Ride With Tank

OK, riding season has started.  If your bike is not ready to ride it is time to get a move on and get it ready!

Last Sunday we had a really nice ride up to the Kinzua Dam and through the Allegheny Forest.  We met up at the Yankee Kitchen and had a great breakfast before we hit the road at 12:00.  I really thought we were going to have a great turnout because we had 8 bikes show up for breakfast.  It really was not all that warm out so only three of us actually went on the ride:  Mark, Nick, and myself.  We were surprised by how much snow and ice was still up by the dam, and intended to ride the Longhouse Scenic Drive but we ran into some guys from Akron at the dam and they told us that the road was still covered in ice about five inches deep. 

We have some new ideas for rides this year.

I am pretty excited about going to the Mt. Weather secret government underground complex.  We are going to try not to get arrested and/or tortured on this ride, but if we do it will give us some great stories.

We are going to do the whole Rt. 68 to Foxburg thing also.  There is a great smoked meat place along the way that we can stop at and load up on jerky and it is a very nice ride.  I am going to hold off until the leaves are out for this one.

Another excellent suggestion is a little trip around Lake Erie.  From Sandusky there is a ferry that takes you to Pele Island.  Spend the night camping on the island and then cross the rest of the way into Canada.  Spent another night on Long Point and from there hit Niagara Falls for the night.  Return home the next day.  I am not sure if I will have the time for this one this year, but it sounds like a great ride.

There is also some talk of going to the Honda Homecoming, AMA Vintage Days, and the Superbike races.  Also keep in mind that it is very likely that MotoGP will be coming to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2008 and if that happens I will absolutely be there.

Just thought I would give an update to what rides I have planned so far.

OH Rt. 26 – The only reason for this ride is to check out the road. It runs through Wayne National Forest and should be pretty nice. This will be a day trip.

I am kind of getting the urge to go to Texas.  Maybe California.  Probably only Texas because if I do it I will only have a week to do it in.

If anyone has any good ideas for a ride let me know!  There is a long summer ahead of us and for me one of the hardest things is to figure out new places to visit.  As usual, all are welcome to join in on the fun.  Let me know if you are going to come along on a ride and I will let you know when and where we are meeting up!

It looks like we finally have a little break in the weather.  Normally this would mean I would be taking the bike out for some riding, but the Vstrom is still being held hostage at Gollans.  It is starting to get a little frustrating for me.  I dropped it off a month ago to be sure I would be ready to go once riding season started and they still have not even looked at it.  I dropped it off so they could try to find the little problem I have been having with my idle and to put two new tires on it.  They told me it would be done next week, so I do hope that it is.

The Groundhog has spoken.  Early spring is on the way!  Of course, as I write this the temperature outside is 12.  Tomorrows high is only going to be 8.  If that overgrown rat is wrong I am taking up groundhog hunting.

Last year at Deals Gap I had the pleasure of meeting Bob Brown from EmpireGP.  He is a really great guy who just loves motorcycles.  He does plastic welding and can work wonders with busted up fairings.  I knew he was my kind of guy when he told me his company motto:  “Ride hard, take chances.  We need the work.”  He was riding a bike he had wrecked a few weeks earlier and I have to say he did a pretty good job putting it back together.  His pricing is very reasonable so if you have some damaged bodywork get in touch with him before you spend the big money replacing it.  Chances are he will be able to save you a lot of money.

Bob had a video camera mounted on the bike when he wrecked, and he just finished editing it.  You can see the wreck and the process of repairing the damage and repainting, as well as the final result.  It is pretty interesting and you can see it by clicking here.  While filming themselves on Deals Gap last spring they caught a guy crashing on film.  That video can be seen by clicking here.  Finally, there is a video of a crash and the repair and repainting of another motorcycle here. 

Since I was adding these videos I went ahead and updated the videos page on the website so it looks a little prettier now.  I have also updated the links page.  Check the links page often, there are a lot of really great sites there.  In fact, this would be a great time to click the links for free maps so you have some nice new maps when spring finally comes around.

We sure have had an unpleasant start to 2007.  Lets all hope there will be no more tragedy this year.

Winter sure has turned cold lately.  I guess it had to happen sometime.  At least January is about over.  Before we know it we will be out on the bikes again.

I have been down in the basement running the sewing machine.  I have taken apart the electric blanket I bought on the way home from the Gap in November and sewn it into an electric vest.  I have not tested it out yet, but I think it is going to work really well.  If it does work out I will post a little write-up on how to do it.  I have to admit, it is not a pretty thing to look at, but if it works well who cares what it looks like?  Instead of spending $200 with Gerbing you can spend $20 and a couple of hours of work