Just Scraping By

So I have this tendency to lean a bit on the corners. There’s nothing quite like slicing into a well cambered turn. You approach the bend, eyeing it and plotting your path. You’ve gotta hit the apex just right to achieve full contact (and effect). You prepare your body and your bike…maybe you slide a bit to the inside, maybe shift your feet forward or back a bit…and then the curve is upon you.

You start your lean, slowing just enough to allow the front tire to fall into place, guiding you into the sweep of the bend. Your gaze is already safely through, having latched onto a destination point on the far side, which beckons to you. You lean the bike over further and further as it descends, wanting to succumb to Gravity’s gentle invitation. Toying with the throttle, you tease the cylinders with sometimes-more, sometimes-less octane as you maintain that delicate tug-of-war balance. The reward for your efforts? That satisfying sound of your floorboard leaving your mark, laying claim to another piece of blacktop.

It begins with a light scraping – contact has been made! Swiftly now; lean down hard and hit the throttle. The familiar tug towards the inside is felt as steel meets asphalt. But Gravity shall not have victory this day! The scraping devolves into an angry grinding as the machine and the pavement leave their mark upon each other. The triumphant shriek of steel as it carves its path…the roadway’s protesting cry as its skin is laid bare. And then it’s done; the corner has been added to the collection. Throttle on up and straighten things back to an upright plane and begin searching for the next victim.

Sounds pretty grand, eh? Well, back in what we like to call “Reality”, the floorboards can only handle so many battles before they start to look pretty rough and haggard. My floorboards have looked fairly beaten up for some time and I know I face the probability of having to replace them at some point. But that’s “then”, and I’m not at “then” just yet. For now, I’ll just lean more and more, until there’s nothing left to give. (Although, I do believe that the first time I try to carve a corner after having installed new floorboards, I’ll have quite the shock when end up on my ass. I’ll have expected to lean way over as usual, but there’ll be a chitload of new metal in the way, which might easily grab more pavement than my poor machine can gnash its way through and still maintain balance. Time will tell.)

Anyway, all tangents aside, let’s get to the real point of today’s post, shall we? Remember the heat wrap I put on my pipes? I noticed the other day that the wrapping on the bottom pipe was looking a bit tattered. Peering closer, I realized that the roadways had been lashing out at more than just my floorboard. Yes, I’ve been leaning so far over that I’m now dragging the bottom of the lower pipe, and subsequently; the wrapping is paying the price.

Snapped a couple of pics and you can see the wear and tear.

Nice, gentle lines...front of floorboard is good and solid...drifting back...well...not so much. Even the rubber is being ground off now, and that's on the top of the board!

Is it bad if the scraping extends all the way down to (and includes) the main mounting bracket?

Hmmm...well that can't be very good...

Even the back tip of the pipe is getting in on the action. (Not sure if you can make it out in the pic or not, but the hose clamp has been introduced to the pavement a few times as well.)


So, what to do? Well, who can say for sure, but I can’t see how the wrap will last, now that its integrity has been compromised. But if I re-wrap it, I’ll only wind up with the same problem again. I suppose I could stop grinding the hell out of the corners…but that ain’t gonna happen. I guess for now I’ll just keep on, keepin’ on and when the wrap finally lets go (or that hose clamp shears through!), then I’ll have to make a decision. Until then…keep grinding!

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Nice Reprieve

The windshield showed up, just in time for....60 degrees? Yeah; 60 degrees this morning, what a nice reprieve from the cold temps of late. We had some rain overnight and the roads are covered with leaves - always a great combination, but still; 60 degrees at the end of November? How can anyone pass that up! Not sure what the weather is supposed to do for the rest of the week, but obviously this warm stuff can't last. Or can it? I think when I get home tonight, I'm going to start up my truck and let it run all the time - bring on Global Warming!

Going back to the windshield; it did indeed show up in the mail. Looks good...you know; for a windshield and all. I haven't put it on yet, but maybe this weekend. We'll see.

Caught a couple of bike shows on the National Geographic channel last night; they were both dealing with undercover cops getting inside a couple of the heavy-hitter gangs. The first one was on the Angels and the second was on the Mongols. Not bad to watch, check 'em out if you can.

Ok, that's all I've got for now. If you're enjoying any of this warm weather, get out there and get some miles on.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Milestone

'Been keeping an eye on the odometer of late, as I had an oil change coming up soon. Took a few extra roads on the way home last night, just so I could hit the mileage perfectly. Sure enough, as I pulled into my driveway, the odometer clicked over for me. Not too shabby for an '02 bike.

Rolled her into the garage, swapped out the old oil and filter, threw in some new plugs and she's good to go.

Saw a few patchy spots of snow flakes on the ground this morning...not liking that...

Not sure if I'll have anything else to post about before T-day, so I hope you all have a great day with friends and family. Eat, Drink and be Merry ("Who's 'Merry' and why do I have to be them?")

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Turkey Day 2007

I’d been advised that the start-time was 0800 sharp: Sunday, 18 November. The clock on my dash read exactly that as I rolled into Mike’s driveway – and yet; still my phone began to ring. I flipped it to my ear as my eyes locked with the person making the call; none other than the host himself; Mike, standing in the doorway of his immense garage. Knowing that he’d dialed my # thinking that I was going to be late, I shot him a smile as I slid to a stop in front of him, and then cut the wheel hard as I eased my truck back into an available spot between some trees. I snapped the phone closed, but not before I heard his voice float out of the speaker, taunting me with “Nice of you to join us”.

I sidled up to the garage and greeted the other chaps who had gathered to assist with today’s events. The chill in the air outlined our breath as we exchanged our hello’s, and with that, we were off for breakfast. (Need to get a good base going for what lay ahead of us.)

Upon our return, we set to assembling and cleaning the various tools and other implements which would be needed. A few more guys began to show up and soon we had a good sized crew assembled and we were ready to roll. Mike set up shop, as it were, in the shed where he raises the turkeys and the process was set into motion.

I took a number of pictures of the day’s events but I’ll just post non-gory ones. I do want to specify that Mike learned this trade from his family (going back into the 1800’s) and has been doing this himself for over 10 years. He does things quickly and cleanly and there is little-to-no suffering of any kind. That said, we had 41 turkeys to work with and we completed the task in about 4 hours. Not an incredible pace, but for us; it was quite good.

Mike handled the actual killing and bleeding-out of the turkeys, I was the runner, bringing them up to the garage, where they were soaked for one minute in (exactly) 128 degree water. Then they were hung, defeathered and then moved to a second shed where they will hang for two days before being dressed (with this time of year, the temp in the shed will stay between 30 and 40 degrees; not unlike most refrigerators).

Here’s the "before" photo; the group of turkeys, calmly wondering what all the commotion outside is all about.


Here’s one of the birds being dunked (stupid blurry pictures!)


Here’s the defeathering crew, hard at work


Here’s the last little guy… “Hey, where did everybody else go?”


Hanging in the shed.


When all was said and done, the real cleanup began. There were buckets of blood and piles of feathers which needed to be disposed of. Which leads me to a funny story;

Mike doesn’t just take care of turkeys, he also cleans/dresses deer, bear, moose, etc. Just about anything that you can hunt, he’s the guy you bring it to. Which means he has a lot of (animal) body parts which need to be disposed of. When he first started doing this, it didn’t take a genius to realize that he would need to have this stuff hauled away – it’s not like he could just toss all the remains in the woods. There are already far too many coyotes in his area as it is. So, he called around until he found a waste company who was willing (able) to handle this type of refuse, they dropped a dumpster off and things worked well…until the first time he had one of these turkey days.

When all was said and done (way back on that very first turkey day), he dumped the feathers into the dumpster and then poured the blood in on top of the feathers. The feathers would soak up the blood, keeping it from sloshing around all loose-like, and everything would be fine. Except that he forgot that the feathers are basically water proof. So the blood didn’t soak in. It just ran down to the bottom of the dumpster…and waited for the dumpster truck to come.

Along comes said dumpster truck…lines up on the dumpster and proceeds to hoist the dumpster up. Oh, did I forget to mention that the dumpster truck happened to be one of those front-dumping ones, which hoists the dumpster up and over the cab of the truck? Yeah. So when the dumpster was upended…above the cab…blood came RAINING down, covering the windshield and doors in deep crimson. Apparently the driver dropped the dumpster, drove back to the company’s location and quit on the spot. Mike almost had to start his waste-removal company search again, as they were reluctant to send anyone else out for fear of losing them as well, but a contract had been signed, so they had to learn to deal with it.

But Mike’s not a difficult person, so he’s learned to be a bit more amenable with things…things like gallons of blood and what to do with them. So when asked if he wanted the blood dumped over his back wall, he said no, spread it out on the front garden. He said that helps keep things away (yeah, like neighbors), but he insists he’ll mix it in with fertilizer and that’ll help keep the coyotes away from it.

So after the cleanup was finished, the eating could begin. Mike kills a turkey several days prior, and then cooks it up for today’s events. Everyone else brings some food and it’s all assembled and we dig in and set more beer consumption in motion. An old TV was set up on the side and we took turns shooting the breeze, cracking jokes at each other and watching football.

As the sun slid deeper into the afternoon sky and the November chill began to reassert itself, the group slowly began to dissipate. I watched the end of the early games and then took my leave of the assemblage. It would have been great to stick around – hell, the Pats weren’t on until 8 that night – but I knew that it was a good idea to set to the roadways before I’d had too much beverage enjoyment.

Once home, I cranked up the wood stove, popped a fresh beerverage and settled in for what would turn out to be another impressive game by the Pats. (Apologies to you guys out in Olean!)
And thus came the end of Turkey Day 2007.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

A title? Hmmm...sorry, I got nuthin'.

Not a lot going on with the bike right now, as anyone in the northern half of the US can attest to. Weather’s been pretty chilly (No way, really Dave? Halfway through November? Gee, go figure). Still been riding to work a lot. Not yesterday or today, though. Temps in the low 30’s with heavy rain. I can deal with cold temps…and I can deal with rain…but when they arrive together…well, not so much. Weather this morning is even calling for chance of some snow showers later. Bleah.

I finally broke down and bought a windshield a couple of days ago. Picked it up off of eBay for $200 so that’s not a bad price. Supposed to be new-in-box, so we shall see. Should take about a week or so to arrive. I’ll get that thing slapped on and we’ll see how much of an improvement it makes. (I’ll probably be cursing myself for not having gotten one sooner…)

On tap for the weekend; yard cleanup tomorrow (should be fun; all the leaves are soaked to the ground), and then on Sunday, my buddy Mike (the guy that cooks the pig at my pig roasts) is hosting his annual turkey-plucking event. He raises turkeys for Thanksgiving and then whoever has bought one, has to come over and help him...prepare it. He does the actual...(how to say this delicately)...removal of life, so to speak, and then the rest of us take care of the plucking and such. He puts on a big spread for the day and everyone that attends, brings something more (potluck style) and it's a pretty decent party, all around. I'm planning on bringing my camera, maybe I'll throw some pics up next week. (I'll try to refrain from the gory stuff).

Sunday is also the anniversary of losing a brother of mine, so I'll probably find a quiet place for a bit, hoist a beer and spend some time remembering him.

That’s all I’ve got, folks. Have a great weekend.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Ticket to ride...ing gear

So my ticket for next year’s Rendezvous showed up last night – finally. I wasn’t sure what the story was, I ordered it a month ago. I guess they needed to get them printed or something. But at any rate; it’s here and I’m going there! Only something like 217 days to go! Bring it!

Something else I wanted to touch on; the riding gear I picked up this year, back in March or so. I didn’t really get a chance to test it back then because the neck injury thing kept me off the bike for a couple of months and by the time I was back to riding full time, the weather had warmed up a bit. But now that temps are back down into the 20’s and 30’s, I gotta give props to the gear.

I’d realized some time ago that leather just wasn’t the answer. Sure, as riders, we carry a certain expected association with leather and many folks just equate one with the other. But leather sucks! Sure it offers protection against the blacktop, should (when) we go down, but aside from that; it’s bulky and stiff, it offers no insulation (it only blocks the wind – if you want insulation, you need to either go with a liner or start packing on the layers), and, in my own personal experience, the zippers just cannot be trusted. They break constantly, and I’ve bought high-quality stuff so it’s not like I picked something up from the guy on the corner.

Anyway, so I had been looking into the textile clothing for a while but just couldn’t find a deal that I could live with. This stuff is expensive! But this past springtime, a few of us went in to the Expo center in Boston to check out a bike show. There was a Fieldsheer vendor there that was selling jackets and pants and really decent prices. So I dropped $150 for the jacket and $125 for the pants. And I tell ya; they were well worth the cash.

Back when I wore chaps (in the wintertime), I used to have to start with a pair of sweatpants, then the jeans and then the chaps. Sure, that was comfortable…not. I walked so stiffly that I looked like I had a load in my drawers. And the chill would still eventually make it’s way in to the thighs, knees and whatever else was taking the wind in a direct hit. The jacket? I used to have to stack a bandana, then a neck wrap, and then the jacket collar, all in the hopes that I hadn’t left any cracks for the wind to get in. But since the leather is so stiff, invariably; the chill would be half way down my chest before I was 10 miles out. To try and keep the rest of my upper body warm, I’d have to layer shirts and sweatshirts underneath, to the point where I looked like a leather-clad version of that kid from Christmas Story, that couldn’t move inside his snowsuit. Good times!

The textile stuff is flexible, not bulky, and I don’t need anything underneath it (aside from the liner it comes with). As I’ve rolled out of my driveway so far this week, the temps have been 31, 32, 34, 27, and 31. People keep asking me if I’m freezing. Nope. Well, the face is a bit chilled - I still have layers on that, but if I wind up going with a windshield, that’ll resolve that issue. But my chest, back, arms, legs – everything that’s covered by the textile stuff, is fine and dandy, roasty toasty.

The coldest I’ve ever ridden in was 13 degrees. Now that I’m packing some decent riding gear, I’m aiming to break that record. (Just keep that white stuff away – the riding gear ain’t gonna do much to help with that…)

Ride Hard, Take Chances

I thought this blog was s'posed to be about riding?

Another quiet weekend for the bike. Did a little bit of riding here and there, but nothing major. 'Bout this time of year, I start heading into 'hibernation' mode, where I focus the energies onto the house. You know; get all the stuff done that I should have been working on during the summer, instead of going out riding all the time. (Yeah, like there's a chance of that happening.)

Current project is revamping the living room lighting. Tore out the 8' long (circa 1970's) fluorescent light that was over the mantle, installed a new ceiling fixture in the center of the room and will put in some bar-lights over the mantle. Had to run a new line over to install a separate switch to split the two lights and figured I might as well run in a new receptacle while I'm at it. (Can never have enough outlets, ya know?). So I'm in the process of doing that; I tied the new line into an existing box in the attic yesterday and started to run the line down into the wall. Have to pick up a deep fixture-box at Home Depot for all the pigtails that will be needed to keep the outlet always-hot and still have the switch work properly. Hoping to get that up and running by the end of the week, then it'll be wall-repair, and then new paint for the walls and ceiling. What fun!

How 'bout them Pats, huh? What a frikkin' game! I'm sure they knew they were going to have a tough time with the Colts, but who knew they'd have such a hard time with the officials?? Can you say "Bullhsit Calls"? Those two interference calls they made against us were utter and complete BS. Even the commentators, notorious for being against the Pats, were saying there was no interference. And then, to add insult to injury, they don't even call the blatant interference that the Colts made on Faulk. Unreal. But it just makes the victory all the sweeter. 9-and-0, Baby!

32 degrees on the way in this morning. Felt good, though, I must have managed to cover up all the holes that were letting air in. Talked to a motorcycle cop at the gym this morning to pick his brain on windshields. Haven't picked one up yet, but haven't shelved the idea, either. Also kicking around the idea of installing some Hippo Hands that I bought...oh...about 4 years ago. (No sense in rushing these things.)

Aside from that; squeeze in what riding you can, while you can. Cold stuff is coming soon.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

All Hallow's Eve

So my work Halloween party was last Friday, as mentioned previously. I usually make my own costumes and this year I came up with a Headless Horseman one. Bought all the materials, sewed up some shoulders (yes, I can actually sew), sewed on a vest, some brass buttons, a bandolier, and finished things off with some boot coverings. My ‘head’ was one of those foam pumpkins with an evil face carved into it, then I put orange crepe paper across the holes to give it an orange glow and put a very-bright mini flashlight inside for illumination. The hatchet was picked up at iParty, brought home and painted a bright, blood red along the edge, and was good to go. All in all, I think it came out pretty decent.


Another thing I love doing at Halloween; throwing on my costume, heading over to see my niece and nephew and showing it off to them. They get a real kick out of it each year - they throw their costumes on, too, and we ham it up a bit and take a couple of pics. Thanks to my wonderful worthless camera, they came out blurry, but you get the idea. My niece was a “Punk Pirate” and my nephew was an Alien. (An alien who just happened to commandeer a Headless Horseman’s axe, it appears…)





(A funny side-note; their dog Sadie knows me quite well and was all up in my face as I was putting this thing on. Tail wagging, snuffling against me, all excited for attention, etc. As soon as I got the whole thing on and stood up and looked at her, she totally didn’t know who I was. Started backing up, tail tucked between her legs, trying to figure out where I’d gone and who this stranger suddenly was. So of course I had to egg her on by growling and taking a quick step towards her. She didn’t like that at all.)

Lastly; every year on Halloween-day, I wear my skull mask for the ride in to work. Most folks get it. There are some that just give me weird looks, but I do get a lot of smiles and thumbs-up. Kids waiting for the bus always point and wave, so that’s pretty cool, too.



Hope your hauntings were happy and that the ghosts and ghouls took it easy on you…until next year…

Ride Hard, Take Chances