Like Old Times

My son Brian and I used to ride and race dirt bikes together for quite a few years, starting when he was a child until just a few years ago when family obligations took precedence.  Just like when I taught him to ski, he ended up a far better rider than me, but we still had a lot of fun together.

Now he is approaching the "empty nest" phase of life, with more time and funds available, and he has decided to get back into motorcycling.  Not exactly dirt bikes this time, but the relatively new category of "adventure" bike.  These are like SUVs in the four-wheel world......capable of some off pavement travel, but basically a road vehicle.  I can accept the concept, but am a little turned off by the trendiness of it, just like SUVs are trendy, and for little old men like me they don't work......too tall and too heavy.  My KLX that I sold a couple of years ago was as close as I came to an adventure bike, but it was called a "dual sport" because it was more dirt oriented.

Anyway, Brian bought the bike last week, and we met up today midway between our houses so I could take a look at it and we could go for a little ride.  It turned out to be a bit colder and wetter than predicted, but it was great to be riding with my boy again.  Here is a picture of him and his new bike with his friend and co-worker Albert, who came along on his KTM adventure bike.  Brian is on the right on his Triumph Tiger 800 xcx.  Part of "adventure" cool is having the right gear, and they certainly tick that box:

I look forward to many more rides together.

Fish Run!

Today was the best day of riding for me so far this year.  My com padres and I decided to do a fish run to the Bowpicker in Astoria.  http://www.bowpicker.com/.  This funky little boat cast ashore next to a Coast Guard parking lot sells the best fish and chips in at least the Northwest, if not the world.  Unfortunately, we are not the only ones who think so.  We got there at a little past 1 pm and had to wait in line for almost an hour to get our orders.  They only serve one thing: Albacore Tuna fish and steak-cut fries.  Drinks are canned soda or bottled water out of a cooler next to the boat.  There are no tables except for two picnic tables and there are NO TOILETS.  You eat outdoors unless you have someplace to take your food.  You know the food has to be good to attract so many people in the face of such drawbacks.  Anyway, we scored a table and here is a pic of everybody except Big Mike who took the picture (no selfies with this group):

Left to right: Ross, the other Mike, Leo, and me.

As you can tell by the way we are dressed, the weather was not blazing hot.  But it was dry and generally sunny.  Big Mike found some new roads and led the party at a spirited pace.  Altogether, I rode about 260 miles and it was all good.  I'm looking forward to a long riding season.

Back on the Bike

It's been six weeks since the knee surgery and today was my first ride.  I could have and would have gone earlier, but the weather has been so crappy it wasn't worth it.  I think it has rained every day for the past two weeks, until today.

I just did about 45 miles around local back roads, but it sure felt good.  I am reminded again how much I like this bike.  It's so smooth and comfortable......good brakes, suspension and handling.  Not a lot of power, but plenty enough for me.  I am also reminded how much a ride is good for the attitude (but the sunshine didn't hurt, either).

Anyway, it's all good and I'm ready for the riding season.

A Bump In The Road

The only thing  good about this road is that it is the road to recovery.

The sad part is that this is a revision knee surgery......it was already done once about 13 years ago.  I thought it would last longer than that, and it wasn't bothering me, but a routine check showed the plastic parts were starting to wear out and could cause the metal parts to come loose.

So, no riding for awhile.  For sure, I hope, I will be ready to go when the weather gets better for riding.  I did manage to get one short one in on the day before the surgery.  That was a week ago.  Things are progressing, slower than I would like, but it's always the way I guess.

And if it looks painful?........yep.

My Ride Lately

We have been having a hell of a winter and the last time I rode my motorcycle was a couple of weeks ago.  So now I mostly ride my chained-up tractor.  Last night we had almost 6 inches of new snow over some left over from a storm last week.  I needed to get wood for the wood stove, so I drove up to the woodshed:

Then I hauled the wood to the outside door to our wood closet:

The lower, steepest part of the driveway needs to be cleared.  Before we got the tractor, I would be able to get down the driveway, but sometimes not back up.

It's times like this that I wish I had a real snow blade for the tractor.  The loader is not the best for snow removal, but it's far better than a shovel.  I bought the chains for the tractor a couple of years ago and never put them on until this year, so we don't often have this much snow.

I end up with a big pile of snow at the bottom of the driveway and it's going to be a long time before it is all melted.

I haven't been totally away from my bike.  The last couple of days I have been doing some preventative maintenance including a valve adjustment check and replacement of the brake fluid.  Used to be, in the days of the classic Triumph, that you could adjust the valves alongside the road with only a couple of tools (and sometimes you had to).  Now, this Honda is the most fiddley and complicated of any vehicle I've ever owned.  I can understand why dealers charge $600 to do it.

Riding the Tail of the Dragon.....Again.

Carolyn and I are making a grand tour of the US by automobile, but halfway through the trip I met with Orv and Mike, who flew to Atlanta, and we rented motorcycles.  They had never ridden the famous Tail of the Dragon like I did five years ago on my bucket list ride across the US (see the Oct 10 and 11, 2011 posts on this blog).  I knew there were other good roads in the area and so I plotted a route for us and we planned on a two-day ride from the Eaglerider rental shop up into the Smoky mountains and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

You get to choose what motorcycle you want to rent, and I had trouble making the choice because none of the available bikes appealed to me much.  The problem is that the adventure-bike craze has become so pervasive that that was about the only choice other than some big sport touring bikes or cruisers.  At first I chose a Suzuki Vstrom, but I went to a local shop in Vancouver and saw that it was going to be too tall and heavy......typical of an adventure bike. So I called the rental shop back and asked to change to a BMW F650GS.  This is also an adventure type bike, but is a lighter single cylinder model with, I hoped, a lower seat height.

Came the morning when we went to pick up the bikes and I find they do not have a BMW F650GS available for me.  The only choice was back to the Vstrom, but with a low seat option. I was not a happy camper, because even with the low seat I was on tippy toes, and the bike felt top heavy.   Here is a picture of it with my tank bag and tail pack on it:

Here are some pics as we were about to leave the rental shop:

Once we got underway, the bike was not so bad.  It was very comfortable, with great wind protection, and a natural "sit up and beg" seating position.  It was fine for traveling straight roads, but as I suspected, the bars were too high and far back for aggressive riding in the twisties.  The brakes were nothing to brag about either.  The single front brake on my CBR 500R is much better than the twin rotors on the Suzuki.  But, whatever, that was the bike I had and that was the bike I was going to make work.  Power with the Suzuki was no problem, as it probably had another 20 HP over my CBR. Every time I came to a stop, though, I had to carefully plan the point at which I would have to put my feet down so as to not fall over.......a bit stressful.

We had a fairly straight slog up to the north from Atlanta to get to the mountains, and the first road we did that was a true motorcycle road was the Cherohala Skyway out of Tellico Plains, Tenn.  I had also ridden this road before and I knew it would get the guys excitement up a bit.  In general, the roads in this area of the country are ideal for motorcycling.......besides the curves and scenery, the pavement is unusually smooth and traffic is light.  This is no secret and we began to see more motorcycles than cars, which was generally the case for the rest of the two days until we started back toward Atlanta.

Eventually we got to the Deal's Gap motorcycle resort, which is the start of the Dragon.  We checked into the motel there and then went to ride the famous "318 curves in 11 miles".  Tight curves they are, too, and I had the Suzuki in second gear much of the time with the engine screaming.  All three of us had helmet intercoms and I heard lots of whooping and hollering in my helmet. We rode to the end and then back at a more sedate pace, because it is hard to maintain that level of concentration and excitement for too long.  (might be an age related problem, though).  Here are a couple of pictures from the resort:

The rooms were pretty plain, but clean.  Our three person room had a double bed and a bunk bed.  Guess who got the top bunk?  Yep, the little agile(?) guy.

The shower curtain even carried out the theme:

We just had to get pictures of the famous "Tree Of Shame" that is made of crashed motorcycle parts collected along the road and even some rashed clothing:

I expected there would be a big biker party the night we stayed there and was looking forward to it, but it was actually dead quiet and dull.  The restaurant even closed at 6pm and we had to go down the road to get something to eat.  Maybe they have had problems in the past with too much rowdiness.

The next day we had about a 340 mile day and had to get the bikes back by 6pm, so we had to keep moving.  Normally it would not be hard to make that distance in the given time, but I was worried about the infamous Atlanta traffic at rush hour.  We got up on the Blue Ridge Parkway and I took a couple of pictures at viewpoints:

Notice the road below and the beginning of Autumn colors.  This was at about 5,000 feet.

At 3pm Mike's GPS had an estimated arrival time at the rental place of 5pm, so it looked like we were in good shape.  But then we hit the traffic and the ETA began to get later and later.  We ended up getting there about seven minutes late, but Mike had called ahead and got his wife to tell them to wait for us.

It was a great ride on good roads with good friends.  My only regret is that I couldn't do it on my own bike, or at least one that fit me better, but in the end I DIDN'T DROP IT!

My Baby is Gone

I reluctantly decided to sell the Triumph.  I just wasn't enjoying riding it, mainly because of my inability to get used to the reverse foot controls, but also because there was no future in kick starting it.  My right knee has been replaced, and it it going to need a "revision" next winter, so it might be a long time, if ever, before I can kick start the beast.

My Craigslist add was answered by Jim, who came by for a look yesterday, and came back today to pick it up.  Here he is on his new bike.  Interestingly, he used to own a 1968 Bonneville like this one back in 1974.

Loaded up and ready to go:

One last good by hug and a (fake) tear:

And down the road it goes:

What a beauty.  I owned it for 20 years, but it's time for it to go to a new caretaker.