Xmas ride

[Mr Lefty]

sorry yall... been busy and to be honest... haven't really had the desire to check in...

but here's what happened.


Had to leave a day late, as some BS came up at work. ended up working from 0600 on Friday until 1000 on Sunday... yes straight through no sleep. then crashed and woke up at midnight Monday morning.

Got on the road at 0110 and headed out. only my fucking GPS wouldn't pull up the route. it'd sit on calculating.... for ever. so I tried to just let it find it's own route from my place to my brothers in Omaha. unfortunatly that took me completely by freeway. but as I was a day behind, it was fine with me.

The bike did great... it doesn't like anything over 80... but settled in at 75 just fine... though it gulped down the fuel at 38mpg.... (normally get 50) so that took some getting used to, but as it was REALLY cold out those early mornings in Mississippi... I was fine with stopping every 100 miles to fill up and thaw out.

the coldest part of the trip was north of KC... but for me... I FELT the coldest from Hattiesburg (about an hour and a half north of my house) to Memphis. think I just needed to aclimatize to being on the bike.

I stopped in Memphis and rented a shower at a Flying J. BEST IDEA EVER! stood in that for 30 mins and just let my body absorb the heat... then got dressed... tucking each layer in itself... (this is important... as if you tuck all the top layers into the same outermost layer, things will ride up and you'll end up with cold spots) I never got cold again for the rest of the trip...

most of the temps I saw were in the 20s... though from KC to Omaha it was single didgets for the last half of the trip... and teens for the first. I hit snow around the road in the shades in St Louis... snow everywhere except on the road just outside of KC... and snow ON the road 100 miles south of Omaha.

The weather got worse as I got closer to Omaha... but never felt the tires slip at all... I was still doing 45... and having no issues... the nice thing was there was little traffic... as everyone was headed south.

The one thing that did suck was the trucks! FUCK they do 75 in ANY weather... almost lost it once... to a tank slapper... but I was able to accelerate(to lighten the stearing) and push on both grips (to stabilize the wobble) and ride it out...

when I got to Omaha, I'd still planned to ride to Fargo, even with the impending storm as I only had to GET to fargo, but my GF called and wasn't gonna be able to drive me home... so it meant I had to find my own way home. this provided a big dilema, as I only had about 5-600 miles left on the tires I had on, and none of the shops I called had my sizes in stock. so I barrowed my brothers car, and left my bike in his garage in Omaha... where it sits right now.

Things I learned:

MO is very anti abortion...
Mississippi can be very cold
when wearing multiple layers, tuck each layer into itself not all into one... or the bottom layers will ride up and you'll have cold spots
the Oxford Grip Heaters are AWESOME! well worth the money.
the DRZ is WAY more comfortable to tour on than the RR or ZZR... just doesn't have the power... and needs re gearing.
People love the crazy guy headed north on a motorcycle in a blizzard
Truck Stop Showers are awesome to warm/wake your body... just buy some cheap shower shoes!*shiver*
Balaclava's are nice... but will still make you cold unless you have something between them and your skin (the cold air will still freeze the wind proof material and when that's on your neck you FREEZE)
anti fog spray does fuck all for your breath freezing on the visor at anything colder than 30*

I'll get my GPS stuff up soon... but I did 650 some odd miles the first day... stopping just west of St. Louis at 1600 or so (left at 0110) and left there at 0600 or so doing another 450 some odd miles arriving at my bro's at 1430ish.

sorry no pics... too cold and in too much of a hurry (mostly the hurry) to stop.

[Sixxxxer]

Im insulted that you had no desire to check in...

[101lifts2]

Dude u are the fucking man. I'm gonna take back what I said about you. The punk comment...lol

How do you keep the inside of the shield from freezing?

[Mr Lefty]

Originally Posted by Sixxxxer

Im insulted that you had no desire to check in...

ehh with out the bike, and work being the way it is... along with a bit of drama in the rest of my life... didn't feel like getting on the internet at all...

Originally Posted by 101lifts2

Dude u are the fucking man. I'm gonna take back what I said about you. The punk comment...lol

How do you keep the inside of the shield from freezing?

SWEET! this whole trip was just to prove you wrong! FINALLY!


actually I had to take a CLEAN pair of socks... wrap one around my neck... to insulate and run the other one down from my mouth to my chest... then put my balaclava on.

This actually did a couple things:
1. kept the cold off my neck from the frozen wind proof material of the balaclava....
2. kept my breath from freezing on the balaclava and sticking to my lips, and also kept the breath off my visor except at speeds of under 40... which I didn't hit much of. just on/off ramps and could usually slow my breathing down enough to get stopped or up to speed.
and 3. keep my neck from getting tired. with the DS helmets you have the visor like you do on an off road helmet... and this just pulls your head up and back.... doubling up the sock in the back keeps your helmet from being forced back, and lets your neck muscles rest.

in other news... I hit 4500 miles on the bike... not bad for a two month riding season. (makes 15500 for both bikes from March)

[Trip]

I got one of those thick beanie hats they sell at walmart and cut a hole in the top. It snugs perfect between my jacket and balaclava. Never had an issue with wind getting in.

[Cutty72]

Glad to hear you made it everywhere ok Ebbs. I was a bit worried when Nik told me about all the storms.

[t-homo]

Originally Posted by eBBs15

Things I learned:

MO is very anti abortion...
Mississippi can be very cold
when wearing multiple layers, tuck each layer into itself not all into one... or the bottom layers will ride up and you'll have cold spots
the Oxford Grip Heaters are AWESOME! well worth the money.
the DRZ is WAY more comfortable to tour on than the RR or ZZR... just doesn't have the power... and needs re gearing.
People love the crazy guy headed north on a motorcycle in a blizzard
Truck Stop Showers are awesome to warm/wake your body... just buy some cheap shower shoes!*shiver*
Balaclava's are nice... but will still make you cold unless you have something between them and your skin (the cold air will still freeze the wind proof material and when that's on your neck you FREEZE)
anti fog spray does fuck all for your breath freezing on the visor at anything colder than 30*

I'll get my GPS stuff up soon... but I did 650 some odd miles the first day... stopping just west of St. Louis at 1600 or so (left at 0110) and left there at 0600 or so doing another 450 some odd miles arriving at my bro's at 1430ish.

sorry no pics... too cold and in too much of a hurry (mostly the hurry) to stop.

Sorry, forgot to warn you about the church signs right next to the porn shops.

[Mr Lefty]

Originally Posted by Trip

I got one of those thick beanie hats they sell at walmart and cut a hole in the top. It snugs perfect between my jacket and balaclava. Never had an issue with wind getting in.

wasn't an issue of wind... more that the wind froze the material, and THAT against my skin made me cold. I like your idea though...

I've got a lot of ideas for future trips... a good trip for gathering intel for touring