|
Since a just put up a separate complaining post about fueling issues. I figured I should post some good happy stuff in this thread.
I've now put about 30-35 miles on the Lancer so far, the bulk of those occurring yesterday. At first I was a little disappointed, this being SW PA, there's plenty of hills around here and my mile long test loop includes a curvy 1.5 lane road that climbs a kind of steep hill. Going up it, the best I was able to do was about 25-30 mph. Once it flattened out, it got up to about 40 before I backed off due to the speed limit (30). My concern is part of my commute has a steep climb about a mile long that's a 45 zone, and I'm not sure it's going to sustain that, Fortunately, it is 2 lanes on the uphill side, and one on the downhill side, so people can pass me.
After that ride on Wednesday, the rain came in and didn't let up til yesterday. Since it was mother's day, and the two of the kids were at church with their aunt, I took my wife out to the local HS 3 miles away with range cards from the BRC and a bunch of flat cones, and let her get some practice riding the scooter, since it will be hers someday. In the video below, I set up a fast stop, followed by and wide u turn leading to a pause and go, then an oval to the right and back in to the pause and go and back to the starting line. Sure, she put her foot down at the pause and go once, and she over shot the fast stop mark, But she had a ton of fun and got a lot more comfortable with the scooter and really boosted her self confidence and self esteem. She enjoyed it so much she asked if we could do it every other Sunday! The key for me, was not being judgmental, and just explaining what the rider coach's were wanting to see, and when she did something wrong, and I had done the same thing, to tell her "Yeah, I screwed that up a lot too!"
After that I took the scooter out on an 12 mile loop on some back roads around here, the wind had picked up some, and I got hit with some ~20 mph side gusts, let me tell you, as a newish rider that made for some interesting times, but I stayed in my lane and didn't panic, and it all worked out.
I'm learning that short rides of less then a mile are really a bad idea for me at this point in my relearning to ride. I'm nervous and tense for at least a half mile to a mile, so it's not that much fun, after that though as long as I don't have someone tailgating me, I loosen up and the smile just grows on my face. I'm slowly increasing my range, I've got a 14 mile round trip planned for Friday, for my eldest's girl scout bridging ceremony/year end party, and about a 20 mile RT on Saturday to a local park.
Next week I'll be commuting for the first time (Unless I try it before then) since my wife needs the commuter to take my son to an appointment at Children's Hospital, so it's either the scooter or the Excursion. As long as no more issues pop up with the lancer, my choice is clear!
|