kwthom's Pavement Rides

[kwthom]

Gotta make up for the times that I've failed to propgate a little bit of the Sonoran Desert (and other places) but from the safety and comfort of pavement.



Warren (Bisbee), Arizona - March, 2023

A better introductory post should be upcoming...

[kwthom]

So...I'm Ken. No, not *that* Ken*.

I have scenery like this in my backyard - almost:



As a pavement-exclusive touring bike rider (don't hold it against me, m'kay?), I certainly emphasize with those that are hard-core and into the off-road riding. After all, I had hundreds of miles of Sonoran Desert to learn how to ride a long, long time ago.

Readers Digest version: Five years of off-pavement riding led me to get a street bike.

I used three different street bikes for a decade as a commuting rider. Always really wanted to be a touring rider, but job, wife, kid kept me penned in a bit.

Moto vs. car accident took me and bike out of full-time riding for 17 years. Unexpected loss of a sister-in-law (suicide) made my wife and I go "Fuck it - time to live!" and we got back into riding. It'll be 16 years next month that we bought that bike.

In those 16 years, I'm averaging 1000 miles/month. Now, a portion of the riding is "endurance motorcycling" (a.k.a. Iron Butt rides). I have a list of what I've done alone, and those I've done with my wife on the pillion seat here: Iron Butt Ride Resume along with links to the ride reports from them. Touring rides take up much of the other rides. Been in 48 states on two wheels - in eight days.

Best ride so far? The one we completed a while back - National Parks Tour ride started in June of 2021, completed in February of 2022. 57 parks in 26 states. The ride has been the most fun by far; highly recommended. Most of the journey was three weeks across the country and back...did all of the close ones at the end of the ride!

I *can* sometimes channel my inner Thorgrim* from time to time.

Finally - Viva ¡Baja Arizona!

* - Dimensions from another galaxy far, far away.

[kwthom]

So...

I started a bit late in all of this crap, but I started blogging about moto rides abut the time I retired six years ago.

The object was to collect photos and stories of those rides for the day I get to be too old or crippled to do it any longer...and to also show grandchildren "See what your crazy grandmother and I used to do?" :D

Now, this thread here isn't to advertise the blog by any means, but I tend to use threads on various forums I'm on as a good way of collecting thoughts and photos for use later in blog entries. It's located here in the event you're in need of cheap insomnia cures at some point:

https://kwthom.blogspot.com

Lately, I've been futzing around with video, again for those times as mentioned earlier when we're no longer able to do this. The motorcycle ride videos are here in my 'brand account' on YouTube; this is the motorcycle video playlist link:



The absolute *hardest* thing to master is getting audio sounding...well, sounding like you're actually on the bike riding. My latest videos are improving somewhat in this regard...but, what the hell else am I going to do?

A couple more recent things to add here...give me time to collect it.

[kwthom]

So, here's the link to all my videos...

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3ovyY ... Z13cjhe-ag

Here's the latest one with an attempt at some post-ride narrative.

[Camp Director]

I like it. What camera are you using? I played it on a 55" screen and it looked good.

[kwthom]

That's a DJI Osmo Action 4 camera, external microphone buried in the air intake in the fairing.

How does this one compare to that previous video?



I changed the way I saved the Oracle video...

[kwthom]

One of the popular videos in the collection...

[kwthom]

Up the hill...



Down the hill...

[kwthom]

I've told this story elsewhere...this'll be a Reader's Digest version for here.

Late in April, my wife (MrsThom) forwarded an email from a video producer from her workplace to me. She was recommended to be highlighted for those with interesting passions, hobbies or pastimes.

In an earlier phone call with this producer, my wife was explaining some of her hobbies. Kinda the normal, typical stuff for a woman of her age.

Then my wife mentioned our travels, and apparently one of the things she mentioned was...motorcycle touring. Specifically, Iron Butt riding. 🏍

Apparently, this producer *pounced* on the topic.

Tomorrow, my wife will have a short sit-down discussion with this producer on the topic of motorcycle touring, along with "supporting shots highlighting your hobby."

How does traveling 20MPH two-up along the roadways of campus equate to traveling 450 miles and a timezone east - before lunch?

MrsThom left a USB stick with some thoughts on the story of the two of us getting back into motorcycling...nearly two decades ago. Her as passenger, me as her personal driver.

It is a good synopsis of our return to motorcycling story, but the issue is the text is about double the length it should be to fit in their roughly one minute long time frame.

So, I've added notes & other points to consider. She'll need to take that info to this producer and then try to figure out *exactly* what story they are trying to convey.

The bike is mostly cleaned, but I'm still gonna leave the road grime on the textile clothes...you know, street cred and all of that.

We'll see what happens tomorrow...

[kwthom]

The video should be out in about...two weeks from now.


Short ride this morning....but, by 9am, it had already exceeded 90°.

No, I'm not quite acclimated to multiple hours out there on two wheels. Besides I was looking for a tag for another forum, and just couldn't find anything at that time of day.

The good news is that the Sena headset clamp replacement is installed and working well, so good deal from them.

...I have things that I should be doing

[kwthom]

I went looking for information - looks like they'll be holding the White Sands Missile Range/Trinity Site Open House on Saturday, October 19th. Additional details can be seen at these two links:

https://wsmrmuseum.com/trinity-site/3/

https://home.army.mil/wsmr/index.php/contact/public-affairs-office/trinity-site-open-house

A couple of pics from when I went there a few years ago...

Needed to try to get a pic of my bike & the Trinity sign. Barely...


full-sized replica of 'the Gadget'

[kwthom]

The video should be out in about...two weeks from now.
<...>

It came out last week:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69jhkvbubsM

[kwthom]

I went for a quick ride the Monday before we left town...tomorrow, that will be three weeks ago.

I think the bike might be missing me....not sure, actually.

[kwthom]

Went for a brief ride one day last week; did another one a bit longer a couple of days later.

Nice riding along the river - with all the recent rain (some of which I missed, since I was 1500 miles north...) these low-lying areas are green - very green!

[arcticdude]

Much of the country is very green currently. Even “Joklahoma” is much greener than previous years.

[kwthom]

I'm going thru some of my old material...made a version of this video that has my commentary about the ride included. A bit more explaining, but again, only a small amount can be discussed in a brief video - the real in depth commentary is posted at my blog.




Part two (finishing the ride east) available next week.

[kwthom]

Sorry, here's part two:

[kwthom]

Only 7500 miles since June of 2023...

The suspension issues need to be sorted out. The Progressive Monotubes will be refurbished here in the next few weeks, then to have all of that sorted out.

[kwthom]

One from a bit over a year ago...a bit of Sonoran Desert down the street:

[kwthom]

This is a slideshow that I'd originally put together almost ten years ago. This was sorta a promo reel for the trip we'd do to Death Valley in February.

Not sure if it's still being done, but it got to a point that it was more about the camaraderie than it was the ride.



This version had a few more images added, along with a narration of something that I'd found on yet another forum about that same time about motorcycle riding.

Fun way to waste the morning away...