September 25, 2007 - THUNDER ROADS MAGAZINE
TENNESSEE - OCTOBER 2007
The October issue of Thunder Roads Tennessee should
be in stores now so all you Tennessee people be sure and grab a copy. I have
a two-page spread in this issue on the Nashville AMA Supermoto that I covered
earlier this month at the Music City Motorplex.
(CLICK HERE to see
pictures.)
For some time now I have been wanting to try my
hand in the video arts. Well, while I was at the Music City Bike Night last
week (See RANT from 09/21/07) I shot some footage to experiment with and
yesterday afternoon, as I was watching football, I threw this together just
for the fun of it. I probably shouldn't let people see my first stab at it...
but what the heck! Press PLAY on the controls above and let me know what
you think. It's only about a minute long but it's embedded in FLASH and may
take a while to load if you are on dial-up.
DISCLAIMER: All you video pros out there (and you
know who you are), this was shot with a Canon Point-And-Shoot camera and
edited together in about an hour... so go easy on me!
September 22, 2007 - PANHEAD PHIL'S
ROCK THE BLOCK GARAGE PARTY
One of our local shops here in Nashville, Music City
Motorcycle, is fast becoming known around the country as a top-notch,
no-nonsense, premium-quality, old-school motorcycle shop. Founded and owned
by Phil Hipsher, also known as Panhead Phil, the shop can handle anything
from customizing stock machines to hand fabricating bikes from the ground
up. This year one of their creations, the "Black & Brass Bad Ass" was
featured in American Iron Magazine and MCM's custom leather seats, created
by in house craftsman Lance Dodson, have won awards at several bike shows.
They also specialize in restoring vintage motorcycles and on top of it all
can handle your maintenance and repair jobs. Check out Panhead Phil's Music
City Motorcycle on-line at
www.musiccitymotorcycle.com.
But enough of my Nashvillian pride already, the
real reason for this RANT is to let you know about the First Annual Panhead
Phil's Rock The Block Garage Party & Motorcycle Show which took place
today on location at MCM... deep in the heart of Nashville. Although it was
the First Annual, I can tell you that this event is destined to become one
of Nashville's most anticipated bike events. There were tons of cool bikes,
lots of vendors, live music all day long and a cool bike show that brought
out some beauties. I already can't wait until next years Rock the
Block.
CLICK HERE NOW
to check out a few pics from the First Annual Rock the Block.
September 22, 2007 - I THINK I'LL WEAR
IT ALL WEEKEND... YEEEEEHAWWWWW
On
my way over to Panhead Phil's Rock the Block Garage Party I stopped by one
of our local H-D dealers who just happened to be having a sale. I wasn't
having any luck finding anything and was about to leave when I saw this cool
straw cowboy hat with a H-D badge on the front of it. Man, I don't know why,
but I have always wanted a cowboy hat but have never really had a real reason
to wear one... until now! Think about it, one with a Harley logo could be
worn when I'm out on rides or at biker events, etc... perfect!
Well, I plopped down 15 bucks (heck of a deal)
and was on my merry way with my cool cowboy hat in my saddle bag. I ended
up wearing it all day long , and even though my buddy Nud would probably
tell me it's not a real cowboy hat, I was diggin' it and by the time I got
home was feeling pretty good about my purchase... that is until the family
saw it on my mellon. Let's just
say that they are probably still giggling. Nothing like your family to snap
you out of your "I'm pretty cool" fantasy world... hahaha. But I don't care
what they think because I like it and it makes a nice addition to my ever
growing hat collection. In fact, I think I'll wear it all weekend...
YEEEEEHAWWWWW.
September 21, 2007 - MUSIC CITY BIKE
NIGHT... WITH A COOL LITTLE CAMERA
A close-up of the H-D
105th Anniversary badge.
It's been a hectic week in the land of Swag...
there's just a whole bunch going on right now so I haven't had much time
to do anything worth RANTing about. I did however manage to make it to the
Music City Bike Night Thursday evening. I took my daughters point-and-shoot
Canon Power Shot with me and man that little camera never ceases to amaze
me. Less than 200 bucks and it takes great pictures. A few examples are posted
here.
Check out the new warning
label Harley-Davidson is using.
One of my favorite bikes
of the evening... a way cool custom Yamaha.
September 15, 2007 - IT COULD NOT HAVE
BEEN MORE PERFECT
Just one of the great
views of God's creation from the overlook
bridge.
The wife and I got up early this morning and lead
a few of our friends on a ride of one of my favorite roads in Middle Tennessee.
Highway 145 connects Auburntown, Tennessee to Woodbury, Tennessee and is
filled with awesome scenery and lots of fun curvys... but maybe the coolest
part of Highway 145 is the overlook bridge located about half-way between
the two towns. It's hard to explain but it is a dead-end bridge (that sits
up really high) with little to no traffic so you can literally stop on the
bridge and check out the view... which is beautiful by the way. The pic above
doesn't do it justice.
If you ever get to Middle Tennessee, I would recommend
you check out Highway 145 and hopefully if you do, it will be on a day like
it was today. It could not have been more perfect. The blue sky was clear
as could be, temperatures were only in the lower 70's and the recent rains
have turned everything back to the natural state of green they are supposed
to be this time of year... beautiful!
The dead-end , overlook
bridge has little to no traffic so you can just stop and take in the
view.
Highway 145... quickly
becoming one of my favorite rides.
September 13, 2007 - I CONSIDER IT MY
PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
As most of you know, I really hate the the whole
Harley vs. Metric thing (see my RANT from 05/30/07) so I consider it my personal
responsibility to do everything I can to break down the walls between the
two groups. It's almost become sport to me and frankly, I find great joy
in stirring the bike-snobbery pot. Lately, one of my favorite ways of doing
so is riding the SV to the local H-D Dealership for lunch.
Of course, the SV sticks out like a sore thumb
(which I think is cool) but the best part is seeing all the locals do a
double-take when they see me get on the SV. Hahaha... talk about confusing
the masses! Some of them just can't comprehend an old guy with a Dickies
work shirt and three inch, nappy gotee getting on a sportbike. It's
awesome!
Well, today I had lunch at Boswell's Harley-Davidson
Grill in Nashville and when I was done I started talking to a guy in the
showroom about my Electra Glide and the the new H-D models. We finished chatting
and walked out to our bikes and boy was he shocked when I walked over to
the SV and put the key in it. After I explained that I really do own an EG
but also had the SV he told me that he thought it was cool that I rode both
types of bikes and even admitted that he had always wanted to try out a
sportbike. I left feeling like I had broken down one more wall... as I smoked
him out of the parking lot...hahahaha.
BTW, have you seen the new liquid-cooled,
Rotax powered Buell 1125R? Smokin' hot baby and it's a sportbike... by
Harley!
September 10, 2007 - MORE IMPORTANT
THAN ANYTHING ON THIS PLANET...
Not long ago, I had an interesting conversation
with an unknown fellow rider at a local dealership. He was asking me how
I liked the Electra Glide and I explained that I loved it for two-up riding
and touring but if my wife didn't ride with me I'd probably have something
different like a Street Bob or maybe even the new Rocker. Well, this poor
chap just couldn't believe that I would consider my wife in my bike selection.
He went so far as to say that the reason he rides is to get away from his
wife and kids.
Whoa... it made me feel really sad for the guy.
I guess I am blessed to have the coolest wife ever because I love it when
she rides with me. Our trip to North Carolina this spring was one of the
best motorcycle trips I've ever been on and we often hop on the EG to go
grab a bite somewhere locally… and have a blast! I really hope that
this guy will someday experience the joy of motorcycling with his wife because
he is missing out on a cool aspect of riding… sharing it with someone
you love.
So all you tough guys out there... do yourself
a favor, get off the computer right now and go make a motorcycle date with
your wife for this weekend.
(The picture above was taken somewhere near Pikes
Peak last Fall with the two most important people in my life... my wife and
daughter. They are more important to me than anything on this planet... even
motorcycles!)
September 8, 2007 - A VERY HOT AND DUSTY
DAY IN THE DIRT
I forgot my triangle stand so I put the track
tractor to good use.
Like I said last month (08/23 RANT) I have vowed
to do more off-road riding this Fall and Winter and today was my first venture
back into it after about a four month layoff. A friend of mine brought his
"sweet" new trailer over at 7:00am this morning and we loaded up and headed
for the hills to see if we could still keep a dirt bike right-side up. The
good news is that there were no major busts and I actually felt pretty OK...
but the bad news is that it is still very hot and dusty here in Middle Tennessee
so after 4 hours we were both more than ready to call it a
day.
Labor Day always brings mixed emotions for me.
On the positive side... I love Holidays. As I write this I am waiting for
my family to arrive at our house, just to hang out and enjoy each others
company. It's one of my favorite things to do. I am blessed to have my parents
and all my kids living less than 15 miles from me. A lot of my friends
don't so it's not something I take for granted.
Another positive of Labor Day is that it signals
the start of the NFL season. I love NFL Football and spend way too much time
watching it.
But on the negative side... Labor Day also represents
the end of summer to me. It's arrival means that it won't be long before
I have to break out the leathers and face masks just to take a short ride.
It's not something I look forward to at all... we even get a little snow
here occasionally that renders me completely motorcycle-less
(Check the pic in my RANT from February 17,
2007.) and grumpier than my usual self. Oh well, better brace myself
for the coming punch!
But the good news is... I got out early today for
one of my morning runs. The pic at the top of this RANT was taken at a local
lake at about 7:15am. It was hazy with the sun just starting to break through
the "soup" and it was extremely peaceful. I could have sat there much longer
than I did but I also wanted to ride so off I went. I ended up clocking close
to 200 miles and found some awesome roads... like the one in the pic below.
The bottom picture, I just took for the fun of it. Pretty creative name for
a hair salon don't you think?
On a side note... everybody be careful out there.
This time of year there seems to be a lot of wildlife around, especially
early in the morning and at dusk. I saw a total of 7 dear and 9 wild turkeys
this morning. Keep your eyes open fellow riders!
September 2, 2007 - AMA SUPERMOTO ROLLS
INTO NASHVILLE
Yesterday was a long day for me... but a fun one
all the same! I spent 9 hours straight pretty much on my feet, dragging a
camera bag around the infield and pit area at the Nashville Motorplex. Why
would I torture myself like that you ask... because AMA Supermoto rolled
into town for Round 6 of the 2007 Championship Season... and I wouldn't miss
it. Supermoto is fast becoming my favorite form of motorcycle racing and
if you haven't checked it out yet, you need to. It sort of combines Supercross
and Road Racing into one event and produces some of the most exciting racing
on 2 wheels you will ever see.
Imagine hitting speeds in excess of 100MPH on an
oval track before making a 180 degree turn into an X-Games style ramp and
jump (see pic above) before heading into a small Supercross dirt track...
and then back onto the pavement at incredible speeds. It's awesome to
see!
I got a ton of pics and have some posted at the
link below for you to check out... but do yourself a favor and go see an
AMA Supermoto race in person. Cities still on the schedule for this year
include: Norman, OK., Kent, WA., Galveston, TX. and Long Beach, CA. You can
check out www.amasupermoto.com for all the details.
CLICK HERE to
check out my 2007 AMA Supermoto pics.
On
my way over to Panhead Phil's Rock the Block Garage Party I stopped by one
of our local H-D dealers who just happened to be having a sale. I wasn't
having any luck finding anything and was about to leave when I saw this cool
straw cowboy hat with a H-D badge on the front of it. Man, I don't know why,
but I have always wanted a cowboy hat but have never really had a real reason
to wear one... until now! Think about it, one with a Harley logo could be
worn when I'm out on rides or at biker events, etc... perfect!
