Midnight Ride / I-75

This trip kind of pushed the limits of my riding. First on the way to Houston, I rode in heavy rain for hours,over 300 miles.  On the way back to Florida, I rode several hours at night that ended in the wee hours of the morning again over 300miles in the dark.

Ride Home Day 2 / Worn out Tires

When I planned this trip I knew tire wear would be an issue as I already had around 2800 miles on the Metzeler M3's. I estimated I would  ride another 2600 miles and that the tires would last, but would need to be replaced as soon as I got back. I usually change them out at just under 5000 miles. All the riding in Houston and Galveston piled on lots of miles. The tire's round profile was flattened and on the day I left for home I thought that I had better keep an eye on them, and that if I would run into rain I'd stop as there was not much tread left.
I rode to the half way point of my return trip Crestview Florida, and spent the night at the Country Inn.
Just a side note, this Hotel was very clean and allowed me to park my bike in a space near the entry of the lobby.  which was flat and well lit. The next morning before lugging my bags out to the bike,
 I did my maintenance walk around, tire check, lube the chain, check the coolant and oil level's
As I started to lube the chain I noticed a discoloration in the middle of the back tire, and rolled the bike back a few more inches and noticed that the steel cord was showing no rubber left, I felt that if that tire had let go on the interstate it would of been big problems. I decided that riding to the nearest bike shop was are far as I would go. No problem, I got on Google and found one in Crestview and a couple of other bike shops 40 miles away in Ft Walton Beach.
I called the shop in Crestview, but no answer, but figuring it was Saturday and now around 8am maybe they would open at 9 or 10 at the latest.  I really didn't want to ride 40 miles knowing the back tire could explode any minute. So I rode north about six miles, just to find out the bike shop I needed to be open was closed. Now I had to find tires 46 miles away or stay in Crestview  until Monday.
 I decided to ride to Ft Walton Beach where I had been told that there were a couple of bigger shops that should be open. It's funny, I rode my bike the day before, and I did not feel or hear anything out of place. Today however,  knowing the tire was in bad shape, every bump or vibration seemed to be amplified. I rode just fast enough to keep from getting run over.

Galveston: We ride away from the city

With the help of a my new friend Greg, I'm given a tour of some country roads away from the city.

After being in Houston a couple for of weeks, I met my sister's friend Greg. He showed up on a spotless Harley and if you had to pick a guy that matched his ride, you would have no problem matching Greg to his bike. The plan was to ride to Galveston and have lunch.
 The ride started in Seabrook Texas and by the time we reached Galveston maybe 35 miles, it was as if  we had ridden together many times before. Like me, he seemed to be a free spirit while riding.
 The pace for me, was just about right as we moved through traffic, no crazy slicing and no putting around. Once in Galveston, Greg took me for a bite to eat.  I thought we would be going back  the way we came, but  I was wrong. After lunch, we road West, and 15 minutes out of the city, the traffic cleared and the road became one less traveled. Open stretches of beach to my left, and green low lands on my right, and a curvey two lane road in front of me. With a cool breeze on what started out as being a very warm Texas day, and nearly empty road,  I was in my zone, but couldn't help one small blast of speed  There are still signs of the hurricane that went through Galveston a few years ago.   After riding through the area, you really get the sense of how low the Galveston is.
 Im guessing, but I think we went about 25 miles before coming to a bridge that would lead us back to the main land and more country roads.
It sort of reminded me of the Sanibel Causeway before they put in the big and ugly new bridge that cost 6 dollars to cross.

The ride ended up being 165 miles.  I can't thank Greg enough for showing me some of the roads the Houston guys ride to get away from the grind of the big city
. My turn next Greg, were going to the Dragon,  get ready to grin.

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Riding In Houston

I have been in Houston for 3 weeks, staying with my family and working with my brother Ken.
 He is without a doubt THE  hardest working man in Houston, He is The Tile Guy, I won't got into detail about laying tile, but sufficed to say ,it is hard work, VERY hard work,
 If you need tile installed, he is the man.
Working with my brother, I had to ride from the Seabrook area to North Houston where he lives.  Sometimes, I would  meet him at the job site in West Houston.
 It didn't take long to realize that Houston is a BIG city, and you can pile some miles on driving from one side to the other side on a daily basis.

 Houston has some crazy roads and  hyper traffic. If you like speeding just to keep up with the traffic one minute and crawling along in a traffic jam the next   Houston Is the place to be. (I 610 - I-59 -  I-45 - Beltway 8 - 225 )
 Riding these roads when you're not sure where you're going is challanging.
My tips:  If your planing on traveling though a big city like Houston on a motorcycle,
check out your route on Google Maps .https://maps.google.com/maps?q=google+blog+using+footprint+aps&hl=en&ll=29.730992,-95.369568&spn=0.64753,1.352692&t=m&z=10
 Have a clear head, and travel outside the the morning and afternoon rush hours.
 I use my phone's GPS and a good head set. It works pretty well, but in Houston it gets crazy with  road names like 610 North East, with 8 lanes of traffic and interchanges and  fly-bys going in all directions.
 If your reading this blog from some other place Google Map Houston Interstate system its crazy.
 Lots of bikes in Houston.  I spotted a green ZRX on the feeder road of I-45 and 518 and lots of Harley's.
 I  met a couple of Busa guy's and if time permits I might go for a ride with them.
Riding a motorcycle in Houston is a lot like riding in South Florida.
 Mostly flat, straight  roads...After several rides from south Houston to north Houston, I really can't complain  about the traffic back home. Most of Southwest Florida's  Interstate is fairly smooth pavement,  whereas Houston has concrete slabs with bumps and cracks and  seams and holes
 Maybe if I rode a soft tail Harley or a big BMW tourer, I wouldn't notice the roads so much.
 The weather here at least for the time being,is about the same as south Florida,maybe a little less humid.

 I took a video of a ride into Houston and hope that it will upload. I came up on a guy riding a BMW GS and played a little tag, not a race but fun. Watch the Video and look for the big piece of junk I ran over changing lanes about have way into the video.
It might sound as if I'm being a little hard on Houston roads but overall I had a good time and have met some good people. In my next post I'm riding to Galveston with a new friend who's showing me some places to ride away from the concrete jungle and I'll be talking about food.
FYI:  Check out my brother and his neighbor's throwing a Big Party under " Lynn Lane Block Party Post "

I-10 4 1/2 Hours of riding in the rain

More on Day 2 Trip to Houston
If anyone were to ask me if riding in heavy rain on an Interstate with lots of trucks, cars, and buses would be a good idea, I would have to say it's a bad idea.However, some of us just ride even when it is totally insane we do it. On this trip that was the case for me. I've been riding for decades, through some bad rain storms.  If you're a ride in Florida, during the rainy season, you're going to get rained on.
In all my riding, the rain on this trip was by far the most challening I have ever faced,  for no other reason, than to get to Houston in 2 days. WHY?
 Heading West on I-10, it started raining half way into Alabama through all of Mississippi and half way into Louisiana
I kind of thrive on intensity, but the rain just got harder and harder and the traffic worse as the weather slowed the pace. The trucks started stacking up, sometimes double stacked ,3 trucks wide,
 I only had half my rain gear on, my pants soaked and every way water could find its way through my rain jacket it did. up my arms under my chin and down my back,  after awhile I was soaked all over and getting cold. Most the time I was able to keep some space between the other vehicles.  Keeping my shield clear became a real battle, ( Note: rain X really helps). I had tucked a rag in the top compartment of my tank bag. Even wet it helped with the fine spray. I would wipe the sheild then turn my head, the shield would clear giving me some vision for a few minutes, then repeat the process over and over. I do  brake checks from time to time, to check traction or lack of it .just to make sure I had some control in slowing down.  Sometimes when you're on a long ride your mind might wander off, this was game on full attention. There was a time when it was raining so hard the water was building up on the road I began to worry about hydro-planing. At this point, I was saying to myself this is crazy,  there were no overpasses, no exits, and not much room on the side of the road to pull off.  I got behind a truck and rode in his tracks. I never ride anywhere near the back of a truck but this time it was the only choice. Riding a hundred feet back at 50 miles per hour is not fun. Heavy spray made it hard to see but nice tire tracks to follow keep me upright The truck driver seemed to know I was there, when I passed him later he gave me a wave.
 I got all the intensity I could handle.
Lesson:  if don't have to ride in a heavy nasty rain storm don't do it.
 I have to say that my bike ran without missing a beat, and if you own a ZRX,  and are worried about putting pods on. I had no problems.
 I made 2 full fuel runs in the rain and when the rain slowly stopped the sun came out.I was soaked to the bone and dry in 30 minutes.
I've ridden in rain,  cold, hot but not in snow. Maybe someone will have a story much better than mine to share. It's now nearing the end of May and I will be riding home a week from now.
Next post Riding Houston's Interstate, Riding to Galveston, New friends And with your help maybe some better writing. I'm a rider not a speller but I'm going to write a book so point out the bad.

I-10 The Endless Road Day 2 Rain

Its been over 2 weeks sense I started this blog and I'm just now writing about the second day of my ride to houston. Sense being here in Houston I have been working with my brother The Tile Guy and staying with my family and my excuse for not writing is that my brother line of work is crazy hard and after laying tile day and night writing just got forgotten. It's not really a good excuse, writing about motorcycles and the people that ride them is something that I need to do.
Day 2: started at 730am, not counting checking the oil, water, tires and lubing the chain the night before, something I do after a long run, even if I was dead tired.
 I had checked the morning news and after seeing the radar, I knew that Id likely run into some rain.
I cleaned the road grim and bugs off my face shield and gave it a good coat of rainx

After kicking the tires and checking all the straps holding the saddle bags, duffel bag, and tank bag it was time to fire up the big rex. Its almost as if it is alive and cant wait to go, a small turn of the ide screw with the left hand, a little choke and the big rex wakes up readly to roll.
It looked like I would evade most of the rain. So I decided on my light rain jacket, worn under my Frank Thomas mesh type vest. Note: Wearing this thing on the outside is like riding with a parasale attacked to your body, but it works ok under, for lite rain and in the cold it helps keep you warm.
I know there's lots better gear, I'm hoping that my gear, or lack of it will be a toppic of interest.

I have 2 12volt sockets one on each side of the hughe ZRX fairing, ha, ha,  one powers my HTC cell phone the other a rader dector that is more for looks than use on a long trip
 I hooked up my head set (earbud type from compusa ) crammed the earpiece's as far into my ears as possible. I squeezed my head into my HJC helmet then hooked up the mic (I use velcrow to hold my mic in place) This system works good to a point, more on my gear and the setup of my bike in another post.
 I give the rex another minute to warm up then were off.
I start out slow, rolling onto I-10  (30 miles east of Alabama)  I thought it was going to be partly cloudy weather, but what I was looking at, was turning out to be mostly cloudly, with heavy looking clouds. But no rain at the moment ,the temperture cool, and the traffic mediam and flowing nicely just a tic slower that my favorite cruzing speed of 80 ,( for long trip I run stock gearing ) and the bike is in it's zone, humming along at 4600 rpm, "right at the bottom the go now curve",  instant passing speed is just a thought on a ZRX at that speed..
 I like to ride around 80 miles an hour, sometimes a little faster and sometimes a little slower, being sure im not the fastest guy on the road, I just try to blend in, rolling past the traffic never blasting through it, that is unless I feel the need to be in a differant spot because someone is driving in a way that may harm me. There will be a post on Stupid things I see people doing while driving.

Id been riding about 45 minutes thinking I just might get lucky and the rain cloulds would start burning off. I started feeling pelits of rain hitting my helmet and hands through my open finger riding gloves ( cheap weight lifter gloves from Walmart, Special note: these gloves will turn your hands black when they get wet enough).
My first thought way to keep on riding but I deciced sense there was an exit coming up Id pull off and put my rain gear on.
It never fails with me that I pick an exit with construction or the gas station is miles away not blocks, I guess I just have a nack for it. After a small detour I was under the canopy of a mobile station. I was still fresh and didnt need to use the restroom I still had over a half of gas. It still looked to me the rain wasnt going to be that bad. I decided on putting my real rain jacket on ( Tour Master )  but not the Rain Pants, thinking of the last time I woar them I think I lost 20 pounds, It was like being in a sonna.I put all of my Electronics and my wallet in Ziplock baggies, tucked them into the tank bag and off I went.
 Back on I-10 the rain stopped but only for the next 20 minutes then it started raining and raining  
See part 2 in my next post