Motodisiac

Obesity. Poor Fitness. Traffic. High Pollution. These are the plagues of modern American society. I just got a perfect example why.

Right across from our office, not even 1/8 mile away, we just had a new restaurant opened. Not even a restaurant, just Super Fancy fast food joint where people come for lunch.

Would you walk there? I would but one of my co-workers decided that it’s too far and drove.

In the bottom of the picture is his parking spot, silver M3 parked on the other side of the road is his car. You be the judge.

It was only 5 days ago that I wrote about Prius drivers. I got some comments in response both off and online. Basically while some people admit that the Prius drivers were somewhat oblivious others bashed me for being subjective and having I quote a “confirmation bias”. So today I got more confirmation without a bias - I was attacked by a clueless Prius.

The Eastbound traffic on the 10 freeway was a standstill even after 7 o’clock in the evening. I was cautiously splitting lanes going at 20-30 mph. I saw a small opening on the lane right off me. And then the next moment a grey Prius literally jumped into this opening from the second lane over to my right and … kept going left basically sticking its nose out to the “in between lanes space” where I was. Being a cautious rider I always keep my right hand on the front brake lever for cases like that. And that basically saved me. I abruptly stopped a couple of inches away from the Prius’ front left fender.

Few questions came to mind:

• why do you want to stick the front of your car outside your lane being almost perpendicular to the direction of traffic while in a standstill traffic?
• why do you jump not one lane but almost two lanes with a cheetah-like agility or rather with a elephant-like awareness of your surroundings while in a standstill traffic?
• should I punch a hole through the guys window?

I could answer only to the last question. I slowly rode away. He had to deal with sitting in traffic while I was on the move. In my mind that would be his punishment. And 15 minutes later after I completely beat the traffic and I was at home safe and sound writing this post.

Looking back I was trying to assess if I did the right thing by braking instead of accelerating and trying to get out of the predicament rather than stopping abruptly. Chances were that had I gunned it I might have ended up hitting the Prius’ left side and flying off my motorcycle. So in my mind I think I did the right thing. What would have happened if I sped up we’d never know. I am just happy that everything is fine. And now I am surfing the web looking for the Prius haters forums and blogs. May be they’d want to exchange links or something :).

P.S. Just a quick note to conclude the subject - it was my first close call and it came from a Prius. I believe I can rest my Prius case.

I got this jacket right when I started riding. Well, when I started to get out of my parking garage and trying to ride around on streets. It was early September. And Septembers here are pretty much as hot as summer monts. With this said Rev’it Airforce was just the right fit. The very first moment I put it on it felt like the right fit. You know how when you try something on and it looks OK but you are uncertain. Well it wasn’t the case with the Airforce jacket. I was certain from the get-go.

Even though the jacket is mesh hence 100% breathable its protection is not a gimmick. All pads feel solid. Except may be the back plate. It feels a little thin. The outside material feels light and yet sturdy enough to protect a rider in an unfortunate event of a fall and a subsequent abrasion while sliding on the ground. Rev’it claims that its Airforce jacket is one of the most abrasion-resistant mesh jackets on the market. Personally I haven’t done a very extensive marketing research to prove or deny that. But some jackets that I saw in stores and on some riders are definitely of lesser protection level.

The jacket also came with a 3-layer detachable waterproof membrane. While its primary purpose is to keep a rider dry in case of a rain, it also forms a protective layer against the elements such as wind. I wore it a couple of times when I felt it was a little chilly outside. The layer is really easy to snap on and off. It takes less than a minute to do so. And it is pretty small when folded and easily fits in a tank bag or in saddle bags.

The Airforce has got plenty of pockets. There are 4 pockets on the outside and 3 on the inside. It is obvious that the jacket was developed with ergonomics in mind. All pockets can be conveniently accessed and effortlessly opened and closed.

This jacket comes in 2 colors - black and silver. I got the silver one as I think black will decrease your visibility for other drivers. It is always safe to be visible when riding a motorcycle.

As far as the design goes I really like Rev’it’s styling. The brand is European (from Holland to be exact). And it definitely shows in its style and fit. And although my Freestyle boots were bashed by most of my colleagues at the office I still stand by my choice of brands.

I have been looking to buy a warmer jacket for riding in winter. A harsh Southern California winter one might sarcastically notice. Temperature does drop out here in winter too you know. So a warmer jacket (may be a leather one) would definitely come handy. And Rev’it is definitely one of the brands I am strongly considering to go with again. Go Rev’it!

Or rather WordPress degrade. Again this is absolutely irrelevant to motorsports. But since I had let everyone know that the upgrade went fine one little thing made a world of difference. Basically it comes down to this - once you are logged out of WordPress you can not log back in. For curious tech oriented minds the problem is described and discussed in details here - http://wordpress.org/support/topic/135598. To spare the tedious debugging details I will say this - all my attempt to revive to login procedure were unsuccessful. And I ended up reverting back to my version 2.1.2 that works like a charm.

I will take it slow and experiment on a replica version of our blog to ensure that everything is functional before I commit to any final upgrade decisions. I have to say though that eventhough the upgrade totally failed I still praise WordPress to make it super easy to roll back and maintain backups.

Most of US racing fans are doomed to watch Speed channel if they want to see any kind of racing action. Over the years we’ve gotten used to extra long commercial breaks in the heat of the action, World Superbike races or Tuesdays and re-runs of old programs in prime time on Sunday, when the above mentioned Championship deciding SBK races take place. I still remember good old days when they used to show WRC, truck racing from Europe, boat races and other exciting forms of motorsports.

About the only things that are left for our enjoyment are Moto GP races and pretty decent coverage of F1. Show me a person responsible for the program lineup and I will have a talk with him OUTSIDE. Superbikes, Pinks, Setup, Classic Car Garage, Street Tuner Challenge….. the list goes on, and none of it is something I’d ever watch. How can they produce such a rubbish? Squids don’t even have Speed TV. However this is not the point of this post. I’d like to offer you the remedy.

How would you like to watch Moto GP with 2 hour qualifying coverage and 3 hour race day coverage including pre-race show with track analysis and rider’s interviews? Or maybe you want to enjoy daily WRC reports? Do you fancy DTM, World Touring Car Championship or FIA GT Races? I got it all for you. Please enter the world of Racing Underground.

If I believed in God I would probably light a candle for well being of Racing Underground’s masterminds. Racing Underground is a private site for racing fans worldwide. This is where people from all over the world exchange files of racing action that they recorded from their local TV stations. You can find anything you want going back to 60’s of the last century. This is a dream come true for racing fans.

To use it first you’d have to download UTorrent. Once done, you just click on the race you’d like to download and it saves a little Torrent file on your computer. Click on that file and it starts downloading. Before you’ll know it, it will be saved to your hard drive and you can watch it any time you want. The key to this system is sharing, so once you’re done downloading, leave uTorrent open to share the file with other people.

OK, not that you know the secret you probably want to RUN and start downloading. I understand, I won’t keep you here any longer. GO!!!!!!!!.

Did I mention that Speed TV BLOWS?

This post is absolutely unrelated to anything automotive in general and motorcycles in particular. Just wanted to gloat on the fact that we had just upgraded to WordPress v 2.3.1 which was officially released just a day ago. I am really amazed at how well WordPress has made its blog software. They pride themselves on having a 5 minute installation process. And the upgrade procedure hasn’t been a disappointment so far.

Oops. The moment I typed that up I started seeing errors. Basically I had to manually recreate 2 database tables. And now my blog posting abilities seem to come back to normal. Thank God I backed everything up just in case.

Anyway it finally looks like the upgrade is over. It’s been less than an hour since I’d started it (backups included). I think it is still pretty impressive for a software product to migrate that easily. I did however run into a little issue described above. So if someone needs an advice or runs into any sort of problems migrating from 2.1.2 to 2.3.1 then I’d be happy to help to the best of my knowledge.

Ever since Toyota introduced its new hybrid car the Prius has been a subject of various debates. Its actual fuel economy was largely questioned. There has been rumors about its batteries not being environment friendly. Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear made a really harsh review of it that you can see below.

But the subject that I would want to discuss is Prius drivers. A long while ago Motodisiac told me that the Prius drivers are the worst kind to ever populate carpool lanes. Now that I got involved into riding I know why.

First of all they are arguably the slowest carpool tenants often going even below the speed limit. While other vehicles do that once in a while I have been noticing this behavior from the Prius society members much frequently. For the record one of my friends is a proud owner of one of those. And even he complained to me once that often times he waits for the opening in a carpool lane to pass another Prius on the right.

Secondly they are probably the most oblivious drivers on the roads of Southern California. I have been noticing this even before I started riding. They will merge tentatively in a way that misleads drivers around them. Frequently I’d see a Prius occupying left most lanes for no apparent reason or sliding in and out of a lane just a bit but enough to brush against another unsuspecting vehicle. A failure to use blinkers goes without saying. We are in Los Angeles. No one uses blinkers.

And thirdly they seem to be pretty unfriendly to motorcyclists that share carpool lanes with them. It has not been 2 months that I am riding and I already have gotten more than one angry look from a Prius side window. And keep in mind that I am a new rider. I am not whizzing between cars at 80mph as I see some riders do. I was under the impression that the majority of the Prius drivers were politically liberal and tolerant environmentalists. How does anger fit in the liberal and tolerant picture?

After thinking about all that I asked myself - do people become like that when they purchase a Prius? Or it is something pertaining their personality traits that leads them to a decision to own one? That is a mystery yet to be explored and hopefully unveiled. In the meantime I will try to be safe and recommend everyone to watch out if you see one driving close to you.

P.S. I was riding in a carpool lane the other day. Slowly but steadily overtaking slower cars I approached a Prius. Surprisingly the driver (female in her 30s) shifted her car a bit to the left. My heart was filled with joy. The hope is not completely lost.

I admit it - I did not come up with this catchy title. I was discussing motorcycle riding with one of my friends the other day (he knows who he is). And I was sort of complaining that riding is great and saves you time especially on congested roads of Los Angeles. However you can’t just get up and go like you would if you were to drive a car. You have to gear up before you leave and gear down once you reach your destination. And that is when he came up with this line.

Essentially motorcycle riding gives you the feel of freedom. And even though I am just a newbie I already start getting a gist of this feeling. It puts a subtle smile on my face when I go through a stand still traffic like a knife through butter. It makes me feel quick and nimble when I overtake cars with a gentle flicker of my right wrist. There is a definite freedom of movement. But there are things all of the sudden I realize I have less freedom with.

I love my riding boots. They are a perfect fit for riding. But I can’t wear them around the office. Neither can I wear them around town all day. My feet will melt in an 80+ degree weather. Same goes for my riding jacket. It is great (I am yet to write a review about it). But again when it is over 80 degrees outside walking around in it is not that comfortable. I am not going to even mention my helmet. So in case I want to go someplace, like go work out, or play beach volleyball, or just swim some laps I absolutely have to find some safe storage room for all my gear and also carry a civil set of clothes with me. Now I do own saddlebags but they are not securely locked. So I would be reluctant to leave valuable stuff in them while my bike is out of sight.

There are other freedoms that are now being slightly oppressed. I am a single male in my early thirties living in Los Angeles. With all that said it is almost given that I go out and I do drink. Clearly doesn’t go well with motorcycle riding.

Another limiting factor is that I can’t take a passenger. I mean of course I could go out and buy a cheap helmet of a “one size fits all” type. But I am a responsible individual. I want my passenger whoever that might be feel safe. Just a cheap ass helmet is not going to cut it. AGATT (all gear, all the time) has to be followed for passengers as well. And also at this point in time I am not that experienced to ride around town with someone in tow.

Life is all about compromise. We choose one road over another. We joggle various job offers, pick life partners, choose some vacation trips over other, compromise on expensive clothes and so on. Even before I had purchased my bike I knew that it will come with a price. Basically in my case owning a motorcycle boils down to finding a reasonable balance in my lifestyle. And I believe I am doing a good job so far. I still go out and drink, I still go swimming, play beach volleyball, take vacations, get together with friends, read books, watch TV. And yes, I do get to ride too.

P.S. I did not ride my bike today :).

I see at least a couple motorcycle accidents a week since my commute includes a lot of riding. Sometimes they are just a little mishaps where the riders escape unhurt, sometimes they are more serious and I cross my fingers in hope that the riders pull it through. Sometimes the accidents just leave me gutted to the point I have to pull off the freeway to take a breath of fresh air. It’s dangerous out there.

This morning I went past accident scene that looked very scary and I couldn’t even figure out what happened. Lots of ambulances, Ford Explorer on the roof in the carpool lane, and lonely Suzuki GSXR laying on the side nearby with no rider in sight. Thank God I didn’t see any body covered with the blanket, so let’s hope it wasn’t lethal. One of my co-workers was passing by and snapped this pic with his cell phone.

How would you like to ride on sunny 85 degree October day? It simply doesn’t get any better, while most of the country is getting ready for winter, we get to enjoy days like this almost all year round.

I woke up in the morning to watch Formula 1 finale and sure enough my DirectTV lost the signal on lap 8, just when the announcer said: “while we were on commercial break, we had dramatic chan…” I never found out what happened. It’s OK, I already have the solution, stay tuned for that. My Moto GP races didn’t record as well, so as I write this I don’t even know who won (I strongly suspect it’s red number 27, I’ll see it tonight) As you can see, the day started pretty well.

Originally I’d planned to take Sideout to his second “real” ride and show him my favorite roads around Rockstore, but after hearing about wild fire related road closures all around that area I’d decided that we better off going somewhere else. He was anxious to try out his new side bags, and I figured that a ride through Little Tujunga / Sand Canyon over 14 fwy, to Bouquet Canyon, around Lake Elizabeth and back home through 5 would be perfect test. My girlfriend was to ride with me, I just got our intercom system running and she enjoys having conversation with me while riding so she went.

After eventless but quite windy ride on the freeway we finally got to our starting point. My girlfriend mentioned that it was odd not seeing any bikes on the road, usually there are dozens of riders on Sunday afternoon. Well, I figured that they were scared of a little wind, I’m not, how bad can it get in Southern California, we are not in Kansas after all.

Our riding pace was extremely mellow if not slow, first of all I don’t take any chances while riding with the passenger, and second since it was only 2nd real ride for my friend Sideout, I really didn’t want to push him. Riding slow has it’s advantages, one can relax a little bit and enjoy the scenery. This wasn’t the case though, even going slow I had to stay extremely focused just to keep the bike on the road, the wind was getting pretty bad at times. I had to slow down even more a couple of times to wait for Sideout, he was taking really careful approach and didn’t rush at all. It’s OK, we can wait. You get the picture, I was having no fun at all.

Five years ago I had crashed my 3 day old bike here, and up till yesterday I couldn’t figure out why. I always thought wind had played significant role in that lowside embarrassment. This memorable turn was coming up quick, and just when I was going to point it out to my girlfriend, the wind shifted the entire bike a couple of feet to the right towards the guard rail barrier. My response was nearly simultaneous with the scream in my ears: we must abandon this ride. I knew right away that it would be foolish and dangerous to continue, so I began pulling off the road to wait for Sideout and tell him that we are turning back. Actually, I didn’t have to go very far, since the above mentioned wind gust practically moved me off the road already.

As I came to complete stop I realized that the wind was still moving me towards the guard rail and I was struggling to hold the bike upright. I screamed to my girlfriend: “get off the bike!” She did, in the process ripping out the intercom wire . Once she was off, I managed to get the bike on the sidestand and got off myself. At this point I thought the fight was over and I won. WRONG. Next thing I knew the wind picked up some more and I could feel my bike begin moving towards the guard rail again. I muscled it for about five minutes, knowing in the back of my mind that I might lose.

This is when Sideout appeared, riding slowly to the dreaded turn. Of course he couldn’t figure out what was happening. Lucky he is quite tall and fit, plus his SV650S is a little too low for him. In the last second he realized that he should turn his bike against the wind and just when he did so, another wind gust arrived. It made the previous one pale in comparison.

If you ever tried to armwrestle somebody who is a lot stronger that you, you may know that it’s possible to hold it for a little while but the defeat is inevitable. My struggle with the wind was similar. I deathgripped the grabbar with my right hand while the left one was pulling on the handlebar. My 200 lbs finally came handy as I was hanging on the side of the bike. My feet were pushing against the bottom of the rear wheel as I was trying to keep the bike on the sidestand. What didn’t help at all is that the bike was still perpendicular to the wind.

In disbelief I glanced at my girlfriend and saw her FLYING. Yes, the wind picked her up about 2 feet and she was thrown over the guard rail. Luckily she was able to grip it. Behind her - 300 feet drop. Talk about adrenaline rush. AGATT (All The Gear,All The Time) helped as well.

Meanwhile I was still fighting the fierce wind. I never imagined it could be this strong in California. I could feel the bike was about to escape my grip as it lifted my whole body off the ground. If I hadn’t canceled my full coverage insurance two weeks earlier, I would have let it go. The bike would fall over the railing and roll down the cliff. Let the bike go? Are you kidding me? I was holding it like a bulldog holding it’s prey. Slowly, in the moments when the wind was slowing down, I was able to rotate the bike on the sidestand by pulling on the grabrail. Now it was facing the wind with it’s tail, much better.

By this time Sideout was able to turn his bike around and park it in a safe spot. When he came to my rescue, my strength was complitely drained, I was beginning to get cramps in my legs and arms. In the next 5 minutes we survived a couple more wind attacks and finally I was able to jump on the bike and ride it behind the hill where my girlfriend and Sideout’s bike found the wind shelter.

Here is the Sideout’s account of the story:

There has been a high wind advisory in effect for the last couple of days out here in the Los Angeles area. The winds really picked up on Saturday afternoon. Today is Monday and the warning is still relevant. However yesterday (Sunday) morning Motodisiac and I decided that riding would still be a viable option. So we took off around 11am, him, his girlfriend on his back seat and I. We drove up North, took 210 East a little bit, got off somewhere (Motodisiac knew the way, I just followed) and started our ascent up a canyon road. What happened 20 minutes later was very surreal. This is my account of what happened.

Going uphill I felt a couple of relatively strong gusts, but nothing that would make a sane beginner rider to stop and turn around. Motodisiac with his girlfriend in tow was going faster and some 300-400 yards ahead of me as he is a much more experienced rider. So I come out of the turn and see the following picture. The next turn is some 150 yards away, Motodisiac is sitting on his bike at the end of the straightaway. His girlfriend is off the back of his bike and is standing relatively close to him. My thought was that they were waiting for me. So I slow down, pull up to Motodisiac. And the moment I slowly go buy him I get exposed to the howling wind.

It is blowing from behind the rock hiding the road after the turn. The wind was so strong that it almost pinned me down to the ground with my bike. Wow. I immediately stop. The next second I look left I see Motodisiac holding on to his bike like there is no tomorrow. I put my bike on its kick stand but when I try to get off my bike almost falls down. Wow again. What do I do. I start maneuvering. I want to go back down a little bit to get out from this wind tunnel. Problem is - the moment I start slightly turning the wind immediately pushes me and the bike down to the ground. And I can barely hold it up when that happens. The most frustrating thought at that point - am I that weak? I consider myself pretty athletic. And I am a relatively big guy (6′0″ 200 lbs). But all my attempts to fight the wind at this point in time are futile. The second frustrating thought - I don’t want to drop my bike like that. That’d be a shame. And then the third and the final scary thought - how the hell do we get out of this wind tunnel?

The events described in the previous paragraph span within the time frame of 3-4 minutes. Next time I look left I see the following picture. Motodisiac is almost on the ground in the “shooting rifle while sitting on a knee” position. Except instead of shooting a rifle he is desperately holding on to his bike trying to not let it drop. His girlfriend is hiding behind the guard rail clamping on to it with both arms. That looks really apocalyptic. That very moment the wind slows down just a little and at the same time enough for her to get over the rail and run back down to get out of the wind tunnel. She’s back in safety. Meantime I manage to turn my bike, start it and propel myself down to where she is standing. Wow, I am out of the tunnel as well. I put my bike on the kick stand, jump off of it and run as fast as I can to where Motodisiac is still holding on to his bike. That is about 20-30 yards back up into the turn.

When I run up to him first thing he says is - “5 more seconds and I’d drop my bike”. Keep in mind that he is a fit and strong young male. Also he really loves his bikes, especially his recently purchased Aprilia. So for him to say something like that it really must have been extraordinary tough to fight the nature’s wrath. I grab on to his bike. We fight the wind for a couple of minutes. Then he manages to jump on it. A minute later we manage to turn the bike facing downhill. Motodisiac starts it up and speeds down to where his girlfriend and my bike are. I run after him. We are safe.

And here’s the most amazing part of the story. Apparently when I was not watching the wind picked up his girlfriend and carried her over the guard rail and dropped her there. Thank God it did not carry her further as a very steep slope was some 5 yards away from the rail. Later she told us that it happened so quick she didn’t even get scared. Surreal.

Later we found out that the wind advisory included a line about a 85mph gusts.

P.S. Amazingly all my Cortech bags held on in this wind. The tank bag’s magnets kept their firm grip while the saddebags straps worked as intended. A true test for the Cortech gear.