Trip Complete - AZ to AL and back

First the numbers

3674.7 - Total Miles Traveled
600 - Average Miles per day (2.5) on trip to Alabama
600 - Average Miles per day (2.25) on trip back
$235.56 - Total Gas Bill
$214.49 - Hotel Bill
$144.54 - Food Cost
6 - Number of times I thought I forgot to put on my glasses
2 - Number of nights in Hotels headed to Alabama
1 - Number of nights in Hotels headed back from Alabama
1 – Number of nights spent at a friend’s house headed back from Alabama
1 - National Landmarks Visited (Fly by actually)
1 - Old National Highways Traveled (66)
.1 - Number of days I was rained on
3 - Number of times I saw police pull over speeders
1 - Number of times I actually forgot to put on my glasses
0 - Number of times stopped by police. (Top speed shown was on a closed course.)


I decided this year that I would ride to Alabama to visit my Father and Step-Mother and also got to see my Sister and Husband, Step-Sister and her 2 boys.

The trip much like anything cross-country had highs and lows but for the most part was pretty easy. I did find that the I-10 to I-20 route was very, very boring. I also found that the difference in mileage for the I-40 route to my house was a whopping 12 miles.

Along the way the biggest challenge turned out to be on the way back, initially I would have figured that it would have been the trip there as it was very hot and quite boring, but that would all change about 20 miles after leaving my Dad's house.

I could have made the trip there more interesting if I would have stopped and looked around, but I wanted to spend time with my Father, so getting there was the goal! The way back was much the same since I had a deadline to meet at the other end. Not the perfect plan for the trip but it worked.



The morning I left my fathers I did all my pre-checks for myself, my equipment and my bike and everything checked out. Unfortunately for me a part on my helmet didn't fail when I checked it but about 15 miles later when I pushed the face-shield forward on my Schuberth C2 helmet to city mode the side clip popped off and I was left with a face shield held only with one clip. This would prove to be a challenge the entire trip home.

I ended up covering 680 miles the first day and only in the last 200 miles did I fasten the visor in place with a paper clip. This meant I could not open or close the shield and hoped that in rain it would provide enough seal.

The next morning I awoke to heavy clouds and upon leaving dealt with a little rain. At that moment I learned a couple things. One was that the shield would not seal and the second was that I was not wearing my glasses (I had left them on the bed of the hotel.) I returned for the glasses, the rain stopped and I continued on my way.

About 100 miles from Albuquerque the clip failed and I was left once again with a loose visor.





I awoke the next morning after spending a very restful night at a friends house and fashioned yet another clip. This time I though I had one that would be better for opening the upper section at stops (not the visor, but the chin section.) The previous design popped off each time. Well, 20-miles out of Albuquerque I turned my head for a lane change a in an instant the entire visor was gone! Out loud I literally said "The whole thing...really?!?"

I did not even bother to turn around an look. I simply raised my ST1300's windscreen and lowered the internal (now only) sun-visor to shield my eyes.

While the skies threatened rain the entire 400 miles home it never happened and I arrived home safe and sound.

I have a few more stories about the trip I'll share in a few days (including a very odd bird incident) but the visor (or lack of) was the pivotal riding challenge.

Sweet Home.....from Alabama!

Well, my time in Alabama is coming to a close and I'll be heading home in the morning. My time here in Alabama has been fun, but the trip here was not as exciting, that's for sure.

I decided that I would ride I-10 to I-20 across Texas and that is something I can now say i have done and will most likely NEVER do again! It is long, straight, boring and sometimes a bit scary. (Mostly at night.)

My route tomorrow is not yet set, but most likely I'll take I-40 across the US back to AZ. Of course looking forward, I have that wonderful state of New Mexico, that I am convinced hates me that and will most likely try to blow me back to Texas. But, compared to the Southern route that might not be such a big deal anymore.

When I get back I'll report on the entire trip and get ready to head back out almost immediately for yet another adventure.

Streetfighter Reveal

Stopped by the Ducati Superstore tonight to see the unveiling of the new Streetfighter.

They did a stellar job and even started the bike. This is why this is the shop to visit folks. Can't wait to try this bike out on the street!

Just Trying to be Recognized!

I am beginning to believe that their is no such thing as too much light on a motorcycle. For that reason and the the fact that I had light mounts on my bike that I'll no longer be using for the PIAA 910's I decided to try something different.

What you see here are what you would typically see mounted on the police light mounts of a ST1300, Whelen TIR3 strobes. The only difference is that instead of red and blue, which would certainly get me pulled over, I am using amber to double as turn lights, fog lights and possibly signal strobes.

I'll be integrating a few lights into the rear as well, but right off the bat I am happy with my decision and they actually do quite well lighting up the road ahead.

Since I already have the police switch mounted these will be easy to control, the fun part will be the integration or adaptation of these light to work both with the factory turn signals and independently.

Stay tuned for the final wiring and usability on my bike.

Follow Birdman on Twitter

Hmm, this should have been an obvious connection some time ago??

Well, thanks to technology and the ability to rss feed to Twitter you can now follow The Birdman Blog and the occasional Tweet os Twitter by following Birdman_H54.

URL is here - http://twitter.com/Birdman_H54

See ya soon!

Read More - Ride More

Well yes, this is a book about motorcycle riding, but in reality this is a post simply about reading in general and how it affects your ability to ride with better attention and perception.

Most people follow the logic of how reading a book about how to ride a motorcycle will help them ride better, but talk about reading in general and you'll get glazed looks.

Back in college I learned how reading helped my sight reading skills when it came to orchestra and other musical groups, but not until later did I find out why. It seems that conditioning your eyes to look ahead and scan while your mind comprehends what it is seeing and interprets the information not only works for a typed page but directly translates to anything else that requires a visual input to be identified, cataloged and then interpreted.

Written prose can be broken down into identifiable patterns, once those patterns are learned the mind will instanly identify that pattern in the future and predetermine an action or response. The more simular patterns are observed (or read) that have small fluctuations the better, as the mind gets better at anticipation and reaction. Whether the mind sees a phrase about what happened today in your city, or a car on the edge of the road ready to move, the more you use you visual to mental bridge the better your mind reasons.

And we all should understand that better reasoning skills applied to everyday roadway situations will yield more safety, as faster reasoning skills means more time to interpret and time and space are a motorcyclist most valuable resource.

There have been several studies regarding reading and its benefits, read up on them and you'll not only have better insight in the topic, but you'll get the added benefit the reading brings as well.

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/departments/elementary/?article=whateffectreadinghasonourminds

The next time someone asks what your reading, tell them you just practicing your skills.

Sometimes We Just Need to RIDE!

Yeah, cones on a stick.....it is a metaphor to remind everyone that sometimes we should leave critical evauluation, training and testing our skills at home. Go out and simply ride completely within our limits.

I was sitting at breakfast this morning with a new friend of mine and the issue of riding with someone that had to always evaluate skills and turn every ride into a lesson came up. The comment was made that it just wasn't fun and sometimes just riding should be the goal. It actually stuck a nerve and I decided I might explore that comment in a written perspective just to first ground myself with the statement and to share it with others as well.

Let me go first in the fact that it just might be possible that I can fall into this category for some people. I know that I don't ride every ride as a lesson and when I ride alone or with others that I ride with a lot I don't tend to worry about it or even take inventory of things that could be better. But, throw me into a larger group with new individuals and one based off of the site I maintain and I do turn on certain parts of my "coaching" brain. Since I've completed my MSF RiderCoach training I have seriously learned the lesson of what over-coaching can do, so I do know I've backed off a bit in that respect, but introspection is always a good thing, yes?

That being said when on a group ride we all need to be aware of what the limit for the group should be and then not force others into the role of being a coach or offering advice by not pushing that limit. The vast majority of crashes on group rides comes from inattention or an attitude that the limit isn't being pushed, in reality when the incident is reviewed the reduction of speed would have always allowed more time and space to have avoided the situation (of course there are always plenty of more variable, but nothing can be controlled more by a rider than speed.) The burden of reduced speed should not always be placed on the actual rider who crashed or even the newest rider, when we enter into a group ride we all need to back things down to a common denominator. On SouthWestRides.com we always support the "Leave No Rider Behind" philosophy, that put simply means that others will always wait up and not force a rider to keep up, but in reality all riders need to balance their skills with the people they are riding with and not get near pushing their own limits. Sometimes that means a reduction of riding to 2/10ths of ones ability. I've been there on a group ride and even then still needed to wait up for another rider.

As with anything in life a balance needs to be achieved, but only if all riders in the group enter into a shared responsibility for all riders will safety become a priority without any individuals being forced into playing the role of "coach." Trust me when I say that being a coach all the time isn't fun, just as being coached all the time obviously isn't fun.

So, next time you feel the need to push yourself to learn, do it by yourself, or with someone with whom you want to be coached.

But, when you head out for a group ride with new individuals make sure everyone is on the same page in regards to pacing, top speed, stops and destinations so that no one has to coached or be a coach. After all, shouldn't rides be fun for everyone?