anarchy in the triangle

May 27, 2009

May 24, 2009

May 16, 2009

smoke out ten...

first impressions from the smoke out in rockingham...

May 13, 2009

posting from my phone...

well, let's see if i can figure this thing out...

May 4, 2009

time with the wife…

had a nice ride with the wife last week. recall the earlier post when daughter lost wife’s glove. well, the gloves finally came in and we decided to go pick them up.

being the knucklehead i am, i start heading out the door with car keys in hand. okay, it was early and i was still mentally asleep. mostly due to the fact that i was faced with another day of work and it would be easier to sleep through it!!

we get out to the garage and wife says she thought we were taking the bike. like a deer in headlights, i freeze. hmmmm, bike… it is a pretty day outside, what better way to spend it that riding around with the wife!!! why didn’t i think of that?? suddenly awake, i head inside and change into more appropriate riding attire…

we hop on the bike and head to ray price. but not without a stop at waffle house first. i think that’s going to be a recurring theme here – what’s better than riding and toppin’ off the tummy with some scattered hash browns all the way?? the waitress didn’t think i was serious and was surprised i finished off the whole plate.

with full tummies, we made our way to ray price. when ms. brenda presented the gloves daughter ordered for her, wife wasn’t real keen on them. no surprise there. so i encouraged wife to pick out another pair. ironically, the pair she ended up choosing is one pair we looked at and thought she wouldn’t like. go figure!!! not only that, wife ended up picking up another pair of lighter gloves for summer riding. in the end, wife ended up with two pairs of gloves and daughter got the pair we originally ordered for wife.

after staying at ray price much longer than i expected, we decided to head home. the weather was awesome and i could have spent the whole day riding around with my wife… unfortunately work was calling and i had to get back… with that, i faced the bike north and started riding off…

the thought of work must have put me back to sleep… as we’re approaching a split in the road, i’m in the lane for the most direct route home. wife leans forward and suggested the longer, scenic route home. nice idea… i do a quick head-check and jump over a couple lanes to take the other fork…

once the road slimmed down to two lanes, i rolled off the throttle a little and took my time getting home – enjoying the beautiful scenery and sharing the ride with my wife… it got me thinking about a few years down the road – when the kids are grown (out of the house) and we can spend more time together. just heading out at the spur of the moment. much like we used to do when we were dating. i miss those days. and i look forward to them again…

Apr 13, 2009

easter ride…

participated in the ray price easter basket ride saturday… first time i’ve joined in and it was quite an experience…

daughter and i headed out in the morning, starting the morning off right by filling out bellies with bo’s… after that, it was too the dealership to line up for the ride…

when we got to the dealership, i was informed by daughter that she needed to spend some of her hard earned money to buy mom a new set of gloves… she wanted to take a picture of a fellow rider that followed us for a short period of time. she took the glove off to get her camera out of her pocket and it went flying… oops... now mom has a new set of gloves… mom was kinda fond of her old gloves, which of course were a seasonal item. so we couldn’t get her those again. and picking out something mom likes is definitely no easy task.

after ordering the gloves, we cruised around the dealership killing time, waiting for departure…

ray price on his trike, posing for a short press conference…

some of the over one hundred bikes that rode along…

the national guard convoy that escorted us around. it was reported they collect over 600 baskets to be distributed…

bob, of bob and the showgram, lead the ride…

first stop… when you’re on a ride like this, you don’t really get a feel for how many bikes and riders there are until you make a stop and see the place packed with bikes…

i was a little surprised by the (lack of) turnout at the first stop. not sure why, but i was expecting more kids. especially with about six hundred baskets to deliver.

the activities started out with an entertaining lesson about easter, god and jesus from bob fowler of the child evangelism fellowship. after his talk, the baskets were passed out to the kids…

then it was time to head to the second stop, where the number of kids definitely made up for the lack of kids at the first stop… i had no doubt we’d be able to pass out all the baskets at this stop…

this little kid was so cute. the basket was a big as he was. i think the joy he was feeling in receiving the basket overcame any difficultly he may have had with the size of the basket.

this ride was a really special ride… i enjoyed being able to pass out baskets to underprivileged kids. but there was a dark side to giving. or more rightfully, the receiving. and i really saw it when we got to the second, larger stop.

as we were passing out baskets, i saw several children refuse certain baskets, asking, no almost demanding a basket with something else in it. i can fully understand requesting a basket specific for a boy or girl. but to turn down a basket with one toy in favor of another?? isn’t it satisfying enough just to be receiving something??

and then there were the kids that would grab a basket, hand it off to mom and go get another. and another. and another. again, isn’t it satisfying enough just to get a basket??

but it’s not for me to judge. all i can do is learn from the lesson and try not to make the same mistake. to be grateful when someone is there to help. not greedy, asking or taking more than what’s being offered. maybe it’s the place i am in my life right now. i’m grateful for where i am, the people that are in my life, for what i have. would it be nice to have more?? of course!! but the other side of the coin is it could always be worse. a lot worse.

so the ride was a good one. i really enjoyed it. it’s really about the joy you can bring to the many who are appreciative you’re there, appreciative that you care enough to think of them.

peace…

Apr 10, 2009

nothing to sneeze at…

or maybe it is…

passed by the bike today and noticed the tour-pak covered in pollen… and from the disrupted pollen marks, it appears someone else noticed it before me!!

at first i was embarrassed. then i thought what the hell, it’s not going to get washed any time soon!! the best i’ll be able to do is give it a good dusting. wonder if it will all blow off if i go riding??

Mar 10, 2009

gotta ride more…

got a chance to do a little riding this weekend, about two hundred total miles over the two days… as i was riding around on saturday, i realized how little i’ve put on this year – about five hundred by saturday. ‘course i could throw out a bunch of excuses: weather, too busy, werkin’ from home, etc. but that’s all it’d be, excuses. i just gotta start ridin’ more…

Feb 25, 2009

northeast mc expo…

went to the northeast mc expo in fredericksburg a couple weekends ago… the show seems to be getting smaller – most likely due to the crappy economy. was a good time, though, mostly because we hung out with friends.

pirates seemed to be the theme in the bike show this year… some pretty cool designs…