BlakeBlog

Thinking of Winter Riding

Warning: Rambling ahead!

I saw my motorcycling buddy a couple nights ago while he was in town, and as we talked I began to realize how little riding I've been doing lately. Between traveling a lot for work, and now working from home whenever I'm in town, my mileage has been minimal. As in 3,000-miles-per-year minimal. That stinks! I used to ride four times that much each year when I first moved out to California.

I'm gettin' the itch bad, and think I may just have to hop on the bike for a day trip this coming long weekend. I've even plotted out a "three passes" ride: Sonora Pass on Highway 108, Monitor Pass on Highway 89, and Ebbetts Pass on Highway 4. Google Maps claims it takes eight hours and 48 minutes to complete (non-stop, of course). I figure if I budget for 12 hours I should be good. It's tempting, even though there will probably be a lot of traffic this weekend (Labor Day and all) and it's a long day in the saddle for someone who hasn't been riding a lot lately. I'll have to ponder it. Maybe Sunday?

Anyway, all this has me thinking about the coming winter months. I still need to wire up an electrical outlet on the KTM for my heated vest, and the original grips are getting pretty worn so they're ripe for replacing. While replacing them I'll throw on a set of heated elements underneath them so I'll have heated grips, too.

My Arai XD helmet is five years old as of this month, and I usually like to replace them every five years. Road Rider's having a sale this weekend, including discounts on helmets, so maybe I'll pick a new one up? I've been thinking of trying a Shoei Hornet DS to see if it fits my noggin better than the XD; even after five years and some creative smooshing of the helmet foam my XD is tight on my forehead. It's not painful any longer, but there has to be a better fit possible. The only thing that has me leaning towards the XD is that the new models are Snell M2010 certified, which I think is a better standard than the M2005 which tended to create helmets that were too stiff, passing more of the impact trauma to the head.

My Aerostich Darien's getting long in the tooth as well, and is pretty grungy. I flirted with getting a Motoport jacket this time, as it will be much cooler to wear during the summer months yet still provides a waterproof, zip-in liner for cooler weather.

After toying with all these new equipment ideas, though, I've decided to say "forget it" and just go riding, darn it! I don't need any more gear right now—I need to be on the road riding. Maybe if I get my mileage up then I'll be at the point where I can justify some new gear. Until then, just ride.

Sometimes I Wonder

Recently at work a software application that gets used by lots of folks was down for an upgrade, and the application owners sent out an email to all users letting them know that the app was back up. Unfortunately, a couple of induhviduals used the "Reply All" function to ask about problems they were having after the upgrade.

Pretty soon there were dozens of people "replying to all" asking to be taken off "this list," others asking people to stop "replying to all," etc., etc. In the last day I've now received nearly 100 emails broadcast to everyone. I didn't realize people are still that clueless about email etiquette, especially at a major technology firm. If I were a dictator I'd simply fire every person who replied to all, but alas my dictator's hat is out at the cleaners.

The Florida "Gag Rule" for Doctors and Guns

An acquaintence of mine forwarded me a link to this recent article in the New York Times regarding the recently passed legislation in Florida that prohibits doctors from asking patients whether they own firearms. I got such a good laugh out of it, I thought I'd share my reaction:

Ha! I almost bust a gut reading that article. The author gets off on the wrong foot by asking about seat belts. My answer? No, I don't use 'em because I ride a motorcycle. So screw you, you nannie!

And he then pretends that the gangbangers he's examining are going to listen to his counseling and lock their Loricins safely away. Following that line of thought, doctors should most certainly be locked away because they cause 20 times more deaths than guns do. (Physician, heal thyself!) Of course, to do so would ignore the benefit that doctors, and firearms, provide to society. But, that's the typical myopia of hoplophobes.

The cherry on top of the article, though, is when he trots out the phenomenally lame worry that he might be sued for malpractice if he doesn't advise his patients on "proper" gun handling. Oh, really? Show me one example, anytime, anywhere, where a physician has even been sued on these grounds, let alone finally found liable. I can't believe that this doctor's ego is so enormous that he's willing to take responsibility for anything that happens to his patients if he hasn't specifically counseled them on its dangers.

To any doctors out there who think they're qualified to tell me how to properly store or use a gun, let's compare certifications and degrees sometime. I think you'll find yourself outgunned, if you'll pardon the expression. Stick to what you're trained in, Doc, and I'll do the same.

Andy Ihnatko's Take on Thunderbolt

[...] but in truth, Thunderbolt is a way of extending a computer’s PCI bus over a cable. When you look at it like that, any machine with a Thunderbolt port -- be it a $2000 desktop or a $999 subnotebook -- has 6 expansion slots inside it.

Great insight.