Get my motor runnin

So the Suzuki has been legal for almost a week now and man, it's awesome. Taking a bit of time to get used to; being an old bike, it's quirky and my motorcycling skills are on par with Rowbear's mountain bike skills. Also, I have to keep a stick mounted on it to beat the ladies back, now I know how the Beatles and Elvis felt. Yup, cruzin around, I'm feelin about like this...



But in reality, I know it's more like this...




And you know how you go to an event and have to park like 10 miles away just to see some jerkstore on a motorcycle pull up and make up some choice spot right at ground zero? Lets just say...



It's OK, you can get me back when you see me caught in that pop-up thunderstorm.

You've got it all wrong

It's not that I am too proud to ask for directions, it's that i feel someone who's career path has taken them to the heights of gas station cashier are dubiously qualified to dispense travel routes. Yes they work at a place that is a keystone for the traveler, but just because you provide the fuel for motorists doesn't mean, well lets just say, would you ask the cashier at McDonalds how long to cook a roast? Take your next 3 rights, I'll see ya there.

England Idlewild; hot, tight and damp

The title pretty much sums it up, but I love talking about things that involve me and you love reading it, so here's more.

Luckily the heat had let up a bit from previous days because despite only being in the low 80's, it felt like a broiler. Had it been warmer, it would have been a death-march. Laps were not super fast, about 40-ish minutes each and I felt each minute.

Weird little set of trails they got up there in Northern KY; tight single, northshore stunts and lots o roots. It was hard to get into rhythm with all the wash-out and roots. After sliding out in a corner, Ben ditched me and I was more than happy to just ride in second, I was feelin tired and just tried to roll a steady pace. Feeling a bit better by the last lap, Ben was sufferin and I caught him in the last few miles, just before he flatted. I didn't realize he had a mechanical so I kept pounding and rolled in for the win.

Anyway, the folks put on a great race; lots of food, great prizes and it's always good to see my Cinti peeps. Lookin forward to racing Cherokee this weekend. 8 or 9 years ago, who woulda thought that could ever happen.

I'm tired now, nothin else to say.

right place at the right time

fate smiled on me last night on the Tuesday night world ride in lex-town

we were doing a two lap race with an intermediate sprint. Coming around for the first lap everyone started making an echelon that started on the left side of the road, I was on the right so I was totally open. I went and I guess it was early cause only one guy went with me, he came around right at the line so he probably got me but it was close. Anyway, that wasn't the fortunate thing, about a mile later I was still up front with a few seconds all of a sudden I hear someone yell "slowing" and then I hear mass braking, scraping and thuds, I looked over my shoulder to see the pile up about 20 yrds behind me.

Something like 10 people involved, most got away okay except for Greg, he broke his collar-bone. I was lucky to be up front at the time, the rest of the ride I had been sitting on in the middle somewhere. I'm not sure what caused it since we were on a straight stretch of road, someone said it was this one dudes fault because he started braking for no reason, the guy he was talking about is the same dude that I saw sitting on the side of the road last week because he wadded it while riding with two other people, the guy seems pretty mouthy on the group rides. I'm definitely going to try to stay away from his back wheel in the future.

It sure is a good idea to stay up front, especially if you're just out for a work-out (like me) and not actually trying to win the race, unless there is an easy opportunity for it. I'd rather get in a good break than sprinting for 50 yards

Best pictures ever

An unusual break from the pics where I am either riding through a rather uninteresting grassy field or my mouth is just hanging open with some spittle dangling off my chin and i look a bit special needs...from Brown County...

Decisions decisions

So, the new (old bike is here. We were both made in 1973, so I am glad we could come together like this.



Now, I need to decide which helmet to get. I have it narrowed down to 2...



OR



Oh, and Brown County was hot and fast. I hit a tree, John Luc got a gap and then the win.

Brown Co. Beatdown

Me, Anthony, and Dulin headed up to Brown Co. for the 2nd D.IN.O. race of the season and more importantly the KYANA championship race. It was my first D.IN.O race in the expert class, I've never been able to win a Sport class race up there cause there are so many fast sport guys that have been racing sport class for years so they may be considered sandbaggers by some. Anyway, race started out with a pretty long road section that had a few steep ups then it was right into the woods for some blazing fast singletrack. Scary fast at times, a lot of the trail is like that so locals can kill it cause they know how much brake they can get away with. I started off slow and took the first two laps at about 3/4 throttle for fear of blowing up. By the last lap I still had some energy so I had a pretty good lap but was only able to catch two expert riders, one of them cheering me on saying, that's the way you finish a race. Unfortunately, the tactic of saving it all for the last lap never works. I was happy to have a strong finish with the added distance that expert class requires so I'll chalk it up as a positive day and some good training. I think what I need to be doing though is to ride hard enough to blow up about half-way through the last lap and then limp in for the finish cause it seems like that would be the best for shocking some fitness into me. Ky lost the title but we had some good results namely from Anthony, Josh Gerlach, and Keith Lucas who all finished in the top 10.