AM ride

14.94 miles 17.2 Ave. Another flat.

Sunday's Ride Home

Back home. 1206.2 miles total

I had a nice flat just north of Green Bay, WI. Luckily Tom was behind me to pull up and let me know something was wrong with the bike. I was assuming the increased steering effort was from the grooved concrete pavement! I pulled over, and there was still some air in the rear tire. I put the hazards on, and crept at 10 mph on the shoulder to the next exit. Luckily it wasn't far, and there was a Shell station nearby. While the Shell station didn't have service, they did sell a simple plug style tubeless tire patch kit. The kit worked well. It only took a few minutes to install the plug. We waited for fifteen minutes or so for the tire and wheel to cool down and the glue to set. After testing the pressure again, we took off. I checked the tire pressure every time we stopped for the rest of the trip, and it seemed to hold the pressure well.

Plug installed, prior to trimming:

Hey, get that camera outa my face!

796.7 miles total. Now in stergeon bay wi

407.1 miles today. Plymouth to Houghton mi.

Weekend Moto Trip

This weekend's motorcycle trip should be great. Here is the proposed route:


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26.4 miles 17.8 MPH average

New favorite road: Hamel Rd between Cty Hwy 19 and Hunter drive. Very nice, old fashioned farms, rolling hills, horses. Not much for a shoulder, but basically no traffic.


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Saturday ride w/ Anna

Sat. Ride w Anna: 32.5 miles 12.5 MPH average. Yet another massive flat, but only .5 miles from home, ran it in. It's tough to ride this slow. But, slow miles must be better than no miles. At least I felt very fresh when I got home, as in didn't feel like I rode at all.

This week I'll be out of town on business. I'm planning on bringing my running shoes with to hopefully get in a few good runs. I'm also planning on putting together a formal training plan to map out the last month before the Dakota 5-0.

I'm also really looking forward to this coming weekend's moto trip with Josh and Tom. It should be a great time- Michigan here we come!

Mr. Yang's First Flight

Well, not exactly his first. But his first successful flights after some flight training....

9.39 miles 12.6mph average. Ride w Anna, she riding Roadie me on mountain bike. New ergon grip/bar ends seem to be comfy.

Great ride today with John. 36.8 miles. 14.1 MPH average on mountain bike.rode from house to Theo, 2 laps, then back via Minneapolis, Hopkins and Minnetonka.

El Moto

Limited pix so far, but here are the juicy details:

• 2009 Yamaha FZ6, brand new
• dark blue
• $5,199

I was wavering about getting a bike, then after hanging out with my parents after the Mt. Kato race I decided I definitely needed a bike. At that point, I was still stuck on a SV1000n or Ducati GT1000. Well, the GT1000's are rare and too much money new. So that left that SV1000n. Every SV1000n I've looked at turned out to be a SV1000s that was converted, and none of those bikes I saw were very clean. Two weeks ago I stopped by Simply Sport Bikes in Eden Prairie to look at a converted SV1000s. That bike turned out to be a total hack job, not a bargain at any price. However, they did have a number of nice looking 2006 Yamaha FZ6's and a late model FZ1. I sat on the FZ6, and the bike just felt right. After doing some research, that model became my top contenter. I found many '06-'07 FZ6's on craigslist for great prices, then I stumbled upon Moon Motor's add for new '08's for $4999. Interesting... Then, after working out at LA Fitness in Hopkins I stopped by the Hitching Post. They just happened to have a '09 FZ6, blue, brand new, on their show floor for $5,999. I talked with the salesman, explained price was my number one concern, and told him about the Moon Motors deal. He called me back later in the day and said they could do $5,199 for their '09. That was it for me, I picked it up the next day.

 

I've put about 360 miles on it since last Tuesday. So far I am very happy with the bike. The brakes, handling, seating position, wind protection, and motor all seem great. I feel much more comfortable on this bike than my old VFR. The VFR was a great bike- but great for longer distance sport touring. Around town it was a bit of a handful and just felt clumsy. It felt like it wanted to flop into lower speed turns, particularly with a passenger. The FZ6 has effortless low speed handling and seems very flickable. The seating position is also very upright and comfortable.

 

The only low spot so far is the transmission. It's very smooth shifting for gears 2-6, but the 2 - 1 shift is very notchy, and finding neutral can be challening at times. However, the shifting has smoothed out a bit. I'm expecting it to further improve after the break-in service and fresh motor oil. I'm also very pleased with the motor. It's very, very smooth- no weird mid-RPM changes (ala VFR VTEC). Low end torque is nothing like a 1000cc V-twin, but it revs easily and power builds quickly. When accomidating for RPM it doesn't seem any slower than the VFR. The wind protection and suspension also aren't quite up to the VFR standards, but these are all minor quibbles.

All in all, I'm very happy with the purchase. I think I'll also end up riding this bike a lot more than my VFR, just because I feel more at home on the bike, and it's so much more fun zipping around town.

 

My next steps are to find some good soft saddlebags for it, and install heated grips and a 12v auxilary power jack. I have some T-rex frame sliders that I'll probably install tonight.

 

let's ride!

 

 

 

This morning's ride

23.4 miles, 17.4 mph average


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Mt. Kato, revisited

Anna took some great shots at the race...


John and I discussing "strategy" before the race


Pursuing John across the ridgeline


Post Sport Race