Sol Power–BrammoBlog.com

Blog 54: RIDE BABY RIDE. Or if you are watching too many bad movies from the 60’s. Faster Pussycat, Ride Ride.

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Ok, so Saturday I heard the great news for a good guy: Jeremy Dorn (aka. EmpulseBuyer) was officially named the Brammo Evangelist for 2012. Along with the accolades and recognition for his work promoting Brammo, he also gets a brand new Brammo Empulse R. A damn sweet ride. And a list price of 18K, so that is a super sweet prize. And now his name is EmpulseWinner. 🙂

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Of course his great news was a bit less great for me. I am extremely happy for him, but I have to admit I was feeling a little less than ecstatic on Saturday.

Because while 1st place is super super sweet, second place is….nada. It’s like when our children were born. For some time I was the most important person in my wife’s life. And then we had kids. And I knew I would be second to the kids, and had no problem with that. Still I was a bit unprepared as I didn’t think the gulf between 1st (the kids) and 2nd (me) would be quite sooooooooo huge. 🙂  She is just head over heels crazy for those girls. And that is what makes her just such an amazing mom. Me? She does recognize me most days as a sometimes mobile and breathing Carbon-Based Life-form, so I do have that going for me.

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So (and I’m not proud admitting this) I was moping around a bit. Kinda feeling a bit sorry for myself. Then I realized it was about 4:30 pm on a BEAUTIFUL Saturday and I was acting like an Emo kid on Prom Night. I thought: “Pull it together dude (i often mentally call myself dude…nothing to do with The Big Lebowski). Get out of the house, DUDE (see?), and do something to take your mind off it and have some fun.”

Now the question is: What do you do when you find out that you are likely the 2nd place finisher in being named Brammo Evangelist for 2012? What do you do when you find out you won’t “win”/”earn” an amazing free bike (and the press and accolades)???***

Now I’m not sure what you would do, my kind, indulgent and likely imaginary reader, but me? To forget and put the whole Brammo Evangelist 2012 announcement behind me, I  jumped on “my” Brammo Enertia Plus and rode 70 miles to the top of Sandia Mountain and back.

It was a little after 5 when I left. The day was still bright (brighter than me, but more on that later*), but the shadows were long on the ground and I knew I probably couldn’t make it up the mountain and back before dark. Especially as the way up to the top of the mountain is on the East Side* and the Sun sets in the West…so the Mountain will be blocking the Sun for my ride up. Still I grabbed my Icon Airmada Stack Helmet (I don’t know why but I seem to be giving free press to Brammo and Icon now-a-days) and my Contour Roam helmet cam and set off.

Now my helmet doesn’t yet have the connector for the camera, but I’ve been using it lately by driving one handed and filming anyways. It is actually much nicer. I get to pan around. And on this ride I got to hold it out in front by the tire, and lean over and hold it close to the ground. Fun stuff! And for Adrian who tells me the Empulse is too much for me…Hey, Enertia Plus, 50 mph and riding one handed and filming…So there! 🙂

Photos and Video up next.

Photos First.

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It was getting dark fast and I was using my iPhone. So the images will be a bit contrasty.

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A short panorama

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A full panorama. Curvy roads seem to baffle panoramas.

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The Video: longish at 15mins, but has some fun stuff when I decide to “drag” the camera.

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Till next time, ride safe.

Gavin

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For more info on Brammo, please visit: www.brammo.com
For more images, photos, discussions and all around Brammo goodness: visit, lurk and maybe join: www.brammoforum.com

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*Why I am not bright: 1) I have lived in Albuquerque for 16 years. Albuquerque is to the WEST of the mountain. The way up to the top is on the EAST side. In the video I reversed this. 16 YEARS. Sigh. 2) The top of the mountain is 5000 feet higher than where I live. The top of the mountain is always 20 to 25 degrees colder than where I live. So Saturday was a beautiful day in the low 70’s. Perfect. But it gets cold fast when the Sun goes down. So…AND I KNOW THIS…when I was coming down the mountain after sunset is was quickly below 40 degrees. I did have my full face helmet. I did have my nice fall gloves and my fall coat. But under the coat was only a t-shirt. And the fall gloves are pushed to their limit at 39 degrees and going 50 mph…So it was a COLD ride home….I almost always forget to dress for the mountain top…even after all these years. A mental block…heavy emphasis on MENTAL.

*** To be fair and honest…Brammo has been super good to me and had let me use a Brammo Enertia for 9 months…and now the Enertia Plus for the last couple of months. So it is hard to “complain”.