Frontdoor Web Design

OK, I do have to say I got completely and totally lost today. I mean all these trees and multiple lakes, they all look like they are going in the same direction. I need a compass Velcroed to the front of my bike. I mean it.

I kept that hokey grin on my face, man. I reminded myself the whole reason for the ride was to experience the great outside, I mean outdoors. With coming in late (5:15…it is just weird how fast it gets dark now) I got to see a gorgeous sunset.

This is the moment I talked about in a previous post when I wasn’t loving my Vulcan Slip Streamer windshield. Visibility was down and I want to see those deer jumping out at me. It’s happened to me in a car on the road I was traveling. And dusk is when those jumpy fury creatures on four legs start taking walks.

shudder

Rode off around noon to a blue sky with lazy clouds. Mid 50s and the sun made for a very comfortable ride. I did layer up, but minimally.

Started out on the Chuckanut. I talked with a young woman who was a new rider like me at the gas station, she was from Everett and had put 10,000 miles on her bike since April! This city girl was on her way to Deception Pass Bridge. She finds getting out on her bike clears her head. I am all about that. There is just an “ahhhh” that comes over me when I get out too.

I rode through the Valley past Edison and up to the Chuckanut, were I met three people from Seattle. A woman my age who loves to hike up high to look out over the world and a young couple exploring the reason why the Chuckanut was closed to through traffic. Come to find out from the Seattle woman, a boulder had fallen onto the road. They had anticipated it and closed the roads before it could hurt anybody.

I love meeting people on the road. It just expands my mind past my own little microcosm. Love it. So enjoy some pictures form my little perch. I am overlooking Samish Bay and the San Juan Islands, which is part of the Puget Sound area.

Young man from the couple I met. He is actually saying to me that he and his girlfriend were wondering where this wonderful weather had come from. Interesting couple. He is a software programmer with a conscience and she works as an enthusiastic environmentalist.

Looking back on the road I came up. You cant see the curve hidden by the two trees, but the Chuckanut is beloved by bikes and quick cars for it’s curves. In some places you have to be really careful, because you cant see what is coming around the corner. I do have to say it is also notorious for being a dangerous road for bikes.

I just liked this pic because it looks like heavens soft rays are shining down on my bike.

Square pieces of granite keep us all from jumping over the side. The hills line this whole route. On the other side are Cedar Trees and undergrowth planted on a steep drop off to the Puget Sound. It is one of my favorite rides.

Yahaha! Ya baby I was out today for 5 hours. For the middle of fall weather, I am pretty well gratified by the day. Mid-50s, blue sky with glorious fall colors of the PNW.

The Vulcan worked out really well. It protected my hands quite well actually.

The question is can I deal with the 18″-20″ height. I am looking through the shield, so on a rainy day, the glare from the sun or headlights would be provoking and dangerous. I was unable to use my face shield and the windshield together, as visibility appeared dulled. The glare from headlights was minimal but noticeable.

So, will have to sleep on it and maybe take it for another test drive tomorrow!

I have been rebuilding my bike since a slide out July 28, 2008. I cant bring myself to call it a wreck. That sounds like such a screw up. I’ll talk about the wreck (there I said it) another time.

What I am hyperventilating about is the new windshield I had put on tonight. I love it. It’s a Slip Streamer SS-32 Falcon. The design is very cool and classic and it anchors to the forks. My mechanic calls it ‘beefy’. YA!

My issue is in July, I decided to put new handlebars on that were not stock. I wanted something a little closer in so my elbows weren’t gawking out and I wanted them arched higher than the stock Shadow VLX. So now the place on the wind shield that is supposed to be protecting my hands from wind and rain, is just a bit lower than where it should be.

I’m going out for a long ride tomorrow…that is if the Pacific Northwest can hold off on raining for about 2 or 3 hours.

What do you think?

Slip Streamer Falcon