Ride With Tank

First things first – Interstate National Star Sport is going to repair Marks motorcycle under warranty.  I really am glad.  Mark is a good guy and he does love to ride.  I am somewhat disappointed that another boycott has ended so soon.  I was kind of starting to look forward to throwing rocks through windows and burning some buildings down, but I guess I have to put away the matches again.

The trip to Deals Gap was awesome.  The weather Friday was perfect.  The traffic on Friday was perfect.  It was a perfect day and probably the best day I have ever had down there.  I made it down in just 10 hours, 9 hours of riding with an hour of stops.  I really did not take any pictures that are any different than any of the other 1,000 pictures I have taken, so I won’t be posting any pictures from the trip.  Mostly I was just too busy riding to take pictures anyway. 

The weather Saturday was a little bit less than perfect.  The day sure started out good, and I thought I would have another excellent day, but rain soon blew in and the temperature dropped.  Most of the people who were there were smart enough to trailer their bikes in and most of them went home on Saturday.  I spent the day waiting for it to stop raining.  It never did.

Sunday was the trip home.  This was an awful ride.  I would have rather been at work than riding my motorcycle.  The temperature never got above 40 degrees.  At one point it was 35 degrees and raining.  I have ridden in temperatures much colder than 40 degrees before, but I have never tried to ride 580 miles in this kind of cold.  I suspect the reason I have never tried this is because it is a really stupid thing to do.  I did everything I could to stay warm.  I bought chemical heat pads and stuck them in my gloves and shoes.  I bought a 12 volt electric blanket and cut a hole in the center of it to make an electric poncho for under the sweatshirt and three coats that I wore.  I had three pairs of pants on.  I suppose all these things probably helped a lot, but I was still colder than I have ever been in my life.  The trip home took me 13 1/2 hours to complete.  Even still, if I could do it all over again this weekend I would.  The time I had down there on Friday was worth all of the suffering I did on the way home.

Check out tailofthedragon.com.  Look down toward the bottom of the page.  That’s right, a nice little picture of the Tanksters backside.

Once again I have to give thanks to the entire staff at the Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort.  Everyone there is just the greatest.  Brad is very lucky to have such a great group of people working there.

I can not believe I am doing it, but I am leaving for the gap tomorrow.  I’ll be knocking off work early tomorrow and hopefully should be on the road by noon.  I am going to spend the night near Lexington, Kentucky and then finish the ride off on Friday morning.  The weather looks really good the whole way through except for Sunday, the day I return home.  Sunday they are calling for a high of 44 degrees here, and I am supposed to wake up to a 32 degree morning at the gap.  That is pretty cold for a 600 mile ride, but I have nearly every single piece of warm clothing I own packed on the bike, so I will make it home somehow.  I sure hope it does not snow.

In other news there is big controversy brewing over Marks ZZR1200.  He took it in for a routine valve adjustment and it turns out his camshafts are badly pitted.  He bought an extended warranty through Interstate National Star Sport and they really have not decided if they are going to honor the warranty or not.  The way I read the engine part on their web site it should be a no brainer, but the bike has been at Harding Park Cycles for over a month now and still no decision on their part.  They have given him a price of $5,000.00 if it is not covered.  Is that a crazy figure or what?  I can not figure out how they justify that one.

The whole IBA boycott from last week was a little tongue in cheek.  I did feel he should have got one but the boycott was more for fun than anything else, but I make you this promise:  If Mark is not treated right on this camshaft issue it is going to get ugly.  Even though at the current time I am riding a Suzuki, Kawasaki has always been my brand of preference.  We will drop a boycott on Kawasaki, Interstate National Star Sport, and Harding Park Cycles that is going to make their heads spin.  It kind of makes me sad because I really love the looks of the new Concours1400, but I can not deal with a $5,000.00 repair on a bike that is only 14 months old.

Still, I am trying not to get too upset yet because they just might do the right thing, but I am loosing hope because this has been going on for over a month already with no answers.

Last weekend Rick, or man in Texas, took a ride to The Lone Star Rally in Galveston.  Below is the first picture he sent me:

This guy really has it going on, doesn’t he?  Someday when I get to Texas I am definitely going to hang with those guys!  Here are some more pictures he sent of the rally:

Ok, I just checked my online banking and my account balance is quite a bit smaller than $600,000 so I think Google has decided to pass on my offer.  I am sure this is a decision they will regret in the future.

In other news, I heard from someone claiming to be Mike Kneebone in response to the Yellow Wolf issue.  I am not 100% positive that this mail actually came from Mike and not someone pranking me, but it did appear to be well written with no spelling mistakes, so if you guys are pranking me I have to give you credit for using the dictionary.

Several issues have been settled.

I want everyone to know that Yellow Wolf (Rick) has no problem with the IBA at all.  I do not represent him in any way.  I have only spoken to him a couple of times and they were pretty meaningless and brief conversations.  Rick doesn’t even know or care who I am. 

The reason it was not recognized was the speed issue.  Here is Mikes statement:

2. Forget about high speeds. Forget what you’ve been told; high speeds and long-distance riding have little in common. A steady rider can book more miles, enjoy more mountain vistas and ride more twisty miles than a canyon carver bent on making the best times across a mountain pass. Besides the obvious effects on fuel mileage, which means more time wasted looking for gas, and the fatigue caused by fighting the effects of pushing a motorcycle through the wind, riding much beyond the flow of traffic will land you a hefty speeding ticket. While you are on the side of the road having a spirited discussion with a Police officer about your 10/10ths riding style, the turtle-like rider on the Honda 250 will wave as he sets himself up for the next set of corners.

The IBA did not require him to break the speed limit.  This justifies why they would not sponsor a 1,000 miles on Deals Gap specific award.  I still think they should yank the award from the magazine guy who showed the picture of his speedometer at 130mph. I think it is funny how their statement kind of says it is impossible to accumulate that kind of mileage if you are “a canyon carver bent on making the best times across a mountain pass”.  Guess Rick proved that wrong.  Or maybe he was just embarrassed to mention all the 250 Rebels that were passing him.

Mike did say he issued a press release confirming that Rick did do the ride so I do feel that is recognition.  Mike seems like a good guy so I would like to address some of the ranting I did a couple of days ago when I referred to the IBA as panty-wearing, cross-dressing, no good, BMW riding, camelback equipped, adult diaper wearing half wits.

Panty Wearing

This is actually somewhat true.  A lot of these guys wear those funny bicycle shorts.  Still, they are not panties in the true sense of the word, so I retract this statement.

Cross Dressing

I am actually just ashamed I stooped to that level.  I am sure some of them are cross dressers, but that really is none of my business.

No Good

I should not have said that.  I am sorry Mike.

BMW Riding

While it is true that many do ride BMW’s, many others choose to ride nice bikes like Suzuki’s, Harley’s, Yamaha’s, and Kawasaki’s.  (I’ll bet the Gold Wing guys are mad I did not say Honda!)

Camelback Equipped

This is also true.  This is a hydration device, not a physical deformity.

Adult Diaper Wearing

I have heard rumor that this is true.  I have never talked to anyone who admitted to using one to avoid rest stops, but I have heard rumors.  Astronauts used to make wet in their spacesuits so I guess this is not completely unheard of.  Still, Ironbutt guys are not astronauts.

Half Wits

Once again, I am ashamed to have written this as I have no evidence at all that these guys have half a wit.

In light of all this, I am ending my boycott of the IBA.  Had I known about the press release I would probably not have ranted at all.  I would also like to thank Mike for not suing me for some kind of copyright infringement for defiling their little symbol.  The symbol has been returned to its original state and the link has been replaced.

Just one more thing, if I find out that someone was pranking me and the email was a phony, the boycott is back on!

Last week Yellow Wolf did 1,000 miles in 24 hours riding Deals Gap.  This is an amazing accomplishment and he really deserves a pat on the back for this accomplishment.  Now here comes the bad part:  Those panty-wearing, cross-dressing, no good, BMW riding, camelback equipped, adult diaper wearing half wits will not recognize his accomplishment.  Two reasons.  They don’t like “routes that are repetitive in nature”.  I have spent a lot of time on the freeway and believe me, 1,000 freeway miles feels pretty repetitive even if you are going west the whole time.  Second reason is speed.  They do not condone speeding.  Yea right.  A couple of months ago one of the big motorcycle magazines had a story about a guy doing the 1,500 miles in 24 hours on a Vstrom and there was a picture in the article of his speedometer showing 130mph.  Now this guy deserves his stupid little license plate frame and Rick doesn’t??  This does not make sense to me at all.

I’ll bet you all think I am just going to sit around and let this happen, don’t you?  Well, I am not!  So long as the IBA does not recognize this accomplishment, I am not going to recognize their entire organization.  That’s right, as of right now the IBA is dead to me.  I have removed the link.  I have added the symbol to the top of the page.  Click here to get your own anti-IBA symbol.  Let the boycott begin. 

Tomorrow is the deadline for Google to put a deposit on my site.  I am kind of glad they have not bought it because I think this whole IBA boycott might be a lot of fun.  Still, I made the offer so I would have to sell if they gave me the deposit.  I think I’ll end the update and write Google an email to find out what their intentions are.