Originally, my plan was to build up my DRZ 400 S with the accessories to ride the Great Continental Divide Trail, from Canada to Mexico. Though I completed the build, I decided to postpone the trip after I applied to work for -and successfully landed a job with- Automattic. If you’re not familiar with Automattic, and love your WordPress.com blog and community, I highly recommend you check us out.
I did end up making it to the Sacramento WordPress Meetup event, but my ride stretched further than I originally planned. At the last minute I decided to go all the way out to Jenkinson Lake, CA to see a friend as well. Total round trip was over 400 miles in two days. Very pleased! For now, a short video (there is no audio) from my GoPro Hero 4 Session. Continue reading Ride to Jenkinson Lake, CA
There’s a Sacramento WordPress MeetUp on August 4th, 2015. It’s the perfect opportunity to ride up and see how the DRZ performs (and how I manage). 250 miles round trip should be perfect.
My new seat from Seat Concepts should be here tomorrow. A little slice of butt heaven. Which, if you’ve ever sat on something that’s too small for your butt for hours at a time you’ll know what I mean. Dirt and enduro bikes have narrow seats. Why put up with it? Adventure. A waning interest in cars and concrete. And one loose screw. Continue reading Test ride to Sacramento WordPress MeetUp
My ride along the Great Continental Divide has been plotted and stored in my newly acquired & installed (used) GPS. Now then, let’s talk about distances. The GPS route was plotted by a few people who have made this trek several times. It’s broken into bite sized pieces with waypoints — fuel destinations. The average distance between waypoints is just over 100 miles, which the stock DRZ can almost manage. One distance between waypoints, however, concerns me.
267 miles.
As I mentioned, the route has been planned by aficionados, so I’m not inclined to change it. Attempting 267 miles non-stop on a motorcycle designed from factory to have a fuel range of ~90 miles does sound like fun. But, I’ll need to be more cautious and add some safety measures into the equation. Continue reading Gearing up to go the extra mile
The idea of running against a speed patrol station has intrigued me for years. One magically appeared in my neighborhood this past week. I’m willing to bet this isn’t entirely accurate, but it’s probably reasonable. For comparison (and embarrassment) World Class runner, Usain Bolt, runs an estimated top speed of 30 mph in the 100-meter-dash, and an average of 23.5 mph. I’m no slouch, and I’m running at 70% of my top speed. Based on this machine I might get to 20 mph at my top speed. Usain Bolt is wickedly fast. And this was as fun as I thought it would be.
