[sablesurfer]

Ok,
Finally got the brakes working (mostly) and was able to get out on the road to test them yesterday. Decided to got north east because I really hadn't gone any distance that way yet. No real destination because I was leaving in afternoon and was really only supposed to be 'test riding' the brake and clutch line installations.

Hoped on the Green Damsel in same clothes I was wearing to bleed brakes and riding gear.

Riding for about twenty minutes, choosing roads in a kind of north then east then north pattern I ran into gravel after about 20 minutes. Can you believe I completely ran out of signal 20 minutes out of town??? So no GPS fix and no cell signal. I just kind of shrugged and decided to see how far the gravel ran.

It was only a short bit of gravel and I ended up on road 'of a sort' in about half a mile. It was road if you can call a bunch of patched pot holes all together a road. Seriously!

Then I got back on some actual smooth road and managed to get to the top of a hill to take my first GPS bearing of the ride. Turns out that GPS works fine from a hill...but the actual google map to go with it takes 5 minutes to load over one bar of edge. :^)

Right about here I noticed...dang...Sun going down. So better make a decision and a plan. The map showed a conservation area a little ways ahead. I decided to get there and then cut back west to a major highway. Well, 10-15 minutes later and it was getting a bit chilly...I start to second guess my map usage and it turns out that I had the map zoomed WAY out. Oooops.

Picked another north to try to cut up to the county road sooner and found some great scenery. (Phone pics are close...but don't do justice at all.)

And the other side of the road....

Even had a farmer slow down to check on me because I was fiddling around with phone and picture settings. Good people there.

Another of the road, I love the off into distance pics.

(continued in next post...)

 

[sablesurfer]

Well all was going fine until state route BB turns into gravel..?? I tried it, but it was all fresh gravel and was way too fikken slippery. After 100 yards I turned back to try a different way. Would you believe...that 40 miles outside of town...they run completely out of pavement/asphalt!?! Yep. Who knew, in this modern day and age that the whole world is not paved yet. :wink:

About eight miles of dirt roads later I finally managed to get back on to paved roads. By now it is plain dark and let me tell you...those valleys are COLD! I swear it felt like I have scuba'd into an inversion every time I dropped into a valley. At least 10 degrees difference.

Those eight miles also made the Green Damsel a bit dusty...

All in all, just over 80 miles and I do need to have the fronts re-bleed. Not as snappy as I am used to and most likely just due to my only adequate bleeding skills.

Things learned on this ride:
Darkside - The car tire is still running great on the road. Seems to be fine on the gravel too. The only issue I ran into...was on those roads where they were just a bunch of pot holes run together. The more uneven the road the harder that tire jerked from side to side! It just wanted to fall off down every slope and required lots of attention. I do not know if this was ever reported on darkside threads, but wanted to throw that out there.

Gravel - Again she runs fine on gravel as long as you REALLY take care and pay attention. Now I would NOT really recommend gravel in the dark. :eeek: (But I guess it can be done...:lol The darkside seemed fine on the gravel and I found that I 'expected' the rear to move so it was not as freaky as in the first thing above. Stay in second, let the engine do most braking and pick your line way out a head of you Something I did figure out...HUG THE TANK with your knees! Seriously...it took away all of that uneasy waiting feeling I had. Once I had clamped onto the tank then my body got the full sensation of every road bump and slip through my legs and I was much quicker to respond to the Damsel's moves.

Commando - :lol: Remember I just jumped on bike with what I was wearing to work on her in the morning. Yeah...COLD!!! Can you say shrinkage? I knew you could. I do not recommend this and every valley you drop into reminds you that you were not dressed right for that. :redface:

 

[mwmalotte]

Glad ya got to hit the road! Looks like a cold but enjoyable ride.

 

[Munch]

Man looks like an awesome ride. Sure wish I had country like that around here. Probly a good thing I don't though, 'cause then the kids wouldn't be able to remember what their dad looked like.....

 

[NewRoadie]

Nice story! This time of year is tricky-warm during the day, but gets cold quickly when the sun goes down. Many a 'test ride' has turned into much more . . .