bullant12
New member
My wife Leira signed up with Vanessa (Pitbull's wife) and Faran to do a 15K in downtown Springfield. I wanted for both to go on our :spyder2:s, but because Leira had a trip on Monday morning and we are puppy training our newest member Penny (4 lbs longhair mini Dachshund) which we had to bring along. I decided to take Valerie since I wanted to get my first long ride of the year and cure my Parked Spyder Syndrome, while Leira went in the family cage.
We had an AWESOME weekend. On Saturday Leira, Vanessa and Faran got to race their 15K while Vanessa signed me up on a Beer Run... yes... drink a beer, run around a block, drink another beer, run another block, 3 times. After that, we all helped Len attend the St. Patrick's Day parade where he sent his business trucks and trailers promoting Pitbull's wonderful products. I had the chance to promote the :spyder2: by riding mine, while Faran drove Lamont's truck with her daughters, Leira, and Vanessa. We finished the day having Mexican food and all of us heading to the hotel for the kids to enjoy the pool and hot tub.
Keep in mind that the ride up on Friday was a little wet, but nothing big. Saturday started a bit cold, but it warmed up while it progressed. Felt really good that afternoon! But we were all keeping an eye on the weather: a winter snow storm was approaching. I wanted to get out early Sunday, but I wanted to get a nice breakfast in the hotel which they did not start serving until 7am... 1st mistake!
After breakfast, ourselves and Faran left the hotel. Since Faran was heading south, she was only going to get rain. Faran requested me to stay since the weather was getting worse: I parked Valerie in the hotel's breezeway while having breakfast and within that time, the sleet started to come in, and froze the windshield and cluster.... I should have listen to her... 2nd mistake. I should have also followed her instead and then head east to avoid the storm... 3rd mistake!
So we leave Springfield and head east instead. Leira was in front of me as lead in her cage. After we left the overpasses in behind, it went from sleet to snow... and the roads started to accumulate. Plus, it had rained overnight so there was also ice on the road. I was starting to loose control and traction... lots of counter-steering and started going 15-20 MPH to retain control. Nearest gas station was a few miles down. Eventually, I lost control and ended up on the shoulder. But since I was going slow and there was snow built up, I had no injuries or damages on the Spyder, just got stuck. Thankfully, a tow truck saw what happened and turned around in the few minutes that I was stuck. The tow truck driver helped me pull out the Spyder and then followed behind me until Seymour, MO... about 30 miles from Springfield. There was a hotel not far from the highway, but the turnoff roads where still snowed. All this took 2 hours... just to move 30 miles. I had to face reality and after Leira pleaded, I checked in to wait it off since the forecast called for these conditions all day. I wanted Leira to stay as well... but as I stated, she had to travel the next day for work, so she was on a mission. Thankfully both her and Penny made it home safe. Meanwhile, I was stuck in a small hotel, with only a local café and gas station but surrounded by frozen snow and ice on the ground. After letting my boss know that I wasn't coming in on Monday, I made the best of it: warm room, saw a few old movies (with commercials... blah) and got to eat good warm homestyle cooking food... at the risk of falling on ice and breaking something!!!
Next's day forecast called for warming temperatures... but below freezing that morning and going to high of mid 40s! Here is what I woke up to:
Yep... frozen solid! I left her parked pretty much by the direction of the snow storm... 4th mistake. Then the slush between the front tires and the fender froze so bad that even after I got her started, it would only make a willie effect (that is one way to do a wille on a Spyder...:roflblack
. It took 3 buckets of hot water and trips on the icy breezeway floor to get her front tires to move. Once I got unstuck, I was back on my way home... on a cooooooold day! With that said, thanks to BajaRon and the FirstGear Thermo Gear. With 2 layers of clothing, tactical boots (I should have double socked... one pair of wool socks was not enough) and thick gloves, that suit made that cold ride a pleasant one!!!
I sent a video out to Lamont showing the weather and how the bike was. Once I posted it on Facebook, Pierre from SpyderTV asked me permission to post it on his website with my intro. I told him I am not a big fan of being in front of a camera, much less a microphone, so he took his "editing liberties" into it.
BTW... Abba music with a Van Halen themed Spyder?!?! That was NOT my idea... oh... and he mentions I was going back from Daytona... as much as I wanted to go, I could not make it for work reasons.
And here is another Spyder adventure for the books! Thanks to those involved (you know who you are!
)
We had an AWESOME weekend. On Saturday Leira, Vanessa and Faran got to race their 15K while Vanessa signed me up on a Beer Run... yes... drink a beer, run around a block, drink another beer, run another block, 3 times. After that, we all helped Len attend the St. Patrick's Day parade where he sent his business trucks and trailers promoting Pitbull's wonderful products. I had the chance to promote the :spyder2: by riding mine, while Faran drove Lamont's truck with her daughters, Leira, and Vanessa. We finished the day having Mexican food and all of us heading to the hotel for the kids to enjoy the pool and hot tub.
Keep in mind that the ride up on Friday was a little wet, but nothing big. Saturday started a bit cold, but it warmed up while it progressed. Felt really good that afternoon! But we were all keeping an eye on the weather: a winter snow storm was approaching. I wanted to get out early Sunday, but I wanted to get a nice breakfast in the hotel which they did not start serving until 7am... 1st mistake!
After breakfast, ourselves and Faran left the hotel. Since Faran was heading south, she was only going to get rain. Faran requested me to stay since the weather was getting worse: I parked Valerie in the hotel's breezeway while having breakfast and within that time, the sleet started to come in, and froze the windshield and cluster.... I should have listen to her... 2nd mistake. I should have also followed her instead and then head east to avoid the storm... 3rd mistake!
So we leave Springfield and head east instead. Leira was in front of me as lead in her cage. After we left the overpasses in behind, it went from sleet to snow... and the roads started to accumulate. Plus, it had rained overnight so there was also ice on the road. I was starting to loose control and traction... lots of counter-steering and started going 15-20 MPH to retain control. Nearest gas station was a few miles down. Eventually, I lost control and ended up on the shoulder. But since I was going slow and there was snow built up, I had no injuries or damages on the Spyder, just got stuck. Thankfully, a tow truck saw what happened and turned around in the few minutes that I was stuck. The tow truck driver helped me pull out the Spyder and then followed behind me until Seymour, MO... about 30 miles from Springfield. There was a hotel not far from the highway, but the turnoff roads where still snowed. All this took 2 hours... just to move 30 miles. I had to face reality and after Leira pleaded, I checked in to wait it off since the forecast called for these conditions all day. I wanted Leira to stay as well... but as I stated, she had to travel the next day for work, so she was on a mission. Thankfully both her and Penny made it home safe. Meanwhile, I was stuck in a small hotel, with only a local café and gas station but surrounded by frozen snow and ice on the ground. After letting my boss know that I wasn't coming in on Monday, I made the best of it: warm room, saw a few old movies (with commercials... blah) and got to eat good warm homestyle cooking food... at the risk of falling on ice and breaking something!!!
Next's day forecast called for warming temperatures... but below freezing that morning and going to high of mid 40s! Here is what I woke up to:
Yep... frozen solid! I left her parked pretty much by the direction of the snow storm... 4th mistake. Then the slush between the front tires and the fender froze so bad that even after I got her started, it would only make a willie effect (that is one way to do a wille on a Spyder...:roflblack. It took 3 buckets of hot water and trips on the icy breezeway floor to get her front tires to move. Once I got unstuck, I was back on my way home... on a cooooooold day! With that said, thanks to BajaRon and the FirstGear Thermo Gear. With 2 layers of clothing, tactical boots (I should have double socked... one pair of wool socks was not enough) and thick gloves, that suit made that cold ride a pleasant one!!!I sent a video out to Lamont showing the weather and how the bike was. Once I posted it on Facebook, Pierre from SpyderTV asked me permission to post it on his website with my intro. I told him I am not a big fan of being in front of a camera, much less a microphone, so he took his "editing liberties" into it.
And here is another Spyder adventure for the books! Thanks to those involved (you know who you are!
)
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