Close call while crawling to exit area: asshole drove on a bike lane

Woman on a beaten up Honda Civic was clearly rushing somewhere, not expecting any danger from normal traffic.

First hill climb on Ducati Multistrada 1200s

Here is what it's like to climb a hill without proper skills and experience.

Installing GoPro swivel mounts on my top case

Installed Barkbusters handguns to protect levers

Recently I watched a video of a adventure rider who showed his pack for 1 week for camping. One of the things that surprised me was a spare set of levers: clutch and front brakes. I thought it's a good idea and found even better solution: handguns to protect levers, turn signals and handlebar in general. I still want to get foldable lever set before  going anywhere farther than few days of riding.

I've found Barkbusters handguns well built and overall construction feels rigid enough to protect bike during initial impact in an accident and later stage sliding.

Here are few pics to show the end product. It took me 10 minutes to complete it.

New bike

What's up, guys!

I finally got a bike: shiny red Ducati Multistrada 1200s and rode it back to California. And here goes the story.

As you may know, I already had plans to buy a motorcycle on East Coast and then do a quick marathon-like trip back home. Original plan was to do it in the beginning of spring, but I haven't managed to find a good deal back then. I even started thinking that I am not going to make it this year at all. Not that there were no bikes around: 8 months of monitoring the market clearly showed a presence of good Multistradas. But as always, I just wanted a good-to-perfect deal: low mileage, Touring version, preferably with matching top case and engine crash bars. And of course, it should be sold for next to nothing. As my confidence in finding a dream bike near NYC went down, I started to look for West Coast classifieds. During that time, I made offers and went for test rides. It was done just to confirm that's what I was looking for: a pretty bike that can do few track days a year, some looooooooong hours highway touring and daily commute to our client's office.

Then I got few requests from my friend asking when I am going to do the trip and whether he can join me. I just got a promotion and was about to decline when I received an email that forced me to make a GO decision. It was reading as following: Hi Stanislav, Please be advised that you've reached you unused vacation cap and no longer going to get more vacation until you spend them. So I had two options:
1. take a week long sailing class I was eager to get for about a year
2. finally get a motorcycle, visit friends, spend a week in NYC and make a coast-to-coast trip.

In few short days, I bought a one-way ticket to New York and packed my luggage. My final bikes to check were 2 Multistradas and 1 BMW C600 Sport scooter as a backup solution. I had 2-3 amazing years on scooters back in Europe, so it was a viable option to me.

My luggage deserves a notion here since I was packing ultra-light for both casual city cloth and lots of motorcycle gear. And you know what, those gloves, boots, jackets, and pants take lots of space. All three bikes (yes, I think 80 hp two-wheeler even with automatic transmission is a bike) had no top case so I decided to get mine with me and install it once I buy a motorcycle. One of the bikes even had a mounting plate for it already installed. So I've got motorcycle apparel, electric pump, tools, top case, some street cloth, video stuff (GoPro, tripod, mounts for my iPhone and camera), laptop, gas bottle, tank bag and helmet. I managed to pack this into 1 carry-on backpack and 1 checked bag. To make it possible I used Samsonite Tote a Ton 33-inch nylon soft bag that while barely passing airline luggage standards accommodated 52-liter top case inside.

Flight and commute to the office where I left almost all my stuff were nothing worth describing in details.

All the fun started when I realized that my friend backed up from the trip in the last minute. On top of that he said since he was not informed by me on my arrival date (damn you Skype) was not prepared to meet me (i.e. let me live at his place for a few days). Bummer! A couple of calls later I reached another friend who was better prepared for the occasion: his whole family was visiting parents for another two weeks.

Next day I took a train to the dealership to see the most prominent bike of all 3.

And ... it was sold as wholesale deal yesterday and was getting prepared to be shipped. But not only I managed to purchase that bike, but I also negotiated 10% drop in price, and, also, some service and parts replacements (side case panels has a few scratches). Bang! 5k Ducati flagman for 55% of the original base cost with extras and minor aftermarket parts like windshield and Rizoma fluids containers. Yeah, the bike was three years old but in very good condition, you won't get such a bargain in SF, never!

I spent remaining couple of days enjoying the rides all over the city and area, had a photo session with me and my bike as photo models and dissolved myself in warm waters and nice beaches of Jersey Shore.

On Sunday, 08/16 I left my friends house and headed to Chicago.

Me trying my first motorcycle in 2008

I recently have found some old pics of me riding my first two motorcycles. Honda XR 250 Baja:

This one was Honda Steed 400, bike that showed me how cool V-engine may sound:

After that I knew I will buy some V-twin bike some day, I just did not know that L-twin it The Engine :)

Coast to coast trip/marathon plan

Working on trip plan for Coast to Coast trip that should take place in just 2 months. In short - it should be done in less than 100 hours to qualify for IBA Iron Butt 100cc challenge. Should be lots of fun.

I am thinking about visiting the following places and if weather permits and given I have time.

Mount Rushmore in South Dakota

Fly Geyser in Nevada

Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah

Trip ready #1: tips on how to ride in any weather using what you have

Last week I've got an email with AMA Touring tips, tricks & techniques (link 2). Given that earlier this month Jamie Robinson shared his video on what to pack I thought it's finally the time to share my experience with you.

When I made my first intercity trip on my first "motorcycle" (actually it was a scooter) and made 50 miles in just 2 hours I knew there should be best practices from experience riders that will provide valuable advice on how to pack, what to take on a motorcycle trip (regardless whether it's short or long one) and how to stay safe and comfortable even if you're low on funds. At that time the best 2-wheeler I could afford was 1991 Honda Dio AF27 50cc scooter for 270$. I didn't even had a helmet for the first 2-4 days.

Actally mine had a regular headlight and no mudguards

I started to get some apparel and gained more and more experience each and every day. I always used my bikes to commute to work as well as recreational riding (including scooter cross racing once or twice).

So after the first 6 months of chill and cold weather riding (rain, snow or just heavy winds) I had learned how essential trash bags can be: you want neither your electronics (be it a laptop or mobile phone) nor spare cloth to get soaking wet. Plus labeling it with permanent markers helps to stay organized during long tours.

Rule 1. Pack and label your stuff into several trash bags and carry few extra bags with you

The reason to get at least 2 extra bags is this: trash bags not only are waterproof, but also can work as windstoppers or just let you carry any extra stuff (like my rain suit that I had no space for in my bags on my Daytona trip when it got warmer down south) that you can not fit into your luggage. So rain or shine you may need them. I know there is really good waterproof apparel out on the market. But sometimes riding wet for hours can be stronger than those cool synthetic fabrics. And after all it weights nothing.

I heard a tip that compactor bags are the thickest thus are the most durable (at least on paper). Haven't checked them yet but it's on my list for upcoming Coast-to-Coast ride (which is taking place this year).

Please let me know how many times such a small thing as plastic bag actually saved your valuable stuff.

West Quoddy Head Lighthouse trip - easternmost point on the U.S. mainland. part 1

Every country has extreme points (points that are farther north, south, east or west than other locations), but it's usually few sets of them. Wikipedia says that there are 15 points for just easternmost one depending on size, number of states considered, etc. Since it's hard for me to ride to Hawaii or Alaska I picked 48 states set:

West Quoddy Head Lighthouse, Maine (east), Key West (south), Northwest Angle, Minnesota (north) and Cape Alava, Washington (west).

This set is approachable on motorcycle it makes it a good destination for Iron Butt SaddleSore 1000 challenge (but it was closer to 1200 miles round trip from my home if I miss no turns). In 2013 I tried to complete this challenge on my 1989 Honda CB-1 but mechanical failures (blown engine head gasket that mixed oil and coolant together) changed my plans. I was less than 100 miles from that but head to turn back. Some say that CB-1 was not meant to be tortured at high speeds for so long and that it had to fail but that day I safely made it home at 40 mph, sold my motorcycle and decided that I need something better. And "better" turned out to be custom Ducati Monster: beautiful versatile street bike that made me smile every day (except few glitches that it had with electronics, mostly sensors). I bought it in "like new" condition with many performance extras as cheap as dirt.

Yann Lepentrec dit Le Dop aka "Doberman"

When I went to Daytona Bike Week for the first time (that's going to be another post in few weeks) I needed to pack my bike for my first multi-day trip. So I started early (2 months in advance), wrote down a list of things I may need during the trip, reviewed the list a few times adding new things I though were missing. Surely there was enough time for me to buy everything, check it, test it and recheck it again. I stuffed everything into my tank bag and big BMW backpack that has a harness to get attached to the motorcycle (rear seat). I even had a test ride for 50 miles to see if everything was in place. As a side effect of that preparation for the trip I made photos of cloth, gadgets, tools and other things that may come handy on long trips.

As you can imagine, it was a no-brainier for me to pack essentials using tested list in just a few hours and a short trip to the grocery store to get some snacks. I prefer variety of juicy fruits, nuts and sweets so I can add as many calories as needed by choosing the right snack. Same goes for liquids. Since in most cases coffee is bad for motorcyclists I take 1 Qt thermos with black or green tea.
My absolute favorites are chai tea with milk for colder weather and iced green tea with lemon for a hot rides. Plus hydration pack with sports drink mixed with water as 50:50 solution of 2 Qt size. This gives me enough liquids for a warm day. And I can use my hydration pack as an ice pack of some sort (it helps my food/snacks to stay cool longer by absorbing heat in my tank bag during the day. From there I can reach hydration hose with my left hand, make few gulps and put everything back without even slowing down. One of my jackets (Scorpion Exo Commander) had a fixture and special pocket for hydration pack and it proved to be good solution for long rides. Too bad they removed this feature from new model of this jacket. I'm still looking for do-it-all apparel for affordable price.

I put my summer jacket on (with only windproof liner in it), attached my pants, got summer boots and 2 pairs of gloves: street and summer ones (I should have taken my waterproof pair too), put all the food and drinks into my bags and took it all downstairs.

It was 1:15 am. I know my neighbors hated me as I was starting the engine with slip on exhaust but what could I do at that moment, I bought my bike with all those upgrades and even if I have found my stock exhaust I could no longer make it work again: previous owner changed too much on my "Doberman". Nobody showed up to yell at me or even to turn on the lit up their windows while I was waiting for the engine to warm up. To waste no time I attached the luggage, checked tension on backpack straps and warmed up my muscles. You have to stretch and warm up before you ride (and during the trip too) since you need to provide oxygen to your muscles to prevent cramps.
Once "Lo temp" light went off my bike growled through somewhat empty streets of New York going north to Bronx. City that never sleeps definitely did not want to let us go too easy so I stuck on Hamilton Bridge eastbound for an hour because someone planned to perform roadwork there and did not ask me. I should have checked an alternative routes or at least for delays before we left home but one of us (me or bike, don't know for sure) forgot to do so early in the morning. Now we had to wait.

I like to start my trips at night: you have 5-6 hours of empty streets and highways that give you chance to leave any big city far away. You tend to get less tired with calm, monotonous night ride in the beginning, saving your energy and attention to later part of the voyage. In this case I can be in Florida before sunset, spending 16-18 hours on a first day and covering more than 1000 miles in 1 day.

After you break away from traffic jam, any road at any speed will feel special for at least 30 min and then some more. That's how I prefer going through New England: endless ride with short stops at gas pumps to feed my bike and myself and leave the hundreds of miles behind. The rest of my way there was pretty ok. Except 1 little thing: I was going north and street riding (short 30-90 min trips) is not the same as highway marathons in every way you compare them.

Clouds ment "less direct sunlight heat" to me. Before I started my ride I though it's cool :)

In cases like this one I always remember my father telling me: "It's better to get more layers than you think you may need. In worth case you just take it off. But if you miss a jacket or sweater you can not simply go back if you're hours or days away". So I try to always take extra pair of gloves, warm cloths and balaclava with me. And I did the same this time. But since I was expecting to have 70-77 F for the most part of that day I felt like it's too warm I decided to get summer mesh! jacket with windproof liner. I could not have been more wrong with my choice: constant high speeds for 24 hours make you loose heat real quick. I wanted to save some space and left insulated windproof gloves at home. Who need them anyway in summer, right? Wrong! Getting tons of air through my sleeves made me cold and angry in just a few very short hours. Thanks God I've got some Yankee Ingenuity with me :).

You can notice glove perforation that was not very welcomed that day

plastic bag goes here

I took few plastic bags I wrapped around my wrists to prevent air coming in easily. What a relief! Was it a perfect replacement for proper garments? Of course not although it provided enough insulation to retain most of the heat inside, providing more comfort and thus saving some energy to let me last longer.

Another thing we all know for sure is that urban people tend to rely way too much on technology and all it takes is no Internet to make value good old paper maps (or get another gadget to postpone enlightenment). My cell phone coverage was always close to perfect everywhere (that's why I changed my carrier years ago in the first place). But I should have considered this: 43 people per square mile (1.3 millions of people live in Maine) is way too low to have LTE coverage on the outskirts of the state. Many mobile apps offer offline maps caching so you don't need data coverage to find your way. But we all know that as a last resort you can ask real people if in need. But I wish I had a paper map of the remote corner with me. Don't get me wrong, I had a bird's eye overview of my route from home to the final destination. But all I actually needed was a piece of Washington county size or smaller with street names. It could save me from riding extra 40 miles 'cause I missed my turn.

My biggest fear at that point was the lack of gas stations. And I guess it's normal, given that my bike have about 110 miles range. Once you filled up you may forget about the need to get fuel for 60 minutes or slightly more. In fact, it's not a lot but still acceptable. The only problem I can think of is a need to refuel at night. Service areas are almost non-existent and the rest will close at 5 or 9 leaving you with an empty tank in the forest. No, the best way to spend a night for sure.
But to my entertainment things were ok and I was enjoying the ride with no cars/police around.

Sometimes you see no cars for many miles

I passed Lubec Municipal Airport and noticed few great places in town: lighthouses, smokehouse museum, gallery and beautiful scenery everywhere you lay your eyes on.

There are 3 other lighthouses in the area: Mulholland Point Light is one of them

Lubec, Maine

Smokehouse sign is still there

Where is the traffic? And yellow cabs?

McCurdy's Smokehouse Museum: this place was a herring smoking facility before in 1991 it was closed.

After 10 minutes ride in the West Quoddy Head park I arrived to the lighthouse. There were few motorcycles parked already and a few cars as well. I took my backpack off the bike and went down the road to visitors center.

I was not the only motorcyclist there

This place is kinda popular among tourists and even locals

Part 2 of the trip

West Quoddy Head Lighthouse trip - easternmost point on the U.S. mainland. part 2

And here it is: West Quoddy Head lighthouse! The easternmost extreme point of US mainland. The closest point to Europe.

Lighthouse tower is 49 feet height

Lighthouse was fully automated in 1988 and has a range of 21 miles (33 km)

I love big water like ocean or sea: it's never the same, always shines with different forms and colors. You can almost hear it here:

In prospect wide, 

The boundless tide! 

Waves cease to foam, and winds to roar; 

Without a breeze, 

The curling seas 

Dance on, in measure, to the shore. 

Who sings the source 

Of wealth and force? 

Vast field of commerce and big war: 

Where wonders dwell! 

Where terrors swell! 

And Neptune thunders from his car?

Ocean was quite calm that day

In total, I spent about an hour or two there (had a lunch that I took with me, wandering by the shore). But since my plan was to get home without staying overnight in hotel I needed to head back early. So I washed my faceshield, attached my tank bag and off I went.

Ready for a nice ride back

Riding back was quite inspiring: with every mile I made I grew more and more excited. Almost to the point that I didn't want to stop for more than just a few minutes to fill up the tank and leave. Partially because it was getting darker and I didn't want to stop for the night in CT or MA: it was too close to home. But that's where you can get into trouble because people often tend to disregard safety rules and are ignorant to vital indicators: like body heat or how tired they are, etc.
In my case, I needed some warm cloth to retain body heat. And I could easily buy it even in the gift shop near lighthouse or any shopping mall. But you would loose precious time, I thought. That's kinda dumb thinking since it could end up in an emergency in no time. Losing heat = getting exhausted faster = bad reaction time = higher risk of crash.

Views are awesome

We managed to breeze through Massachusetts with the last sunlight. Rhode Island welcomed us with a chill and humid air but quickly introduced some traffic to help me stay warm. I was thankful as it entertained me for good 15 minutes and then I started to feel tired again. And one of the best solutions to boredom and sleepy feeling is signing aloud. So that I did. I was singing all the songs I remembered looping my playlist in my head over and over again. After 30 minutes or so I continued with my own creations to simplify lyrics and sync the beat with road speed and conditions.
Time passed by. I knew I was close, it was the last filling of the tank before I reached New York. My heart started to race and so I had nothing to do but start making a mental plan of what I'll do when I come home. My body was reminding me of all the hours I spent in cold North-Eastern summer winds. Ok, so I'll make a tub and hot black tea with milk. Or just milk and cookies :) Or just a shower and no tub. I actually didn't care anymore...

My Low Fuel light lit up and I started to look for a gas stations. But there was nothing for miles ahead. It's probably a good idea to create bigger fuel tanks for motorcycles. At least as an aftermarket part to add extra 2 gallons that will give additional 50-80 miles per tank. Believe me, that would be my first priority purchase on probably any motorcycle except Ducati Multistrada and BMW G1200GS Adventure. First one has decent range and bigger tank will probably make it look less sexy. And as for BMW, well it has a badge of the longest ride on a tank (7.3 gallons is a LOT of fu half a tank at night, outside of city/town - fill up at any gas station for a piece of mind. In this case, you'll actually save some time because businesses tend to close for some reasons and even if gas pumps are up and running you may need to see a cashier solve some technical issue. First two were closed so I drove further and further away from a highway to find a fuel. It took my 15 to 20 minutes to fill up. That's 2-3 stops in service areas with enough fuel to make it to the next one if something goes wrong. Just saying.

It was past midnight when I entered Manhattan: road construction was still in progress and cars packed the road. I support legal lane splitting but not in the case like this. The throughput is low and any accident may block few available lanes and stop people for hours from getting to their destinations. It's definitely not going to improve public image of motorcyclists or even provide a case to ban lane splitting completely. So I had to drag my feet for about an hour until I had a stretch to cool down myself.
Yes, you got it right, I was complaining about the heat just a few hours after I was begging for it. Sometimes all you need is a change of scenery from the city to outbacks, highway to narrow streets, forest to plains to miss what you had just 30 minutes ago. So I slowly rolled last miles to my apartment recalling all the fun that happened for last 24 hours.

I made it. 1500 miles in 24 hours. And who cares if I have a patch or not. I rode street bike to the easternmost point of USA. 3 more to go
.