Cookisms Continued

A while ago, maybe as long as a year or two, I posted some sayings that Jon Cook has at his shop. Today, prior to heading down to DC, I put new brake pads on and then took the bike down for a sticker. While there, I saw another sign which I thought was funny, snapped a pic, and here you go...

The bike is all set, I just need to pack and then try to get some sleep later.

It's going to be a somber weekend full of meaning, and we will honor the memories of the Fallen with cheers and gratitude.

I can't wait to get rolling...

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Rolling On Toward Thunder

Two more sleeps and we break for DC and Rolling Thunder.  Once again Mass will be sending a contingent to merge with the throngs of others from all over the country, and beyond.  It’ll be a memorable weekend for many important reasons, culminating with the procession along 23^rd and then on to Constitution.  The weather looks like it’s going to cooperate (if not be a bit warm, as usual).  Billy can’t make it this year, he’s attending the dedication of the Fallen Heroes Memorial up here in Mass.  We are substituting two new attendees this year, a couple who recently moved here from Germany and just joined our Riders group.  Kerry is going to have a full house, that’s for sure, but more = merrier, or so we’re told.

I’m just about caught up on sleep from the Cinco weekend so I think I’ll be ready to go when the kickstands go up…in less than two days.

Summer is just about here.  The trips are falling in to place.  And I can’t wait.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Cinco de Roasto Es Finito

The final pig roast has come and gone.  The turnout was awesome, the weather held out, and everyone that showed up had a fun time.  What more could be asked for?

It hasn't sunk in yet that this is the last pig roast but I'm sure next year as May gets closer, I'll be missing it.  But I'll worry about that then.  For now, I still have cleanup to do and a slowly-recovering brain to worry about.

My intent each year is to be the last person up so that I can make sure everyone is either safely in bed, or has been handed some water and talked with to make sure they're odds of making it home safely are decent.  I was less than successful with that plan this year.  I don't know why but I hit the luge early, often, and heavily.  Sure it was fun, but it means there's huge gaps in the evening that I have no recollection of, conversations I'm sure I had that I don't recall, and people that came by that I don't even remember seeing.  So those parts aren't fun, but oh well.  It happens.

Whoever it was that stayed up later than I did, did a marvelous job of cleaning up.  Usually there are all kinds of things that need cleaning up, but this year, just about all the dirty work out in the yard was all done.  Nice!  Wish I knew who to thank for that...

Sunday was not a day for resting as we (Riders) were putting on a bike blessing, so it was up early, off to breakfast with the Olean crew who hadn't left yet, and then off to the church.  The turnout was decent for our first time, the ride was relaxing and withouth issue, and the cookout back at the Post was very well received.  We're already looking ahead to doing it again next year.
 
Deep breath and a long sigh...

Cinco de Roasto has come to an end.  So now what?  A lot of folks have made comments along the lines of not being willing to let the Cinco thing end.  Questions like "What are you going to do next year when we all just show up?" were fairly common.  I didn't give any kind of concrete answer but hell...if people want to show up at my house and party, it would be pretty rude of me to refuse them, right?

After all...what I've been saying all along is that this was going to be the last pig roast.

I never officially closed the door on having another party...

Cinco Countdown

I keep telling myself I'm in good shape for this weekend but then I keep remembering things I still need to do.  McCarthy and I are going shopping tomorrow (food shopping, not shoe shopping), and will pick up the chickens, beans ingredients, supplies, etc.  I've gotta hit the liquor store at some point before noon on Friday, as well as finish clearing out some of the wooded area.  Mow the lawn, clean the house, pre-cook the stuff for the beans, laundry, make up the spare beds, get the tables and canopies set up out back.and probably a bunch of other things which I won't recall until folks start arriving on Saturday.

The pig has been ordered, and the order has been confirmed.  It'll be ready for us on Sat morning.  Breakfast - I'll need a headcount to give the cafe' beforehand so they can seat us.  I should probably give Chickie Flynn's a heads-up that we'll have a decent sized crew coming in on Friday night.

Sunday's bike blessing is locked down.  Weather doesn't look great, but the Father doing the blessing has confirmed that he's in rain or shine (I like this guy) so that's a go.

I'm splitting from work a little early today, gotta pick Matt up at his house and bring him to Mom's so he can pick up his bike; he had two new skins put on so he'll be ready to rock and roll again.  Also gotta swing by the hospital tonight to visit Kev.  Nothing terribly serious but he was admitted with viral bronchitis which has enflamed his lungs and he can't keep his oxygen levels up.  If all goes well, he'll be discharged tomorrow but will most likely need to keep a low profile for a while until he's all better.

Still have a bunch of work here at the job to wrap up before I head out the door, too.

Most of the Olean crew is on the road as I'm banging these words out.  King, Tim and Lynner (and maybe Flash and a couple others) are headed to the Cobleskill hotel for tonight, then they'll hit the road tomorrow and have about 250 miles to knock out before they reach Walpole.  Sounds like the weather is cooperating for them and it'll be a couple of nice leisurely days for them.

Myszka and Erin are leaving on Friday at some point, I believe, and Mark is always a wild card whether he's able to make it out or not (I'm hoping he's able to).

I could use a couple days like that, myself.

I'm not bitching.  It's a mad pace but I wouldn't do it if I wasn't having fun, and this weekend is one of the highlights of my year.  Given how good Saturday's weather looks, and what I'm hearing along the gossip trails, it's gonna be a good turnout.  Can't wait to see everyone!

An interesting digression; word came to me earlier this week that Walpole PD was placing extra men on duty in anticipation of my party because they believed that this is a 1%'er party.  I talked to one of the cops I'm friends with, he talked to the detectives, and this turned out to be a false rumor.  But leave the automatic weapons and methamphetamines at home, just to be safe.

Ok, I think that brings everyone up to speed.  I'm gonna post this and get back to work so that I can get out of here.

It's almost time to Cinco!

Aaaaaand, we're clear.

Bill picked up his bike on Sat, McCarthy is on his way to pick his up right now. My basement is officially clear of motorcycles!

Sweet!! Now I can relax a bit about this weekend, without worrying that someone's going to drunk-stumble into a bike and scratch it.

A coupe more days and I'll be off for a long weekend and this party will get kicked off!

I think I should grab a beer to celebrate.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Good News From Out West

King texted on Sunday; his bike had gone in to the Jamestown dealership for major surgery.  That was bad news considering he was planning on heading 500 miles east in a few days.  Apparently the main drive bearing, starter, clutch hub needed some attention, and while they had it up on the operating table, he was going to have them do the rotor and stator, too.  That's a lot for a surgical visit but they knew his timeline requirements, and he's been a great customer of theirs for years, so I'm happy to say that things are looking good.  He just texted that the bike is done, home, and ready to go.  Sweet!!

Looks like the Olean crew will have good weather for the ride out, too.

Now about that patch of rain that's currently slated for Sunday morning, but has been edging closer to Saturday for the past few days...

Utterly Offended

As you all know, I turned the big 5-0 a little over a week ago.  My annual physical falls in the May timeframe so each year, shortly after my birthday, I've had the pleasure of getting checked out and given the "you'll probably last another year" clearance to keep on, keepin' on.

Today was the day for this year's physical!  But first; a back story...

About 10 years ago, just before I turned 40, I had a couple of buddies who'd just turned 40 and had gone to get their annual physicals.  Their docs had informed them that now that they were 40, their physicals would include the jelly finger inspection of the bat cave.

Well, that wasn't anything I was looking forward to but who am I to argue with modern medicine?  I resigned myself to my fate and went to my physical with some trepidation.  However, after the doc had checked the usual stuff and said we were done, my bat cave was still as virginal and uninvaded as the day I was born.  So what gives?

My sphincter was telling me to shut up but my brain went ahead and asked anyway; why no inspection of the rear cavalry?  My doc explained that inspections weren't necessary until we turned 50, unless there's family history that dictates an earlier inspection.  Huh...

I went back and checked with my buddies and they both said neither of them had any family history, but both of their docs had said that the checks start at age 40.

So now I'm thinking what the hell?  Does my doc not find me attractive?

Anyway, fast forward to this year.  Now that I'm 50, I figure my doc owes me.  I'm not saying I wanted the earthly version of an alien probing but at the same time, I need to feel validated.  He's been dogging me for 10 years, I'm due for this.  (I'm thinking maybe a soft song playing in the background while we talk sports scores just to keep things on the up and up.)

So what does he lay on me today?  According to him, docs aren't doing the lube-ectomy any longer, now a full-on colonoscopy is required, and his office will be calling me in a week or so to set that up. 
The rat bastard.  First he pushes me off for 10 years and when that window ends, he now pushes me on to someone else!  (On a good note, if nothing is found, then I'm in the clear for 10 years.)

Seeing your doc for a physical is supposed to be a good thing.  He checks your health, sees how you're doing, advises ways to improve things, etc.  He's not supposed to instill a rejection complex.

This is Boy Scouts all over again...

6th Annual Wounded Veteran's Run

A full day today. Started off with hitting Cook's to pick up brake pads which will be installed at a later date. From the it was off to the Post to meet up with the rest of the crew who'd be heading in to Boston today for the 6th annual Wounded Veteran's Run.

We wound up with 5 bikes heading in. Not fantastic, but not terrible, either. We made good time, overall (a short stretch of bumper to bumper due to an accident, but then we were back up over the speed limit.

When we arrived, the main lot was full and we were herded past, around,  and out back with a chitload of other folks.

We set our 'stands and ambled up to the dealership and strolled about for a while to kill time until noon; the start of the run.

When noon arrived an announcement went out over the PA system; fire up your bikes!! Hahaha!!! We were parked so far back, it was going to take a while before we were going anywhere.

To the credit of everyone around us, they also knew it'd be a while and nobody started their bikes.

Fast forward; we finally got to roll out and were moving not-too-badly...and then we weren't. Lotsa brake lights, feet down, start 'n stoppin'. The temps were climbing and I didn't want to stress the bike so I kept shutting her down whenever I could see a long line of non-moving bikes in front of me.

Eventually we got into a steady rhythm and we're moving pretty well, right up to the end point (Suffolk Downs). We found a place to park and made our way to the food table, then grabbed some open space to chow down.
Me and our Road Captain both had to be back soon so we wrapped up the feed and headed for the exits.

None of us knew how to get back to known territory so Greg offered to take point. He led us back to familiar roadways without fail, and we were soon ripping along 93, then 95, back to our neck of the woods.

Road Captain Ed pulled up next to me and suggested hitting the Post for a celebratory beerverage and that sounded too good to pass up, so we opened the throttles all the more and were soon backing our rear tires into parking slots at our Legion.

Inside we found friends kicking back and enjoying the beerfreshments available so we took some seats to share in the revelry, and discussed the day.

The weather had broken perfectly. There'd been a chance of rain but that had faded quickly, we had nothing but clear sunshine, and the bikes had come out in droves. We bandied some numbers back and forth and settled on a range of 2,500 - 3,000 bikes. (I felt it was closer to 2,000, but either way; it's impressive as fuck!)

We had an awesome day, there was an immense turnout, and i can't wait to hear how much money was raised today. The beneficiaries of today are 5 very deserving veteran's from New England who were wounded in service. A great day and a great cause!

The first major run of the year and I can't wait for the next one...

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Moving Day Approacheth!

Cinco Finito is right around the corner so it's time to clean house.  Time to wake the hibernating motorcycles in my basement and get them back out onto the road.

Bill had hoped to pick his up last week but our schedules didn't line up to make it happen (I'd have to either go pick him up or he'd have to drive me back home if I brought it over to his house).  Maybe this weekend it'll happen.

I also need to get McCarthy's bike back to his house.  Maybe that'll happen this weekend, we'll see.  There's so much going on lately that it seems no one has a minute to sit down, let alone coordinate a bike pickup.

I did manage to get one of the bikes out last night, though; Hilary's.  I pulled the tender off, got the seat reassembled and installed, and pointed the bike toward the exit door.  She fired right up and with minimal finagling, was soon idling contentedly in my back yard.  Closed up the cellar, and off we went toward her home.

Cinder is her given name and she purred happily as we made our way along side roads, leaned into some corners, and sped quickly along some straightaways.  She eased through the gears nicely and her clutch is VERY sensitive (she's still just a baby but I gave Hil shit about that when I got to their house - she needs miles!!).  :-)

So one down, two to go.  Time is short; the cellar will be full of revelers in a week's time.  What?  Cinco Finito isn't until Saturday, which would make it "over a week away"?  Well that's true, the official party is 8 days away, but the out-of-towners arrive on Friday - 7 days from today, and we always wind up in the cellar playing cards on Friday night until some ungodly hour.  Maybe not the brightest idea when faced with a very long day on Saturday, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I'm digressing...

Bikes! In the basement!  I need 'em out!

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Being 50 Is Great!

Last week, I found out my friends from work are a bunch of conspiritors who surprised me with eats and drinks for my birthday.  I thought that was a lot of fun, and I gave them props for pulling one over on me...

...that paled to what happened on Saturday, though.  Talk about conspiritors!  I won't go into details because you were all there anyway.  What a blast!!  The apparent planning that went into this, the sheer number of people who knew about it, and the ruses that were put into place...on top of that, nobody let anything slip beforehand!  I almost stumbled upon things at the Post on Saturday when I swung down to drop off a set of patches for our newest Rider, Fred.

Billy Cabino was sitting in his truck in the parking lot, and when I asked him what he was doing there (the place wasn't open yet), he said his wife was shopping across the street and he was going to have a beer while waiting, when the Post opened (in 5 minutes).  Talk about quick thinking on your feet!  It made sense to me, so handed him the patches and beat feet back home.  Turns out  I missed the whole decorating crew by a few minutes, as they were showing up at noontime to decorate the hall.

The ruse that Carlos, Cindy and Rob put into place to get me not only to the Post, but to do it in such a fashion that I had no idea where I was, nor did I think I was at whatever final destination was in store for the day (I thought it was only a minor detour, something that Rob wanted to show Cindy, then we'd be back at Patriot Place to resume whatever plan she had in mind for my birthday).  Truly, truly impressive!!

When the blindfolds came off and I saw all your faces....you all made this guy feel like a million bucks, and I am truly blessed to count you all as my friends!!

So far, this being 50 thing is awesome!!

I can't wait to see how you guys top this next year, when I turn 51...  :-D

Dealership Followup

We last left our zero....er...hero, in limbo at the dealership. Would he get his bike done today? Would a loaner come in that he could use? Was he doomed to turn around and go home with his bike unserviced? Let's find out how he made out...

By 10:30, no loaners had come back in so the service manager did me a huge favor and cleared a lift to get my bike worked on. Awesome! I will just kick back in the lounge area and read the book that I brought and wait.

A few hours later, I got the word that my bike was all done. Fantastic! I headed back out to the service desk, signed the necessary paperwork, and waited for my bike. I heard the service manager call out back for my 2014 Daytona Blue Pearl Street Glide, to hurry up and get it washed and brought out.

About 15 minutes later, a guy rolls out a black and blue 2008 Electra Glide. I'm looking it over and thinking how sometimes I miss my Electra Glide, when I hear the service manager say "All set, Dave!".

 I turned around and look for my bike, but didn't see it. I looked outside the service bay door, but it wasn't there either. So I turned back and ask Bob where is it? Is it coming out from around back?  He gives me a very quizzical look and points to the Electra Glide. I looked back at him and said that's not it, that's not a Daytona Blue Pearl 2014 Street Glide. :-D

He shakes his head as if to clear some cobwebs, and then heads out back to find out what is going on. He comes back and says they washed the wrong bike. Suddenly I have this fear that all this time I've been waiting, they've been working on the wrong bike!!

Thankfully no, it was my bike they had been working on, but the technician out back had grabbed and washed the wrong bike. So I had to wait while they grabbed the correct bike and then got that washed and cleaned up. And about a half hour later, I was on my way...

... and deep into the thick of Boston traffic. Heading into one of the multi-lane tunnels, I was greeted with a wall of brake lights. Fantastic, the last time I encountered this, it was a 1 mile an hour, foot down, almost hour-long trip through the tunnel and my bike nearly overheated. I wasn't going to do that again, so I immediately began splitting Lanes.

Splitting lanes is exciting enough on the open highway, but when you've got  4 Lanes of tightly compacted cars and trucks all within inches of either side of you, it really makes your  knuckles white on the grips.

Luck was with me again though, for once I had made it about halfway through the tunnel, I heard the distinctive sound of an ambulance coming up from behind me. I eased into one of the lanes of traffic and waited for the ambulance to catch me and then immediately zipped in behind it and rode its rear bumper all the way out of the tunnel and well along the highway beyond. The rest of the trip home was speedy and uneventful.

All in all, it was worth the aggravation because in the end, I got my bike serviced and was home and ready to rock and roll again all within one day.  Definitely a worthwhile trade in my book.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Exhilaration and Aggravation

Brought my bike to the dealership this morning. They don't open til 10, but I like to get here early to make sure I'm first in line. Which means a wicked run through rush hour traffic into Boston! Cars and trucks switching lanes without warning, minimal directional usage, sudden braking - what a rush!! I could feel the adrenaline pumping through me...A great feeling of being alive!! 'Course...it's dangerous as he'll so I'm glad I don't do it every day.

I arrived safely (7:25 - only took 45 minutes!), rode up to the service door and shut her down. Nobody else here, just the way I like it.

Stretched my legs, pulled a book out of my saddlebags, and found a place to sit down.

A moment later, Bob,  one of the service managers pulls in. He's super early - probably getting things set up ahead of time.

He's friendly, and asks what I'm having done. When he hears me say the 25k service, he says "Oh, so you're dropping it off."
"Nope, I was planning on waiting for it."
"25k is a big service, we don't do same-day on that one."
"Looks like I'm taking a loaner home then."
"I don't think we have one available."
"A loaner is included with the service package I bought."
"You have to give us 48 hours notice."
"I called a week and a half ago to make this appointment."
"But did you request a loaner at that time?"
"No, requesting a loaner has never been needed before. The last time I was here, I was told I needed to give 24 hour notice for an appt, and if a loaner was needed, I'd be given one. I called a week and a half ago to make this appt, and said what service i was bringing it in for. Nothing was mentioned about needing to make a loaner request. The story seems to change every time I come here, Bob."
"I'm afraid that's what the service contract requires, but let me look and see what I can do for you."
"Ok, thanks."
So now I'm waiting for the place to open...in two hours, to see where we go from here. I might be stuck just taking it home and rescheduling.

Thanks Harley.

Actually, I shouldn't be like that. This place has done well by me before, so I'll keep my fingers crossed that things will work out ok.

Wish me luck...

So This Is 50?

Not a big deal so far (even though I'm only one day in).  It started off great; the Cognex CFO had said we should grab dinner and a couple of drinks last night so who am I to refuse the #2 guy in the company?  We were on our 2nd beer when I felt a tap on my shoulder...turned around and there were about 30 coworkers standing behind me.  They shouted SURPRISE and then watched as my face turned beet-red in embarassment.  Rat bastards, the whole lot of 'em!  They'd been conspiring this plan for weeks!  Not one person had let anything slip, so I was completely surprised.  It was great!  Needless to say "a couple" drinks turned into more, but I took things easy, as the official celebrating hasn't started yet.

I haven't heard from anyone yet today about going out tonight, which is fine by me.  I have stuff I need to take care of around the house, especially in light of this coming weekend.  My friends have told me for months to keep this weekend clear of plans, but won't tell me what's up or what's going on.  So I have a feeling my liver is in for it.

I took tomorrow off because I've gotta bring my bike to the dealership for it's 25k service.  As soon as I'm back from that, I have to bring my Jeep in for brakes (I'll have them do an oil change while it's there).

Oh yeah; when I got home from last night, my AARP card was waiting in the mail for me.  Huh.  I guess it's official now.  I'm old.  :-D

Ride Hard, Hang On.  Because I Ain't That Old Yet!!

Regatta...2016...

I went way too hard this year.  I'm not as young as I used to be and I shouldn't be trying to keep up the pace that I could, years ago.  But let's not bitch about being old, let's get to the recap.

Zig and I hit the road nice and early on Thursday and made good time getting out there.  We got lucky at least once when we zipped by a statie who thankfully had some paperwork to do (I'm guessing) rather than to pull our asses over.

First stop was up to see King and Pat.  Unfortunately Pat wasn't feeling well so she was only able to socialize for a little bit before going back to bed.  We chatted with King for a bit then headed off to visit the graves.  After that, it was over to see Jerry and Barb and we had a great visit with them and had some laughs.  We'd wanted to get down to see Tommy at his restaurant, but we were running out of time, still hadn't gotten to Mark and Mary's, and still needed to hit the V to see the crew (we joked that we're going to need to start coming out a full day earlier, just so we can make all of the rounds).

Eventually we made it to Mark and Mary's and Mike had recently arrived as well, so we settled in for a bit before heading to the V to catch up with everyone else (it makes it so much easier to catch up when everyone is in the same place).  We hung out there for a bit, 'til folks started heading out.  Soon we, too, were headed for the exit and back to Mark and Mary's for the night.  And more libations, and cards, and lots and lots of laughs.  Love those guys!

Friday morning we did our supply run and then met up with Myszka for the crazy, high-speed run over the mountain,  We didn't go quite as quickly this year, since Steve was in the rental truck (last year he was in his truck).  We still made great time and were soon set up at camp and settling in for the evening.  The weather wasn't cooperating and we had a fair amount of rain, but we made do with new friendships made, new drinking games explained, and good conversations and laughter went long into the evening.  (Too long, for this old guy, but for whatever reason, I try to be one of the last ones up.)

Saturday dawned cloudy and cold (it was 42 degrees out and I'm putting shorts on to go kayaking!).  Anyway, after a bit of breakfast, we ambled over and put in to the river.  We managed to stay together for about 15 minutes but then I got separated.  I have no idea how, but one minute I was surrounded with the folks from camp, the next minute I was by myself.  It sounds iimpossible, but when you've got over 2,000 people pressed together, sometimes zipping along currents and smashing into each other and other times floating lazily around and lightly bumping into each other, it's easy to lose track.

The water level this year was one of the lowest its ever been (I confirmed it with the folks that were running the event), which meant there were time and times and times when I had my paddle split and was using them as crutches to inch over the rocky river bed, as there wasn't enough water to float me across (insert fat joke here).

There was one spot, though, where it was rather deep.  Which of course means that's where I dropped my paddle.  I figured "Hey, it's plastic, it'll float."  Nope; sank like a rock, but fortunately the ends are flourescent orange so I could see it on the bottom.  I dragged my boat up onto shore and then waded out to chest-deep water and retrieved it.  Did I mention it was cold?  Yeah, I'd just dropped my core temp by about 10 degrees but there wasn't any warming up to do out of the water except paddle hard and try and warm up a little.

I stopped at a couple of the pit stops along the way and warmed up a bit by the fires, but still never saw anyone else from my group so eventually just went to the end/pull out spot and waited.  Mike and Zig, and then Myszka and a couple other guys eventually showed up and we stowed our boats ino the rental truck and headed back.  Turns out that one of the reasons I hadn't been able to see anyone is that half of the crew had pulled out early.  The cold and wet was giving folks troubles with muscles cramping and a general "this isn't much fun" feeling.  But we all made it back eventually, even Marsha and her friend Kim, who we'd been kinda worried about when we hadn't heard anything for a while, but they did surive and make it back to camp.

The weather was still pretty lousy so some of the folks that live nearby pulled up stakes and headed home.  I didn't blame them at all, I was wishing we lived closer, too.  So instead of packing up and going home to be warm, us out of staters just settled in and made the most of it.  Far too late into the evening again.  (In looking at my texts the next morning, I saw that I'd sent one at 2:00, commenting that everyone else was in bed and I was looking for someone to party with.  WTF...I shoulda gotten some sleep!)

The next morning we loaded up the Jeep and headed for home.  I lasted about an hour before letting Zig take over, and then dozed in and out for the rest of the ride home.  By the time I walked into my living room, I was so exhausted that I left a line of clothes on the floor behind me to the bathroom, where I took a nice long hot shower.

Today is Monday and I feel like I'm just now (1pm) starting to feel better.  I really need to slow things down a bit.

Too bad the coming weekends look like they're going to be just as hectic and wild.

Sleep when I'm dead, right?

Ride Hard, Take Chances