Thought I would share my ride report from this past weekend. Love, love, love my FZ6R! Enjoy!
Even though the weekend weather report was a bit sketchy, I decided to ride to NJMP for the CCS races to get some more seat time and some all-weather practice before my husband and I take our summer motorrad tour through the Alps. The region we are traveling to is beautiful but has about a 30% chance of rain during July. So, I wanted to know what to expect before I'm stuck in a foreign country trying to figure it out.
First, I ordered some nice locking hard cases for the bike. I learned on my 2009 tour that while carrying a soft bag is cheap and easy, you have less freedom to walk away from your bike because curious people cannot leave your stuff alone. I got the Givi V46 top case and the V35 side cases, because they lock on the bike and are rain proof. You can pop them off and carry them like suitcases with the convenient handles.
They are very roomy, but on my bike I must be careful to only put light stuff in the top because it does change the center of gravity. I'm not very strong so I was pretty nervous at first, but after the first 20 miles or so, I was feeling more confident with the handling.
I departed from Northampton/Allentown PA, because that is where the dealer was installing my bags. My route took me through Newtown PA where I stopped for dinner and to visit with a childhood friend of mine (I really just wanted to show off my bike). My intention was to avoid riding on the Turnpike or Interstates, but unfortunately the installation took longer than expected so I started out on 476 south. Being a fairly new rider and having the new weight and wind dynamic of the cases, I was not comfortable riding fast enough to cruise in the left lane, so I stayed to the right, trying to be careful of cars merging onto the highway.
As I expected, some joker who was merging didn't see me so I slowed down to let him merge ahead of me. Well, he slowed down and then decided to merge WITHOUT LOOKING!!! At the same time, an 18-wheeler was passing me on the left
So, I hit the throttle and zoomed ahead before I got squished and the car behind me got to deal with the fecking eedjit.
Glad to exit off the TPK. It was a really nice ride through Quakertown. I think it was between Quakertown and Doylestown where the ladder fell off the truck. I saw it coming....the ladder was hanging crooked and I thought if that thing falls off I'm screwed...I should pull over and let a car go in between me and that truck. As I was pulling over the ladder fell! Fortunately, I was far enough back I did not have to take evasive maneuvers. The car behind me was none too pleased. He put his blue flashing light up in the dashboard and when the truck stopped to let one of the guys run back to retrieve the ladder, they were BUSTED!
In Doylestown, I passed this really cool building, the Moravia Tile Works:
After a quick dinner with my friend I had to hit the road because it was getting dark. I had wanted to cruise down some Jersey back roads, but at this point I just needed to get there. So, the rest of the way was I-95 through Phila, across the Ben Franklin Bridge (fun!) and down NJ 55 (very smooth and nice riding road!).
Total travel time (excluding dinner) about 4 hours. When I arrived, I was happy to have a comfortable alternative to tent camping thanks to some generous racing friends (although I don't mind tent camping):
It was good to see this CCS race event was well attended, even with the rainy forecast. Saturday was mostly wet, but sometimes in between because its hard to decide whether to run rain tires or DOTs. Someone said there were 15 crashes on Saturday.
In the past, I have been a photographer and a corner marshall, but this time I was recruited to be a grid marshall. Really enjoyed that experience.
Bikes rolling out for the warm-up lap:
The grid marshal's job is to make sure the riders all start in their assigned position and don't jump the start. If they fail to do this, they get a 'meatball' penalty (stop + go).
Green flag, and they're off!
How would you like to ride 170+ mph in the rain towards a hairpin turn at the end??? How do they see through the mist on the visor????
This hand sign means your lap times are not as good as the guy in front of you:
Due to photo limit....story continues in next reply....
Even though the weekend weather report was a bit sketchy, I decided to ride to NJMP for the CCS races to get some more seat time and some all-weather practice before my husband and I take our summer motorrad tour through the Alps. The region we are traveling to is beautiful but has about a 30% chance of rain during July. So, I wanted to know what to expect before I'm stuck in a foreign country trying to figure it out.
First, I ordered some nice locking hard cases for the bike. I learned on my 2009 tour that while carrying a soft bag is cheap and easy, you have less freedom to walk away from your bike because curious people cannot leave your stuff alone. I got the Givi V46 top case and the V35 side cases, because they lock on the bike and are rain proof. You can pop them off and carry them like suitcases with the convenient handles.
They are very roomy, but on my bike I must be careful to only put light stuff in the top because it does change the center of gravity. I'm not very strong so I was pretty nervous at first, but after the first 20 miles or so, I was feeling more confident with the handling.
I departed from Northampton/Allentown PA, because that is where the dealer was installing my bags. My route took me through Newtown PA where I stopped for dinner and to visit with a childhood friend of mine (I really just wanted to show off my bike). My intention was to avoid riding on the Turnpike or Interstates, but unfortunately the installation took longer than expected so I started out on 476 south. Being a fairly new rider and having the new weight and wind dynamic of the cases, I was not comfortable riding fast enough to cruise in the left lane, so I stayed to the right, trying to be careful of cars merging onto the highway.
As I expected, some joker who was merging didn't see me so I slowed down to let him merge ahead of me. Well, he slowed down and then decided to merge WITHOUT LOOKING!!! At the same time, an 18-wheeler was passing me on the left
So, I hit the throttle and zoomed ahead before I got squished and the car behind me got to deal with the fecking eedjit. Glad to exit off the TPK. It was a really nice ride through Quakertown. I think it was between Quakertown and Doylestown where the ladder fell off the truck. I saw it coming....the ladder was hanging crooked and I thought if that thing falls off I'm screwed...I should pull over and let a car go in between me and that truck. As I was pulling over the ladder fell! Fortunately, I was far enough back I did not have to take evasive maneuvers. The car behind me was none too pleased. He put his blue flashing light up in the dashboard and when the truck stopped to let one of the guys run back to retrieve the ladder, they were BUSTED!
In Doylestown, I passed this really cool building, the Moravia Tile Works:
After a quick dinner with my friend I had to hit the road because it was getting dark. I had wanted to cruise down some Jersey back roads, but at this point I just needed to get there. So, the rest of the way was I-95 through Phila, across the Ben Franklin Bridge (fun!) and down NJ 55 (very smooth and nice riding road!).
Total travel time (excluding dinner) about 4 hours. When I arrived, I was happy to have a comfortable alternative to tent camping thanks to some generous racing friends (although I don't mind tent camping):
It was good to see this CCS race event was well attended, even with the rainy forecast. Saturday was mostly wet, but sometimes in between because its hard to decide whether to run rain tires or DOTs. Someone said there were 15 crashes on Saturday.
In the past, I have been a photographer and a corner marshall, but this time I was recruited to be a grid marshall. Really enjoyed that experience.
Bikes rolling out for the warm-up lap:
The grid marshal's job is to make sure the riders all start in their assigned position and don't jump the start. If they fail to do this, they get a 'meatball' penalty (stop + go).
Green flag, and they're off!
How would you like to ride 170+ mph in the rain towards a hairpin turn at the end??? How do they see through the mist on the visor????
This hand sign means your lap times are not as good as the guy in front of you:
Due to photo limit....story continues in next reply....
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