VStrom Commute

I rode the bike to work most of the days through the summer. The general rule was (and still is) that I ride the bike unless there is some reason not to ride the bike. Reasons not to ride are that I have to carry more than one passenger, the weather forbids, or I have cargo that will not fit into my bag. The weather has been the main reason in the past week or two. Mary insists that I will have to man-up unless there is ice on the ground between now and January when we get to the true local winter.

It's been mostly good so far. Certainly have used less fuel than the Jeep. 45 mpg is better than 15 mpg. 70 miles per hour feels faster than when riding fully enclosed. Crazies are still crazy, but they stand out even more when you are more exposed. Timing the commute to miss the 10mph traffic on GA400 is even more important now. I have missed out on a bunch of Talk Radio, but have not decided whether that is a positive or negative point (definite negative is missing the heads up on the traffic reports). Remembering that the gap in the trees at exit 14 acts like a funnel for the wind is important or I end up moved suddenly to the next lane over.

I traded the backpack I used to carry my load of stuff around for a Nelson-Rigg bag. It rides behind the Dan Vesel backrest on an tail rack extension from Dan (scroll to the bottom of that page). Dan made a larger model for me to handle the size bag I use to keep it off the turn signals. The main compartment of the bag has enough room for the second helmet which is handy. It is big enough and secure enough on the rack to carry my laptop when I have to bring that home for work. I use it mostly to carry a lunch and a book to read when I break for the day. I has plentiful little pockets to handle the small junk I carry around. So yes, it is a mostly great big purse that I strap to the back of my bike.

If the weather keeps to North Georgia norms, I should be able to ride at least a couple of sunny days a week in December now that I have the pants with the quilted liner. January and the first part of February will probably be the skip months. I will not try to ride on ice and have no plans to get wet in the cold weather.

Now I just need to the Jeep to last for a couple of years without major problems.