Monday, October 23, 2006

23OCT06 - Over 1300 miles and loving it

I went over the 20,800 miles mark on Maria. Bought her on October 7, 2006 with 19,437 on the odometer and passed this milestone during this past weekend's riding in the cold.

I am getting more comfortable with the motorcycle's handling as the days go by, getting more familiar with her workings and such, and most important...learning to handle her strong brakes! I read in some in the BMWMOA Forum a rather fitting description of how to apply the brakes while moving slow in parking lots: "Like ticking your son under the chin with one finger".

Learning also to pay close attention to where I want to stop the motorcycle for parking. Don't want to try and muscle this 600lb+ baby up an incline while not able to flatfoot the motorcycle! Not sure I would be able to regardless even if I COULD flatfoot the motorcycle! She is not a light motorcycle.

Paid Arapahoe County lots of money to register her in the Glorious State of Colorado so she's now fully legal. Her North Dakota plate goes into storage unless her previous owner wants it back for sentimental reasons. Rich? Want it back?

Cold ride into work this morning, low of 35 degrees perhaps, not bad at all for me and the day warmed up dramatically by the time I got out of the DMV at 1130, had to shed the jacket liner, overpants and cold weather gloves for medium gloves for the ride back to work! It got even warmer by the time I went home. I wore just a t-shirt under my mesh riding jacket and with my summer gloves had a very nice ride home. Gotta love the temperature differentials in this state!

Testing some riding tips I found on the BMWMOA forum, main one being hugging the tank with the thighs to alleviate pressure on the knees....seems to work though the rides to/from work are so short the jury is still out whether that makes a difference to the knees' comfort level.

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