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Rant Archive - November 2006
November 28, 2006 - A COOL SPRING THAW HAT FROM BIKER DESIGNS
I added a new hat to my collection today. The 12th addition came in the mail from my buddy Scooter over at BikerDesigns.com and is the official hat of the 2006 Spring Thaw Bike Show that was held here in Nashville back in March. I was at the show taking pictures for The Horse Magazine (CLICK HERE to check out some of the pics) and I have to say it was an awesome show. The event has steadily grown over the past few years and is now drawing some of the sickest showbikes you will see from all over the middle United States. Vendors are also on hand selling everything bike related you can imagine. This years show will be on March 24th and promises to be even bigger and better than last years so if you are anywhere near Nashville you should plan to attend. For more info click on over to BikerDesigns.com. CLICK HERE to check out my entire hat collection.
November 25, 2006 - DEAR SANTA, PLEASE BRING ME A POCKET-BIKE!
In the last couple of years there has been an explosion in the mini-bike market. I can name four places within ten miles of my front door where you can pick one up and each place offers a huge selection. And they're not the same old mini-bikes they had when I was a kid. Mine was a basic two-wheeled Sears model very similar to the one in the 1969 ad above but the new ones, which are now called pocket-bikes, are dead knock-offs of the most popular real-life bikes out there. There are sportbikes, choppers and just about any style you could want and I suspect that a lot of notes to Santa this year start out... Dear Santa, Please bring me a pocket-bike! But I recently discovered what may be the coolest mini-bike ever made. There is a guy called Baron Bob who is selling the Hardknock Kikker 5150 on his website wonderfullywacky.com and it is flat out bad! The thing has a springer front-end, forward controls, jockey shift, a 110cc four stroke engine and is street legal in most states. Check out the pic below (I don't think the girl is included) and although it is more of a grown-up mini-bike, I think you'll agree that it is pretty cool.
November 23, 2006 - MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR Happy Thanksgiving to all my loyal readers... and you new ones too! I hope that you have a special day with your friends and family. I can't even begin to list the things I have in my life to be thankful for so I won't even try but my family and a free country to live in come to mind first. Yes, I know that sometimes life throws us curves and things may not always seem fair but in the end, God has blessed all of us with a lot and I encourage you to reflect on those blessings today.
My Thanksgiving started off great! Holiday means Rideday for me so in following with tradition I got up at 6:30am and headed out on the Electra Glide. The deck thermometer read 29 degrees so I broke out all of my winter riding gear to brave the cold, including my awesome Wickedwear Skull Mask. (See freak picture above.) I did about 50 miles and honestly stayed pretty warm. The sun was shining bright which helped a lot and really the only parts of me that got a little frigid were my feet. Not enough socks I guess. The toes survived however and I even got a pic of the Electra Glide at one of my favorite spots. (See below.) It looks a lot different with all the leaves and most of the green gone... but beautiful all the same. It was an awesome ride and a perfect way to start the holiday. I hope you enjoy yours!
November 19, 2006 - A COOL TIVO FIND: ELECTRA GLIDE IN BLUE
I had heard of Electra Glide In Blue but never saw the 1973 cult classic until Tivo recorded it for me. The movie stars Robert Blake as rookie motorcycle cop John Wintergreen who desperately wants to be transferred from Arizona Traffic Enforcement to Homicide Investigation. At first his superiors are not interested but when Wintergreen stumbles across a murder scene Detective Harve Poole admires Wintergreen's spunk and arranges for his transfer so he can help with the case. The position and the relationship are short lived however as Wintergreen finds himself at odds with his new partner who uses less than upright investigation tactics and is furious when he discovers that Wintergreen has been seeing the local bar girl, Jolene, whom Poole considered to be his own girlfriend. As a result, Wintergreen soon finds himself demoted back to Traffic Enforcement despite solving the case. Things go from bad to worse in the end when Wintergreen has to shoot his Traffic partner in self defense and then ends up being shot off of his Electra Glide himself by a hippie who had been harassed earlier by Wintergreen's partner. One reviewer described the film as the "Right Wing Easy Rider" which I'd have to say is a pretty accurate assessment.
The movie is filled with some cool, although dated, motorcycle scenes including a few slo-mo crashes and even some off-road Electra Glide riding! The acting is decent and the plot is somewhat intriguing so I would have to say that Electra Glide in Blue worth catching... especially if you are a Certified Bike Nut like me. But there's another thing that makes this film interesting to me. After viewing it I did some research and discovered something I didnt catch while watching. It seems that the film was produced and directed by James William Guercio. That name may not mean anything to most of you but if you are a fan of the band Chicago (I've seen them 10 times in concert over the years), you'll immediately recognize it. Guercio managed Chicago in their early days, produced their first 11 records and is largely credited with taking the talented group from an FM, long play format band to a commercially viable, radio friendly band by cutting their longer songs down to 3-minute hits. The results birthed mega hits like "Make Me Smile", "25 or 6 to 4", "Beginnings" and more solidifiing the band as musical giants. And if you are a Chicago fan, keep a close watch and you just might see some familiar faces in the movie. Peter Cetera (former vocals, bass) plays Bob Zemko, a leading suspect in the case, Lee Loughnane (Trumpet) plays Pig Man at the hippie commune, and the late Terry Kath (vocals, guitar) plays the hippie that does Wintergreen in. Oh, and one other note, the girl that Poole and Wintergreen fight over is played by the stunningly beautiful Jeannine Riley who played Billie Jo in 70 episodes of Petticoat Junction from 1963 to 1965.
November 18, 2006 - I RODE HARD TODAY... BUT I'M SORT OF PAYING FOR IT NOW
The weather was incredible this morning and I got up early and headed out for some off-road fun. Despite a little mud in some areas, courtesy of the storms that blew through the area earlier in the week, the conditions were pretty good and the weather was beautiful. A blue sky with lot's of sunshine were a great contrast to the mostly overcast conditions that we have grown accustomed to lately and the mid-fifties temperatures made it very comfortable and well suited for "getting after it" on the track and trails.
The good news is that my riding skills continue to improve and the confidence level I had years ago is slowly coming back to me but the bad news is that going hard for that long has left me feeling a little like Apollo Creed after fifteen rounds with Rocky Balboa. I am flat out beat! Most of the muscles in my body are sore as I type this and yet in a strange way I view it as a good thing. It's almost like an achievement badge for me... a reminder that I was able to ride hard and actually survive it. It makes me feel like my training (riding and jogging) is starting to pay off. Honestly, a few weeks ago I wouldn't have been able to do the same ride I did today and it feels good (despite the soreness, haha) to see progress and gives me confidence that I indeed might reach a skill and conditioning level that will allow me to one day participate in a few hare scrambles.
All in all, it was a great day of off-road fun... even the drive home was nice. After a morning filled with two-stroke and four-stroke noise it was quite relaxing just to drive in silence with no radio, no cell phone... just the road in front of me and the CR in tow. When I got home I went through my post-ride ritual of cleaning off the mud with the power washer (see picture at top), lubing the chain and tucking the CR in until the next ride. Now, if I can get out of bed in the morning I'll be doing good!
November 15, 2006 - DVD HELP FROM TEAM HONDA'S ANDREW SHORT
And if that weren't enough to justify the $19.99 price... you also get a free one years subscription to Transworld Motocross Magazine with the purchase of the DVD... yes I said FREE! Check out the trailer below courtesy of YouTube.
November 12, 2006 - LEARNING FROM TYLER... PLUS NEW GRIPS FOR THE CR250
The weather in Middle Tennessee was pretty miserable on Saturday morning but that didn't stop me from loading up the dirt bike and heading for the hills. And I wasn't the only one crazy enough to brave the nagging drizzle and 45 degree temperature. As I pulled up to the local track at 8:00am I discovered that someone had beaten me there and was already tearing up the track on a YZ250. As I got the CR unloaded he came over and introduced himself. It was a nice kid named Tyler who is a heck of a rider and as it turns out, an amateur racer. He's only 17 but travels most weekends to races all over the country. I rode with him most of the morning and after three hours felt like I had learned a lot and improved my riding skills. Thanks to Tyler's example and advice I am now hitting the whoops at a pretty good clip and landing jumps of about 6 to 8 feet. Not that impressive for some I know but quite an improvement for me. Thanks for the tips Tyler and good luck in Texas next Saturday. I also got new grips installed on the CR250 this weekend. The old ones were getting pretty nasty looking. CLICK HERE to check out pictures of me installing the new grips.
November 5, 2006 - AUTUMN IS HERE, WINTER JUST AROUND THE CORNER
There is no doubt about it... Autumn has arrived in Middle Tennessee. Last week we turned the clocks back and now the trees are passing through the "colors" stage and on to the "barren" stage at a pretty alarming rate. Some of the trees in my neighborhood that were gorgeous shades of yellow and red just last week are now almost completely bare. Fortunately, I found a pretty cool spot to get a fall shot of the Electra Glide on my ride today. The shot above was taken at a local park in front of an awesome old tree that was still holding on to some of it's yellow leaves. I'm glad I took the time to capture it today because I suspect that in another week the old tree will be bare. Yes my friends, winter is just around the corner.
November 4, 2006 - A PERFECT DAY TO HIT THE DIRT
Man, what a beautiful day! Although the temperatures in Middle Tennessee were a little on the cool side (high of 52), the sun was shining bright and the sky was about as blue as it gets with no trace of cloud cover. For me, that meant a perfect day for hittin' the dirt! I have to say that I am really enjoying the CR250... so much so that I wonder what took me so long to get back into this. The good news is that I am finally starting to feel somewhat competent as a dirt rider again and now that I've been out several times my confidence level is starting to rise. Today I spent a lot of time hill climbing and hitting jumps... and I even put in some time on the motocross track which was a thrilling experience in and of itself. To my surprise I did pretty OK... except for the whoop section. For those of you who have no idea what whoops are, imagine a series of about 10 bumps that are maybe 2.5 to 3 feet high and about 5 feet apart and you'll get the idea. Good riders fly through them, skimming the top of each one. I on the other hand made my way through them quite slowly! One day I'll get the hang of whoops but for now I'm pretty pleased with the progress I'm making in the dirt. Granted, I'm not quite ready to challenge Stewart for the Supercross championship but I think a novice class hare scramble or two may be on the not so distant horizon. Maybe this spring... we'll see. All I know is that I am having a complete blast and am enjoying the challenge of regaining the skills of my youth and becoming a better dirt rider. FYI... the last picture below was shot on the side of the road on my way home. Can you believe how beautiful it was? That's a "raw" image with no polarizing filter or color correction. The sky was really that blue and the leaves are changing fast in Middle Tennessee.
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One
of the cool things about Tivo is that you can search for specific themed
shows using keywords. This allows you to find shows that interest you at
the click of a button, effectively weeding out all the garbage and essentially
making you your own programming director. I use it all the time to find
motorcycle related programming and I end up catching a lot of two-wheel shows
that I would normally miss... like one I caught last week.
And
"get after it" I did. Maybe it was the weather being conducive to a good
workout or maybe it was the fact that there were a lot of other guys there
riding with me... but something made me push it harder than I normally would
today. I rode hard for four hours and could have gone longer had I not needed
to get back home.
Another
positive is that I rode most of the day without any severe arm pump. For
those of you who don't know what that is, it's a condition that many off-road
riders experience where their forearms become so tense that they hurt in
a way that is similar to the pain of a shin-splint... only in the forearms.
The cure for it is learning to develop a lighter grip on the bars, learning
the proper technique of using your legs to control the bike more and building
up the forearm muscles. I made a conscious effort today to lighten up my
grip and use my legs more to control the bike and it must have worked because
I had very little arm pump today despite riding hard for a long period of
time.
I
dropped by the local cycle store last week to make an exchange and while
I was there I came across a cool DVD that I ended up buying. "Skills 2" is
put out by Transworld Motocross Magazine and features Team Honda rider Andrew
Short giving some pointers on basic motocross riding techniques. Short covers
a number of subjects including cornering, jumping, starts, braking, passing,
whoops and a lot more, first describing the proper techniques in detail and
then demonstrating them. Now I know that the best teacher is riding but having
a pro rider give you pointers in your own living room when you can't ride
is pretty cool and certainly helpful. The DVD finishes with one of the Team
Honda mechanics going over basic maintenance how-to's and showing you by
example how to keep your bike in top running condition.
