day 9 - Bryce canyon to St. George Utah and meeting some new friends.

after another cold night in the tent I drove the last 2 miles to the park entrance, paid my 80$ fee for a national pass and parked the bike at sunrise point. Were I promptly encountered a person who managed to packed more stuff than me on a bike.

jasmine looks rather tiny next to the packed up 2008 KTM Dakkar. And the proud owner happily announced that he traveled from new jersey over 10k miles so far. I shall do the same, once I get a bike with a 5-6 gallon gas tank.

Anyway some picture from sunrise point, it was not that impressive.

but quite a view. Afterward I moved on too sunset point and went for a small 2 mile hike there and got some truly stunning pictures.

I even managed to run into some new friends at the sunset points and we took off to a ride together and they showed me some parts of utah I would not had seen otherwise.


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partly the roads were in pretty bad condition and so not that safe to begin with. But we managed all right and I was invited to spend the weekend with one and his family, which turns out to be a great weekend.

It also turned out that he has 14 different bikes... And his garage was quite a sight.

they even adjusted my new chain quick, since it got a bit loose after being just installed.

day 8 -> salt lake city to capital reef national park to bryce canon

the 8th day of my trip started with me packing up the bike and getting on the 15 Southbound till hitting the 5o East. This was rather boring, except for me battle against 50mph winds from time to time. Short quite exhaustive. But Utah is truly a beautiful state and so much nicer than Nevada or dare I say it? California

When I finally got onto the 70 it got so much worse that I took the 71 to the 24 to the capital reef national park Which was just plain stunning.

after spending several hours at this national park I continued on the route 12, one amazing street to take the motorcycle on and me having way to much fun on the curvy roads and crossing summits of up to 10000 feet. Short I was truly happy, till I arrived at 9.30pm at the Bryce canyon national park and made camp there.

For dinner we had canned chicken and macaronis cooked in chicken broth. Nutritious, but not that tasty at all...



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day 6/7 - salt lake city



these two days I spend running around at the conference, talking to people, refreshing connections and presenting my poster. Which had the worst people possible and scared a lot of people of. Once I made clear what it was about, they like it quite well and showed interest. Shows how much a wrong title impacts your work.
Another really interesting thing was how many people asked me, if our software is IPad compatible. I was really not prepared for this question and so could only answer that it should, but needs to be tested..

Do you want to test our new software? Here it is




about the motorcycle issue,

happily I found a local ducati dealer, which told me he can help me with a new chain, if I also upgrade the sprockets. Ok close to 400$ later and 4h of work I got now a new chain and sproket and the bike is like new, except I hear this ticking noise...

so tomorrow we move on to bryce canon. It should be fun.

day 3/4/5 sacramento -> lahontan nv -> salt lake city utah

since my first attempt did not work out that well I tried to ride the 80 till I can pass it and than camp somwere in Nevada.

Well the first part was rather cold and I keep asking my self for the reason of spending close to 1000$ on summer leathers, when I cover my self the whole time in my rain jacket and pants to block the wind. Slightly frustrating.

After I passed tahoe and enjoyed some beautiful sights up there

I managed to find a small spot in Nevada where I can spend the night. And it was rather beautiful lake in the middle of the desert. Were a couple invited me to stay on there site so I don't have to pay any fees for camping. All I had todo was to offer them some nutella!

on the next day I packed my stuff in the morning after being awoken by gulls and the wind to proceed to utah.
Originally I intended to camp at fort churchill, but since I was not able to pass sonora pass 3 days ago, well my plans got slightly mixed up and I needed to make some time. So I drove down americas loniest highway, the 50 and boy it is lonely. Hours on hours nothing but snow capped mountains and once in a while a semi or other car, My tires are actually flat in a part now instead of round. Its not a bad thing, just frustrating since It means I need to replace them sooner.

the gas stations also turned out to be far and in between and not up to my usual standards. Like selling only diesel and low rated gasoline, which forced me to turn around once to find another way. The gas tank is just to small on the R6 and it might not be the best touring bike after all. Also an airforce station were I stopped refused to help me out with some fuels and made quite clear that I should move on.

Once I crossed into utah, I managed to stop at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Famous for there speed testing
purpose and used in many movies like 'The last Indian'.

 I resisted and did not test the max speed of the R6, but it was tempting as several people around me did in there cars.

afterward I moved on to the hotel and checked in and calling it a night.

Oh before I stopped for the night, my bike started to make a weird noise from the back wheel and I dropped it off at the mechanic today to see what it is. The diagnose was that I need a new chain and that mine has a tight spot and is worn down to it limits. So I told them to replace it and an hour later they came back and appologized that they have non in stock, but can get one till monday. Which didn't work for me. So they lubricated it the best they could and send me my way and assured me that it should last another 2000 miles without breaking.

Well makes me kinda nervous, since the consequences of a broken chain can be from annoying and stranded on the road, to a shredded engine casing or worse locking the rear wheel and causing a crash. Maybe I can find a chain at a motorcycle tomorrow and get it installed by the dealer. But I kinda doubt it. Sadly I don't have a choice at this point and now need to decide if I go back to davis directly or continue with my trip.

the trip of the last 3 days:


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day two: twain harte -> mason valley

dy two started with me leaving from twain harte, taking the 108 east towards sonora pass, passing pine crest (6000 Feet elevation and surrounded by snow), driving throw a Hail Storm and a Snow Shower... Just to find out that the last 24 miles into nevada, well the highway was closed off there. And my research did not discover these prior. I always read 'might be closed', but this sign:

so it was time for a de tour. Happy Pathfinder I am I already had a backup lined up and happiliy proceeded towards this, throw the hail and snow again just to find out, that the highway 4 pass is closed too.

At this point I turned around and drove back to sacramento.

Fazit:

miles driven: 501
miles progress: 11

but having a wonderful weekend makes more than up for it.

day one - twain harte

the first day started out rather nicely with the check engine light coming on and telling me not enough oil. A quick stop at the mechanic fixed this and we did not put enough in at the oil change.

10 Minutes later it started to rain till my arrival in sacramento and from there it was sunshine and windy while I was driving down the 99. After the wind decided to push me over 2 lanes, I decided to reroute and use the backroads, like the 104 and 125 to the 49. Which turned out to be beautiful. I was passing a nuclear power plant, which looked magnificent surrounded by orchards.
And past he Preston Castle in Ione. The last time I was at this castle I was helping out with a photo shoot and these pictures can be seen here. So it was nice to drive by again and look at it.

At a random point in time I was totally lost and managed to find a REI store and buy some quick stuff, like a lantern, knife sharpener, batteries and first aid kit. First 100$ of the trip are already gone.

Once I passed San Andreas I had to pull over, since it started a bit to rain, but my riding skills defiantly got much better on the 49 and it was the first time I did not drift out on a certain curve.

Around 8.45pm I arrived at the 128 and it turned very dark, started to hail and my one headlight blew out ( I have too) . So tomorrow I need to find a place which sells me a new head light. At 9.00pm I arrived in twain harte and was struggling with the dark and the hail, trying to find the main entrance, when a truck pulled me over and it turned out to be ashley who arrived at the same time and so I followed her to the cabin and got off the bike.

Now how to get the gloves try till sunday evening, this is going to be a good question.

Also while sleeping at the cabin I realized that my sleeping bag is not warm enough and even with a liner and fleece pants it turned out to be to cold.

It also turned out that I forgot my sweater/jacket and now need to find a REI store tomorrow around the way to get a sweater to keep me warm at night.

ok the trip is final and I'm leaving in 120 minute for twainharte...


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and hope to return there at the 6th of June 2010 in one piece...

23.05.2010	Sunday	Mason Valley
24.05.2010	Monday	Hickison Petroglyth Recreation Site
25.05.2010	Tuesday	Bonneville Salt Flats Statepark
26.05.2010	Wednesday	Salt Lake City
27.05.2010	Thursday	Salt Lake City
28.05.2010	Friday	Bryce Canyon
29.05.2010	Saturday	Bryce Canyon
30.05.2010	Sunday	Bryce Canyon
31.05.2010	Monday	Zion
01.06.2010	Tuesday	Zion
02.06.2010	Wednesday	Valley of Fire
03.06.2010	Thursday	Death Valley
04.06.2010	Friday	Death Valley
05.06.2010	Saturday	Twain Harte
06.06.2010	Sunday	Twain Harte

trip preparations,

time to plan what I have to pack so I don't forget half of it like always.

sleep:

• sleeping pad - x
• sleeping bag  - x - need to buy one which is warmer for the next trip...
• tent - x
• sleeping bag liner - x

cooking:

• stove - x
• knife - x
• spoon/fork - x
• 2 x gas - x
• water filter - x
• 2 x 750ml bottles - x 

clothing

• fleece pants - x
• fleece shirt  - x
• under armor shirt - x
• under armor pants - x 
• under armor socks - x
• ultra light zip off pants - x
• small hat - x
• light jacket or sweater

general

• 10 feet of rope - x
• hand warmers - x
• some bags
• head light - x
• camera -x
• memory card - x
• backup battery
• matches - x
• spare keys -x
• sun glases - x
• ear plugs - x
• latern - x
• knife sharpener - x
• backup knife - x

hygiene

• sun creme - x
• toilet paper - x
• towel - x
• tooth brush - x
• spare contact lenses - x
• contact solution
• allergy pills - x
• band aid - x

entertainment

• books
• ipod - x
• iphone - x
• headphones - x
• iPod charger - x

motorcycle

• backup gloves - x
• rain gear - x
• brush - x
• oil for chain - x

did I forget anything?

the preparations for my utah trip are slowly coming to an end and the wallet is close to be exhausted. Well I spend about 400$ more on the preparation than I wanted too, but better safe than 'skin surgery'.

Also thanks to a friend it looks like ashley is finally enjoying her on the back of the R6 and survived a bit over 60 miles last weekend none stop. Now I just need to find a way to feel comfortable my self with having her on the back at higher speeds. Just to worried that I loose her.

Guess we will add this to the stable next january if everything works out.

right now I'm trying to discover a new hobby, short making a chess set from firewood and learning to work with pine and alder wood.

Wedding time,

well yet another pair of friends decides to tie the knot and so It was a great possibility for me to grab my photo equipment and shoot this event. Running around, switching lenses forth and back. Trying to not interfere and avoiding the whole 'pose here' or 'smile there' disaster.

but I truly hope I never meet a groom with a white reflective tuxedo again...

Oh yeah I also had the chance to provide my delicious smoked tri tip. Which is rather simple to make:

ingredients:

• 3-4lbs tri tip
• salt/pepper/cardamon
• 5lbs charcoal
• 4 pieces of wood, hickory

preparation:

mix a handfull of pepper and salt with 2-3 teaspoons of cardamon. Rub it all over the meat and let rest for 2-4 hours, depending on desired taste.

prepare smoker and heat up to 220F and let the meat smoke for 30 minutes a pound. Remove around 160F internal temperature.

let rest over night and serve the next morning. TADA

-

And another jacket...

Well after 2 month my latest (third!) motorcycle jacket broke now to during basic riding I gave up on the Tourmaster brand and returned it to the store. So I was looking around for a new jacket to replace it.

To say it short, they had to happen a Dainese perforated leather jacket in my size for sale. Can't mention the price, it was just to good to be true. But it was a lot less than Dainese normally sells for.

Now I have a bright jacket and finally not the 'Geek' look anymore as I had with bright yellow one.
Another nice side effect is that the jacket is a lot tighter and closer to the body so the wind pulls less on me.

(Sorry sunshine)

Now I still need to get a pair of pants to go with it.

Aventinus

last night I went shopping at my favorite grocery store to get all the ingredients for my by now famous cheese fondue. While I was desperately searching for a lager, which is required my eyes stumbled over a violet/purple bottle of beer, called Aventinus. Understandable I was incredible excited. Since I discovered this beer at a tiny bar in germany 2 years ago and managed to go there with Ashley last christmas and rediscover this beer. Which translated in her steeling my beer...

To avoid this happening again I bought the complete stock of this beer at the store. A whopping 4 bottles. I think someone is going to be very happy wednesday night.

The Streets of San Francisco


The weather is finally getting nicer here in california and so I started to extend my rides from the Davis/Sacramento/Auburn area to the Bay Area.

First stop was my favorite american city, San Francisco and I have to say it's quite different to drive there by motorcycle and not by car.

First of all, you need about 45-50 minutes from Davis to SF, instead of two hours. If you take the bay bridge. Basically traffic jams don't exist anymore, thanks to the california law of splitting lanes. Now if you take the Golden Gate Bridge, you can't split lines anymore. The roads are to narrow and so the way back was more like 2.5 hours and my left hand was killing me after being for 1 hour stuck on the bridge in the traffic jam. Pull clutch in, Pull clutch out, Pull clutch in, Pull clutch out...

Reason of being there?

Now why did I actually go to SF? There is this great store, called Johnson Leathers, which provides custom made armor protection for you and your bike. Obviously I'm not rich enough to spend 1500$ on a custom made outfit. But I did get some underpants, so I can ride in jeans/cargo pants and have impact protection, but sadly barley any abrasion.

They did offer me to make a pair of perforated Leather Pants till the next weekend for 500$ to go with the underpants, but I had to decline. Maybe at the end of the year when my wallet recovered from the trip preparations.

For now I hope to be able to find some mesh pants or leather pants at a motorcycle outlet store for 50-100$ to help with the abrasion.

It is funny, you spend all this money on stuff you never hope to use.

Let's see

200$ 3 Season Jacket, which ripped again. So I have to return them. Maybe tomorrow...
100$ Summer Jacket ( which I already wear, whenever I ride in davis. 80F are already to hot)
230$ Back/Chest protector
180$ Winter/Fall pants
120$ Leather Gloves
400$ Helmet
200$ Protective underpants

Sadly my favorite 'motorcycle' headphones broke last week and I don't really want to spend another 200$ on them to buy them again. I mean they only lasted 8 Month, which does not speak of the quality. But they did have great noise isolation.

Maybe I give a Scala G4 or Blueant F4 a shot next? I just don't like to be forced to connect my IPhone/IPod over Bluetooth. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer good old wires for music transfer. I tried to use my old Sennheiser CX300 today, but they don't isolate the wind noise and so are useless. Guess I have to give up on music and use foam ear plugs again to filter these frequencies.

Another reason for going to San Francisco is because I really love to ride the motorcycle and to explore parts of california I would never see by car. Why would you ever take back roads in a car?

On a funny note, I had no problems starting the bike at all at the steep hills in San Francisco. Sure it was a bit noisy and whiny, but I did not stall it and it had more than enough power to keep going. Now If I could avoid to get my legs roasted by the engine heat in stop and go traffic . This would be a plus...

The scotch tasting experience.

For some reason a lot of people around me like scotch, mostly single malts and so I thought I need to test this sometimes to see what this all is about. Also after my last vodka experience I just can't go near to vodka anymore :(

So after reading up a bit, I found out that there are basically 6 types of whiskey

• bourbon
• canadian
• irish
• scotch
• single malt
• blended
• blended malt

this seems to be all quite pricey and so I decided to stick to scotch for now...

Since I always try to keep an open mind my first approach was 45 days ago trying to get a collection of some cheap too medium priced whiskeys to cover each of the regions with 2 bottes. Why 2? So that I have a comparison and give each region a fair chance. The statistical correct way would be 7 different bottles, but neither my liver nor wallet permits this.

The Regions

Lowland:

nothing in the collection so far, need to find one of these: Auchentoshan, Bladnoch, and Glenkinchie

Highland:

Glenmorangie Original

Islay:

Bowmore 12
Laguvilan 16, I only tried a glas of it at a party, but it was incredible smooth and tasty. Defiantly my preferred whiskey right now. Now I just need to find a bottle somewhere for under 80$.

Campeltown:

nothing in the collection so far, need to find one of these Glen Scotia, Glengyle and Springbank,

Speyside:

The Maccallan 12

The Glenlivet 12

The Islands:

nothing in the collections yet, but people highly recommend Highland Park.
I did try a tallisker 12 from the Island of Skye and was not a fan of it at all, way to sprity for my taste.

The other whiskeys?

Just for the sake of comparison, I added

blends:

chivas regal 12 - I really don't like it, but it's great for BBQ sauces. I need to get a bottle Johnie Walker Green sometime.

ireland:

Jamison 12

Drinking it?

Since I know from past experiences I neither like whisky in mix drinks (except manhattans, but this is canadian whiskey) or neat or on the rocks. Which means I have to water it down. After a bit of testing It turned out to be the most tasteful with 10-15% water from norway on a glas of scotch. Yes I actually did test water from different countries in different combinations.

Enjoying it?

It is really impressive how much the flavors varies between a highland and an Islay scotch for example. I tried Glenmorangie now several times and I just dont like it for some reasons, except with 40-50% of water and after standing for 10-15 minutes. Than it's quite enjoyable, but not nearly as enjoyable as an Islay.
I can't really say this about all Highland Whiskeys, since I did not try enough to make a statement on this. But most defiantly I like to continue the exploration to Speyside and Islay.

..sometimes I think I just need the right motivation to write...

since it's the end of the month and I'm running out of cash, after all the expenses of this month, I decided to put some more miles on the little honda. Since it shouldn't just sit in the garage and collect dust. Also the tank is full and the tank on the R6 is empty.

It runs great and is fun to ride, even if it's way to small for me. I think I should officially rename it from 'daisy' to clown bike/

I also did the slight mistake and took it on the freeway to see how it performs at 65-75 mph. After all it's supposed to hit 85mph. Well to say short I was scared for my live and happy to get of the freeway at the next exit. The bike is just powerful enough (don't attempt to pass anything) , but just to light at 158kg/350 lbs to withstand the wind from passing cars and trucks. Also the skinny front tire is not helping much either and gets stuck in every potluck pothole.
Short It will not see the freeway again and stay in town and in parking spots for ashley to practice.

On the bright side, Rebels in this price range are selling currently for 2800$, so I should be able to sell it for what I bought it for + registration once the time comes.

I also think it shrunk in the rain...

last night I encountered the first snatch with my upcoming road trip.

I was not able to pack all my stuff on the bike and don't even have enough space to take the camera with me with more than a single lens. This is just unfair.

The I ordered two bungee nets to see If i can use them to tie down my tent/sleeping pad/sleeping bag on top of the tail-bag. It's somehow the only chance to move it.

On the bright side my seat upgrade arrived and after getting used to it, it works quite well. It insulates me a bit more from the engine heat and dampens quite nice, while even raising me about half an inch - an inch. (1.3 - 2.6 cm) higher. Which relaxes the riding position a bit and decreases my knee angle. Actually while writing this I notice that my legs are not totally cramped up right now, which is normally the case.

The disappointing part is that it removes a bit of feedbag from the bike and you feel like you 'float' on the bike. I know it's the purpose of the pad, just strange. After 200 miles I was still being happy on the bike and was able to take the curves a bit more aggressively, to see how it behaves there. And it works quite well. I do need to push the bike a bit more to counter the floating on the pad to the right or the left, but overall I easily double the distance I can ride and will see how much I can push the bike tomorrow. I really need to get some pants next. At 80F+ my current pants just cling to me and are incredible uncomfortable. I hope to get this fixed at the first of the may weekend, once I got money again, now if I just could raise the handle bars an inch and move the controls an inch back I would be in heaven. But I think they call this a yamaha FJR and it would make more sense to trade the bike instead of investing money in it.

I also managed to submit my abstract for the conference in amsterdam and paid for the registration. Short I will be there soonish, but now my credit card is maxed out with the tire purchase, hotel costs and registration fee for 2 conferences, well I should be reimbursed in june-july.

One another note, I'm riding the R6 now since 5000 miles + without any major technical issues. I even managed yesterday to replace the brake fluid, which only took an hour for all 3 brakes, after my practice run on the Rebel. (This did take about 3 hours for one brake and spilled fluid all over the floor)

Last, but not least. I managed to sign the lease for a townhouse in north davis for the next year. It's a bit early, but I hope all works out with the visa. In the worst case I have to sublease it to someone.

My vacation is now roughly one month away and the whole setup for the 'Expedition' falls into place, more or less, but got more expensive than expected.

Got

• new tires
• tire patch kit
• saddle bags
• tail bag
• tank bag
• tent
• sleeping bag
• camping kitchen (mini stove)
• ultra light gear for different temperatures
• Airhawk seat for the bike
• touring windscreen
• gps mount
• digital camera - D80
• digital video camera
• 16GB + 8GB SD Card
• wired charging system for GPS and Phone into the bike
• tripod
• water filter
• sun lotion
• my standard hiking hat
• bungee cords

Needed:

• a pair of motorcycle pant's, since my over pants are getting way to hot and won't keep the protectors in place
• small can of chain wax to carry with me
• 1 gallon fuel tank for worst case scenarios
• camel back for water

ah it happened again, I missed the death valley 'flower show' again. It only happens for a week or two a year

I'm slowly making progress with my vacation plans and it all starts to come together. My main goal is to keep it between 2-4h of riding each day and camp as much as possible while doing it. So this is the current route.

Now I just have to find a way to strap a gallon of gas and a gallon of water to the bike. Next to the tent, laptop, conference outfit, hiking outfit and liners.


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the perfect crepe recipe

I think since close to 5 years I try now to create the perfect crepe recipe and I think today I succeded!

Current recipe for sweet crepes

ingredients

3 large eggs
2 table spoons melted butter
2 cups of flour
3 cups of 1% milk
1/2 table spoon vanilla extract
2 table spoon white cane sugar
1 zest of an orange

directions

put the flour into a bowl
add the butter
add the milk
add the orange zest
mix this all together till it’s smooth
add the eggs
mix it all together
add the vanilla extract
add the sugar
mix it all together

slightly grease a pan with some butter over medium heat and start making the crepes.

They will be thin and delicious. Perfect to be served with some vanilla ice cream and apple sauce.

upcoming project for April, checking the valve clearance before my bike trip:

http://www.r6messagenet.com/forums/r6-how-guides/14272-how-valve-clearance-check-adjustment.html

and no it's not a joke, but I'm not going to pay 1200-1500$ for the adjustment. I also need new brake pads.

--

Mein april projekt wird das messen und justieren des Ventil Spielraums an der R6 sein. Ja ich koennte zum Mechaniker meines Vertrauens gehen, aber der will dann gleich wieder 1200-1500$ fuer das justieren.

Ich glaube das koennte ich noch hinkriegen. Ich muss sowiso einen Oelwechsel machen. Und die meisten Werkzeuge habe ich eh herumzuliegen.

Achso ich brauche auch mal wieder neue bremsbelaege.

yay my second attempt at cutting a movie is done...



the picture is also much more stable and clearer now. I have to say I'm really impressed by this little camera.

--

endlich ist mein Computer fertig mit dem berechnen des zweiten Videos vom Sontag. Und ich bin ziemlich beindruckt von der Bildqulitatet dieser Streichholzschachtel grossen Kamera.

after spending the morning riding the bike all over auburn and forest hill (a touch over 200 mils) I just don't want to sit on the motorcycle anymore, so I spend the evening having a quick photo shoot with 2 young woman for there massage and therapy salon. Pictures coming as soon as the client made there pic. So most likely by the end of the tomorrow or Wednesday.

Now I just need to sort 800 pictures and cut 5 hours movies together to like 3-5 minutes. Not that much fun...

today I finally managed to find the courage to join a local group of riders for my first group ride with 25 other motorcycles. A random mix of Harley's, vulcans, gold-wings and the odd BMW or SuperSport (Like me).

5 hours later or 120 miles I was finally home again. Yes it was a pretty uncomfortable ride, since we were going backroads (which were fun!) at a pace which was frustrating(about 15-20mph mostly), since the cruiser were not able to take the corners faster...

Well tomorrow is another ride and I'm looking forward to it. Video uploads come later, but here is a picture!

surprise surprise a bug promptly killed itself on my camera lenses and smugdes 800 of the 900 pictures...

oh my, my definatly favorite webpage is right now

http://www.ram-mount.com/


I think the right term would be that I could go gaga about all these different mounting solutions. I wish I had known about this when I still had the pickup truck.

Now were can I find a store to play with all these things. I have no idea what I actually could use of this, but the self leveling cupholder is an act of genius.

cupholder

---

eine meiner beliebtesten Webseiten ist momentan

http://www.ram-mount.com/


da ich das Konzept einfach nur toll finde und wuenschte nur ich haette die Webseite gefunden als ich noch den Pickup hatte. Nun muss ich nur noch einen Laden finden, welcher die ganzen Module verfuegbar hat, so das ich damit herumspielen kann.

Besonderst den Selbstausrichtenen Becherhalter finde ich einfach nur toll.

Becherhalter

my pathetic shaky first attempt with a way to high compression ratio...


and what is possible with this little camera, once you figure out where to mount it, how to mount it and have quite a good idea how you have to edit movies

the picture quality is pretty impressive for such a small camera, mounted on the tank at 40 miles and hour and also 80 mph looks good. Sure it's a bit grainy and there is quite a lot of purple fringing. But it's a 300$ camera with a plastic lens which can be replaced when dropped (5$) and not a 1k+ dslr.

well tonight I finally managed to find the small camera I wanted somewhere in stock and got it.


Now I really need to figure out how to use it, but here are some first results....

the camera is basically a little 5MP camera, which is mainly a 1080p HD video camera. Now If I could figure out how to upload videos to this blog...
YouTube to the rescue...



Related to the amount of laughing and fun we had, well it was well worth it and one of the best buys.

I finally ordered my birthday gift which consist of

• touring windscreen in light gray for the bike
• power outlet for the bike
• iphone holder as GPS
• new helmet cheek pads to improve fit
• tail bag for the bike for my utah tour
• little video camera

I'm still not sure about ordering the hammock, I really have to see it in person first and sleep a round or two in it. And I do have a tent. We shall see.

About the wallet, ashley still has to take me to the store, so I can pick one up.

Guess there is going to be some wrenching going on next week :)

it all makes sense...

After riding the R6 for a bit over 4k miles, which translates into another 6k miles before i need to get the valves adjusted and most likely some parts replaced. Anyway I finally understand the tips I read in the book 'Sportriding techniques' and the bike becomes more stable in the curves and stops wobbling.

So time to reread the book and figure out what else I miss understood.

langsam verstehe ich die Zusammenhänge,


nachdem ich knappe 7000km mit der R6 durch die Gegend 'geeiert' bin verstehe ich langsam die Hinweise, welche ich in dem Buch 'Sportriding Techniques' gelesen habe und kann sie anwenden. Oder anders ausgedrückt das Motorrad wird langsam stabiler in den kurven und wackelt nicht mehr so stark. Leider bedeutet es auch das ich in 9000 km meine Ventile justieren oder austauschen muss, was relativ teuer oder eine Menge Arbeit wird. Vermutlich werde ich es selber machen und sehen was dabei rauskommt.

I also tried to buy a tail-bag last night at cycle gear and a video camera, but sadly there had nothing in stock. Well it makes the wallet happy. Or wait it turned out they had a v-star and v-strom standing around and my god they are so beautiful (v-star) and ugly (v-strom), I want one to play with.


Des weiteren wollte ich letzte Nacht eine kleine Videokamera kaufen und eine Tasche, aber wie immer war nichts im Laden verfügbar und ich mache keine Vorbestellungen. Dann kann ich gleich zu amazon gehen. Ich probiere nur langsam alles fuer den utah trip zusammen zukriegen, was eine menge Zeugs ist. Es stellte sich auch heraus das der Laden eine V-Star und eine V-Strom ausgestellt hatte und ich finde die beiden Maschinen ja einfach nur schick und hätte ja gerne eine um damit etwas herumzuspielen.

v-star 2010 - cruiser

2010 Suzuki V-Strom - Enduro/Tourer bike, which ashley really likes and is one of the most

practical bikes around

They even offered me to trade my R6 for a V-Star 650 1:1 and I was tempted, except I want the 950 or 1100 V-Star and I'm really happy with the R6 (ok a bit much power and not enough space)

Der Laden bot mir sogar an meine R6 gegen eine neue V-Star 650 umzutauschen und es war verlockend, aber ich bin eigentlich glücklich mit der R6 (ausser das sie viel zuviel PS hat und etwas klein ist)

Completely unrelated (mostly) last weekend we went wine tasting in Eldorado country and the foothills and I promptly ended up buying a wine club membership for port-wines. Which gives me 4 bottles of port wine all 3 month for 90$ each time. Which averages out to the amount I spend on port wine anyway.

Dann sind wir am Wochenende erstmal Wein verkosten gewesen, was bedeutet das ich erstmal eine Weinklub Mitgliedschafft abgeschlossen habe. Naja mal sehen ob das eine gute Idee war...

I even managed to see my all time favorite car again, which I am going to own one day.

Und wie immer habe ich mein Lieblings (unpraktisch) Auto gesehen, eines Tages...

I just love the look of the classic mustangs, but I need a much higher income before I can ever consider buying on. I mean it's a 50 year old car...

This weekend I'm most likely todo some trips down to napa valley or so and next weekend we are going back to twain harte and start with some little projects on the cabin

recently I spend a lot of time traveling the country side of davis and the Eldorado hills, trying to practice and build some muscles for the trip to utah and death valley.

and I'm not sure. but I start to get the feeling the R6 was not designed for more than 200-300 miles and other than perfect roads. Which I don't really seem to find in california.

Maybe I should had done more research before I bought the bike? There are actually a lot of motorcylces out there which all fit me...

For example I still like the idea of the V-Stars, but the more I read about them the more annoying I consider that you have to adjust the valves all 4k miles, which is just to much maintenance. I do like more and more what I read about the V-Stroms, which are basically designed to go around the world a couple of time and compete directly with the BMW-GS800/1250 models.

I think I should had made an education as a mechanic after all.

After noticing some oil on the oilfilter I thought, yay another project. Finally an oil leak.

but after removing some parts

ok some more parts and even more I ended up here and think this was the issue

so I used up my WD-40 and cleaned it all to make it look pretty again.

sorry no pictures of this. But let's see how the bike behaves for the next couple of thousand miles till we get it a companion for the cold winter months and to have the girl more comfortable.

This weekend was slightly surprising.

It started all with a sunny saturday afternoon and I'm riding home, taking my favorite freeway excit, leaving a curve and guess what? A gigantic puddle of oil is in front of me, cars to the left, cars to the right and so throw I went and nothing happened, except a skid. (Glad to was already out of the lean, otherwise...)

Oh wait a second there is this other car behind me skidding up to me and not being able to brake, so I accelerate into the intersection, which is empty bad red. See a white flash and a sign: Red Light violation 370$.

So home I got and spend the next day on a nice ride with ashley. She is starting to enjoy riding on the bike and afterward I was cleaning the chain and the oil off the bike from the day prior. And while doing this I happend to drop the bike onto the concrete and into some stuff in the garage.

The second it fell I knew this sounded expensive...

• banged up and scratched exhaust
• scratch front top fairing, arg
• broken peg, annoying but not the big deal
• dent in the tank
• scratched frame saver, protecting the upper and lower fairing from breaking, yay :)

After all the only frustrating thing is the upper top fairing and the tank, cause these are pricey to replace. Which I'm not gonna do...

Pictures you want? Here they are!

oh the perfect toy for me, I'm resisting since 2 month...

ut I'm also resisting this, this, this and this