Last Gasp of Winter

Tomorrow is the first day of spring, which will be arriving precisely at 10:32am which means that today is the last day of winter. Temperatures are still cool here hovering around freezing, give or take a degree or two. I got a late start which explains the lack of darkness. I rolled out my Tachometer, which is attached to my Suzuki V-Strom and switched on the Heated Grips



I have the Oxford Heaterz with electronic controller.



another uneventful ride to the office where I can keep an eye on my bike from my window . It was a warm 14c and the sun was out for most of the day. You could nearly walk about in T-shirts and tomorrow is forecast to be warmer.



I have a video following which records some of my commute home a few days ago using my Hero GoProHD. Unlike KW where they only have one great Ocean Highway, I have a choice of 4 routes. I classify them as; fast, faster, slow and Indy 500. I found myself getting carried away with zipping in and out slaloming around cars and thought it wiser to take the slow route, which I showed you on the prev post which meanders through Burnaby and New Westminster hindered with numerous traffic lights.

This time I took the freeway (Hwy 1) eastbound back to Vancouver from the Cariboo Road interchange. Motorcycles are allowed to take the HOV lanes but I find that however fast you go it's not fast enough and you end up being tailgated. There is a solid white line for much of its length which means you are not allowed to change to the regular lanes, at least, not legally. By the time it changes to a dotted line we get to a congested area and I am forced to change to the extreme right lane to get to the Grandview Highway exit which is not always safe. That is the main reason I go with the flow in the slow lane.


(cockpit view)

At the beginning of the video I was also testing the mounting position of the GoProHD on my car windshield with the camera Upside Down using the supplied suction mount. When the camera is recording upside down, the video is also upside down and has to be flipped rightside up by software. GoPro has software being released soon which will do the job inside the camera while being recorded, but I found a way to flip it using PREL7.


(outside view)

As previously mentioned, all freeways end at the boundaries of Vancouver. To reach the city core you have to travel on surface roads. From the Grandview Exit to my garage takes about half an hour.