Video Updates - Finally getting some work done!

 Hello everyone.

Been a few months, so wanted to add another update to this site tonight.

I have been working quite a bit over the last month or so to get video from the Vietnam/Laos trip edited and posted online.  I put up the 5th episode tonight on the YouTube channel (will link it at the end).  I also went back and re-cut the 1st episode of the 2022 India trip and have now completed 4 episodes of that ride as well.

Getting faster at putting them together and will continue to work through the next several months to hopefully complete the videos for those trips.

I will be travelling again by motorcycle this spring in Europe, so will be doing more video there as well.

I still have the UK trip and several AZ and CA trips to get edited as well, and the Maldives trip, though that has nothing to do with motorcycles :)

Probably be end of 2025 before most of that gets done, depending on how much time I can carve out for video work with all the other projects I have going on.

I am going to be starting my sell off of much of my collections and other junk this summer, and hopefully can complete much of that by early 2026. 

My current plans are to complete the sell off and leave on my full time riding in early 2027, though depending on several factors and events, I may find myself pushing that up a year to 2026.

But for now enjoy the smaller trips on YouTube and the blogs for those trips as well.

YouTube Channel:  Wandering Wyvern

Blogs:

2022 India Trip

2024 Vietnam-Laos Trip



Long Overdue update.

Hello,

So yeah, still not too good at keeping this updated.  In the last year or so I have done several small rides around the area.

I finally put a good set of 50/50 tires on the V-strom in February, so decided to take it out on a good off pavement ride in the mountains south of Prescott Arizona.  Rode from Bumblebee up to Crown King and down the old Senator Highway to Prescott which was an amazing, but also insanely rough ride. Probably more than the bike was ready for, thankful for the bash plate, hit it good several times going over rocky steps down, and even up some hills.

In May I rode twice out to California for different events, once to Palm Springs and another to Burbank.  Both times took a more scenic route home on back highways.  Both trips were around 1000 miles each.

I did the usual ride up to flagstaff in May to go camping at the Overland Expo and first time I got to use my new tent (the old one had failed me miserably the year before at Expo.)  I picked up a Lone Rider ADV tent and have to say I am really liking it.  While at Expo I picked up a new and more compact air mattress and inflating bag from Big Agnes and later I picked up a new sleeping bag from Exped off the internet.

I then took a trip to the UK to attend the Adventure Bike Rider Festival in June.  Rented a BMW GS750 on the edge of London, then rode up to the estate that the event occurs on.  Spent 3 nights camping there enjoying the talks, music and hanging out with several people I had met at other events in the past and meeting new people who had done some amazing things.

After the festival I then took a short ride over to Wales and stopped in Llangollen for 2 nights.  I rode from there to the coast to visit Caernarfon Castle, then out to Angelsey to visit a museum, then along the coast and back to the hotel, mostly in the rain.  

Next day I left and headed south into the interior to visit the highest waterfall in Wales, and then down and along the western coast to the southwest corner for a nights stay in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. 

From there I headed back into England and hit up another small museum and then stopped at Stonehenge before returning the bike to the shop near London and then spent the evening near the airport as I had early an flight next day.

And to finish out the riding year, I spent 4 weeks in Vietnam and Laos riding almost 2000 miles around with a group of people that included a few from the India trip again.  Great time and also had about 10 days of time on my own where I rented another bike for a day trip, but then did mostly day trips in cars and boats.

I will be putting up separate blogs for many of those trips and of course still have tons of video going all the way back to the India trip in 2022 I really need to start working on (running out of room on the network to store stuff LOL).

I will be getting the Vietnam trip up first here in the next few weeks, its a big one, 128 pages of text that I have to get formatted and matched up with photos and some video perhaps.  Will update here again when some of that stuff is done.

Will try to get some more riding after the first of the year, take the Himalayan out a few more times, but thinking I may end up selling it later next year, just not using it enough to bother keeping two bikes, and might even look at trading the V-strom for a different bike, see if I can find something that does the great job the V-strom 650 has, but fix the view weaknesses it has.

Maybe see you out there one of these days!

Till then.


Updates! (Finally)

Hello everyone.

So been remiss again in keeping this blog updated, though have been doing a few things related to this project.

This entry will be a list of updates to various things over the last 9 months, but just a quick summary.

Personal Health:

Upon my return from India, my gym had for some reason closed its doors.  I have still not found another good option and not been too good at working out at home.  I also started to eat out quite often again, so those two things combined have caused me to gain back 30 of the 55 pounds I had lost in 2021/2022.

I am starting again on fixing that, so will keep you updated.

Bike Updates:

On the motorbike front a few things have happened. 

To start, I bought a 2nd motorcycle in October of 2022.  I enjoyed the Royal Enfield Himalayan we rode in India so much that I decided to buy one for use here.  Was looking at a new model, but then a friend of a friend had a used one for sell.  So bought his 2019 model with only 900 miles on it, so practically a new bike still.  Had to get the fluids changed and a few adjustments made, but otherwise ready to go!

With the Suzuki, I did manage last year to get the crash bars installed and the luggage rack installed.  Also installed a mounting bracket above the instrument cluster to put the GPS on and room for other items if need.

I put a wrap on the windscreen to completely cover it, helps to shield the mounted electronics from sun, and the window was getting dinged up from rocks and bugs, and really do not need to look through it anyway, just there to deflect the wind some to help when riding.

This last week I finally got the luggage for the bike as well.  So now it is equipped with a new tank bag (old bag I bought to take to India already fell apart), rear pannier bags, a new duffel style top bag (the one I bought at the Overland Expo previously will now get used on the other bike), two roll bags for extra storage on top of the panniers and two small bags on the crash bars.

Riding Updates:

Still mostly just riding around town, though now using both bikes for that.  Done a few rides as well to nearby areas to run errands and such.  I have also ridden up to my relatives place a few times, and in November I rode the back road route on the Royal Enfield bike.  This route left the north edge of Scottsdale and using just back forest roads I was able to get all the way to the small town along I-17.

The ride was quite amazing for scenery, the road was a bit of a challenge and did manage to come off the bike once after some loose surface on a steep hill moved me to side of road where things were even more loose.

Travel Updates:

India trip blog is done, but I will post the link in another entry in a day or two.  Still working on the videos, but hopefully that will start churning out in the next few weeks, probably take about 1-2 months to get it all done, but finally getting better with the editing tools.

I will be attending the Overland Expo again in May.  Will again ride up and camp, though this time will have proper luggage to haul stuff and hopefully not forget anything again!

Should be a fun trip, and with a little luck, might meet up with some round the world riders that I have been following on YouTube that will be in the area about then.  If things work out time wise, may spend a day riding with them around the Flagstaff area, or maybe up around the Grand Canyon.  Will wait to see when they get into this area (they are currently somewhere in South America still I believe, not sure how far ahead of their video posts they actually are).

Content Updates:

So this blog is of course supposed to be my main outlet for this project, though I have not really kept it as active as I should.  However, it is not the only place where things are posted.

There is also a Facebook page, YouTube Channel and have photos on Google Photos.

I will be putting up another post in a day or two to link all those together, just need to make sure I have them all configured to work.

Wrap up:

So that is everything over the last 9 months in a nutshell.  I will be putting up additional entries on many of those to give more details and link any photos or videos as needed.

Watch for those updates in the next week.

Thanks for reading and take care.

Chris

Summer is here.

 Hey everyone.

So the summer heat is here in AZ, so not sure how much I will go ride, but we did complete our ride in the Himalayas of India last month in June.  I will be making a separate blog for that trip and will link it here when done.  I will do a quick highlight though for you.

It took almost 2 days to get to India (when you factor in time zone changes).  A total of about 20 hours of actual flight time and 7 hours sitting at transfer airports between the 2 flight legs.

Got into Delhi very late on Sunday (around 10pm).  Took roughly 2 hours to get out of airport, most of that used up in Immigration.

A car was waiting for me to take me the mile down the road to the hotel, and by time I checked into that it was nearly 1am on Monday.

Next morning I had breakfast and then hung out in the room till it was close to check out time.  Then checked out and went down to lobby where I met another rider who was also staying at this hotel (which by random luck turned out to be the hotel where the group would meet up to start our tour).

We all met up about 1pm and had lunch while the tour was discussed, final payments were made and documentation handled.

The organizers had procured 6 taxis to drive us the approximately 400 miles to Manali.  We departed a little after 3pm.

17 hours later we arrived in Manali!!! 

So a quick nap, then lunch, then we got to check out the bikes, take them for a test ride (and to fuel them up so ready for morning departure the next day) and then dinner and hanging out in the garden area of the hotel.

So now after nearly 4 days of activity, we finally got to start riding the bikes.

Day 1: We rode out of Manali via some back roads into the hillsides, then eventually hit the highway.  Later went up over a small pass (only about 10,000 feet) and then to a campsite in an old farm field on the edge of the forest areas.

Day 2: We rode down to the highway and followed it till we turned off to ride up to Chitkul along a road hanging from the cliffs.  Then we came back down that road a short way and camped that night in a campground.

Day 3: We came back down to highway, then after a short ride went up the mountain side to reach Nakla where we had to get our Inner Line Permits.  We also had lunch here.  Took roughly 3 hours for all that, then was back down to the highway and stayed on that till we reached Nako for our hotel stay. (Tonight one of the riders had some issues and decided to leave the tour).

Day 4: We left Nako and after a permit check we then went off a side road to visit a temple with a preserved mummy, then back to highway and a stop at a monastery.  Then we rode off into the back country at Pin Valley National Park and camped along the river at a camp area deep into the park.

Day 5: Rode back out to the highway and then on to near Kaza where we took a ride up to Komic Village at 15,000 feet.  There we had some tea and sat for awhile, then came back down via another route to see a large Buddha statue, and then back to Kaza to reach our hotel. 

Day 6: Left Kaza and visited the nearby Key Monastery.  Then off along the rough highway over Kunzum pass (just over 15,000 feet).  On the other side we went off on another rough road to reach Chandrataal (Moonlake) where you could hike a mile or so up to the lake (I chose not to do this).  We then stayed at a campground nearby camped at close to 15,000 feet which was our highest camp I believe.

Day 7: Back down to the rough highway for what was probably the most technical riding along a barely visible trail over rocks and dirt (and yes, this is still a highway!).  We eventually reached the paved route of the Manali-Leh Highway and went up the road to Sissu and our hotel.

Day 8: We rode up the Manali-Leh highway to our first pass (Baralancha-La) which was nearly 16,000 feet.  Then back down and across the high mountain route to Sarchu where we camped at a campground for the night.

Day 9: We left for the longest ride we would have (250km) in a single day that would include 3 passes (all between 14,000 and 16,000 feet), each of the 3 slightly higher than the last, plus a long stretch of high plains between pass 2 and 3.  We then came down into the river valley along the better surfaced highway (much of this route was paved, but not in best of shape) and into Leh and our hotel.

Day 10: Today was a rest day with no riding as we had to change the bikes out for new bikes with a different company (regional monopolies and such).  We spent much of the day walking around the shopping/market district in Leh and having some good non-Indian food for once (by this time many of us had grown tired of Indian fare, and for myself, it had not been agreeing with me for much of the trip anyway, even though it tasted amazing!)

Day 11:  Today we made our attempt to go over Khardung-La and into the Nubra Valley.  This was the highest pass on the trip at close to 18,000 feet.  However, it was raining when we left Leh and at higher altitude that meant snow.  The pass was not allowing motorbikes or some cars from going over at the security checkpoint.  After waiting around for 30 minutes, the group came back down out of the cold and most of us decided to return to Leh as it was not looking like we would be able to make it over, or at least not in time to reach the Nubra valley for our camp.  A few decided to go back up to the checkpoint and wait, at least hoping to make the top of the pass (they did, but only after another 3 hours waiting).  Rest of us just enjoyed another afternoon/evening hanging out in Leh.

Day 12:  Since today would have been our return trip from the Nubra Valley, there was no riding planned, so we all decided to make a 2nd attempt at reaching the top of Khardung-La to at least say we did that.  Again the weather up high was not as nice (though much better today) and the security would not let motorbikes go up.  We waited for about 3-4 hours and then many of us decided that was enough.  Weather started to get worse, so we figured it was not going to happen.  A few did stay and about 2 hours later they did get the chance to go up, but I had enough of the cold and had come down with the rest of the group earlier and just spent more time in Leh. (Today 2 of the riders made the decision to leave the tour as they were tired and wore out and decided they had done all they came to do).

Day 13: We rode out of Leh and then up and over Chang-La pass which was around 17,500 feet.  We then came down the other side and reached Pangong Lake, the highest salt water lake in India.  Only 4 of us made the trip to the lake, and a few others had come up the pass, but then returned to Leh.  We camped along the lake in a large camp ground complex that night. (3 of the riders decided to leave this day as well as they were not interested in the last days of the tour).

Day 14: Rode back up and over Chang-La to return to Leh and our hotel.  The group then all proceeded to have dinner together.  Most of us had flights back to Delhi in the morning (except 2 who had opted to spend an extra night in Leh on their own).

The next day I had a noon flight from Leh to Delhi which was mostly smooth, though still an interesting experience.  Arrived in Delhi and took a cab over to the hotel nearby and met up with another of the riders who I had agreed to share a room with till we both departed.  Today was Wednesday and my flight back to the US did not depart till late on Friday and the other guy did not leave till Saturday morning.

After arriving in Delhi and having lunch, much of the rest of the day was spent in the room sleeping or watching TV as we were both wore out at this point.

On Thursday, we both took an excursion from Delhi by train over to Agra and visited (all part of the organized tour for just the 2 of us) the Taj Mahal, the Agra Fort, and a few local shops dealing with local crafts.  This trip included lunch and the guide for all the sites.  Was quite an amazing time and then we took train back to Delhi and had dinner.

The next day the other guy met up with his friend (who had spent an extra day in Leh) and they explored Delhi.  I stayed at hotel, as I was originally going to check out and go to the airport and spend the day waiting there since I was going to do my PCR testing there.  However, since the PCR test requirement was ended while I was in India I decided not to waste my time doing that or sitting at the airport all day, so I extended the hotel stay another night so I could spend day in the room to re-pack my bags and rest some more.  Then after dinner with the other two (the guy who was sharing room with me moved over to the other guys room now) I checked out and left to the airport.  After going through some not too horrible lines there I then waited to board flight which thankfully was only delayed a short bit before we took off just after midnight.

Spent the next 15 hours in flight, then had a 13 hour lay over in Montreal (which became 14 hours), and then a 5 hour flight back to Phoenix.

Once back in AZ I got home and pretty much slept for the next 30 hours!

Over all an amazing experience, and the other blog will have far more detail and photos and video as well.

Already trying to decide on a trip for next year (other than my own riding around AZ and the western states which I will try to start getting more time with as things cool off).

Till next time.


Riding Gear

Hello,

So as I mentioned last time, I was going to do a bit of video of the riding gear. 

So I filmed a few spots and edited them together.  Not the best job, few things I now see I did wrong (like moving camera between takes) and not marking out where I was standing, but then it is just a quick video, nothing too special.

Hopefully I will get a bit better over time and learn the software better as well, some things I think would have made it better, just could not figure it out in the time I had.

But now here is the video going over my riding gear history and where things stand today.

The Riding Gear

For reference as I was unable to figure out how to put the text in the video (without it being annoying).

Old gear: Nolan Helmet, Rocket Gloves.

New gear: Shoei Helmet, Klim Jacket/Pants/Gloves, TourMaster Boots

Enjoy.

General updates

Hey everyone, so been awhile, but wanted to come on and put a few updates here as to what has been going on and some things coming up.

First off, I have not been doing much interesting riding, just trips around town, and over to nearby places to shop or do errands that I can manage on the bike, so getting some miles, just most of it in the city.

I finally did pick up some better riding gear though.

A few weeks back I bought a new helmet, so now I have a good helmet that has all its internal padding in place, so it fits snuggly and comfortably.  Also no longer dealing with cracked visor, and this one also has the built in sun visor as well, so helps with those bright sunny days.  Ended up buying a Shoei helmet as the place was out of the Klim one I wanted to look at and the Shuberth helmets just did not fit quite right.

Also picked up a proper riding jacket and pants that gives me the proper protection to stay safe on the bike.  Better materials, vents, pockets and better weather protection (though not 100% water proof, still need to find an outer layer, either the one the company makes to work in tandem with the stuff I bought, or some thing cheaper that will keep me dry, but not look as fancy).  Also has all the proper pads and such to help with impacts should I go down on the bike.  Went with the Klim Baja jacket and pant set.  Not only was it the one I was looking for as a really good option for all but the wettest/coldest riding, but they actually had the set in stock, in my size and the color I wanted....so took that as a sign I should buy it.  Bit pricy, but my research seems to indicate it was well worth the cost.

To help with layering, I also went and picked up a pair of lightweight convertible pants at REI.  Similar to a pair I had before that finally wore out, these are light material, but durable, can zip off the legs to make shorts, and has adjustable waistline setup to not require a belt.  Light enough to fit on under riding gear, and good to wear around camp sites or hotels after rides.  Lots of pockets as well.  Also picked up a pair of lightweight, durable underwear to try out.  These are supposed to be comfy, odor resistant, strong enough to do the job, but can be washed by hand and air dried in short time frame, so if they work out, will really reduce the amount of under garments needed.  Not yet had a chance to test wear them yet though.

I still need to figure out the outer layer stuff for rain, right now just have a cheap poncho I can slip on if it rains, will help, but not perfect.  Also want to get some longer thermal leggings for cold riding, some light weight t-shirts for base layer on upper body as well.  I have a nice adventure shirt I can use for after riding that is nice looking, durable, quick washable and lots of pockets, and long sleeves that can roll up to short if need.  Had it for years, and with the weight loss it actually fits me again.  So that will work.  Also have the few pull over fleece jackets to use as a middle layer for warmth in cold weather.  Want to pick up a balaclava head piece to use for cold riding to protect neck as well, found one on Amazon, just need to order it yet.

Last item is new gloves.  Ones I have were cheap and wearing out already, so will get a bit more durable set this time, and then hopefully figure out a wet/cold weather outer layer for them if possible?

For the bike, not yet figured out what I want for luggage, and some of the other gear I still need to do some research on, or it is on back order or out of stock, so will just have to wait on it.

I did finally hook up the GPS to the battery, so now it will power off the bike, so that will be nice.  I also am looking into constructing a better mounting setup for the GPS, and perhaps the GoPro that will allow better mounting for not only usability, but will keep it better protected from wind and such while I ride, and free up space to put a mount for cell phone and hopefully some extra power ports for charging stuff while I ride.

I also picked up some extra accessories for the Go Pro. Mostly extra adhesive mounting points and some additional hardware spares.  Battery charging ports, another case for all the spare stuff, some tripods and selfie sticks to better use the gear on and off the bike, and some other mounting options.  Also a water proof case for the Hero 9 to help protect it in really wet riding. 

I then picked up the Max 360 camera to allow 360 video and photos to be taken, some really interesting options for footage with that one, been playing with it last few weeks to see what I can do with it.  

I also sent an old camera I had off to convert it to InfraRed, which will help create some more artistic photos along the way, played a bit with it on a recent road trip (by car) and does pretty good.  Look forward to doing some more experiments.  I will look at putting up some examples in next few weeks.

Lastly I picked up a case to hold memory cards for the cameras, so I do not lose them or risk them breaking.  Just need to buy more cards now.

Still looking into drones.  The one I wanted seems to have come end of sale, so no longer finding it out there, and the new one is just really expensive right now, so probably going to hold off till later this year before I take the drone plunge.  Lots of things to think about with that.

Also looking still at better camp gear options, while what I have works, there are probably a few things I could improve either quality, functionality, and or transportability with.  Some things I do not have at all that while they are not a huge deal right now, will be needed on more remote and longer trips coming in the future.

As for trips, I am going to try and do some extra back country riding hopefully in the next few weeks to try out the bike on dirt roads.

I will also be attending the Overland Expo again this year in Flagstaff.  It is coming up next month in May this year, so will hopefully be less likely to rain like last year.  Will again ride up and camp on site with the bike, so will have another chapter to write about then.

And lastly, it looks like the India trip will be a go this year.  Borders are open, tour operator is running the trip and things are looking good.  I have picked up the airfare, insurance and done all the research for visas and the medical stuff I will need to have ready.  Got my COVID booster this week, and will check into a few other vaccines that are recommended, though not required.  A few things I need to work on as well that relate to the trip, but should be ready to go.  Paid the next installment on the cost, and just need to get a hotel booked for the 1st night, then we will be mostly ready.  Getting close and getting bit nervous, a big trip, hopefully things go well!

That should provide quite a few chapters and updates along with some video and photos.  Of course I will eventually edit together a nice mini film or several episodes about that trip, but that will take time once I return, as I still need to learn how to do that kind of stuff.  Editing software I have is a bit confusing, so will see how it goes.

Not much else for now, but things are starting to move along, so hopefully will start seeing more updates here (and I may soon change the visibility of this page to public, so it can be found easier by people!)

Till next time.

Quick update on the health side.

So last October I posted about the journey I was on to improve my health.

Since then I did manage to lose another 10 pounds, bringing total weight loss to 45 pounds and 6% of body fat.

However, work schedules and some other things did get in the way of riding as much and never did get the mountain bike dusted off.  So since November things have pretty much stayed where they are, I gain and lose in a 5-6 pound range each 7-10 days, mainly due to eating out and still ordering too much food when I do.

I also stopped with the home delivery meals for several reasons: cost increases, quality decreases, missing items and delivery delays that were causing food to get close to spoiling before I got it.  Also was having harder time getting meals cooked with busier schedules at times.  

So have been trying to eat more at home, but sadly moved back to more microwave or quick prep items, so not quite as healthy.

I am still working out at the gym, renewed in February for another 6 months, and also picked up some small things to use at home to work out (now just need to actually use them, been lacking there).

Sadly I have injured myself now a few times, first the elbow, then the knee and now the elbow again, dealt with missing classes due to work and or feeling sick and the last week my allergies have been killing me, and making sleep difficult, so that has impacted everything I do.

Hopefully the rains this past weekend will slow down the allergies (air needed a good washing).  Knee is better, hoping elbow will heal up soon, been slowing down at gym and dropping the size of weights to not over do things.

Going to start trying to work on diet again, need to just remove the restaurants from meals other then maybe a monthly reward of a pizza, perhaps a weekly visit to something not pizza and eat at home more, and try to improve my options there some as well.

So while things have slowed, and stopped forward momentum, not really sliding backwards yet, so still time to get moving forward again.  Did a hike last week (even with the allergies) and moved about 1 ton of rocks from one side of yard to the other, and still quite a bit of work to do there, which is quite a workout!

Will let you know in a few months how things are going again.

Chris

First 2022 Update!

Hello everyone,

So been awhile since I have updated this and a few things to report.

Over the winter I did a few short trips on the bike to visit family in the area, and the usual riding around town, so nothing really new on actual travel, but really got to doing research into gear and seeing what others were doing on their longer travels both in country and overseas.

Following several people on YouTube and Facebook has opened up lots of research topics and lead to some interesting changes in perspective and even choices in gear that I was looking at.

I recently completed most of my home improvement projects I had setup for last year and am now able to start moving funds towards the cycling projects.  Have been saving and setting aside incoming funds from various sources to be spent on this project and this last month I finally started to spend those funds.

I will go into a bit more detail on them in a future post on each, and have photos/video, but have finally acquired a new helmet and proper riding jacket and pants to use.  So now have a complete outer layer.  Also trying out a few options for base layer and mid layer clothing to see what works so I can get some of that purchased.

I also picked up quite a few additions to the GoPro products to enhance my ability to use the GoPro Hero 9 in various capacities.  Some selfie/wide view poles, various types of tripods and mounting points to put on the bike or myself and ability to keep power to the camera and charge batteries, along with more batteries and SD cards.  So should be able to film in lots of different ways using the same camera.  Also picked up waterproof casing so I can use it in hard rains or even dive with it (not a diver, but might be something I pick up along the way lol). 

I then picked up the GoPro Max which will allow 360 degree filming, lots of interesting applications I can see for this based on some usages I have seen from others, will be fun to try it out and learn to use it and the footage in my stories.

I am still researching a drone, but that will probably be a later in the year purchase, lots of things to consider there and some legalities on using them I need to check into first to make sure I will not run afoul of any laws without knowing about them.

I also sent off an old point and shoot camera to convert it into a Infrared camera, seen some footage done by another photographer and it was amazing, so thought that would be something I would like to try and see if it can add another layer to images I take on my future travels.  Hopefully have it back next week.

I also picked up a new helmet mounted camera/comm system that should allow me to film from my helmet viewpoint and I will be able to narrate right into that video what is going on, and save time having to voiceover it later.  Really liked the results I saw from some other riders using it and think it will be a useful tool, and should I ride with other riders at some point, may be able to link them up and stay in communications with them.

Next month I will settle on some of the bike updates like luggage and other storage, some minor enhancements to things on the bike, hooking the GPS up to power (it is mounted now, but not yet connected the power leads to battery).

Will also get some of the crash protections installed, maybe some extra lights...not sure I need them yet or not, and working on some custom mount ideas for things like the GPS, phone and other items that I would like to have easily usable on the front of the bike.  Not sure when I will move on buying them, but will at least get some research done.

In the bigger news, I am pretty sure my big riding trip to India will finally take place this year.  Borders are open, tour leader seems to be positive it will go forward and things are looking clear for the trip, so I booked my airfare today! Worst case I have to change the tickets to something else, but a few other options for trips I could use it for, though not all bike related, but any travel will work.

So hopefully in the next few weeks I will get some good short day trip and maybe even weekend rides in with the new gear and cameras at work and start putting something other than words up here!  Will start working on learning how to edit video as well, got some software today that was recommended by a friend who uses it for doing videos and the results have looked good, so hopefully I can make it work, otherwise, lots of other products out there.  Bigger challenge will be learning the tricks and figuring out how to use the application.

I may try to make the trip to the Overland Expo in Flagstaff again this year, though it is moving back to its normal time frame in May, so might be a bit close to my India trip, so not sure yet, will decide in a few weeks.

So will end this for now, and will try to get a few videos up going over the new gear and discussing some other things in the next month or so, practice fodder for the video editing if anything LOL.

Till then

Project fix myself

 Hello again,

Wow, 2 posts in a single day, better check to make sure the world did not just end!

So I wanted to post another item today to cover another aspect of my journey to this grand adventure.  Along with getting gear and riding to boost my experience and gain new riding skills and confidence, I have been working on fixing myself as well.

When I finally got serious and started working on this project, I was kind of ignoring the 800 pound gorilla in the room, my health.

At the time I was overweight (and got worse over the last few years) and horribly out of shape.  It hurt to get down on the floor to do something (forget the concept of bending over to do that), was hard to stand up without using something to help lift myself up, even hurt getting up out of my chair in the evenings after watching a movie or TV show.  I was tired quite often, had trouble moving around, and it was quite a chore to tie a shoe or boot.  I could break into a sweat walking across the house and got winded on a single flight of stairs many times.

Something had to change (okay, I had to change, but took some time to get that point beat into my skull...more on that coming up).

I had spent a good half my life eating quick meals from the microwave or fast food in the earlier days of my career when I was mostly broke all the time and always in a rush as well.  As my career matured and I could slow down a bit and afford better things I started to eat out more, just slightly nicer places, which of course came along with slightly larger food portions.

Sadly the first decade of my doing this I had a nuclear metabolism that would burn off calories almost before I ate them.  Eat a whole pizza, would lose 2 pounds....so it seemed I was never going to really gain weight or have issues (I was 6 foot tall and weighed about 160 pounds).

Then slowly over a period of about 1 year (the year 2000 to be specific) I eventually realized my clothes did not fit very well anymore, I was a bit more uncomfortable and moving around was harder.  After ignoring my actual weight for quite a while I finally stepped on a scale and almost fell off from shock.  In just over a year I had somehow gained nearly 60 pounds!!

Since then I have slowly gained and while I have on more than one occasion worked to lose some of it, I never seemed to lose as much as I gained and within 6 months to a year I would gain it back and then tack on another 15 pounds for fun.  

I was finally reaching a point where I was very close to crossing that 300 pound mark.....and that was completely unacceptable.  So I started to make a few changes to my diet, trying to eat out less, or at least limit what I ordered.  This had very limited results, but the weight gain slowed down and even stabilized for some periods of time.  I was experimenting with different weight loss ideas and plans and not really seeing much success, or finding things that caused weight loss, but not anything I would be willing or able to keep doing constantly.  I realized that while I needed to work on the diet, my larger issue was the mostly sedentary life I had.

I sit at a desk all day for work, then sit at a desk all night working on other stuff, or sit watching TV, or sit in a car going someplace to sit and watch something or do something that takes little effort.  However, doing anything physical was a painful and very difficult thing to manage, and was hard to force myself to do that (basically I did not do it).

But in March of 2020, the world changed and with it I was forced to change and from that I was able to finally get this train wreck back on a track that was heading in the right direction.

The COVID pandemic that shut the world outside my house down forced me to stop eating out for nearly 2 months, and start buying food and eating at home.  I of course just bought mostly quick microwave meals or simple things to cook, most of which was not what you would call healthy, but the smaller portions and less heavy foods did have some impact.  I stopped gaining weight, and even started to lose a bit, though not much.

After things opened back up, I started to go out again, but had actually enjoyed the new variety of food from cooking at home, so I also kept doing that more, and I also started to decrease the amount of food I ordered when going out.  This helped to maintain my weight, but did not lose anymore.  However I was still not eating really well.

Late in 2020 I decided add a bit more variety to my diet as I was kind of stuck in a rut with the few restaurants and always bought the same stuff at store to cook at home.

So I started to order meals from one of those home delivery services that send you food every week to cook and that started to open up some new possibilities for me.

The first part was that it required me to start eating more vegetables and many other items that I would never had bought at the store on my own.  This helped me improve the health aspect of my diet quite a bit, and I even started buying some better foods for meals I prepared on my own. But I still ate out quite a bit and mostly fast foods or heavy plates of carb and fat loaded foods still.

Doing some experiments during this time I did find out some good information about how my body responded to some food types as well, which I have tried to incorporate into my continuing dietary plans.

So now that I was eating at least somewhat better, I decided to look into some options for the physical work I needed to do.

A chance ad on Facebook (yeah, they do occasionally show you something useful) for a local fitness training gym intrigued me with the challenge they were offering.

The hook was that you had to lose 25 pounds or a certain % of body fat in 6 weeks.  If you succeeded, you would be refunded your money for that 6 weeks.  If not, well, you still got 6 weeks of time hopefully well spent.

The program was not cheap, but besides the workouts that were being aimed at my age group (no more 21 year old instructors thinking that I could do 100 pushups like I was walking to the back yard of my house), the trainers really did spend time trying to work with you to adjust the work out to fit your abilities, while also trying to push you a little to make sure it did some good.  They also included a real dietary plan that made sense and was more structured than other places I had looked at in the past. 

Plus, in a first compared to any other gym I had looked at or tried, there was no offers or pushing me to buy THEIR protein or other supposedly necessary drink or sludge that would miraculously make everything work out.  While they recommended 2 protein drinks a day in the meal plans as a mid morning and mid afternoon snack, they did not care what I bought or where I bought it as long as it met the dietary needs of protein content and minimal carb and fat content.

So I signed up, and this time I decided I was going to take it serious and followed the meal planning (which was a bit restrictive, and while it could be maintained indefinitely, I am too much of an epicurean to do that).  I figured I could give it at least 6 weeks though.   I started by attending the workouts 3 days a week (the minimum commitment they asked for) which were each about 40 minutes long. 3 weeks into it I started to attend 5 days a week, and for the last 2 weeks even went in on Saturday to make it 6 days.

My results were spectacular.  In the 1st 2 weeks I had already lost 60% of the weight I needed to reach the 25 pound goal, so it was looking like this might work.

At the end of the 6 weeks I had succeeded in losing 26.5 pounds and 3-4% body fat!

I was now feeling pretty good, not only from a mental viewpoint having that kind of result, but obviously was not as heavy, clothes were fitting better and I found I could now move around without the pain and getting up and down from the floor was now something done without much hassle.

So I took my refunded money and signed up for another 6 weeks, figured I had nothing to lose at that point.

When that was done (I actually went 7 weeks, as they worked with me since I was on vacation for 1 of the weeks during that time) I had only lost another 4 pounds, and no real change in body fat.

However,  I had also started to go back out for many of my meals, and was back to eating my home delivery meals (which I had suspended for the 6 week period as they did not fit the meal plan well enough to spend the money on them during that time).

Knowing then that I could make some small adjustments and keep seeing results, I decided to sign back up for 6 months (which did lower the cost per week as well).  I have since been working on eating less again.

So now we have caught up with today.

For the month of October I have decided I will not go out to eat at all and only eat my home delivered meals and meals I cook or prepare at home (might still be a few microwave options, but will try to cook most of them).  The first week results; dropped 5 pounds and another 1% body fat.

So in a little over 4 months I have lost 35.5 pounds, 5% body fat, regained a large amount of flexibility and movement, and even started to rebuild muscle and increase strength. This I have seen by how much easier I can do certain things and the less pain I now feel.

I really noticed it in my riding compared to how I would feel during and after a ride just 6 months ago.

I am hoping that the lack of restaurant foods for this next month will allow another decent weight drop. I will then slowly go back to eating out some (I mean, the food is really good, and it forms what little social life I have and gives me a reason to leave the house for a bit), but the hope is to limit it more, and again try to change what I order and how much I order.

Combined with the increased range of food options I have picked up from the home delivered meals, and discovering lots of food things that I actually now enjoy that a year ago I would have sworn I disliked and refused to eat, it should be easier to still enjoy a meal out, but not cause so much issue with my health.

The worst case I see is that I will start to maintain weight where I am, much like what I saw over the last 30-40 days where I was not gaining, but also not losing.

But to hopefully sweeten the deal, now that I can get out and do more without pain and suffering, I will be planning to not only ride the motorcycle more now that the cooler weather has arrived, but will be dusting off the mountain bike and getting back out on it too.  Also plan to get out hiking some as well since there are many nice trails within a 15 minute drive from my home.

With the better control of diet and a big increase in physical activity (I do not plan to reduce my workouts and have lately started pushing myself more during them) I should hope to see a continued weight loss, though possibly slower, but that is fine.

Well, now that you have read the account of my fitness train wreck that has now gotten back on the track, I will in the future continue to spend more time on bike trips and gear stuff :)  But I will drop a note now and then on the fitness progress, as it will play a large part in any success I have in long distance ADV biking trips in the future.

Thanks for the read and hope you all are well.  If you have any specific questions about any of the above, just contact me and I can provide more details about specific products, companies or concepts I have found or done, just in case you have a need to fix your self too :)

Chris

New toys! Bike gets a small upgrade.

Hey there!   

Finally getting back on here after a 2 week break after my super enjoyable weekend and less than enjoyable ride back home from the Overland Expo :)

Today we discuss one of the new items I picked up while at the Expo.

I finally had the time to install the Atlas Throttle Lock I purchased while at the Expo and had issues installing at the campsite.  The info I picked up the following day and finally getting a closer look at the bike last weekend allowed me to determine what I needed to do.

So turns out that my bikes rubber grips installed over the edge of the throttle piece on the hand bar.  So I could not see the plastic ridge that I need to install up against on the throttle piece and was instead trying to install on the hand bar itself (which of course does not move and would not have helped!)

Today I took off the brush guard from the throttle side and after getting several light sources on it (damn my bad near sight vision!) I figured out how to pull the rubber grip back off the plastic edge, but did have to cut 2 small sections where it appears the rubber grip was looped over a catch of some kind.  I could not see how to remove it, so just cut the rubber, the device could not install securely otherwise and the rubber grip is not going anywhere anyway, so this is not impacting the bike.

I then loosely installed so I could determine the gap and adjust the device accordingly by adding another rubber pad to the device to allow it to work since the distance was a bigger gap now. (watch the below video and that will probably make more sense).  Once the device was prepared, was a quick install and secured it all down after I put it in the best position to be usable over the full range of the throttles movement.

I just tested its use out there in the garage without running the bike and it appears to work.  I will take it out for an actual test ride hopefully tomorrow and see how it works in action.

This should greatly reduce stress on my hands when riding long distances.  Even the 2-3 hour riding sessions to the Expo and back took a toll on my hand and wrist with having to constantly hold the throttle in place to maintain speed and being unable to remove my hand while the bike was moving without of course slowing down rapidly.

Now I should be able to find my ideal speed, set the lock and then relax my hand, and if need even remove it from the grip for short periods of time to stretch it or my arm or use the arm to adjust or grab something else on the bike (not something you do often, and always recommended to keep both hands on the bar at all times for safety, but being able to do a quick task or movement is nice to have).

So below is a quick video I did of the installed device and its basic operation.  Enjoy!

Atlas Throttle Lock