That looks very cool. However, my personal experience of carrying my iPhone in the window of my tank bag is that it gets overheated by the direct sunlight and then shuts down to protect itself.
I find the asphalt works good, but it hard on the bike ....
I use pledge, and soap and water I also have some other cleaner (cant remember the name, bought it from a pretty girl at a gas station, boy did they do there marketing right)
Have you always wanted to go to Colorado with your bike, but don’t have a trailer? Well here is your chance this coming July we have a spot on a trailer with your name on it. We will be leaving on the morning of the 14th of July returning on the evening of the 22nd of July, that will give you 7 days of Rocky Mountain riding.
For more details or to reserve a spot please PM me.
Being careful and being safe aren't always the same thing. Sure, there's some overlap, and you can't really be safe without exercising some degree of care, but just being careful isn't always enough. Sometimes it might even be unsafe.
Let me give an example. I might be squeezing my brake lever as gently as possible, turning my throttle as smoothly as I can, and making very gradual lane changes. I may never break the speed limit, even when the traffic around me is going five or ten mph faster than me. If I do that every time I ride, it becomes habit. I tell myself that I'm being careful, and that it makes me safer.
But what happens when that car pulls out of a driveway, or that deer jumps out of the ditch? Am I going to ready to really use those brakes or really give that handlebar a good push? What happens when I need to speed up to get myself out of trouble? Am I ready for that?
Sure, it's a great idea to practice life-saving skills on a dry, sunny day in a parking lot. But there are opportunities to practice every time you get on the bike.
Do you agree? Or is this a thinly-veiled attempt to justify "spirited" riding?
I agree, these skill need to be used what your talking about is muscle memory, I read an article where a cop was using his .38 revolver in a shoot out, he lost when they examined his body they found his empty casings in his pockets, instead of reloading as fast as he could he was saving the casings like when he was on the range. The point here being if you do something enough it becomes instinctual and if you don't need to think about it your response time when that car or dear pull in front of you is decreased, thus making you safer. You need to practice being safe to be safe.
However, like Ray said, creating GPX routes can take hours. It is detailed, sometimes finicky, but it is worth it, and in a way it is fun. I am still fairly new to it. I do not know a good way to make route sheets though, especially the pretty PDF style, so if anyone wants to help me with that I'm all for it.
The Garmin MapSource program is what I'm most familiar with, well, that and google maps... I haven't used MapSource yet to generate route sheets, but as you can see from the attached screenshots I bet it would / could work well. I think copying and pasting into Excel (assuming it picks up the columns correctly) would be ideal, then you can delete some steps maybe if they aren't needed and rename stuff or use decent fonts / spacing, etc.
So I am not a paying member of MSTA nor will I be. (Just don't see why too, if somebody would like to PM and tell me why I would love to hear) I think there are 3 types of people on the forums 1 - Member - a person who pays MSTA membership dues 2 - Volunteer - a person who does not pay MSTA dues, but does organize\host\lead rides\events 3 - " " - (no idea what its called) a person who does not pay MSTA dues and does not organize\host\lead rides or events, but just go for the rides.
Maybe we can look into utilizing the same sort of idea that the CRA uses for it's newer racers? It's call "Adopt a Newbie" Perhaps pairing up a seasoned rider with a newer rider would allow said NEWB to shadow for a ride or two and learn some of the finer aspects of what we strive to be.
I know that I have at times brought a newer or less experienced rider along with me on some of these rides. I tend to let them know the details prior to the ride and talk about riding thier own ride and pace. Oftentimes after the ride, we'll get together and let him/her ask questions and talk about what they thought of the ride and most importantly if they had fun. I may mention things that I saw that perhaps they wouldn't readily notice themselves and offer some pointers/tips. I won't hesitate to ask or suggest that we drop back or even leave a certain ride if I feel that the said rider is having difficulties with the pace and/or the conditions. It's about the safety and comfortabilty of ALL the riders on said ride.
Of course, I'm by no means an expert, but I know that having someone take an interest in you as a rider is very beneficial, helps you grow and provides you with a mentor that you are comfortable with. I know that I appreciated being able to ride with more experienced riders when I first began riding back in the late 80's. I still do and I think we all can learn something if only we keep an open mind to doing so.
I like this idea, I think that would solve the issues that have been raised. This would keep two "hooligans" from riding with each other and doing the passing that Greg was talking about. Tell them at the beginning of the ride you follow that bike don't pass that bike, it would also allow for the "mentoring" as D talked about. Thus creating better riders. This would be the ride Leader(s) responsibility to pair the riders up, but I do think this would be a good idea.
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? how unsafe