Road King Blog

In my local area, we have some toll roads, which are for the most part nicely maintained, low traffic routes that make for some nice riding.

But, stopping for a toll booth is a pain in the butt when you are riding, not to mention highly dangerous.  Your chances of being rear-ended in a toll lane are pretty high, because people are distracted as they approach, and may not recognize a stopped motorcycle in the lane as they drive in their peripheral vision while searching through their change.

Fortunately, there is a solution - SunPass.  A stick-on transponder that allows you to drive through designated lanes and have the toll automatically collected.  In most of the system, the SunPass lanes are straight-through affairs that run at the normal, 65mph traffic speed.  At worst, they are dedicated toll lanes that slow to 25mph for the pass-through.

The problem is that they have introduced a new, passive stick on transponder which is smaller, lighter and cheaper than the older, battery powered transponders.  All well and good, except that they do not work on a motorcycle.  They must be affixed to a glass windshield.

So the mission was to find an old-style transponder in stock at a local retailer.  It only took 4 tries, but I located one.  It is now adhered to the inside of the left saddle bag lid via the built-in suction cups.  It works fine for the tolls through the lid, and it’s not exposed so someone can walk off with it.

It had rained fairly hard earlier in the day, and the roads were still wet.  The unattractive sheen of oil and grease and radiator fluid was present in the water in the center of the lanes (famously known as the “crap”) and it required some extra vigilance when selecting stopping and turning points.  But as long as due caution is paid, it’s no big deal.

Apple’s update to iPhoto, et all hit the shelves today, so I decided to make a run up to the store and snag it, and pick up some Five Guys for lunch on the way home.

Right around 750 miles on the bike now, and the riding keeps getting better.

Had a sick server at the datacenter this morning, which required some personal attention to resuscitate.  So, it was time to ride.

Packed the laptop in the saddlebag, and started off on the roughly 25 mile trip into the semi-urban / industrial area where the colocation facility is located.  I was debating bringing the bike or taking the cage (murphy’s law would tend to indicate that taking the bike would ensure that the machine was sick enough to require removal back to the homestead), but I decided to take the gamble and ride.

Took the surface streets down there (I-4 Westbound through Orlando proper during morning rush hour isn’t a place I want to ride or drive), and the interstate back home.  Had a nice ride, and the server was kind enough to have a problem that was easy to fix in situ.

Riding in late January is great.  Getting paid to do it - priceless.

Fort Christmas

Headed out for a ride this morning, with no particular place to go or time to be there - just me, the machine, and the road.  I had decided earlier to head in the general direction of East, along Route 419 out of Oveido through Chuluota and beyond.

The town of Oviedo is an interesting place.  The downtown area, such as it is, has a healthy population of free-roaming chickens.  Oveido was first settled in the late 1800’s, and like most communities of the time the primary avocations were farming and raising livestock.  Today, there are approximately 30 chickens that call Oviedo home, and the town has adopted them as mascots of a sort.

Leaving Oveido and passing through the town of Chuluota, you enter an area dominated by farming and ranching.  Most people don’t associate Florida with cattle, but there are over a million head of cattle (mostly beef cattle) in Florida.  As you motor sedately along Route 419, you’ll see one rancher’s large fence banners proclaiming “Beef - it’s what’s for dinner!”.  The cows seem rather unfazed by the traffic flowing by, as the calmly go about doing whatever it is cows do between being born and being dinner.  This is truly the Road King’s element, purring along at 2200 RPM in 4th gear, in the “sweet spot” where the engine vibration is at it’s smoothest. 

Turning off of Route 419 onto Lake Mills Road, you pass along quit, tree-lined roads bisecting large fields of cows and horses.  From here, North Fort Christmas Road takes off to the Southeast, leading you toward the town of Christmas.  Along the way, you encounter Fort Christmas Park.

Fort Christmas was one of many outposts build in the early to middle 1830s during the Second Seminole War.  Today, a replica of the fort stands as a historic park and museum, along with examples of period dwellings.

Leaving Fort Christmas, a short trip down Fort Christmas Road leads to State Route 50.  Turning East on Route 50, I headed into Titusville, along the banks of the Indian River.  From Route 1 in Titusville, you can look across the Indian River and see one of the largest buildings (in terms of enclosed volume) ever built - the Vehicle Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral.

The VAB

 Built as part of the Apollo project in the early 1960s, the VAB is currently used to assemble the Space Shuttle Orbiter / Fuel Tank / SRB “stack” for Shuttle missions.

The VAB is 525 feet tall, 716 feet  long and 518 feet  wide. It covers 8 acres, enclosing 129,428,000 cubic feet.  The space is so large that it has it’s own weather - NASA employees say that on very humid days, “rain clouds” have been known to form near the ceiling.

The doors in the VAB walls are the largest doors in the world, standing a staggering 456 feet high, and taking almost 45 minutes to open or close.

From Titusville, I headed back in Route 50 towards home.  Stopped and picked up some lunch for the sweet, wonderful, tolerant wifester (who puts up with me taking off on the bike).  The total ride was a little over 75 miles, which is by far my longest effort to date.  A great day, and a great ride.

It’s into the low 60s here today, with the forecast for the weekend into the mid 70s.

Did a short hop to the store this afternoon (and took a longer-than-necessary route home).

Gotta love it…..

Wow, has it really been three days since I got out and rode last?

Yeah, I guess it has.

It’s cool here today - below 30 this morning, in the low 50s now. I needed to go mail a package and do some light grocery getting. The choice: take the nice, warm cage, or crank up the Road King.

Yeah, like it was really a choice.

While doing the ride, I was reflecting a bit on an ongoing debate on one of the forums I frequent: At a stop, left foot down, right foot down or both? I wasn’t trying to make a conscious decision to execute one of the options, but rather just making a mental note after coming to a stop of what I had done.

The answer? It varies. The terrain, traffic and environment all play a role in determining how the stop ended up. On the side streets, where the road is level and clean, and the stops were short, I always stopped with the left foot down, and the right on the floorboard.

On larger streets (where there tends to be more, er, “stuff” in the middle of the lane, it varied. Generally, if I was in the left third of the lane, I’d put the left foot down and keep the right up (and out of the “stuff”). Conversely, in the right third of the lane, I’d put the right foot down and keep the left up.

Getting oil or anti-freeze on your boot can make for an unpleasant surprise when next you step down.

If a stop was longer (say, a long traffic light), I would find that the other foot would end up on the ground as well (unless there was some reason to keep it up).

One item remains universal - as soon as the bike starts moving forward, both feet come up to the boards immediately. No foot dragging allowed.

Matt

Started off the day with some parking lot practice (I got some video, and I’m in the process of editing it).  Did some slow weaves and tight slow turns, and set up a new weave course.  Had two lines of markers, 24 feet apart.  A parallel line of markers was 16 feet to the side, also 24 feet apart, and offset 12 feet.  Made for some challenging practice (alas, I didn’t get that part on video, so I’ll have to do it again )

Went hone for lunch with the wifester, and then ran up to the mall to pick up some pictures we had printed at the photo store, and then took the long, winding way home.

It was a beautiful day, and it just begged for a ride. Temp around 70, not a cloud in the sky. A bit breezy, though, with some gusty winds that occasionally required some handlebar pressure to counteract.

Ran up the interstate, and saw a sign for one of our local state parks. Decided “what the heck” and took the exit and meandered a few miles to the park, and rode around there for a while.  Stopped for a quick hydration break, and then headed back to the homestead and the lovely wife.

Took the bike up to the dealership to have my new fork lock installed this morning. Ambient air temp around 42 degrees. Add some wind from the bike moving, and it’s downright cold. At these temperatures, you’re actually glad when you get stopped at a stoplight, since the wind goes away and you can warm up a bit.

Most of my gear was fine, except for a par of old leather gloves I was wearing. They just weren’t making it. Since I was at the dealereship anyway, I acquired a nice pair of textile gauntlets with Gore-Tex and fleece lining. Mmmmm, toasty. The hands were much better on the ride home

After the ride this morning, I am well over the 500 mile mark.  The riding just keeps getting better.

Just a short ride out this morning for breakfast.  Too much work to do to go play today

Went out for a bit yesterday, just wandering.  Did another short stint on 417.  Less windy today.

After dinner, I took a short ride out into the darkness to go get a fruit smoothie and learn a bit about what it is like to ride at night.  It’s quite different, and it feels like most of your situational awareness is muted.  Not a good feeling.

I think we’ll hold off on any more of that until I have quite a few more miles and more experience.