bike-sexual
Unlike guys who like gals, guys, or guys and gals; bike-sexual guys are only into bikes.
"I'm into him but it seems like he's not into me. At first I thought he was stuck on his x-girlfriend but now I think he's just bike-sexual"
I'll post something of real value shortly.
fasthair
Just to wish everyone an enjoyable and Happy Thanksgivings. Hope everyone enjoys what ever it is you are doing this holiday with whoever you are doing it with. I for one am thankful for my friend, Lori, who gave me this silly hat :) I'll have to figure out a way to strap it on my head while I'm riding today.
fasthair
OK 351 miles later I got this Tag. I was sweating it all the way home though. About five miles from the Little Brown Church I met a bike heading south on highway 218 and all I could think of is so help me if this guy got this Tag before me! I did see five bikes on the road today though. Two Goldwings, A H-D Sporster, the bike near the Little Brown Church was some sort of a Honda cruiser, some kids playing on a dirt bike and after the sun went down I think it was a rocket bike on the interstate. When I took off it was about 38F at 11:00AM and when going by the bank near home it said 48F at 7:00PM. Funny how up in the northeastern Iowa the lakes all have ice on them. Stopped in Washua, Iowa after getting the Tag for a hot meal and the bank there said it was 38f. I took two lane roads all the way there and had planned to take them home too but... I made wrong turn and by the time I figured it out I lost an hours worth of day light and cost myself 50 extra miles, so I hit the four laners to make time. Oh I seen a Bald Eagle sitting in a tree on the way there.
For a reward on a job well done I'm going to sit here and eat a hot pizza and bask in my victory! If anyone wants to play this game go to ADVrider and see if they have a game in your region. It's fun plus it give you a reason to go for a ride... like we need one of those huh?
fasthair
Update: Crap I forgot the most important thing... I rolled over 50,000 miles on Whiskey today!
Big D mentioned in one of his comment about the drag bike in the slide show at the side of my blog. After this post Big D you will need to soak in a tub full of ice water to cool off!
That is my good friend Dave "Frog" Kent. Taking him racing was some of the most fun things I've ever had in my life. There is nothing more exciting then watch a nitro powered Harley rip down the quarter mile. The sound, the feeling and that smell. Oh that smell of nitro, I love it! When the "Strip Tease" was on kill that "pop" out of the pipes was music to my ears. Watching Frog, all 130 pounds of him 60+ years of age, wrestle that snarling beast down the track was pure joy. The best part was to see the smile on his face when he made a good pass. He was like a kid who just discovered sex for the first time. And yes he always wore the silly pok-a-dotted hat :)
Unfortunately Frog is no longer with us. He passed like summer while on a club run from complications of diabetes. I'll write about some of our races in the future posts. I just wanted to share my friend with everyone. The video was done with a point and shot digi-cam so it's not of the best quality but I think you will enjoy it just the same. Make sure to turn the volume up!
Oh and speaking of Big D I'm going to be a blog whore and plug his kick ass biker fiction blog. If you like stories you've read in Easyriders and the like you will like Big D's writing. Just go read it for yourself. Truly entertaining reading.
fasthair
It's been about fours weeks now with this new helmet. From what I've been reading on some of my fellow bloggers post it was time to replace my ten year old Shoei RF800 helmet. The final straw was when I lost a screw a couple of weeks prior for the visor opening thingy. I'm sure I could have found a replacement screw but like I said it was time.
Since I was so please with the comfort of my old Shoei I figured might as well get another one. I got a Shoei RF1000 this time in 
My old helmet vent system never really worked as far as I was concerned. I could never really tell if the vents were open or closed. With this new helmet there is no mistaking when the vents are open. When I walked out of the local Honda dealer where a friend works I went for a test ride. Some 250 miles later that weekend I was completely thrilled with the update.
One of the features I like is the removable liner. I never wore hair goo in my old helmet because of this since I couldn't wash the liner, now I can. Now I should have some killer helmet hair. Plus the cheek pads come in different thickness so they can be custom fit to your face, they come in +/- 2mm changes.
Another thing I like is the "breath guard" and the "chin curtain." Having seen the former on other helmets and talking with the owners of them this was a feature I wanted. Guess what? They work.
After a few miles I pulled over and installed the "chin curtain." This was a big surprise since I 
Then it was time to see if the vent system really worked. Again to my surprise this helmet showed what years of devolvement can do. Opening the top front vents I could feel the air coming in. This would have been enough of an improvement over my old helmet that I would have been happy. Then I opened the rear vent and I could actually feel my hair blowing in the helmet. With the guard and the curtain removed and the vents open I'm sure this helmet will be cool and comfortable in the hot summer months.
Other things worth noting. The vents all open and close with easy even with big leather winter gloves. The visor opening lever pops the it open just to the first notch of the seven visor detents. The lever also can be moved to lock the visor closed. The quick release visor means no tools are needed to remove it for cleaning or replacement, a simple flip of the lever and it comes right off, something I liked with the old one too. The optics of the visor are just a bonus, they are that clear and distortion free.
Over all the $320.00 investment was worth ever penny. If your helmet is getting long in the tooth you owe it to yourself to check out a newer helmet. I think you will be surprise as much as I was what tens years can do for helmet technology.
fasthair
I blame She Rides A Beemer for this! Her link to the game of Tag made me do it. I take the day off to go get this Tag that had been up for two weeks. It rained on me all day and now I'm sittting in a hotel posting this. Wouldn't you know it someone beat me to this Tag today by about an hour before I posted my picture. I can't believe it I rode over 225 (update odometer check this AM showed 252miles) miles today to get this Tag. I can't beileve it! To top it off it is going to be about 40f in the morning when I leave here and I've still got a 150 or so miles to go before I get home. Can anyone tell where I went today? Ms. SheRidesABeemer you owe me cup of coffee for this!
Saturday July 29 2001 - 0 miles
Well I should be on the road today but since I didn't get my tires until late on Friday and I found a bad wheel bearing in the front wheel I am still at home. Pete and I worked until 10:00 PM last night getting him ready and had to go back to the shop today to finish up the work. Then to top it off I loaded "Front Page" on my laptop so I could update the web site on the road and crashed it. My CD-Rom is broken on it so I couldn't reload "Windows" and start over. So what is a guy to do? Yep, go buy a new one and send the old one in for repairs. I hope to have the insert picture thing figured out before long so you can see what and where I've been. So until later, see you from the road.
Sunday July 30 2001- 608 Miles
What a day. I thought I would be smart and miss all the interstate highways today and ride US 20 once I got past Chicago. US 20 was in good shape for the most part and traffic wasn't t
hat heavy either but what I saved in miles cost me dearly in time. Also MapQuest lied to me, it's much further to Cleveland than 600 miles. Made it as far as Fremont, Ohio and still have 70 or so miles before I get to Cleveland and the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Hey I'm this close so you know I got to stop and say hello to Elvis :-)
Got a little sunburn on my now very red belly from riding with my shirt open, like I don't know better then that! Of course the day won't be complete without a little rain too. I had watched the lighting show all the way across Indiana. While I sure enjoyed that, I kept hoping that it would move either north or south of me but it didn't. I finally caught up to the rain in Ohio just as the sun was going down. Did I ever tell you how much I hate riding in the rain and even more so when it's dark? Sure am glad I have those new tires! I rode through some mighty deep water at times, half blind from the on coming traffic made it even more intense. Needless to say when I saw that Denny's sign flashing hot coffee I called it a day. The bonus was a Travel Lodge is right behind it. So the clothes are by the heater and with any luck they will by dry in the morning.
The reason for this trip is to see some of the country, and world for that matter, that I've never seen. Also I plan on visiting some new an old friends that I met right here online. I will look up Jason Deel tomorrow where he works and get to meet him for the first time. This should be good for a few laughs I'm sure. Then on to Cleveland for a little R&R before I head into Toronto, Canada on Tuesday.
Tuesday July 31 2001 - unknown miles
Well it seems that Canada isn't the friendliest place to visit. They wouldn't let me in to go see Sean. We will have to wait until this weekend to see each other again when we all meet for a little camping at Alpine Lake here in New York.
Outside of that I have had a great time. Jason and I had a nice visit Tuesday even though it was way to short. I didn't get a photo of him and I though. I didn't even think of it until I was back on the road to Cleveland. What a nice city that place is. Then off to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. I could of spent all day there but since I thought I was going to be at Sean's in Canada tonight I only spent about 3 hours there. If I would of know I couldn't get into Canada I would of spent more time there. They didn't allow cameras in the rock hall, as the locals call it, so the only pictures I have are of the outside of the building. Just for the record Elvis is dead :-) Did you know he liked to collect police badges? Sure was some neat things to see there. They had a special exhibit of John Lennon and his life. Some of his art work was on display along with his bed that he and Oko staged their now famous sit in on. The saddest part was they had his personal belongings that the police gave to Oko when he was murdered in the bag just like they had given it to Oko on that terrible night. His blood stained glasses was enough to make me almost cry. I was truly feeling very sad as I stood there and looked at that exhibit. I got to see my all time favorite drummer's drum kit, John Bonham. Also in that display was one of Jimmie Page's guitar and John Paul Jones's organ and one of Robert Plant's outfits he had worn during a tour. I could go on about this place and all the cool things they have there but I would be typing all night.
Niagara Falls is pretty spectacular in it's own right. I can see why lovers like to go there on there honeymoon. The water is nice and ice blue. The sound is loud but calming in a way and the park is very nice for a stroll along the river. I was surprised at the lack of people there. Another thing I am surprised about is the people of New York. Unlike what we as 'Midwesterns' hear all the time, these people are as nice and friendly as us flatlanders. Every time I asked someone where I needed to go they didn't hesitate to tell me, and no they didn't say go to hell. They all drive like they have a brain which is more then I can say for back home sometimes. The only one time I did have a problem with a driver it was a cop who wouldn't let me lane change when I needed to before my lane had to merge. Did I mention I got pulled over in Pennsylvania yesterday? I guess with all the hassle I had trying and failing to get into Canada yesterday I kind of forgot. The Trooper pulled me for not wearing my helmet. He was very cool about it though. He walks up and said "did you know you have to wear that bucket here?" Told him "no I didn't" and had asked a couple of people but nobody knew when I asked them. He just asked if I would put it on for him and of course I said sure. He told me to enjoy my trip and that New York had a helmet law too so to be sure to keep it on because they wouldn't be as nice about it. Off he went and off I went with my helmet on and no extra paper in my wallet. To bad he wasn't working the Canadian boarder instead of the jack ass that I lu
boring ride across upper New York state. However once I got off the super slab the sights and ride was much better as is always the case. This is truly a nice part of the country, glad I have made this trip. Rick an Lisa tell me that the traffic will change once I get into New Jersey early next week, unfortunately it will be for the worst. The congestion will be far worse then anything I have been through yet. One thing I know that will never happen in Iowa is toll roads. I can see it now, about the first time some guy at a toll booth asks a farmer for 50 cents to cross a bridge he will tell him just where to go. Forget about the $7.35 it cost to travel from one side of the state to the other on interstate 90 today! I think tomorrow will be a take it easy kind of day for a change. As I set here I think about jumping in the pool right next to Rick and Lisa's new motor home they are putting me up in tonight. But since I am so tired at this moment I would probably drowned. Maybe I will wait until tomorrow after I have had a good nights sleep without some front desk ringing me to see if I am going to check out or stay another day.
Monday August 5 2001 - 1,600+ so far
My time on the road is quickly coming to an end. The weekend camp out at Alpine Lake in New York was an absolute blast. We had people from all over the country and Canada show up for the 3 days of sun and fun. Everyone eat like kings and played like kids. Sean made it from Canada with his family and it was his daughter, Sarah, 4th birthday to
boot. We had cake and melted ice cream to celebrate Saturday evening. Rich from Maine came on his new Harley, what a nice bike it is. Dave from Maryland came with his wife and 2 kids, they plan to stay for the whole week. With the stuff they dragged out of that truck they look like they could stay a month. Tom from Michigan made it with his clan in a great big mobile home. He and Rick did the my house is bigger then your house thing all weekend but I think 
I stopped by and met Tim Lena today. We had a good bull session for a couple of hours and I found out he is just like me. He don't work to hard when its as hot out is was today! He got me headed in then right direction and I made it to the Atlantic ocean today. OK technically it is the "Long Island Sound" bay but it is close enough for me, Silver and I have seen both oceans now. There was a gentle man painting when I pulled up and luck would have it he was on his Harley too. We talked for a while and he told me all about the area I was in. Thanks to him I found the best spot to see the ocean in Stamford, Connecticut that anyone could ask for. I set there as the sun was setting over my shoulder and decided it was time to find a place to lay my head for the evening. I will be looking up a some seafood before I leave here you can count on that! 
Thursday August 9 2001 - Home at Last 2,987 Miles Total
A lot of miles have passed since I was last able to update this. These last three days seem to have been the toughest of all. With not much of a break for relaxing on vacation. At least I have a few days before Monday when I have to go back to work.
When I left Connecticut on Tuesday morning after having breakfast I did my best at not getting run over going around New York an in New Jersey. I stopped and met David "Grammy" Graham at his shop. He has a very nice little shop in an old New Jersey town. It looks like your basic neighborhood gas station from out front if you don't see all the BMW's setting around. 
A person would wonder how a BMW shop could survive out in the hills but all you have to do is watch the cars that drive by and you soon see that there is a plenty of money driving by. One of the towns good guys stopped in while I was there and brought ice cream bars for everyone including whoever was at the gas pumps at the time. After work Grammy took me out to dinner at a local brew pub along with one of his closest friends. I don't think I every thanked him for that either so thank you Grammy for dinner and the hospitality. Like everyone I met on this trip it was a pleasure my friend. We parted ways and on down the road I went, all the way to Harrison, Pennsylvania for my stop over that night. Rode to Indianapolis the next day where I hooked up with Rick Liebler who works for UPS. It was kind of a surprise to meet up with him. I hadn't even thought of it when I got to town. So we went down the street a few blocks and had a couple colds ones and talked cars. On my way to Indy I had to stop and get a some oil for Silver since he was a half quart low after two thousand miles. As I was passing Iowa City, Iowa I stopped an visited with my stepmother, Alice, and drank all of the ice water she had. This was the hottest day I had encountered the whole trip.
Sorry I don't have anymore new pictures to share with everyone but I just didn't really do any sight seeing after I left Connecticut. I will post one more of Long Island Sound.
There is a old joke about that when a real biker goes out for a ride he doesn't come home until all of the digits on the odometer have changed. Well I gave it my best shot. The speedometer had 106 thousand something and now has 109,454 for miles. Either I need to ride around the world, hey I might be on to something there, or get a new bike with all zeros. Don't worry Silver buddy you are not about to be replaced. Not with all the memories we have together. Thanks for being the dead solid ride you are, getting me there and back every time.
fasthair
Do you have a dream ride of a life time you want to do? Does the thought of being on your bike for days, weeks or months on end make you think of all the possibilities? Traveling to remote corners of the planet Earth just to see it, to enjoy the culture, the people, make you wonder what if? Not to mention the Adventure of it all. I know I do.
When I first started to write this blog I really didn't have a master plan. I soon discovered that there are many fellow riders out here in the "Blogsphere" that share the same passion for motorcycle riding. I've managed to meet new people, maybe even make a new friend here and there. But the one thing I've enjoyed the most are the Road Stories, which is why I am recycling some of my old vacation stories. Weather they are just weekend get-a-ways or weeks long Adventures I love reading about them, some of these blogger's are seriously great writers. I enjoy their talents with the written word. I find more blogs I enjoy it seems almost everyday and as I do I add them to the roll.
Having just discovered the term "Adventure Riding" I am finding a complete new "breed" of rider. I had always used the term. Every trip Stan and Lisa and I take is always and adventure and we are always saying the term "it's about the adventure." I've got a couple of these adventures cued up for posting shortly. But these "Adventure Riders" are not just taking long vacations but rather epic rides. Ted Simon might be the God father of this type of travel when he rode around the world in the 70s and wrote his book "Jupiter's Travels." Great read, get it. As if that wasn't enough Ted did it again at the age of 70, twenty five years later!
The Dream Ride. I've got three I would like to take. Listed in the order I would like to do them. Weather I get to make them all happen in my life time only God knows that answer. But to start I would like to ride Alaska. Then I want to ride Europe. This is something I've wanted to do for so very long. This would give me the knowledge to know if I can, in fact, handle the big one. Yes, I would like to ride around the world. Maybe not as epic as Ted's ride but something just as adventuress. Make no mistake this isn't for the faint of heart. One thing I've learned from reading these Adventure rides is what the person learned about themselves .
Just so you don't think I've fallen of the deep end here. The world is full of these Adventure riders, just check out the Horizons Unlimited web site for proof. And if anyone understands these feelings and ideas I would think it would be my fellow rider. After all we understand why we ride but we do it for our own reasons too. But it all boils down to the same thing. Adventure.
So tell me, what is/are your Dream Ride(s)? I would love to hear about them. Maybe you have already taken your Dream Ride, great, write about it with all the guts, with all the glory. I challenge all my fellow blogger's to post your Dream Ride.
It just might be time for me to start planning "Alaska 2009."
fasthair
I spent my Labor day weekend doing a lot of riding which suites me just fine. August 29th was my aunts 75th birthday so I started my long weekend early. Riding to Cedar Rapids wasn't all that exiting since it was on the super slab. But it sure was nice to get to see a lot of my family that I haven't seen in a long time. A good time was had by all with plenty of food, ice cream and cake.
After everyone left Robert, Molly his girl friend, and I went out on the town. First up was a biker bar with live music which would have suited me fine if it wasn't country music. After about hour of this I had all I could take so off we went. This time to a little place by the river that was open for the first night after the major flooding CR had this summer. This place was clear under water and it took them this long to get it open again. They did a great job with it, it even still smelled new.
My cousin Rob is such a dork. He found this beat up little scooter that he has turned into a, well a moving... hell I don't know what to call it. You tell me what it is. He's got a whole $3.75 in the thing. Not sure I would be caught dead riding that thing though. I mean a guy does have his pride if he doesn't have anything else right?
Saturday it was time to continue my adventure. I thought I knew where I was going. Since I'm a dummy and didn't download the web site for off line viewing I tried to go from memory. Old age must be catching up with me. I had planned on going to Davenport for an antique motorcycle swap meet and races, which is suppose to be one of the largest in the country. But what I planned and how it ended up are two different thing. Off on back county highways I head for... Dubuque!
While riding along I happen to run across a little tractor pull going on in the middle of nowhere. So I stop peal off the hot leathers and enjoy a smoke watching these local guys test their machines. It had been a while since I was in the area and I was kind of lost. Walking up to the gate I look at the guy behind the table taking money and I'll be if I don't know him. We had went to high school together. I don't think it hit him who I was though. He was a tough little guy in school and still looks the same, short and stocky. After getting directions and how to get where I was headed I took off. I figured I would hit the swap meet at about six in the evening. Needless to say there was no swap meet or races.
Sitting at a gas station, bought a map trying to make something out of nothing. I decide to ride along the Mississippi river. This would have been great had not I lost all the light of day. I'm heading for a state park I see on the map so I can roll out the sleeping bag for the night. Pulling into Bellevue and discover that they have a street party going on raising funds for the volunteer fire department. It was cheap enough to get in at only five bucks. The bonus came when I asked the ladies selling beer tickets if they had a motel or the like a person could stay in. Luck would have it the bar across the street had rooms above it for rent for cheap too. Perfect, cheap room, cheap beer and homemade pizza to boot.
Sunday I wander on down the river road to the interstate to Iowa City.
Then it was back to two lane back roads I grew up on to my home town of North English. After visiting my mothers grave I wandered around town a little bit. Not a lot has changes in that place. It was as dead as any Sunday I remember living there. So back on the road I headed back home.
Not really planning to do anything on my Monday off I was looking at the map and seen lake Rathbun. Seeing how I hadn't been there in years I decided it was time to check it out again. Sitting at the spill way I could have reached out and caught fish. I've never seen so many fish trolling the top of the water for food. They were in schools of eight or ten fish. A guy could have just tossed a line in the water and would of had supper in minutes.
So that is how you ride 800 miles in four days and never leave the state.
fasthair
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