My motorcycle riding season is over for the year. I ending the season with a busy October, logging 9,000 miles towards my goal of a million miles for Multiple Sclerosis. I wasn’t just riding circles around my house in New Hampshire, either! I rode to three big motorcycle rallies as well as spoke at an MS patient event for the charity, MS Views and News. My first stop was in Birmingham Alabama for the Barber Vintage Festival. A huge well organized event held on the impeccable grounds of the World’s largest motorcycle museum.
A week later I rode from my home down to Daytona Beach for Florida’s second biggest motorcycle rally; Biketoberfest. I didn’t have time to ride home after Daytona, so I took the long way from the bottom of Florida all the around the Gulf of (insert your preference here) to the bottom of Texas, (South Padre Island) before reaching my last event in Burnet Texas. Touratexas is an Adventure Rally geared towards riders who like to travel off road. We experienced some terrific rain that flooded the campsites, but it was still a great time sharing my story with fellow riders.
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The rally ended on Sunday afternoon and I was definitely looking forward to the quick 2,000 mile ride home. I had spent a total of twenty three days in October away from home, and that was quite a lot, even for me!
I am now in the process of taking inventory of my gear, my mission and my health. Winter is when I get to take care of the bigger maintenance items on the bike and my body! My seven year struggle with vision in my left eye is officially over, the optic nerve has been damaged and despite three more operations this year, I will never regain sight in that eye. At least it is official and my goal now is to improve the vision in my good eye to be able to once again drive at night. My first surgery in the good eye was last week and I actually do see some improvement!
I have been struggling with carpal tunnel syndrome in both my hands for years. Last year my hands were going numb more than 50% of the time I was riding as well as when I was sleeping or holding up my cellphone. I had surgery in the left hand last week and surgery for the right hand is scheduled for next week. My goal is to get both hands done and healed before snow shoveling season gets here! It’s going to be close!
On the new bike, I plan to add a few things to help me overcome some of my new health issues. I am pleased to add an electronic cruise control that will help reduce any further damage to the nerves in my hands, thanks to a very sleek and cool device from Veridian. It is plug and play and works exactly as a factory electronic system would.
I am also looking forward to installing and testing out a smart blind spot monitoring system fromINNOVV. In addition to a front and rear dash type recording cameras, the RC6 model has an active ThirdEYE detection system that will be very useful considering my 50% loss of vision. It detects and alerts the rider when appropriate to warn of other vehicles in blind spots. I am truly excited to see how well it works to improve my peripheral vision.
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My brand new in June Tenere 700 has 28,000 miles on it already, so that means it is time for it’s first valve check. I think I might have to drop it off at the Yamaha dealer for that big service, considering my lack of vision and double hand issues!
Autumn is also when I put together my limited edition, hand numbered and personalized calendar. Every month features a photo I took along my journey the previous year. Purchasing a calendar helps put gas in my tank and keeps my bike running another year as I continue my journey of a million miles for MS.
Have you ordered your calendar yet?
