Day 11: A Day of Rest

Today started at about noon. Don’t think I didn’t wake up early though. The smoke detector was talking to me at 5AM. It actually says, “low battery.” I was hoping the sun would wake me up but the sun didn’t really come out today. It is a bit stormy here but I don’t mind at all.

I reviewed my GoPro footage to find that a good amount of it is not really usable in the video sense. I can still grab some nice stills from them. Tomorrow I thought about taking off toward the Keys but that would involve me changing the oil on the bike tonight… and I’m already on the couch. We shall complete bike maintenance tomorrow and then explore Florida after that. I hope this storm passes quickly because I would really enjoying spending an evening on the beach further south.

I started to get restless and felt like I was wasting the day so I decided to go out and get some lunch/dinner and pick up the oil for my bike.

I’m starting to wonder how many more miles I’ll get out of these tires. They are squaring up as expected but the tread in the middle is getting thin. I’ll take a better picture tomorrow when I have the garage open. I need to be conscious of this because I don’t have the luxury of changing my tires anywhere. The way I see it, I have a few spots that I can get the job completed. Florida is one place, Texas another, and California. I wish Yamaha would sponsor this trip to prove that a 2003 R6 can handle the rigors of cross country travel. A man can always dream…

I’m also getting concerned with the numbness I still feel in my throttle hand. It’s not that I have no feeling in it but it almost feels like I hit my “funny bone” but to a lesser degree. Another day off the bike will determine if this will go away. It needs to get better or I need to resolve it immediately. I am not going to suffer permanent nerve damage because of this trip so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know in the comments below. I have Pro Grip 761 Touring Gel Grips and these generic bar ends (http://amzn.to/18KgQ9o). My gloves are two years old and I’m positive the padding is about gone. Short post today but what can I say.. it was a day of rest.

2 Comments

  1. TheOtherMiles June 4, 2013 at 2:22 am Permalink

    Knowing what little I know about the anatomy of an arm, I’d guess arm pump, it fits the symptoms but I’m no doctor. It’s more prevalent in motocross and road racing but 10 straight days (basically) riding is probably as stressful as a race, if not more. It could also be a pinched nerve caused by a weird riding position due to all the stuff on the bike. None of those things should result in “long term damage” but again, I’m no doctor.

  2. xbox go home June 4, 2013 at 2:49 am Permalink

    you might want to ice the whole hand (and maybe the wrist, too). do you think the numbness only comes from having to hold the throttle in various rotated positions for long periods of time, or could it also be that there isn’t enough cushioning in the grip/your glove?

    If there was a way to turn the throttle like you can spin a top by unwinding a string that was wrapped around it, maybe it’d be possible to distribute the stress of exerting that pulling force across more than just your hand/wrist

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