T-Minus 8 Days: We're getting excited, boys and girls

July 2, 2019 (8 days out)

I rode into work today and holy hell, all I can think about is how excited I am for this trip.  Yes, I realize we’re still a bit out and there are about a million things to do in between now and when we leave, but I THINK I’ve gotten everything covered.  I already picked up some new taller boot socks so I have enough pairs and don’t have to do the old flip them inside out trick (mainly used for underwear …wait, what?).  I also got a new pair of full gauntlet gloves (Icon Patrol 2 CE) recently to accompany my other two pairs.  These claim to be water proof, and although I’ve not tested them yet I would lean more toward them being water resistant.  Still though, they were the gloves that fit me best, came in at a decent price, and I think will work nicely if we encounter any unfavorable riding conditions.

My new helmet came in also last week, and I have to say, I’m fully in love with it after the first few days of wearing it.  The LS2 Valiant helmet caught my eye right away since I wanted a modular but with a chin bar that flipped all the way back as to not catch wind.  I have an older HJC currently but the modular piece kind of sucks while riding as it allows the wind to throw your head all around.  With the Valiant, it also has a flip down dark visor so you don’t have to wear sunglasses under your lid (it too allows room for glasses to be worn though) AND you can leave the clear shield on so you can see better at night.  I have somewhat sensitive eyes, and so on both of my other helmets I’ve swapped out the shields to the darkest I could get which obviously isn’t ideal when the sun goes down.  I’m kind of weird too with helmet colors, I like white because it doesn’t absorb the heat like black does which helps to keep your dome nice and cool…BUT I equally don’t care for a plain white helmet.  LS2 has some really good graphic options that are primarily white, and recently came out with a new one, the Prox, which of course seems to only be available in the UK at the time.  Well you better believe I had to have it, so I ordered it from a company over there, Freestyle Xtreme.  It took about a week and a half to arrive but was totally worth the wait!  The color scheme (in my opinion) is the best they have for what I was looking for!  My only gripe about the helmet is that it’s got “LS2” written EVERYWHERE on the damn thing.  I guess they make it look okay though so it’s not too big of a problem.

I also want to have some sort of speaker or earbud that works well with this helmet.  I have a bluetooth system now, but I’m not particularly fond of it for a few reasons.  1) I hate having the microphone in front of my mouth but I can’t find any that either don’t have the mic or have a detachable one, 2) the sound quality is kind of garbage, and 3) the ever so slight pressure from the helmet pushing them on your ears starts to get quite uncomfortable on your ears after a while.  Bob has been using some bluetooth headphones for a while now that he likes pretty good…except when the rubber piece gets stuck in his ear haha!  So I thought, maybe I’d go that route.  I spent a little more than I wanted today on a set of no cord, low-profile, headphones, so I’m hoping they fit nicely under the helmet and don’t smash too far into my ear holes.  Anyway, as soon as they come in I’ll write a quick blurb about how they function.

Now is the time to really wrack my brain though…what haven’t I thought of?  I definitely have a “planner” mentality so it’s a little harder for me to say to myself that if you don’t have it by now you either don’t need it or can get it on the road.  It’s better for me to keep thinking thinking thinking up until the last minute.  So here I sit, 9 days out going through everything over and over, adding to my list of items not to forget.  Going to need that passport, 0% international transaction fee credit card, hotel paperwork, phone charger, some cash…  I’m sure I’ll wake up in a cold sweat at 2am one night this week, “OH SHIT!  I need to remember to pack [item]!”

But I suppose that’s enough excitement for today…so until tomorrow, thanks for tuning in!