Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Orange and black

Coming home on 66 West this evening, I got a wave from a fellow two-wheeler a few lanes to my left. After a triple-take, I realized I had the pleasure of beholding Harley's XR1200.

This bike was initially released in Europe only (go figure), but HD finally brought it to the US recently. When I first read motorcycle.com's review, I was pretty excited about the first modern Harley I actually wanted to ride!

And seeing the machine on the road has piqued my interest once again. It's a darn cool looking bike, with it's in-your-face orange and swept-up, dual exhaust. I may have to happen into the local dealership to see if they've got one on the floor.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Endurance with no purpose?

Is there value in this?! I keep asking myself that question while considering a friendly invitation to an Iron Butt Association (IBA) event. Ever heard of the IBA? I hadn't...

...anyway, a workmate from my last job wants to do the Redwing 19 ride. The event honors a group of fallen military men, and bears the endorsement of the IBA as a SaddleSore - that's a ride wherein a thousand miles are completed in 24 hours.

I'm into riding with the intent of honing your riding skills and operation of the machine. Unless this is 1000 miles of back-country roads, I'm guessing the experience will fall short as a technical exercise. But I guess an event like this is more for planning and documentation. It could be fun to log progress and metrics - how short and frequent your pit stops are, your average speed, miles covered on day one, miles covered on day two, planning your stops so that you have WiFi access (after all, I'd be riding with a Touch!).

I'm so torn, but that probably means I should challenge myself and just give it a whirl. Anyone else got an opinion? Wanna join me?

Update: (2008-03-30)
I'm signed up. Saturday, May 16th. It's on!