Polar Bear Ride 2022

2167 Views 27 Replies 11 Participants Last post by Gerard, Jan 17, 2022

Sidecar Bob

Discussion Starter · Dec 27, 2021 (Edited)

Its time to separate the real bikers from the wannabees again: The Polar Bear Ride

The rules are the same as they have been since I first posted them on this forum:
1) Participation in the CX500forum Polar Bear Ride is open to all registered CX500forum members.
2) Go for a ride of at least 1hr duration on either Dec. 31 2021 or Jan 1 2022 or both. (I usually head for somewhere that is at least a half hour from home, stop for a meal or to visit someone or something like that and then make sure I take more than half an hour to get back home).
3) Take one or more pics and post them in this thread.
4) Click the following link to Piper's Patches where you can order Polar Bear Run patches and year rockers (it looks like he has discontinued the pins)
Piper's Patches Canadian eBay store
Piper's Patches US eBay store

NOTE: In the event of a ban on unnecessary travel due to pandemic you can do the ride whenever the ban is lifted in your area.

Southern hemisphere note: Those of you in Australia might decide to call it the Thorny Devil Ride and those in South Africa perhaps the Springbok Ride but you would have to find your own sources of patches ;-)

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Sidecar Bob

Discussion Starter · #3 · Dec 27, 2021

I know where you're coming from. At our old house doing any work in the garage in winter meant putting electric heaters around the bike at least an hour before I started and laying the tools & parts in front of a fan heater so they would be warm enough that they didn't freeze my hands. For many years here it meant hanging a tarp over the opening between my parking space and the big space where the car parks and plugging in several electric heaters. And hoping nobody opened the big space's overhead door and cooled the place down. (It feels like the lap of luxury now with the whole garage insulated, a ceiling mounted heater in each space and actual doors to close between the spaces).

If you post pics of working on it here we could call it honorary participation. You could order a patch from Piper's and maybe find someone to make an "honorary 2022" rocker for you.
If you don't know anyone locally you could ask LP Embroidery. Dolly did the memorial Patches when Matt died and the "Sidecar Bob" patch on my vest and she does god work. She doesn't have anything the right size on the site but if you explained what you need she can probably do it.

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Sidecar Bob

Discussion Starter · #8 · Dec 31, 2021

We were planning to go out today but it looks like our Polar Bear Ride may be postponed a few days. Kay got a call this morning that someone she was exposed to has tested positive. From what we can find out it would be OK for us to go out except that she's waiting for the health unit to call her back about where & when she can be tested (apparently everything is closed until Tuesday).
Once they call back we'll decide whether to go tomorrow or after she's been tested.

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Sidecar Bob

Discussion Starter · #18 · Jan 6, 2022 (Edited)

We hadn't been in contact with anyone for a few days before we learned we needed to isolate so we were able to go out today. Kay needed to pick up something at the church, which is half an hour away so our exciting ride was there & back with a brief stop at a grocery store to pick up my prescription bananas on the way home.

I took video but I won't be able to edit it for a few days because this arrived yesterday and I need to get it moved to the garden before it gets either frozen or buried

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Sidecar Bob

Discussion Starter · #21 · Jan 14, 2022

It looks like a stock SilverWing seat and a taller than normal backrest attached to the trunk.
I used to think I'd like a backrest until I had one on the SW trunk I had on Eccles. I found I seldom sat against it and when I did it never felt right (maybe I was just used to not having anything there).
When I changed to a different trunk I didn't put a pad on it.

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Sidecar Bob

Discussion Starter · #22 · Jan 15, 2022

I finally got ahead of things enough to edit the video

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Sidecar Bob

Discussion Starter · #24 · Jan 15, 2022

I'm not saying backrests aren't good for some people, just not for me.
Highway pegs are a whole other matter. I have arthritic knees so I absolutely have to have somewhere else to move my feet to if I'm going to be on a bike without getting off and walking around for a while every half hour or so.
I used to have pegs on Eccles when I drove it more often and farther but when I replaced the engine in 2018 I hadn't used the peg for a couple of years so I didn't bother putting it back. I didn't miss it until this year's Polar Bear Ride and then only because my left knee is still recovering from landing on it when I fell on a wet concrete floor a couple of months ago.

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Sidecar Bob

Discussion Starter · #27 · Jan 15, 2022

I figured out a long time ago that the highway pegs need be located so that your knees touch the tank in the same place as they do when your feet are on the main pegs to be comfortable. I could never make that happen on Eccles but any change was better than none when the pain started. More often I would end up resting my ankle on the peg for a while.

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