Road King Blog

This afternoon, I had the privilege of joining with the Patriot Guard, Rolling Thunder and the American Legion Riders to participate in the arrival of the American Veterans Travelling Tribute at the Daytona International Speedway for Bike Week.

The American Veterans Traveling Tribute  contains, among other things, an 80% scale replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, along with displays honoring the sacrifice of American veterans from every conflict the US has taken part in.  The Patriot Guard riders took part in the escort from Jacksonville down to Daytona, and also formed a flag line to receive the AVTT at the Speedway.  The trip to and from Jacksonville would be a bit beyond my abilities yet, so I met up with the PGR folks at the Speedway to set the flag line for the arriving escort.

Soon thereafter, the lead elements of the police escort for the AVTT began approaching the Speedway gate and taking up positions to block traffic for the procession. Around 100 riders took part in the escort, proudly flying the US flag and standing for those who stood for us.

After the procession passed, those of us on the flag line mounted up and fell in behind the group for the trip into the Speedway infield to present the AVTT POW/MIA flag to the Speedway staff.  The sight and sound of 100 bikes rumbling through the tunnel under the track and up into the infield was truly awe-inspiring.

The pictures don’t really do it justice, but here are a few:

A bit about the ride:

The trip up this afternoon was via I-4, and it was a bit windy.  While uneventful, the trip wasn’t a whole lot of fun.  70 mile per hour traffic with 20 mile per hour wind gusts makes for a bit of buffeting, which can be pretty draining.  On the way back, I decided to take the overland route, and came down CR 415 through Volusia and into Seminole county.  A much nicer ride through the countryside.

About the Patriot Guard:

From the PGR Website:

The Patriot Guard Riders is a diverse amalgamation of riders from across the nation. We have one thing in common besides motorcycles. We have an unwavering respect for those who risk their very lives for America’s freedom and security. If you share this respect, please join us.

We don’t care what you ride or if you ride, what your political views are, or whether you’re a hawk or a dove. It is not a requirement that you be a veteran. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what your income is; you don’t even have to ride. The only prerequisite is Respect.

Our main mission is to attend the funeral services of fallen American heroes as invited guests of the family. Each mission we undertake has two basic objectives:

1. Show our sincere respect for our fallen heroes, their families, and their communities.
2. Shield the mourning family and their friends from interruptions created by any protestor or group of protestors.

We accomplish the latter through strictly legal and non-violent means.

To those of you who are currently serving and fighting for the freedoms of others, at home and abroad, please know that we are backing you.  We honor and support you with every mission we carry out, and we are praying for a safe return home for all.

The PGR came into being as a response to a certain “church” group who gets their kicks protesting at the funerals of deceased US service members (as well as other high profile events).  When these charming folks first began torturing the families of the fallen, the PGR responded by attending the funerals with large US flags, and standing with their backs to the protesters, shielding the families from the sight and sound of these disgusting protestors’ “message”.  It is, IMHO, the perfect response to these publicity-hog protestors.  By completely ignoring them, and turning their backs to them, the PGR deny the protestors the attention that they crave, and allow the families to lay their loved ones to rest in peace without having to endure the hateful antics of the protestors.

It’s an honor to be a part of the PGR family.

Went out for a ride this afternoon to get some food and enjoy the sunny weather.  Rode up to the waterfront in Sanford and cruised along the shores of Lake Monroe for a bit before winding my way back down toward home.  Nothing really noteworthy on the ride, just out having fun.  Close to 1400 miles on the bike now.

There exists within the community a legend:

Legend has it that Evil Road Spirits have been latching themselves on to motorcycles for as long as there have been bikes on the road. These Evil Road Spirits are responsible for mechanical problems and bad luck along a journey.

Legend goes on to say that by attaching a small bell onto your bike, the Evil Road Spirits will become trapped inside the bell where the constant ringing drives them insane, making them lose their grip until they fall to the ground. (Ever wonder where potholes come from?)

Legend also has it that the mystery of the Guardian Bell carries twice as much power when it is purchased by a friend or loved one and given as a gift.

Show someone how much you care. Offer them defense against the Evil Road Spirits! Give a Guardian Bell and share the Legend of Good Luck it offers to a motorcycle and its rider!

It’s a tough world out there for motorcyclists, and I for one will take any help I can get.  My lovely wife selected a Guardian Bell for my bike, and it arrived today.  The bell is in the form of an Eagle, which is very fitting given my love for raptors of all sorts, and the number of Bald Eagles that call Florida home.

In one of those fascinating connections life likes to surprise us with, I was riding home from lunch today (before the bell arrived in the mail) and as I was passing alongside a pond on the way into the subdivision, one of our local Bald Eagles was flying low over the water alongside, pacing me for a few hundred yards before he turned off and headed out over the water.

I’ll take it as a good omen.

Well, it finally rained here in Central Florida.  It really hasn’t done much of that since I bought the bike in December.  But given that I live and ride in Central Florida, the probability approached unity that someday, sometime, I will get caught out in the rain while riding.

So, it seemed the thing to do to go learn how the bike handles in the rain and wet while close to home.

Normally, I like rain.  I like to watch a good thunderstorm rolling in, and enjoy the scent rain brings to the air and the smell of wet pavement.

Riding in the rain, though, kinda sucks.  It is doable, but it’s not fun.

Take, for example, the plastic paint used to mark roadways.  Especially the big, broad stripes near crosswalks.  When this stuff is wet, it’s quite slippery.  You notice it a bit in a car.  On a bike, it really gets your attention (and you’d best pay attention to it).

I definitely need better rain gear, and that’s on my list of things to buy.  Arriving dry sure beats arriving looking like a drowned rat….

I’ve really been slacking on the blog.  Been riding fairly often, but nothing that epic - or even really interesting.

Non-ride wise, I’ve been working on antenna selection and gear installation for APRS on the bike, so my friends and family can track my movements online.  I’ve got it up and running, but coverage is a bit sparse in parts of my home area.  I’ll most likely have to get some more RF output from the tracker on the bike in order to achieve wider coverage.  Something to look at in the coming weeks.

For those wondering what I am talking about, APRS is an amateur radio mode where data from a GPS device is encoded and broadcast over the air, where it is picked up by other amateur stations and eventually fed into an internet backbone, allowing anyone on the ‘net who knows your call sign to track your movements.

Geek Alert: if you don’t care about geeky radio stuff, there’s no need to read any further in this entry

OK, you were warned…

Equipment on the bike consists of a Yaesu VX-8 transceiver with GPS module, feeding a Comet HP-32FHN 1/2 wave 2m / 440 antenna which is mounted to the left lower saddle bag guard.  The Comet HP-32FHN was designed by Comet as a motorcycle antenna, after amateurs told Comet that their antennas were breaking under the stresses placed on them from being on the bike.  The antenna is truly built like a tank.

HP-32 mounted on Road King

The antenna cable is carefully zip-tied to the saddle bag mount.  Having the cable dangling loose and getting into the rear wheel would be a Bad Thing….

The radio lives in a Ram Aqua-Box, modified to allow the antenna and GPS cables to pass through.  The Aqua-Box is quite sturdy and provides good protection for the radio.

Well, it seems this humble blog has made the search engines.  And that means that loads of helpful folks are popping in to offer awesome deals on medications, etc.

Ah, the price of fame.

Ran out on the Road King to run an errand today, and on the way home, I was third in line in the right turn lane, behind a cage who was behind another biker. We were waiting to turn onto a two-lane road, with a 45 mph speed limit.

The biker made a lawful right turn on red, but he ran wide and crossed over the double yellow line right in front of an oncoming delivery truck. I was watching this unfold in slow motion thinking “Oh, hell. Turn your head more, get back over the line!” Fortunately, the truck driver was paying attention and swerved over to the right side of his lane, missing the bike by a couple feet.

The rider looked pretty shaken as he made the next right into the parking lot of a restaurant just down the block. I pulled in beside him to see if he was OK. 

Long story short, he’s a newly-returned rider after a 10 year hiatus, and hasn’t done any refresher training or PLP. He recognized that he was target fixated on the center line, and that he let the clutch out too rapidly on his way around the corner, but he couldn’t correct it while it was happening.

I gave him the info for the local training center where I did my BRC, and he said he would be calling. We talked for a while, and when he was calmer, he set off for home (just a couple blocks down the road to the entrance to his subdivision). I really hope he seeks some training.

Just goes to show how easily one simple skill, poorly executed, can get you into trouble in a big hurry.

Well, I passed a pretty significant milestone during the Loop ride last weekend - the first 1,000 miles ridden.

Looking back through the blog, and feeling the difference in my riding, it has certainly been an interesting time.  My first rides on the Road King are still clear in my recollection.  My first baby steps in the neighborhood, riding on the side streets during lunch, when there was nobody around.  Wobbly starts, shaky stops, poorly executed turns (particularly right turns from stops) and target fixation.  Canceling a ride and returning home because my head wasn’t in it was difficult, but it was the only wise course.  And I’d do it again in a moment.

And parking lot practice.  Lots of parking lot practice.  A ride might consist of 5 minutes of road travel followed by 30 minutes of riding around (and over) split tennis balls in the school lot, followed by 5 minutes of travel home.

And discovering that lifting an 800 pound touring bike back onto it’s wheels after a low-speed brain fart is a lot like work.  And a massive (no pun intended) disincentive to screwing up….

Venturing out into traffic was thrilling, and terrifying at the same time.  Other motorists can be counted on to do the wrong thing at the wrong time whenever you’re least expecting it - so expect it all the time and have a plan to deal with it.

With each passing week, adding short intervals of new challenges (higher speeds, more lanes, more traffic) sandwiched between periods of familiar riding helped me progress without getting in over my head.  Information overload is a real hazard, and you cannot afford to go into deer-in-the-headlights mode on the bike.

And more parking lot practice.  I still try to stop in a lot at the beginning or end of every ride and do some tight slow speed turns.

And today, I am much more comfortable on the bike.  Which begs a question - how comfortable is too comfortable?

I’m getting a good hold on the foundations of bike control.  Smooth starts, proficient turns from a stop into the lane I want, avoiding target fixation, smooth shifts and stops.  The mechanics are becoming natural, and I don’t have to think through them as I do them.

My worry now is complacency.  Not with the mechanics of operating the bike, but with the larger picture items of hazard identification, reaction and mitigation.  But, I guess that’s a battle every rider must face, and re-face, every time they ride.  I’ll just have to make sure I actively watch for it.

Today was, by a large margin, my longest ever day on the bike.  Over 150 miles in all.  When the day started, I was headed out to log some Interstate miles today, and ended up riding up to Daytona Beach.  There is a road circuit there called “The Loop”, which winds through some very pretty scenery.

Started out going up 417 to I-4 toward Daytona, which is roughly 50 miles away from the house.  It is a pretty nice ride for the Interstate, for the most part two lanes per side, speed limits from 65 to 70 miles per hour with well maintained surfaces and markings.  Today, as is often the case, the traffic was moving in clusters, with some space in between.  It was relatively easy to float in the space between clusters and enjoy a large space cushion.

To get to Daytona Beach from I-4, you can either merge onto I-95 N and then take the first exit (Route 92 / Speedway Blvd), or you can get off of I-4 about a mile before the I-95 interchange onto Route 92.  The latter is the better way to go, by far.  The 95 interchange is a bit of a mess.  Heading down into Daytona Beach on Route 92, you pass by Daytona International Speedway, which was hosting the Lucas Oil 200 and the Budweiser Shootout today, which made riding through the area a bit of a hassle, with lots of congestion and (my favorite), confused drivers randomly changing lanes and making turns from whatever lane they happen to be in.

Once finally clear of the Speedway traffic, 92 crosses over the Halifax River and ends at Route A1A (aka Atlantic Avenue).  Turning north on A1A, the initial impression is, well, less than impressive.  Towering condos line the eastern side of the street, obscuring the view of the Atlantic Ocean with garish splashed of yellow and pink stucco’d concrete and glass.  It was in this canyon of condos and tourist traps that I stopped for a bottle of water and a navigational consultation with my iPhone.  Pushing north along A1A, you soon exit Daytona Beach itself and enter Ormond Beach.

What a difference a few miles makes!

Once in Ormond Beach, all the development on the eastern side of the road abates and you are left with broad panoramas of the Atlantic Ocean, dotted with boardwalks over the protected dunes to the beach.

I could not resist popping off the road and down onto a sandy parking area to snap this shot.  It was a bit dicey getting the bike to stay upright while I dug the kickstand puck out of the saddlebag to prop it up and keep the bike from sinking into the sand.

Back on the bike, I eased out of the parking area, over the potentially treacherous lip between the roadway and the sand shoulder, and resumed my travels northward to seek the fabled Loop.

The Daytona Chamber of Commerce describes The Loop thusly:

t’s like no other ride. It’s freedom, sunshine, open road and graceful curves. It’s called the Loop and for motorcycle enthusiasts everywhere, it’s a riders dream. 

The Loop begins with a northerly trek at the foot of the Granada Bridge on John Anderson Drive in Ormond Beach. Going North, riders are greeted by a cathedral of trees up to the Highbridge Road where they hang a left (to go west) and go over the bridge and the Intracoastal Waterway (the Halifax River). There are several places to stop along the way and just enjoy the Florida countryside. After more winding turns, you’ll come upon Walter Boardman road where you will make another turn that takes you further west to Old Dixie Highway. When you reach Old Dixie Highway, take another left (to go south) toward Ormond Beach.

If you haven’t ever taken the Loop, we recommend it highly. This leisurely ride will give you a feel for Florida’s natural beauty. Check out Ormond Park and the Fairchild Oak tree - one of Florida’s oldest living Oaks. Bring your camera, maybe a boxed lunch, and enjoy. The Loop is approximately 22 miles long and a must for riders who enjoy an open road and Florida’s natural beauty.

Intrigued by the description above, and encouraged by the vastly improved scenery on A1A once outside the environs of Daytona Beach proper, I continued forth in search of Highbridge Way.

Highbridge way leads West, away from the ocean and crosses the much smaller HAlifax River north of the Tomoka Basin.  The bridge itself is unimposing, save for the fact that it is a drawbridge - and that means steel grate decking.  Riding across steel grate decking feels very odd, as the bike squirms and wriggles in a mild but very noticeable way.  It feels squirrelly, but the key is to just relax and let the bike do it’s job.

Highbridge road quickly enters a shaded canopy of trees, and becomes quite twisty.  The views are amazing, but unfortunately I was not able to stop and get any pictures.  The Google Maps pictures of the road are pretty good, and give a decent feel of the area.  Highbridge Road ends at Walter Bordman Road, which takes to to the Old Dixie Highway, and a nice ride through the Tomoka State Park on the way back South to Beach Street and Route 92 where it all began.

An awesome day for a ride, and an awesome ride it was.  I also passed the 1,000 mile mark on the bike, but that’s fodder for another post.  Until then, I’ll leave it with a map of the ride from today.

Map

Today was one of the coldest days of the year to day, with sustained winds near 20 mph and gusts well above that. Headed out to run an errand about 12 miles away.  Could have taken the car, but…..

Anyway, not a bad day to ride, if one was wearing the proper gear.  String gusts occasionally required steering corrections, but nothing unmanageable.  

Still piling on the mileage and gaining experience.  Gotta love it