Wilsons Sandbox

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This thread has received numerous responses. Two people have recommended "hang on tight"; one "be relaxed." Relaxed works for me. The bike responds naturally to quick sudden gusts of wind. It becomes dangerous if the gusts are so violent they blow you into another lane. This thread is timely for me. Yesterday, another lister and I returned to Colorado from Utah's canyonlands on KLR650s in very strong winds -- sometimes cross winds, sometimes head winds, occasionally tail winds. In Utah, on a sparsely traveled Interstate, it was actually fun -- a good opportunity to experiment and learn while passing trucks and campers. We were able to maintain our 75 MPH cruising speed. On narrow two-lane highways in Colorado, with violent sudden gusts, it was dangerous. Twice I was blown across the center lane when emerging from cuts in the hills. All in all, though, the dust/sand storm was the most bothersome feature. Verle Nelson Cedaredge, CO

Denzfeat@... wrote:

> > > > Been doing this for years on both heavier and lighter bikes. Bottom line is, > you do tough it out,hanging onto the bars more tightly with both hands. > > Pete the Streak (trained as an MSF instructor) >

Pete, I have found that just the opposite works for me. That is try to grip the bars lightly in a relaxed manner. Which I realize is harded to do than say. A little like horse back riding. George Escondido, CA

> This thread has received numerous responses. Two people have recommended > "hang on tight"; one "be relaxed." Relaxed works for me. The bike responds > naturally to quick sudden gusts of wind. It becomes dangerous if the gusts > are so violent they blow you into another lane.

my advice is to keep "chewing". When I'm off-road or on-road in situations that raise my anxiety. I pop a couple of pieces of gum in my mouth. It serves as a stress check. If I notice I've stopped chewing you can bet I have a virtual death grip on the bike one way or the other (deadly in sand with the KLR). So, I use it as a signal to relax. Kind of like talking to myself. It reminds of a time when my then nine-year old son, Dominic, and I were skiing a triple black diamond steep. I launched at the top of a pitch and skiied the deep powder and then paused a couple of hundred yards down slope. We were all alone, and it was one of those golden moments of quiet. I waited patiently for him to muster his courage. Then he was off. As he made the descent I could him singing to himself, then as the slope became even more demanding the singing became kind of a simple mantra. "You can do it Dominic"..."there you go"..."you can do it" ...."ok...ok...ok" It brought tears to my eyes. Kurt

> I swear I can`t figure why my font`s keep changing. > Any ideas anybody? I use Outlook Express 5.0. > > Skip >

It happens because the message you responded to was in HTML and you wrote your response in the body of the original message where the font was imbedded. This is also the cause of the line down the right side instead of the >'s. Thank Microsoft for that one. You could get around the problem by going into and then unchecking and set to . If you want to use HTML just change the Format after- wards as I have just done. Walt I`m sorry, I just checked and you`re right. I thought I had gotten rid of the "reply in same". Thanks. Skip