The Kriega R20 Backpack is one of my favorite moto accessories. I've never worn any other backpack that was this comfortable to ride with. Fits my frame perfectly, not too small and not too big, just right for daily essentials like lunch, a change of shoes and an ipad and a small purse. If you want something for a 2-3 day weekend then an R25 is in order. But for the daily commuter, this is a must.
And today only, Revzilla is having a 10% off Kriega Sale. How convenient!
At the top of Skyline Drive
What can I say? I love West Virginia. I never thought I'd say that, but when it comes to finding heavenly, twisty roads, I can't help it.
My husband and I went on a 5 day vacation from Philly to West Virginia a few weeks ago, leaving on Sunday and returning Thursday that week. Here are a few highlights!
Stopping somewhere in Washington DC by the Potomac on our way down.
When we left on Sunday, May 8th, we had a rather late start. I won't even bother to share the ride route. We pretty much slabbed drove through Washington DC and stopped briefly to take some pictures before heading into Arlington. Since we started so late we decided to stay the night just outside DC at the Hampton Inn Gainesville-Haymarket.
I'd highly recommend it, very motorcycle friendly, clean and just overall a very nice place to stay (I usually try to stay at smoke-free hotels, because I just can't stand the smell of smoking hotels). Unfortunately someone left the microwave on or something, and we had a 4:30am wake up call. Luckily, it only lasted about 20 minutes and we were able to get back to sleep. Zzzzzzz.
The weather was raining on and off Monday, so we headed out late and just decided to head south, towards the border of West Virginia and Virginia. Looking at the radar reports, we tried to go just below the storm paths so we could at least find some dry, twisty roads. Oh and along the way we found tasty Mexican food! Who knew there were delicious, authentic Mexican restaurants in Virginia? We stopped at La Michoacana Taqueria & Restaurant. Delicious!
So we headed out and we aimed for Waynesboro, VA. When we stopped to take a look at hotels, we found a room in Staunton, VA at the Stonewall Jackson Hotel. It was beautiful, and we got their Stay 2 Nights and Save Promo.
Staunton is a really lovely town with a lot of history including an old train station and wonderfully preserved downtown.
Staunton at night. My husband sure knows how to take photos.
Easy parking at the hotel in their garage. I just love how these two look side by side.
So we decided to camp out in Staunton and just looked at the maps every day to figure out which way we thought we wanted to go.
Tuesday was our first day of explorations. The weather was crummy in the early morning so we waited until the rain passed a bit more before heading out. We found some fun scenery including a rickety bridge that you aren't supposed to ride across. So we didn't.
As we rode off, we found even more scenery, including some horses who didn't seem to mind as we pulled over to take photos next to them. I tried to coax them away from lunch but they just weren't interested. :(
I don't know how, but he manages to get the timing just right on these sometimes. I guess I was stretching...
I think the horse is looking at us like we're crazy.
One of the coolest things we saw a few times were abandoned buildings like this old service station. These photos just don't do this building justice. It was so pretty in person, eerie and stunning at the same time.
We didn't get to go inside, but I was able to get a photo through the windows.
Evan poses!
And another abandoned garage. Way creepier.
Since the weather wasn't that cooperative most of the time, we did some very simple routes, nothing fancy. But some of the best riding on this coast lives here:
Staunton to West Virginia and Back.
We were trying to find some cool covered bridges, but we only found this one which we weren't able to actually drive through. It was called Humpback Covered Bridge in Covington.
So all we could do was take selfies.
I highly recommend lunch in Marlinton at the Greenbrier Grill. Tasty, inexpensive and outdoor seating.
We took 39 back mostly, such a fantastic road. I'll warn you, these roads are twisty so should always take those easy if you're not immediately comfortable. I practically live to ride these roads, I just wish they were closer :(
My friend Tamela recommended Route 311, just south of Covington but unfortunately I somehow got us off track and never got to ride it. It also looked amazing.
The next day we played around 39 and 250 again. 250 is probably my favorite road on the East Coast so far.
Unfortunately we didn't get video of 250 because of the crappy weather that day, but in case you missed it, here's a short video my husband shot on his GoPro, Swivit Mount and Gimbal. We finally had some clearing weather and was able to get some beautiful shots while on 39 or 84, I can't remember which road this is. It's mixed in with some footage of Skyline drive as well, but there are bits and pieces of WVA in here.
Getting all the equipment ready to film. If you've never heard of Swivit.com, check them out. Their adjustable mount is unique, and was the first of its kind.
With the Swivit, he was able to get shots like this one, because you can move the camera on the fly. (We were going maybe 15mph, and there was zero traffic!)
I don't know why but we decided to slab it back from Staunton to Philly on Thursday. Although we had an early start, we took the scenic route up Skyline Drive. Since the hubby had never ridden through it before, we thought we'd take a look! Twas foggy on and off. If you watch the video, the tunnel is at the end.
After a bit of fog, we finally got to some clear parts of the mountain. And yes, the speed limit is 35mph. We were following the limits pretty closely, but it was a very quiet day on Skyline so we were lucky enough to have little or not traffic at times. And no performance awards :)
The coolest stop we made was at Fort Johnson. Such a cool, crazy story from the Civil War. I didn't get to climb the entire trail, but I did get to the first tier. Since moving to an older city such as Philadelphia, I am fascinated and constantly amazed by the history that I encounter everywhere I go. Virginia was no exception. So crazy to think that a war was fought on this mountain, where we now stand and take scenic photos.
Steps to the first level of trenches.
A long line of trench!
We even met some fellow motorcyclists who were passing through.
And then we had to say goodbye!
We used our Sena SMH10R's to communicate with eachother the entire week and they performed quite well. I used the Garmin quite a bit, along with my music and I forgot to recharge it one night so it died after a second full day. Just by habit, we recharge our headsets every night but you really don't have to. You should be able to get 2 full days; although we don't have our channels open the entire time. We go back and forth between chatting or keeping the channel open for 10-15 minutes, then back to our own music while I listen for Garmin directions at the same time.
If you're curious as to how that all worked for me, read my review of the Garmin Zumo 390LM here.
Until next time, West Virginia.... until next time.....
Woo hoo! Reflective stuff! Ok, maybe I'm the only nerd that gets excited about bright objects. But I like wearing black when it comes to my motorcycle gear. I look good in it too, what can I say? :P But I know that I need to somehow make up for all the darkness with some bright reflectives to stay visible and safe as possible. So here's a few accessories I like that can help you too.
Wearing Hi-Viz Yellow or Orange is certainly a great way to be seen by more people. There's no guarantee that you'll be seen by every person, but certainly reduces the risks in my opinion. However, for me, the bright color isn't enough for riding at night.
It doesn't matter how bright your clothes are if they aren't reflective, I really believe in lots of reflective pieces so when light hits you it reflects.
So here are 3 reflective accessories that I wanted to share that I really think are cool to use.
"RydeSafe Reflective Decals are cut from an engineering-grade “conspicuity film” which contains microscopic glass spheres that reflect light back to its source. So no matter what direction the light is coming from, our stickers reflect it back. In the case of a pair of headlights, RydeSafe Reflective Decals reflect it right back to the driver’s eyes resulting in a more visible and thus safer user." - rydesafe.com
They have a few different shape / pattern options. I opted for the chain links (white) and the modular kit (purple). I found mine on Amazon but you can buy them directly on their website as well. (Unfortunately they're still running an old promo code from October on the main page, so they're not on sale).
Even if you don't like these, just hop on eBay or Google and you'll find your favorite sports teams, animals, shapes, motorcycle manufacturers and more in the form of reflective decals. You're sure to find something you want to wear!
There are a lot of vest options on the market. I still love my Spectrum vests, although they did close their business this past year. The previous owner told me that it should be back next year under new management. They used a really really bright reflective tape that was Coast Guard worthy. If I do have to ride at night, I always wear my vest!
You'll find a lot of different vests to choose from, including options from the bicycling world. But as a motorcyclist I would try to find a vest that uses CE / EN Certified Fabrics (less likely to fade) and 3M Scotchlite Reflective Tape (even more visible, durable). These materials make a much brighter difference at highway speeds.
I just found these on Amazon from Paracord Planet. These photos show how reflective this rope really is. I love the idea of making a dog leash out of it. I shared it with my fabulous dogsitter so she could use it too :)
I bought neon yellow and purple. My plan is to weave them together somehow and then run them through the loops on the top of my Kriega R20 Backpack since the logos are the only reflective pieces. Sometimes I ride home at night with my backpack on so I want to add as much reflective as I can!
I bought a roll of this on Amazon so I could make my own patterns for my last helmets. I found a ton of rolls in various colors and widths there too.
I've also started a Pinterest board to collect these ideas; check them out here.
If you have any cool reflective accessories that you like using, please share!
More Birthday Loot! I forgot to post my birthday backpack; this cute Kriega R20. I currently have the R25 which I do love, but I'll admit it's a bit big on me.
For my birthday, my wonderful friend Dimitry bought me the R20. I love it! The only thing I want to change is the mostly black exterior. So I hopped onto Amazon and found reflective paracord, who knew such a thing existed?
I bought yellow and purple. I'm going to weave them together and make a little rope that runs through the loops on the top of the backpack (which are mainly there for you to add the 5 or 10L packs for extra storage).
Whooop!
Now I'll have some more visibility from the back (and some cute color!) while riding. I'll have a full review posted soon as well.
Thanks Kriega for making such a great little bag for me to play with.
