Golden...

They say silence is golden. Although not completely silent, riding without the roar of the wind for hours is pretty damn nice.

Think of it. A wall of white noise with just a bit of variance due to speed pounding in your head and assaulting your synapses without end. Some people like this din ringing in their heads. But after hours and hours, quiet is good.

I had been using some over-the-counter ear plugs to muffle the cacophony and they worked well. A weekend in July, the BMW demo truck came by one of our local dealers. It's very common at these events to have someone that makes custom molded earplugs for the patrons. It wasn't any different at this little event.

My riding buddy, Peter, has also found a do-it-yourself kit at his local pharmacy. The plugs made at events often start at $40 and can easily get to $60 or more very quickly. Peter's DIY kit ... $12. The draw back to the kit, may be it will take you a couple a tries to get it right. But you may still end up spending less money doing it, even if you have to do it twice.

Whichever way you go about getting ear plugs, I can't say enough about going the extra step to get a pair molded to your own ears. The reduction in wind noise alone is well worth the effort.

Recently my partner, a couple of friends and I went on vacation to southern British Columbia together. We clocked about 1500 miles. I'm sure my ears would still be ringing, were it not for my plugs.

One interesting note. The plugs blocked the wind noise tremendously well. One would think it blocks all the other noise as well. On the trip I was using a Chatterbox FMRS radio to try to keep in touch with Jim in the car. And to listen to my iPod at times. The sound from the radio and iPod came through the plugs amazingly well.


... more about the trip is coming.