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What to do?

General BS :bull: and other irrelevant chit-chat :kumbaya:
Teethgrinder

What to do?

Post by Teethgrinder »

Happy beautiful Thurday, DAMN!

On Saturday, May 31, I am going home to Chicago for a family thing, and I have decisions to make:

1. I am completely fed up with flying. I can't do it any more.

2. To drive, I would need to take our only car. To do that, I would need to take my wife and dog. But she can't go, so I can't take the car from her, and I don't have my own.

3. I would love to ride there - but I have dilemmas:
Neither of my machines are really "suited" for distance travel. The ride is 700+ miles, 11 hours, and I would need to do it in a day (twice).
The Ducati could do this trip with ease, but I hate doing it that way. I do pretty much baby this machine (I know, I know - it's meant to be ridden) and don't relish the thought of getting caught in the weather with it. Plus, I can't carry much with it.

The DRZ, on the other hand, can carry stuff, take the bad weather, not destroy my lumbar spine. But... the trip is 11 hours at expressway speeds... twice. I'm not even sure that the motor could recover from that. I can deal with stopping for gas every 100 miles or so, so that's no big thing. But I worry about that kind of flogging on it.

I can't buy another bike before May 31. I've looked at this idea, but unless it's a total cheapy, I can't do it just yet. And if it is a cheapy, I may not have the time to get it up to par before the trip.

Any ideas from the DAMN consortium on my conundrum? Given all of the above circumstances, what would you do?
:shrug:
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Rut Row
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Re: What to do?

Post by Rut Row »

rent a car. seriously. 11 hours by car is a lot longer by bike.
Ken
Die young as late as possible, remember who you were before the world told you how it should be. -- Barry Morris
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RRob
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Re: What to do?

Post by RRob »

+1 on renting a car. It seems like a mind numbing waste of a rear tire. I suppose if you plotted an entertaining twisty route it might be fun on the Duc but it would take two days just to get there.
Rob

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mdubya
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Re: What to do?

Post by mdubya »

Rent a wreck? Train?
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Teethgrinder

Re: What to do?

Post by Teethgrinder »

mdubya wrote:Rent a wreck? Train?
No! :-o If I can't do the plane, the train is that x 2.

3 votes for a car. I would really like to ride there. If I was a smart man, I would have been ready for such excursions and picked up the right machine first.

I'd thought of making the trip into four 350 mile days (2 there, do the family thing, 2 back), but I don't know. Maybe the car is the way to go.
:|
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mdubya
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Re: What to do?

Post by mdubya »

I rode the DRZ 500 miles in a day, twice. It was on beautiful scenic twisty roads. The last 200 miles was misery each time. I can't imagine how awful it would be on a highway.

I wouldn't be able to ride the 999 anywhere near legal speeds for 700 miles of highway. The only thing fun to do would be riding flat out for as long as possible. :mrgreen:
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Teethgrinder

Re: What to do?

Post by Teethgrinder »

mdubya wrote:
I wouldn't be able to ride the 999 anywhere near legal speeds for 700 miles of highway. The only thing fun to do would be riding flat out for as long as possible. :mrgreen:
That was my idea for I-80 in Ohio. For all intents and purposes, it's a 350 mile dragstrip anyway. I don't think it ever turns, does it? Maybe I could make Ohio a quick blur (except for the State Troopers lurking and waiting to foil my plan :twisted: ).
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mdubya
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Re: What to do?

Post by mdubya »

Teethgrinder wrote:
mdubya wrote:
I wouldn't be able to ride the 999 anywhere near legal speeds for 700 miles of highway. The only thing fun to do would be riding flat out for as long as possible. :mrgreen:
That was my idea for I-80 in Ohio. For all intents and purposes, it's a 350 mile dragstrip anyway. I don't think it ever turns, does it? Maybe I could make Ohio a quick blur (except for the State Troopers lurking and waiting to foil my plan :twisted: ).
I live in fear of the 5-0, Bucho being the exception. I think I have used up all of my free passes.
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Teethgrinder

Re: What to do?

Post by Teethgrinder »

mdubya wrote:
Teethgrinder wrote:
mdubya wrote:
I wouldn't be able to ride the 999 anywhere near legal speeds for 700 miles of highway. The only thing fun to do would be riding flat out for as long as possible. :mrgreen:
That was my idea for I-80 in Ohio. For all intents and purposes, it's a 350 mile dragstrip anyway. I don't think it ever turns, does it? Maybe I could make Ohio a quick blur (except for the State Troopers lurking and waiting to foil my plan :twisted: ).
I live in fear of the 5-0, Bucho being the exception. I think I have used up all of my free passes.
Not so much for me, but I'm a teddy-bear on a bike compared to a lot of guys. If I open it up, it's generally in a place that I'm pretty DAMNed sure I'm not going to cross paths with the Sheriff. I've been lucky here in Maryland. Never had one stop since arriving, not even in Montgomery County. The only tickets I get here are given by evil spy robots in The District or Bethesda and such.
Roadracer_Al

Re: What to do?

Post by Roadracer_Al »

Exactly what about flying is wrong, and what can you do to fix it?

I, personally, loathe flying as well. I hate having armed teenagers poke through my shit and harass me over my fucking belt buckle. I swear, the way to fly is to dress like you're on the beach. Me, in a Speedo..... that'll teach'm. aaarrrgh, my eyes! :-o Add to it the fact that I'm pretty tall, and the seats are pretty close together, and that makes flying about as appealing to me as a trip to the dentist.

My wife and I are planning to ride to Indy this year for her annual professional convention. Unfortunately, the MotoGP even is on a different date. :( I need to consider gearing the DRZ different (maybe 16/41 or 15/38) and get a Renazco seat, and/or maybe a "sweet cheeks" thing. http://cycle-analyst.com/sweetcheeks.htm

The alternative is getting my ZRX put back together in a hurry.

It's spendy, and a bit humiliating, but you can rent Harleys, and maybe BMWs.
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