new brakes

took the bike in to get new front rotors and brake pads that were found during the 12500 mile service...

it was a good ride in - a lot warmer than my last ride to the dealership. today's the kind of day you just want to blow off work and keep riding. but, on the bright side, i am out and riding a bit, which beats not riding at all.

i got to the dealership before they opened. i have a knack for doing that. i guess coming in so far, my fear is getting stuck in traffic and being late. i would much rather show up a bit early than late. so i had a couple minutes to kill waiting for the shop to open. made small talk with some of the mechanics before they headed in.

took a couple minutes but i finally realized the shop doors were open - so i could go inside and wait. scan through a motorcycle rag or two while i'm waiting. i looked on the shop floor and saw the mechanic that i thought was going to work on my bike. he was the one who would have worked on the bike had that parts been in stock originally - i just figure he'll be the one doing the work...

after a couple minutes, the service counter dood shows up, punches in on the computer and start printing out some paperwork. i figure i'll give him a couple minutes before i check in. before i know it, he's handing some paperwork to the mechanic who's supposed to work on my bike. after the exchange, he looks over at me and says i'm all set, should be about an hour or so. i'm thinking cool... this is the way service should be!!!

i sit back, relax and read through some more rags, just killing time. after reading for a bit, i decide to watch the guy work on my bike. i don't know why, but i feel kinda odd doing that. it's almost like i'm at a zoo or something, watch the exhibits. and i'm wondering what these guys are thinking about people watching them. of course i think it goes something along the lines of, what a bozo, doesn't know how to work on his own bike. and maybe that's true...

so i start to watch him and notice he doesn't even have the wheel off yet. hmmmmm, maybe this is going to take a little longer than expected. which i really don't care about - i'd rather the job take longer and be done right than rushed and wrong.

i keep switching from reading to watching, waiting for the wheel to come off. i do believe they have to take the wheel off to replace the rotors. could be wrong... before i know it, he's riding my bike out of the shop. a couple minutes later he returns and says it's done. wow!! that was quick. he says he took the bike down to be detailed but it didn't look that dirty. he offers to take it down there anyway. i decide to pass. and finally confess that i had only ridden the bike once since it was detailed last. so they busted my chops a bit for not riding more. of course i wasn't going to offer any excuses since they would only give me a harder time and there weren't really any excuses for not riding...

the ride home was beautiful. temps had warmed up a bit and the brakes felt sooooo much better. it's amazing how much your confidence increases when your bike is in top shape - or at least you believe it is but just don't know any better.

i was enjoying the ride home so much, i decided to stop and pick up some flowers for my wife. it'll be a nice surprise for her.

12500 mile service...

took my bike in for it's 12500 mile service today. was a good morning for a ride - the ride in was a little chilly, but not cold or nasty. the ride home was awesome - perfect temps, clear...

as i usually do, i decided to wait for the bike while it's being serviced. i also asked them to check out the front brakes because they seem to shutter or shake when i apply them. nothing bad, but it seems to be getting worse.

while they were working on the bike, i decided to pick up a face mask... i figure if i'm going to be riding in the colder weather, i might as well get one. i've been using my wife's, but it's a little small and tight - not something i want distracting me while i ride...

after my purchase, i wander back to the service area. they tell me the front brake rotors are warped - they have the parts in stock and are going to replace the rotors and brake pads. after about thirty minutes, they realize that what's listed as stock in the computer doesn't match what's actually on the shelf - they're short on rotor. they've ordered the rotors and i'll have to come back to have them replaced - no big deal...

in the meantime, they've sent the bike to be cleaned and detailed - a nice service they throw in for preferred customers. i wait... and wait... and wait... and wait... seems it takes them longer to clean the bike than it does to service it... not that i'm complaining - they do a really good job. at this point, i don't know if i should be happy or starting to get upset. it is taking longer than expected - but i guess that means they are doing a thorough job. i guess i just wasn't counting the added time to clean the bike and wanted to get back to get out of there.

i finally get the bike back. i must say, it is really clean - nice looking. what's really nice is i got it cleaned after my trip to the tail of the dragon and i didn't have to do it myself!!! i guess it was worth the wait...

so, 12500 miles... don't really know if that's more or less miles than i've expected to put on it by now... i guess if i was still working at an office and riding, i would have a lot more miles. but since i work from home and most of my miles come from weekend riding, that's not bad... i know it's not a while lot of miles, but it does seem like some sort of a milestone. wonder if i'll be able to squeak out 15000 before the end of the year??

ride safe...

why motorcycling is so much fun...

so i was trying to help a female with her bike. she had been running the engine on with the choke, which kinda fouled the plugs, and she was having problems getting it started again.

i went over to her, made a couple adjustments to the bike and got it started. i decided to try to clean the crap out of the engine, so i revved the engine - high and long... next thing i know, she's got a startled/surprised look on her face. didn't take me long to figure out what was going on - especially since she was still sitting on the bike. as i rolled off the throttle, she gets a grin on her face and says, "now i know why motorcycling is so much fun." not quite knowing what to say, i just kind of smiled and walked away...

trip report - tail of the dragon...

what a busy but great two days... before i get too far into the trip, i again have to send props and thanks out to my wonderful wife. without too much detail, the kids were out of school, i was on vacation and we were supposed to do something as a family. well, appointments were scheduled during the week and we never did plan something for the family. instead, my wife talked me into taking a couple days and riding the dragon. although that's probably not totally true... my original plan was to hold out and not go - especially since we were supposed to do something as a family. my wife kept talking about me going and the thoughts of riding the dragon became too much - the next thing i knew, i was agreeing to go... so, my plan fell through - but i wasn't complaining...

wednesday morning i packed up the bike for my overnight trip. i left around noon, figuring that would give me plenty of time to get to hickory by 1600. plans were to meet doug at the hooters in hickory. he was spending the morning having his bike serviced in charlotte. i tried to get my bike serviced before i left, but it was kinda short notice. i called the dealership tuesday afternoon but they couldn't get me in that evening. the guy did offer for me to drop the bike off wednesday morning and he could get it back to me by friday... uhhhh, that's not gonna work. so, i'll get it serviced after the trip...

it was a little after three when i got to hooters. doug was already there - which surprised me a little since i wasn't expecting him until closer to four. this was either going to give us an earlier start on the rest of the trip, or some extra time to kill a few drinks at hooters. we ended up doing both... we killed a little time having some leisurely conversation and a couple drinks. i had never really thought about it, but the place is a little slow in the late afternoon/early evening. i was tempted to get my camera from the bike, but there really wasn't much reason...

after the few drinks, it was time to saddle up and head out. we managed to get going before four. the earlier start was good because it would be late by the time we got to the "inn" and it would be dark. not that i necessarily mind driving in the dark, i'm just not so sure about in on unfamiliar, twisty mountain roads.

we decided to take i-40 / rt 74 / rt 129 to get to robbinsville. we had reservations at the two wheel inn - which was just south of robbinsville. the trip from hickory to robbinsville was about four hours. while we wanted to get there, we did take our time and make it a leisurely journey. i took the lead towards the end of the trip because it was getting dark and i seem to have particularly bright lights.

we ended up missing the turn off for the inn. how the heck are you supposed to find a driveway on a two lane road in the dark without some sort of sign?? well, they do have a sign, but it's apparently not lit up at night. figgers... so we turn around and pull up to the office. as we're reading the notes taped to the office door, one of the owners comes around the corner. seems they had just closed the office and were heading home for the evening. instead of just bolting out of there, she showed us our rooms, and opened the garages for our bikes. yes, garages for our bikes.



the neat thing about the two wheel inn is every room has a garage for your bike. it's a really nice set up - and what more could you ask for?? towels to clean your bike?? they supply those. it's great being able to store the bike away for the evening. i would highly recommend the two wheel inn to anyone traveling in the area.

after unloading the bikes and getting them into the garage, we relaxed for a couple minutes. it was probably getting on ten and we were getting tired. the ride out was about 380 miles. a good ride i would say. weather was nice, not too many idiots on the road - the kind of ride you want to have...

thursday morning was up by six. kinda sleeping in for me since i normally get up at five thirty. even after the longer ride the day before, i felt rested. i peeked outside to see a fairly dreary day - i was hoping it was mostly fog and it wouldn't turn to rain. if it does rain, will i still ride the tail of the dragon?? i guess part of that would depend on how hard it was raining. assuming it wasn't raining hard enough to make it a total bust, would i still ride?? since this is my first time riding it, i would be real hesitant. in fact, i might not ride it - but that would be a bust after riding all the way out here. i'll keep my fingers crossed this is just a foggy morning and it will burn off.

i killed some time watching the news and waiting for doug. we didn't plan a specific time, so i wasn't sure what time doug would get going. i guess it didn't really matter since we weren't tied to a schedule - which is one of the beauties of motorcycling. as i was waiting, the fog was starting to burn off. they were calling for some rain, but later in the day. looks like it's going to be a good day for a great ride.

we killed an hour or two waiting for the fog to burn off. it was burning off, but slowly. we packed up the bikes, checked out of the rooms and caught some breakfast before heading up to the tail of the dragon. by the time we finished breakfast, the fog was pretty much gone and i was ready for the day.

doug led the way to the tail of the dragon. i find it's a little easier following someone on unfamiliar roads. you can watch then to see which way the road goes and you can judge the appropriate speed if they are slowing down or speeding up.

the roads leading up to the tail of the dragon are nice. not too twisty - enough to lean the bikes a bit through the turns. as we get closer, the turns start getting tighter. now i'm trying to imagine what the twists and turns are like on the dragon. will they be too much?? you hear about people wrecking... and there is the tree of shame...


but plenty of people have ridden it without problems. no need to psych myself out - if i just ride within my limits, pay attention to what i do, i will have no problems. besides, this ride up to the dragon is practice.

until we cross fugitive bridge. then the road narrows and the turns are tighter. the turns must seem tighter because the road is narrower. whatever, i figure this is going to be the way it is. besides, this is probably mild compared to the way it is. no need to panic - doug and i already said we were going to take it slow. at least the first time through.

we're cruising along the winding road, twists and turns... we pass a sign, "stay in your lane." a reminder this is a double yellow line, two lane road. then another sign, "do not cross the centerline." i don't actually remember if there were skulls and crossbones on the sign, but i do remember some sort of message of death for failing to heed the signs. hmmmmmmm, must the beginning...

twists and curves... just concentrating on the road - applying what i know about turns and counter steering... looking ahead at the line i want to follow into the turn. after the first couple curves, i can feel myself getting into a groove. of course, the more relaxed i am, the better i ride. this is actually a lot of fun. now i can understand what all the hype is about.

i'm managing to stay on my side of the double yellow, which was probably my biggest concern. i realize going off on the shoulder side of the road wouldn't necessarily be a walk in the park, but crossing the double yellow is worse in my mind. at one point, we had three or four cruisers pass us in the opposite direction. the last one was crossing the double yellow into our lane - that was not a good feeling. and now i really understand why they say not to cross the double yellow.

we were cruising along at what i think is a decent speed - especially our first time through. before i know it, i'm being passed by a sport bike. didn't even see this guy coming, next thing i know, he's between doug and me. he stays there for a couple curves and then passes doug. boom, he's gone. i can't necessarily say i agree with what he did... but i never did feel that my safety or riding was compromised by what he did - he didn't interfere with me at all. i guess i can't blame him for wanting to go faster and he managed to do it without affecting me. let him...

before long, we're pulling off at an overpass. kind of a nice break, but i was hoping to ride the whole dragon without stopping. well, i really can't complain, i needed a potty break, which some low-lying shrubs provided great cover. besides, the view was so beautiful.





after admiring the view and exchanging pleasantries with others, we hopped back on the bikes to ride to the end. i decided to lead the rest of the way... we didn't get too far before we realized the overlook we just left was the end. so we found a nice place to stop and turn around. funny, in what seems like the middle of nowhere, we find the official tennessee state toilet.


we're heading back and i'm in the lead... we only got to the overlook before we stopped again. this time it was because we were behind a ridiculously slow cage. not that we were trying to speed back through or anything, but the vehicle was going so slow i could have probably walked faster!!! we decided to let it get some distance before heading out again.

after a couple minutes of watching people come and go, we decided it was our turn again. i took the lead as we pulled out. this time through, i was going a little faster. although to someone who's ridden the dragon a few times i probably looked like a snail going through. it was fast enough for me. i seemed to take the curves a bit faster, dragging the floorboards a couple times. i was definitely enjoying the ride.

there were more people out as we rode back. some riding, some pulled over on the side of the road at pullovers. at one of the larger pullovers, there were quite a few bikes pulled over. i glanced at them, resisting the urge to watch - fearing i would end up with them instead of still on the road. as i passed them, i noticed one bike in the ditch. although it was a quick glance, what i think i remember was a white bike, harley davidson, female rider, she appeared to be okay, and there were two or three other people over there helping her. i do remember thinking how lucky the rider was to have not gone over the other side of the road.

we reached the end and we pulled into the deal's gap motorcycle resort to stretch our legs, take some pictures, buy some mementos, admire the tree of shame and be thankful no pieces of our bikes ended up on the tree today. we talked to a couple other riders, commenting on how nice the ride was, how beautiful of a day it was and each other's bikes. here i am standing at the sign...


after riding the dragon, we headed back into robbinsville. we decided to catch some lunch before heading home. well, i was heading home, doug was continuing his motorcycle adventure with a couple more days in western nc.

we ate at wendy's. while i don't usually mind fast food, i was definitely getting tired of it. i can't wait to get back home and have some real food. it seems like every meal has been fast food.

the journey home begins. it was actually a nice ride home - fairly uneventful. doug and i stay together until asheville - he split off to head a little north. i kept heading east. two stops and six hours later, i was home. and while it was an awesome trip, it sure was nice to be back home. eight hundred miles in two days - not a bad trip at all...

tail of the dragon...

was talking to a buddy of mine yesterday... he tells me that after he gets his 6k service done on his ducati, he's riding the tail of the dragon... i mention how nice that's going to be - of course he invites me along... i can't - although i have the week off work, i have stuff to do appointments. besides, i'm teaching this weekend and i need to make sure i'm back in time for that. he says if we ride the dragon on thursday, i can be back in plenty of time to teach on friday - probably so...

later in the day, i mention to my wife that doug is riding the dragon. she says i should go. well, it's not like i don't want to go... it's just that i had taken a week off work thinking we could do something together - maybe the beach for a day or two, something. but, with life the way it usually goes, the kids were going here and there and we didn't really have time to get away like we wanted... so she's pretty much pushing me to go. and i had my defenses up pretty good, resisting her efforts to get me to go. don't get me wrong, i wanted to go - but i really wanted to spend time with her.

well, i don't know what happened, but she talked me into going. not that that's a bad thing - i just wanted to hold out and spend some time with her. well, i know i'm on the hook to make this one up to her - and i will. all i can say is that she's the greatest - i'm really lucky to have someone like her... thanks boo.

okay - enough being mushy... so now it looks like i'm finally going to ride the tail of the dragon. i was supposed to ride earlier this summer with my bro, but somehow that fell through... it won't be the same not riding with my brother, but it will still be fun. three hundred eighteen curves in eleven miles - that's crazy!!! you'll hear plenty about it when i get back...

2nd annual rally in raleigh...

attended the second annual capital city bike fest / rally in raleigh... i'm not really sure what it's called - it seems to go by both names.

the day started out heading down to the dealership for the charity ride. i ended up going down there early because i wanted to claim some warrenty work on my bike. i have some chrome chipping off one of the pipe endcaps. i wasn't going to claim it, but after talking to a qa guy from harley, he said it was contamination in the chroming process. soooo, i decided to talk to someone at the dealership to see what they could/would do about it. turns out the guy is going to file a warrenty claim for it - i'm not holding out much hope. even after talking to someone else who said harley hardly ever turns down a warrenty claim. i'll wait and see what happens.

after taking care of that business, it was time to wait around for the charity ride to begin. and after waiting, it did begin... it was a nice day for a ride - clear, sunny skies. the morning was a little cool, but by the time the ride started, it was perfect weather for riding. the charity ride was to support the united way - bikers seem to want to support charities. i actually think it just gives us another excuse to ride - like we really need one!!

it terms of time, the charity ride was a couple hours. in terms of stops, it was short - only two stops. well worth it, though. the first stop was harris wholesale - our local budweiser distributor. they were offering free drink, of the non-alcoholic variety. the closest they came to beer was o'doules. so i downed a monster drink that was pretty tasty - can't rightly recall what it was offhand. i think they were scraping the bottom of the barrel to make us feel welcome:



after giving us a quick thank you speech, it was time to hop back onto the bikes and head for the local caterpillar plant. this was pretty cool - of course it was more like big toys for big boys. while we were there, they gave us a demo of some of the equipment they manufacture at the plant - digging holes, moving holes, filling holes up... it was pretty cool - but you probably had to be there to really enjoy it. or at least be me!!! a couple of pics from the demo...





after being entertained at caterpillar, it was time for the ride back to the dealership. a couple notes/thoughts about the ride... fisrt, we had over two hundred bikes on the ride. i was kinda of in the first third of the pack. while i saw the beginning of the line several times, i never did see the end. this as easily the largest ride i've been on so far.

speaking of large groups of bikes - it's amazing how many highway drivers have a disregard for motorcycles - even when we're being escorted by police. i was suprised at the number of cars that would just pull into our lane - despite having bikes there. it was crazy. i guess they figured they had to get into the lane on the opposite side of us and just pulled on over. i'm sure that if we, as riders, hadn't been on the look out, some cage would have caused an accident. it amazes me how many cages don't pay attention to motorcycles on the highways. but haven't a group of two hundred bikes?? how can you miss that??

okay - enough about the charity ride. we did all make it back in one group and no one was wiped out - as least as far as i know.

while killing some time at the dealership, waiting to ride into the rally to kick it off, the occ caterpillar bike showed up. not really surprising since they had the bike made and they were also sponsoring the rally. while i can honestly say that i'm not really a fan of occ's, i do watch their show and seeing the bike was pretty neat. they do put some thought and detail into the bikes they build.




after killing time looking at the bike and snapping pics, it was time to ride into the rally to kick it off. kinda uneventful really. more or less stop and go riding - and not really that far. once i got there, i walked around for a bit before starting my stint volunteering. since our local hog club is sponsored by ray price, and he/they're really the ones putting on the event, they asked for volunteers. being the sucker that i am - i worked friday night. i ended up hanging out at one of the entrances - killing four hours.

didn't see much of the rally friday night, but went again saturday. there was more of a crowd saturday andi imagine saturday night was very festive - although i didn't stick around for that...

i think i've run of of things to day - or at least i don't feel like saying any more right now...