My firsr IBA ride... Devil's Tower and back in one day

[salsashark]

Decided to stretch the legs on the Speedie this weekend and tackled my first IBA ride.

Left Denver @ 6:00am headed up through Granby tackled co125 up to Walden then ventured across WY ending up at Devil's Tower by 5:00. Stretched and rehydrated, then back down across the east side of WY.

All was going well when we hit Cheyenne, then 30 miles later, my buddy's oil light came on and the bike shut down. So there we were standing on I-25 @ 11:30 trying to figure out what to do.

Big THANK YOU to BigE who came out in the middle of the night and trailered my buddy's Goldwing back to his house as well as giving my friend a lift to Loveland to meet his wife. And thank you for letting us borrow the trailer to haul the wing back to Denver today.

So I got back on the road around 1:30am and managed to roll in by 2:45am.

It was a long ride and I'm suprised how little difficulty I had with it. The S3 is not a touring bike. In the twisties my friend was wishing he'd brought his blackbird, but on the highways, I was kind of wishing I had a windscreen and cruise control. Apparently, Goldwings don't like going for 15 hours straight at sustained speeds in the upper 80's to XXX.

Route (click for hi-res):


Didn't take many pics, but here are a few:
yummy! everything I own that was on the trip looks like this. I have a lot of cleaning to do



The world's youngest Goldwing owner!




Lizzie did good.



PS: if you're planning on doing any serious miles, go get yourself a cramp buster throttle control paddle. That 11 dollar piece of plastic is a miracle.

[pilot]

Nice! And great job Big-E for lending a hand at the wee hours. That, is what motorcycling is all about.

[salsashark]

the real sad part was the trip odometer on the wing when it died... 994

[pilot]

Man, that might have been worth pushing it to the next gas station for a receipt at the pump~

[salsashark]

pushing a goldwing 6 miles?! no thank you

[BigE]

Well, Steve would've been the one pushing and you could've ridden along side of him...jeer...uh, cheering him on

[salsashark]

Then I could have had you sign my "end witness" form

[mtnairlover]

Wow! Now that's a ride! Nice pics, too.

Hmmm...*contemplating a cramp buster throttle control paddle*

[salsashark]

They are totally worth it IMO.

It's interesting, I figured I would have problems with my right hand having to use it more than the left while riding, but my right hand is fine.

On the other hand (no pun intended)
I'm having some issues. Yesterday, I could barely make a fist and I still can't straighten out my fingers all the way flat and put them together. I figured it was going to be an issue because around 700 miles, my left hand started cramping really bad... today, it just feels a bit sore.

On a side note, I had a very good friend break her neck in a car accident several years ago and I never really grasped the big picture of what she was dealing with after loosing partial use of her arm and right hand. This has been a small eye opener... I'm certainly right handed but it's the little things that you don't even think about that become an issue like opening a granola bar or throwing the ball to the dog... just food for thought. Something to be thankful for... my soreness will go away.

[mtnairlover]

Age may have something to do with it, but...many, many years ago (when I was 30), I used to work for the Denver Post as a glorified paper thrower (Assistant District Manager). I'd fold papers from midnight till 4 a.m., then go out and throw the routes we had no carriers for. On bad days...after waking up...I'd have a tough time closing my fingers and making a fist. Those days would be the ones after a couple of days break from folding.

I think like any machinery, our bodies need constant exercise and oil in order to function properly. Enough proper hydration would be one answer, as well as a well-balanced diet and maybe using those funky hand grip thingys to exercise your hands...especially if you typically ride for a long time.

My right pinky goes numb now when I'm on any length of a ride...and that's different than last year. But, I am glad that I can still ride.