Dave & Teds Most Excellent Adventures 2013

[lookerjdc]

 

[CyncySpyder]

Likewise Roger, but not for lack of trying

Sorry I missed you two at SF.

With the Sled breaking down & leaving us stranded in one of the worse possible ways, we missed almost an entire day & a half of the festivities (teaser.....stay tuned) but everywhere we DID get to go, I was asking about you, just to find it wasn't in the cards, at least with this trip. Next trip we're both attending, we'll have to coordinate better

 

[CyncySpyder]

Thanks for posting the pic, I was so busy with Teddy, I barely got to take any

View attachment 67324

WOW!!! This has gotta be an InterNet 1st or something. Teddy & I actually look like our Avatar, albeit Teddy's hair is a bit 'brighter' than in our pic from our avatar of 3 yrs ago :doorag::roflblack::roflblack::roflblack::roflblack::roflblack:

 

[lookerjdc]

I cant begin to tell you all the jokes I heard from people when they found out that I was sharing my hotel room with room.... it was funny

and you and Teddy were great room mates for Spyderfest

relax, rest and recover from Spyderfest

 

[SpyderWolf]

It was great seeing you and Teddy again at this event. I am also glad to hear you made it back home safely. :thumbup:

 

[coz]

:roflblack::roflblack:you must be referring to JB:roflblack::roflblack: i heard he got a white limited, is that true?opcorn:

 

[kinggeek]

:roflblack::roflblack:you must be referring to JB:roflblack::roflblack: i heard he got a white limited, is that true?opcorn:

He got a white limited loaner but as far as I know he is still riding his Black 2010 Premier RT.

 

[CyncySpyder]

I'm sick

Think the combination of too little sleep and too many handshakes have taken its tole on my imune system, plus all the tree pollen in the air that I'm alergic too has got me down in a bad way. Once I start feeling better, I'll continue to update about our trip. But even thinking hurts right about now :sour:

 

[CyncySpyder]

To give a little perspective & background for those of you that may be new Teddy Fans

To recap a bit, the last time Teds Red Sled had been totally together & us able to ryde, was WAY BACK last year, the last day of Lamonster's Bar-B-Q, I think sometime in August of 2012. Taking our home exit from the long road-trip back home, we got a flat rear tire, just moments after we had been doing 80 MPH on the Interstate. That fatefull circumstance lead to the domino effect of mods and injury (YES, Teddy actually tried to KILL me) that finally culminated (after almost an intire year) in the rebirthing of Teds New & Improved Red Sled that we got to once again take on a long awaited, much anticipated and desperately needed road-trip, that we all know as SpyderFest 2013 THE NEW ADVENTURE.

You'll have to bear with me here, as I'm retelling this while also working, and much to my desmay, work pays the bills and must come first, so this is likely to take quite a few posts, possibly over multiple days as I regain my wits about me and can once again, properly form a thought and a sentence. But trust me, as with any story worth telling, we have lived through some fantastic times, met some wonderful people, endured some challenging set-backs, learned some great life lessons and most of all, we got to share it all with many of YOU, Teddy's Fans.

 

[CyncySpyder]

SpyderFest 2013 The NEW Adventure*Chapters 1 & 2 - 'Before the trip even began'

Chapter 1:
A bit more of the backstory and I have to admit, I'm kind of ashamed of pps: but its pretty important to the understanding of the WHOLE story so here goes.

I think I've mentioned on here a time or two that I usually don't like to inconvenience anyone else, and for that main reason, Teddy & I have become accustomed to ryding by ourselves. When in groups, Teddy garners so much attention, and at first for nubees they find it cute. But time after time and stop after stop, they usually become tired of all the extra attention, and more importantly the time that it takes away from the ryde and being able to keep to a schedule. I think most of us realize when you have a Spyder, you've gotta get used to all the attention that IT garners, kinda comes as a package deal, and I think most of us have learned to live with it, and dare say, many of us actually enjoy it.

Well, I realize when you add a cute lil red mowhawked dog donning doggles ryding on the back, well............ I can't b*tch or complain when ppl come a calling :shocked::doorag: and for the most part, I've learned to just accept it and go with it. But on the same token, I kind of asked for it, while others in a group scenario have not, and its just easier to not put our selves in that situation, when possible.

Ok, with that understood, one of our local Spyder owners kept asking me if we were going to SpyderFest and that he & his buddy wanted to ryde with us, but I tried my best to disuade him, putting him off time and time again, honestly not knowing at first if I could get the time off and if we were even going to be able to make the trip or not. But as time got closer, and things were going well at work, I started getting the feeling it would all work out, I'd get the time off and the byke put back together just in time and that we'd be able to make the trip.

A little backstory about the local Spyder Owner that I've now grown to understand and appreciate much better and am now glad and thankful to call my buddy. Many of you that stayed at the BestWestern have been entertained by his stories and can appreciate where I'm coming from here.

Oh yeah, remind me later, to tell you where you can find the best dang steak on the planet (inside joke:roflblack

He's a bit more mature in age than I, guessing about 30 or so years, and he reminds me alot of my dad, but that's an entirely other story all together. But to say this guy got on my nerves at times, that would be an understatement. Lets just say, he's a character, a bit eccentric even, but has a good heart and a god fearing and loving spirit. But he's also the type that if you've done something to your Spyder, he's gotta do it also, but even better. That's all fine and dandy, but it can rub a guy raw when you're doing everything you can do just to make it, less alone live luxuriously. I mean, c'mon, I've given up just about everything I can give up just to be able to own & keep our Spyder & I've made this clear to my 'buddy.' So if I spend $35 on a Bad Boy horn, don't tell me I need to take it back and instead shell out $175 for 4 sets of chrome air-horns like you have:sour: ............... just as an example

Anyways, shamefully I fully avoided my buddy for the 3 months prior to SpyderFest, even going as far as allowing my Voice-mail to fill up so he couldn't leave me messages anymore asking about the trip. Again, I'm too dang honest for my own good here, but in all reality, for my sanity at the time, I fealt I HAD to do it. Not being able to ryde, I was already down in the dumps, and then having to try and deal with my injury on top of fighting off being depressed cause we couldn't ryde, and well, yeah, being weak, I just shamefully felt avoiding him was the best thing to do.

pps:Funny how a person you can think is so bad for you, can be the one person that ultimately comes to your rescue:bowdown:

At SpyderFest, a much wiser friend advised me, when I relayed part of this story to him that,
We may not know or understand why, but god brings certain ppl into our lives at a certain point for a reason, and WOW, how right he was

Anyways, back to our tale. So I had been avoiding my buddy for about 3 months, when it came down to the week before SpyderFest, and I was stressing trying to get everything done and the byke back together. I think I just finished redoing the horrible squeaking brake pads (remind me to update about this later) and Teddy and I had taken his still stripped sled out for a test spin to see if the adjustment had worked or not. It was a nice day and we rode for a good 50 miles or so thru the country and we hit the twisties out toward Rabbit Hash. Happy that we didn't hear any squealing pigs except those at the farms, we headed home. Mind you now, we live in a condo set upon 40 foot piers right off the Ohio River. Its a small complex of only 26 units all with their own 1 car garage and one extra parking space and only 3 guest parking spots. All entrances are gated and you have to have the pass code or be buzzed in. For these reasons, unexpected guests are rare, at least for Teddy & I.

Well, we get home and as I'm backing into the garage, my buddy is coming out of the gated entrance to welcome us home :yikes: Seems my neighbor downstairs had been having a bar-b-q & my buddy had gotten himself welcomed to join while he awaited our return, even tho he had no clue when that may be. See, I told you, he's a character :roflblack: like that.

Chapter 2:
So there we are, backing Teds Sled into the garage when my buddy pops his head thru the gate and with a BIG Grin upon his face says, "Welcome Back Stranger" :shocked: I was just in shock. I mean, in the 5 years we've lived here, I've never had an uninvited guest, less alone one that was already inside the gate and coming out to welcome us home :shocked: less alone one I had been doing my best up to that point to avoid :sour:

Anyways, we continue right where we had left off with discussing the trip. This was on the Saturday before leaving for SpyderFest. My buddy asks if I'm going to have everything put back together in time to leave on Tuesday, like I had told him that I had planned. Originally, I was planning on working a 1/2 day on Tuesday and then leaving right around noonish. I once again tried putting him off and insisting that he may be better off going on his own with his other buddy, cause I wasn't sure when I was going to be able to leave, but he kept telling me he was flexible and could go whenever I deemed we were ready. I once again explained that since I would be working early and then leaving, the odds were that I would get to tired to continue the full trip in one day, and that I would usually just pull over at a rest stop, Teddy and I would hop in the camper for a few hours nap til I felt refreshed, then we'd continue on our way. I explained there wasn't enough room for anyone else in our camper, but he insisted if that were the case, his buddy and him would just find a hotel while Teddy and I got our rest. I mean, everything I tried, he had an answer for and wouldn't take NO for an answer, so I finally gave in & hoped for the best.

Hindsight being what it is, If I had everything finished with Teds Red Sled in time, Tuesday ended up being the primo day for a road-trip. However, finished I was not, there was still so much to do, but time just flew by. When your used to being able to do everything normally, and then being impared like I was (& still am) with limited use of my dominant hand due to my index finger problem, well, everything just takes alot more time to do. And then there is all the stuff that gets messed up and had to be redone or gone over again. Its been a very frustrating experience to say the least, but I'm learning more and more with ways to cope to get the job done and more importantly I think, I'm learning to accept standards that I never would have even thought of before as being acceptable. Its either that, or I fear, nothing would get completed WELL ENOUGH and I would end up driving myself MAD trying to get it right. Its been a rough learning process but one has to face reality and live within ones own capabilities even if they are less than what they once were.

I think I made a post that at 3am on (then) Wednesday morning, I had completed enough of the rebuild that I was happy with that we could then make the trip. Much earlier in the day, I had called my buddy to tell him that there was no way we'd be leaving Tuesday after work, but that I had hoped to have everything completed enough to leave early on Wednesday. He understood and suggested leaving about 10am on Wednesday, which I thought was doable and agreed to. Teddy & I went to bed about 4am on Wednesday morning with the alarm set for 7am, cause even tho the Sled was done, I still had to put on the hitch and make sure everything was ready with our camper, so that's why we had to get up so early, as I knew it would take time. Not to mention, we still had to pack everything up that we needed for the trip.

Time getting away from us like it did, I decided to accept the fact that the camper was only half painted, and said heck with it, it will do as it is. Most ppl would only see one side of it at a time going down the highway anyways, and wouldn't even notice that one side was still ALL white while the other side was half red and half black and still with a primer streak right down the center. Heck, I even thought about going Full RedNeck and just for the shock factor, strapping a rocking chair to the top of it just like for Granny from the Beverly HillBillies :roflblack: But that would've taken more time and energy than I had to spare But I did think about it :roflblack:

TBC............... work work work

 

[CyncySpyder]

SpyderFest 2013 The NEW Adventure*Chapters 3 & 4 'Before the trip even began'

Chapter 3:
So 9am on Wednesday morning, and we find Teddy and I are out in the garage putting on the hitch and making sure all those connections are solid and well lubed, in hopes of preventing the disaster where it took 3 grown men hours of banging, pulling, pushing and cussing to originally remove the dang thing:banghead: (Thanks Doug & Coz:bowdown Never want to repeat that again, that's for sure :shocked:

And at 9:30am our buddy comes backing up the driveway with his pick-up pulling a trailer with his tricked out RT-S on it. I had forgotten that he changed his mind and decided the trip would be a bit much for him to endure ryding his Spyder seeing as he had recently had shoulder surgery, which I totally understood. Mind you now, I had no clue how much of a blessing this little fact ended up being. We'll get there tho........ patients my friends.

So our buddy walks up with rain steadily pouring down. When I checked the weather forcast that morning, I knew Teddy & I were in for a good long soaking and to be honest, a little dread had fallen over my otherwise upbeat and motivated self. I was kicking myself tho, cause if things were done when I had originally planned, we would have set out on Tuesday, which was a nice warm sunny day. But no, I wasn't ready, so here we are, going to be heading out in a downpour and the forcast showed we were in for a good 3 to 4 hours of pretty heavy rain until it would start breaking up. I was again kicking myself, cause I was overwhelmed trying to get everything done in time for the trip & some things had to go undone, one of which was Teddy's new and improved seat with enclosures that would protect the lil guy from cold and rain if need be. Just not enough time, energy nor creativity to get it done in time, and this left me not only worried, but also feeling like I let the lil guy down. I mean, he depends on me for his safety and security & here I was about to make him endure almost 600 miles in the pouring wind and temps falling from the 60s to the mid 40s for who knew how long :lecturef_smilie: Just not right I tell ya pps:

People over the years have asked if I keep Teddy in the camper in incliment weather, but never had I tried before. I will admit that our previous kitty cat named Skyddie rode back there in the camper all the way to her new home in Salem MO at ThreeFeets home, but she was very shaken up once we arrived. You see, our camper has what they say is 'torsion' suspension, but when I look underneath it, it looks like the wheels are bolted directly to the frame. I see no suspension to speak of, and with the hitch being frame mounted to the Spyder, there is no suspension there either. So if we don't load the camper perfectly, we either get a bobble head effect on the rear of the Spyder with the camper doing the bouncy bouncy down the highway or we get the fishtale on the back of the Spyder, with the camper swaying from side to side. I found the sweet spot for load weight distribution, and when its spot on, its smooth as glass. But I just couldn't ever imagine Teddy having to be back there in the camper, out of my sight & worse, he couldn't see me, and then having to deal with all the bumping and jarring that goes along with any road or highway. I had just never been able nor wanted to put him in that situation. Before, we'd use an enclosed carrier on the rear seat for him, and even tho he hates being enclosed, it was the safest place for him. But with the advent of the sun-canopy, the enclosed carrier doesn't work with that design, so it was either one or the other. Hense the reason I need to work a new and improved contraption for the lil guy providing the best of all worlds and needed conditions.

Anyways, I was dreading the fact that Teddy was going to be getting soaked, when my buddy suggests to me, "Hey Dave, why don't you let the lil guy ryde with me in the pickup, that way he stays nice and warm and dry." Wow, I really appreciated my buddies offer, but I didn't think he realized what he was asking for. You see, Teddy is rather spoiled (just a bit) and since its always been just him and I, well, he can turn into a whiner when he's seperated from me, and this was evidenced a couple of weeks back when we had to take his sled to the shop for the Valve Clearance check. It was still cold out, so one of my brothers followed behind me on the Spyder, him and Teddy in his pick-up truck. He told me once we arrived, that whenever Teddy could see me or the Spyder he would just go nuts, almost trying to get out of the truck and onto his Spyder. I tell ppl and they think I'm joking, but its HIS byke & I'm just the

Chapter 4:
chauffeur, see I know my place & Teddy keeps me in it. But yeah, when Teddy was riding with my brother and he could see me he would go nuts whining and trying to get to me. So when my bro got tired of listening to him whine, he finally got smart and allowed a car or two to get inbetween us, and as soon as I was out of Teddy's sight, my bro said he calmed right down, acted a bit lost and would even curl up in his lap.

So with this knowledge in hand, I was a bit worried how Teddy was going to react with riding by himself with my buddy that up to this time, he had only met briefly 4 or 5 times. I knew either way Teddy was going to stress, but he'd ultimately be ok, but I was really worried not knowing how my buddy would be able to handle it. I mean, have you ever been cooped up on a road-trip for hours on end with a screaming baby :yikes: It wears on you quickly and can become overwhelming very easily. But my only other choice was to put Teddy in the Camper, but knowing how the camper bobbles up and down on bumpy roads, that just seemed inhumane to me, and would only do as a last resort.

I explained a few nuances about Teddy to my buddy and then stacked the deck in his favor, by giving him some of Teddy's favorite treats along with some of his favorite toys, and his doggy bed as well. That way, even tho he was in a truck he had never been in, he'd still have some of the 'comforts' and smells of home with him, and that should help to lessen his seperation anxiety some ray: So with the rain just a pouring down, I thanked my buddy for his offer and we soon had everything packed up and finally ready to head out.

We went back inside the condo real quick so I could make a post here on SpyderLovers to let everyone know we were actually finally leaving, gave the condo a once over to make sure everything was as it should be for us to take our leave & then I proceeded to make a :yikes:HUGE mistake:shocked:

Mind you now, we hadn't ridden daily (like normal for us) since Lamonts Bar-B-Q last year, but had just made mostly short test rydes as we'd get one mod done after another, making sure all was still working on the byke as it should.

TBC ......................

 

[SpyderWolf]

Good story so far... opcorn:

 

[Netminder]

opcorn:opcorn:

 

[CyncySpyder]

SpyderFest 2013 The NEW Adventure* Chapters 5 & 6- The Trip actually begins (Almost)

Chapter 5:
Most of you know Teddy & I are on this forum quite often, because to be honest, without the help and shared wisdom from ALL of YOU, along with Len from PitBull PowerSports (formally Cowtown) Teddy & I honestly would NOT still be Spyder Owners today and we would have missed out on so much JOY from the Ownership experience, that I hate to even think how different our lives would be today.

With spending so much time invested here, maybe its a personality disorder or something, but it seems I've come to have a SpyderLovers conscience so to speak. Don't ask me why, but its kind of like I have a little Scotty (NancysToy) in the back of my head and while I'm going about doing whatever mod or Spyder related task, he's always there in the background wisperring his nuggets of sage wisdom that I'm sure I've read on one post or another that he made giving his sage advice to another that had seeked help here as many of us do. Great, 1st I have a Spyder Addiction and now it leads to personality disorders :helpsmilie: where does it ever end :banghead::gaah: Just kidding of course :roflblack::roflblack: or am I???

Anyways, back to our story, lets see, where were we??? Ahhhh yes, the HUGE MISTAKE I made.

And here is why I mentioned the above. You see, over the years of taking in all the great wealth of shared information here on SpyderLovers, and in turn, developing addictions and said personality disorders:roflblack: I've actually also learned alot.

Like for instance, when doing mods, its always best to do one mod at a time, that way, if there is a new problem that crops up, you know the most likely cause is something that you've just done. Doing many mods in concert together (like we had little choice of doing due to my 'Teddy Inflicted' injury & extended down time) and then having an issue, well, good luck in chasing that dog down :helpsmilie: as you then have to go thru the elongated process of deductive reasoning and we all know, not all things Spyder are logical, so that can be a frustrating process to say the least.

Another nugget of wisdom I've picked up over the past few years of this SpyderLovers addiction, is that it's always best to try something out on a sort of 'test run' before the actual event, kind of like the rehersal BEFORE the wedding Oh, how we live and hopefully we learn

If I would have known and taken that sage advice back in late 2010 when we first got our then brand new Moto-Mate Camper, then I would have actually taken it out to a park and Teddy and I would have spent the night camping with it, before doing so for the very 1st time at the LadyBug CampGround at the 2011 SpyderFest. If I had done that, I would had found out then that since its an all aluminum body, you have to leave the vent cracked overnight, so air can properly circulate. By Not doing so, you would then end up like us, waking up that first morning with all the exposed interior aluminum braces covered in water and not knowing why:gaah:

I was clueless and thought the damn thing was just leaking like a sive and must have had holes all over it. I didn't know then, that it was just condensation building up from the heat of our own bodies, and without air circulation, well.............:banghead:

Oh the memories and how we live and we learn :roflblack: I didn't know what to do, but knew that I didn't want to go back to a drenched bed on wheels, and Teddy and I stayed out the next evening as late as possible, closing the bomb fire down hoping someone would invite us back to their hotel room for drinks or something so we didn't have to wake up 'wet' again. Poor SethO, I hate to think of that poor guys impression of us from that evening. You see, thinking our new camper just had leaks everywhere, I wouldn't stop showing him photos of Teddy on the Ipad all night long, til he finally told us, "Dude, its way past my bed time, I've gotta get going." and I was still trying to keep him up so we didn't have to go back to that camper :lecturef_smilie:...................:roflblack::roflblack::roflblack:

Chapter 6:

So back to our story...................

So with Scotty's lil voice in the back of my head, and me already going against most of it, not by choice mind you but the reality of being out of time & no other choice, I thought it the "smart" thing to do when it finally came time to leave in the torential downpour, was to put on rain gear that had been tried and tested and proved itself as reliable for the past 2 years, instead of something that hadn't been tried and only been in reserve since getting caught in the rain at last years Owners Event in Maggie Valley.

You see, back in the winter of 2010 when we still had Teddy's 1st Spyder, the Timeless Black RT-S that was such a problem child for us, we were already addicted to ryding daily and seeing as the stability factor of having 3 wheels proved steady and secure in most weather conditions, and me NOT having any previous ryding experience what so ever to color my judgement, I decided there had to be a way for us to ryde year round.

That's when I discovered BajaRons FirstGear Thermo Ryding Suit and promtly ordered one cause even tho at this time I was a total noobe, Ron still had a stellar reputation for selling nothing but the best and the Suit came highly recommended and for good reason. We have done hundred mile trips to downtown Indy from our home in Covington two different times now, both in the dead of winter with the first trip at 19 degrees and the second trip at 26 degrees and the suit proved invaluable. Granted, that first trip I thought I was prepaired for, and everywhere the suit covered, I was just fine. But at those temps and at highway speeds, even with 2 layers of thermal socks and heavy duty boots, I honestly thought my toes were going to be frost-bit by the time we finally made our destination. Live and Learn. We now ALWAYS keep a supply of those chemical heat warmers stowed in the trunk, as they make them for your hands and we also found chemical insole warmers that work like a charm for your feet.

Tho I have to admit, thinking I was well prepaired for these winter trips, we did run into a situation on our second trip that I had never read about here on SpyderLovers or any other forum for that matter. Remember now, before the Spyder Teddy & I had NO PREVIOUS RYDING experience in anything other than a car or pick-up truck, so everything for us Spyder related was totally new, and this forum proved an invalualble asset for our learning curve. With that said, I really couldn't understand why so many members on here, most with prior 2 wheel experience, preached about NOT looking thru the windshield, and that a shield is meant to be looked OVER, NOT THRU.

Again tho, coming from a car perspective, you look THRU a windshield, not OVER it, and with the RTs adjustable windshield, I just didn't get it. On the 2010 models, they ALL came with the larger 'barn door' models and even at the lowest position, I had to sit straight up in the saddle to actually look OVER the shield. In my logic, I figured if the shield wasn't meant to be looked THRU, then the manufacturer surely wouldn't make it adjustable so that you COULD look thru it while ryding, right? We had made a thousand mile trip to Florida and back, all with me looking THRU the shield, and with no ill effects, so this just didn't make any sense to me.

Well, on our second hundred mile winter trip at 26 degrees, as I was saying, we ran into a situation I WASN'T prepaired for. Like what do you do, when your ryding on the Interstate at 70 miles per hour, at 26 degrees at 6 in the morning, and you run into a dense fog bank? Well, you slow down, put on your emergency flashers and you proceed cautiously, right? Well, that seemed logical to me, so that's what we did, and things seemed to be going well as we proceeded. Only thing was, when we came out of the dense fog bank, I still couldn't see THRU the windshield and had to remain sitting straight up as possible so I could see OVER the dang thing. I figured the shield was just 'fogged' up, so we pulled off at the next rest area and I proceeded to get a micro-fiber towel from the trunk to clean the shield off, mind you now, thinking it was just fog. Well imagine my surprise when I go to wipe off the fog, only it wouldn't wipe off. OMG!!! Its NOT fog at all, its ICE!!! The entire shield was encapsulated front and back, in a thick layer of solid ice, and nothing I tried would get the ice to budge. Knowing the shield is a type of plastic or polymer, I knew I couldn't 'scrape' it without likely scratching the heck out of it, so OMG what do you do??? Live & Learn we do........... lol

Anyways, back to todays story .......................
So I figure it best to wear the proven FirstGear Thermo Ryding suit, cause I knew from previous experience that it was water-proof. But I was a bit concerned with this decision, since it was almost 60 degrees when we were leaving that I would be cooking in a very short time. But I figured if I got too warm to handle it, we could always pull over and I could change into my Frog-Togs and we could continue on. So I got myself stuffed into the FirstGear Thermo Ryding suit, and I say stuffed, cause its a Medium size, which in 2010 & 2011 fit me like a glove. Remember tho, we missed most the events in 2012 cause I had back surgery and with doing little else besides laying around for almost 3 months, well yeah, I gained at least 20 pounds (not gonna admit how much actually-pps but to say I looked like a stuffed sausage, well that would be being nice:sour: I mean, I had to actually let the middle velcro adjustment straps just hang, as there wasn't enough room to even MAKE them touch :shocked: believe me, I tried. But hey, I hadn't worn the suit in almost a year, and it was just there hanging in the closet awaiting our return to daily ryding, but that has just been recently, with warmer weather than the suit was designed for.

So anyways, with me stuffed into the suit, the condo closed up, Teddy with my buddy safe, dry and warm in his truck, I hop on Teds Red Sled with the Camper attached and I pull out of the garage into the deluge of pouring rain, look back & push the button for the garage door, and watch as it comes to a complete closure, stow the remote in the RTs glove box and then roll on the throttle of Teds New & Improved Red/Black Sled, with the GPS set for PitBull PowerSports in SpringField MO, and slowly pull down our inclined driveway around our buddys trailer and truck, and pull up along side and come to a stop. He powers down his window, and Teddy immediately jumps up to see me like a crazy Jack in the Box, and I give him a pat on the head, and ask my buddy if he's ready & if he thinks he'll be ok with Teddy
and he assures me all will be good. I give him a thumbs up and proceed to take the lead, as I've got the GPS and have been to Cuba 4 times and to PitBulls already once for Lens Grand Opening a few months back, so we take our leave and head out.

TBC ....................................​

 

[CyncySpyder]

SpyderFest 2013 The NEW Adventure -Part VI - We're actually On The Road

With me in the lead and JB (my buddy) right behind me, we snaked our way thru the couple little side streets that lead to the Interstate and within 2 minutes, we're now on 'The Cut In The Hill' on I75 heading south in a pretty heavy downpour. I have on my boots, the FirstGear Thermo Ryding Suit, Full Face helmet and in a rush before leaving, I couldn't find my waterproof ryding gloves and settled for some form fitting shop gloves that I use for work around the garage, figuring something is better than nothing. I keep the shield on the full face helmet cracked just a tad bit, to help prevent fogging, but not enough for the rain to get in, and all seems fine for the start.

This was our first trip with Teds Sled actually fully completed and put together with all its new mods. One of those mods being a Cal-Sci Shorty windshield that we picked up from another SL forum member from NY at a great price. I had been wanting to try one of these ever since ppl on here started posting about them last year, but the price just wasn't in the budget. Even tho I knew if I was ordering a Brand New one, I would have ordered the Large or maybe even the Extra Large, we still couldn't pass up the deal to at least try the Shorty for the price offered to Teddy, so this was going to be our first real long trip trial with this new shield. I found with it positioned all the way down, I could easily see OVER the shield with a good 4 inches or so to spare, but I also got more of the bobble head effect from the direct wind than I cared for, so I bumped the position up about 2 inches, and found that position, with a full face helmet on, worked well for me.

TBC.......................... sorry folks, work work work

 

[lookerjdc]

good so far

 

[CyncySpyder]

SpyderFest 2013 The NEW Adventure -Part VI - We're actually On The Road -Continued

One of the first things I noticed once we were going UP 'The Cut In The Hill' at speed (55MPH) was, that even tho I was wearing my work ear-plugs and also wearing my full-face helmet, Teds Red Sled was SCREAMING like a BANSHEE being scalded with boiling water :yikes: Remember, we removed the complete OEM airbox, filter & resonator and put on the KewlMetal Air Intake with round K&N Air Filter. I knew from previous test rydes, that this mod did what I had hoped, and got rid of Teds Red Sled sounding like a dang sewing machine, and instead has a much more pleasing throaty grow instead. When talking with docriverside who helped us thru this mod, he informed me that the sound would be of a lower tone with not much more of a noticeable sound level change, that is, except under load. Meaning, when your initially rolling on the throttle, its a bit louder than at cruising speed, but still not deafening. Well, this proved true in our previous test rydes, but all those test rydes were with just Teds Red Sled ..................... sans camper :shocked:

This was our actual first 'test/real' ryde while towing the camper since the rebuild & WOW, does that make a HUGE difference pps: Knowing we weren't going to actually be camping, but sharing a hotel room once we arrived, I decided against packing all of our usual camping gear, and instead just bringing the essentials for the week long trip, so the camper wasn't even packed to the limit. Reguardless, I quickly came to realize that now, anytime we're towing the camper, Teds Red Sled is going to be "Under Load" and unless we were just cruising at speed or rolling down hill, Teds Red Sled was now a Screaming Banshee pretty much all the time above say 45 mph. OK, I learned something new here and this was a compromise I was willing to accept. I mean, we don't usually tow the comper except when on road trips anyway, so opening up the engine compartment and getting the lower growl sound to replace that of the sewing machine was a worth while change, just always having a Screaming Banshee between our legs when towing the camper was a bit unexpected at this time :hun: Live and Learn

Ok, so we crested 'The Cut In The Hill' and the Banshee calmed down a bit as we got to cruising speed on the flat of the Interstate and I could once again here myself think. Then all of a sudden, I feel cold running down the center of my back:shocked:

Hmmmmmm................ Ok, that must just be the rain water running off the front of Teddy's Sun Canopy and I'm feeling the pressure of the water running right down the center of my FirstGear Thermo Ryding Suit, is what I thought to myself at first But then, I started thinking :hun: this is a Thermo Ryding suit & its pouring down rain, but almost 60 degrees, I shouldn't be feeling anything cold :sour: Then after about 5 more minutes, I start to realize my butt is feeling :shocked:wet:shocked:

:hun: uhhhhh...... am I really sweating that much :dontknow::dontknow::dontknow: Hold on, if I was 'sweating' that much, it wouldn't feel cold :helpsmilie: SON OF A B:cus:TCH!!! I finally realize whats going on. Its water that I'm feeling running down the center of my back all the way to my butt pps::yikes: But how can this be, I've ridden in this same suit thru countless downpours without ever getting wet ............................... til that moment that is :banghead:

I quickly came to realize that the FirstGear Thermo Ryding Suit is water-proof, but after 2 years of use, and then sitting for so long, I'm guessing that it totally lost every bit of its water-proofing ability. Oh, what a great time to find this out :sour: As the miles and time passed, any and every seem in the suit became an opening to unleash a deluge of water inside, and we all know what happens with gravity, soon it was all running down my back, down my legs and culminating into a swimming pool in my boots. And as luck would have it, the further south and west we headed, the lower the temps were dropping. We left the Cincy area and it was almost 60 degrees, but 2 hours into the ryde & the temps were now down around 52 degrees and I was NOT a happy camper

At this very moment, I was just beginning to realize how much a blessing having JB (with his warm and dry pick-up truck) along for this trip was becoming. I may have been miserable, but at least I could take comfort in knowing that Teddy was safe and sound, dry and warm and not having to share in my misery. As crazy as this may sound, and I guess this is one of those definitions of love, but knowing he was ok, well, that made it all better for me, I could deal with it and go on, but if Teddy were behind me right there, sharing in this situation of getting wet and chilled to the bone, I would have stopped right then and there. Knowing he was good, I didn't even say a word to JB about the issue when we made our first fuel stop, just went over to get Teddy out of his truck, pet him and let him know I was there for him, let him go potty & give him some water, another pat of the head, and back he went, dry and warm and back on the road we went.

However, that changed with the next fuel stop at right about 100 miles, as pulling the camper in the rain was killing my fuel range and as the temperature had also dropped, now down to 46 degrees, and even with the heated grips on, being soaked to the bone, my teeth were starting to chatter. I confessed my situation to JB and he asked if I had other rain gear, to which I confided I did have some Frog-Togs and he suggested I change into them. But being soaked thru, I checked the weather radar on the GPS and it looked like we only had about another 30 minutes or so left of the rain, as long as we were headed west as the storm was heading east. I told him I'd continue on til the rain let up and then we'd stop to eat somewhere & I'd change ALL my clothes and then put on the Frog-Togs. I swear, there's not much worse than ryding in cold rain than doing it with wet underwear and socks :banghead:

TBC .......................................

 

[revjvegas]

... I swear, there's not much worse than ryding in cold rain than doing it with wet underwear and socks :banghead:

Man you got that right. Been there, done that. Truer words have never been spoken.

 

[SpyderWolf]

Ah yes, the wonderful feeling of your awesome rain gear holding in all of the water it decides to collect. That is a terrible feeling all the way around unless it happens to be 90 degrees outside and you can dry out quickly. I also learned the hard way that rain gear comes with a hood for a good reason and that you need to put it on under your helmet. Frogg Toggs let me down big time because of my lack of knowledge. :banghead:

 

[CyncySpyder]

SpyderFest 2013 The NEW Adventure -Part VII - We're actually On The Road -Continued

So we travel a few more miles in the cold rain, with me keeping an eye on the temperature and the weather radar and I begin to slowly realize my back is starting to hurt and ache, being jarred with each bump in the road, and that started to trouble me. Most of you know that I had back surgery last year (L5-S1 Laminectomy - which caused us to miss just about ALL the years events) and this was the 1st time since I finished rehab and returned to work, and subsequently ryding that I noticed any issue whatsoever with my back bothering me:helpsmilie:

Then I began to realize WHY my back was starting to bother me. The further I rode, the more and more I realized, I was physically getting the sh*t beat out of me :yikes: At first, I just wrote it off to being bad pavement and all the rain, and then cause I was pulling the camper, but I mean Teds Red Sled was vibrating and shaking so hard with every bump in the road, that eventually even his Brand New LCD Teddy-Cam display started moving and slowly slipping down lower and lower on its Ram mount. Our old one only weighed in at 3 pounds, but his new one was designed for marine use, being water-proof its totally encased in aluminum, making it weigh in at 7 pounds.

And with each passing bump in the road, it was like a little after-shock from an earth quake had happend, & I found myself actually holding my breath and having to brace myself whenever I noticed I was going to be hitting a pot-hole or any anomolly in the road, but as we all know, when its raining, that's not an easy thing to do. I realized after a bit longer, I was almost in a jockey-like position, with my legs actually holding my but right above the seat, pushing my back against the Utopia backrest for support, and I found that was the only way I could comfortably take all the jarring effects that the byke was transferring to me.

I was a bit lost about this situation. I mean, we had done so many mods over the past 10 months of this monumental rebuild, but after each we'd do a small test run to make sure all was well, and up til this point, everything had checked out:thumbup: And even tho I knew the ryde was a bit firmer, I chalked that up to be due to the car tires we switched to having 4 ply side walls as compared to the OEMs being so much softer with only 2 plys. I had played with PSI trying to find the perfect balance between a harsh, stiff ride at higher levels to getting a bouncy-castle ryde when they were too low.

I thought I had it figured out, but again, in all my testing, it was with the Spyder alone, sans the camper :lecturef_smilie:Adding the camper, with the Spyders hitch being frame mounted, and the camper only having 'torsion' suspension, well every little bump and road imperfection was just multiplied and amplified and I soon realized the error of my wayspps::helpsmilie:

Live and Learn, I did alot of that on this adventure, let me tell you More than I care to admit pps: but hey, its reality and I'm gaining experience from every day that passes. If I'm wise, I hope to not repeat the bad ones, and instead, use them as a learning experience for the future. If I'm not, you'll likely be reading some of the same stupid antics in future threads :banghead: ....................... :roflblack::roflblack::roflblack::roflblack::roflblack:

TBC .....................................