Friday, January 17, 2014

Riding Withdrawal?

Just as you would expect, broken bike brings wonderful riding weather. Since I've been back from Barrow, it has been between -10°F and +28°F just about everyday. So warm that I expected to see Cheyenne taking Conchscooter for a walk among the palm trees that seem to be sprouting up everywhere.

This morning, I was looking for some other locations for sunrise photos plus I really wasn't feeling too good so I went for a walk. And wanted to post something other than a torn down bike. This is looking southeast from the lookout between upper and lower campus. And this photo is using the built in HDR setting in the standard photo app. Much more subtle than the ProHDR app that I have used in the past.

This is from the middle of the long metal staircase which drops you from the hill the campus sits on back to the less lofty area of town. I went down to College Coffeehouse after stopping for a meeting on lower campus and talked a bit with George Rahn, the local airhead guru. He mentioned that based on his experience the life expectancy of the rotor is around 80k miles so the failure wasn't unusual or unexpected. He did add that  maybe the larger battery might have accelerated the failure since full output was required for longer periods of time. But that would be speculation. On long trips many airhead riders carry a spare rotor. He has never installed one of the Enduralast systems but has heard a lot about them and is curious to hear of my experience with it. He also mentioned that he probably had a replacement rotor in his inventory of spare parts but it would be at BMW prices.

I think that maybe the walk has done some good as I'm feeling a little better. 12,049 steps after lunch. Hopefully the alternator will arrive in today's mail as I seem to be going through some sort of withdrawal after not riding for the last eleven days. I don't remember this ever happening in previous years or maybe it did but I didn't recognize it as such. There's hope as the USPS tracking site claims "Out for delivery" but around here that doesn't mean much.

As far as the photo, I really like the frosty look the trees along the roads. I think they pick up a lot of frost from the water vapor in vehicle exhaust. 

12 comments:

  1. The best thing about darkness is the light. The warm lights in your photos are so pretty and comforting. That's some serious lonely dark up there.

    Pretty photo of the frosty tree, too.

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    1. I really like the frosted trees and they are mostly along the roads. The dark is pretty cool too especially if the aurora is out. Hard to see if there are too many lights out.

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  2. I can confirm that "out for delivery" notice is no guarantee of impending arrival....had same experience waiting for parts in Valdez though they were a bit more isolated than Fairbanks. I hope the box gets to you today! Nice pics of the sunrise, please say hello to George and the other guys next time you see them, for me. As to your withdrawal symptoms....consider a spare rig, a new Ural perhaps. ;)

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    1. I could always hope…

      With my luck it won't be delivered until Tuesday. A new Ural at $16K! I don't think that'll happen.

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  3. Of course you've got riding weather, especially when the bike is in repair…
    I'll bet once my bike is back from the shop the roads will be impassable due to heavy snowfalls.

    Thank you, Richard, for those wonderful pics, very atmospheric.

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    1. I think that's the way things go in the world. Broken bike, nice weather!

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  4. Pretty photos of the snow and landscape.

    I chuckle at your shout out to Conch. I too think I am leaning towards warmer weather riding.

    With our crap weather, (dense fog again today) I don't think I've been on the bike since Thanksgiving. Going through a little withdrawal myself.

    Thanks for sharing the pretty photos.

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    1. Even after all these years I still enjoy the snowy landscapes. And these days anything above 0°F feels warm. There's a Ural open house coming up at Raceway shortly. Maybe they'll have deals or trade ins! Then you can get your riding fix and have another commuter vehicle. I'm sure that Brad won't mind being the monkey...

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  5. Richard there is such beauty when the world is frosted - even if you aren't out riding, you can still enjoy it. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. I still enjoy winter and happy to be up here. Quite a few folks around here start moaning about winter. Its not going to go away for a while so you may as well enjoy it!

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  6. Richard, your pictures are stunning! Hope your bike gets better soon and am glad you are feeling better.

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    1. The bike is feeling better now so all is good with the world! Seriously, it was nice to get out walking again. I need to do it more often.

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