Very Good News

I could be British, or at least my teeth have that genetic code I think...( ok, no more bad teeth jokes, it was an homage to the Austin Powers movies.. I won;t do it again) on top of not taking good care of them in my 20's, I had braces that, while in the short term straightened my smile, in the long term has given me a popping jaw and issues from where the bands were glued to the teeth. SO I am currently staring down the barrel of needing 5 crowns and two bridges. I have had all the root canal work done over the past years but have never been able to afford the crowns. My news today is that a friend from an online community has offered to "get er done" for what I can afford. Such a huge weight has been lifted from me..... we all kind of sense when we are under pressure or stress, but there are times, where we realize how heavy it was only after it is gone...

As a result of this news I am busy gathering digital x-rays from the various dental folks I have been dealing with and sending them off to my friend, or should I say my new best friend.... man, I still cannot believe how fortunate I am.... so he knows what he is in for.

I just got off the phone with Katie, the service manager over at Street Cycles, my local dealer and scheduled an appointment for Tuesday morning. I will be pitching the concept of supporting my mission to spread the KIVA message, but I also know that times are tough for everyone. the real reason to get the bike in is to give it a general once over and to address a warranty concern with what I think is a faulty temp sensor. The symptom is that the temp gauge just drops out and the bike starts to run very rough. It can be very disconcerting and could cause issues if it happens at the right place at the wrong time.

Getting the bike in for service is important because I may have to bolt 1800 miles southwest to get my teeth worked on. SO I may have a shake down cruise coming up very soon! This is a good thing. I need to test myself and the Tiger in this way before I venture out for the real long haul.

Last fall, I ordered a set Continental Trail Attack tires for the bike... only what came was the Road Attack, not the Trail Attack... I was a bit miffed, but there just were no Trail Attack tires to be found in the US... grrrr.... So there sits a brand new Road attack that is about to see 3600 miles of Interstate, which will likely mean that I will be mounting a new rear tire before I leave on the trip.

Tire decisions suck. Everyone has a different story, and as many great comments are found on the net per tire as bad. Reading a post on ADVrider, a guy on a GS1200 said he was getting 15k form Metzler Tourances... that is huge mileage and I would be silly with happiness to get that. My butt currently weighs in at 240, some 20 #'s less than last year, but still too heavy. I used to get about 5k on a rear tire on the old bike, so I have no idea what to expect with this bike.

I will gear up as fully as I can for the trip to Louisiana, to simulate the conditions for the big trip. It will be a chilly trip down for at least the first day. At 3600 miles @ $.12 a mile it is $436 for gas and tires to run down there and back. I can National Forest Camp for free half way down and then back. Two 900 miles days.. ugh... the most I have done before is 700+, but the ergos on the Tiger are much better and me-thinks it will be easier to do 900 on the Tiger than it was to do 700 on the Sprint.