[SemBurg]

Now if only I can locate my alien/ET cousin.

I think I saw him in Florida, he was riding a Burgman though, not an AK and he looked pretty happy.

 

[rjs987]

I actually do have cousins in Florida. Some of them look just like that! I'll hafta think about coming down some day to ride with them and we can switch off during the ride. 😁

 

[mikeyMarine]

not a scoot, but i did ride my honda 1100 dct to the gym after some modifications, i put longer bars on it, a backrest, and forward foot pegs,
my arms are short, so to get relaxed like the burgy, i hafta sit with my dangly bits on the gas cap and with the backrest far enough forward to make my nose touch the helmet visor

 

[Rusty J]

Today? Vespa 150 to the local bodega (sounds so much more swave and deboner [sic] than "liquor store," doesn't it?) and back.
Yesterday was a non-non-Burgman day -- Post Office and UPS-store run with the 650. It's sure nice to have that enormous cargo hold under the seat!

 

[rjs987]

Once again all I could do is go out and pat the scooter on the seat and give it some encouraging words while it stays plugged into the Battery Tender.
Snowing lightly right now with temps around 22 F.
Some really cold temps coming up. Now the weather magicians are calling for next Thursday to be a HIGH of -2 F and a low of -12 F!!!
Won't be riding in that since the day before looks like 1-2 inches of snow so it will be a few days to get the streets clear enough to ride on!
This is early for such cold temps. Can't tell if that means a colder than normal next few months or if this will get the cold air out of the system and we end up with warmer than normal. I can do just as well as any weatherman and say that we will have... weather with temps during the next few months at least. 😁 Too bad I don't get paid for that.

 

[Rusty J]

Vespa day again. Brought it back from the shop (on Thursday, I dropped it off and swapped out for my B200 that at long last could come home) after attending the shop's holiday party. Fun! Needed tires, belt, and rollers; got them.

Topped out at 68 actual MPH on the freeway, but excluding wind and hills, the max is an honest 65. (Flyscreen -- shorty windshield -- and a racing tuck made it possible, and being at sea level helped too.)

Other miscellaneous errands as well, but getting the bike home was the big part of the day.

Weather was decent.

 

[SemBurg]

my arms are short

 

[rjs987]

Looking ahead I see temps as low as -13 F... but up to 2-3 inches of snow on the ground also along with that! As shown here I might be able to get out again Saturday or Sunday morning. Saturday all day would still lower my ride temp for the season but it's very unlikely the roads will be totally clear how I prefer them to be to get out on 2 wheels by then. Maybe, but maybe not.

So I decided to get a ride in this morning. It was a bit colder earlier if I really wanted to get out but it was so warm in bed. I didn't get out until just before 9 am so temps were already warming. Still, as I sat in the driveway warming up the bike the temp sensor was showing about 10 F (likely getting heat out of the garage since inside the garage was 21 F). Only a few blocks down the road it dropped down to 6.2 F and hovered around that. Near the end of the ride the temps started warming again back up but still less than when I was sitting in my driveway and when I pulled into the garage it was the same as when I left. I guess my route went through the cold air mass just west of home. I ended up with 24.5 miles with a mix of city and country roads and a little bit of highway. I was keeping to the main, heavier traveled, roads this time since there was still ice over the less traveled streets in strips. There was one section of road I was on where the only bare pavement was 2 tire tracks from other vehicles that went before. And a few intersections where I had to swing the turn wide or move toward the center to avoid sheet ice and packed snow closer to the curb when I was turning right. Don't expect any more days this year to be as cold as this week. But January is coming!
This is the stretch of road that had only narrow strips of dry pavement on that far up hill section and more so just over the hill where the road is in constant shadow all day. This particular road is new this year so there is no treatment put down on it at all to protect the new concrete. There is a frozen large pond just in front of those houses across the bridge and another mostly frozen large pond to the left just out of the picture that had a flock of geese on it.

 

[SemBurg]

You are a brrrrrave man. Great picture.
I thought all your geese were here with me?
Does Iowa salt the roads?

 

[JRoss]

Does Iowa salt the roads?

believe so...makes them taste better.

 

[rjs987]

You are a brrrrrave man. Great picture.
I thought all your geese were here with me?
Does Iowa salt the roads?

Thanks!
Only the far northern geese are just now passing through here on their way to you. They finally get down south and then have to turn back around to fly north again!

Much of central Iowa... at least in my area... uses magnesium chloride mixed with beet juice. The beet juice adds even more flavor... and helps the treatment stick on the road a lot longer and not wash off through the freeze/melt/freeze/melt cycles. Magnesium chloride is not as corrosive as simple saline solution or salt and it also works at melting frozen stuff down much closer to zero F whereas salt only works down into the mid 20s F. I haven't seen any actual salt on the roads around here for many many years now. And we need that lower temperature operation of the stuff as you can see in the weather forecast in my previous post with 2-3 inches of snow during some near zero F or below temps. That weather forecast, at least the temp forecast, is just for the 1 or 2 square mile around my home. It is targeted to that small area. If I go 2-4 miles in any direction the forecast is different. Maybe warmer, maybe colder.

BTW- I like posting pics like that sometimes just to show that Iowa is not only not flat, but has some curves too. Not real intense curves but gentle and really nice riding for me. The intense curves are in the upper NE corner of the state where I travel through for some camping events.

 

[SemBurg]

I have not heard of that mixture, although it's been many years since living in cold winter environments. I'll pass on the beat juice flavor until they come out with a chocolate. I like the road thru the trees. They easily could have made that road a straight shot, but it has some nice mild curves. I cut a few trees down today, when I started it was in the high 50°s and I was thoroughly chilled, can't imagine single digits anymore. I grew up in the cold and lived in Alaska but just can't take it anymore, unless snowmobiling with heated gear. You're a true rider.

 

[Rusty J]

Back when I was in central Alaska (Fairbanks-ish) they used ash from the coal-fired power plants to grit the roads. Got way too cold for salt to make any difference...

 

[rjs987]

Didn't stop for photos today but I finally was able to get out for a very short ride this afternoon for my first ride of 2023. Had a Christmas present from Amazon to return at the UPS Store. Took the long way around and only ended up with 16 miles. Temps started out about 34 F so didn't turn on the heated grips. The handlebar muffs were plenty. At the UPS Store the temp had dropped to about 33 F. The way back home was the longer leg and I watched the sun set as temps dropped below 32 F and then all the way to around 30 F by the time I arrived home again. It was dropping rather fast. At just below freezing I did turn on the heated grips.

I was wearing 2 of my new Christmas presents on this ride for the first time. A new pair of TM Mid-Tex gloves and a new HJC i10 full face helmet. The gloves are not Tour Master's warmest gloves but my old Polar Tex gloves were worn to the point where they were not nearly as warm as they once were and were starting to split out on the side. My new Mid-Tex gloves seemed warmer and a little thicker and were VERY comfortable. My new helmet replaces my 4 year old HJC C70 full face helmet. The old helmet did have a drop down sun visor but the new one does not. I have sun glasses so not a big deal to me these days. My old helmet was white but my new helmet is a matte deep blue just exactly the same color as my AK 550. Now to install my BT communicator unit. The i10 helmet is designed to be integrated with a HJC/Sena BT communication unit that fits into a pocket in the back edge of the helmet and has molded depressions for the mic and speakers. That unit is based on my current Sena SMH5fm unit so I'll keep my old unit for now.

 

[SemBurg]

Nice...I would've needed the heated grips and seat for sure. Sadly, Florida has pusified me. 😕
I'm all about those creature comforts now.

 

[rjs987]

Another nice day and another errand to run so the AK 550 won the toss. Sold my Teton Sports self inflatable camping pillow, that packs down to a little smaller than a 2 L bottle of soda, since that is being replaced by a new inflatable Klymit Pillow X that packs to about the size of a pack of cigarettes (4.5" x 2.5" x 1"). The downsizing continues. I was meeting the buyer this afternoon at a Kum & Go store (where there are security cameras). That was 1 mile away. Then I took the long way to go to the grocery store to pick up a few items my wife saw in the weekly flyer. That was another 15 miles to get to the store only a half mile farther than the Kum & Go. Then I rode past the gas station which was 3 miles from the grocery but the lines were so long I decided I could wait until later. I still have about 1/3 tank left. The temps started out around 30 F but ended up around 37 F when I arrived back home. Had the heated grips turned on the low setting at first but then didn't need them in the last half of the ride. Rode a total of 22 miles for a 4 mile errand.

 

[rjs987]

Another cool day, another ride. Wanted to back into riding more often so went out on the country roads for 47 miles. Temps started out around 34F and went up a few deg. but then dropped to around 32F during the last 5 miles. Stopped for gas on the way out. I also did pull into a side street and stop for one photo. Put the side stand down and it sunk into the soft road shoulder so had to back up onto the grassy bit for something more solid for the side stand to set on. This photo really does show a double curve (S curve) that I came in on but it's a long sweeper and the elevation makes it hard to see. Humidity was WAY HIGH today so it seemed colder than it really was and my glasses kept fogging up around the edges when I was riding at slower speeds so I kept all the vents open on my new helmet. There is an extra set of vents in the chin vent and also right at the top of the visor so there was a little cool air blowing in onto my forehead. This new HJC i10 helmet has really good ventilation. Humidity was above 90% which is really unusual for central Iowa in January. I could just see the haze near ground level so was very alert to any moisture on the roads. Shows up as a gray-ish layer just above the ground in the photo. Otherwise very overcast so no sun shining. Couldn't even see where the sun was in the sky.

 

[rjs987]

Rain coming tomorrow.
WHAT! RAIN???
It's January in central Iowa when the average HIGH temps are around 31F and snow is the order of the day if there is any precipitation!
But today was in the mid 40sF and tomorrow is expected to be over 50F and rain all day. The snow will come Wednesday night into all day Thursday (4-5 inches forecast) with falling temps.

So I went for a ride today. I rode a few small towns west of me keeping mostly to country roads. Traveled 50 miles today. Saw some yard art and even saw the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile on the side road as I rode past. I pulled in for a photo op. They were stopped just long enough for me to snap the shot. Like I said the temps stayed around 46-48F so heated grips were not needed. The handlebar muffs were also really not needed but I didn't want to bother taking them off. It's easy enough to do but I just didn't.

 

[JRoss]

that's a huge wiener

 

[Rusty J]

Took advantage of a break in the rain to take the Husky Svartpilen 401 on a quick loop up onto the Palos Verdes peninsula (at the SE end of Los Angeles), nothing special.

Of my bikes, it's the one that I'd least like to be caught out on in the rain -- no weather protection, and a hassle to clean mud off of. Fun on the hills and twisties though. So it's been sitting in the garage for the past week or so. Nice to get a few miles in on it.

With the rain coming back for the next couple of days, it'll either be the car or -- if I'm feeling particularly adventurous -- the B200 (which is surprisingly good in the wet with Michelin City Grip 2s). The little Vespa isn't bad, but it doesn't have ABS. The B650 doesn't either, plus it's heavy (but for longer trips in rain, the weather protection might make it preferable to the B200).