Double Trouble...

...but in a good way!!  I have a couple posts that I have been waiting for the video on.  One is together, so it will be bumped into a double day with something funny that came up suddenly.  Does that make any sense?  Probably not.

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"Glorious Green"

A friend read my Suburban Stoplight Hell post and informed me that he had just thing thing for me.  I didn't have a clue what he could have that would "help" me on my way through red lights.  I haven't heard of a civilian device that would allow me control over the stoplights.  But he refused to let me in on the secret and made me wait for snail mail to bring it to my door step.

Upon opening the package, I just about fell off the sofa laughing so hard it hurt my tummy.

Glorious Green by Rob R. Robinson

This is a fabulous little painting, obviously of a stoplight, with the green light this wonderful iridescent green coloring.  Yes, the title of this is "Glorious Green" and the artist wished me eternal green lights.  I just need to determine if I should hang this painting over the bike and hopefully it will absorb the good luck through osmosis.  Or if I should hang it above me to get the same??

Rob is a wonderful artist displaying his work in shows in the Portland/Albany/Corvallis (Oregon) area.  You can see his paintings at robrrobinson.com or his beginning treks along Oregon's scenic byways at Image Odysseys.  I love some of his future trips he has planned...and one day hope to ride those roads for myself.  And if any of you inmates ride these roads before me...please take pictures for me...

Thank You Rob!!  :-)

Now I can see a stoplight collection in my future.  You just had to plant the seed...

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Destination: Aska Rd

Aska Rd doesn't sound very exciting.  And the way it came about being a destination isn't too exciting either.  I wanted to ride Yellow Creek Rd again.  And Aska was near one of those tag game places and just looked like a great road!

We weren't going for a tag.  It was long gone from this location.  But the road was just calling my name.  And it didn't disappoint.

The hot and humid weather broke a little and gave us reasonable temperatures in the low 90's F with a relatively low percent humidity.  I know that 90's doesn't sound too low to most, but I was quite happy to have it.

The ride out was uneventful and completely peaceful.  There wasn't much traffic for Labor Day and the fall colors are on the cusp of coming.  Yellow Creek and Aska Rd are meandering byways mainly dotted with forest coverage, farming fields, grazing areas and a few houses here and there.  The sky was a deep blue with a few clouds scattered around.  The air was still and not oppressive. 

I finally took the plunge and adhered a GoPro mount to my Pelican.  I'm venturing out and starting to look for some new angles.  There was a difference of opinion in the household concerning the look angle: he thought it should point forward more; I didn't.  We compromised on a middle ground.  But from the video, I think it needed to be pointed farther out.

We hadn't eaten breakfast and decided to lunch at a crossroads location: Forno

I decided on the Gyro.  And was surprised with my selection of Chicken or Beef.  Aren't Gyro's supposed to be Lamb?  Surprising, not quite the same, but tasty nonetheless.  Mr. Oilburner took the Philly Cheesesteak.  MMMMMmmmm.  :)

We took out the mountain map to see the best route up and back again.

I really don't have any other photographs from the ride.  It was just too pretty of a day to stop.  The curves just beckoned us forward.

Reaching the end of Aska Rd had us in a pickle.  We could continue with the plan and ride East towards cities and traffic, or head back down Aska Rd and continue in solitude for awhile.  Solitude won.

Not wanting to completely back track all of our riding grounds we hooked a shortcut we knew from our four-wheeling days.  We knew this would involve some gravel road, but would clip our time and get us closer to our side of town.  The gravel road hadn't been graded in awhile...providing tremendous washboard bounces.  Maybe that has something to do with the recent shock replacement??  :)

So...no pictures, but some video that actually did turn out...eventually.  I tried to limit you the washboard exposure.  But gave enough to let you know it was definitely there.  :)

Destination: Aska Rd from Love Of A Motorbike on Vimeo.

Suburban Stoplight Hell

When learning to ride, stoplights are the bane of existence.  Like there isn't enough to think about with downshifting and proper braking without the added pressure of remembering how to stop and start gracefully, so as not to make a complete ass of myself yourself.

Just yesterday I witnessed someone stall their bike in a busy intersection as the light turned green.  He sat astride it, fumbling with levers and nobs while duck walking his bike across the intersection.  Nothing more flustering!  At least the people behind him were semi-patient and weren't honking the horns yet.

One of my own experiences hearkens back to one of my first long distance trips...of 10 miles. :)  I can advise new riders not to attempt to take off on a green light in third gear.  You do not have the experience to slip the clutch that much.  I tried that and I survived the crushing embarrassment.  Ok, not so crushing or embarrassing.  I didn't care what the yahoos behind me thought...I just didn't want them to run me over.  I had enough momentum before stalling to quickly coast across the intersection and get out of the way.  

But one thing I have noticed while riding and learning to ride...I am the stoplight QUEEN!  I collect red lights.  I am a magnet for them.  Ride with me and you will experience the utter frustration and annoyance of having to stop at just about every single red light imaginable.  And I'm not talking about pulling up and having to sit behind cars because it is halfway through the intersection cycle.  I'm talking about having to make the split second decision of braking or running a red light because the light just turned yellow at that crucial moment when a decision is necessary.  So making the legal decision results in having to wait through an entire cycle at that intersection!  Now don't talk to me about "anticipating" a light change when approaching an intersection, like they teach in basic high school drivers ed.  I do that and I think that is what gets me into so much trouble: because I actually ride sanely and legally.  Crap!

Now, some intersections have a fairly quick cycle and are only taking a minute of wait time.  But start adding up a minute for every light...and how often I am waiting at each light...and we are talking some time here being spent watching other vehicles moving while I sit.  Yes, I have had some time to think about this and actually calculate wait times and light cycles.

Now add in that I live in a large metropolis.  Yes, I live outside of the "big city"...but so does everyone else out here and there still isn't much room to breath or drive.  I was jealous of my other friends learning to ride that had large, curving lanes to glide down.  My learning grounds were riddled with stoplights, stop signs, hard turns/intersections, uphills and railroad tracks.  My head had a lot to keep track of.  Sometimes it succeeded and sometimes it didn't.

One of the most frustrating occurrences that made me want to scream and just sit and cry was the day of my ERC (Experienced Riders Course).  The location was exactly across town from my house.  And start time was 8:00...with required early check-in and bike checklist/inspection.  I needed to be there by 7:30.  Through morning rush hour traffic in Atlanta??  No way!  Luckily I had some friends on that side of town that let me spend the night before.  One even rode over with me in the morning to show me the way since the new-to-me bike hadn't been outfitted with the GPS yet.

The problem wasn't to the facility...it was on the way home.  After class, I was back at my friends house to wait for traffic to die down.  They were going to follow me home and get together with Mr. Oilburner for dinner as a Thank You for letting me stay.  The 18 miles distance between our houses has (had, actually, since more have been added) 23 stoplights.  And I literally had to stop for every...single...one...  And this time I had witnesses!

The point was driven home again when another friend was learning to ride.  Mr. Oilburner and I would take him out, flanking him for protection.  And he had the angels on his side...because all he had to do was approach a light and it would magically turn green.  No stopping, barely slowing.  Argh.

Where is this going?  I don't know if you live in the metro, suburbia or lonely country lanes.  But I really hope you are not cursed with red lights.  Last week we decided to attend a new Bike Night a town is trying to start.  It is a mere 18 miles of side-streets away.  How hard can it be?

When riding with me?  Extremely hard!  There are stoplights here.  It is just a fact of life.  Freeway distance would have been about 33 miles in heavy rush-hour traffic.  So side-streets is really the only option.  But do you know how many stoplights can be installed within 18 miles?  You might be surprised.

To give you a guessing chance, work and home are separated by a measly 9 miles.  There are 12 14 stoplights and 3 stop signs in that distance.  My old swim club was 10 miles away and had a whopping 22 stoplights along the easiest route.

So I recorded my progression along the roads to this Bike Night for you.  18 miles...45 minutes...mainly because of stoplights.  Can you count the number of lights?  Maybe now it is easy to understand why I don't commute to work on the bike.  Note to Riepe: take a look at all those friggin minivans!!


Suburban Stoplight Hell from Love Of A Motorbike on Vimeo.

And even sped up, look at how long I'm sitting at some of those lights??  Crank up the volume.  I like the music.  Wish I had been listening to this.  Might have made the distance and time a little easier.  Nah...

Happy travels to you and may all your lights be green!

Correction: I had to add two more lights to my work commute.  Forgot a couple...  :(