Upcoming Weekend

This weekend we take my daughter to the airport to send her off to her father’s for a month.  So for now, I won’t ride so that we can spend more time together and get her packed.

What do I plan to do for this month?  Ride the scooter up to b’ham and practice on the msf course lot that’s by the mall.  At the end of July I’ll be taking the msf course on one of their bikes, which have clutches and are heavier than my scooter.  At the very beginning of the month, 3 books from amazon should arrive:  “Proficient Motorcycling”, “More Proficient Motorcycling”, and “How to live without owning a car”.  I’ll be reading those three books in July. 

I’m also going to cut out grains from my eating habits again.  Without my daughter here it should be easier to do.  I’d also like to set up some kind of regular meal thing….where like it’s pot roast monday and spaghetti (w/ green bean noodles) on thursday, or something like that.  So that there’s no thinking about what to cook that night.

I’m also going to start up TTapp again because I really want to flatten my tummy area so that I can eventually get riding gear that fits me better.  And I’ll resume the WiiFit stuff as well to help with balance and core muscles, as well as to get me moving (without having to go out in the allergy zone).

And I’ll be working on the decluttering and dedusting the master bedroom, master closet, and livingroom/kitchen.

The idea is that I can’t go out riding until I’ve got one area cleaned up and done the Ttapp.  Then I can go out riding and practicing.  Then before shower time in the evenings, I do the WiiFit for 30 points minimum. 

So that’s the plan, now how much will actually be carried out??

56.6 miles….revisited

I have really bad allergies.  One of these days I’ll post here something I wrote in a forum.  For now let’s just say that I have violent sneeze attacks, itchy dry eyes, and a bit of a fever from a recent allergy attack.  This poses a bit of a danger for me on the scooter as if I sneeze even once, I’ll lose control of the scooter.  It also poses a risk if my eyes hurt and itch so bad that it distracts me from seeing the road and my surroundings.  So I’ve been taking steps to cover it, so it doesn’t effect me as much.

I’ve also been concerned about my scooter.  I’m pretty sure that a few days ago someone was checking it out while it was in my yard.  And I know that on that day one of my neighbors was having a bbq with friends over, and that after a short ride around the neighborhood those visitors began talking about motorcycles and such upon seeing my scooter.  Was it one of them checking it out later that night?  I dunno.  I just know that the covers and locks had been moved from how I had them…in such a way that I can’t imagine anything but a strong wind alternative…which we hadn’t had.  And even a wind can’t move a gallon of water out of the way of seeing a certain portion of the scooter.

Anyhoo, so I had to wait until Tuesday for the motorcycle shops to open up.  I called one in Burlington and asked them if they had a disc lock smaller than 10mm (it turns out that I need smaller than 8mm), or one of those throttle locks that keeps the throttle from being able to be turned.  The guy said sure, we got some choices for you.  So when Richard got home, I had him follow me to the store.  It was my first time traveling specifically on that 50mph road, and included another 50mph road all the way to there.  I wanted to take the scooter so that I would know right away that the lock would fit and not waste my money on something I can’t use…again.  And I wanted Richard to cover my back as I attempted those two roads for the first time.

CainLake road, the road I HAVE to take to leave the community I live in, was the first, of course.  I was nervous, and was doing about 40-45 on the Buddy speedometer, which means about 35-40 actual mph.  On straighter ways I tried to bump it up to 50mph which means about 45 actual.  When I got to the end which is in the town of Alger and their one yield light, I made the turn onto the next 50mph road, and pulled over into a parking lot so I could catch my breath, and calm down.

When I was ready, I waited until all vehicles behind us had gone wherever they were going and noone was turning onto the road I was about to go on.  And then I scooted out onto that road.  I pushed myself to go up to 50mph.  It was scary.  I had to lean forward so that the wind wouldn’t knock me off.  It’s a mostly straight road, thank goodness.  But there’s also areas where you’re suddenly being buffeted by crosswinds.  Trying to maintain about 45-50 buddy mph and stay on the road while being hit by crosswinds wasn’t fun.  But I stayed on, though a little unsteady once in a while.  The funnest part..not..was when a semi or very large truck would pass by heading the opposite direction.  There’d be a blast of air hitting me from the front left.  So each time they’d head towards me, I’d dig in my heels and grip on the handlebars and lean forward a little more and lower my head a bit so that the blast of air would flow over the helmet easier instead of rocking my head back.  This helped me stay straighter on the road as well.

Finally we arrived at the store.  Went to their lock section.  And saw that they had only one disc lock…10mm sized.  And a few cable locks.  But not throttle locks.  WTF???  So basically, other than the experience, it was a wasted trip.

So we headed back home.  This time I quickly accelerated to 50mph, and even pushed up to 55mph, but after 55mph there seemed to be a chance in the sound of the engine or something that I didn’t particularly like, so I kept it at about 55-53mph.  Even so, The Bug took the couple of hills pretty well while only dropping speed slightly.  It’s kind of funny, wide open throttle to go up the hills didn’t give that weird sound/feel, but heading towards wide open throttle on flat ground did give a weird sound/feel.  So maybe it’s not the engine but something else that doesn’t like going more than 55mph.

By the time we got to that yield light again, I took another break.  And here I could feel the allergies really kicking in.  I’d be lucky to get home without a sneeze.  At this point I realized that it doesn’t matter what it looks like, I’m going to have to wear my allery face mask for each ride.  That or get a bandana to cover my mouth and nose real soon.  Unfortunately, other than a full face helmet and it’s claustrophobia inducing closedness, I’ve got no way of protecting my eyes from the allergy stuff.

So finally I was ready to go onto the CainLake road again to get home.  I feared that I was going to sneeze at any moment, though.  I tried to keep the scooter to a 50-55mph limit.  Other than some curves I didn’t know if I could take at that high a speed, I did pretty good.  And sooner than I anticipated, we were at the final hill just before the community entrance.  That was really fast!  and much easier particularly after that longer road that took us to Burlington.  It’s like, CainLake road was piddling stuff when compared to that other road.  But I do think that Richard being behind me helped ease some of the crunched feeling.  He stayed far enough back that I had plenty of space, AND we were at a decent speed that the cars behind him weren’t going to be passing him.  I think we’ll do another run of him behind me before we do a couple of runs with him ahead of me so that I can relatively safely experience cars coming up behind me on that road.

So we get home and Richard immediately comes over to me and the scooter and points out that it’s smoking like crazy.  It turns out that some kind of rubber flap is hanging over onto the exhaust pipe and is melting onto it.  A small chunk had melted off by the time we got to it.  I don’t know how that flap is supposed to be situated on the scooter.  It has four slits in it, but only one is being used.  There are two thick wire sets running through the slit, as if they are being used to hold the slit into place.  But I don’t know if the other three slits are supposed to be used similar or not, nor how that flap is supposed to be set up.  We think it might be some kind of splash guard to help keep water and dust out of sensitive areas.

I didn’t have a problem this trip with vapor lock.  But I did forget to unscrew the gas cap after stopping to help release the pressure in the gas can/line.

Oh, and on the way home there was a small black squirrel that damned near did me in.  I know nothing about swerving, and he pushed that point home.  No, he’s not hurt, just confused and/or stupid.  As for me?  I got the point.

56.6 miles

I will write about this as soon as my eyes stop burning!!!

(allergies)

22.6 miles

So far, the 125cc has a lower sound to it, and the feel of a lot more power to it.  It’s got a nice rumble to it instead of the higher drone of the 50cc.  It has a lot of pick up and go…a bit too much, lol.  I just have to get used to it I guess.  There does seem to be some weird thing going, that it’s almost like an all or nothing kind of start.  I start to turn the throttle..nothing..turn some more..nothing…turn a wee bit more..zoom..the scooter is ahead of my body.  I let off of the throttle to shift my hand position, which initially places the throttle in non-go mode…and the scooter hurridly pulls to a near stop…and my body is thrown forward of the bike.  So it’s this constant push and pull thing going on, that I didn’t have with the 50cc.  However, it may just take a while to learn to adjust to it, maybe learn to be prepared for those sudden changes, etc.

There’s definitely alot more power going up hills, and even when I took it out onto the 35mph curvey road.  In fact, the amount of power was a wee bit scary on that road, because, well, face it, I’m just not ready for that much speed yet.  However, it makes going uphills actually fun!!  Alas, what goes up….must come down.  I feel as if there’s just not a good connection with the brake and the back wheel.  Funnily enough, it’s the back end that also feels slightly off during that push/pull I mentioned above.  I’m wondering if maybe the tire is low on air pressure.  Hopefully it’s nothing else.

The other issue with going downhill is, like…the 50cc I was able to release the throttle and the 50cc would coast down without the extra gas needed.  Can’t do that with this 125cc.  If I let off the throttle, it quickly slows right down so that you’re doing maybe 10-15 going down hill…unless you give it some throttle.  But as Richard pointed out…cars do similar.

So while the 50cc felt like a bicycle that’s coasting at the speed you’d be working your butt off to pedal at…. the 125cc feels nothing like a bicycle.  Not even the brakes.

Yesterday I did take the scooter out onto that 35mph curvey road.  It was nice riding it while being able to actually see behind me!!  I don’t know why the mirror adjustment was so hard on the ones on the 50cc, but this one I got the mirrors just right.  No more UPS trucks sneaking up behind me.

A car came up behind me, I was doing about 30mph.  I quickly found a place I could turn into, and allowed two cars to pass me.  A little while later a motorcycle showed up and was behind me for quite a while.  He didn’t seem rushed nor impatient, but may have thought ill of me for riding all over the lanes.  (our one lane, but side middle side)  I was trying to give him some room to pass me…figuring it’d be fast like that one motorcycle had done last week.  But he never even attempted.  And some turns I couldn’t hold the right lane and would drift over into the other 2/3 part, and then later be able to go back to the right third.  Each time I switched thirds..he’d switch to the opposite third.  That must have annoyed him…or made him laugh.  Anyways, I finally found a place that I could pull over to let him pass, he did quickly, then I went back onto the road. 

Eventually my mirror seemed to be kind of funny.  My right one.  Before I had been in awe and joy over the amount of space behind me I could easily see.  But for some reason the mirror kept showing my right arm and very little to no road.  Finally I realized that it was loose in its holder.  So I pulled over to tighten it, but didn’t have a tool.  I did what I could, which meant I reached a point where I thought I might have stripped it, but richard says if i had stripped it it would be moving around freely instead of as tight in there as it is.  I turned around and came home after that, not wanting to continue on.

Richard had put on the cowl protector and foot rest that goes with that, including the rear rack.  Unfortunately, I had noticed (and today was bugged out) that that foot rest keeps catching my pants, which stalls my lag from going where I want it to go..when I want it to get there.  Today, that was just flat out dangerous, even though I had stayed in the neighborhood.  While I see the benefit of it as a protection for the scooter thing….my safety is more important, and that foot rest puts that safety at risk.  Unacceptable.

Meanwhile, I’m still not sure if I should have the top case put on..or return.  $140 when I could possibly use a $10 milk crate?

mmmm, oh, on the 50mph road, going uphill was fine, not a problem.  Going 50 was scary because I don’t feel that i’m ready for that speed yet.  BUT, it wasn’t nearly as scary as the 50cc going at 40.  I mean, I felt comfortable that if a car came up behind me, I wouldn’t feel rushed nor a need to pull over.  And I could actually imagine traveling the road fairly regularly after I become comfy with the higher speeds.

Oh, and when I first headed out to the 35mph, on the short section of 50mph road an MC with a passenger was passing me by (opposite directions) and he gave me the two wheels on the road sign.  I smiled and lifted my two fingers off the handle, but I’m so not going to take my hand completely off the handle bar…not on a scooter, lol.  I hope he didn’t think I was being rude.  But it did have me sitting up a little straighter.  Between that and the more power of the scooter, I felt as if it and I might eventually come to be ..well…a normal part of the road..only moving..not roadkill, lol.

Yesterday’s mileage ended at 16.6, so today I added only 6 miles.  I had only intended to ride around the community here, to get used to stop and go and turns and smoothing out my speeds so I’m more consistent instead of 35 to 30 to 27 to 32 to 37 to…continue inconsistent speeds.  I’m thinking of pulling out my bicycle or so and setting up the cones in the way that the booklet recommends and learn the drills on the bicycle so that when I pull out the scooter next, I won’t have to keep stopping and starting it as I try to learn the drills.

No more Buddy50 for me!

I purchased the Buddy50 on June 6, 2008.  As of today, June 20, 2008, the Buddy50 is no longer in my life.  I really liked it, don’t get me wrong, it would be ideal for running around town in.  But for where I live, the road that I HAVE to spend 5 miles on, it was a potential death machine.  It was desrestricted.  Supposedly that would allow it to get up to 50mph.  But I seemed only to get it to go to 42..on a flat surface.  And up a hill?  30mph if the hill wasn’t much of a hill, and 10-15mph if it was a steep hill.  The road I HAVE to take?  a 50mph curvy hilly road with car/truck drivers that like to speed on it.

I had wanted the scooter so that I could use it instead of my crappy (but running) van.  I wanted to be able to ride it for grocery runs a couple of times a week, and to explore random roads and areas instead of staying at home all day.  But I was too scared to ride on that road.  And that means going nowhere.  The Buddy50 wasn’t going to work for me.

Yesterday I called the dealer I got it from and asked him if there was ANYthing at all that could possible be done to allow me to upgrade the Buddy50 to a Buddy125.  He called me back a couple of hours later and said that they could put the Buddy50’s $2000 cost towards the Buddy125, making a difference of $1300.  This means that if I did that, it would take me 2 years instead of 1 year to pay back my brother for loaning me the money to get it.  It would also mean that I made an $800 mistake.  I happily accepted.  They had an orange (tangerine?) Buddy125 on the floor.  I said I wanted that one (orange was my color of first choice, though cream is attractive and 2nd choice….except that I really love the 150’s green coloring).  So he pulled it off the showroom for me.

Richard once again took out the van seats and we loaded the Buddy50 into the van.  I drove it into Kent (2 hour drive) with my brother.  The guy took it right out of the van, and since I was earlier than expected, the paperwork wasn’t ready yet.  So my brother and I ate at a nice little Mexican restaurant..name forgotten.  Then we got back there, and there in front of the dealership was a bright shiny orange buddy just smiling at me.  I smiled back…a BIG smile!!  I even almost giggled with joy,    The dealer loaded it up into my van, gave me the paperwork and keys and I drove away with my brand new Buddy125…while feeling a bit like a traitor when I saw the cream Buddy50 sitting in front of the dealership too.  But at least someone else won’t be charged all the extra fees that I had paid for.

I finally got home and Richard helped me unload the Buddy125.  Sadly, I was too damned exhausted from the drive to take her for a ride around the block.    But seeing that cheery orange had me smiling as I took her to her new stand and locked her up..and covered her up to protect her from the rain that’ll surely come before I get to ride her.

She seems heavier than the 50, which other than needing to build up strength and such, would actually be a good thing I think.  Less bouncy on the roads maybe?  She’s a 4 stroke engine instead of a 2 stroke.  The tires are different.  In fact, I was a bit saddened that the tire’s (which are bigger) had a different type of rim than the 50.  I can’t use the fabulous locks I had found.  But the claw that I got for home locking up fits her perfectly but was a wee bit big for the 50.  I’m not sure how I’ll lock her up in town, now.  I can’t drag the claw around with me.  Damn but I had a nice locking set up.  Ah well, yet another price paid for having gotten the 50cc instead of the 125 in the first place.

As mentioned, I haven’t had a chance to ride her yet.  But if she does the supposed 60-65 max speed then surely she’ll be able to handle doing 45-50 on that 50mph road.  Take the hills into consideration and the speed might drop to 40?  But that’s still within a good range and with room to spare if I have to suddenly surge my speed.  I won’t feel as pushed, nor revved up.  At least I don’t feel that way so far, mentally.  In fact, when I even think of riding at a less pushed speed on that road AND still be keeping up with traffic safely, I feel a sense of peace instead of panicked.  And that alone makes a huge difference.  It also means that I’ll be more willing to travel on that road since I’m not as scared of it now.  It’s not as high a risk factor as it was with the 50cc.

So now, I have no choice but to get the motorcycle endorsement.  But at least I’ve got the permit already.  Tomorrow I go through my finances and left over borrowed money to see what else needs to be done or set up.  The local dealer has a top case that matches my Buddy125, they also have the cowl cover and back rack I want.  So next week I call up to set up a time and such to drive my Buddy for the first time into town so that they can put it on her.  The guy said that I could do the cowl cover myself, but that the top case is a bitch.  But that their mechanic charges by 15 minute increments and could get it done in 15-20 minutes.  So 1/4 of $85 is ??  Plus cost of the parts which will come to $358.  I also want to get insurance on it before I drive it into town..just in case…and so tomorrow morning will be contacting the insurance guy to get that going.  (I’m switching my van’s insurance to them as well, $50/6months cheaper.)  Oh, and I need to contact the motorcycle safety course and get signed up with that ($205).  Youch, the rest of this month and next month are going to be tight.

On a side note, coming back on the expressway northbound I-5, just before exit 171 (if i remember it correctly), I was in the far right lane, and decided to move one lane over.  Only a handful of cars in site (mirrors and forward combined).  After I made the change and checked my mirros to see if I had accidently cut anyone off (I’m a triple to quadruple checker), I see two bikes laying in the middle of the lane that I had just come out of.  If I hadn’t moved over when I did, I might have had an accident..either by running over them or by swerving to avoid them.  I had my brother (who hates phones) call 911 on my cell phone (he hates cell phones even more) and tell them about the bikes in the road.  It was only about 1pm or so and I didn’t want them to cause an accident.  Hopefully nothing happened to anyone and someone was able to get them out of the way quickly.

I will be starting a new category titled ’scooter buddy125′ as of today, to reflect the change in circumstances.  For those who are reading this and ride 50cc’s, just remember, I have nothing against the 50, it just wasn’t right for my situation.

49.5 miles

My “armor” came in yesterday morning.  I was so excited.  I tried it on to make sure it fit.  My daughter cried out that I was blinding her.  (the brat!!)  I was surprised at how much padding there was.  The pants have padding on the hips, and the liner of the pants has padding on the hips, too. 

In the afternoon, I took out the lining from jacket and pants and put on the over-part…the part with the protective gear in it.  Then I took my first shot at that Cain-Lake road (the one that scares me).  Basically went to one part of the community entrance, got on the road until it led up to the other part of the community entrance, and got off.  Things I learned?  I’m not ready to go faster than 30-35mph.  And I seriously need to work on my turns…I’m soo not ready to take a turn faster than 10-15mph…which means slowing way down while there’s a car on my tail.  Yikes! 

The first time there wasn’t a car on my tail, the second time there was.  That was when I wanted to get off the road quickly and took that turn at 20mph.  It’s a good thing that a) the car wasn’t turning too & b) noone was coming from the other direction on the road I turned onto.  I overshot the lane and wound up in the opposing lane, on a section where noone would see me as they come up over a short hill that I’m at the bottom of.

I went home and layed down a bit and talked with my brother a bit about the experience.  It really sucks that I pretty much have to go from 15mph in the community to suddenly 40-45mph on that road, with no inbetween stages to get used to the higher speed.  Then I thought of if I made a left turn onto that road, then it’s a short distance to a Y that will take me onto a 35mph road that winds its way for a few miles.  I could work on getting used to a higher speed there, as well as work on taking curves on that higher speed.  And get used to having a car behind me once in a while.

So I got up and did that road.  It was a lot closer than I had initially thought it was.  So was only on Cain-Lake road briefly.  Then the Y part is down a fairly steep hill.  Then the curvey road follows along a lake for a bit and into some country area, passing farms and such.  A motorcycle came up behind me early on, and then passed me.  I laughed at him.  First of all, I was doing the limit of 35mph, so it’s not like I was slow or anything.  Secondly, he had to pass over the double yellow lines that go all along that road.  Thirdly, he did so on a curve where he wouldn’t have seen another car coming at him until it was too late.  Fourthly, he seemed to make sure that he revved up his engine when he reached abreast of me…as if to show me that HIS mc could pass mine with ease.  Oh goody.  Lol.  He also had on really dark clothes and could easily have gotten lost in the shadows of the trees.  Maybe he was laughing at my neon-yellow jacket and my itty bitty scooter.  Or maybe he was just saying hi.  (for some reason, I doubt the last one, but it’s still a possibility I guess)

That curvey road passes ScooterStuff.  From what I’ve seen online, it’s mostly motorcycle parts.  I know that it’s a regular stop off for motorcycle rides on the weekends and such.  And when the weather is sunny, you can see a bunch of MCs parked in there.  My curiosity has me wanting to stop in and check it out.  But it’ll probably be a while before I do…if I do.  Imagine a little scooter stopping off to check out this place:  http://www.scooterstuff.com/index2.html .  Yeah, just a wee bit intimidating, lol.  But most the people are probably nice.  I’ll wait first to see some reactions to me on the road, heh.

Anyhoo, so that road is interesting.  There’s a set of unused tracks that cross the road at about a 90 degree angle.  It’s right next to the ScooterStuff store and also right next to a very sharp recommended 15mph curve.  I survived my first track going over!!!  hehehe.  I’m sure there’s like a couple of sweet spots for crossing it.  I’ve been tempted to stop off and ask about it.   That would probably be my reason for going in there.  Serves a dual purpose.  Anyhoo, so I drove to the end of the road until it hits another 50mph road.  As I neared it, a van come up behind me.  I was doing the limit, so I had no qualms about not pulling over for it to pass.  I didn’t feel rushed like I had on that other road.  However, since I was going to be making a U-turn I did finally pull over before reaching the turn off point.  Let the van pass, then eased up to the edge of the other road (it’s a T kind of turn off), so that I could see if there might be cars coming up to turn onto the road I was on.  And then I made my turn (not as cleanly as I’d have liked..nowhere near as cleanly as I liked).  I passed the shop again, crossed the tracks, and the road seemed much shorter going back.  Then I had to turn onto the Y part and go UP the hill (at just under 30mph…gunned all the way) and found that to get onto Cain-Lake road from there is pretty damned scary.  You have to make a left turn.  Can’t see much of anything coming from the right hand side (it rounds a ‘mtn’), and can’t see much of anything coming from the left hand side (it drops down a hill).  Even in the van I hate that turn.  It’s one of those ‘take a deep breath and just go and hope all works out well’ kind of places.

Next time I go on that trip, I think I’ll bring my camera or videocamera so that I can show ya’ll what it’s like.

So, obviously I made it back home.

Another thing I learned?  Somethings gotta be done regarding the mirrors on the scooter.  I cannot see behind me at all.  I can see out sorta along my sides, but I can’t see behind me.  The mirrors are short AND I’m fat.  So I get an awful lot of arm/shoulder and have to squeeze my arm closer to my body so that I can see anything behind me via the mirrors.  While on one of the community roads, I was pulling over because I had seen a car turning onto the road behind me.  I pulled over in a nice place to let it pass since I was nearing the Cain-Lake turn (starting my ‘curvey road’ trip).  And THAT’S when I saw the big UPS truck that had been behind me who knows how long!!

On a forum I’ve begun reading, there was mention of long stemmed mirrors, expanding the mirrors an inch or so via using a windshield, and even a picture where a person had a totally decked out scooter with a windshield and two sets of mirrors.  http://www.modernbuddy.com/forum/topic2182.html  I kind of like the two mirror set up.  Not sure how I feel about the windshield.  But in all likelihood, I’ll purchase a set of long stems, then eventually an adapter to have both, then eventually the windshield.  Options options options.  First hand experience decision making is gonna get awfully expensive, lol.

Oh, but on the forum, they did mention that the mirrors can be adjusted to go out just a wee bit more.  So this morning I went out there and finally found out how they can be adjusted (without breaking them, heh).  I’ve yet to sit on it though and see how well that adjustment works.  (because of how I lock up the bike at home and at night)

Oh, and I wound up with a bit of a headcold after the ride.  It was a bit chilly and I didn’t have the liners on.  I had a headache and my sinus’ were full (did I mention I have severe allergies and a 3/4 helmet? lol).  I couldn’t seem to warm up and I was really sleepy after being home for a bit.  Then I decided to do some Wii exercising to see if that would warm me up, yep, it did, lol.  But I’m still feeling the effects of the head cold this morning.  Note to self:  where the jacket liner when it’s a bit chilly out.

30.0 miles

Just came back from a ride around the community.  I did get lost once.  I also went up a very steep hill.  Speed going up the hill was 10mph.  It also seemed to be twisted all the way..as in instead of having a clutch, it’s a twist-n-go throttle thingy, and it was all the way..wouldn’t go anymore.  This sorta makes me wonder if maybe the scooter hasn’t been fully derestricted.  I won’t know for sure until I can open her up on a road that allows for higher speeds than 20mph.  That’ll really cheese me if it’s not.  It would also mean having to take the scooter back to the one place.

What goes up must come down.  Which meant having to ride down a steep hill as well.  Apply brake, release, apply brake, release, repeat until reach the bottom, lol.  Good thing noone was behind me.

On another road, a car turned in behind me, going the same direction as me.  There was a turn off type area that’s loose gravel and sand.  I turned off into there, my first time riding in gravel/sand like that.  It went well.  The car continued on, and I was able to get back onto the road without too much slowing down.  But this probably wouldn’t be such a great thing to do on that one road I’m scared of.  I’ll have to keep my eye out for streets and such that I could turn into if I’m holding up traffic.

I honestly worry about taking the scooter to 45 or so.  At 25 it feels light and bouncy when hitting bumpy areas on the roads.  What will it feel like at 40-45??  I’m kinda beginning to wish I had gotten one of the bigger/heavier scooters, especially now that I’ve got my permit.  The problem with those was that they were so much bigger/heavier than I, as an utter beginner, am capable of handling.  But by the time I’ve done about 100 miles on this thing, I’ll be really wishing I had one of those others.  This buddy50 is really a good learning scooter, but I’m not sure how realistic it is or a long haul one.  Like, I’m not sure how realistic it is to use as regular means of transportation to and from bellingham.

*sigh* so much to wait on until that jacket/pants comes in.  I also wish I had someone else to talk about it with.  Particular about the lower cc scooters rather than any of the bigger stuff.

19.2 Miles

Rode around the community here.  I’m still avoiding the major hills up AND down.  I went riding at around 6:15pm or so.  There were quite a few cars/trucks out, kids playing, skateboarders, bicyclers, walkers, and dogs off (and on) leash.  I didn’t ride for long, I had pretty much just wanted to get out for a wee bit.  Too bad it takes so long to unlock and lock up the scooter or these little jaunts might come more often.  As is, my initial start was pretty rocky.  At some point the scooter stalled out on me..not sure what happened there.  That was probably my second rocky start.  The others went pretty well.  It’s a little scary having a car behind me.  Especially when they are really really close to me.  But I did as the book recommended and flashed my brake lights at them.  Not that it stopped them or anything.  I’d have gone slower except that there was a stop sign just ahead, so I just slowed down to a stop.  Then made my turn.  Wow, I did a good start with a turn to boot!!  After that my starts seemed to go pretty smoothly.  There’s definitely a difference in attitude between the rocky starts and the good starts.  The good starts have a more confident gotta do attitude.  Whereas the rocky ones are kind of tentative and unsure.

My bike is really light it seems, in the not so good way.  Doing almost 20 on one of the roads, and I hit some jumbled road..bumpy.  And the scooter just bounced around.  I didn’t lose control or anything like that, just felt the jarring and thumping and bouncing of the scooter.  A little scary if I bump into that kind of thing going 50.

Riding a scooter really has you looking at the roads more often.  I mean LOOK at them, their condition, the curves, the bumps, the shoulders, the width, the hills, the hidden areas, etc.  Lol, I’ve never looked at anything so closely before I don’t think.

Anyhoo, still anxiously awaiting my armor.  The community I live in is small enough (and hilly enough) that I’ll be getting bored real quick!

Got My Motorcycle Permit

This afternoon I finished reading the guidebook that the department of licensing puts out for the motorcycle endorsement.  According to it’s little test as you read along, I got them all right.  So I drove into town on a whim to take the test at the licensing place.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to get it.  But it’s one of those things where, without personal experience to back anything up, I knew about as much as I was going to know..until I get some of that experience.  It’s 25 questions long, and you can only miss 5 questions.  I missed 4.  So I passed with an 83%.  My current license got a hole put into it, and I got a crappy pic for a temporary license.  I’ve now got 90 days until the permit expires, but it’s extendable somehow…. the score is good for 2 years…but I don’t understand how the whole expiration/renewal thing works.

The soonest I can get into the motorcycle safety course is mid July.  But that’s also the full priced one.  If I wait longer, then I can get the chance for $80 off.  And, of course, if don’t pass each lesson, then can’t go on, and no refund/discount thingy.  Soooo, what to do?

I’ll have to get it figured out soon.  Meanwhile, however, I’ve just gotta wait for my ‘armor’ to arrive in the mail before I attempt that one road between the community I live in…and the rest of the world, lol.  But, I feel a bit less stressed.  Now I can ride it without worry about it being illegal or maybe getting impounded.  I’m not so good with gray areas.  I mean, I like knowing what the obstacles actually are as that makes it easier to figure out how to overcome etc…unfortunately, I’m not a clear person myself, so it’s not like anyone else gets anything BUT gray from me.

Anyhoo…I’m happy and less stressed, and looking forward to another ride.

WiiFit, Reduction Efforts, and Ttapp

I haven’t had a chance to ride the past couple of days.    Had to get some shopping down in two different towns.  Yesterday I finally gave in and purchased two pairs of pants since the ones I have are getting holey and it doesn’t look like I’ll be reducing enough weight to fit into my older pair of pants.  I also purchased the Wii Fit which comes with a Balance Board.  I played on it for 30 min yesterday, my daughter for 30min, her friend for 30 min, and in the evening before bed I played an additional 50 min.  This morning my leg and core muscles are pretty darned tired.

I like the balance board.  But to be honest, I don’t think that the fitness part was well thought out.  I don’t mind having to open up exercises/games, but to have it all be so random is pretty ridiculous.  Like, I can be working on some aerobic games, and something will open up in yoga or strength section.  I can be doing yoga and something will open up in a balance game section.  And what opens up has little to nothing to do with the skills/muscles used in the game played that opened it up.  I would have preferred to see that one spends so much time in the yoga section, then yoga exercises begin to open up.  Or if one spends time in the strength section, strength exercises begin to open up.  Same with the aerobics section and the games section.  Though, in all fairness, it seems that if you do say a game or aerobics thing 5 times, then you’ll open up the advanced version.  It doesn’t seem to matter what score you get, just how many times you do it.  Which, I think would have been better if it was based on reaching a score..or reaching a score a consistent number of times or so.

The WiiFit will be fun to use as a good way to be up and moving.  I’m not sure about a good way of getting fit or reducing fat.  Also, I’m not sure how good it will actually be for improving posture.  All it can tell about your posture is whether or not your weight is balanced evenly and how little your feet move.  Your spine could still be contortioned out of shape and you can still get a “you have great posture!” comment.  For people who don’t get up and move that much, it’ll at least be good for that.  And despite poor posture possibilities, it WILL help with balance and fine motor control of large muscles.  (there’s probably a better term for that, heh)

Anyhoo, as I said, my muscles are pretty tired.  Of course, I was walking most the day yesterday and the day before.  My feet and legs were already very tired.  In fact, if it weren’t for the enjoyment of finding some of the exercises interesting in a challenging sort of way, I would have been too tired to remain standing to do them.  After I was done, I had R spend about 5 full minutes rubbing each foot.

And what do I have to show for it?  Well, food wise we had some cream of wheat in the morning, and then 6″ sub and a cookie in the afternoon, and the other 6″ sub and a cookie in the evening.  Yet, for some reason, my weight went up from 188.8 to 191.2 .  Yes, I know about weight fluctuations and all, but funnily enough the weight fluctuated to the highest point since I had begun trying to reduce my weight??  Anyhoo, that was a bit of a downer, heh.

One of the things I’ve been discovering is that if I think of reducing to 180 or lower, actually 184 or lower, then I actually gain weight slowly but surely.  But if I think about working towards 185 and maintaining 185, then the weight starts coming off again.  I know this sounds weird, but it’s true.  Or at least has been true like 3 ’sessions/cycles’ now.  I can look at my graphs and almost pinpoint the day I began thinking of lower than 184, and the time when I’d say something like “fine, 185 is still better than 190, let’s just get back down to there and maintain it”.

Somehow, I’ll figure out a way of getting past these and other issues.

A couple of days ago I began attempting to incorporate Ttapp into my schedule.  I really don’t like standing in front of the tv watching the same video over and over and over again.  It’s pretty demotivating to do it.  So I’m gonna try working on one exercise at a time and memorizing it so that I don’t have to do it with the video each time.  For example, I already had the Hoe Downs memorized…of course now I just gotta get myself to remember to do them after each meal.  The past few days I’ve been doing the Organs in Place and Half Frogs move in the comfort of my own bedroom.  The next exercise I need to learn by memory is the Primary Back Stretch.  I think that the Primary Back Stretch will also help with the needed stretches for the spine and legs that the WiiFit doesn’t provide.  Before and After a WiiFit session should work out.  We shall see.

*sigh*  so many ideas, so little follow through.