Ken Block - Gymkhana Part 3

Wow, just wow!  Go to YouTube and watch in hi-def if possible.

Speaking of the People's Republic.....

As I was driving to and from Tennessee recently, I had a concern for my safety. Over the 800 miles, there are plenty of high speed bumps....plenty of places to loose the tail end of the Corobra because of the crapped out struts in the rear. It really is pretty bad. I haven't had any scares or close calls, but I can sometimes feel the back of the car wanting to go its own way. And the thought occurred to me that it would be pretty bad to have an accident and injure myself because I wasn't willing to spend the bucks to fix the ol' girl. What would make it worse is that I have the money; I'm just reluctant to spend the seven or eight hundred dollars to get it done.

So, I found out that one option is to replace the whole strut and spring assembly. They're called Quick Struts and they can be had on Ebay for quite a fair price. I can get the set for the rear for under $200 shipped. Anyone see anything wrong with this? I imagine this would be just a few bolts and voila! The quick struts for that price aren't Monroe or anything name brand, but the sellers have good ratings and anything has to be better than the crapped out struts I have in there. And on top of everything else, I think it would be fun to fix this. Get a little wrenching in in my kick-ass conditioned garage space.

The Hulk - Universal Studios Orlando

What a ride!

I Love China

eBay levers

Crazy good for $30 levers for the pair!  Fit like a charm.

"I told you - damn it - ENOUGH with that infernal racket!"

Since I moved to my new place, I take walks in the evening as often as I can. Typically I'm out for an about an hour. It's a very cool neighborhood. Anywho, I should have been "blogging" all summer about all the cool stuff I've seen. For example, I came across this scene tonight.
Shameless repost below:

wwwelp…..I joined a gang.

Faced with the void after recent life events, I turned to Craig’s List on a hot and lonely summer weekend. In the “Community Groups” section along with blue hairs looking for a friendly game of rummy, I found an ad with the title, “Let’s do some crime.” It seemed clever, funny, fresh, and oh so enticing to an impressionable young man of 36 years. It started out as a friendly get together, a few forties at a block party in the worst part of town. The next morning, I wake up wearing a wife beater t-shirt sporting a fresh tattoo (of poor quality, might I add) and a nickname; they chose “Sling Blade” evidently due to my southern accent. But the kicker is they’re actually a really cool group of guys. They get me. I mean they really get me. They’re as fed up with the rat race as I am. Not only do they not ask me about my “bucket list”, but I haven’t found anyone in the gang who even knows what that is. 401K? Please. These guys – nay WE are living in the moment. Health insurance? Try life insurance. Heck, most of these guys have never even met someone as old as me, much less expect to reach my age. Yep, I’ve found my group of fellas, my homies, my new family.

Actually, the real story behind this new garage adornment (what I have dubbed an Urban Tapestry) is that I saw this painted on a curb-discarded box spring in midtown. I passed it and admired it for a few days and then it occurred to me that I could simply cut the material off the box spring. And so I did. Brought it home and hung it in my garage. After hanging it, it dawned on me that the top part reads “OLIVERA”…perhaps a last name. While the bottom is still a mystery, it kind of looks like “PSTE”. Any help in deciphering would be much appreciated.

A tad dramatic...

Perhaps, but it does sum up how I feel right now. Even through the pain I feel like there is improvement in my range of motion and less "tightness" in my joint which was being caused by the thickened bursa. Might be too early to get my hopes up but I am trying to stay positive. The fact that I won't be immobilized for 6 weeks has gotten me excited enough to start looking towards the next Roadeo!

Nothing Really Mattress

You know, I've known for a while now that I like this new neighborhood that I'm living in. But after seeing this, well, this is home. I saw this out on my walk last night. Had to go back tonight with a camera for documentation.

Happy Father's Day - Late

For all you Dads...

It's Official....

....Best Garage Ever. It's so nice I sweep pretty much every time I work on anything in there. As for the need to post a new pic, well that would be to show off the new Kawasaki flag I purchased on fleabay. I have a second one I'm gonna hang on the left side. It's red lettering on black background with similar Kaw theme.

And in an effort to make this a completely random post, I decided to post pics of a house that I passed on my way to work this morning. It's on a side street within walking distance of my house. So when I got home this evening just before dark, I went out on foot and took a few "recky" shots as Chuck would say. Not sure what this place might have been before it was residential. Cool as all get out though. I think I could see a big tree growing inside, although I'm pretty sure it's a residence.

Route 2. Hot Springs, Roan Mt, and the BRP

This is a route that utilizes the corridor of the western Piedmont with which I am actually quite familiar. I think Roan Mountain and Linville Falls are a couple of the most beautiful places in the region and I wanted to include those on a ride. This is the suggested 330 mile route.

From Maggie Valley, we get to 209 and head east to Hot Springs. That is a GREAT stretch of road. Lots of hairpins. Then we head on to Roan Mountain where we can get off the bikes and trek to the top of a "bald" to see the view. The short "hike" is optional. On to Banner Elk and Jonas Ridge and we take HWY181 towards Morganton. Everyone has said that 181 is a great road and I do remember running it often (many years ago) in a car. Turn and head back north up HWY181 and stop off at Linville Falls, which is another very nice scenic spot. Another stretch of the legs to see the beautiful waterfall. Short hike....very easy. Here's where it might get tricky. We can actually pick up the Blue Ridge Parkway right there at Linville Falls and it will meander (and I do mean meander) all the way back to Maggie Valley via Asheville. I think this could be a bit on the naive side because I think I remember someone telling me that the BRP moves along quite slowly. But if we got tired of it, we could hop on a main road and jettison back to Maggie in no time. However, I've been on parts of the BRP and it is quite beautiful and I think it would be fun to take in as much of it as we can.

Here's a pic of the route and a LINK to the Google page.

I40 is OPEN!!!!

I know this may not seem like a big deal, but it is. This means we will be able to take the interstate pretty much straight into Maggie Valley, NC. No dodgin' opossum at midnight on back country roads while trailering our precious cargo.

ALSO, another HUGE benefit is that I40 is a connecting route to a ton of good roads in the area. So while we won't be on it much, it connects a lot of awesome destinations that may have been difficult to access via gravel forest roads.

Downside? The potential for being on the receiving end of one of those rock slides that closed I40 to begin with.

Route 1. Highlands and Lake Toxaway.

Hey all. I started a thread on the OA and have been asking for route suggestions for the Maggie Valley Roadeo. Here's one that I've mapped out on the Google. I got this one from "Flying Dave" off the board.

From Maggie, pick up the BRP (Blue Ridge Parkway) to 23. Head down to Sylva. Take 107 out to Tuckaseegee. Pick up 281 to Lake Toxaway. 64 over to Highlands and up to Tilley Creek road back to Cullowhee. Ride back to Maggie.

This appears to be about a 155 mile route, so we could make it a part of longer ride or whatever. Here's the Google link if interested.
Also, if you want to see the thread on the OA, follow this link.
More routes to follow and feel free to add routes of your own.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...

I just couldn't stand not knowing what kind of shape the bike was in so I went up to the storage yard to take a look. I think several factors played into my advantage that kept damage to a minimum. Wreck happened at low speeds and we actually ended up in the entrance to a parking lot which has some upward slope to it which took some vertical out of the drop.

Front rim seems to have taken the worst of it as it must have "dug in" on the incline. Bottom of fork leg is scuffed.



2 of the 3 places the front fairing is scuffed. Bottom of radiator shroud is scuffed. Custom blinker is scuffed.



3 of 3 places the front fairing is scuffed.



Can is scuffed.



Bar end and lever on right side.



Left rearset looks bent and heelplate was sheared off.



Rear brake lever mangles and possibly the rearset bent.



The savior!



All in all I feel I got pretty lucky considering I was physically struck by the truck. Hopefully I can get the rear sets sorted before the rally and I'll deal with the other items afterwords.

Man Down, Man Down!

Got sideswiped by a pickup turning left off of a light. I was behind him as the light turned green and pulled into the right lane as soon as we cleared the intersection I pulled into the right lane. He decided he needed Taco Bueno and cut on me hard. Honestly, it happened so fast I didn't have a chance. I didn't even get a chance to check the bke but obviously it's not going on the trip. Doctor coming in, will update later.

Edited Account:

Got taken out today by a pickup truck at 11th and Delaware on the way home from work on my motorcycle. The truck in front of me, and myself, had just turned left onto 11th Street off of a redlight on Delaware coming south out of the TU campus. As soon as we cleared the intersection I moved into the right lane as I typically don't like to be behind pickups for sight-line issues. As I pulled next to him, my guess is that he decided to cut into one of the fast-food restaurants on the south side of the road as he cut hard from the left lane and tried to dart in the parking lot on the right, taking me out in the process. I had absolutely no time to react and was down before I could even begin to think about taking evasive maneuvers. By the time I got up and sorted myself out, someone had already called the ambulance and although I really didn't want to go to the hospital, Cindy insisted so I took a ride to the ER. By the time I was strapped into the ambulance, and the initial shock of the accident was wearing off, my shoulder was really starting to hurt and I my thoughts were that I might have broken/fractured my collar bone. X-Rays in the ER turned up negative so after 3.5 hrs in the ER I was released.

I never really got a chance to survey the bike at the scene as it was down on its right side and too close to the truck to pick up. I have no idea how bad the damage is but my guess is rashed right fairing, bent/broken right peg and bars and trashed exhaust can. Hopefully it is still rideable and I am going to try and retrieve it from the wrecker yard today. All in all I feel I came out of the incident in pretty good shape and hope to take a lesson from all of this. I want to be more upset with myself for not being able to avoid the situation but in running through the scenario over and over in my head, it was completely out of my control. The guy couldn't have done a better job of timing the sideswipe even if he was doing it intentionally. In any case, I'll keep you guys posted and thanks to everyone for the calls and well-wishes.

New Bars

Finally got around to installing my "new" bars on the Fizzy and am looking forward to seeing how they ride tomorrow. On Friday, I messed around with quite a few different mounting positions as I had some lower bar mounts and 3 different sets of bars laying around. It quickly became obvious that I didn't really want to go lower so after thinking on it for a couple of days, I mounted the flat drag bars after cutting 1/2" off of each end. Sitting on the bike it seems much more comfortable now with the bars at a more natural position. See comparison below.

For you dog lovers...

This is what I envision going through Milo and Bodie's heads when Dick or Brett comes over...

Bulldogged Akra

Well, I have to say this was a mod that went exceptionally well considering how little info I had on what was involved. I knew I wanted approximately 4 inches taken out of the can but that was about it. The process was fairly straight-forward with disassembly requiring no more than drilling the rivets out. Cutting the carbon fiber was so much easier than I thought it was going to be and was accomplished with a hacksaw with a new blade. While I had the can off, I hit the pipe with my buffing wheel and voila, I solved my pipe color issue as well! I took the rear pegs off and used a ZRX MikiMoto pipe hanger and it worked out just right. The aftermarket pipe hangers for the Fizzy come perpendicular off of the frame and don't really look good where the MikiMoto has a nice rear sweep that works well with the lines of the bike. The only minor drawbacks to the entire mod are the strap marks on the carbon fiber wrap from the stock mounting location. Hopefully the sun will take care of that over time. Thanks to Deek for pitching in and helping!

Going Green

They say some guys have a motorcycle as an accessory in their life.

You know you've got it bad when you furnish your home using the bike as a "central theme."

A Perfect Tuesday

What a beautiful day to grill a steak!