What did you do with your bike today?

Rode into work to teach class the last two days; day three's ride tomorrow! That'll net me around 300 miles Boy, you couldn't ask for more AWESOME weather to ride and teach class!!! It's pretty rare that the weather cooperates all three days for me to ride the NINJA; Bug usually gets to go at least one day.

Hope to meet up with Porky on Tuesday so I have an excuse to tear myself away from cleaning windows. I also need oil changing supplies from the bike shop, and FINALLY, today my grips showed up from China after four months so I need to arrange to get those and the matching bar ends put on (I DO NOT mess with changing grips!!). Then I'll finally put my BrakeAway on; I took it off the 300 and wasn't going to mess with it until the grips were changed. By the time my Dragon trip rolls around in July, I'll be due for tires (already waiting for me at the shop!) and I'll finally have all my farkles on!

And I'm planning to hit the twisties Thursday to go shoe shopping!

Friday evening while my husband put together a new futon, I changed Sheldon's oil and lubed the chain. Then I checked out my new grips to see if they were going to work with my BrakeAway. They have metal on them, and I concluded that it may interfere with the BA's operation. So I took off the offending metal on that grip, and it's going to work fine. The shop will put the grips and matching bar ends on for me Wednesday, then I'll put the BA on after that or on Thursday. I started to adjust the windscreen, but had a stripped bolt head. Hubby had gone in by then, so he freed it with the hammer drill on Saturday. True Value had matching replacement bolts, so now I'm good to go. Checked my tires; at 4059 miles, I'm at 3mm on the front, 4mm on the rear. That means I'll probably get my usual 6000 miles on a set, so it should work out perfectly to get them changed before my Dragon trip next month.

Porky and I had planned to ride on Tuesday, but life got in the way for him.😟 Nevertheless, I'm going to treat myself to a trip down to the ferry! It's one of my favorite day trips so I'm going to indulge myself. I have a few errands to run Wednesday, then I'm hoping the weather will cooperate so I can have my first road trip on that bike to KC this weekend to teach a class!

Offcenter said:

Aw c'mon! Try doing 460 miles in 95 degree heat like we did with our club last summer....
....at 69 years old! Piece 'o' cake! LOL!!!
(not really. I was glad to get home.)

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460 on the slab or in the twisties? 460 miles of slab = 240 miles of twisties. Seriously, I do some serious isometric exercise when I'm in the twisties. While it's a ton of fun, it's extremely tiring. I probably ought to do about a 300 mile day around here before I head to the Dragon to get my body broken in.

The longest one-day ride I've ever had was 559 miles, all slab, from suburban Chicago, then north skimming Madison, WI, SE to NE Iowa where I met our state director at a motorcycle range for some orientation, then home to Des Moines. I left at 7:30am and got home at 10:30pm--and dumped my 2010 Honda NT700V on my gravel driveway.🤬🤬🤬 It had ruts in it because the city had screwed it up and my body was too tired to maneuver that bike through the sweet spot. Maybe if I had stopped to rest for a minute on the street before I turned in, I would have made it, who knows. Anyway, my family was gone and I wasn't about to try to pick it up alone. My neighbor was up, so I went up to his house, and when he answered the door, I was crying and cussing (literally) the city. Well, he knew that I rarely talk like that unless I'm REALLY upset, so he came down and helped me with the bike. Long story short, I submitted a claim to the city for the damages to my bike. I didn't get anything for that, but it did finally get the chief engineer out there to look at the driveway and go, "Yeah, there's not enough material over that, you need a smaller culvert." We had been trying to tell them that for months. So we got the driveway done right at no additional expense (it was part of a sewer project that we didn't want but had to pay for anyway), and I used the crash as an excuse to get wider lids for my sidebags and a lower fairing from the UK. The other bag lid had been dinged up, too, so since both were damaged, I was able to justify the expense.
My preferred pace is about 350 miles/day. I'll never do an Iron Butt, that's for sure.

mike721 said:

Didn't ride all weekend, was too busy digging holes, pouring concrete and building new wooden steps and an extension to the patios in the yard. In 95F and what felt like 111% humidity with thunderstorms! Riding into work this morning on my 08 Vision was a great feeling, even though with it 75F at 4 Am it's bound to be another hot one later today.

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We spent an hour under the chicken coop after church yesterday, securing the chicken wire to keep the varmints from getting in and eating our chickens. That was long enough, especially for a Sunday. Then my husband and I retired to the "fort" that was on the acreage we bought recently, to take well-deserved naps. The neighbor from whom we bought the land had built our log home (it was his son's) and he had built this log fort for the grandkids when they were little. It has an open-air second floor with a roof. The stairs and some of the decking had deteriorated so my husband fixed it and we put a futon up there, along with a few other creature comforts. It's nestled in the woods so it's noticeably cooler there, even cooler than our covered wraparound porch on the house. It feels like we're camping in the woods!

Finally, time to catch up!

Last Friday, I met my "adopted son", Zach, about 20 minutes from home. He rode his newly purchased 2016 NINJA 300 down from Des Moines for the holiday weekend. He was texting me at his stops on the way and complaining about the seat. When I saw it, I knew why: It was the exact same brick of a seat that was on my 2015 NINJA 1000! Poor kid. But he's a solider (Army National Guard) so he's tough. 😃 We had our annual Food, Fun, and Fireworks shindig that evening. After my son got home from work, the two boys drove my son's car into town to get more fireworks---and got in a wreck. A gal pulled out in front of them and they T-boned her at about 40mph. Both airbags deployed, but the boys are mostly OK; a little chiropractic care is in order for both of them. His car, a 2004 Sunfire, was totaled. That, plus the little storm that came up at dusk, put a damper on the rest of our evening; all our other guests had gone home by the time we got back. But Saturday, Zach was up to playing in the twisties for the day, so we did about 250 miles, including my favorite run to the Peel Ferry! We got soaked in a couple pop-up t-storms in Arkansas, but sucked it up. I threw on my Aero-tex jacket liner and rain gloves at the last gas stop so I wouldn't get cold, but didn't bother with my lower half. Zach threw on his rain jacket and a pair of my winter gloves (at least they were dry). We had a really fun adventure! But when we got home, after crossing the covered bridge and turning onto my driveway, his chain came off!!! So we had to push it the rest of the way UP my gravel drive. Man, I'm glad it wasn't any heavier!! As it is, it feels as heavy or heavier than my 650. We got it put back on and lubed after supper. On Sunday after church and brunch, we did a bike swap in the parking lot where I teach classes. I discovered that his handlebars weren't stock; they're lowered. I've been on worse, but I wouldn't like it for very long. He liked my 650, but noticed the steeper rake like I did when I got it. I rode another 70 miles or so with him on the way home. He had checked the chain at previous stops and it was fine. But when we got to where I was turning around, it seemed loose again. But we compared it to mine with 4500 miles on it (his bike has 13,000+ on it) and it wasn't much different. A Harley rider who had been eyeballing our bikes in the parking lot was the closest thing we had to an expert, so we asked his opinion. He decreed that Zach was good to go (not that there was really any other choice). Well, we both made it home just fine. I ended up with about 500 miles over the weekend!

Naturally, I spent the week taking care of crash business, but I managed to get new Dunlops put on Tuesday. We found a 2007 Prius with 137K on it for my son, and he loves it. It appeals to his techy/geeky nature. My husband has a 2010 he bought new, and I had a 2006 for a couple years; my son's is pretty much like mine was, except I had nav and Bluetooth. Insurance should take care of most of the cost of it, but he'll likely have to add a little to it, plus his insurance is more expensive. But he'll make that up at the gas pump; he got 26-30mpg on his Sunfire, and I got 48mpg on my '06, so it should be the same.

I teach in KC tomorrow and am leaning toward riding (I'm gambling that I'll dodge the t-storms they're predicting, but they shouldn't affect my class), especially since I didn't get to all week like I was planning to. That's a bummer, but at the same time, I'm glad I had plenty of time to be there for my son and get him treated and a new car found. He was also scheduled for two of three sessions to take his high school equivalency exams (he's homeschooled), so I had to take him to one of those, and then we bought his car that afternoon so he was able to drive to the second one today. His scores are great so far, and I'm so proud of him, especially with having to take the tests after such a stressful event. Actually, I think Mom is shouldering the vast majority of the stress over this, but that's what Mom does.😇

A week from Saturday, I leave for the Dragon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Boy, do I need a vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Took Sheldon in for a new chain today at 9500+ miles. It started slipping under hard acceleration over the last week or so, and then slipping under not-so-hard acceleration over the weekend. Saturday after I rode to class, I took a look at the chain and it was sagging big time. Rode home nice and easy and took Bug into work Sunday. Yesterday my father-in-law helped me adjust it, but we discovered tight spots and loose spots, so my risk management strategy said it's time to replace it. Rode easy to the shop this morning, ordered an EK chain in green, and left Sheldon there. I had been planning to "run errands" in the Branson area today, but I knew it wasn't smart to ride on that chain any more than necessary. So to eliminate any temptation, I just left him at the shop. Plus, he'll be there when the chain shows up so I should have him back quicker. I work in KC this weekend, so I should be able to "run errands" next week!

Fellow Ozarks riders, if this cooler trend continues, you gonna have to help me put that new chain to the test!!!