Giving Thanks

I arose this morning with the burning desire to go for a ride. A quick check of the ground condition, clear … a glance at the thermometer even though that was not going to matter, hmm 40 degrees… Betina made us a quick breakfast and we decided we would eat around four and that I was going for a Giving Thanks ride and she was going to work on her art projects then we could share what we did around the table later. After we finished our chow and I made a couple phone calls I started to get ready for my ride.

I quick gave thought to my ride… hmm… no ideas other than ride, and one stop on the way home to grab a newspaper. I have been waiting to try out the suit with the liner and since I am not stopping anywhere that I would get out of the suit I just throw on a pair on long johns and the matching top. I get the liner on and then the suit and instantly I am very warm… and comfortable. I then go out to the garage, it was a hard decision but I was going to ride Princess R because she is already filthy and only needs 120 miles more to show an even 16000 when she goes to bed for the winter. However, that little stinker had other plans, I think she felt neglected over the past week because her battery was totally flat… nothing…. Well no time for that now, as I turned around I could see an evil but happy smile coming from my son Dakar, he knew it was his time to shine. In my heart I knew this is what I was suppose to be riding due to the conditions, but he was so shiny and clean and washing bikes when the average temps are 28 degrees is no fun!


I thumb him to life and head out to give Thanks to Mother Nature for all her beauty and power I enjoy all year long. I head out toward some of my favorite wooded twisty roads and cruise along. Occasionally I would come upon some none adventurous family in their spotless Volvo pointing at me like I am nuts... if they only stepped out of their comfort zone and lived… shame, shame… I did come across a bunch of thumbs up out the windows but no other cycles to be seen (I am sure if I was in MA I would of saw that rascal Dave’s bike cruzin the streets). After enjoying some great twisties, I aim for the mighty grand to see if she is flexing her muscles against the banks. After that, I went to see the quiet gentle side of M.N. when she blankets all with a quiet peaceful cover. This is the local ski… I find it so hard to even call it a hill, because it really is just a valley. I stop and get some shots of this too before heading back home to share it all with Betina over our Thanksgiving dinner.


Hope you all had a great enjoyable day!

Falling...

What are the prices like in your area? Here in West Michigan they are coming way down. That is good for me because I recently had to switch from the 70 mpg bike to the guzzler Jeep that only gets 19 mpg. Well I am going to keep it short here this morning, but figured I had to at least get something up here for my fans (you happy Dave? j.k.), and I remembered the golden rule, that a post is worthless with out a photo so here is your shot of the day.

Who Caused This!

Oh $%&^ ! ahh, wait a minute, I can say that word here even though its a very, very evil word. Instantly my mind thinks of what a women in Georgia said to me on my last road trip when I told her I was from Michigan. "Oh you poor soul, I do not know what you northerners did to piss God off that he would make that evil horrible stuff fall from the sky on you". Well lady, some bastard must of did it again, because I woke up this morning to this sight.

Yep, that's right, snow! I grabbed a cup of joe and sat watching the stuff fall from the sky blanketing everything with a white sheet. I then tuned in the weather, and this is going to continue and we could get up to three inches over night tonite. I glance over to Betina and shrug, "I guess I am not going riding today" I state. After the second cup of joe I decide that I should get the summer slicks off the car and put on the winter tires. I get dressed and get the tires and hubcaps out of the basement and into the garage. I tune the radio onto some rock and gather all my tools. Each time I do this I am getting faster and faster, I pretend I am a pit crew worker and rock out the first three tires...then!... should I say anymore... Yes that's when it all went to hell.

When I got to the last rear wheel I couldn't get the socket over the lug nuts. You see, the wonderful Dodge designers had to make these fancy lug nuts that have this very thin metal cover over the entire lug nut, it is very hard to get the correct size socket on them. My guess is the lazy piece of snow at the dealership last time the car was there used the next size socket and spun all these wonderful pieces around so they no longer resemble a nut. I finally pounded on a socket and couldn't budge it, so then I stood with all my weight on the 1/2" drive breaker bar and still nothing. Not only did that piece of snow use the wrong socket, he tightened them so damn tight that there was no way to get them off. To say the least I had loads of sweet words coming from my mouth in the garage. Off to the store to by a different wrench and some creating fun to get the little metal covers off, I finally got the wheel off and and the last winter tire on. I then inflated and checked all the pressures. Few! mission complete. Now Betina should be able to cruise along again this winter with no worries. As you can see from the photo below the stock GoodYears are about shot, looks like I will be watching for a good tire deal between now and spring.

That's the Winter Bridgestone (awesome tire) on the left and the crap stock GoodYear on the right.

Racking up Last Minute sMILES

507 sMILES this week! Considering it is the second week of November and it was quite a wet and cool week I think it is still pretty good that I am hitting the above 500 mark. I currently stand at 22,759 miles. I am pretty confident I will be able to make my 24,000 mile goal by December 31st. This week isn't looking to good but I believe I should be able to get at least another 250 this week and that will give me about 5 weeks to rack up another thousand. I got the Dakar back on Friday so it is ready to take the place of Princess R for the winter. He got some new Head Bearings and had his ticker checked (valve check). The docs couldn't believe what good health he was in and figure he has a long life ahead of him. I will keep you posted over the next five weeks as I inch closer to my goal.

Riding, Sunglasses, and Art

What's Up! Well I promised some pain in the arse biker that I would keep up and blog more so here goes a bunch of rambling on what I have done the past two days.

Yesterday, it was a typical crappy day here in Michigan but I am a man on a mission so I got up early as usual and took the long way to the coffee shop then to work. It was around 34 degrees and threatening rain... or snow all day but that didn't deter my attempts to first reach my self imposed mileage goal for this year and to try and store up some sMILES for when I am force to drive the damn jeep... you can store sMILES and carry em over right??? Any way I ran out of work right at 4:30pm and when I pulled into my driveway at 6:30pm I had managed to squeeze in 102 sMILES! That made the days total 138 sMILES. Once home I tinkered with everything but my blog... Not a bad day after all.

That brings us to today, which makes yesterdays crap look like roses today. Once again I was up early and out the door sporting a smile that I am still able to ride the bike, even though I hear muffled undertones where-ever I go... "nuts...retard...kook...idiot..." and many more. It was a warm...ehhh...warmer morning than all day yesterday. Yes, it was a whole whopping 36 degrees, with bonus drizzles and puddles! I was planning on leaving work on time again and going for another ride even though the weather wasn't very appealing... pouring rain! But the boss man had another plan for me and I got stuck at the office until after dark so I just headed for home on all the back roads thru neighborhoods since it seems that people have a heck of a time remembering how to drive their vehicles once we turn the clocks back. Oh my! I almost forgot to tell you how warm it was... actually almost hot, it was 41 degrees! Once home and out of my alien suit I was just about to sit down and that's when my lovely little comedian came home. I inquired what was for our nightly snack and lunch tomorrow... she threw the fridge door open... squinted and asked if I had my sunglasses on and could see into the fridge. That's her way of saying "it's empty". She then disappeared down the stairs to her art studio. Seeing that I am part comedian too, I said "c-ya later honey, I am going food shopping" and headed out. I think I fixed the empty fridge problem... whatcha think?

I am waiting for her to come up and see my job well done! I know your wondering, so do you want a little peek into what Betina has been up to in the basement... Up until three weeks ago she never even knew about this art median, now she is an expert painting up wonderful things. I am going to take close ups of all her work and get it up here in the near future. Oh, and if you see something you like, let me know... I am selling it to support my motorcycle habit.

Nothing like a Weekend of Self Torture

First it was the time change last week reeking havoc with my after work rides by bringing on the darkness much too early. Then old man winter is slowing regaining his grip on us and I am sure its not long before he starts to squeeze the life out of us for the next four months. If all that doesn't spell "SIDS" (season induced depression syndrome) or in my extreme cases "CGOARS" (can't get out and ride syndrome) then try figuring out why a guy with these issues would come home with this DVD this week.




After watching the first four hours, salivating, yearning to take off on an adventure I pass out dreaming of riding in exotic lands. In the morning when I awake the only plus is that it is Saturday and I get to head down to the shop, that's the motorcycle shop. Its quiet around the shop so after watching an adventure video of some riders adventures to Alaska I spend the rest of the day washing a couple of bikes and rearranging the showroom floor. The day ended kind of like what would happen if you sent a recovering drunk to an open bar... really, it's not like I was being pushed over the edge or anything...but now look what sits in my garage.




Sunday morning I woke with even stronger desires for my adventures. Instead of restless twitching in bed trying to suppress them I got up and departed the house on my own little adventure at 8 A.M.. Once the garage door opened and I rolled down the street in 32 degree weather and snow squalls I figured I wouldn't get any takers for a ride today so I put the Bob & Tom show on and just jammed out about 100 miles before calling the gang to see if they were going to breakfast somewhere. Sure enough they were going to their normal spot so I turned the bike around back north and made my way to meet them. After a big fulfilling meal and some cheerful camaraderie I suited up and headed off into horizon looking for more adventures. I could of rode all day but figured since it was all ready pushing into early afternoon I should get home and spend some time with Betina before another work week starts.


Once home I put that damn DVD back in and now I am a mess again... anyone want to borrow it for a while so I can't torture myself to death.

Fall Adventure Ride

He’s back! Joerg, my crazy all-season adventurer partner, just returned from a trip to Russia and was in dire need for an adventure ride…and who can relate to the great need to ride…me of course. The weather here in Grand Rapids has been unbelievable with highs in the 70’s all week long, but do to the daylight savings our days have been ending around 5:50 P.M.. That was not going to stop us, Joerg left work a little early and was at my place right at 4:30, here is a shot of him speeding into the parking lot.

We greeted each other, but that’s were the conversation ended. I cut his questions short and told him we can catch up later…let’s ride! South was the choice for this adventure and a lunch break perusing of mapquest turned up some interesting looking roads that had names that ended in “Trl”. After dodging some slow vehicles we made it onto so typical dirt roads that would bring us to this new area. Along the way we saw more of those darn deer just hanging out all over the place. Oh, here we go this dirtroad here should lead to my newly discovered trails. I spy the entrance, and the sign says trail open! Yippe!!! Of we go traveling up, down, and all around thru the woods. It was a little tricky navigating because it was getting dark and the ground was covered with leaves. After about two miles I had gotten my off-road legs back and we where cruising right along. We stopped atop this one hill and took some pictures and then carried on.

I got caught up in the moment and was just having a grand ole’ time when I came to the top of a hill, stopped and looked behind me and…. “Oh shit…where did that Joerg go!” I sat and waited… a minute or so past, so I shut my bike off thinking I would here him coming… nothing… then I see a headlight making its way toward me… but then it disappears… then its on… what is he doing.

Well it took a few minutes but then he rolled up next to me. I said everything allright… He laughs, and says “Yeah!, everything but my mirror” and taps it and it flies off into the dirt. He immediately tells me for the 100th time, “I hate F$#^ing Sand!!!” We laugh and pack his mirror up and decide we should try and get to pavement soon since it is pitch dark by now. Eventually we end up on pavement heading back toward Joergs abode but decide the traffic on the main road sucks so we head back to the dirt roads and just putt along at 40 with our highbeams on taking in mother nature. It was a perfect night!

Once back to Joerg’s place we sat in the driveway consuming frosty beverages talking about past trips and future trips… and this great weather!

Look what I found!!!