....

Been a long time since I've blogged....

2008-07-19T06:06:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've come out here to blog. I'm not sure why I haven't been here.. lazy I guess.

Last weekend I took a camping trip to Arrow Rock State Park. I'll share some pictures and thoughts.

Here is my bike after arriving at the campsite. A lot of stuff on the back of a Sporster, eh? :-)

I started setting up my tent and this little guy came to visit.

And then shortly later I had another visitor.

Got camp set up and then sat around and waited for my friend to arrive from St. Louis. After all his gear was set up and we cooled off a bit (was quite warm and muggy) we headed out on a quest to find beer and food! Into Arrow Rock we went but we struck out as it wasn't 5pm yet so the restaurant wasn't open. So down to Boonville we went.

We solved the beer problem!

And then we solved the food problem!

Iowa.... there is more than corn to see...

2007-09-03T05:33:00.000-07:00

Sunday, Sept 2nd was spent riding in Iowa. I couldn't get away for a bike trip this weekend so I did a Kansas trip on Saturday and an Iowa trip on Sunday. Honestly both states look pretty much the same!

Didn't find any twisty roads in Southern Iowa but I found some nice gravel country roads. And I even got to see the bridge featured in the movie The Bridges of Madison County.

Small town USA alive and well in Kansas...

2007-09-01T16:42:00.001-07:00

When a non motorcycle rider poses that long time question of "Why?" to me I usually just mumble something and walk away. That saying 'if you have to ask then you wouldn't understand' applies here. The short answer is "It just makes me feel alive!"

Spent a good part of the day on the bike yesterday but really didn't go all that far. I covered about 325 miles. The first leg was all a matter of trying to get somewhere by a certain time. To my brother's house in Central Kansas for my Mom's birthday party. I always enjoy riding but the trip out was 80mph on I-70.

Now... the trip back, that was for me....

Leaving Junction City I couldn't figure out how to get onto a road that wasn't I-70 so I ended up on the highway until I got past Fort Riley. Then I followed 18 East and eventually onto Highway 24. I've ridden 24 quite a few times but I had never been on it so far West.

I ride everyday but sometimes it's just for transportation. I don't think I've spent a long day in the saddle since I got back from my Alaska Trip.

2007-08-12T06:03:00.001-07:00

Sorry I haven't updated this blog in awhile. I have been working on updating my Alaska Webpage. From there you can get to my trip pictures and my trip blog.

I came back from Alaska with leaks from both head gaskets. Worth Harley Davidson done me good and fixed them under warranty. They even fixed the missing gasket on the front muffler even though I never even told them it was missing.

The bike is running great and I am currently saving my pennies for the next change I want to make. I am going to switch out my air cleaner for a NRHS Hurricane. And then I am going to switch out my V&H mufflers for a Supertrapp 2->1. The main reason for the switch is that I'm getting a good deal on the AC from a friend who sold his Sportster and the exhaust switch is to fix a reversion that is happing around 3200 RPM. This can be seen in my dyno sheet. Another benefit of switching out the exhaust, and maybe more important to me than fixing the reversion, is going with something that is quieter.

2007-07-07T06:44:00.001-07:00

To anyone who may be looking here to follow my progress. We have made it to Dawson Creek and pick up the Alaskan Highway today. I have been journaling with pen and paper and will give a full report on my website when I return.

Hmm... starting the trip in rain gear

2007-06-30T06:04:00.000-07:00

No rain anywhere except for here!

I get underway in about an hour and a half. Will start the day in rain gear but should be out of it in an hour or so.

2007-06-25T15:19:00.000-07:00

Well, here's my trip map. Microsoft Streets and Trips is saying my total mileage is 9059.

I may make some blog entries along the way but the bulk of what I end up posting about my trip with be on my Alaska Webpage.

1 Week to Go!

2007-06-23T16:40:00.001-07:00

Well we're getting down to the wire. I leave in less than a week. The bike is all set and now I'm just working on packing. I am going to unpack everything that I have partially packed. Put it in a big pile on my spare bed and then pack it all over again. I am sure there are a few things I can drop off of my list. Plus I need to decide what goes in the compression bag, what goes in the saddlebag and what goes in my tank bag.

First Test Pack

2007-06-21T14:21:00.000-07:00

I drilled holes and bolted stuff together!!!

2007-06-20T14:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, It wasn't my idea. I stole the idea from Screw Loose Dan (one of the guys going to Alaska) and he had stolen it from someone else. But here it is in all it's glory:

The luggage rack that will carry most of my stuff to Alaska.

Oh, and my traveling companion has arrived from Germany. He was rather drunk when he arrived.. I think he drank way too much on the plane. He'll be riding bitch with me.

WilliG the traveling gnome belongs to the XLForum . I will be posting about his adventures in Alaska in the forums there. I know going to Alaska isn't half as cool as when he went to space but he's promised to protect me from grizzly bears.

Too Close for Comfort with Bambi....

2007-05-31T20:07:00.000-07:00

I broke off from the rest of the BACA group tonight to head back by myself... needed some time alone and they was going to slow. Was hauling it on I-35 when a deer ran out in front of me... was close enough that I could count the ticks on it. Never even seen it until it was right in front of me... if I didn't swerve I would have hit it dead on... pretty scary. Prolly wouldn't have seen it at all if it wasn't for the fog lights. I swear I missed it by less than 5 or 6 feet... was probably was a bit more than that but it seemed that close going that speed.

Just got home and still a bit shook up about it so thought I would share.

Somebody feel my butt...

2007-05-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

... and tell me if it feels like IRON

I had been toying with the idea of trying a Saddlesore 1000 (SS1000) Iron Butt Association sanctioned ride since shortly after I started riding. It was just something I wondered if I would ever be able to do. The verdict is still out as to if I ever want to do one again but on May 27, 2007 me and my friend Bill did a 1000+ in just over 18 hours.

We decided that we would do a run from Kansas City to Sanger, Texas, taking a North/South route so we wouldn’t have to deal with the sun in our eyes at any point in the trip. The weather almost threw a wrench into our plans but we would hit rain no matter what direction we went so we did end up taking the south route. We planned to start at 2am that way be could deal with the parts of the route we were most familiar with in the dark and be back home before our internal clocks were telling us it was time to sleep. On Friday night I stayed up late and then slept for four hours. I probably shouldn’t have slept at all. I went back to bed 5pm Saturday hoping to get 8 hours of sleep before starting the ride but I couldn’t fall asleep. I should have taken something to help me sleep. I did sleep off and on until 1am but it wasn’t very restful.

I left my house at 1:45 am and went about a mile and a half to get gas and the receipt that would mark the start of my ride. I then rode to meet Bill about 20 miles at the gas station that would provide him with his start receipt. After a few minutes of rearranging gear and getting situated we took off.

I had decided to wear jeans with my FXRG nylon pants over the top. I already knew they weren’t completely waterproof (I am going to try treating them with some nikwax) so I wore my rain pants over the top. Up top I wore an underarmor long sleeve top, a flannel shirt, my leather jacket and my rain jacket. I quickly stripped off my flannel shirt because I was hot. I should have left it because I got chilled as soon as we got on the highway and got moving. I eventually also added my Gerbing’s electric jacket liner and was very glad I had it. I started in my leather cool weather gloves but they eventually were drenched and I switched to my rain gloves. By the end of the trip my leather boots were completely soaked through.

We got rained on for a good portion of the trip as we traveled through bands of weather. Some of the rain I would categorize as a deluge. Like Noah’s Ark rain even. Flash flooding was even closing down some roads near Gainesville, TX. Everything on me stayed dry except for my feet. There was quite a bit of road construction that slowed us down as well. And it seemed like everywhere the road construction was, the rain was. We made good time with an average moving time of about 70mph. With stopped time I think it worked out to be in the high 50’s. Rest stops took longer than planned. What took more time was the bathroom breaks, I had multiple layers to get off of me each time I had to go. Plus just the fact that there were two of us added to the time. There was time spent chatting about how we were feeling and how the bikes were doing.

The bike held up well. I did have to add a little oil a couple of times but we were running 75+ with my high speed hitting 90mph. A few times along the way I made sure to shut off my music and just listen to the engine. It sounded really good. I was religious about checking my oil at every gas stop. I may still need to change out something with my handlebars someday but I don’t know exactly what I need to change to make them “perfect” and being so close to the Alaska trip I don’t want to change anything now. In two week Ruth gets 15,000 mile service and new tires for the trip. I got to 141 miles once without hitting reserve and then hit reserve at 143 miles. My gas mileage seems to be improving… still will never be as good as it was when she was stock. I’ve lost a good 30 miles off each tank but she was an 883 and now is running at 1235.

I held up well also. I really didn’t start to have any issues with pain or discomfort until about the 750 mile mark. Sure, I was ready to get off the saddle and shake my butt out at every gas stop but I would feel ok again until we were just about to the next stop. After 900 miles I was ready to stop and crawl into bed. We took the last 2 hours nice and easy getting back.

I am pretty confident now in Ruth’s ability to do the Alaska trip and confident in myself being able to make the trip. Right now a 400 mile day for Alaska sounds like a piece of cake. How will I be after 28 days of them though….. That is the unknown.

Dyno

2007-05-24T15:52:00.000-07:00

Riding thru the Ozarks...

2007-05-20T05:30:00.000-07:00

Did almost 400 miles yesterday with the Greater KC HOG group. Been a member of HOG for 2 years and I can count the number of rides I've gone on with them on the hand of someone who's lost a couple fingers in a horrible accident. It was a beautiful day for it and I was comfortable in my chaps and leather coat. I switched to my mesh jacket and summer gloves for an hour or so but had to switch back after I got a bit chilly.

I just love maps and feel the need to plug everything into Streets and Trips.

Dunno what's kept me from going on HOG rides before. Maybe it was the intimidation of meeting so many new people and feeling like an outsider because I didn't know anyone. People don't believe it when I tell them I'm a shy person (heck, I don't hardly believe it myself) But everyone I met and talked to was most awesome! I had met 3 or people in the past (and even remembered their names! :-) ) And I was plesantly surprised to see that people rememberd my name as well!

We had about 24 bikes or so with a handful of them having passengers, so in total maybe 35 people or so. I'm sure someone has an official count. We took a nice winding route down to Lebanon, where we ate lunch at Gary's Catfish and BBQ House. We took a stroll through the Route 66 museum and then headed home through Louisburg, Pittsburg an Collins. In Collins I had some most excellent pie (not as good as moms though) at Smith's Restaurant.

Came out of the restaurant after waiting in a long line to pay for my pie and most everyone was gone. Ended up riding back north with a small group. With the smaller group we were able to open it up and ride at speeds that I'm used to traveling at by myself (I usually ride alone). I did enjoy riding with the large group but it's hard to get through any kind of traffic with that many bikes.

I think the only thing I talked about was my trip to Alaska. I always seem to want to talk to anyone and everyone who will listen to me rattle on. Most people are genuinly interested to hear about the trip and a more than a few think I'm half assed crazy for attempting such a trip on a Sportster.

40 days left until we leave for Alaska. The string of bad luck which consumed Screw Loose Dan's engine (the nickname as a result of the incident), and then my bike on my way back from Ohio (Read about it here) has spread to Bootie. Bootie went down on some gravel Thursday afternoon in the middle of Pennsylvania while on his way to MA. He busted up his left mirror, highway peg and rear turn signal, and hit the ground pretty hard. He's sore and we're waiting to see how he heals. I'm sure he'll be all over fixing his bike (Louise) when he gets back.

Speeking of Bootie... he's got a nice write up on us Alaska Adventurers in his blog. Click Here.

Closed Roads... Flooded Roads... Twisty Roads....

2007-05-11T16:44:00.000-07:00

Well, who needs an excuse to go riding? Certainly not me... but... I needed to run the tank low on gas. My friend Wild Bill ;-) is gonna put my new fog lamps on for me tomorrow. I am a little intimidated by electricity and he's gonna show me the proper way to do splices (I thought twisting wires together and taping them was the proper way....)

So I headed out... it's beautiful out... 85 degrees. Decide to go somewhere I've never been before.... when I see a sign! Be damned if that's going to stop me... all it did was make me want to know why the road was closed. I had an idea why but I wanted to confirm my suspicions. Y'all might has seen on the news about all the rain we got here in Missouri and the flooding that has happend as a result.

Well, I couldn't see the road so I wasn't exactly positive how deep it was. I prolly woulda been ok but I wasn't taking any chances so I turned around and went back. Decided it would be more fun to go moo at some cows and ride a real twisty road.

Now this is the kind of sign that I like to see while riding!!!

Saw a bunch that look like thiss too but I was having too much fun to stop and take a picture!!!

Some pictures and a small ride today

2007-05-05T13:59:00.000-07:00

Went out for a small ride this morning. Had to go up to the dealership and have them replace a gasket on the rear muffler. There was a slight exhaust leak. Since they just did all that work on it recently they must have reused the gasket and didn't realize there wasn't a tight seal. Then I went out for a nice 40 mile ride. Was a beautiful day for it. One of my favorite roads to ride is H highway between Liberty and Excelsior Springs. It's nice and twisty and I like to moo at the cows. Rode through Missouri City where they were setting up for their parade. They're having a Renaissance Festival. It was cool to see everyone walking around in their costumes. Saw a suprising number of pirate outfits though! :-) I love small towns.

Got back home, changed the blade on the lawn mower and mowed half the backyard. Can't do all the old man's work for him so I saved him half! Then I finally got my highway pegs mounted on my crash bar. The lindby crash bar I have has built in foot rests but I'm too short to reach them!

54 days left until I leave for the big Alaska Trip!!

Took a few more pictures of Ruth since I had the camera out.
Here's one showing my engine. This picture really shows the size difference between the fins on my old engine versus the fins on the cylinders that I got from NRHS. The assure me that there should no cooling issues though with the reduction in fin size. I still love the black cylinders with the black rocker box covers.

Here's another shot showing the engine guard and the new pegs. And another shot showing the whole package. I think I got everythign done that I need to get done before the big trip.

Got my baby back!

2007-04-30T16:50:00.000-07:00

Woo Hoo! Got my baby back this morning. They asked me if I wanted to pay with the right kidney or the left kidney. I gave em the left! Hehe, just kidding. The folks up at Worth Harley Davidson treated me good. My thanks go out to Troy who did the labor and John who cut me a break on the price. But Mike needs to stop teasing me about dumping Marge in the parking lot... that cone jumped out in front of me!!

Went out today and rode about 200 miles through some nice twisty farm country. Finished up the day with an oil change. Finally had someone show me how it's done... wow, it's much easier than I thought. My maintentance is prepaid for another 7,000 miles but after that I'd like to try and do most of it by myself.

59 days until I leave for Alaska!

Tomorrow!

2007-04-29T05:20:00.000-07:00

Haven't been posting much as I've pretty much just been in standby mode waiting for Ruth to be fixed. Well, I got the call yesterday that she was done but I couldn't get to the dealership before they closed to pick her up. I'll be there to get her first thing tomorrow morning! I can't wait.

Rode 275 miles yesterday on Marge. Just passed the 1500 mile mark on her. I'm more than happy to give her back to my husband though. The weather is getting nice and he's ready to have her back.

Today is the 2 month mark for the Alaska Trip. I crossed a couple more things off my list for the trip. Got a small air compressor, a plug kit for my rear (tubless) tire and a bottle of slime for my front tubed tire. I had thought about switching my front laced wheel out to a mag wheel but after paying for my engine repairs tomorrow I will be pretty much broke!

Still waiting....

2007-04-16T07:16:00.000-07:00

Supposed to hit 70 degrees today and it really makes me miss my bike even more. Still waiting for the cylinders and pistons to come back from NRHS. The cylinders should have been machined over the weekend and then they have to be honed.

74 days until Alaska....

So just what is a Flywheel Assembly anyway??!?!

2007-04-09T07:10:00.000-07:00

Q: What is a Flywheel Assembly

A: Who knows?!?! ... but it's a $900 part that got trashed when my engine seized up.

Man.... having to rebuild the entire engine has taught me more about my Sportster engine than anything else so far.... it's a $2000 lesson I would have preferred not to have.

81 days until I leave for the Alaska Trip. I'm thinking I'll have 'ole Ruth back in a month or so. The dealership is working on the lower engine (hense the phone call I got about the $900 flywheel assembly). I'm hoping that they will be all ready for the cylinders and pistons when they come back from NRHS in Colorado.

So what I tell people is.....

2007-03-31T17:46:00.000-07:00

So what I tell people is.... "I got my husband a motorcycle so I could have a backup bike..." Well it wasn't supposed to come true!! Actually that's just my lame ass sense of humor. But at least I do have a motorcycle to ride while Ruth is um... "under the weather".

I had a couple of BACA rides today so I stole the husband's motorcycle (I call her Marge). I tell ya... I was more sore after riding for 140 miles today than I was after riding 800 miles this past Sunday (The Day the Earth Stood Still... err.... The Day My Engine Died). I didn't want to adjust too much on his bike so I put up with being uncomfortable... big mistake. Plus it makes me miss Ruth even more.

Pictures... not for the weak of heart....

2007-03-31T04:45:00.000-07:00

Now, I'm no expert on these matters, but in that one pic of the late-model yellow sporty.... shouldn't there be some metal something or other where that big hole is south of the gas tank and north of the ground?

Brooklyn

PS here's some salt...you know, for the wound.... ;)

My engine blew up....

2007-03-29T17:28:00.000-07:00

I promised some information about my 883 -> 1212 NRHS conversion and I haven't gotten around to posting it. Prolly not worth posting it as my engine is FUBAR.....

So I got 800 mile break in period done on the engine so off I head to Ohio to visit with the folks I'm traveling to Alaska with. Friday I rode 500 miles and met up with Bootie in Indianapolis and then continued on to Akron, Ohio on Saturday morning. Spent the rest of the day drinking beer, soaking in the hot tub and planning our big trip to Alaska this summer. It was great to finally meet most of the other people who will be going with us. In fact there is only one person left that I haven't met in person.

Up early on Sunday morning. Bootie's wife makes us a great breakfast and off I go. Everyone talking about how crazy I was to be planning on riding back 800 miles in 1 day. I had been planning on making an Iron Butt ride sometime soon so I figgered that this would be a good practice run.

So I take off at 8:30 CST and plan to be back in KC by 10pm. It was a pretty non eventful ride. Started off a little bit chilly so I had my gerbings jacket liner on. I made it across Ohio pretty darn fast. Ohio was the only place I passed speed traps in. I was stopping for gas bout every 150 miles and let myself hit reserve a couple of times because I knew that gas stations were frequent along I-70.

Hit Indiana and it was getting warm. Stopped and took off my jacket liner. Drank some water and was on my way. I never stopped for more than 10 minutes at a time as a 15 minute stop every 120 miles or so was what I was planning on doing for my Iron Butt ride. Long day of riding and it started to get dark about the 650 mile mark. At the same time the bike dies... No advance warning whatsoever. I didn't hear any strange noises from the engine or anything... no pinging, no rattling... just put put ... die.

So I get off the bike and scratch my head... I'm pretty much in the middle of nowhere and 150 miles from home.... and WHERE THE HELL IS MY OIL CAP?

Well... fast forward. I'm back in KC. My front piston is cracked and the cylinders are trashed. There is a rod knocking in the lower engine. When the piston cracked the oil went bye bye and I died there on the side of the road.

92 more days until I leave for Alaska... Ruth will be up and running by then but it's gonna cost a pretty penny.

What's up with this Blog thing....

2007-03-19T05:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I decided to try out this whole blogging thing. I really like reading other people's blogs so I thought... 'what the hell?' Maybe I would try out out too. I like to ride my Harley Davidson Motorcycle all over the damn place so maybe I would write about that. I like to take pictures when I ride so I figgered maybe I would share it all.

Maybe I should start by saying a little about myself, eh? How bout a picture? I'm Red. If you say 'Gee, why do they call you Red?' I'll smack you... c'mon... how many times do you think I've heard that? It's getting really old :-) I'm 32 years old and I have been riding for just about 2 years now. I put 10,000 miles on my motorcycle last year. More than some... less than others... I'm not trying to compete with anyone. I just ride when I want to ride. Much of my riding is just commuting back and forth to work.... it's funny how a 15 mile ride home can easily turn into 100 miles.. :-)

This year I'm fixing to do at least 20,000 miles. Well, let's say I'll easily do 20,000.. most likely it will be much more than that. I'll talk about why I know I'll have that many miles in a later post but I'll just mention it now.... I'm riding to Alaska this summer, actually... I'm riding all the way to the Arctic Circle. I also ride with the Kansas City Chapter of BACA, Bikers Against Child Abuse

Oh, I almost forgot... that sexy yellow gal in the picture is Ruth. She doesn't look exactly the same now, she's got a new suspension and just found some new power in the form of an 883 -> 1200 engine conversion. But that's best saved for another post too.