The Appalachian Mountains

Here's the route I took Tuesday. If they look twisty from this distance, zoom in on them and it gets even better.

Most people know the Smoky Mountains as Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Air brush t-shirts, go-cart tracks, water boggans, Dollywood, and buttloads of congested traffic that makes Branson look like a ghost town. However, if you get just slightly off the beaten path, and I mean just slightly, there's a smorgasbord of absolutely delectable roads in this part of the world.

The pic above is a crude stitch together of two pictures I took sitting in one spot shooting one corner and then the other. Highway 32 between Cosby, TN and Waterville, NC is absolutely ridiculous. And like some of the best AR roads, it goes no where. It ends in a gravel road at the Appalachian trail. I passed maybe 2 cars on that road and then took the gravel road for another 15 miles or so.


I called Chuck last night and was talking to him about it. Would be worth whatever it takes to get the bikes here....just shy of disassembling the Rex and bringing it in the Corobra.
If you look at those pics I sent, there are just tons and tons and tons of twisty roads on the map. It's insane. And there are tons of little connecting roads. Everything I was on yesterday was similar to HWY 9....but.....and I know you're going to do a collective spit take on your computer screens....better than HWY9. I said it and I mean it. Some a little tighter, like the switchbacks on HWY74 between Ponca and Mt.Sherman.

Squid Squad Ride Report, June 19-21

About a week after the rally, Chuck suggested a “quickie”, a short weekend trip to Arkansas. It would be a first for Ivan and a return trip for Ryan. Like a true minute man, I quickly ordered parts to do my forks and bearings and got at least the bearings done. Exactly one month after hitting the road for the Spring Rally, and one day after turning 35 years old, I was on the road again headed back to Arkansas.
If you slab down, Eureka Springs is 240 miles from KC. But I always like the scenic route when I have the time. I made a decent 8-hour day of it. 331 miles on Friday. I lunched on 12oz of prunes from the Amish, where my faithful steed had just turned 33,333 miles.
I arrived in Eureka just before 5pm and checked into the HoJo Eureka. What a pleasant surprise that place is at $55 a night. Cold A/C, clean carpet, new fixtures, good beds, etc. I watched Nascar qualifying at Sanoma on Speed for a couple of hours. Chuck and the Squid Squad arrived at around 8:30 that evening and we rendezvoused at our usual Mexican joint for some grub. The huevos rancheros were better than I remembered. After-dinner beer and jokes out under the gazebo in back of the hotel.
Saturday morning found us at the Smokehouse with the karaoke lady and the “big-ass” biscuits. Neither failed to deliver on this hot June morning. Some jokes and speculation about me carrying Chuck up the look-out tower until we realize it’s pay to play. So it’s off on the bikes we go.

We get about 20 minutes south on HWY23 and Chuck has to pull over to tell the kids to pick up the pace. “Ride your own ride…..as long as it’s at my pace.” Huntsville and we’re stopping for energy drinks. This is looking like it might be a long day.

We made our way down the Pig Trail and stopped shy of Turner Bend and headed East on HWY215. That’s the video I sent you guys a link to. That’s me, yours truly, Mr. Mid-Corner Braking, Mr. Timid Entry Speeds. At the end of HWY215, with Chuck at my side, I took my helmet off, got a cool drink of water, and caught my breath for a bit in the shade. But then suited up as soon as I heard pipes approaching in the distance…. effectively robbing Ryan and Ivan of their much-needed break. “I feel bad,” I said to Chuck, with maybe a semblance of remorse. “We used to do that to you,” he said matter-of-factly.
Headed south on HWY 103, Chuck goaded me into a drag race on one of those long straights. It was a rolling street start, and by god I had him for what seemed like 100 yards. But then I experienced a loss of power that allowed Chuck to pass me easily. I immediately looked down at the instruments, only to realize I had bounced it off the rev limiter. In 27k miles, that’s the first time I’ve ever done that. How cool!
We used I-40 as a quick connect to HWY 7, which took us over to HWY 27. We’ve all been on the upper part of HWY27, but not often have we ridden that southern-most leg. And boy is it a doozey. Good road. Chuck blasts past a State Trooper’s Dodge Charger that was hiding in a bush. The Trooper settled for second best and lit me up. But oddly he lectured me for about 30 seconds and then sent me on my way. I’ve kept bluegill out of water longer than that and let them go. It was the quickest riot act I’d ever been read, a hodge podge of all the clichés we’ve heard before….quick reference to body bags and bikes being towed. I didn’t even take my helmet off and he didn’t even ask to see my license. I stayed on the lead lap even! Of course Chuck was long gone. We caught up with him about half an hour later. That’s where this pic was taken.


After 250 miles of riding on Saturday, we finally made it into Mountain View at around 6pm. In 90 plus degree heat and pure sun, we were all “cat-licked out.” Chuck decided he and the boys would eschew their drinking seeing as how it was going to be another 50 mile round trip to get a case of beer. Chuck in flip flops and NONE of us wearing helmets or any gear of any kind, we went and had Mexican food at the usual place. Afterward, we partook of the wondrous mountain music that Mountain View is known for. The heat and humidity didn’t seem to keep anyone away. What great atmosphere and charm that town has.
Sunday, we had breakfast at Hardees and parted ways. Ryan and Ivan both did quite well considering the oppressive heat and some of the difficult switch-backs they maneuvered on HWY23 and HWY103. They’re good fellas and I really enjoyed my weekend with the Squid Squad. 975 miles traveled when I got back to KC Sunday afternoon.

Home from the Northern Frontier

I wish I could say 'It's great to be back!' and mean it but the family and I just returned from the trip of a lifetime. I won't bore you with too many details but I truly wish everyone could experience what Alaska has to offer. I am still stunned by the beauty and grandeur. A word about the Hoonah Ziprider-5,300 feet long, drops almost 2000 ft, 60 mph and 90 seconds of screaming sphincter clenching heart pounding terror as you plummet into the mist and emerge with a beautiful ocean view. Once back on terra firma, some tourists told me they could hear me screaming 'This is Fu**ING AWESOME!!!' as I flew overhead. I'm treating this as pure speculation of course. First see Capt Colton returning from a dangerous mission over the Arctic:

Summer 2009 Squid Squad Outing - Teaser

The clip below needs no explanation other than giving you an opportunity to meet Ivan and Ryan, friends of mine who joined us on our Arkansas excursion. More posts to come...

Blind Squirrels...or in this case an alleged "imbecile"

I'm sure you are all on the edge of your seats about how the bike turned out over the past weekend. I went to John's shop on Saturday morning. I've included some pics of the undisclosed location I like to call the Fortress of Solitude. I took the lower triple over there and he ground the bottom bearings off and then used a hydraulic press to put the new ones on. Much better than the "hammer and socket" method I read about on the board. John has everything at his shop. And what he doesn't have, he makes. Bing - bang - boom!!! In the last pic, you can see the tool he has made for pressing the new outer races into the neck of the frame. No energy wasted hurling a 5-pound sledge at your bike.




Did this fix your death wobble, you ask? Unfortunately, it did not. Upon taking the bike out for a test ride, I discovered that the death wobble had morphed into a accelerating death wobble. It was at a much faster tempo and actually built in intensity instead of diminishing in intensity. In a word, it was actually MORE scary than the original Death Wobble of Doom Crashyness. You like that name? Anywho.
At this point, the next logical step....and only remaining suspect, was the front tire. And if you will remember, I had told Chuck I would change the tire AFTER replacing the bearings just to see what actually fixed the Death Wobble of Doom Crashyness and Widow-Making Scariness. Chuck has speculated it was a bad tire all along. Well, after a couple of days of worrying, I finally got the new tire mounted and on the bike. The verdict is......no more Death Wobble of Doom Crashyness and Shit-My-Pants-itude.
I humbly submit my sincere apology to the all-knowing, non-imbecilic Chuck Hickl.

The World's A Different Place

Check this kid out! I believe he is only 13 and ran across him today in a tech podcast I listen to. He is absolutely on top of his game and knows his stuff! In the video below, he is interviewing a top Apple Exec but you might browse through his other material as it is all interesting. I can only imagine how cool it would be to talk to him in 30 years as he is in for a hell of a ride!

Unfortunatley, I noticed the blog is cutting off the video and I can't seem to fix the problem. You can check the youngster out at http://www.livingdigitally.tv/!

Car Talk

I've been listening to Car Talk on NPR for years. Recently I was listening to a podcast of the show and I heard one call in particular that really made me chuckle. So, I "cropped" it out of the podcast and put a photo on it so I could post it here. In case you're not familiar with the show, these two guys from Boston are brothers and they just seem to have so much fun together.

The Rubicon and How to Cross It...

Most of you are probably already aware I had some crazy headshake on decel while at the last rally. I put the bike up on the stand when I got back an could feel a notch in the center. That small "notch" at center was much more noticeable once the front wheel and forks came off tonight. I have acquired all new OEM parts, including parts needed to rebuild the forks. John assured me he would help me with the important stuff. So we have plans to do that on Saturday. It would be a major understatement to say that I am a little intimidated by all of this. It's very odd to have the bike broken so far down. But I'm taking extensive notes, snapping tons of pics and labeling every fricking thing in sight. Mountain View calls.....from across the Rubicon.

Great Pic!

What a great picture of JoeB and the beautiful Arkansas scenery! Can't wait to get back next weekend, not that I want to rub it in or anything. Mountain View, here we come!

HOAME Motorcycle show in Kansas City

Can you think of a better place for a vintage motorcycle show? This one was held this past weekend in the Aviation Museum hangar of the downtown airport here in KC. It was quite a doozy. John and I chose not to pocket bike in a 90-degree parking lot for five hours and to instead mill around in a cool shaded hangar looking at some kick ass bikes. And there was free gourmet coffee to boot. All for $5. Here's some moto porn for your viewing pleasure. Oh, yeah, and it gave me a chance to try and wrap my head around a cut-away of a radial engine.

The world, changed forever...

Wolfram Alpha. Click here to explore and let me know what you think. Not quite a "Search" engine like Google, more like an "Answer" engine.

Livin' the Life...

Definitely not as exciting as running two wheels down the lower third of 103 but not too bad for just relaxing! We've rented our own cabana for the day with stocked fridge, TV, and free wireless access. Nice, very nice. Looking forward to getting together with you guys later in the summer so get your dates out there!

Mt.View Night Life

Back in July of last year, I went to Tulsa. Chuck and Deekster helped me do a valve adjustment and some other needed maintenance on the Rex. However, I went to Tulsa by way of Mountain View, AR. No, it's not even in the same direction as Tulsa. I spent the night there in Mt. View. I paid like $27 on the cheapest hotel in the town, a place BTL usually stays at. I ate dinner at the Mexican restaurant.....big surprise! After dinner, I noticed a few people out on the lawn of the court house. Just a few folks playing guitars and singing. Then I noticed a few more people on the other side of the court house. Out back beyond that, there are a few gazebos set up for people to play music and sing. Turns out Mt. View is pretty well known for it's folk and bluegrass music. People gather in the court house square NIGHTLY (yes nightly), when the weather is nice for some pickin' and grinnin'. On the humid, July evening I was there, I watched several groups and even partook of some ice cream. What a night. A wonderful surprise to top off a great day of riding.

I strung a few video clips together and posted them below to give you an idea of what it was like. I know I can be dramatic at times, but the gal playing the banjo gave me goose bumps more than once that evening. She might have sold her soul to the devil. And then the little boy playing the mandolin wound up sitting in with other people on the square. He's quite the singer and showman.

How to Make a Gasket

Well, my SR500 has been getting more wrenching than riding since I bought it a couple of months ago. It's titled, tagged and insured, but I've been spending time just going over it and getting caught up on maintenance. The most recent thing was an oil change. I wanted to do it right, so I removed the downtube strainer and the belly pan so I could clean the screen down there in the pan. (Don't worry about the metal shavings. I'm sure that's nothing to worry about.)

When I removed the small oil "pan", the gasket was destroyed in the process. So I set into making a new one. I tried three different unsuccessful methods before finally calling John and asking him how it's done. He told me to use a manila envelope and to use a tiny hammer to tap out a template. I thought he was talking about a sort of cookie cutter method where I would be hammering the metal part trying to make an indentation in the envelope. Luckily he realized I misunderstood him and he clarified that I would be rubbing the envelope and NOT whacking away at the metal piece. So, I followed his instructions and it was easier than I expected. I used the ball part of the hammer and got a very distinct line I could trace with an exacto knife. And the "rubbing" part took less than 3 minutes. See below:


I was very happy with the results. From there, all I had to do was cut out the tracing. John suggested that I use the Hylomar between the gasket and the belly pan. But he said I should use a very small amount of anti-seize between the gasket and the engine. That way I could likely use that same gasket the next time I take the belly pan off. Instructions were followed to the letter. It's days like today - when parts just go together like butter - that I feel like a real wrencher. Figured I'd post this up since it's a GREAT way to make your own gasket.

The "Secret"!

See video below I took with my TachyonXC "sports camera". It's a relatively cheap video camera meant to be used outdoors, under extreme conditions, and works fairly well mounted to the handlebars of the FZ. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware that the camera required 6X speed SDHC memory to record at the highest resolution and purchased only 4X memory so I am unable to capture the highest quality resolution but I think what you see below is perfectly acceptable for stuff uploaded to YouTube. In all actuality, there is very little difference in the two but when I record at the highest setting, there is some jitteriness in the video. Keep in mind that the view is through the windscreen so there is some distortion from the curve in the screen. Also, the camera is completely sealed, including the microphone, so the sound is not so great. For some reason, their is a resonance in the FZ exhaust that seems to disagree with the built-in mic causing an obnoxious buzzing as the FZ is almost whisper quiet although it sounds as if it has a bad Kerker mounted! Anyways, don't bore yourself with watching it all but it does give you a feel for what you will look like from behind.

Will it hold?

Can we get this lucky? 20 striaght days of rain here in the Tulsa area beating the previous record of 13 days by a wide margin. 10-day forecast for Eureka looks good right now but it's a little far out to plan with any certainty. Really looking forward to seeing everyone and catching up. You guys headed out early, take it easy the first couple of days as I know some of us have put less than 100 miles on our bikes since the Fall Rally.

An 88-mile Diversion?

Okay Texas boys, here's a suggestion for Wednesday.  I was thinking instead of heading straight for Eureka Springs on Wednesday, we could maybe take a little diversion north and catch HWY9 and maybe even hit 341 again.  (I could ride 341 - Push Mountain Road - every day and never get tired of it.)  Point "D" to point "E" is 341 on the map above.  That's Norfork / Mt.Home to Big Flat.  Anywho, if we did this, it would be about 88 miles and then we'd be basically right back where we started.  And then we could take whatever route to Eureka.  Maybe head toward HWY16...possibly hit 123 in the middle of the week and avoid Po-Po Patrol.

As for total mileage, taking this little 88-mile diversion wouldn't put us over our average daily mileage.  I'd guess it would wind up being a 300 miler, maybe a little more.  

Just running it up the flag pole to see if anyone salutes.

Hooligan in Training

Thought I'd share a picture of my 20 month old son, Colton. To say his arrival was a surprise is the understatement of the century!! He likes to go to Olschl's house to play with Milo and do other manly activities. I can't wait until he can climb aboard the REX and go for a ride with his old man. I think there is a pocket bike in his future !

Tires and Tickles

Hey all. I got the tip from Chuck that Cycle Gear has a sale on Pirelli tires. If you buy in store, you can get the set with the size 180 rear for $189 plus tax. If you buy on-line, it winds up being around $215 with taxes and shipping. You can try to save that $15 by purchasing the tires in person at the store on the 16th of May (one day only). But in-store supplies are limited and stores often run out on these door-buster sales. Pre-ordering pretty much guarantees you a set of tires.

Also, a little bit of humor for your Friday.

The Original 452 Racing

I'm guessing you guys might have received Chad's email about his revived racing endeavors. This inspired me to remake a video I had partially lost in a computer crash last year. It also gave me the chance to improve upon the original, as I have honed my craft much as a samurai sharpens his sword. Anywho, I'll post this here and then Chad can take it for his blog if he chooses. Video DOES have sound; crank it up!!! Also, be sure and toggle the "HQ" button on the bottom right, which allows for Higher Quality viewing of the video.

Note toward the end of the video there are pictures of a corner worker talking to Chad and Chad's riding buddy. The corner worker had ventured into the pits from the farthest corner on the track. He was looking for Chad because he had seen him execute a miraculous save during the heat race just completed. As Chad tells it (to the best of my recollection), Chad had checked up for some squid in front of him and he grabbed every ounce of brake that little SV had (and then some). The back end raised up off the ground in what Chad called an "endo". In the pic, the corner worker is seen to hold his hand up "yay high" in indication of how far Chad's back tire came off the ground. The worker claims they were heading out to pick him up off the pavement and were astonshed when Chad rode it on out like a seasoned racer.

In case you didn't get the email about Chad's new race blog:
http://452racing.blogspot.com/