Day -25: Refining the Ride and Dodging Bullets
Day -25 of the 2019 Prefrontal Tour dawned,... well, it hasn't yet. At least I don't think so... It's hard to tell with all the black clouds and torrential rain.
The lake is so high it's spilling over the top of the dam, having risen 16 feet in recent weeks with no end in sight based on the 10-day forecast. For a lake that's 29 miles long with a capacity of almost 38 billion cubic feet, my calculation indicates that's a "stupid amount" of water. But hey, there's an entertaining assortment of barrels, docks, stairs, lumber and logs floating by the house on a minute-by-minute basis, and by the look of the raging streams flowing in from all directions, it's not going to subside appreciably anytime soon. If animals start pairing off in the yard I'll let you know, but for now test rides will have to wait.
Work continues on the trusty steed, which reminds me. Part of the 2019 Prefrontal Tour is contests, and the first one simply has to be naming the bike. "Big Blue" is so common it's laughable. Riffs on the average age of Goldwingers ("Oldwingers") is passe. So have at it dear readers - I'm open to suggestions for anything except "Bikey McBikeface". (Oh, and I reserve final judgment.) Vote early and often!
Having attended to the brakes and suspension the next order of business was to wire the bike for sound, embarrassingly more than it was already. By sourcing a no-longer-available (NLA) wiring harness from Sierra and a similarly NLA Bluetooth communicator base from the U.K., I was able to combine Sue's and my snowmobile helmet communicators to wire the bike in such a way that I can listen to music, place and receive calls, communicate over the CB radio, hear the radar detector, establish an intercom with other riders, and talk to Google Assistant or Waze to make notes about the ride and find hotels, gas stations, or restaurants along the route in real time. I'll also have the ability to intermittently steer the bike.
Not wanting to leave out satellites, I ordered a Garmin InReach Mini at Sue's request. The InReach is popular in the adventure crowd, being a communicator that offers two-way global messaging anywhere on Earth. I already use an app called BikerSOS that will send an alert if it detects a crash (it has false-alarmed twice already though), but that's only good if you have cellular service. And we all know the best roads are often the most remote - that's kind of the point. With the InReach, I'll (allegedly) be able to stay in touch anywhere with a clear view of the sky, and it has an SOS button if the cavalry needs to be called. It's one of those deals where half of the reviews are glowing, and the other half refer to the device in a stream of adjectives and asterisks.
At the same time, I dodged a major bullet in terms of scheduling and priorities. I was happy to wrap up a successful engagement in Denver this week, leaving me the rest of May to prepare for the trip. But yesterday, with five projects and a potential job offer already in the barrel, another bullet was fired, this one in the form of a manufacturing company in South Carolina going through a ransomware attack and in desperate need of someone to "right the ship".
I spent much of the day on the phone discussing the situation and describing the steps to response and recovery, but through it all I was clear about my commitment to being out of pocket for several weeks due to "prior engagements". Thankfully someone with more availability was, well, available, but I was sweating it last night.
Next steps you ask? Changing out the final drive oil, checking the clutch and blinker fluid, tightening the muffler bearings, and getting out for a few increasingly longer trips to test weight distribution and get back my riding skills after this long winter drought.
Until next time dear reader - onward and upward!
The lake is so high it's spilling over the top of the dam, having risen 16 feet in recent weeks with no end in sight based on the 10-day forecast. For a lake that's 29 miles long with a capacity of almost 38 billion cubic feet, my calculation indicates that's a "stupid amount" of water. But hey, there's an entertaining assortment of barrels, docks, stairs, lumber and logs floating by the house on a minute-by-minute basis, and by the look of the raging streams flowing in from all directions, it's not going to subside appreciably anytime soon. If animals start pairing off in the yard I'll let you know, but for now test rides will have to wait.Work continues on the trusty steed, which reminds me. Part of the 2019 Prefrontal Tour is contests, and the first one simply has to be naming the bike. "Big Blue" is so common it's laughable. Riffs on the average age of Goldwingers ("Oldwingers") is passe. So have at it dear readers - I'm open to suggestions for anything except "Bikey McBikeface". (Oh, and I reserve final judgment.) Vote early and often!
Having attended to the brakes and suspension the next order of business was to wire the bike for sound, embarrassingly more than it was already. By sourcing a no-longer-available (NLA) wiring harness from Sierra and a similarly NLA Bluetooth communicator base from the U.K., I was able to combine Sue's and my snowmobile helmet communicators to wire the bike in such a way that I can listen to music, place and receive calls, communicate over the CB radio, hear the radar detector, establish an intercom with other riders, and talk to Google Assistant or Waze to make notes about the ride and find hotels, gas stations, or restaurants along the route in real time. I'll also have the ability to intermittently steer the bike.Not wanting to leave out satellites, I ordered a Garmin InReach Mini at Sue's request. The InReach is popular in the adventure crowd, being a communicator that offers two-way global messaging anywhere on Earth. I already use an app called BikerSOS that will send an alert if it detects a crash (it has false-alarmed twice already though), but that's only good if you have cellular service. And we all know the best roads are often the most remote - that's kind of the point. With the InReach, I'll (allegedly) be able to stay in touch anywhere with a clear view of the sky, and it has an SOS button if the cavalry needs to be called. It's one of those deals where half of the reviews are glowing, and the other half refer to the device in a stream of adjectives and asterisks.
At the same time, I dodged a major bullet in terms of scheduling and priorities. I was happy to wrap up a successful engagement in Denver this week, leaving me the rest of May to prepare for the trip. But yesterday, with five projects and a potential job offer already in the barrel, another bullet was fired, this one in the form of a manufacturing company in South Carolina going through a ransomware attack and in desperate need of someone to "right the ship".
I spent much of the day on the phone discussing the situation and describing the steps to response and recovery, but through it all I was clear about my commitment to being out of pocket for several weeks due to "prior engagements". Thankfully someone with more availability was, well, available, but I was sweating it last night.
Next steps you ask? Changing out the final drive oil, checking the clutch and blinker fluid, tightening the muffler bearings, and getting out for a few increasingly longer trips to test weight distribution and get back my riding skills after this long winter drought.
Until next time dear reader - onward and upward!
