Category Archives: 2010 – Sprung from Cages

Trust no future, however present.

Posted on May 28, 2010 by | 5 Comments

Over the past few days, I’ve been getting sicker and sicker. It’s nothing too out of the ordinary – just “the flu” or something. As the days went on, I did what I could to treat it and tried to convince myself that I was getting better.

But all the Vitamin C, Zinc, B Vitamins, Garlic tabs and wishful thinking in the world can’t actually cure you.

The past two nights have treated me to a really intense and bizarre headache, the likes of which I’ve never felt before. It would start in the sinuses when I’d lie down and then would wake me up around 3am as an unbelievable pain all throughout the top and back of my head. It was immune to ibuprofen and very worthy of writhing. How to fix it? Easy. Stand up. Five minutes after standing up, it was mostly gone with only the shadow of pain left in my sinuses.

This morning a new symptom has developed – a deep and very frequent chest cough.

So in a nutshell, I am not getting better. I am getting sicker. It’s no big deal, people get this sick and worse all the time. This is definitely one of the “better” flus I’ve had, actually.

But what does this mean for the trip?

Part of me, a LOT of me just wants to “man up” and do it. Put the under-the-weatherness on the back burner and plow through. I’m eventually going to get better, right? So why not get better on the road? I can fill myself up with as many medicines as I can find, take care of the symptoms and make it work.

This is what I want to do. Everything in me says that that is what I should do.

Of course, I’m smart enough to know why that’s a bad idea. Traveling on a scooter (or motorcycle) is much different than traveling in a car. You’re exposed to whatever weather is there and a constant 60mph “wind” in your face. Sure, I would eventually get better, but being on the road with the flu will prolong it and probably make it worse. Even if the symptoms are mostly covered, they won’t be totally covered. And when some of the symptoms are intense headaches and muscle aches that basically leave me unable to move, the thought of getting stranded in a tent in Nevada becomes very, very real.

The biggest symptom for me is just how quickly I become worn out. I’m pretty ok till about mid afternoon and then that’s it, I’m done. I can barely move. With some medicine, I could ward it off for a bit, but more than likely, I’d still be riding when it would hit me. That would be very bad.

Today it is raining. According to the weather, it will be cold and rainy for the first 300 miles of today’s ride. Now, I certainly don’t mind riding in the rain, and even though I have good rain gear, there’s no way to stay completely dry during an all day ride at 60mph. All day cold and wet when you already have the flu is probably a pretty bad idea.

All of this brings me to only one conclusion. I have to cancel the trip. Today was the last day that I could leave and still make graduation on time. After today, the window closes and I miss it. So now, I’ll have to fly down.

I am heartbroken here. I’ve been planning this trip for months and have been looking forward to it for even longer. To see it all have to be thrown away just because I’m a little sick is just horrible.

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Well, not today…

Posted on May 27, 2010 by | 2 Comments

I knew that today was 50-50 for me. Originally, today wasn’t even supposed to be my first day – that’s tomorrow. Due to a landslide on one of the roads I was planning on taking, I had to detour and that added a whole extra day (seriously).

Anyway. I’m feeling better. I am definitely still sick, but feeling much better. Last night, I woke up at 2am with an incredible headache. I took something for it and didn’t fall asleep until 4am, waking again a little before 8 (which is amazingly late for me).

I loaded up the scooter around 10am, unsure about whether I’d actually be able to do this. I had to take it for a test run with full packs and I did. A scooter with full packs handles much differently than normal. On my first outing, it really took me by surprise. It felt like the tires were flat (of course, they were both at the PSI they’re supposed to be for this amount of weight). It wasn’t wobbling, but it just felt very off.

Returning to the apartment, I was ready to call the whole thing off. About a half hour later, I got back on it and though it handled about the same, I became used to it. I brought her up to speed, around 60mph, and she handled like a dream. The “offness” happens around 30mph, but at cruising speed, all is fine.

I gained huge amounts of confidence and was ready to go. But my body thought differently. I was suddenly worn out, tired and ready for a sit-down.

So I resolved “not today.”

Today, however, is a wonderful day for a ride. It’s a little cloudy, but very little chance of rain. There’s a chill in the air, but with full gear on, I wouldn’t notice it. Tomorrow, however, I’ll be in and out of rain all day. Mostly in. At night, the temperature will drop to 32 where I’m staying (though that would be true even if I left today).

After that initiation, the sun will shine and the temps will climb as I move south and east. I’ve considered getting a motel for the night – honestly, that might be a very good choice. I have reservations, which I’d have to cancel, so the decision will need to be made asap, which I’ll do.

There are a few loose ends that need to be brought together, so leaving tomorrow is logistically, a much better idea. I’m just not looking forward to riding in more rain.

That said, it will never ever be as bad as it was in Missouri in 2008.

Tonight, I’ll gas up, get some last minute essentials (like water) and get to bed early. I plan on hitting the road at 6am, all bundled up and ready for 10,000 miles of America.

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The window is closing – will I make it?

Posted on May 26, 2010 by | 2 Comments

As reported yesterday, I’m sick. Today, I am still sick. I feel less achy than I did, but today was headache day (pictured below). I can’t do anything with a headache. I suffered through three and a half hours of work (mostly to say good-bye to the folks there), but remember very little of it.

The window is this: To make it to Florida by the date when I’m supposed to be there, I have to leave tomorrow. The first day (tomorrow) is a short day, so there is some speculation that I could leave Friday, skipping all the cool stuff that I had planned (old roads, ghost towns, etc etc etc) just to make it 20ish miles south of Bend, Oregon by Friday night.

If I do not leave by Friday, all bets are off – the trip is over. I cannot leave on Saturday and make up the time.

I either have to leave tomorrow for a casual (and chilly) ride or leave Friday for a hurried (and cold/rainy) ride. This all comes down to how I feel.

Why did I have to get sick now?

I’m not throwing a pitty-Eric-party or anything, but come on! All I want to do is ride. Help me get better!

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I *am* going on this trip, see?

Posted on May 25, 2010 by | 2 Comments

Today at work, I started to feel sick. Really sick. Not to the stomach and no sniffles or sneezers, but a whole body ache that basically left me mostly unable to walk (I did a lot of leaning today – blowing a huge hole through the idea of “if you can lean, you can clean”).

I somehow made it to the end of my shift, rode home and collapsed (in a good way). I took something for the aches and watched some TV.

This whole evening was supposed to be spent readying myself and the scooter. I leave in less than two days. Getting sick at this point is a really, incredibly bad thing.

After the pain stuff kicked in (or maybe I was just feeling better), I was able to wander down to the garage and do some packing.

I figured out where my camera will go, where the computer and sleeping bag, tent and rain gear. It’s weird to be doing this again. Some of it is coming back, but so much of it seems new.

Maybe it’s because I’m leaving from a different coast. Or maybe it’s because I have a destination and a time frame this trip. If only I knew.

Suppose I had fallen ill two days prior to leaving on Scoot 66. It wouldn’t be too huge of a deal because I didn’t have a hard and fast schedule. This time out, due to the dictates of necessity, I do. If I, for some reason, cannot leave on Thursday morning, I honestly don’t know what I’ll do.

I have no back up plan.

It’s rare that I ever do though. I’m very quick to adjust and my mentality almost instantly becomes “ok, I guess I’m doing this now.” So if I am unable to do this trip, I’ll simply be doing something else.

That said, I am going on this trip. I will be better by tomorrow night. This will pass and I’ll be on two wheels winding my way to Miami.

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Sprung From Cages – Songs For The Road (mix)

Posted on May 21, 2010 by | 3 Comments

Every road trip needs a soundtrack. Those are usually created on the fly – CDs pulled out from dusty bins or quickly burned before leaving. This spring trip is no different, it needs one. However, listening to music while riding isn’t the best idea ever.

And that’s where you come in.

Get the mix here, or keep on reading…

Last year I did a road mix for a road trip that could never happen. That was Hot Sun Beating on a Blacktop. And like that mix, this mix is set up like a mix tape.

There are two tracks: side one and side two. Like a mix tape, it’s meant to be listened to front start to finish, like watching a movie or reading a book. If you want to skip a song, you’ll have to fast forward through it. But really, you shouldn’t do that.

Between the songs are bits of found sound, samples from little things here and there. It’s fun to make these and hopefully fun to listen to.

Of course, the real point of this (and any) mix is the music. Finding songs about the road can lead to cliche boredom and predictability that will put you to sleep. I’ve steered clear of such things (hopefully).

Side One, however, does start rather predictably. How could I not include a Springsteen song? And, as the title of the road trip and the mix would indicate, “Born To Run” had to be here. However, this is a live version from a 1975ish bootleg. I can’t remember which one, but you’ll dig it.

Aside from that, this is a pretty eclectic mix. Some songs are about driving, sure – Sparks’s “How Are You Getting Home” and Aerosmith’s “Back In The Saddle,” specifically (ok, that last one could be called predictable too – sorry). But most everything else seems to come from several different left fields.

The Jam, Bauhaus, Anthrax, Bunny Grunt, Tubeway Army, Holy Model Rounders, Rollins, TV Personalities and The Smiths would seemingly have very little to do with each other. But on this mix, the flow into and complement the songs fore and aft. Not bad, eh?

With most of my mixes, I give you samples. It’s not really easy to do that for this one. So let me walk you through some snippets.

This is how we’ll start the mix…
[audio:sfc1.mp3]

How would you slide from Red Monkey to Bauhaus? Here’s how I did it…
[audio:sfc2.mp3]

And from Holy Model Rounds to Rollins?
[audio:sfc3.mp3]

Can you think of a better way to introduce Anthrax’s “Indians”?
[audio:sfc4.mp3]

What can we make of this?
[audio:sfc5.mp3]

Make whatever you like of it, I guess – but I’d suggest getting it here.

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Getting Ruby Ready for the Road (part two)

Posted on May 19, 2010 by | 6 Comments

We’re almost there! This past week I’ve spend a lot of time checking and rechecking things on the Vespa. I’ve never really done a lot my own maintenance on Ruby. It’s not because I didn’t want to. Most of the miles I’ve done were on Scoot 66. During that trip, the Vespa shops did the work. I felt myself competent to do it, but they had the place and the tools and usually did the work for free. Why would I refuse?

But now that I have a garage and tools, I decided to pitch into it myself. A modern Vespa is much different than an old one. Apparently, I can take apart an old engine and put it back together again and it still works (and works better!). But the new Vespas are freakishly complex. Like a new car. This thing is even electronically fuel injected!

So basically, I don’t touch the engine. However, I do touch the transmission. Ok, not the transmission. Just the belt that drives it and the rollers that do something else. I also change the brakes, which I just did. Well, the rear brakes. The front brakes were fine.

Got new tires too. The front one will last 10,000 miles easy. The rear one however, is a different story. Because of all the extra weight with the packs, the rear tire wears much faster. On Scoot 66, I was blowing through rear tires ever 2,500 miles. I’ve learned a lot since then. For instance, you need to make sure that you’re running with a higher PSI in the rear tire when you’re carrying weight. Check them daily! Also, I’ve done a lot more research on different tires and how they wear. I ran city tires across the country. This time, I’ve got a Pirelli Diablo on the rear and a Pirelli G23 on the front. Diablo means devil in Spanish.

I’ll very literally be riding like the demon that drives my dreams. That’s good to know! Thanks!

All that’s left is a test ride. I think I’ll go do that now.

—- 30 minutes later —-

Hm. Remember a week or so ago when I mentioned something about a throttle cable? Well apparently this is really an issue now.

I was riding up Aurora when all of a sudden I was unable to accelerate. The throttle was stuck and I could only go about 20mph. I knew exactly what the problem was. The 12mm nut that locks the throttle cable housing down had come loose and had lodged itself just so that it got caught, disallowing the throttle to be opened all the way. Not only that, the threads on the housing where the nut attaches and locks down were pretty well destroyed.

What to do?

There are two nuts on the housing. They are tightened down towards each other against a bracket, thus locking down the housing. With the threads all messed up, I wasn’t sure what to do. I tried to force the outside nut onto the threads, but that wasn’t working. And then I tried to force the inside nut – no deal, either.

I wanted to just rig up something with Locktite or JB Weld, but figured that would just end badly. And then I got the idea to reopen the crushed threads. How? Easy!

With wire cutters!

This actually worked. It took a few minutes, but before long, everything was right again.

I’ll probably still put some Locktite on the threads to keep things in place, but for now, all is just right.

Will she make it across the country and back? I can’t promise anything, of course, but I’m feeling pretty good about it.

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Getting Ruby Ready for the Road (part one)

Posted on May 13, 2010 by | Leave a comment

When preparing for an 8,000+ mile trip across the country and back, you need to be fairly prepared. That doesn’t just mean packing extra underwear and learning how to make tofu jerky. That means that your ride must be able to make it. What’s more is that you have to have faith that you won’t break down somewhere. If you’re always worrying, you won’t enjoy it.

So on Monday, I set about getting Ruby ready for the trip.

I’ll be getting new tires shortly, so I started by removing the wheels. That’s not a convenient task on a Vespa GTS, but I’ve done it a few times now and it’s actually pretty easy.

With the wheels off, it’s really easy to change the oil. So that’s what I did. What I would consider a huge design flaw is that when you drain the oil, it will flow directly onto the center stand. This is just dumb engineering. With the rear wheel off, it’s easier to get something under it. There are other ways to do this, but this is how I do it.

While the oil was draining, I decided that I would attempt a belt and roller change. I’ve never done this before, but figured that it couldn’t be too difficult. Two shop tools were needed for this. One to hold the clutch in place and another to hold the variator.

Everything came off well enough, but I had a bit of trouble figuring a few things out.

First, I’m switching from rollers to sliders. I’ve heard that the sliders last longer and improve acceleration. The former, for me, is much more important than the latter. They have to be situated just right and I wasn’t sure if I got it and left it as a “trial and error” sort of thing.

The belt had to first be fitted onto the clutch. This was accomplished by forcing the clutch plates apart, holding them and sliding the belt between them. Much trial and error took place here, but I finally got it.

With the variator and sliders in place and the clutch with belt ready to go, I slid everything where it should have been and noticed a rather large, machined collar about two inches long and an inch around. I had no idea where it went and had a mini freak out. Holy crap!

After tearing everything down, I noticed that there was a lot of play in the variator. This must have been it! And it was. The collar fit perfectly where it should go. Whew!

I buttoned everything back up, put the exhaust back on, started the engine and it worked. Revved it a bit and it seemed normal. Now, the only way I’ll find out if I did everything correctly is to get the wheels back on it. That will come this week.

Aside from the new wheels, I also have to put front and rear breaks on her. The breaks that are there now are ok, maybe even 75%, but will that last me all the way to Florida? Hard to tell. Probably, but why risk it? I’ll keep the “old” breaks for when I return.

I’ve also got to change the gear oil and figure out what to do about the throttle cable (more on that later, it’s kind of a big deal).

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