First ride of 2010 (no pics)

[CasterTroy]

I rode the motard for about 100 miles the Saturday after Christmas (44 degrees), but the first official ride for me in 2010 was to last nights Bike Night dinner.

Rode the BMW

Had my Hi Viz Olympia GT Air All Seasons Transition suit on with an inner jacket/liner and lined pants. Beneath that I had a long sleeve T-shirt, an undershirt, and a compression tee on, with jeans. Wore the A* SMX boots and had my heated Gerbins gloves on.

I got on the bike at 6:12 (with it being pitch black outside, cloudy and no moon) from the house at 29 degrees. I rocked the heated grips to high and put on my neck warmer thingie and then the helmet.

Tire pressure was good but knew I’d have some wheelspin if I didn’t get a little heat in them, so I rode around the neighborhood to see if ANY heat would transfer to the tires.

No slips so I headed out to meet everyone at Brixx across town.

Down my rural road I cranked it to 50 to find any cold air penetrations….felt good….except I discovered a chink in my armor….apparently a gap in the coat and pant had allowed a little air into my lower back. About this time I was approaching the main road to take me to the hiway, so I reached back and tucked my shirt into my pants at the light and all was good. No leaks, NO cold air…and damn….I’m actually getting a little HOT.

I stepped it up to 70 down the backroad to prepare for the hiway…..still good.

I got on I-40 and kept it at 70 for 20 miles till the exit. Where I HAD to disconnect the gloves as my hands were sweating and starting to tingle they were so hot.

Dinner was great and I was actually warmer than I’d been all day.

After dinner I mounted back up (takes a while to put the com system plugs in my ear, and wire myself into the GPS/phone/iPod/gloves, but I did it. But on the way home it was now 23 degrees so I wanted to see what SPEED I could take that temp at…..I got on the hiway and accelerated at a gradual pace to 115 (GPS) and kept that pace (on a 4-lane section of hiway where there were no other cars) for about 3 miles where I stepped it back to 80 once I got to the busier 6 lane I-40 merge...exited the hiway then headed home.

Got all the way home and realized I never fully connected the heated gloves, but my hands were so warm I never noticed.


Now to try the teens!