A blast from my riding past

As I look back, I now wish that I had not only taken more pictures of events in my life and the people and things I care about, but that I had the slightest clue where to find any of the pics that I may have actually taken.

This extends to the many bikes that I've ridden and owned over the years. Very few images were taken and even fewer of those can be found. I recently dug up a couple shots of bikes gone by and thought that they deserved their own place of recognition.

Okay, what do we have here. This, my friends, is a Silver 1982 Yamaha Virago 750. It is also the first motorcycle I purchased new from a dealer. It is shown here sitting in a living room which was under complete reno at the time. They were out of town for a couple weeks and I was house sitting, so I thought, maybe I'll bring my bike in from the garage...

See, at that time, this bike made sense to me. Way back when, my best friend was riding a spanking new 1981 Yamaha XS 400 Special; all black and gold trim and pretty cool. So in 1982 when I got my first real job and some pocket money, it was my intent to get a similar type of bike.

We took our 400 & 750 2-up to Maine. I used to ride around with my feet on the highway pegs, catching air like I was a barn door and thinking it would be cool to own a leather vest. I want to slap myself now when I think about that.

Thing of it was that I had another friend I began riding with at the same time, and he had just traded a 1980 Kawasaki KZ-freakin'-1300 (it's got how many cylinders?) for a 1981 GPz1100. After a month riding with him, I had scraped not only the pegs, but gouged the case on both sides. I began to ride with my feet on the passenger pegs. My eye began to wander...

My epiphany came one evening as I was in my car, headed home. I stopped at a light on a divided highway and noticed that in the second lane, ahead of me and diagonal on my left, was a guy on a Suzuki GS1100E. The light changed and we all pulled away, and I watched him riding. He was not riding a couch like I did, he was in a sporting posture like my GPz pal. His brown leather jacket did not flap in the wind; he did not move around on his seat nor did he make exaggerated motions with this arms or legs. He did not weave in his lane. He simply appeared to think "I'd like to go faster now" and moved away from us. At that moment, I was done with cruisers and ready to make a change.

In 1983, Kawasaki reworked the GPz line and introduced the new GPz1100. It was the hot bike of the year and came only in what one mag called "Arrest me red". I was immediately in lust over this bike, and in 1984 I bought this silver one. It was a huge bike: 62.5" wheelbase as I remember and weighed a ton, but most bikes did at that time. It was fuel injected and went like hell, and I had to practically sit on the tank to move it along a tight, twisty road.

I had many great rides on this bike over the years, and one particularly bad day, but maybe I'll recount that episode another time. This bike made a trip 2-up to Mystic Seaport and a few other overnight rides. These were the years when Scott and I used to meet at 7AM on Sunday morning and ride until it was dark. I ended up selling this bike after my daughter was born, as the money was needed for other things. But it was a wild ride while it lasted.

Shown above with the lowers that I added, parked next to my 1981 Turbo Trans Am, replete with screaming chicken hood decal . A happy garage indeed.

One morning in 1984, Scott gave me a ride to the dealer where I picked up my new GPz1100. That afternoon I gave Scott a ride over to the dealer where he picked up his new '84 Virago 920. Bad Ass to be sure. However, he now got to experience chasing me around on my "sportbike". The following year, the Virago was replaced with this 1985 GPz900.

Here's a pic I found of the bike when it was pretty darn new. I think he may have over 40K miles on this bike now and it still comes up occasionally in the riding rotation. Sure, you can just swing by his garage and see the bike today, since he still has it on the road, but this is a shot of history. So that's better.

Ride to Work Day, 2010

As you may be aware, today was designated Ride To Work Day. I know that this has been going on for many years now, but I have not ridden to work since 1995. I used to ride consistently prior to that whenever the weather permitted, to the tune of several thousand miles per year. I remember how every year on the first day I would walk into my building, bundled up and lips too cold to talk, and the guard would say “It must be spring....”.

Then we moved to another building and there was no reasonably secure place for motorcycle parking as cars and trucks would vie for every square inch and then play Create A Space. The past few years I’ve been working from home, so what I do is see my kids off to school or summer camp, suit up and head out on a ride for about an hour, ending up back at my house, put everything away and return to my work day.

Today I took the day off from work in celebration of my birthday. In honor of this, I decided I would go out for a 50 mile run. As it turned out, I went 100 miles.

I don’t mean about 100 miles either. I had to run around my block to pick up that last seven tenths. It’s not a perfect world.

I chose the ZX6 today as it’s partly a birthday present and it’s just so smooth to ride, though I admit I’m still getting used to it. I would not complain if the bars were a bit higher and wider in angle. Because of this tight configuration, I occasionally find I’m having to give conscience thought to counter steering, which is unnatural. It was also reinforced this past weekend while riding with friends on larger bikes, that I have to be mindful of gear selection as I now lack liter bike grunt.

I’m not complaining, just adapting. While riding today, I again thought about the pull-start, lawn mower engine, friction-plate brake mini-bikes I learned to ride 40 years ago, and all the hot summer days I spent on them. And what a blast I had. On to a QA50, then a KE100 and then an F11. Running an RD350 and then KZ400 on the street. And on and on, up to this amazing machine I was on today.

I do not know how many years I will continue to ride, but I was joking with a friend a while back that I hope to be bombing around a retirement village on a small electric motorcycle while the old guys are playing bumper cars with their golf carts   :)

ride ‘em if you got ‘em

Same as it ever was, Same as it ever was

It's been some time since I posted any pics of the new bike so here's a couple now. No new mods, but I'm looking for a definitive shot of this bike, and after trying a couple different options, well, I'm still looking for that shot....

What I had in mind was something dark. The bike is black, so I envisioned maybe a night shot. Maybe just removing the color from the background. I had thoughts of the bike sitting out in the open with a full moon rising behind it, but that'll have to wait for another location, another time.

So I'm outside at 01:30 this morning trying to find a certain look, and not having much luck as I could not make my camera do what I saw in my mind. I hate that. Most of what I got was incorrectly exposed and saturated. But, I've tried to work with a couple here.

This shot above is illuminated by one single 60 watt bulb in a yard light, 30' to the left. And way over exposed. But when I cut back on the time, I lost contrast on the black bike... Not that you can tell from this pic, but it was so dark out there I had a tough time telling if the side stand was fully down and I was scared the bike might fall over while I was positioning it.

Okay, moving 180 degrees in the other direction, I'm not happy with the white wall here, but wasn't going to paint graffiti on my fence. I like this shot, but am bummed it doesn't feature the Akra pipe.

Reflecting upon this past week

I’m taking a few minutes to acknowledge some events of the last 7 days.

A week ago Friday, I met up with Scott and Ed to try and retrace a southern route they had been led along a few days earlier, as we are always looking for another run option to add to the Sunday morning ride bag. It was a little disjointed as the other guys tried to remember which roads had been taken, but I was mostly just along for the ride. Adding just a few more needed break-in miles and enjoying the afternoon off from work.

During this past week, Lucas, Janine, Scott, Ed, Alex and I had a couple of day rides up to Americade. The event has certainly felt the effects of the down economy the past few years, and it’s very evident to see the accumulated changes over the past many years. But we all were able to catch at least a couple of demo rides and regardless of the pace and the traffic and the unknowns of those surrounding you on these rides, it's always fun to jump on someone else's brand new bikes and push them as much as you can get away with. Last year was a spectacular weather anomaly with 5 beautiful days; this year not so much. We all paid the price on the way home Wednesday in a downpour, with a half day of bike cleaning to follow. Still -- better than any day at work.

Today we went down to Rhinebeck to see, as Doug stated, where our sport came from.

Better than new, and a bit more expensive

His work here nearly done, the Man In Black prepares to ride off

Ed finds his Special Purpose

 I have little interest in hardware which predates me, but that span is getting pretty long now as it is. It was a kick to see the Hondas and Triumphs of the '60's (like the gem Doug picked up) that I remember would go by my house when I was a kid, and I'd always stop playing to look up and watch them pass. The mini-bikes and go carts of the early '70's that were my introduction into the world of Moto. The Kawasakis and Yamahas of the mid and late '70's that were the stuff of my teenage lust and indeed, eventually the first street motorcycles I rode and got my license with.

Somewhere about halfway along the ride down today, I stopped being caught up in the activities of riding where we all focus on traffic and the possible pass we may need to make soon and what's in our mirrors and the surface of the road and all the other basic survival skills. Looking across the vistas at mountains passing to the right, I realized I was doing what I enjoy most, on a bike I'm pleased to own, in the company of friends I've known for years, on a beautiful, sunny, blue-sky day: Motorcycling. I recounted how I've wanted to do this as long as I can remember, all the bikes I've ridden, and how just about three decades ago Scott and I began street riding together, and I was on a similar colored green bike back then. I will confess to having Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead Or Alive" running through my head, as I've been watching too much "Deadliest Catch" lately, and I was very grateful to be there at that moment.

Part of the enjoyment I have derived over years of riding is often from watching the person riding in front of me. You can't see yourself, but you watch that person, and you see in front of you displayed the sensations that you are feeling: the acceleration, the banking through sweeping turns, the setup and execution of tight corners. When it is working, I feel sort of like what I imagine fighter pilots may feel flying in formation. That person you ride with becomes an extension of you. Hopefully, they don't suck.  :)

I've seen this following Scott for many, many years, on many different motorcycle types. I became aware of this sensation again while following Doug home from Rhinebeck today. I was mostly lost when were weren't on Rt66, but it was some great sweeping roads in excellent condition at a pace that was brisk but no strain. It was a very good ride.

Overall, a good week of vacation. Hope to see you all out there along the way.