Foiled again. I keep attempting to make it home from Fort Collins on the ZRX in 12 hours and I keep getting held up by weather. Well, three times now by weather and once by running out of gas. I was really close though, 12 1/2 hours door to door. A 30 minute stop due to marble-sized hail, plus another half hour of slowing to 65 for standing water on the road. It really makes me feel special putting along by myself while all the CARS are pulled over on the shoulders because it's raining so hard. It's either 840 or 870 miles, I can't recall which. This time around I had a steering damper which helps tons. With the weight of the loaded bags on the back the front end gets the shakes at anything above 110, and gets pretty unsettled by minor bumps or wind at anything over 100. The damper keeps the shakes nicely under control, 120 for appropriate stretches is fine now and there's at least 300 miles where 120 is absolutely appropriate, don't give me no lectures. This time I also invested in some visor shields with tear-offs: one smoked shield, one clear. FYI- I keep the speed down in populated areas and am extremely courteous always. No tailgating, no lane splitting, no passing on shoulders, I wait at a respectable distance for people to decide whether they want to get over or would rather me pass on the right. Everyone who does get over gets a friendly wave. I love my radar detector more than words can express. I'm tearing up as I speak.
frankeng:
kool