Crimson & Cream Honda

I saw this guy on a nice Honda Shadow VLX on Saturday. I think I really like the crimson & cream. If I were ever to get a motorcycle, it would be this style...a cruiser. My 2nd choice would be a touring bike like a Goldwing, but the only touring bikes I've seen look like total gargantuans.

8,888 Miles

I am almost up to 9K on the Majesty. It has be a really great 8,000 miles and I've loved every minute of it! I am ready for a new rear tire at any time now. As a matter of fact, I am going to take a ride with my friend Vince, and we're meeting some other riders to do the Tail of the Dragon/Deal's Gap. I need to get that tire put on before then, as that will be a 1K weekend.

IBR 2009 - Leg One Bonus Locations

How many locations marked here:  http://tcfjr.goption.com/ibr2009-leg1.html  could your ride to and document by picture starting in Spartanburg, SC and ending in St. Charles, IL?  I don't know about myself.  I see it as pretty amazing, but, man...I both feel sorry and am in complete awe of these folks.

Bike with a boat trailer???

This looks like it could haul a canoe or sidecar-like pod. I've never seen anything quite like it!! If anybody knows what it is, let me know. Is it homemade, or manufactured by some company? What is its purpose exactly?

LSG Tuesday Surprise!

Toward the end of the eating, my good friend Jeremy shows up on his newly aquired Vintage Honda 400 Motorcycle!! I was very happy to see him because he is my favorite person in the world to ride with and we've not had the opportunity to ride (or even hang out much) since Gasoline Rally. This friggin bike is wicked cool! Score one for the Japanese! In the scooter realm, vintage=Italian (for the most part). It is a very nice RED! He didn't stick with us too long...his bike is air cooled and doesn't like the slow speeds. We started out through the park, and it was so busy with people and cars that we were only doing like 10 or 15 mph. Still, it was nice to ride, and we'll have to have an excursion day just the two of us. Wonder how the Honda will handle creeks?

LSG Tuesday Ride

We had a good group of riders last night. Jim, Ralph, Steve & Jan, Vickie, Ken, and Vince! Vickie's scoot is still in the shop, so she rode with Vince! My route could have been a heck of a lot better, but there were no creeks, no gravel, and one road had an accident with traffic backed up until forever which we had to avoid. Vince who was following me first said "Did they ever get on you in school for coloring outside the lines?" I told him that I always stayed inside the lines...unless the teacher was looking. he said "Well, I seen you drift over the line a couple times." And then I told him "Ah, but you are not the teacher!" Of course ther teacher in this case would be: oncoming traffic. If forced to go slowly around curves, sometimes I drift a bit to "maximize twisty". I guess not everybody does that.

Flanagan's tonight at 6ish!

If you're on 2 wheels, possibly three, you should come to Flanagan's Ale House tonight between 530 and 6pm! The Louisville Scooter Group meets to chat & eat, then we have a short ride. Come join us! All scooters/motorcycles are welcome!

2009 IBR coverage

This is a compiled list of links to cover the event.

2009 IBR theme:
http://ld.hickmans.us/ibr_2009/ibr_2009_theme.jpg

2009 IBR home page, along with daily reports:
http://ironbuttrally.com/IBR/2009.cfm

2009 Rally Schedule:
http://www.ironbutt.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3064&PN=1

Motorcycle Tourer's Forum riders & coverage:
http://www.mctourer.com/MTF_IBR09.html

SideStandUp Internet radio coverage:
http://sidestandup.com/default.aspx

Public SPoT, all within one map, for riders wishing to share their path:
http://jasonjonas.org/spot/locationViewer.do?id=11

Matt Watkins identification of above riders:
http://mattwatkins.org/ibr09/?p=165

Public SPoT for individual rider tracking:
http://jasonjonas.org/spot/index.jsp?rider=0&keywords=IBR&aGo=GO

Links to photos:

Jeff/Carol Fremder:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bfremder/Twitxr?authkey=Gv1sRgCLnsk5_z9c7CZQ&feat=directlink#

Davo Jones:
http://fleeter.smugmug.com/Other/2009-Iron-Butt-Rally/9372434_pTqYd/1/627339099_ijtQG#627335624_cyRrL
http://s122.photobucket.com/albums/o258/farriders/?newest=1

Team Strange:
http://picasaweb.google.com/stryg8r/IBR2009#

Pre- and Post- rally blogs by riders, spouses, etc.:

Jeff/Carol Fremder:
http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/60452

Alex Harper:
http://www.slonishku.blogspot.com/

Kevin Healey:
http://www.wizardibr09.blogspot.com/

Pete Langford:
http://ibpete.blogspot.com/

Chris Sakala
http://www.beadrider.com/shop/custom.asp?recid=63

Sal Terranova
http://salterranova.com/blog.php

Dean Tanji (IBR staff/video production of '09 IBR):
http://test.jwvalentine.com/wp-mu/


Many thanks to M. Hickman for this list!  I know I'm going to be following along closely!

Start of the IBR video

Here's a video of the start of the Iron Butt Rally taken by Paul & Voni G.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Fleeter05#play/uploads/1/1anzAHh8gTo

Simply cool!

Iron Butt Rally Start (pics)

These are pictures from J. Plummer.  "This was at 9:00am, an hour before time to boogie
for around 11k miles."  http://picasaweb.google.com/jay.plummer/IronButtStart2009#

I am truly excited for these folks, and will be following along on the PC.  I don't think I would ever be able to hang with this type of endurance feat.

Tail of the Dragon/Deal's Gap Rally

There's this guy named Grant who's organizing a Tail of the Dragon/Deal's Gap Rally on September 11th - 13th. I had been tentatively planning this ride all year, but didn't want to go alone. Then Grant pops up with this back in July and I was starting to think I would do it. Earlier this week I asked my friend Vince who just did his IBA certification ride if he might like to do it. He said he's in, and my vacation day was approved, so I'm definatly doing it. I hope also to touch down in the Carolinas and Virginias while I am out there at the southeastern most point in Tennessee. I'll try to get pictures at the state line, and also drop postcards from those states. It should be a total blast. Check out www.tailofthedragon.com and www.dealsgap.com for more info. Its like a must ride.

This guy needs a ticket!

I am irritated. I'm here at Flanagan's Ale House for the Louisville Scooter Group "meeting" and somebody has the NERVE to park a HYBRID in the scooter parking spots!!! They ought to be shot!

Ok, so it not officially a scooter-only parking area...still...if there ever WAS going to be assigned scooter parking anywhere in Kentuckiana scooter parking would be right here. These things get stolen sometimes and you gotta keep an eye on them!

Saturday August 15th Creek Fording

Here's a picture from the PDF that Steve created to show the four crossings where we had to run down a mud slope, across a wet creekbed then up another mud slope.  It was enough to make the gravel on the other side look pleasant.  If you ask me (and I know nobody did...) I think this is pretty bad-ass.  Especially on a bunch of Maxi-scoots and (Jim!) a friggin VESPA!  These are NOT dirt bikes!!  The have 10-13 inch wheels!!!

Saturday the 15th of August

I led a ride for myself, Kat, Steve, Jan, Jim, and Vince on this past Saturday 08/15/09.  We wandered around out by Bernheim forest, back around Fort Knox, and then over to the Green Valley Restaurant in Irvington, KY.  I had planned a route thru Bernheim, but when it came time to turn, the road was blocked by a gate!  I had to re-route on the fly.  This took us over some non-optimal terrain...namely a gravel road that crossed a creek four times.  I say crossed, I actually mean forded.  Until you've done it, don't judge.  It's tricky as hell.  We ended up on this road and oddly enough Steve and I had been on it once before!!  Last time it was with Jeremy and Ralph, and it was only THREE fordings of the creek!!!  Here's pictures that Vince took:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/vpoman/sets/72157621924169101/

Here are my pictures from the Restaurant:  http://picasaweb.google.com/the1weasel/LouisvilleScooterGroup

I think everyone, despite the rough terrain, had a good time.

Hey man, nice bike!

This dude struck me as a cool guy, despite his Hardly-Ableson with all the show chrome. The solid front wheel was cool...plus he packed all is prescriptions in the front fork bag and stowed his 12 pack of beer in a rear soft bag which shows he might actually be someone who might take more than a 15 minute ride to the CVS... He thanked me for the compliment. My opinion went up several notches when he took off and I looked back to see he was going in the opposite direction...rather than HEAR he was leaving! Nice to see a Harley rider who doesn't feel the need to damage my hearing.

Zestos!

We stopped at Zestos in New Albany to have an ice cream....

Louisville Scooter Group Tuesday Ride

Hanging out at Flanagan's Ale House with the LSG crew. Very nice to see Bernie on his sleek black 250cc Vespa! Ken, Vince, and Mr. And Mrs. G were also in attendance. I passed out cards to thems that wanted 'em. Vince regaled us with stories of the Iron Butt cert ride, and Steve told of his battle with insectile adversaries!

Vince: SS1K accomplished!

Here's a bedraggled Vince at 1am with 1000+ more miles on his bike than when I last seen him! Way to go mellow yellow!

Vince's Saddle Sore 1000 mile ride

My friend Vince just left a little while ago on is certified 1K ride. I was his start witness. I wish him good luck, and told him to be careful. Godspeed, Vince! See you again in less than 24 hours!

My friend Vince

My friend Vince is going to start out tomorrow at 4am on his Iron Butt Cert ride!  I am going to be his start and end witness!  First time for both of us.  He's on a bright yellow Honda Reflex!  It should be an awesome accomplishment!

Bad weather = no scoot

This would be where I draw the line on whether to scoot-commute. It was too dark, rainy with thunder and lightning this morning to start out on two wheels. Of course, getting CAUGHT in it is an entirely different deal!

What killed the Vectrix???

I just learned yesterday that the company who made the Vectrix electric scooter has shut their doors and is filing bankruptcy. This is a heavy blow to eco2. My first and only thought is that the bikes were only marginally useful due to their very short range, but the started out when gasoline was $4+ per gallon, and if it had stayed like that I think they would have been more supported by the public.