New Trailer... Then Snow in New England

The first real snow is falling, it started overnight and there was near 4" on the ground at my house this morning. The roads were in pretty good shape but also there was not much traffic when I left the house at 5:30am.

My "Riding" season is officially over. With the impeding Nor'Easter approaching New England, I put the bikes up in storage. I use an outside facility as I have no garage at home.

Saturday, I went and picked up the trailer I bought used from a friend, just to have one "in case." Attached is a picture of it. Just a single bike open trailer but it will be nice if anyone in the area has an issue, we can load them up and get them home. It was almost 4 hours round trip and when I got home, had to grab a couple light bulbs as I had 2 lights out. Then I took the bikes in, one at a time. It was COLD, wind chill was 7 deg F. and the wind wanted to cut right through you. That was another 3 hours of my day so that pretty much ended my "productivity" as I was going to a local Comedy Night with a group from Rolling Thunder.

On Sunday, I had a ton of paperwork to do for work and also managed to wrap up some yard stuff. Cleared a spot for the trailer up on a hill, took down a section of wooden fence that was rotted, moved the trailer up and blocked and covered it with a tarp. Lastly, put the hitch and tie-downs away, gassed the truck up for the storm and backed it into the drive for an easy morning get-away.

If you are in the snow zone today... Be careful on the roadways...

Riding diminished in the North Country..

Well, winter style weather is here in NH, that means cold and possible snow. This does tend to cut into our riding, especially the LD variety.

My recent Mich. trip was by car and I had not actually taken a ride for over a week. Tuesday, I got home from work and fired up both bikes, taking the Shadow for a short ride before dinner. It was about 40 and I was slightly cold, open helmet, limited wind protection and my lighter gloves. After dinner, I switched to heavier gloves and took the Wing out. I was actually pretty comfortable with the added wind protection and also the heated grips helped.

Today it was 30 deg F when I left for work. I took the Wing, layered up with shirt, sweateshirt, fleece lining and denim jacket. I was actually reasonably comfortable, had my grip heater running with heavier gloves. My lower legs and feet were chilled slightly but I know for a "ride" I can improve that with my boots and heavier hunting socks, thermals etc. Overall , I was pleased with my comfort level, yet also realize that it was NOT a LD ride and also I was averaging around 40 and maxing at about 55 mph, a far cry from the windchill I would face on a longer highway ride.

Why does all this matter??? I am planning on attemping an Iron Butt Association 1000 mile ride the first week of March. In NH, it will NOT be warm and also may have white moisture issues (snow). I am doing this little jaunts to find out how I handle the chills (mental and physical) at various temperatures and speeds. Those in the "know" may start yelling "Gerbings" (heated jacket liner and gloves) and I do plan on getting these heated items before my attempted run. In the meantime, I want to feel the affects of the cold weather and how I can protect now, figuring that with electrics later I will only be better. I already have my bike wired for them and it can easily handle the electrical load.

Enough rambling for today.... Time for me to get back to work... I will likely not be riding the rest of the week as I work a double tomorrow and Saturday I have to pick up my bike trailer in MA and then am attending a Comedy Night with some friends out in Exeter.

Have a great day and as always "Ride Safe"

Back to work now...

The Thanksgiving Holiday is over and I am back to work. I had a great time with my trip to Michigan, got to see lots of family and friends.

The tracker itself worked excellent. I was very pleased with that. I know some are looking at "Spot" but until it can be exported to a web for public tracking, I will stay with what I have.

This Blog, with the Jott "Voice" translation and upload works very well for sending short status updates to the Blogg while traveling. I will continue using this for a while .. hope to have it for updates during my motorcycle trips in the spring. I think it will make a great companion with the tracker for keeping everyone updated on both where I am and also how I am doing etc. on my travels.

I do hope everyone had a great Holiday Weekend... I am going to sign off now and get back to work. Enjoy your day and I will be back when I have something significant to say.

The eagle has landed...

The eagle has landed the second time we are home. The revised route worked out very well, smooth sailing, a little bit of traffic, no jam ups. I just pulled in the drive and shutting everything down.. we're here! thank you! Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving weekend. Talk to everyone later. listen

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Re-routing North. We...

Re-routing North. We hits a major traffic on the Mass Pike(?). I expect is going to be even worse intersection of I 84 and was backed up for probably 5-10 miles and it will be worse and we will cut off on I-91 North and we are going to head North to pick up route 2 and then head back Eastover to 495, should have miss those traffic jams. listen

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