police motorcycle manuevers

today i'm giving you a pretty cool video of a police officer navigating a police issue harley through an obstacle course. damn fine work. i do recommend that you turn off your sound so you don't have to listen to lowrider.



i've taken a motorcycle course and have learned some of the techniques demonstrated, but am in no way anywhere as good as this good. sick skills from this guy. and, it's rather impressive that he's doing it on an old school harley not a bmw or kawasaki or whatever smaller bikes used now.

art deco motorcycle

wow, this is a lovely bike from the 1930's. had to share.



you can read about the bike here.

dust in the wind

you may not realize this, but there are a lot of trucks that carry sand or gravel on hwy 41. seriously, at most points of the day you've got a strong chance of encountering one of these trucks as their rolling down the road. this isn't necessarily a bad thing for most people.

myself, it's a bit of a pain in the...face. you see, i first noticed the number of trucks once i started riding a motorcycle and wearing an open faced helmet. most of the time i enjoy the wind on my face, but when there's a gravel truck anywhere within a mile in front of you it can be a whole load of suck. the trucks keep in the rocks and gravel, but sand does tend to blow out. not large amounts, but just enough. and when this little bits of sand whip into your face at 65+ mph it can really sting. so, i'll be riding along and all of a sudden i'll feel the little pings of sand. then, i do a little 2 step move of cover my face with my left hand and start scanning for the truck. basically, i want to see how far ahead of me it is and if i can manage to get around it.

i guess this is a small penalty to be cool as hell on my motorcycle.

cold november rain

i am an everyday rider. that is, i pretty much ride my motorcycle every day. and, i've been doing this for the last few years. warm, hot, cold, foggy, rain, whatever, i'm riding. when it gets colder, i put the windshield on the bike to cut the airflow a bit. i need to do this soon as it is crazy chilly in the morning and less wind on the body would help. when it rains, i have some rain pants that go over my regular pants, and a raincoat that goes over my jacket and they keep me nice and dry.

my rain gear was getting a little tattered, so yesterday i went and got some new duds over @ cycle gear.

my new overcoat



yeah, it's bright, but you will see me.

my new pants



pretty basic, but will keep me dry.

anyway, i purchased these items yesterday, and then last night i saw on the news that there was a chance of rain today. how fortuitous! but, angelo stalis seemed to downplay the storm a bit and it seemed, or at least i understood, that the storm would hold off until later in the day. so, i decided i probably would not need to wear the rain gear today. this morning, i didn't wear it.

so, of course, when i was going to leave work, it was raining. fortunately, it was just spitting a bit and not pouring. i made it home rather dry. this time.

airwolf theme on my motorcycle

occasionally when i am driving around i think of this song



now, i can't think of a precise reason, but sometimes when i'm accelerating i think of that tune. here's some possible reasons:
- the show was sort of big when i was a kid. we remember these things fondly and sometimes associate other things with the memory
- airwolf was like knight rider in the air, or the a team with a helicopter - and these all were on in the same era
- they didn't just play the music @ the start of the show, but whenever they had to really gun it
- jan michael vincent was a badass. way more than david hasselhoff. and, he rode a motorcycle. i think. anyway, he had some vehicle accidents that pretty much killed his career.
- well, it's a kick ass theme, right up there with magnum p.i. and knight rider


enjoy having the airwolf theme stuck in your head. i know i'm going to have to drown it out with my ipod on my way to work this afternoon.

share the road

a friendly video message from the u.k., but something as a cyclist and motorcyclist that is important to me

riding my vegas

heading east on hwy 180 in fresno, ca.



music by anthrax, covering black sabbath's 'sabbath bloody sabbath.'

motorcycling for the environmentally conscious

maybe you remember my post about bamboo bikes. if not, search for it. i saw this, and thought i should post it, too. how cool is a helmet made out of wood, but it's so strong that it meets the european standards (which are higher than the u.s. ones)?


and a hybrid vespa? wow.

a good day for a ride

i had a little free time today, and the weather was great, so i jumped on the bike and headed east.



then i turned around and came back. nice little 3 hour ride.

triumph rocket 3

the la times has a spiffy review of the new triumph motorcycle. and holy crap, i thought my vegas' 1634 cc was a big beast of an engine. this thing has 2294 cc engine. yow! watch the video, too. it's actually a better review than the article, in my opinion. i'd be curious to actually see the bike in person, get an idea about size. the reviewer, a lady, seems very small in comparison to the bike. i mean, i think this bike is probably a big ol' beast (bigger engine & weight that my vegas) but how much bigger?

my baby turned 500!

well, actually it turned 500 (miles) earlier, i think on saturday. currently, it's @ 657. so, tomorrow it's getting its first check up, i mean servicing.

two wheels good, four wheels bad

something new lives in my garage

and it meets air standards

what i did this weekend

this weekend i took a class (like jay commented recently, i'm a classy guy). the class i took was a motorcycle safety course. it started friday night @ 6 and finished up sunday @ noon. it wasn't through obviously. four and a half hours on friday night, and then from 7 to noon on saturday and sunday. the class was fairly enjoyable, and by the end i felt pretty comfortable on the bike i was riding. the class is for beginners, which i am, and teaches all the necessary skills to be a safe rider. it also tests you on those skills, and if you pass, you don't have to take the driving portion of the dmv test.

in the test portion of the day, there are four sections. each section is graded, and you can miss a total of 20 points and still pass. umm, yeah. i missed 19. which isn't really as bad as it sounds. in the first two sections i was perfect. in the third section i missed 4. but that fourth section, that one almost killed me. well, it would have failed me had i already not done so well. max deduction, 15. basically, it was a turning deal @ speed. you had to get up to a speed, slow using both brakes, enter the turn @ a safe speed. you couldn't go outside of some lines, or decelerate after your initial slow down. well, i did fine, but should have slowed a little more before entering the turn. i got outside of the lines, and in an effort to try and recover, what did i do? decelerate. as soon as i did it i knew i was screwed. but, again, since i had done so well on the previous sections i still managed to pass my test. now i just need to go and take the written test and i'll have my motorcycle certification.

this weekend was my first opportunity to wear what i got with Xmas money. yep, i wore my helmet. i had also bought some gloves, but one of the seams was coming out the first time i wore them, so i went to exchange them. unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, they didn't have my pair in stock. so, i found some others. i'm not as excited about the look, but i actually prefer the overall fit. although i like the new gloves, i was slightly saddened because they're a different company than i had, and i was planning to buy a jacket from the original brand. it's not some sort of obsessive/compulsive deal, but i do like matching brands. but, it's not like the new gloves or the jacket that i wanted had obtrusive labels, etc., so it won't be a huge deal that they're not the same. maybe you noticed i said had wanted. that's right, i bought a jacket while exchanging gloves. while in the shop, i figured i'd look @ coats, mainly to see if the one i wanted was on sale. it wasn't, but it was a lot less than i thought it was. fortunately, heather was there with me, so i asked if it would be cool to shell out for the coat right now (nothing better than coming home after a big purchase and having to explain spending a chunk o' change unexpectedly). she was fine with it, so i found the right size and made it happen. this was actually a little harder than it sounded. i'm sort of in between sizes. one size it too tight with the liner in. but fits well without the liner. the next size up fits good with the liner in, and has a little looseness with it out. so, i went with the larger one, because in cooler months i want to have a liner in, as well as layers underneath. the smaller wouldn't have afforded this (unless i lost some weight, which i'd love to do but there's no guarantee). but, the place i bought it from has an awesome return policy. they'll let you return anything, for any reason, for a year, assuming you don't screw it up. so, if i somehow need that smaller jacket, i can return the old one without any sort of restocking fee and get the newer, proper size.

man, i'm impressed with technology these days. the gloves have kevlar on the palm, carbon fiber on the knuckles for protection. the coat, it's got freakin' titanium in the sleves (forearm, elbow caps, and shoulders). these aren't some wimpy inserts. they're hard core protection. which, i'm happy with because everyone that rides tells me that eventually you will take a spill. at least i'll have protection. the coat is approved to higher, tougher european standards.

so, now i'm only a little ways away from rejoining the world of motor vehicles.

btw, i'm wearing the coat right now. want to break it in a bit so it's comfortable when i ride.

so, that's most of what i did this weekend. i also watched ewoks:the battle for endor with heather, nick, kendall, kasey and potter. and a little bit of football.