Still adding equipment to the bike getting it TAT ready.
This week I’ve purchased/installed:
RotoPax – I installed the mounting plate for my RotoPax
extra fuel tank and attached the tank. See the picture to see how and where the
RotoPax is mounted. The rear rack (ManRack brand name) I had installed
previously had the mounting plate already welded to the rack. It fit perfectly
and now provides me with an extra gallon of fuel. This is the same RotoPax I
used on the AK2 trip and used only once when I ran out of gas in Oklahoma after
riding 7,000 miles with no fuel problems (operator stupidity). RotoPax actually
makes a 2-gallon version and I may have to upgrade for the CO to Pacific leg of
the TAT.
Helmet – I bought another BiLT Helmet from Cycle Gear (see
picture for bright yellow object on motorcycle seat). I already have at least
10 helmets including a very expensive Shoei I used on AK2. So why did I have to
buy another one you may ask and my wife DID ask? Because I have full coverage
helmets, composite helmets, ¾ helmets, half helmets and even a motocross helmet
but did not have a Dual-Sport helmet. I didn’t even know they made Dual-Sport
helmets until I watched a You-Tube video on helmets recently. A Dual-Sport
helmet has the same pointed shape as a motocross helmet but includes a pull
down clear shield and this one also has a pull down sun shield behind the clear
one. I tried using goggles with my motocross helmet but I wear glasses and it
just didn’t work. I also rode last week with my full-face composite helmet but
it was just too hot and heavy. Those are my excuses and I’m sticking with them.
BTW I used it today and it worked great to keep the dust out while still being
cool.
This week Woodrow finally took the written test and received
his motorcycle learners permit. Up to now he could not ride with the rest of us
on streets or highways so has been missing some valuable practice time. As a
result, we planned on taking him out for his first ride on the road. Our
original plan was to meet Sunday morning (today) at 6:30 a.m. and do a section
of the Trans-America Trail (TAT) that runs through Arkansas. This would be from
Beebe (Hwy 67/167) to Damascus (Hwy 65). This TAT section would be
approximately 66 miles of 2-lane paved country roads plus a good number of
gravel and dirt roads. Of the four of us, only Woodrow, Terry and myself were
able to make the trip. We had a late departure due to unforeseen problems so
didn’t get started until 9 a.m. but since the temperature at 6:30 was a bit
cool, the 9 departure was perfect.
In order to get to the start of the TAT section at Beebe we
had to ride from North Little Rock on paved roads and highway. This being the
first time Woodrow had been in traffic we took the back roads most of the way
to Beebe. It took a while to get him to increase his speed from 35-40 mph to
the 55-60 mph we needed to keep up with traffic. It’s hard to even think what
must have been going through his head since I started riding scooters and then motorcycles
at 13 years old; that would be 54 years ago. He finally started feeling a bit
more confident and we made it to Beebe to begin our first ride on the TAT.
Attached are two maps of our ride today. One is a screen
capture of the SPOT tracking web page I use for all my trips and the second is
a screen capture of my GPS track. We rode a total of 162 miles including the 66
miles on the TAT. The ride to and from the TAT was uneventful and Woodrow did a
great job considering it was his first time in traffic. We kept him in the
middle and helped keep the traffic out of his way.
This ride had several goals:
1
Give Woodrow his first street/highway traffic
exposure
2
Give Woodrow his first exposure to group riding
and demonstrate hand signals and spacing
3
Ride a section of the TAT to see how well the
maps and GPS tracks I had obtained would work
4
Use my Garmin GPSMap 64ST for the first time in
the follow track mode
Items 1 and 2 were described previously and Woodrow picked
up the skills quickly. By the end of the day he was keeping pace with Terry and
I and only needs more practice to become proficient.
Item 3 – For the last week or so I have been studying the
TAT maps I purchased from the official TAT web site and comparing them to the
GPS track files I downloaded from GPSKevin’s web page. They match about 95%
with only slight variations that don’t seem to be significant for Tenn, Miss
and AR (only ones I’ve compared so far). For our ride today I carried the two
AR TAT maps for the section we would be riding as back up but planned on using
the downloaded GPS file for primary navigation. Once we reached Beebe the TAT
track was displayed in my GPS display.
Item 4 – At first this did not go well. I’ve used Garmin GPS
units for many years but this was the first time I had difficulty actually
seeing the display clearly. Part of the problem was the 64ST is loaded from the
factory with the USA Topo maps with lots of miscellaneous details. This made
the display way to cluttered so I reduced much of this data so I could see the
TAT track. Also the default color used from tracks did not provide enough
contrast so I changed it to bright red. Another problem was that I had to look
at the GPS through the clear shield on my helmet due to the dust on the TAT
roads and this reduced the clarity of the display. Finally I had to experiment
with the zoom on the GPS to get the right amount of data and still be able to
see upcoming turns. After a few miles of stopping to adjust then riding to see
if it worked I got where it all came together. One more item I encountered that
I did not solve that caused problems a few times. When using the GPS to follow
a track there is really no guidance provided like there is when navigating to a
waypoint. You just keep the ownship triangle on the track line and turn when
you see the track line turn. The problem was when we would stop at an
intersection or turn point. If I did not pay attention before stopping as to
which road we needed to take on departure, I could not tell by looking at the
GPS. A couple of times we started off on a road then had to backtrack after I
could see we were leaving the track line. I’m sure I’m probably not doing it
right but this is an area I need to get sorted out because this was an easy
stretch of TAT compared to what we will encounter on the long ride.
TAT – I know from watching many You-Tube videos and reading
Blogs that you can expect many different road conditions on the TAT. On this
stretch it was mostly 2-lane country roads with lots of gravel and dirt roads
thrown in. I was curious how well Woodrow would do on gravel since this is
definitely not an easy skill to learn for new riders. It took a few miles but
he gradually got comfortable with the feel of the bike and eventually we were
riding at 35-45 mph; except for turns where we would slow down significantly.
Since I had the only GPS with the TAT track, I got to take lead. It is much
nicer up front with no dust in your face. Woodrow got to eat my dust and poor
Terry got the full blast of two bikes. Interesting that Terry immediately went
to the store and bought a GPS after todays ride. The only “close call” we had
today was on a gravel road. I was well out in front and stopped at the top of a
hill to let Woodrow and Terry catch up. I was stopped next to some oil field
equipment yard. I’m looking at my GPS when Woodrow went past my left side no
more than inches from my handlebar and then skidded to a stop. I was startled
and asked what he was doing. He said he didn’t see me until just before impact
because he was looking at the oil field equipment. That would not have been a
happy situation if he had hit me from behind. Of course I restrained my initial
response and said to pay attention in the future. Note to self: don’t stop
where there is anything along the road to distract the riders behind!!
All in all it was a great days ride and we accomplished the
4 goals we had planned. I’ve included a few pictures we took along the way. A
couple are at Romance, AR. where we stopped and were taking a break. We were
all talking about not having any idea where we actually were since just
watching a little GPS and following a track line doesn’t provide the big
picture. We heard a voice from the trees saying “Your in Romance and Hwy 5 is 1
mile That-a-way!” We looked around and finally saw a woman setting under a tree
by a trailer house about 30 feet away. Very funny and we thanked her for the
information. I also included a couple pictures in front of a house that had all
kinds of crazy stuff in the front yard to include a full size model of a
giraffe with a baby next to it, a 15+ foot snow man and a flying horse on a
pole. There was much more but I didn’t want to get to close to the place.
Taking these back roads through America I think we will see lots of these strange
places.
No comments:
Post a Comment