Four Months of Sadness

Well today I finished winterizing my bike. This time I'm determined to have it survive this winter, unlike my first bike. I won't be seeing it for four months! Theres not much else to say except I feel very proud that I have the know how to really get it all done. While i was getting it all done i made a note of all the things ill need to take care of when the spring comes again. Who knows maybe it'll be in good enough shape that I'll ride down to Texas like I wanted to. Untill then I guess ill just be working in the garage and learning more about fixing up bikes.

November: Motorcycle Month

Wow, where to begin. This month I've been exposed to so many things motorcycle my head is still spinning. I am about 3000% more knowledgeable about bikes that I was last month. I've learned so much its crazy, mostly due to research online (forums, search, websites) combined with actually getting the change to work on bikes at a garage with some friends. Tom and Mark are buds of mine and we are all very much into motorcycle so we spend a lot of our free time fixing up all our bikes. I've successfully cleaned my first pair of carbs, cleaned and rebuilt forks and seals, gone into an engine and replaced the oil pump, along with many other small projects!

Although many things have gone right so far I did have my first experience of something going wrong, and once again it involved Kettle Moraine. Yep, I had my first crash. After taking what was probably my last ride of the year (winter time) I was heading home from up in Kettle Moraine and I was in the middle of a turn when i saw some gravel right in front of me. Instantly I debated "Keep turning into the gravel?" or "Try to upright and brake hard and hope for the best?" I chose the latter. I uprighted the bike and braked hard, quickly running out of road. I got down to about 15-20 mph but as soon as got to the end of the road i hit all the fall leaves that were on the ground and boom. my bike instantly lost traction and I bit it(low side on the left). It wasn't too bad really. almost no damage to the bike. I just chipped my left turn signal. Other than that the bike was totally fine. I was really embarrassed too and there was a car coming about 10 seconds away. I ended up picking up my bike in like 1 second flat because i didn't want the car to see that i had crashed. As soon as the adrenaline wore off i realized my leg stung a little bit. I ended up cutting it. Not too bad really. Didn't need stitches or anything so thats cool.

This crash was the first of many (8 total this month) to come in the future. luckily the other 7 were on dirt on dirt bikes. I went out for my first dirt bike riding with Tom and Mark up north in Port Washington. It was really fun if not borderline crazy. We ended up going in one of the most windy, rainy and yes SNOWY days ever. Conditions were insane, but we went out anyways. So my first time learning to ride dirt bikes was in one of the most slippery conditions ever and i crashed about 7 times. (my knee and some fingers still hurt!) It was really fun though and near the end i really got the hang of racing around the track that they had in their back yard.

Lastly, it snowed statewide a few days ago. (*cry*) so we know what that means. No more riding for about 4 months! I know i could still ride right now since there is no snow but they already salted the roads and i really don't feel like destroying my bike with rust. Not to mention you never know when you're gonna hit some ice out there now. So who knows how much i'll right, or what it will even be about. But for now I've done and learned so much this month I'm really thankful for it all.

Ike Meets Murphy (and his law)

October 13, 2007

Its 7pm and I just got home. Yet I left 10:30am this morning! I'll explain.

Today's conditions were great so i headed up to Kettle Moraine. (Yet again). Mainly I went to video tape it so I can show friends and family just why I love it so much, and to test out the new GP Touring handlebars i put on my bike. I decided to take pure back roads all the way up to Kettle Moraine. Some of the roads were pure farm roads without any lines, and I think once (once) i hit 100mph on one of them. When I got to Kettle Moraine I had a blast. That is until i tried to film the road. I forgot to charge the batteries on my camera so I had to drive all the way to Plymouth, WI to get some more. Then when I got back to Kettle Moraine Drive I started to film the road again, but my camera kept shutting off and I have no idea why. So all i kept getting was about 30-40 seconds of the road and that was all. It was very frustrating and i tried a million things, involving duck taping the camera to the front of my bike.

Finally I got good footage of the road to nearly the end of it. When I stopped to take down the camera the fog light on my Seca had fallen out! Luckily it was still hanging on by the bulb wire. It was only a small screw that could be replaced so it wasn't such a big deal. I just put the light in my backpack and kept on riding. After hours of fun I decided that I should probably go home. As soon as I headed down the road to leave my bike dies! No!!! So I pulled over and checked everything. Then I called my friend Mark (who basically mentors me on all that is motorcycle) and asked him what could have went wrong. He told me to check the fuses and the battery, so i did. After a while I found out that it indeed was the old main fuse on my bike that had probably been in the fusebox since the bike was made in 1981. So mark told me that he and his roommate Tom would come bring the truck and some fuses and get my bike running or tow my bike back home. I'm very lucky to know people like Mark and Tom or else I would be stuck out there all night or have to leave my bike there overnight, which i hate doing. I ended up just sitting around waiting for them to arrive for about an hour. So Mark when mark arrived we popped in a new fuse and the bike started right up again. Note to self, ALWAYS bring extra fuses. A fact which I already knew but chose to ignore. Well I payed the price. Got the footage, handlebars are so great, and learned a valuable lesson.

Kettle Moraine Drive Group Ride

This blog entry was written 2 days after the ride.

October 07, 2007

Today I'm riding up to Kettle Moraine Drive with two people that I graduated with, from our Motorcycle Safety Course. It's a record high today in Wisconsin for October! It's like 86 degrees outside. According to a weather site its a record that was previously held in 1877!! It's warm but out on the road its perfect so I'm not complaining. I met up with Jason and Lynn at the DMV in Cudahy, WI. It was great to see them. We took off along the lake heading north. After about an hour we stopped at a park that has a view that I enjoy very much. The park is called Vermond Park and its off of Lake Shore Drive just north of Mequon. It's not much of a park but it has this cliff that must be about 200 ft. high looking out on Lake Michigan. You'd have to see it to feel it but it's amazing. After a short break to enjoy the sites we headed out again. This time we followed the lake up to Grafton and from there we got on highway 43 and took that north to highway 57. Also this was Lynn's first group ride so we took it easy, to make her feel more comfortable. Taking highway 57 northbound for some 30-35 miles we get to County road PP. Taking that west you'll soon hit highway 67. We took that south until you cross the Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive. We took it North and there it is....the most amazing "motorcycle" road I have yet experienced. I say "motorcycle" road because it is in fact just a road that anyone can drive on. But if you spent 1 minute on this road with your two wheels you'd realize that someone out there made this one for a motorcyclist! It twists and turns like nobody's business, all in some of the greatest forest Wisconsin has to offer. Take that image you have in your head right now and multiply it times 10! The Fall, oh the fall. I cannot even describe to you how incredible this road is in the fall.

We road on this 5 mile piece of road maybe 4-5 times having a blast the whole time. On the last run Jason and I decided to really take the turns hard and see if we could do it quickly. Piece of cake and we just laughed and smiled about it when we were done, Lynn looking at us curiously as to what was so funny. (we gave her a 5 minute head start). After we had our fun it was time to head home. The Sun was setting soon and we needed to get home before it got too dark. Lynn wasn't familiar with riding at night and even though I am, i do not prefer being on back roads at night. Being blinded by oncoming traffic on unfamiliar roads isn't something I consider fun.

In the end we ended up riding home at night. I was worried about Lynn but honestly it didn't look like she had too much trouble. We took the freeway all the way home, stopping once for gas and to say our goodbyes. (we would just break off at our respective exits). I had alot of fun with these guys. This was my first serious ride with a group. And I guess what I learned is. If you go with people who are nice and just want to have a good time, it makes all the difference in the world. Taking short breaks and watching as everyone takes off their helmets and seeing their big smiles. I dunno, you cant put a price on that. Ride of the year for me. Bring it on Winter!

The Rider and the Wind

October 09, 2007

Today the sky was so clear, and the cool October breeze was too much to resist. So naturally I had to ride. I geared up and headed up to one of my favorite riding spots. Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive. Unfortunately that breeze i mentioned before, well it was more of a series of 35mph gusts. It became quickly apparent, this being my first time driving in strong winds, that doing so is not fun. I had to concentrate very hard not to let the bike go into the shoulder. I ended up getting off the freeway and stopping just south of Port Washington, WI, near an elk farm nearby. I decided now would be a good time to take a break and find out just what kinda wind i was dealing with, for future reference. Got on my phone and called friends and family. (whoever had a computer nearby) Thats when i learned that the wind was at about 18mph with gusts hitting around 35mph. So I guess today I learned the value of checking the wind speed of the area your riding in. You simply cannot relax if its too windy. It makes you feel like you don't have control once you start moving fast.

Guess its slow going back home then. But first i took some pictures of interesting things and then off I went. The ride home was much better on the back roads where I could go at the pace i wanted to without feeling the wind too much. Even though my original destination was never reached, I still found that where I stopped to take a break still had an effect on me. Today was amazing, wind and all. I think today is the day that I realized that riding my bike means more to me than just riding my bike.