Saturday 23 June 2012

Need some saddle hours

We got lucky back in March with a glorious warm week for getting the bikes out of hibernation and getting the first few rides of the season in. Then it all went to hell in a handbasket with cold, wet and windy conditions for most of April and May – at least on those days when I could have gone for a ride but for other commitments.
But now we’re into June and the weather is, well, summery. The way it’s supposed to be. The way we’ve been waiting for since last September. And our very short riding season is well upon us. As is our equally short golfing season. (My other summer passion.)
And coming up fast is a Friday the 13th, July 13 to be specific. And that means Port Dover! (It’s kind of a crappy web site, but you get the idea.) I haven’t been for a couple of years but this year I have some extra incentive as that July week also coincides with the spousal unit’s almost-annual Crab Fest. So scarce is what I will make myself for a few days.
The current plan is to head out for Kitchener-Waterloo where I have two brothers and a nephew who also ride. Then get a couple of days of riding in and perhaps a round or two of golf before joining the throngs heading to Port Dover on Friday. The only problem? K-W is about 500 kilometres (300 miles) away and the longest ride I’ve been on so far this year is 200 kilometres (120 miles). And since my old raggedy ass seems to take longer every year to adjust to a motorcycle seat I need to get some serious saddle time in ASAP or I’ll be one sore puppy when I finally roll into the brother’s driveway.
I also need to get my GoPro functioning properly for the trip. Lately it’s been crapping out and either giving me a SOS message or corrupting the files on the SD card – and sometimes both. After much trial and error, cursing, and gnashing of teeth I think I’ve isolated the problem to a faulty SD card (although how a solid state device can suddenly go bad defies explanation). A quick trip into the city for a new card on Monday and hopefully that problem will be solved – and a few more bottom-conditioning miles will be logged.
Port Dover route
Hopefully it will all come together over the next couple of weeks, but if not there’s always plan B!
IMG_3030

8 comments:

  1. Boy-oh-boy, Canajun, I'll send you a bottle of ibuprofen if you need. I also suddenly feel like I should take on the roll of a seat salesman. (Buy Russel! Buy Mustang! Buy Airhawk!)

    Here's to hoping that the old duff can handle riding.

    Brady
    Behind Bars - Motorcycles and Life

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  2. For the seat soreness try a buttbuffer, you can google it, for a comfy ride. Myself have not tried it but a friend has and he tells that his old rear can now ride all day in comfort.

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  3. Brady - tried Mustang (hated it), tried 2 variations on stock, and now have an H-D solo seat which is the most comfy of all. At mega-$$$ each it's hard to justify trying too many different seats. I'm actually toying with having the one I have now, which is pretty good, reshaped. Perhaps next winter's project is to find someone to do it.

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  4. WoolyBugger - I'll check that out. Thanks.

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  5. Yeah the gopro forums say you can have problems if you use the wrong card- also, go to gopro's website and make sure you have the latest firmware.

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    1. (No Name) - The card had been working fine for a year or so, that's why I didn't think of it initially as the problem. But I'll get a good quality photo SD card tomorrow and hopefully that problem will be solved.

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  6. Oh also you might try a gel seat- google it I guess- we had a guy ride to Sturgis with us last year on a Sportster, and the first thing he did when he got to town was to buy a gel seat for his bike. He said it made a world of differencem comfort-wise

    http://www.amspecialtiesusa.com/gelpad.htm

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    1. WoolyBugger had a similar suggestion, so I'll be sure to check those out as well. Thanks for the tip.

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