An evening of firsts!

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Oh...my...gosh! Another day of firsts! :)

I woke up early this morning and decided to ride from Hamilton (mountain) to Burlington. Took the Ancaster hill, and exited on Brant St. My first time on the 250 doing this. Stopped at Wal-Mart and Canadian Tire on Fairview. I was looking for a certain type of stick-on mirror my bike. And, after reading the discussion here about ear plugs, I decided to get some. I can definitely tell the benefit of wearing ear plugs, but may need to experiment with different types. From Canadian Tire, I went to Guelph Line and got on the QEW, headed back to Hamilton. There was more traffic than I had anticipated, but it was ok.

Overall, I thought it was a good ride. The stretch of road at the bottom of the Ancaster Hill is horrid though! I got to the major intersection near my home and as I was starting to go through the green light, three cars turned in from of me! I have to go over in my head what I could/should have done differently, if anything.

Earlier this evening, I was out for another ride, this time to Caledonia. And, I ran out of gas! But, it was a good thing and I'm glad it happened. When I first got this bike (early July), this happened twice. I had no idea what was wrong; thought I had bought "a lemon" (especially since I could see there was gas in the tank). Even had it towed by CAA on one occasionan :( Anyway, today when it happened, I switched to reserve and was only about 11kms from a gas station. I now know that when I hit around 250 kms., start looking for a gas station!

I've also learned to trust my bike, that when I down-shift, it will slow down.
 
skitta said:
Oh...my...gosh! Another day of firsts! :)

I woke up early this morning and decided to ride from Hamilton (mountain) to Burlington. Took the Ancaster hill, and exited on Brant St. My first time on the 250 doing this. Stopped at Wal-Mart and Canadian Tire on Fairview. I was looking for a certain type of stick-on mirror my bike. And, after reading the discussion here about ear plugs, I decided to get some. I can definitely tell the benefit of wearing ear plugs, but may need to experiment with different types. From Canadian Tire, I went to Guelph Line and got on the QEW, headed back to Hamilton. There was more traffic than I had anticipated, but it was ok.

Overall, I thought it was a good ride. The stretch of road at the bottom of the Ancaster Hill is horrid though! I got to the major intersection near my home and as I was starting to go through the green light, three cars turned in from of me! I have to go over in my head what I could/should have done differently, if anything.

Earlier this evening, I was out for another ride, this time to Caledonia. And, I ran out of gas! But, it was a good thing and I'm glad it happened. When I first got this bike (early July), this happened twice. I had no idea what was wrong; thought I had bought "a lemon" (especially since I could see there was gas in the tank). Even had it towed by CAA on one occasionan :( Anyway, today when it happened, I switched to reserve and was only about 11kms from a gas station. I now know that when I hit around 250 kms., start looking for a gas station!

I've also learned to trust my bike, that when I down-shift, it will slow down.
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Engine braking is nice but don't forget that drivers behind you want to see a brake light when your slowing....use your brakes, even if its just enough to trigger the brake light.
 
Redrock said:
Engine braking is nice but don't forget that drivers behind you want to see a brake light when your slowing....use your brakes, even if its just enough to trigger the brake light.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Redrock. I actually do that already. In fact, I do tap on my brakes well before I'm coming to a stop. Also, if I feel a car is following too closely behind me, I tap on the brakes a few times. More often than not, the car will eventually move over.
 
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