I found DIRT!!!

I have been out a few times since I last posted. I feel like I've been neglecting. Been a bit of testing the new microphone with the camera. It's been working great so far along with the free editing software I got.

Took a quick trip out to Steilacoom on the Puget Sound. It was pretty. A Short ride but real nice neighborhoods in a place I never thought I would find any. Guess I just don't know this area too well.

I took a couple trips up to the North side of Lake Washington over the last two weeks. Went to my sister's house just North of Green Lake. Took the LOOOOOONG route there around the East side of the lake. It was interesting to be on the highway so much. But great weather the last two weekends for it all. For the life of me I'm not having a lot of luck finding dirt to ride in using Google Maps. I don't know if there's a technique to it or what. Let me know with some comments if you have an idea how or where to look.

I took a trip to the town I went to high school in, Duvall. Always a nice drive down the Snoqualmie Valley. Stopped by the falls as well to see those. I'm going to get a tripod soon here so that I can get some 3rd party shots of myself and the bike. Should be able to use it with the camera as well.

All in all the riding went pretty safely. My gloves are still making my hands sweat. But when I used my leather gloves out to Steilacoom they weren't keeping the wind out like I wanted them to. Apparently the gauntlets on the BILT gloves are pretty useful.

Found some dirt roads just outside Ft Lewis on the East side. Lots of gravel. I found I do not like the gravel and how squishy it makes the tires under me. After riding on all this concrete the loosity is unnerving (loosity, wasn't a word, now it's a word). Found some puddles and got some mud on Taquache. She was happy, I could tell. Found out my Fox boots are not necessarily waterproof either.

I'm planning to go to a park down South by Olympia this next weekend. Get some more dirt under me. That's the goal of this all. Dirt baby, I need it. I don't even know why I'm drawn to it so.

Please leave a comment down below or send me an email about where else you would like me to ride. Whether they're scenic roads or particular trails I'm willing to go take a look and post it up. Remember to like my facebook page to get notifications of when I post up here. Thanks for stopping by and be safe out there.

Until next time people. YouTube will soon be mine for the taking.

THAR BE MUD UNDER THERE!!!

Youtube is just a step away, well a couple more steps

So I have lined up a few more items to bring myself into Youtube stardom . . .  stardum . . .  spell check says stardom. I looked at the advice of a few motovloggers like Accidental Broadcast and someone else who's name escapes me and decided on the Audio Technica ATR 3350 lavalier condenser microphone.

Audio Technica ATR 3350 Lavalier Mic

It runs on batteries, which are pretty cheap, and it has to be turned on to be recording, but it was only about $25 and I just want to buy one microphone. I'll have to pick up some foam or deadcat from a local shop to cover the microphone. Lots of people on Youtube say they've gotten away with $3 or $1 microphones but I just am skeptical to believe that they last for very long or that the quality is very good.

I also made the mount for my camera. I decided to go with the chin mount after watching many videos. I see EveRide uses it almost exclusively and it seems to work pretty darn well. I don't like seeing the side of the helmet in the view when it's mounted there and I don't like how high it is on top of the helmet. Chin mount seems like the best solution.

I took the idea for the mount from EveRide as well. A piece of aluminum bent up by hand while clamped in a vice to curve it to the shape of the helmet. Then make the last bit of it stick straight out in front of the helmet ensuring it's not wagging off to the side.

It's quite simple, bought a strip of aluminum from Lowe's for about $7, cut a good length of it off with a hack saw. Made sure there was about twice as much length of aluminum as there is to my camera. Clamp it into a vice at the points you want to bend it. There's quite a bit of curve on the chin of my helmet but it was surprisingly easy to match the curve on the aluminum.

Bent and painted up

After I got the angles and curve right I filed the edges and corners, then taped up the parts where dual lock would be applied to the bar so that I could spray paint the bar. The painting isn't really necessary but I just wanted to do it for not much reason other than to have things match. Well except that the camera is white but whatever.

Gotta make sure the angle is right to carry the camera straight out to the front of the helmet

Another benefit of the chin mount is when I hook up the microphone I won't have to run cords all willy nilly around the helmet to get to the chin. A little soldering action from my Dad will shorten that cord up and make it a pretty hassle free set up.

So I left the dual lock at my Dad's house but it would be used to secure the bar to the helmet and the camera to the bar. a little previewing and minor adjustments and I'll be ready to shoot. My microphone should be in next week and then I'll get to play with that a bit.

Check out my gear page to see reviews on the helmet pictured here, my other apparel and eventually my microphone and camera, once I start using em.

Please leave a comment down below or send me an email about where else you would like me to ride. Whether they're scenic roads or particular trails I'm willing to go take a look and post it up. Remember to like my facebook page to get notifications of when I post up here. Thanks for stopping by and be safe out there.

Cycle Gear = Bilt brand, Who'da thunk it?

So I was going to take a nice ride up through a park or something this last weekend but the weather report was "crappy" at best. And I didn't have a decent jacket to weather any type of weather. So I scratched that idea and of course the weekend was nice and sunny with only sporadic showers.

Instead I used my Saturday to shop for a good jacket at a good price. Started by going to some thrift stores which gave me no luck and only distracted me from my goal. So I thought I'd give the retail stores a chance and this place called Cycle Gear came up from a motorcycle gear google search. I thought "pretty generic title for a store, surely they have a bit of a selection to test out and see what kind of jacket I want." Turns out Cycle Gear = Bilt brand store. There was some alpinestar stuff available but every wall and rack had something made by Bilt. Prices were as you would expect for retail and I was going to walk out when I saw a sale tag. Said buy their super duper explorer waterproof jacket for $400 (It did look pretty sweet and available in Hi-Vis), and get a free pair of matching pants, gloves, and a helmet.

Now $400 is a lot of money to lay down but I knew I wanted to get all this stuff anyway. And while I did have a helmet it isn't in Hi-Vis. But I had to love all of the stuff they were selling in order to get this deal. We just got out tax return too and when I talked to my wife and how I was trying to talk myself out of this she astoundingly said "so get it"! Both of us agreed its a good investment in my safety because its protective equipment as much as it's visibility gear. I tried the helmet on and it was not good. Padding inside was minimal and pressure points immediately showed themselves when it was on. After some quick review research I found many people didn't find Bilt to be very durable. This was enough for me to determine it wasn't worth it. For that money there should be no doubt about whether the gear is going to last me. So I found a pair of $20 waterproof Hi-Vis gloves, purchased em and left Cycle Gear and its deal behind.

So off I went to local leather shop in Auburn past the Harley dealer. The place was called Eagle Leather and the selection was great. Lots of different brands. The staff there was real helpful as well. They featured the First Gear Kilimanjaro jacket. Was on sale and was pretty heavy with a removable liner. Also saw an Icon brand jacket that was comparable. The Icon Patrol Field armor jacket had more pockets and features and padding in the forearm but both were rated to the same temperature. They also both looked like the padding could be removed and just used as a good winter jacket, the sales guy said he did that with his Kilimanjaro to go snowboarding. But since the Kilimanjaro was on sale I had to go with that. The Icon felt much more serious but they were both quite comfortable with and without the liner.

So I rode through the city streets the whole day and found my starts and stops are getting much better. Only stalled out a couple times and that was on an uphill start! I'm sure it'll come along nicely now that I have a motorcycle jacket. That'll make me much better. Ya know like sneakers do the run faster

jump higher thing.

On my way back to base on Sunday I decided to take the superslab. It was super boring. Just hand
back on the throttle and change lanes a few times and watch for slowing traffic. Much more to look at on the city streets and much more mellow. You do have to watch out for the left turners though. It's a give and take I suppose. Just need to get out on some dirt! I can't decide if I should go out towards Mt Rainier or the Olympic Peninsula next weekend. Got a Mariners game to go to on Friday, It's beardhat night at Safeco Field!

For a run down of the gear I wear right now there's a page link at the top that'll take you to it.

Until next time, Hang up and Drive yo!

The Long Way Home, Tips for your first ride home

I have been storing my bike at my Dad's house until I got all the paperwork squared away to ride it on the street. Now that task is done and paid for I had the pleasure of driving it home last night. This would be similar to your ride home with the bike after you buy it for the first time. I'd been looking for some time and other circumstances had kept me off a bike since I took the basic MSF class about 8 months ago.

There's three main points to consider before you go pick that bike up and hit the road whether this is your first bike or whether you're a seasoned rider. You must consider your equipment/clothing, your

"break in" time, and your route home. Now the first and third points you know what I'm going to talk about. But the "break in" time I'm more referring to the meld that happens between your body and that machine. It doesn't just happen by sitting on the bike. It happens when you take some quality time to really get to know that bike and how to saddle it. Much of how you get home depends upon your skill and confidence level. Remember that confidence does not equal skill and even if you know a skill you must have confidence in your ability to perform that skill in order for it to serve you.

Equipment on you and on your bike are things to consider when picking it up. Does the bike have big panniers on the side of it that you're not used to riding with? Maybe take those things off and let your buddy who drove you up there take em back for you. Is there anything tricky about the controls that the previous owner can get you familiar with? Check out the bike's state. TCLOCS is what the MSF course teaches. Tires, Controls, Lights, Oil, Chasis, and Stands. Don't want to be moving down the road when you find out the stand doesn't stay up or your brake light doesn't work. Equipment on yourself is up to you. Obviously the best thing to have is all the protective gear you can when you ride. However if you're just starting out like I am then you're going to be short some stuff.
You MUST have a helmet. Some full fingered gloves, a heavy jacket and layer up those pants. More layers of thicker clothing could help if you fall and need to use the road as a slip and slide. We can't all afford full leather suits right off the bat here. Have some type of reflective gear too. Don't ever think it's too little to make a difference. Anything might help.

I had the ability to ride the bike a bit through some residential streets for a few days before I drove home but it's not a bad idea to do that for some time before you hit the road. Even 20 minutes could help that meld to form. Get to know that bike on some slower speed residential streets before you get into situations at 60mph on the interstate. Even if you're a seasoned rider and you aren't out of practice like I was, it's still a good idea to take some time to get used to the bike. Even if the ride back home is short, you need to know the bike and your abilities before someone turns left in front of you and you have minimal time to analyze the situation and react. Get your starts down, feel that clutch out. Do plenty of quick stops and get those brakes worked out.

When you plan your route home you have to assess what type of riding you're more comfortable with. If you're a experienced rider then go hit that highway and get home. If you're like me and this is pretty much your first time out you may not want to be on the highways. I was not comfortable getting straight onto the highway and making decisions a those speeds. I picked a route that took me around the towns and not through them. Nice single lane roads that start out about 35 - 40 mph, then build up to two lane roads with 40 - 50 mph. Eventually I went straight through Tacoma which wasn't bad. Of course this was on a Sunday which was a good day to do this. Know your route too so you don't take a wrong turn at Albuquerque and end up at Point Defiance. A beautiful place but it's a few miles off course and a good 30 extra minutes on my ride. Which leads me to, leave with enough time to do your trip in the daytime! A little more to deal with at night with other drivers than during the day. Not a good idea for your first time.

These are most of the things I thought about before I took the ride home. From Auburn to almost Lacey in about 40 miles and a couple hours after the scenic detour. Only spent about 5 minutes on the interstate at the end. The scenic detour though, was awesome. I felt like I was able to enjoy what was around me so much easier on the bike than I do in a car. Even though it delayed me and meant I was going the wrong way I was still able to enjoy the scene with the ferries (not fairies) on the water and the sun going down. Very nice jewel in the rough of getting lost. Hope your travels are as safe as mine was last night. All considered I think I did real well on the bike and much better than I expected. Keep the tips above in consideration as you prepare for your next ride. Whether it's your first one or your umpteenth one, riding is a skill that must be honed to allow many more years of enjoying it.

Don't forget to hang up your distractions and drive yo!