Day 8 - still in OK

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Another day of windy Oklahoma. 25 to 35 MPH with gusts up to 45 MPH - WTF. All day today I was riding west with Northwest strong crosswing. The roads were very good. If not for the wind, the ride would be perfect. But, OMG, that winf ruined the whole pleasure of riding. Well, it an adventure after all... Adventure my ass.

I had to get a good rest a slept till 8AM. The night was quiet ans warm. I cleaned and lubed my chain (everyday routine) and stopped by the closest gas station I filled up the tank the night before to wash of the bike. Nice pakistanian gas station attendant let me use his water hose.

I'm telling you, the (let me open another beer)... roads I rode today, and people I met were all nice. But that f..ing wind. It blew the shit out my bones. Riding leaned to one side is not a good idea when you can hit patches of sand or gravel. You ride on dirt road with three tracks. You gotta ride in the middle, if a gust of wind hit, you just go to the one on the opposite side, if wind quits, your bike jumps on the wind side. Some times it throws you right on gravel patchs, then you do a cha-cha streaightening the bike.

I had to make frequent stops to rest and excercize the other groups of musculs of my body to I don't get some underdevelopment in some parts. Well, still, my entire body is aching, starting with wrists, hands, shouders, back... and ass. I could not even ride standing today, you stand up and create even more wind resistance.

I rode 300 miles today (could've made to New freaking Mexico if not for the wind) with overall average of 29MPH for the trip.

Here are some pictures from the ride.

What a beautiful country. Peaople, get adventure bikes and discover America, there are some many great places you would not nitice driving or riding highways.

I guess you can recognize which pictures were taken by SLR camera and which by point-n-shoot piece of shit.

Will be one more hour behind tomorrow.

Day 7 - Oklahoma - wind, mud, sand - WTF day

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If you want a real adventure, ride Oklahoma's section of TAT after rain. If before youhated gravek, here you appreciate it. Man, what a day. I'm gonna post only one picture of the dropped bike. If I photographed every single drop, I would've not made to Alva, OK. I'm in motel today, with the same sucky connection, soI'm standing at the window where internet does not drop out on me.

Here is another thing, the wind today, even the locals say was pretty strong. I was comming to Alma on US64 with crosswind and the bike at 45 degrees to the wind. If I list all the curse waords I used today it would take several hours just to type.

Another thing is that when you on wet mud, you want to have your bike as vertical as possible, but with the compensation tilt to the wind... it was just fun, scary, but fun. I tore up the same bag, and bent the other side pannier. At one poit I had to remove front wheel just to clean the mud stuck under the fender. Man, what a day. I will remeber that day throught the rest of my life.

But, I rode through some b-e-a-utiful nature, the indean reservations, the praires, the wheat fiels etc... I will post pictures you can make your desktop backgrounds.

I will try to find a pressure washer, or some water hose tomorrow and wash all the mud off the bike, if I can.

Man, these peaple in Oklahoma don't like gravel. They throw top soil on top of their roads. It's worst than clay. It slick and srticks to rubber like glue. After I had to remove the front wheel, I then stopped every now and then just to hit the fender and try to knock some dirt out.

By the way, the other day I had to remove chain guardm I burnt my right hand - watch out for exchaust pipe, right? So the burn broke today and now giving me some little pain. Oh, yee, I managed to obtain pain releaver with no problem this evening, it ain't no dry/wrong county I'm in today.

I rode 221 miles with 20MPH average.

Here are some other pictures... Enjoy!!!

Damn, so many pictures...

OMG, WTF face...