Loch Raven Reservoir

Tomorrow marks six months since my accident.  I've been riding the SV to work and back for the last two months or so whenever the weather has permitted, but today was the first real ride that took.

I wanted to get her out on the freeway a little bit and let her stretch her legs for a while.  Unfortunately, I'm beginning to realize that long periods in the SV's saddle don't allow me to stretch my legs enough and they can get a little bit sore after about 45 minutes or so.

Anyway, I wanted to go on a comparatively longer ride today than I normally do and opted to ride over to Loch Raven Reservoir, which is a body of water north of Baltimore, just outside the I-695 beltway.

After gassing up, I headed south on Rte. 24 to merge onto I-95, which for some reason felt a little frightening at first.  It might have been the idiot two cars ahead of me that almost swerved off the road as he exited Rte. 24 or it could have just been jitters from the accident.  Or maybe a combination of the two.

Right around White Marsh (as usual) traffic began to slow and become a little hectic. I opted to slow a bit and give some extra space.  Shortly thereafter, I merged onto Baltimore's beltway, I-695, toward Towson.

I was not terribly surprised to see how much traffic there was on the beltway.  It wasn't slow, but there were plenty of cars and, again, I opted to give a little more space to anyone that might want to merge in front of me.

I exited onto Dulaney Valley Road (Exit 27B), and had to take an immediate left and then a right to get onto Dulaney Valley Road heading north.

I followed Dulaney Valley Road for a long way, crossing a finger of the Loch Raven Reservoir and eventually came to a fork in the road.  I attempted to follow Loch Raven Drive to get a closer look at the reservoir.  The pavement was terrible - lots of LARGE potholes and bumps everywhere.  I hoped to follow Loch Raven Drive all the way to Cromwell Bridge Road, but the gate was closed and I had to turn around and continue on Dulaney Valley Road.  Interestingly, at that fork in the road (Dulaney Valley Road and Loch Raven Drive) I saw a sign for a Maryland Scenic Roadway.  The pavement improved and I was able to enjoy the road a bit more.

I followed Dulaney Valley Road to Manor Road and pointed my headlights to the right.  This was a detour that I hadn't expected (because of the Loch Raven Drive road closure), so I had to pull over in an Episcopal Church parking lot to pull out my phone and find a new route.

Having my bearings, I continued down Manor Road to Glen Arm Road.  Glen Arm Road is very picturesque and the pavement was nice.  There were a few fun little corners, especially as I approached Harford Road:

Harford Road, as I have mentioned in an earlier post, is full of lovely little bends and a beautiful landscape.  I followed it back to Business Rte.1 which I followed uneventfully back to my starting point near the Harford Mall:

My New Year's Resolution - Don't Crash Anymore

A friend of mine recently purchased a motorcycle.  He came over early on New Year's Day asking me to give his bike a mechanical once-over to make sure everything was in check before he set off on a 100+ mile round trip ride into Pennsylvania.

We spent some time adjusting and lubricating his chain and he was ready to set off.  Just as he was putting on his gear, he asked if I wanted to join him.

I'd been sick the night before and skipped a New Year's party that we were invited to - so I hesitated.  But I was feeling much better and the temperature had risen enough to be slightly better than unpleasant ... so I agreed.  In retrospect, I wish I hadn't.

Read on to understand why.

We set off, me leading at his request.  I always enjoy riding down E MacPhail Road in Bel Air and that's where we headed first.  I came to the 4-way stop sign at Brierhill Drive and stopped enough to yield the right of way to a car or two that had also stopped at the intersection and we were off.

That stop sign marks the beginning of one of the funnest short stretches of road in Harford County, so I took off at a good clip.

This was stupid for a variety of reasons:
1. My tires were still cold, and they had little chance of heating up with the weather being as cold as it was.
2. Recent snows had caused road crews to dump salt down on the roads.  The salt melted the snow to water, which evaporated but left a salty residue on the road.
3. (Most stupid of all) I was riding with a friend and I wanted to show off.

Approaching the forth corner (a left-hander) thinking I was in third gear and trying to keep my revs up, I down-shifted to second gear in an attempt to "engine brake" into the corner.

However, I was (apparently) already in second and downshifted into neutral instead, which didn't slow me at all.  The split second to took me to realize what had happened was enough to break my concentration and the next thing I knew, I had to grab the brakes hard.  With the conditions mentioned above, the tires let go and I fell.  I was probably only going 20 mph by that point, but I was already nearly kissing the guardrail and not leaned into the corner at all.

There was a loud slam as the bike fell to the ground and some of the plastic exploded.  I jumped right up, a little dazed, and went to work standing the bike up and rolling it down to a pull-off about 20 yards back.

As I put down the kickstand at the pull-off, I realized how much my left shoulder hurt and, at the same time, realized that there was some grinding going on in there - I knew instantly that I had broken my collarbone (or clavicle, in medical speak).

Today marks four weeks since the accident, and today is the first day that I feel like any healing has actually taken place.  Pain and grinding have been going on since it happened.

For the sake of reference, this is what a normal clavicle looks like:

And here's what mine looked like after the crash:

This is what the SV used to look like:

But this is what it looks like now:

The parts to fix the SV were all ordered and have arrived, but due to the terrible weather conditions we've been having all month (aptly named the "Polar Vortex"), I won't be able to paint the new fairing pieces until it warms up to at least 50 degrees.

That's actually a good thing as it will give me an excuse to rest my shoulder and let it heal a bit more.

If you're interested in the parts I ordered, here's a list including costs:

Description	Price	Shipping	Total	Link
Upper Fairing	$150.00	$0.00	$150.00	http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/121146499548?lpid=82
Left Tail Fairing	$54.50	$14.20	$68.70	http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-OEM-Suzuki-SV650-tail-fairing-BLACK-left-/261369083198?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3cdacfb53e&vxp=mtr
Shift Lever	$20.99	$5.82	$26.81	http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/190961516328?lpid=82
Foot Pegs	$22.20	$0.00	$22.20	http://www.ebay.com/itm/Emgo-Anodized-Aluminum-Front-Footpegs-Silver-50-11231-Suzuki-/190851350096?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2c6fa07e50&vxp=mtr
Mirrors	$30.95	$0.00	$30.95	http://www.ebay.com/itm/251370356879
Bar Ends	$10.34	$0.00	$10.34	http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aluminum-7-8-HandGrip-Cap-Barend-Bar-end-Slider-Handlebar-Plug-Motorcycle-ATV-/400572658304?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3ASV650&hash=item5d43fdb280&vxp=mtr
Paint ( Aerosol Complete Repair Package)	$149.55	$16.75	$166.30	http://www.colorrite.com/
Fiberglass Resin	$37.97	$0.00	$37.97
	Grand Total		$513.27