Solo Chick livin' a Dream: North Rim Grand Canyon loop Via Sedona

[AdventureGoddess]

A picture materialized!!! It was great meeting you at The Yard House that day, Nicole! Your trip was friggin' awesome. Kudos to you for camping. I need to remind myself of all the perils of camping without a bike, before I venture out with a bike. We'll have to go for a ride some time!

Cristi

[nicomama]

Cristi,

It was great meeting you, as well, Mama. Let me tell you that hearing about how you started riding on your solo adventure was very inspiring for me. Yes, let's ride sometime.

I'm off to the Overland Expo this Wednesday and will be taking a class with the other big female solo rider, Lois Pryce, who wrote "Lois on the Loose". So looking forward to that.

My Best,
Nicole

[TallRob]

Hey Nico,Who makes those yellow and black checker straps? They look like EK Motorsport straps. Which I have but yours look much wider than the ones i have which are 1 1/8" wide. My yellow ones look a bit more greenish than yours but it just may be my screen.

Originally Posted by nicomama

OK, so let's talk about "the load".


Yeah, I wish I had pared down what I packed, but, to tell you honestly I've used everything that I brought. My two luxury items are my down pillow and Thermarest Trekker frame for the Big Agnes pad. Both of which I'm so glad I brought.

Also, when you're travelling daily to your next location how do you wash clothes? Fly underwear and socks off the back of your bike like prayer flags on Mt Everest?

After setting up camp, I eat what I packed for lunch...my salmon and chopped egg salad and some cashews. Didn't feel like cooking.


Here's the netbook keeping Big Agnes company...



I boulder hop to stretch the legs and enjoy watching the sunset and nightfall.


I grab a mug of tea and homemade granola and go explore the night. Found an amazing rock to sit on and star gaze while contemplating life.Truly amazing.

It was t-shirt weather at night, so Agnes was one hot mama since she's rated for 15 degrees. Kept it unzipped and slept like a baby.

Had scrambled huevos and veggies from the pot while watching the sunrise...


Time to pack it up and roll on to the next part of the adventure.

So, I plug in the laptop into a 150 watt converter plugged into my battery to recharge on the fly. The Solio solar charger had already charged my Ipod the night before, so I’d have tunage today on the lonely stretch of hwy 62.



But, this stock side stand is driving me nuts, 'cause I can only mount my bike from the right side, so the stand can counter me and "the load".

Time to fix this problem. Outside of the park when I'm gassing up, I ask the gas station attendant if there's a motorcycle shop in 29 Palms. Luckily, he's into moto-x and directs me right to my new friends...

Desert Cycle Works


I asked if they had any OEM SM stands in stock, and this great guy working there offered to sell me the one off his own bike. But, then he introduced me to Dawn Benton, owner and artisan with a torch.

Just the guy I needed to hack off an inch and a half or so off my stand. Yeeha, we're in business.

Here is Dawn slicing through the steel like budda…



And, here he is wielding the torch. The outcome is a perfect angle for the new side stand. Sure beats buying a new OEM SM stand.



These guys at Desert Cycle Works were so helpful, fun and all a bunch of great riders. They sure get a lot of practice with some of the best desert riding right out their backdoors.

Another late start on the rode. Oh well, time to just enjoy the adventure and not worry about the clock.

Hwy 62 does prove to be a desolate hwy after all, but provides some expansive desert beauty with rocky backdrops. Loved hunkering down behind the windscreen to slice through the wind gusts. Tough with a two lane highway, soft shoulders and gusts trying to blow me into oncoming semis.


Time to head towards Sedona,AZ.

[smilin jack]

Originally Posted by nicomama

So, now it's time to check in and see how the ol' bod held up on this 1,533 mile trek. Other than the minimal bruises from throwing the bike and load around, I have to say that one biggie health issue caught my attention.

I got tendonitis from throttling a few hours daily for a week...



I think somehow the tendonitis is in my right elbow and is pinching off my ulnar nerve, because I have lost the strength in my grip and can't straighten my fingers all the way. I can't tie shoes or turn the key in my car ignition. It was hard to be self sufficient towards the end of the trip, but I just barreled through it and used my left hand for gripping things.

Isn't this crazy?! Has anyone else out there had this problem on distance rides?

Unfortunately, I think I have to lay off riding until this heals. Oh well, I have to wait for my 602 flashers to be shipped from Wheeling Cycle Supply anyway.

My throttle hand used to get tired quickly and would limit length of rides. Not anymore. Now the tired seat is the only issue.

A friend got a thumb throttle thing for $10 at the local bike shop. Since I'm a cheapskate, his gizmo was copied in no time, and made from a scrap chunk of PVC plumbing pipe. See the picture. Works great and has been in use for almost two years. The heal of your hand pushes down on the paddle so you don't have to have a death grip that makes the hand and arm very tired on long rides.

Just a word of caution: Don't use in thick traffic until you get used to the thing...
And it fits the DR too. Go buy one or make one.

Dave

[smilin jack]

Here's another picture of the homemade throttle paddle. Made from PVC pipe that has a cut and then is heated and bent to shape.

The sharp edge on the bottom "bites" into the grip so it doesn't slip.

Dave

[wantmontana]

bought the frame, get a rack for a XR650R and I'll have it. You are one awesome girl. Go get em and God speed to your business!

[wantmontana]

Hi Nicole. Do you have any thoughts of a rack for the XR650R? I know there is no subframe to bolt to so it may not work to make a design change. BTW, if you ever Adv-ride into Idaho we always like to meet new people. My kids would love to meet a woman rider. I doubt it would convince my wife to ride though. We are both in health care and I work as a medic on a medevac helicopter so my stories have soured the ride for her. We have plenty of room and Idaho is one of the most beautiful free ride states you could imagine. Cheers.

[TallRob]

What s free ride state?

Originally Posted by wantmontana

Hi Nicole. Do you have any thoughts of a rack for the XR650R? I know there is no subframe to bolt to so it may not work to make a design change. BTW, if you ever Adv-ride into Idaho we always like to meet new people. My kids would love to meet a woman rider. I doubt it would convince my wife to ride though. We are both in health care and I work as a medic on a medevac helicopter so my stories have soured the ride for her. We have plenty of room and Idaho is one of the most beautiful free ride states you could imagine. Cheers.

[wantmontana]

that you can ride for free on.

[OldAndBusted]

Originally Posted by smilin jack

Here's another picture of the homemade throttle paddle. Made from PVC pipe that has a cut and then is heated and bent to shape.

The sharp edge on the bottom "bites" into the grip so it doesn't slip.

Dave

crampbuster, i think it's called. i've got one, and even on my old /2 bmw with very weak throttle return springs, i swear by that crampbuster on long trips.

[RockyNH]

For those who have been following Nicole on this and other "Adventures", she will be appearing on the SideStandup Internet Radio Show tonight, 4/20/2010 at approx 8:25 EST. The show itself runs from 7:00 - 9:00 EST.

Visit sidestandup.com to get info or log in to listen...

[nicomama]

Smilin Jack, so glad the crampbuster works for you. Guess what I did to solve all my throttle hand issues? I have made it a habit to ride with the index and middle fingers of each hand on the levers, and have had no revisit of the ol' tendonitis. Even on long rides. Yippee!

Wantmontana, I'd love to come visit Idaho. These days I can only ride to regions I can get to there and back in 10 days. Can't be away from the kiddies any more than that...that is until they ride with me!

As for for other platforms for the rack. I have just designed one for the Suzuki DR, which should be going into production over the next couple of months. Then I might take it to the KTMs. We'll see. Thanks for inquiring ; )

Hey go check out Rydnseek and AZToms 4 day Grand Canyon adventure done right with fun video. Thanks for sharing guys!

[PPCLI-Jim]

Hey thanks for showing the design of that crampbuster. tomorrow on my way home from acupuncture I will stop in and get the materials to construct one or 2 maybe a dozen lol until I get it right.

[Mr. Fisherman]

Originally Posted by PPCLI-Jim

Hey thanks for showing the design of that crampbuster. tomorrow on my way home from acupuncture I will stop in and get the materials to construct one or 2 maybe a dozen lol until I get it right.

Crampbusters are dangerous and have about killed me a few times, I won't have one on an off road bike again. When you hit a rock, rut or bump or hop a log you can bump the crampbuster and gas it when you don't want to. I even tried taking ot off when I get to gravel or dirt, but the times I forgot or was in too much of a hurry almost cost me big.

I found one of these and have been delighted with them....

http://www.amazon.com/2Wheel-Ride-GC...for+motorcycle

Cheap, easy to install and much safer than throttle rockers.

[wdeTA]

Originally Posted by Mr. Fisherman

Crampbusters are dangerous and have about killed me a few times, I won't have one on an off road bike again. When you hit a rock, rut or bump or hop a log you can bump the crampbuster and gas it when you don't want to. I even tried taking ot off when I get to gravel or dirt, but the times I forgot or was in too much of a hurry almost cost me big.

I found one of these and have been delighted with them....

http://www.amazon.com/2Wheel-Ride-GC...for+motorcycle

Cheap, easy to install and much safer than throttle rockers.

Or support a fellow ADVRider (WOTDesigns) and get the OmniCruise (with 12% ADV discount).

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=839403

http://www.omni-cruise.com/