Sunday, January 23, 2011

Triumph Tiger Off Road

I am looking forward to some offroad adventures this summer and I've been watching videos of Triumph Tigers tackling the great outdoors.



Oh no, mirror.



These guys need to secure their loads.



Now this is much better.

I can't wait.


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Saturday, January 8, 2011

New year changes

My New Year wasn't met with resolutions, I normally don't do that, my only resolution was to make note of my odometer as in my last post and even that was post script.

My employer however, had other plans.

I went into work last December 28th and within a half hour was summoned to the principal's office so to say. My supervisor had called a meeting and informed the four of us in her department that management was making some changes. This can't be good.

She told us that there were going to be some departmental changes. One being that the department we were part of was being dissolved. Gulp.

She was being promoted to manage the new department and a co-worker from another department, which was also being restructured, was coming in and taking my spot. Oh crap.

I was being moved into the new Operations Logistics department.

Each of the three previous departments had their own Logistics Coordinator, now we have three new departments and only two of us are the logistic coordinators for everyone. The other or third LC we had moved into my spot, not my position, my physical spot.

That moved me closer to the shipping desk, my duties haven't changed much as of yet. I will report to the new Operations Manager, but that is about all that affects me, except that my desk moved.

Remember when Irondad visited me at work and co-workers warned me of a suspicious culprit lurking about my bike trying to peer into the windows of the mother ship? My desk was here and difficult to spot any seedy characters skulking about.



Well that empty spot by the window is my new "spot" or what many wish for "a corner window office".



I now basically have a wide screen TV in my office, there isn't much on but I can keep a close eye on my bike.





This is about as close as one could get to working with your bike without actually working on it or riding it.



However, I may have to post a sign for Irondad's next visit.




P.S. - We are all aware of Irondad's office, the lucky dog and thanks to BlueKat for the idea of showing us her office and how far she is away from her bike. Let's see your office in proximity to your bike and where you spend your day, a challenge if you will.


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Sunday, January 2, 2011

Last ride of 2010

We have been enjoying clear sunny skies and dry winter days since last Thursday. Absolutely fantastic weather for an extended four day weekend from work although quite cold for our area.

Some of us were willing to brave the cold so Rick put together a last ride of 2010. (I link his blog in attempts to get him to write something). We bundled up to tackle the near freezing temperatures riding 40 miles north to Salem and introduced some friends to Sushi Kyo.


I wasn't bothered by the cold but for cold toes as I have heated gear and finally some fairing, handguard and windscreen protection I lacked on the America. Trobairitz wasn't so fortunate and following her I knew she was suffering as she wouldn't sit still and was constantly shaking her left hand trying to get feeling back to her fingers. I told her several times on the radio to pull over but either not hearing me or just being stubborn, refused to pull over until I passed and cut her off onto the shoulder. I radioed Rick to go ahead and that we would meet up with them at the restaurant.

Stopping the bikes, pulling off our helmets and gloves to lay bare the cold breeze despite the bright sunshine that had lulled us into a false sense of warmer days of summer. After a few minutes with gloves stashed into the engine area to warm up and warming her bare hands on the engine case of her bike we were ready to move on. A fellow rider and friend QCD rode by, slowing down to make sure we were okay, I gave him a wave of thanks and he proceeded on his way as not to let go of his heated grips I'm sure.

We made it to Salem and had hot green tea and miso soup waiting for us when we arrived. After a great lunch and warming up it was time to suit up again and make our way home.



Rick offered Trobairitz some extra hand warmers he had in his trunk and we stuffed them into her mitts to add some extra warmth to her heated grips. We rode down the east side of I-5 through Turner, Marion and Jefferson where we started to head west into the sun. I broadcast a bit of trivia over the radio about ice crystals in the sky forming a halo around the sun producing a Sun Dog, but we already knew it was cold. Too cold to stop for photos so I had to pilfer a photo from the interweb.



We made it home for a hot bath, hot coffee and Carolans Irish Cream to warm up. Trob finally admitted to understanding the merits of owning a heated liner, if I had known this is what it would have taken I would have froze her solid long ago. She even asked about hand guards for her bike, so I told her that the BMW G650GS comes with hand guards and a charging system heavy enough to handle all kinds of heated gear. (I do what I can).

First Ride of 2011

Needless to say she turned down the invitation to the Polar Bear Ride to the coast for chowder yesterday. I went to Saturday morning coffee and we all waited for the sun to come up and warm the valley as best it could from so far away. It was somewhat warmer than Friday, I believe it got up to 35˚F or so. Four of us rode straight out Hwy 20 to Newport to Bobskoot's favorite place and warmed up with a hot cup of chowder at The Chowder Bowl.



As usual whenever we leave the sunny valley the coast is cloudy or fogged in. It wasn't long before we headed back, taking a quick scenic ride along the bay through Toledo and back up to Hwy 20 home. Both days and both trips were about a hundred miles each, a good way to mind Auld Lang Syne and ring in the New Year.

May 2011 bring everyone health, wealth and happiness.

Happy New Year friends.


P.S. - I've never tracked my annual mileage as others have so that can be my resolution for 2011. Yesterday's ride was 120 miles, subtracted from my current odometer reading of 24,156 makes my official 2011 odometer login reading of 24,036.
I can, however, calculate the 3198 miles I put on the Tiger since I purchased it on 9/22 with 20,958 miles on the clock. Which means I averaged 31.6 miles per day, not bad for buying a bike on the first day of autumn eh? At that rate, I would average 11,557 miles per year, but a more realistic goal would be putting my 2012 odometer reading well into the 40K mile mark.

Of course, buying Trobairitz a new bike may alter my calculations some, hehehehe.


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