photo: seasonal road #1

spring is here!

Ok, spring's not really here.

But, I got the KLR out of "storage" yesterday. What with ice storms, being sick, and sub-zero temps, I haven't ridden in about a month. Yeah I know, lame. Rode over to the little lady's house last night for dinner. It was no cross-country trip, just about ten miles. The temperature was about 19 degrees (F), so not too bad for riding.

first snow ride of fall 06

Came home for lunch, and it's time to bust out the full-face helmet. Snow showers today.

I suppose I'm overdue for some fresh pics here, and on the site. OK, coming this week.

it's official: i suck

Well, school starts tomorrow. That means that I go back to work. And, although I got a LOT of skating in this summer, I put an embarassing amount of miles on the KLR. Seriously. Between the car trips and the KLR needing work that I was too lazy to do, I didn't ride her much.

I can't feel TOO bad, 'cause I did skate a bunch of new pools this summer, and got to go out and visit Tuck. But, damn, I've got some catching up to do!

Wes came over today and rescued me once again. He helped me switch my tires out. I had the Kenda 270s on there and I hated them. Wes helped my slap some new Pirelli MT21s on. He also helped me with my frozen front brake problem. The dude is a great friend. Everyone should have a friend like Wes. He can rip a pool too!

Anyway, the KLR is pretty much road worthy now, and I start commuting again tomorrow morning. I'm going to try to get some longer trips in before the snow falls. But, with the amount of skating I've been doing, I might be waiting 'til next summer for a longer KLR trip.

hibernation

The weather has been AWESOME 'round here lately. I've gotten a ton of riding in, and have not been interested in sharing here. I'm thinking that during the summer months most of my updates are going to come in the form of trip reports. I suppose I'll still be posting rants here, but I'm planning on going into a sort of blog hibernation mode here 'til cold weather returns and I'm sitting on my butt with a computer on my lap again.

Get out there and ride!

you, on the harley

This article is nearly 15 years old now, but I still get a kick out of it every time I read it...

Harley Davidson. It's not a motorcycle company. It is a pagan cult religion for brain dead trend humping fashion lemmings.

b.a. barackus

Today was the first real 70 degree day 'round here. You can tell because people were riding around on motorcycles. I suppose tomorrow when there's a chance of rain, they'll be putting their trailer queens (as the saying goes) back into storage. I'm starting to feel like I'm distancing my self from the motorcycling community, but it's only because I don't see a community.

What I do see is a bunch of posers who get on motorcycles and play out some bad boy fantasy. I have a few buddies who I consider real riders, but that's more of a family than a community. Most of the people I see on these perfect days are just acting out something they saw on TV, or in a movie somewhere. These guys ride round with their pipes barking above all other sounds, chrome half-helmets gleaming, fringe everything flapping in the wind, creased chaps shining. I don't understand this costumed approach to riding a motorcycle.

I wish I could see past the flash and get to know some of these folks who ride. But, I'm too busy riding. Maybe I'll wave to them next time I'm riding by bike night downtown.