Final Countdown

God damn, hard to believe I'm leaving in just two days. Thursday evening I'm heading over to Seattle to spend the night, then Friday morning we all meet up in North Bend and haul ass outta there. Unfortunately the main road through Hells Canyon in Oregon is still snowed in so we won't be going that way and instead have to detour around it. We've got a pretty good route planned out (which has changed yet again from my previous listing) and we'll be in Washington, UT to see my brother on Monday afternoon. We're only doing about 300 miles that day so we should show up early enough for him to cook us up a nice BBQ.

I have no idea what my internet connectivity will be like out on the road, but I know it will be limited at best. If I can get a chance to jump online and post up a blog and/or some pictures I will do so, but who knows if I'll actually be able to. I'll definitely post up a full report with a bajillion pictures when I'm home.

Got a new set of PIAA headlamps installed last night which are about twice as bright as the old ones. Hopefully we won't be doing much riding in the dark, but they should help out if we do. Especially since my visor is tinted. Try driving at night with your sunglasses on and you'll know what I mean. I'm still expecting to get a new pair of gloves either today or tomorrow.

My original integrated tail light (a one piece unit that displays the running/brake lights as well as both turn signals) had the left turn signal crap out on me so I sent it back to the company that manufactured it (Clear Alternatives) last week. I got a voice mail on my phone when I got home yesterday afternoon letting me know that the color I wanted (smoke) was currently out of stock, but that they did have red and yellow tint lenses available. Unfortunately it was 4:03pm and they had JUST closed for the day at 4, so I had to call them up this morning and let them know to ship me out a red one ASAP. I even ponied up a few bucks to have them ship it overnight so I'll have it on Wednesday with time enough to get it installed before I leave. Nothing quite like cutting it down to the wire for some last minute excitement.

Over the weekend I set aside all of the various tools, clothes and miscellany that I'll be bringing along with me on the trip and to my surprise it all fit in the tail bag with room to spare. This was actually very good news and allowed me to remove the saddlebags because those would just add too much weight and influence the handling of the bike more than I would like. So those came off and everything went into the tail bag and it's all ready to go. I'm sure I'll end up having to unpack some of the tools to get the damn new tail light installed, but that's fine.

Oh yeah, I also picked up some foil backed tape used for heating duct vents and lined the bottom of my seat pan with the stuff. It's pretty reflective and is supposed to be able to withstand some pretty high temperatures. I've been getting a LOT of heat coming up through the seat and making my butt quite uncomfortable, hopefully this will help at least somewhat.

I also spent some time wiring in the power cord for my GPS unit which also provides real time traffic updates which will be handy out in the middle of fucking nowhere Utah. I installed my heated grips finally as well, but I doubt I'll actually be using them. I still remember last year when I left Bend, Oregon at 6am and my hands were so cold I could barely operate my brake/clutch levers properly. I had to pull over and warm them up on the engine just to be safe. After that I vowed never to have something like that happen again, so I got the heated grips.

New Tank Bag

About a week ago my new SW-MOTECH tank bag showed up and I am very pleased with the result. It uses a special locking ring that mounts to the outer ring of the gas cap. It came with some new screws for the gas cap and I mounted that up easy enough. The bag then has a big plastic ring that attaches to the metal ring mounted to the gas cap. This assures a nice firm mount that allows for easy removal. The best part is that the whole thing sits up just slightly off the gas tank so there is nothing to scratch up my paint. The bag initially comes with the mounting ring unattached so it allowed me to position the bag exactly where I wanted it, then drill the holes and mount it up myself so it fits my bike perfectly. Everything was going smoothly until I noticed that two of the supplied bolts for mounting the ring to the bag were shorter than the other two and it was enough of a difference to make them unusable as I could not get the locking nuts to thread on as there just wasn't enough room. Fortunately Home Depot had exactly what I needed and I was able to get it taken care of easy enough. So now my tank bag is all mounted up and ready to go for my big trip. It's not very big, but that's fine, it really only needs to store some small stuff like my camera and my cell phone. I've got the huge tail bag and saddlebags for the big stuff.

The bike is in the shop right now getting the new pipes installed, but it'll be done tomorrow so expect some more pics of the bitchin new Termis in the next day or two!

Here are some pics of the new tank bag:

Packing List

So as the big trip approaches I've been starting to get a list in my head of all the shit I need to take with me. I figure I need to start writing this shit down because I will start forgetting stuff. So yeah, here is my list of stuff to bring that I've come up with so far:

Riding Gear:

• Arai Profile Sinister Grey Helmet
• Alpinestars TZ-1 Jacket
• Alpinestars Leather Track Pants (w/o the knee pucks)
• Alpinestars SPS Riding Gloves
• Alpinestars SuperTech Boots
• Orange ICON reflective vest
• Small backpack with water bladder

Tools:

• Allen Wrenches (2.5mm, 3mm, 4mm, 5mm, 6mm)
• Small Mexican Speed Wrench (aka Crescent Wrench)
• Gerber Multi-Tool
• Phillips and Flat head screwdrivers
• Spare Fuses
• Wire Cutter/Crimpers and spare connectors
• Tire Pressure Gauge
• Chain Lube
• Oil/Lube rags
  

Clothes:

• Spare gloves
• Ninja Head Scarf (aka baclava)
• Street Shoes
• Lots of socks
• Clean underwear (in case I get hit by a truck)
• Under Armor Cold Gear long sleeve compression shirt
• Under Armor Warm Gear long sleeve compression shirt
• As many Ducati t-shirts as I can find
• Thermal bottoms
• Tall wool riding socks
• Board shorts (for sittin in the hot tub at night)
• General Purpose Shorts

Misc:

• Eye Drops
• Toothbrush
• Small spray bottle with face shield cleaner
• Microfiber towel
  
• Maps of Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado
• Beef Jerky!
• Cell Phone & charger
• Camera & charger
• iPod & charger
• Garmin Nuvi 660 GPS
• Escort Passport 9500i Radar Detector

New Routes

After talking to some of my riding companions the last riding schedule was a bit, shall we say, ambitious. Numerous back to back 500 mile days can get very tiring very quickly, so I came up with a new set of routes stopping at my brothers place in Utah on the fourth night. I doubt this will end up being our actual route. All the guys I'm riding with are a little older than me and may not be up for the long distance back to back days and want to wing it a bit more each day. I swear I must be part Russian because I can't take a dump without a plan.

Day One: 508 miles - Seattle WA to Baker City, OR

Day Two: 447 miles - Baker City, OR to Pocatello, ID

Day Three: 440 miles - Pocatello, ID to Price, UT

Day Four: 406 miles - Price, UT to Washington, UT (my brother lives in Washington)

Day Five: 497 miles - Washington, UT to Cortez, CO

Day Six: 450 miles - Cortez, CO to Rock Springs, WY

Day Seven: 393 miles - Rock Springs, WY to Bozeman, MT

Day Eight: 420 miles - Bozeman, MT to Lewiston, ID

Day Nine: 373 miles - Lewiston, ID to Seattle, WA

Preparations

It's been awhile, and there is a lot to cover so lets get right to it: I'm riding to the Grand Canyon at the end of May! I'll be travelling with six other guys, all Desmo Northwest members, the Seattle area Ducati Owners Club (or as my mother calls them, my motorcycle gang). We will be departing on Friday May 23rd and spending the next 8 or 9 days out on the road riding through Utah to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, then heading back up via Colorado, Wyoming and Idaho. It'll be a pretty intense journey covering roughly 4,000 miles. We'll be staying in little motels along the route, which will be a little spendy, but it shouldn't be too bad as I'll actually have guys to split the cost of the room with this time instead of flying solo.

I played with Google Maps for awhile and came up with a tenative route plan. I would imagine that some of this will change, but you can get the basic idea of where we're going:

Day One - 520 miles - Seattle, WA to Weiser, ID via Hells Canyon

Day Two - 557 miles - Weiser, ID to Logan, UT

Day Three - 504 miles - Logan, UT to Cedar City, UT via Bryce Canyon

Day Four - 587 miles - Cedar City, UT to Cortez, CO via Zion and Grand Canyon North Rim

Day Five - 427 miles - Cortez, CO to Vernal, UT

Day Six - 471 miles - Vernal, UT to Idaho Falls, ID via Grand Teton

Day Seven - 562 miles - Idaho Falls, ID to Lewiston, ID via Lolo Pass

Day Eight - 469 miles - Lewiston, ID to Seattle, WA via North Cascades

A large multi-day trip like this requires me to bring along a no so trivial amount of extra "stuff" ranging from clean underwear to charging devices for all my various gadgets and gizmos. How the hell do you carry all the stuff needed for an adventure like this on a freakin Ducati 848 that is meant to ride around on a track stripped down not loaded up with tons of extra stuff? Well, if yer an engineer, you figure something out! Fortunately I was able to get some inspiration from a fellow rider with a bike just like mine (his is red, so mine is faster). He took a cutting board from Target and strapped that to the rear seat of his bike, then strapped a nice large tail bag to the cutting board, and viola, instant touring bike!

I took his idea one step furthor and added vertical sections hanging down to support saddlebags. I bought two dark plastic cutting boards from Target, and using my friends tablesaw cut one down to 10" x 17" and the other into two 10" x 8.5" sections. I then sanded down all the rough edges and using some L brackets and bolts from Home Depot I was able to bolt the side panels to the main section. I actually had to redo the left side because my original bolt placing was too far forward and caused one of the bolts to come very close to scraping up my fairing. I moved it back about an inch and a half and it's well out of the way now. Once that was completed I was able to use my dremel tool to cut out some slots in the board for the nylon straps that would be used to secure the rear seat. Once the boards were secured to the rear seat and placed on the bike I was able to attach the saddlebags and rear tail bag. It actually went together very smoothly. The tail bag has built in bungie cords that wrap around and secure nicely. It also has clips that clip right into the saddlebags so they stay firmly attached. The saddlebags also attach to each other in the rear and then to each of the passenger footpegs keeping them from moving around. And the best part is that the whole damn thing comes off in about 5 seconds. I only have to unclip the saddlebags from the rear pegs and then unlock the rear seat and it all comes off in one big piece. This will make it real easy for me to bring everything inside each night so I don't have to worry about someone coming by and taking all my stuff while it's sitting on the bike overnight.

I took a bunch of pictures during the process, here is a slideshow:



I also ordered a brand new tank bag that should be arriving via UPS today. I'll get that mounted up in the next day or two and put up some more pics of how that goes. It mounts directly to the gas cap so it should be very secure.

A keen eye would have noticed that the first picture in that slideshow was of a big red box marked "Ducati Performance Exhaust by Termignoni". That's right, I got Termi's! I actually tried to install them myself on Friday, but it was a procedure that was more complex than what I was comfortable with attempting. The kit includes a new Air Filter and ECU and part of the procedure is to remove the Lambda probe and resetting the computer. This would require some tools and know-how that I just don't have. I'm taking the bike in on Thursday for a complete service and check-up, as well as to have a new rear tire put on so I figure I'll just have them install the exhaust system at the same time and get it all done at once. This will also allow for Mike Velasco (the chief motorcycle tech) to fine tune the bike on the Dyno at the shop so hopefully it'll be running better than ever.

Anyway, as things heat up over the next couple weeks, expect to see a few more posts from me detailing all the preparations for the bike, what I'll be taking with me etc.

What A Wonderful Day!

Today started out pretty damn fantastic and it only got better as the day went on. I met up with fourlocal friends around 10am and we headed out with the goal of riding all the way out to Neah Bay and back. The sun was out and it was nice and warm and for once in a very long time, I wasn't cold at all while riding.

We cruised out and over the Hood Canal Bridge only to find ourselves trapped behind a group of at least 12 Harleys going 50mph in a damn 60 zone! The most ironic part was seeing one of the guys with a T-Shirt that said "Rebel Till I Die!". Way to be a rebel dude, go 10mph UNDER the god damn speed limit! Eventually we had some passing room and we blew right past em. Other than that the trip to Port Angeles was pretty uneventful. We eventually met up with a sixth rider in PA and continued West. After an hour and a half of boring highway riding, we finally found ourselves in the midst of some fantastic sweepers and twisties.

We made it to Neah Bay and pulled over for a short rest when a local drove past and informed us that they had recently paved the road that went all the way out to the Cape which is where the Northwestern most point of the Continental US is located. With the news that it was no longer a dirt road we hauled ass out of there to check it out and found some of the most beautiful pristine pavement I've seen in a very long time. All brand new, clean and dry. It was only about 8 miles, but it was pretty awesome. We made it out to the cape and found another good sized group of riders already out there, and after another short break headed back into town.

The ride back was even better than the ride out as the sun warmed us up even more and we were all more comfortable riding just a little faster. We were ripping and railing through quite a few corners. I got down low enough into one that I scraped my left boot. That always gives ya a bit of a startle. By the time we hit PA again on the way back we were all pretty well beat up and tired so we stopped for lunch at a Taco Time. We were expecting a nice quiet boring ride down Hwy 101 on the way home, but boy were we wrong. We were making our way through traffic and eventually came up behind another group of guys on sportbikes (including one who was 2up) and well, that pretty much started it. Imagine driving down the hwy in your car just cruising along enjoying the day only to have 10 sportbikes come ripping past you at 100+mph. Yeah, that was us.

All in all, it was fantastic. This was the first real good hard run on my new bike and I couldn't be happier. I'm still trying to get the feel for the lower speed corners, but my confidence increased steadily as the day progressed. The bike has been washed, and I now plan to kick back with some beers and just watch some tv.

Oh yes, of course I took pics!

In Port Angeles:




In Neah Bay:





Somewhere along the side of the road:

New Bike!

So after a week of waiting I picked up my shiny new pearl white Ducati 848! I've only put about 35 miles on it so far today, but due to all the dirt and gravel and water on the roads it's already totally filthy. Oh well, I'll just wash it tomorrow.

So far it's such a different bike from my old one. It's so much more nimble and more powerful than my old 620. I've been takin it real easy so far just trying to get used to everything.

Anyway, enough talkin, here are the pics:

My first crash!

They say there are two types of riders, those who have gone down and those who are yet to go down. I am now officially a member of the first group. The weather was gorgeous today so I decided to head out and get in some riding and check out some of the usual roads out twords Dewatto and Tahuya. I was on my way home taking the back roads out of Gorst up to Bremerton when it happened. There was a lot of dirt/gravel still on the road from all of the ice we've had lately so I was taking it easy, only going about 25mph going through a slight right hand bend, even thinking to myself "Ok, I'm gonna take it nice and easy cause of all the gravel" when my rear tire slid out from under me and I low-sided. I didn't slide very far and was able to get right back up and shake it off. Fortunately there was a guy who saw what happened and came over to help me pick up my bike and make sure I was ok. I was wearing full gear and it really saved my ass.

The bike was ridable so I rode home, but by then my right hand was really starting to hurt. I changed my clothes and called my friend Kevin and he gave me a ride down to the hospital cause there was no way I would be able to shift to drive properly. They checked me out and thankfully nothing was broken. My right hand is banged up pretty good and I'll prolly have some gnarly bruises tomorrow, but I'll be ok. They gave me some pain killers and sent me on my way.

After all that I was able to inspect the damage to the bike. Fortunately there is nothing that absolutely has to be replaced immediately. The frame sliders did their job and took the brunt of the damage. The bad news is that the rear brake lever for my bitchin CycleCat rearsets is bent, it's usable, but I'll probably want to get a new one. I'll need to replace the right side frame slider as well. The tank has a small scratch in it as does the front faring. I guess there goes the resale value. The front brake lever is scraped up at the end, but isn't bent and is still usable. Same goes with the right side mirror. The back of the mirror is scratched up pretty nicely, but it's usable. Most of my gear survived with only minor scuffs. The gloves, pants and jacket don't have any major damage at all. My helmet however has some nice scratches in it. I've heard that helmets are only good for one impact, so I may have to replace it. Buying a new $600 helmet is not something I'm looking forward to.

All in all I have to say I was god damn lucky. My only physical damage is relatively minor as is the damage to my bike. Full gear saved my ass.

Here are some pics:

Old Man Winter and Plans for 2008

Geez, it's been five-ever since I've updated my blog. Why is that? Well cause it's fucking cold and rainy out thats why! I don't exactly get a chance to ride much this time of year. My bike has been lonely sitting in the garage for the past few months. I try to get out and tool around town a little bit when the weather clears up a bit. I don't really get to ride except to the store or the bar or some place close. Anything more than 10-15 minutes and I'm freezing ass cold. Although it is VERY nice to be able to come home and jump into the hot tub right after riding and my body is still very cold.

I have however installed some new heated grips on my bike, and boy are they awesome. They make a huge difference this time of year. I can always put on an extra layer (or two) when I go out for a ride, but the one problem I've always had was with my hands. The new heated grips should help that.

It's a new year, and that means a whole new set of goals for the bike:
- Get a god damn radar detector. I accumulated something like 8 tickets (seriously) during 2007 so my goal is to reduce that drastically this year. I'm trying to decide between the Valentine One and the new Escort Passport 9500. Both are in the $400 range and are both considered the top of the line. I should be able to hook it up so I can move it between my car and the motorcycle, which is my ultimate plan. I know that the radar detector isn't a 100% guarantee that I won't get any tickets (especially with the way I ride/drive), but I know for sure it would have helped me in the past, so it can only help in the future.
- Get a new Alpinestars jacket that will zip to my leather pants. I have some really nice leather Alpinestars leather track pants, but I need a jacket that will properly zip to it if I am going to do any track days this year...
- Take my bike out to the track! I've been riding for a year and a half now and have logged damn near 19,000 miles and damnit, I'm good enough to go out on the track. I want to sign up for a beginner track school where I can get some good instruction and learn more about riding. I've heard that just one of these days at a track school will increase my riding ability drastically.
- Fabricate some form of passenger footpegs. Ok, this is mostly a vanity thing. Ever since I put on the new CycleCat rearsets I haven't had any passenger footpegs, and I've had a few girls ask me for rides when I simply can't. Girls like my motorcycle, and I like girls, so yeah. I'm a sucker.
- Plan a big ride for this spring/summer. I did a fantastic ride down to California last year, and I want to do something similar (but not quite as long) this year. There are some good rides out around the Washington/Oregon/Idaho/Montana border mountains so I'm thinking that if I can stay at my friends place in Pullman, Washington that would be a good base of operations to head out on a couple nice day rides.

Argh

Well, good news and bad news. The good news is that my bike will finally be ridable again this afternoon after being out of commission for THREE weeks. The bad news is that the local motorcycle shop only ordered one set of brake pads for a bike that has two front rotors (meaning it needs two sets). So now they have to order another set of pads and I have to take my bike in yet again once they show up. Fortunately it shouldn't take too long for the pads to show up and my bike is rideable until then.

The only reason my bike is even ready today is because I spent Tuesday afternoon busting my ass to get my hands on a rear sprocket from Ducati Seattle. I called my local guys Tuesday afternoon and the rear sprocket they were waiting on from Italy still had not shown up after damn near three weeks. So I called up DucSea and they had one in stock, but it was too late in the day for me to get over there to pick it up. Fortunately my friend Greg from desmonorthwest.com (great group of guys) was nice enough to swing by and pick it up for me and meet me at the ferry terminal. He drove up right out front, handed it to me all in time for me to haul ass and turn around and get right back on the same ferry. Saved me a good hour of fucking around.