WOW only six months to go. I think the FJR is about as ready as I can get it. I have my GPS, XM-Radio, Spot, Cell Phone, Driving lights, helmet speakers and the fuel cell installed. Right now I have been focusing on the check point locations, seeing which way is the easiest in and out and if there will be any times that there might be traffic concerns. Right now all I can say is we are starting in South Carolina on August 24th, our first check point will be in Illinois, then California with the finish September 4th in Washington. I have all my hotel reservations set up and my wife is still undecided on which checkpoints she will be at. I would like to see her at the beginning and end but not sure she wants to travel across the country in that short of time.
The first Friday of March will be my biggest ride of the new year. I'm planning a 450-500 mile ride. I'm hoping to really see how far I can go with the new fuel-cell. Right now the furtherers I have gone was 400 miles with the last 50 in the city. I really want to see what I can do using Interstate and State roads. The route has a good combination Hwy and St Rds, this should be a good test of how far I can really go. Only a couple of my friends are planning to attend because of the distance and I only want to have two stops so anyone that wants to go needs to be able to go at least 200 miles between stops.
Well the 450-500 mile ride turned out to be a 380 mile ride in the wind. Just a couple of us decided to test the wind and to be honest I think the wind won. We did the first 270 miles with crosswinds gusting up to 50 mph, so you can guess we had a pretty good lean on. At times I felt like I was trying to keep a 45 degree lean on just to keep it straight. We ended up stopping for fuel and decided to bag the last 200 mile portion for a 110 mile straight shot. The ride was still great but I need to wash the ride it has dirt everywhere from the blowing wind.
From here on out I'm only planning a ride every other week, need to get things done around the house.
Well things started slowing down I'm only riding once every two weeks now and my last ride for March was a short ride only a 200 miler with a couple of friends. Nothing much to talk about just a quick out and back. So far I have 4800 miles in for the first 3 months of the year. Not great but ok, I still haven't started my training runs for the 2009 IBR.
Side note my tire test has been going well the Pilot-2's have been doing well, so far I have 6300 miles on the set and they still look really good.
Well until next week, ride safe
