Yup, tomorrow I am away on another trip and this time I'll be traveling with Janet and James. We are off to Nelson for the week and I'll be on the BMW and they will be in the Volvo. I have arranged it so that we will both be listening to same book tape and we'll have an intercom to talk back and forth as need be.
Cheers!
The Bas***d is off again
Moderator: Moderators
-
LibertineAudrey
- Posts: 840
- Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2007 11:56 pm
- Location: Sherwood Park
- Contact:
We're listening to Ptolemy's Gate. The third in the Bartimaeus trilogy of "young adult" fiction. A great read, very erudite and wittily written without being at all pretentious.
The ride was a bit uncomfortable and it took me a little while to figure out why: too slow! I explained to my wife that I needed a bit more speed to take the weight off my wrists, and, no word of a lie, she said, Why don't you go on ahead, honey? Damn, I love my wife! Not that I'll take her up on it. Too much fun playing "punch buggy" with my son over the intercomm.
The comm system works fairly well but I would prefer a push to talk rather than vox as I have to set the vox so high to prevent ambeint activations that I have to talk too loud to activate it myself. Time for a quieter helmet I guess.
Dressing is complicated as I need long underwear in the morning bit not in the +25C afternoons. Life is rough ;-)
Cheers for now!
The ride was a bit uncomfortable and it took me a little while to figure out why: too slow! I explained to my wife that I needed a bit more speed to take the weight off my wrists, and, no word of a lie, she said, Why don't you go on ahead, honey? Damn, I love my wife! Not that I'll take her up on it. Too much fun playing "punch buggy" with my son over the intercomm.
The comm system works fairly well but I would prefer a push to talk rather than vox as I have to set the vox so high to prevent ambeint activations that I have to talk too loud to activate it myself. Time for a quieter helmet I guess.
Dressing is complicated as I need long underwear in the morning bit not in the +25C afternoons. Life is rough ;-)
Cheers for now!
Last edited by jbcollier on Sat Jul 11, 2009 9:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Day two went well. Much warmer so it was easier to delete the long underwear right from the start. 30+C when the day got going. Full leathers just fine until you came to a stop. Had a bit of trouble getting my scarf wrapping technique right. A couple of times I had to remove the rapidly unravelling scarf in mid-flight before I pulled an Isodora Duncan.
I am not the sharpest tool in the shed these days and I keep forgetting to put my earplugs in: usually leaving them on the seat. Fortunately I don't get far before I figure it out and it's not too hard to round them up. It wasn't a problem on my solo trip so I think I am feeling unconciously rushed when Janet and James are waiting for me to run through my preflight checks after a fill up.
The last time it happened, I radioed them to go on ahead. After finding and cleaning the plugs, I set off in hot pursuit. Hot darn, what fun. Slicing and dicing through the corners as fast as I felt comfortable -- it takes a lot to make me feel uncomfortable! Sliced around one corner and there they were waiting on the side of the road. I hauled on the brakes and it took a whole lot of road to bring her back down to reasonable. Hmm, maybe I need to work on feeling uncomfortable a wee bit sooner.
All's well that ends well and I had the best gelato in my life, so far, at the Dragonfly Cafe in Salmo, BC: well worth the trip.
Cheers again!
I am not the sharpest tool in the shed these days and I keep forgetting to put my earplugs in: usually leaving them on the seat. Fortunately I don't get far before I figure it out and it's not too hard to round them up. It wasn't a problem on my solo trip so I think I am feeling unconciously rushed when Janet and James are waiting for me to run through my preflight checks after a fill up.
The last time it happened, I radioed them to go on ahead. After finding and cleaning the plugs, I set off in hot pursuit. Hot darn, what fun. Slicing and dicing through the corners as fast as I felt comfortable -- it takes a lot to make me feel uncomfortable! Sliced around one corner and there they were waiting on the side of the road. I hauled on the brakes and it took a whole lot of road to bring her back down to reasonable. Hmm, maybe I need to work on feeling uncomfortable a wee bit sooner.
All's well that ends well and I had the best gelato in my life, so far, at the Dragonfly Cafe in Salmo, BC: well worth the trip.
Cheers again!
First day of the return journey is done and what a gorgeous ride. Beautiful clear skies and warm in both the valleys and on the tops of passes. One early bit of excitement had Janet ahead and approaching the crest of a hill. Though the lines were double solid and there was zilch visibility, a young buck was in the middle of a pass and rapidly approaching Janet head-on. Janet judged that discretion was the best choice, slowed and moved into the curb. I, alas, completely lost my composure and gave him a wave with only a single finger raised.
Just after the Moyie bluffs -- tears well up every time I drive that stretch, my lord, it used to be the nicest set of corners in western Canada -- I was in front and the pace was up a tad. Round a corner and here comes the RCMP. I brake but Janet doesn't with the inevitable result. She gets pulled over but, being quite beautiful and unfailingly polite, gets off with a warning. Bloody h**l, it's time for a sex change. Perhaps we could get together and arrange a group discount?
Part of the RCMP's warning included a caution about the excess of wildlife on the Fernie road. Sure enough, a deer crossed the road through a line of high speed traffic. We were fortunate in that it was both ahead of us and it got through safely.
If you are ever in the Fernie area, I can highly recommend the Lizard Creek Lodge: inexpensive in the summer and well off the road so it is very, very quiet. In winter, I think it is both expensive and busy.
Cheers for now!
PS: Still not ideal with comm system but manageable. I think ear buds would help with the volume and outside sound transference. These systems seem to be made for the Goldwing crowd and only work so-so on a sportier bike.
Just after the Moyie bluffs -- tears well up every time I drive that stretch, my lord, it used to be the nicest set of corners in western Canada -- I was in front and the pace was up a tad. Round a corner and here comes the RCMP. I brake but Janet doesn't with the inevitable result. She gets pulled over but, being quite beautiful and unfailingly polite, gets off with a warning. Bloody h**l, it's time for a sex change. Perhaps we could get together and arrange a group discount?
Part of the RCMP's warning included a caution about the excess of wildlife on the Fernie road. Sure enough, a deer crossed the road through a line of high speed traffic. We were fortunate in that it was both ahead of us and it got through safely.
If you are ever in the Fernie area, I can highly recommend the Lizard Creek Lodge: inexpensive in the summer and well off the road so it is very, very quiet. In winter, I think it is both expensive and busy.
Cheers for now!
PS: Still not ideal with comm system but manageable. I think ear buds would help with the volume and outside sound transference. These systems seem to be made for the Goldwing crowd and only work so-so on a sportier bike.
I'm back!
Last day of riding was uneventful, thank goodness. The Crossnest (3) and Hwy 22 provided beautiful scenery and spectacular riding. Hwy 2, and Deerfoot Trail in particular, were their busy and, at times, unpleasant selves. No complaints mind.
It was absolutely brilliant to jump off the bike and feel great instead of crawling out of the car, bent over and in pain. I just need to find some winter tires...
I'll be at Tra Amici tomorrow.
Cheers!
Last day of riding was uneventful, thank goodness. The Crossnest (3) and Hwy 22 provided beautiful scenery and spectacular riding. Hwy 2, and Deerfoot Trail in particular, were their busy and, at times, unpleasant selves. No complaints mind.
It was absolutely brilliant to jump off the bike and feel great instead of crawling out of the car, bent over and in pain. I just need to find some winter tires...
I'll be at Tra Amici tomorrow.
Cheers!