Slow Ride...

 

If you said, "Foghat, 1975, from the album Fool for the City," you get 30 bonus points.  If you said, "Minnesota cars everywhere," you get 100 bonus points.  Semi-joking... we had some great riding with lovely cool weather, and a good test of my new Schuberth C3 Pro helmet.

Thanks to Mother Nature, we haven't gotten in much riding this week.  No destination, just a general plan of heading to and through Custer State Park, enjoying the riding, and checking out my new helmet.  Sunny, breezy, and temps in the 70s during our 4 hour ride.

Here's a look at the new helmet...

 "Um, isn't your other helmet plain white?"  Yes, thanks for asking.  While provides good visibility for other drivers.  This is a modular helmet, where my other one has a removable chin bar; a similar premise, but I can raise the chin bar on this one, making it easy to get a drink or talk without removing the helmet.  The C3 Pro is purported to be a very quiet helmet.  It certainly seemed so on the short test ride I got in before the weather turned crappy.  With this longer ride, I can say it is easily the quietest helmet I have owned.  Well made.  Very nice interior.  I can raise just the face shield, making for more ventilation, and it's still quieter than my other helmet.

The down side of today's ride: no helmet communicator in this helmet... Joan and I were forced to use hand signals, or get close, raise the face shield, and holler... just like the olden days.  Joan did not have to listen to me, so she may not consider that a "down side."  ;-)

The riding was good.  The temperature was a delight - cool enough that we could comfortably wear our riding jackets.  We rode through Custer State Park, heading up Needles Highway (yes, the road where the deer and the Vespa got up close and personal).  More Minnesota cars to slow us down, but we still enjoyed the ride.  Ha!

As usual, things got crowded right at Needle's Eye, but then some fine riding on the other side of that.  We took that road to Highway 385, through Hill City, Old Hill City Road to Keystone (more good curves), through Keystone, then the fun, curvy roads back to Hart Ranch.

Yes, I shot some video.  Enough that it filled the data card in the camera.  It will take a while to edit, and I'll probably do some narration on it.  But, not tonight.  There is a potential "balloon glow: here at Hart Ranch tonight, with a half dozen or so hot air balloons scheduled to be here.

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The balloon glow didn't happen - too windy.  Since I had the camera in my hand on the way to the car, I took a photo (not my usual telephoto) of the almost full moon...