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.

Some days it works out...

Last night we had our usual meetup at Flanagan's Ale House.  It was Ken, Vince, Vicki and myself.  We didn't ride due to impending weather, but I was thrilled that all four of us showed up on scooters!  While we were there, a red vintage scooter buzzed by.  I waved, but didn't know the fellow.  We had good food, drink, and ESPECIALLY conversation!

 

It rained all night and thought I would have to take the cage to work today, but I caught a meteorlogical break!!  It was stopped when I got outside, so I rode to work.  A little chilly, and I should have brought my jacket, but I needed to hit the road.  I got a little wet due to blowdrying Lois, but other than that, it was a good ride in!  If I have any luck left, maybe I will be able to ride home dry as well!

Rear Tire & Olympia GEL Gloves

I priced a rear tire at Derby Cycles in Shelbyville, KY.  This is the only place I've had any maintainence done on Lois (first service).  They gave me a price of $120-125 for a rear tire mounted, and I think he said that was a Michelin tire.  I probably need to do this soon as I am nearing 8000 miles.  Still, I have tread left on the rear, it's not showing any threads or signs of dangerous wear, so I might try to get 8500 out of it.  I will just have to watch how I ride of course, and in what conditions.  Much longer on this tire and I would not want to do a lot of riding at high speeds in the rain.  I check the wear weekly to keep an eye on it.

 

I finally wore a hole in my Olympia GEL gloves.  I might try patching them because it is only the left index finger that is showing lots of wear, and they really are comfortable and cool for summer.  I do have a pair of full leather work gloves that I've been using, but they are that brownish-yellowish-orangish leather, and it doesn't go with my jacket at all.  I use them when it's really hot outside and I'm going without my jacket (which is usually only when I'm in-town, and not out putting a lot of miles on).  At higher speeds I like to have as much gear as I can stand.  Full-face helmet 100% of the time is pretty much without saying though...

Sunday the 19th of July - Riding with KC!

Ken had an awesome route picked out from Crestwood Kentucky down to Taylorsville Lake!  Lots of nice road there, and miracalulosly the weather (grey clouds hanging) held all day!  What kind luck is THAT???  We made a pit stop at a gas station/food mart out on (I think!) KY-155.  That was where we saw a huge line of bikes going by with police escort.  The lady in the foodmart told us Sam Swope was having a big charity ride today.  I saw they had some du-rags that looked like really good quality and a brown Corona Beer one caught my eye, so I picked it up.  It has a nice sweat band and is nicer than the ones I bought at Wal-mart (though they are fine).  We continued on to Taylorsville and the lake.  Ken showed me around--I had never been out there before.  He was also nice enough to swing by the campgrounds at Taylorsville Lake State Park.  They have some really nice primative lots toward the back, but the electric ones all are flat grassy lots with no trees.  I wouldn't even want a tent there.  My intention is to go some weekend and hammock-camp!

 

Here are the pictures I took:  http://picasaweb.google.com/the1weasel/TaylorsvilleLakeWithKen?feat=directlink  I will be taking the kids out camping here very soon...perhaps in as little as 2 weeks.  There was playground, water, I need to check and see if there is a pool or beach.

 

The ride back in was equally nice.  That could be said for the day before also.  I think good riding company is a lot of it...  I am very fortunate to have a really great set of friends at the core of the Louisville Scooter Group.  I can't think of any time I've been riding with these people and had a bad time.

 

 

Saturday July 18th - Jailhouse Pizza

On Saturday, despite impending precipitation doom, Steve led me, Jan, and Jim on a great ride through Southern Indiana along the Ohio, artfully avoiding true gravel roads (though we did have a good bit of gravel anyway!) back across the bridge to Kentucky and to lunch at Jailhouse Pizza in Brandenburg, Kentucky.  Only our riding group (Louisville Scooter Group) travels 50 miles on all back roads taking 2+ hours just to get some lunch!  I love these folks!!!

 

Pictures I took are located at: http://picasaweb.google.com/the1weasel/JailhousePizza?feat=directlink if'n your interested in checking them out.  Jailhouse Pizza is so named because it used to be a functioning jailhouse back long ago.  Rumor (possibly substantiated) is that more than just a few criminals were hung there too.  The wings I had were ok, but the calzone Steve had looked a lot better.  I can imagine their pizza is pretty awesome.  The place sits where you can get a decent look at the river, and prices are reasonable.

Tuesday Night Ride

We had a plethora of Italian and Japanese scoots last night.  Pack leader was Steve on his black Suzuki Burgman.  Following was a couple Honda Reflex (Red-Jan and Yellow-Vince), one Honda Silver2wing*(Dale), a 150cc (White-Ken) and a 250cc Vespa(Red-Jim).  I followed in Lois (Red Majesty).  We also had a champaigne Diamo(Vicki) and a silver Majesty(Jonathan) show up at Flanagan's launch point for some meet & greet/conversation.  That's nine scooters and seven of us rode over to Indiana!  Steve took us on a great route making perfect use of the hills of Southern Indiana.  Coming down out of the ridge, I got something in my eye, and it was stinging like a mother.  When we stopped at Mom & Pop's Ice cream (1817 Graybrook Ln, New Albany, IN‎) Jan let me douse the fire in my eye with some of her water...  I don't know if I got something in it from the air (I like to ride with my visor open under 50mph) or if I got something on my glove then wiped my eye.

 

We ate ice cream...they had No-Sugar-Added Moose Tracks!  We sat and talked for a few minutes but they do not have a public bathroom there, so we didn't stay too long.  We attracted the attention of a group of kids who were attracted to the shiny cool-looking scoots.  They first called them "motorcycles" but were easily corrected, especially once they got a look at Ken and Jim's Vespas.  Good kids are inquisitive, but not touchy.  These were pretty good kids, but I joked with Ken that I thought they were headed to his scoot with a quarter looking for the slot to put it into so they could ride!

 

There were a couple times on the ride last night that I liked having a good-weather-neighborhood-or-trailering-only-harley-poser riding behind us as a group.  I tried to take a little extra time at stops so they could do some reading. LOL!  Well, it's nice to dream anyway!  When I'm around those big heavy-metal bikes, I also like to pull up to a complete stop without putting my feet down and then ride on.  I know how silly this is, but I can't help it.  That's at least two things we can do they can't....get 50-100mpg and balance better.  A lot of that is due to having a significantly lighter bike.  I heard a guy talking the other day that he didn't even get 100 miles out of a tank!!   I note that a lot of those guys don't have bugs or dirt, have a lot of shiny chrome...I am really profiling here---I know.  But I feel like us scooter folks don't always get the respect we deserve.  Our Louisville scooter folks, in my opinion, are the antipathy of that stereotype.  Not one of them that I ride with are afraid to ride in any sane condition.  Some of them have ridden hundreds of miles with me--one or two have ridden thousands, or in what turned into less-than-sane weather conditions.  This is something I do not take lightly in the least, and I appreciate every last one of them.
 
It not a hi-power macho-machine we are on, but a smart fun vehicle.  Its ok.  The geeks are starting their takeover...we'll be swept along some day!  

 

After the 'official ride' (Steve said 'once we're across the bridge, you're on your own'--which is a common deal)  Jim and I went to this bar he discovered called Harley's House of Brews at 122 W. Main Street.  (I had originally thought it was House of Blues and wasn't really getting it...)  They had Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale on tap and I tried some.  It was pretty awesome!   We talked for a while.  Jim is one of those folks who can spin a good yarn, and I love to listen.  He's also one of the coolest guys I know.  I like hanging out with him and this night was no exception.  Still having some conversation at stops, we finally split up on down Bardstown road which was unusually busy in the Highlands for a Tuesday night.

 

Good night last night.  Good friends, good riding.

*the silver-Silverwing!

Saturday

Saturday I rode to Corbin, Kentucky.  It was about 3 hours and an exercise mainly to keep my interstate and distance skills from deterorating.  I got about 45mpg on that tank.  I was also there to spend time with a friend who lives in the area, and scout out possible camping spots for later this month or next month.  Daniel Boon National Forest is all around that area.  I also saw the original Colonel Sanders restaurant.  Now days it's just a funny-looking KFC.  They did have a bunch of antique cars outside so perhaps a car club was eating there...  On the interstate I managed to drink water and eat jerky, peanuts, and on the way home even a peanut butter sandwich.  This kept me moving instead of stopped, which is good.  Down to Corbin I only had to stop once for fuel.  On the way back I caught about 5 miles of heavy rain.  I pulled off and got on my jacket liner, then about 5 miles later I pulled off again to remove it.  I was pretty dry when I got home.  I think I will need a new pair of glove soon.  The Olympia gel gloves I have are wearing out on the left index finger.  I think I will look for all leather next time.  These didn't last a full year.

Trip to the Vet

I had to run to the vet today at lunch to pick up some drugs for my
defective dog. It calls for possibility of rain this afternoon, so I
figured Lois and I would get soaked. I got there dry enough. Among
the liquor stores and strip clubs of that area, I noted no fewer than
five vendors of scooters! One was a Kymco shop, but the rest were
Chinese. The Chinese scooters are (in my opinion) fine for the
general public. The problem with them is the necessary rigorous care
and maintenance involved, and the fact that almost no place will work
on them, including most of the retailers. My problems I ran in to
were related to the amount of use I put on the bike more than build
quality. If I had had time, I would have stopped in to get some
prices just for reference. I'm sure they were almost all 50cc
scooters. I almost never see any maxi's among them. Gas is mid $2
range and I'm starting to see a few more two-wheelers on the road.
I picked up the drugs and got back to work unscathed by weather.

Last night was the meetup for Louisville Scooter Group. We had five
scooterists at Flanagan's shooting the bull. One was a new guy on a
03 Honda Reflex. Seeing a Reflex up close always makes me nostalgiac
for my old Black Betty.

GASOLINE RALLY09-Departure - No Nathan, no New Steve

I accidentally overslept. I woke when Jeremy texted me at 9am to see
if we could leave early because he was tired of watching television.
I got to Metro Scoot around 10:30am. Kat was nice enough to put my
luggage in her trunk. She had to come thru Louisville on the way
home, so that was nice. The ride back was just 5 scoots. Jeremy led
the route again with myself, Joan, Steve and Jan. Getting out of town
sucked...the roads are bad and I thought I might need dental work
before too much more! Nate had left early to get on the interstate
home. At first I was wishing I had joined him, but 1 hour into
Jeremy's route home and I was hooked. I would like to say there was
no gravel but I can not. What I can say is there was no gravel ROADS.
We went on a couple of places where there were huge patches of torn
up pavement with gravel in them. The route was pretty much flawless
as you can get. Jeremy puts a lot of time and effort into is
planning, and it shows. We got close to Story, IN again and I was
racing around a curve trying to keep up with Jeremy on his
SR50...well, I got to close to the edge! There was about 5 inches of
pavement past the white line, then about 5 more inches of grass after
that--then the huge nasty ditch in a straight drop!! I slowed, braked
a little and leaned in just in the knick of time... Later Joan told
me grass and gravel were flying out my back wheel---aparently it was a
little worse than it actually felt at the time. I was really lucky.

We pulled up at the stop and Jeremy asked if we wanted to go back to
the Story Inn. I pointed to the road out of town and we left as
quickly as we came in. We finally did stop for gas and Mc Donalds in
a small burg that starts with a B.... The rest of the way home was
fairly mundane, but it was still really nice to be riding with
friends. At Sellersburg I opted to get on the interstate. I waved
bye to everyone and shot out for home. I worried that Kat might get
there with my luggage and be waiting around. All in all, it was a
super weekend. You can see the pictures here