First ride of the Bumblebeeto 1/10/26

Time to take the little bike out for a spin and see what it is really all about. My friend Andy gave a few suggestions and I took one of them. If you look at a map... (you aren't going to do it ya slacker).

Of course I waited until late in the day to start.... Not really, my first priority wa to get a global plan set up for my phone and get it working. For me that means having to get to the customer service and speak to an actual human that can help because the lame self help directions never seem to work and I always have questions. 

 A couple hours later... I can go. I started out probabaly 2-3 in the afternoon and traffic is crazy as usual so Combat riding, weaving in and out of cars, splitting lanes, filtering to the front, coming inches from big trucks and mirrors of cars, it's like everyone is a MotoGP racer and is trying to be up front in a monster frienzy. 

 Now I would think that by the time I hit the major freeway heading out of Medellin things would chill but NO, I kept enjoying this loco traffic for Kilometer after Km after Km. It thinned out a bit when I started to cut north to Don Matias and that was going up and up and up the mountains. 

 A few of the locals thought they were Jorge Martin from Spain (famous MotoGP motorcycle racer) and were passing everyone on the line and blind curves, you name it. I couldn't let these yahoos leave me in truck diesel smoke so took the liberty of catching and spanking them badly on my little 160. I'm sure if I took my helmet off they would be flabergasted that some old fart just put them to shame. 

 I have a 7" carplay screen I purchased in the US for the trip and it mirrors my phone so I can have my phone in my pocket and can see the map . This is a learning experience for me but by day 2 I've kinda got it figured out. 

 Anyway, up and up I go and the scenery is lush and green everywhere, farms everywhere too.

The little bike just kept chugging along not missing a beat. It certainly isn't a power house but gets the job done, The bike sits perfect for me ergo wise. I'm not leaning forward or hands in a strange contortion, legs are just right. I'm super happy with how it fits me. 5'8" 30" inseam if you want to know if it will fit you. 

 It handles very well, I can lean it over in curves and it feels quite solid, even in the rain. When I get on the gas it doesn't really start moving until you hit about 5k RPM and then it starts to move. I'm not supposed to take it over 7K but did it a couple of times on accident. 7k RPM buy the way is about 95 Kph so almost 60 mph and it can do it easily, even at the high altitude I was riding at. 

 Between Don Matias and Santa Rosa it started to sprinkle and get worse and worse. I pulled over to put on my gortex wind pants to keep my legs somewhat dry since I'm wearing mesh armor pants. The temps started to get a bit chilly up there as well. While there along side the road a guy on a bike probably in his 40's-50's stopped. This guy started speaking to me in a somewhat excited voice. I'm sure he was talking about the rain and then I slowed him way down by telling him I wasn't understanding him. In my broken Spanish I told him I had just purchased the bike and was going to ride to Ushuaia and he almost gave me a hug. He was so happy and said he wanted to do it sometime as well. He was a lot of fun. I never got his name but here he is.

We said our goodbyes and I headed off to Santa Rosa. 

 When I got into Santa Rosa the town square was a fun little square with Christmas displays still up and a super beautiful church on one side. I wanted to pull over to take a photo of it but the parking was all full of tall vehicles and there was no place to park period as there were so many people. I ended up going around to the front of the church where I stopped and got a lousy shot of it.

It was starting to come down a little harder now and the road I was getting ready to go down had different colored umbrellas hanging across the street and it was beautiful. I pulled up and stopped to get a nice photo.

This road had every shop you could think of on both sides and I wish I had gotten here earlier as it was probably about 5:30 and I was starving but wanted to get back before dark. The street turned to the right and there were MORE umbrellas for blocks and then it switched back to normal but it sure was fun. At the edge of town was another fun more modern church and a beautiful shrine. There was no place to stop and cars behind me so I did a circle of the area and did a couple of shots behind my back.

Then it was time to stop taking photos and make some time. I started blasting along the ridge of the mountain and since it was almost dark there wasn't much traffic so I was scooting right along and the bike was humming with glee. I was having a lot of fun scrubbing in the tires and they did an excellent job of keeping me glued to the road. About 6 it started to get dark and by the time I hit San Pedro it was pitch black and I still had quite a bit of time to go. Now going fast on these roads is going 60-70 Kph. That doesn't sound like much but it is on these twisty roads. 

 

Also, there were stops in the middle of nowhere for TOLLS! I'm not sure what that is all about but here is a string of cars, trucks, busses, etc so you just ride right past everyone, get in the far right and there is a small lane just for motorcycles. It has monster speed bumps so you have to go very slowly over them and you don't have to pay. Super cool that we don't have to pay. 

 Also in the middle of nowhere and almost random are these huge speed bumps that are about 3-4 feet wide. Mostly they are around schools and towns but there can be many of these so you have to pay attention and slow WAY down or you'll be playing Evil Kenevil. 

 As I started down the mountainside on the west I finally got under the clouds and could see the lights of the city of Medellin. I was so high up that I couldn't believe it. It was very pretty and I wanted to stop but thre was no place to pull over and traffic started getting super thick. The road started getting quite bad as well with pot holes, speed bumps, areas where the road was washed away and big cracks.

 I was having a tough time seeing as my car play unit was blasting a brite light in my face like I was being interigated. At one point I think I went into a huge pot hole and thought I had blown my tire as I couldn't see it, was in horrendous traffic and it was pitch black when BAMB! I almost flew over the handlebars it was such a jolt and I wasn't even going 10 kph. 

 There were parties and going on all over since it was Saturday night and the road was very steep. It took probably another half hour before I got down to the neighborhood and found the parking garage. What a ride. It was 160 Km (about 100 miles). The bike ran flawlessly, it fits me great, I'm figuring out the powerband and I think I used 1 bar of fuel on the fuel guage so it is sipping fuel which is awesome. I think it will be a great bike for the trip.