Ride to Duluth, Return with Goodies

What would you do with time off work? Would you mow the lawn? Clean the house? Or would you go for a ride?? As a good motorcyclist, I’ve chosen the last option.

We are approaching one week for the State of MN shutdown and the first week I’ve been unemployed since I can’t remember when. Not getting paid isn’t fun, but I’ve been loving the time off. I did clean the house and mow the lawn too. I’ve also been riding a lot which has been quite relaxing after the last few months of drama and stress.

In preparation for my trip (in less than two weeks!), I took the R1150GS for a long ride to make sure I have the ergonomics right. Since I’ve gone east and west on previous day trips, I decided to go north and attempt to escape the heat.

I rode up I-35 to Duluth and enjoyed the cool breeze off the lake and of course the fantastic views. I didn’t take any shot this trip (no idea, I brought TWO cameras), so enjoy this one from a previous trip.

On the way home, I stopped at Aerostich to browse around. I’ve been drooling their three digit rain covers for sometime. My current rain gloves are insulated and way too warm for summer riding. I liked them, and picked up a pair.

They are covers, so they fit over your regular riding gloves. I chose the orange color instead of the black.

They have a reflective triangle on the outside for extra visibility

and a handy visor wiper on the left thumb.

I also browsed through their sale selection and picked up this DVD for $2: “The Return: Riding Western China”

It sounded interesting. It’s about a guy who moved from the US to China to teach English and during the off-months rides a 150cc Chinese motorcycle to the Pakistan border. The story is in two parts his first, failed trip in 2005, and then the second attempt in 2006. The scenery is pretty great. He covers the western deserts and some of the mountains. It looked like some very harsh conditions.

My wife and I watched it last night, and I understand why it was marked down to $2. He has a nice mix of still photos, hand drawings, tripod shots, handheld, and on-bike video. Since it was filmed in 2005/2006 the video gear was pretty low quality. The handheld and on-bike shots were terrible. They were extremely jerky to the point of making us both sick. By the end, we were both crying out at the TV for him to use his tripod more. His still photography is quite good and both of us thought it saved the film.

I admire his passion for making the film and trying to share the beautiful Chinese country-side with the world. I was in China in 2000, but I didn’t make it as far west as he did. I know from my own video experiences that a one-man show is a lot of work both in filming and editing. I usually spend an hour to get one good minute of video, so I can only imagine the time he put in to make a 93 minute DVD.

I don’t think I’ll watch it again, and I not sure I can recommend it. I will be looking for his website to see if he has some more current stuff. He has some good potential.

On my way out of Aerostich, I saw their motorcycle newspaper rack. They had the latest Minnesota Motorcycle Monthly and a paper I’d never seen called “City Bike” from California. More fun reading ahead!

Just over 300 miles later, I returned home. The bike ran great, and it felt good too. The recent tweaks to the handlebars are working well. I’m still on the fence on if I should leave the windshield and handguards on for the trip. What do you think?