New Gloves & Jacket

It's been a while. No surprise, what with the nasty weather and all. The most riding I've done since my last post was to take the Boulevard into the dealer for the 600 mile / 2 month service. Sadly, I hit two months before hitting 600 miles. I'll even that ratio out more once spring hits.

In preparation for the winter, I picked up some of the new Tour Master Synergy heated gloves, and finally got a chance to pick them up while riding back from the dealer. They're definitely a mixed bag. They're quite warm in certain temperatures, but fail when used in the cold stuff. Really sad, too, because the fit and finish are exceptional.

When I rode back from the dealer, it was probably right around 30 degrees. Plugged in the gloves and fired them up, and they did provide heat fast. Unfortunately, while most of my hands were perfectly comfortable, my thumbs still froze. Specifically, the entire bottom side of your thumbs when making a fist take the brunt of the chill. It went pretty rapidly from chilly, to almost painful, too. I was really disappointed. I'm considering trying with some liners next to see if that helps. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'm going to have to look elsewhere for sub-freezing hand warmth.

For Christmas, I got a Tour Master Coaster II leather jacket. I took out the jacket on a 50 or so degree day and it worked perfectly. The center of my chest got slightly chilled (where the inner liner doesn't cover) but other than that, it was great. The leather is quite thick and stiff, but it'll break in. The armor in the shoulders/elbows is good quality stuff. The back armor is the standard foam padding you'll find in many riding jackets. It looks great, and I'm sure it'll wear as nicely. I'm really happy with it. I looked at quite a few jackets, and while I didn't really "settle" on this one (the dealer only had this model in stock, and I like being able to try things on first) it was in the top 3 or so of the ones I was choosing from online. Was about $200, and I'm looking forward to spring when I can use it fully.

Just FYI

I posted a couple posts to my other blog that were motorcycle related.
Steve, there's one more pic of my bike over there. Stay tuned for more
thoughts on the Boulevard. Hint: its all good. :)

Sent from my iPhone

Oh yeah, almost forgot...

I guess I may have to change the rideblog name to something else. At least if I'm going to post any ride logs with my new Suzuki Boulevard C50 that is! Behold the majesty:

Waiting for roll-out at dealer.

First Day at Home

I suppose you could say that I'm a little excited. To answer the big question most people have had, no, I did not get rid of the DR650. The Boulevard is merely an addition to my stable. And I have to say it's quite an addition. Specifically, it's a 2007 Suzuki Boulevard C50C. I believe the extra 'C' at the end stands for Custom. It's got some extras that the base model doesn't have. Namely, studded seats, a custom paint job with tribal graphics, and mag wheels. I didn't intend to get the Custom model, but the dealer mis-quoted the price based on the base model, and it was too good to pass up. MSRP is $7100. I got it out the door for $7122. Before taxes and all that rhubarb, it was $6299. Not too freaking shabby.

I got it on... Wednesday, I think. (?) Got about 350 miles on it so far. She rides real smooth. Plenty of low/mid torque, and does ok at about 80mph on the freeway. I've wanted a cruiser since about 2001, when I bought my Bandit. The bandit edged out a couple cruiser models I was looking at as I wanted to do more distance riding, and it seemed more suited to that. But, buzzy handlebars made anything over about 90 miles... numbing.

This past little while I've been thinking about a bike to get in the spring that is good for road work. Considered a lot of options, from SV605s, BMW F650s, Bandit 1200s, etc. The Bandit might have been best suited for highway work, but the price tag on it was just too high for me. With taxes I probably would have spent close to $10k, IIRC. So, I settled on the idea of finally getting a cruiser, and among all the ones I looked at, the Boulevard C50s jumped out at me. (Now 3 Suzuki's in my "garage" and I always thought I was a Honda guy. Huh.)

Apparently, since Suzuki only sells motorcycle, (unlike most other companies who also have their hands in ATVs and snowmobiles) they drop their prices in the winter to keep revenue coming in. It could be all dealer BS, but it did result in a pretty substantial savings for me.

So, now that I'm halfway through the break-in interval, what do I think? I'm totally satisfied. Need to get some bags on it so I don't have to carry a backpack, and I want to get a windshield at some point to help with highway fatigue, but other than that, the bike is spectacular. My butt still gets a bit sore after less than 60 miles, but nothing like the DR650. After 3+ hours of riding today, I don't feel at all saddle sore, and that's something I can't say about the DR. Still, they're both great bikes for their own purposes.

I recorded my route today with the GPS. But, it's nothing too fancy. I basically went to Daniel's Summit for lunch, then turned around, went through Heber, and up through Park City to SLC, then back down to the Provo/Orem area. Since the route is pretty well marked (and I didn't take any pictures as the landscape is pretty barren this time of year) I'm not going to bother with processing and uploading the GPS files.

Great day for a ride, though. Probably one of the last best ones before winter hits in earnest. Can't wait for Spring...

Hoo doggy!

Today just begged for a ride. When I left Orem it was in the mid 70s, and there was absolutely zero wind. At first I couldn't decide where I wanted to go, but I was hungry, and the cafe at Daniel's Summit was sounding awfully good. I perused Google Urf and my Garmin topo maps for a bit and decided that I would ride there, then head south on some trails with the intent of coming out in the Diamond Fork area. It was a nice plan, even if it didn't happen.

Provo Canyon
Like I said, heading out was just gorgeous. Couldn't ask for a better day for riding. I did bring what cold weather gear I had, just in case. In this case, it's a Lands End jacket and my waterproof / cold weather gloves by Shift. Didn't end up needing the gloves, but I was glad to have the jacket.

I thought about heading up the canyon out of Wallsburg to get to Daniel's Summit, but decided that I was hungry enough I'd just take the pavement through Heber City. A hearty lunch in Daniel's Summit, and I was off.

Sheepz!
Yes indeedy. First thing on the trail from Daniel's Summit, and a couple cowboys and their vast herd of sheep were covering much of (and around) the road. Ha. From this picture, it's hard to make them out, but they're there in the trees, mocking you. There were just tons of these little guys. Fortunately the cowboys had the help of a few very competent dogs to keep the herd doing what it was supposed to.

Corral
Headed south toward Buck Springs instead of west towards Big Glade. Was nice to be on a new road. Up until this point, it was awesome hard-packed dirt. Few rocks. Just perfect for opening her up and just romping all over the place. Good stuff.

I spy snow.
Aye, that be what that white stuff is. Wasn't concerned at this point. It was off the road, so I wasn't interested. I had forgotten, though, that we got TONS of rain down in the valley over the weekend. This equated to snow in the mountains, and lots of runoff. Mud, slush, ice. You name it.

Yeap. Ice.
This is the point I started to reconsider my choice of trails. Fortunately, it was just warm enough to keep the top layer mushy in spots, which is the only thing that allowed me to get any type of traction. Unfortunately, many ATVs and 4x4 trucks out here carrying hunters had really packed down the main tracks. I took it very slow and was able to cross this and other icy areas without incident. How slow is very slow? Feathering first gear just enough to keep the back tire moving. My feet were used as "training wheels" the duration, also. It was like wearing skis. This would be the first (and last) icy spot. Some were worse. Others were much worse.

Ahh, better.
Fortunately once off the nice smoth, hardpack, there wasn't really many places for the snow to gather on the road. At this point I'm back on the nasty, rocky stuff, but happily there was no snow to be found. There was a good bit of mud, though.

Strawberry Res.
This pic reminds me of one I took on a previous ride, from one of the other hilltops.

Coasting along the rim.
At the top-ish of the hills, it was like this in many spots. Nice, grabby dirt - would be a heyday for a good set of knobbies. Even my DS tires got a kick out of it. I should note, though, that I had to come through some ugly slushy, icy, muddy stuff to get to this point. Including one small hill climb that I really shouldn't have attempted with as much ice/water/mud/crap as was on it.

Road Closed!
You'll notice on the GPS track I marked a couple road closures. These roads were where I planned to get back down off the hilltops. They were also the only way (that I knew of) to continue on my desired route. I was bummed to see the last road I know of closed off by the Forest Service. Oh well. I ended up turning around at this point as the sun was getting low enough that I knew it'd be getting colder, and I didn't want the roads to freeze up any more than they already were.

Interesting note. On the GPS tracks, you'll notice that I discovered (after the fact) using Google Earth that there ARE in fact ways down that seem to be well traveled. Unfortunately, Garmin Topo doesn't show them. And, as I said, I wasn't up to exploring that late in the day. Ironically, I was only .3 miles from one of the main junctions that would have taken me down closer to my planned route.

More rough road.

The H.O.D. (Hill of Destiny)
Not really. It's hard to see just how steep this was, though. Getting up it was a feat in... something. Balance? Luck? Traction? I grunted up the whole way in first gear. The rear tire kept trying to decide if it was going to slip on ice, mud, or slick rocks. Fortunately, it chose none of the above. There were a couple times, though...

H.O.D. Looking Down

More Muck
I sure didn't miss this junk once I got out of it. Fortunately, a lot of these snow fields had nice little streams running down the middle of them where the snow was melting and flowing. The "streams" were much easier to get traction in than the actual snow pack. I'll take water + rocks over ice any day. *As long as they aren't moss covered rocks.

Wallsburg Fort
I ended up coming back via Big Glade and down into Wallsburg. I had wanted to stop and see this marker, anyway. Turns out there used to be a fort here.

Next to the Marker
Almost swampy looking. I didn't get a good enough pic, but on the other side of the road, there's a house. In the house's yard there were about 5 deer. They didn't seem to mind the people on the road. A nice little area, though.

I did learn a few things, though. Things like Fox Tracker boots aren't waterproof... at all. They don't claim to be, but oh well. They did keep my feet warm enough, though, even when they were wet. I'll be interested to see how they perform as it gets colder.

GPS files follow:
GPX File
Google Earth

WTF.

Remind me again why I haven't moved off Blogspot. I can't tell you how many times I've seen this message when trying to add pictures:

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