Ketchup II

So I left off my last post with the Black Dog in June...

The second weekend in June, Chris from Everyday Riding flew out to stay with us, visit for the weekend, and attend the Vegan Beer & Food Festival in Portland.

Trobairitz had to work Friday morning, so Chris and I were left at home unsupervised to make "good choices". As kids do when left alone, we raided the closet and came up with my spare Aerostich suit, a pair of riding boots, and Brandy's helmet for Chris to wear, played dress up, then went for a ride up Alsea Falls and Mary's Peak.

Just two guys out for a ride

Two of a kind

Goofing off at Alsea Falls

Don't let the helmet fool you, this boy can ride!

Chris's best Julie Andrews impression "The hills are alive, with the sound of music"

Saturday we battled Portland traffic to attend the Vegan Beer and Food Festival, but first we had to stop at Back To Eden Bakery for breakfast and a recommended Mexican Cafe. Sufficiently suffonsified, we were off to taste ciders, beer, and more food. Chris and Brandy were tasting ciders while I preferred sampling the beer. Although we could drink as much as we liked, the line ups and the 3 oz. tasters kept the excitement to a dull roar.

Sunday we drove out to the coast and clambered about the beach for a bit before heading back inland to Eugene for some pizza and more treats. I think we all gained about 10 pounds that weekend.





Thanks for coming to visit Chris, we had a blast. Next we need to go to Minneapolis.

~

A couple of more weekends were spent leading KLRs through the woods in preparation for our OBDR ride. The guys were having a great time just getting out into the woods and riding gravel roads.

Andy and I rode out and hiked The Valley of the Giants one day.

Then Brandy and I scouted another covered bridge ride.

Wildcat Covered Bridge

~

A bunch of us instructors got together one day to practice the Rider's Skill Practice course. For the RSP, we set up a course stringing together many of the exercises we teach in the Basic Riders Training and Intermediate Rider Training classes with the addition of a barrel ride type exercise.
So we'll ride through the barrel ride, into a corner proficiency evaluation, then through the swerve exercise, then ending with the quick stop, all under the watchful eyes of two instructors with stop watches. The idea is to time the student through the first course, break down and practice each exercise, then run the course again to see how much they improved. We all had a blast, leaned and learned a lot. Evidently I ran the course about one second shy of our new director on his BMW K1600, and a senior instructor on his Aprilia Tuono earning me two awards; scoring Best Time, and voted Most Inspiring from my peers.

I was also able to sneak in an Instructor Cornering Clinic and a Braking Clinic to my schedule this summer. The braking clinic is part of motor officer training and gives us the opportunity to practice quick stop braking and swerving at highway speeds on a closed drag strip. This is a great way to communicate with your bike while practicing and honing our skills.

Cornering Clinic at Pat's Acres Go Cart Track in Canby

Cornering Clinic at Pat's Acres Go Cart Track in Canby

Braking Clinic at Woodburn Dragstrip

Do attempt this at home, practicing a swerve at 60 mph.

Woodburn Dragstrip

~

Next up, my coworkers and I headed out to ride Route 6 of the Oregon Backcountry Discovery Route from Crescent Lake to Coos Bay.

To be continued...

Ketchup Post

Wow, I have neglected my blog! Allow me to catch up, remind myself why my schedule is so full, whilst referring Trobaritz's blog to jog my memory. I'll post these up as I find time.

Choose KLR

First off, this Spring a couple of guys at work decided to buy motorcycles. Three of them bought Kawasaki KLR650s, and knowing that I rode a Triumph Tiger and a Yamaha XT250, they too wanted to ride gravel roads.

Jeff and his daughter on his new KLR

I try very hard not to mix my work life with my home life, but when it comes to motorcycles what are you gonna do? As my social calendar started to fill, my solitude seemed to slip away. Since we all work in the same department, have the same schedule with Friday mornings off, they suggested we meet for coffee every week. Of course, meeting for coffee leads to discussions about rides, roads, and maps, and we all know what happens next.  Yep, we're shucking our obligations at home to go riding.

They wanted to see covered bridges

So, covered bridges it is!

Then all of this riding has led to trip planning, particularly a 2+ day ride from the Cascades to the Coast, or the Oregon Backcountry Discovery Route (OBDR), so when we're not out riding, we were buying camping gear, fitting kit to our bikes, and doing short shakedown rides to coffee. Still shucking our obligations at home.

Hanging out at  coffee, on their cellphones...

Aren't cellphones great?! *eyeroll

One of my shakedown rides, (the guys at work couldn't make it, but Polar Bear did) was the Black Dog Dualsport Adventure Ride; a two day dust fest near Hood River the first weekend in June.



2012 Black Dog AMA National Dualsport/Adventure Ride Promo Video from openmike on Vimeo.


Andy and I loaded up the bikes onto his trailer that Friday morning and headed off to Hood River. We got barely an hour up the freeway when we received texts and phone calls from Mrs. Polar Bear stating there was a train derailment and oil tankers on fire in the Gorge and that I-84 was closed at Hood River, the very spot we were headed.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3624984/Critics-River-route-no-place-oil-trains-crash.html

After a bit of head scratching and consulting our maps, we decided to head East through Molalla and sneak around the backside of Mount Hood. This made for a steep climb and a minor overheating issue, but with Andy's mechanical wizardry and a temporary repair to the radiator with some quick steel, we were able to make it over the mountain and into Odell to the Fairgrounds where we set up our tents for the weekend. Another friend Don, beat us there with his motorhome and was able to claim a spot for us and a couple of other friends who arrived later because of the train. We could see the smoke from the fairgrounds, but not close enough to bother us.

Our camp at the fairgrounds

Up early the next morning, we registered and received our roll charts for the day's route. Having never used a roll chart before we clumsily loaded them into our holders and set off for adventure.

It took a few stops and turns to appreciate a roll chart, but once we got it, we loved it. Coming from a guy reluctant to give up his antiquated flip phone, this sure beat messing with GPS tracks and maps.

The ride was great, however, being on smaller bikes we weren't in nearly as much of a hurry as everyone else. We pulled over a number of times to let a herd of KTMs stampede past us in a cloud of dust, we started referring to KTMs as rhinoceroses.

http://animals.howstuffworks.com/mammals/rhinos-charge.htm

http://mentalfloss.com/article/30705/10-things-you-should-know-about-rhinos

We would putt along and eventually come upon the same herd of rhinoceroses (evidently known as a "crash") that had stopped at a crossroads to refer to their GPS and maps, then tootle past them with a friendly wave. It wasn't five or ten minutes before the "charging crash" would be blindly stampeding past us again in another cloud of dust, where we would again stop to let the dust settle only to come upon them again at the next intersection. Silly rhinoceroses.

The scenery was fantastic and the roads were just challenging enough that we weren't going to hurt or exhaust ourselves to feign a work related limp Monday morning.

Back at camp

We had a great time, the roll charts made for a self guided tour at our own pace.

~

This should catch you up to the end of June. To be continued...

Happy New Year 2016

For some dumb reason, probably in a weak moment, I posted up a Polar Bear Ride for New Year's Day. It seemed like a good idea at the time, sitting in the warm house with a seasonal ale in my hand, but with 2015 behind us and 2016 greeting us with 28ºF and ice, I started having second thoughts.

Long underwear, fleece, windbreaker, heated liner, gloves, suit.... check, check and check. However, it didn't take long before I was regretting my enthusiastic posting. I was waddling around the house as fat as the Michelin Man and sweating in all my preparedness. My theory on layering is I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. I can always take layers off.

I backed the Tiger out of the garage, and turned it around in the driveway, thumbing the starter to a reluctant rerr...rerr...rerr...rerr.  But she fired up into an eager idle before settling down matching my mellow demeanor. Thatta' girl.

Trobairitz decided to ride with me two up rather than brave the frost and ice on her bike, hoping it would be warmer sitting behind me than taking the brunt of the cold wind sans windscreen, and putting my mind at ease.

We rode over to the coffee shop to meet the rest of the gang whom foolishly agreed to ride as well. I had full intentions of  simply riding to coffee then riding home to call it a day, but after taking all of our gear and layers off, discussing a route and destination, we finished our coffee and the sun encouraged us to play.

Mel, Bob, Jay, and David

So on go the layers again, and out to bikes we go. Then.... rerr...rerr...rerr...rerr, rerr...rerr...rerr...rerr, rerr...rerr...rerr...rerr, shit! Battery is dead.

Fortunately, BMW riders carry jumper cables, thanks Jay! Lucy sure doesn't like Polar Bear Rides.

We rode over to Falls City to see if the Bread Board Artisan Bakery was open, which was not, so we rode over to Monmouth for lunch at the Yeasty Beasty instead. I stayed toasty warm, Brandy's fingers and toes were frozen as always, but Jay was asking if I was "plugged in" as he was cold even with his Gerbing heated jacket.

I was wearing my Ansai battery heated jacket but hadn't even plugged a battery in, let alone turned it on. I told Jay he had his base layer (of polyester), but was missing an insulating layer of fleece and a windbreaker layer. He was strictly relying on his heated gear and motorcycle jacket. This got me thinking.....

I surf the interweb and watch online videos, usually with one of those survival shows playing on the TV in the background, but I'm always learning something; retention on the other hand is another problem. Just the other day, I read this article on staying warm, and vaguely recalling something about conduction and convection I learned in school.




Although I was starting to sweat in all my gear leaving the house, by layering I was able to remove a couple of layers at the coffee shop and at the lunch stop to regulate my body temperature.

The secret to staying warm is strategic layering, with high quality material, no cotton. I avoid wearing wool, but with a polyester base layer, a fleece insulating layer, a light jacket, and a waterproof windbreaker under my suit I was quite warm.

We had a great ride, and as the day warmed up I could've kept riding. It was nice to get out on the bike again. 

After arriving back home and getting Brandy into the tub to warm up her toes back from near hypothermia, I went back out to the garage and took the battery out of my bike. Remember my argument last summer with CycleGear who refused to honor the Lifetime Warranty?

I've babied the same battery for nearly six months, having it leave me stranded at a gas station on the hottest day of the year and now on a very cold New Years Day Polar Bear Ride. I decided to give CycleGear one more chance to redeem themselves, but this time I went down to the Eugene/Springfield store. I took the battery out of my bike, placed it in the original box with the receipt, had it load tested at BatteriesPlus+, and headed off to CycleGear ready for battle.





I walked into the Eugene/Springfield store and was politely greeted by Jon, whom I simply told that my battery left me stranded yesterday. Pulling the battery out of the box, he commented on the date (10/2010) I had wrote on the battery. "Looks like you got 5 years out it, you use a battery tender don't you?" He quickly grabbed a new battery off the shelf, then asked me if I had any other shopping I needed to do. Dumbfounded, I walked around the store looking for anything I needed. Not finding anything, Jon had me fill out my customer information and warrantied my battery. No questions asked, no arguing, no battle.

That, is how the issue should have been handled 6 months ago!

I will never walk into CycleGear Salem store again, nor recommend them. But thanks to Jon, if I have to go to CycleGear I'll make it the Eugene/Springfield store.


So 2016 has started off well for us, and we hope to do more riding this year. 

Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous New Year!!!!



Boring Stats:

  58656 odometer reading at the end of 2015
- 56807 odometer reading at the end of 2014
=  1849  miles traveled in 2015 

GASP! Only 1849 miles ridden last year. So how does that compare to previous years?

Miles in 2011 = 10538
Miles in 2012 = 8653 
Miles in 2013 = 7098 
Miles in 2014 = 6482 
Miles in 2015 = 1849

Go Big or Go Home... pfft

This is BIG!

Many years ago when we moved to the US we were shopping for a new car, but just couldn't find what we wanted; a small, affordable, economical hatchback. We are hatchback people, evidently the majority of Americans were not.

They say history repeats itself and much like the big, gas guzzling muscle cars of the '60s being shut down by the oil embargo of 1973, I suspected the oversized Sport Utility Vehicle trend of the '90s wouldn't last very long either and face the same fate.

Graph of oil prices from 1861–2007, showing a sharp increase in 1973, and again during the 1979 energy crisis. The orange line is adjusted for inflation.

Econo-cars were the norm throughout the '80s, but then for some reason either safety, consumer confidence, cheaper gas prices, or vanity took priority in the '90s, making the SUV so popular.
Bigger is better, right?

Small Ford Explorers turned into full size SUVs, creating a marketing niche for the Ford Expedition and bigger yet Ford Excursion. Remember the small 2 door Chevrolet and GMC S10 and S15 Blazer and Jimmy, downsized from the originals? Gone! Consumers were told we needed a full-sized Tahoe and Yukon, not to mention the fullsize family hauling Suburban and I won't even get into the Hummer H2 and H3 craze.

Fortunately Dodge was smart enough to stay with the midsize Durango.

If you wanted something more economical it was either the minivan or luxury sedan. The econo-cars of the 70's and 80's got fatter too, the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, and Nissan Altima out sold the smaller Corolla, Civic, and Sentra.

Hatchbacks? Oh, you want an SUV, nobody really offers a hatchback. (Although Honda, VW and Subaru continued to make hatchbacks), I credit Ford as the different drummer and releasing their new Ford Focus ZX3 and ZX5. It wasn't until the early Y2Ks when the hatchback made a strong comeback, now you can't drive a mile or so without seeing another hatchback.

SUVs will forever be the soccer mom piloted, family ferrying, parking lot crowding, road barges they are, however Fiat 500s, Mini Coopers, Smart cars, Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, Scion XBs and IQs are chipping away, making their presence known.

So what does this have to do with motorcycles Brad?

Just as big SUVs dominated auto sales in the late '90s, big adventure bikes are now dominating motorcycle magazine covers, showroom floors, and most importantly Starbuck's parking lots.

(And yes, this includes my Tiger....)

A few years ago, after experiencing the SUV trend of the '90s, I'd inadvertently got into an argument with an online forum member whom stated there isn't a demand for smaller, under 500cc bikes. I told him there is a demand, albeit small, and that the motorcycle market isn't all about horsepower and testosterone. I did learn however, that forums evidently are.

At the time, you couldn't buy a bike between 250cc and 600ccs. The demand just wasn't there.... yet.

It took manufactures quite some time to realize that they needed to stop chasing the baby boomers, and look back at their new target market they were leaving behind. Some have stopped at the fork in the road and are building a new segment of sub 500cc bikes, while others are in the R&D stages.

Conchscooter wrote a blog post on smaller bikes and I've been thinking, I'd love to add a 300cc to 500cc bike to the stable, but I'm indecisive between the practicality of a Honda CB500X...

and the reminiscent old school Royal Enfield.

I was unaware of the reliability and maintenance issues Conch mentioned on the RE, so that makes me reconsider.

He mentioned the KTM 390 Duke, a very nice bike and quite tempting,

...but I'm leaning toward small adventure bikes and waiting for the KTM 390 Adventure to debut.

KTM 390 Adventure Concept (Photoshop)

Or for the CCM GP-450 to come stateside.

CCM GP450

As well as the CSC RX3 Cyclone to gain some popularity.

CSC RX3 Cyclone

Rumor has it Honda is also designing a CRF250 Rally bike, once the 1000cc Africa Twin fad fades of course.

Honda CRF250 Rally

As Conchscooter mentioned, even BMW is getting in on the sub-500cc bandwagon with their 2016 G310R.

2016 BMW G310R

Now if only BMW will make this into an adventure or rally model, only time will tell.

So bigger isn't always better, it's an exciting time to be a motorcyclist.


You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.  
~Vernon Howard

Miss You Bob....

Last weekend (10/31), we went to the Progressive International Motorcycle Show for its debut in Portland. I didn't necessarily want to go, since the recent Seattle shows were waning terribly, but I wanted to support the show's first stop in Oregon in hopes that it'd be better this year.

We have gone to the show every year in Seattle since 2009, back then it was the CycleWorld International Motorcycle Show, before Flo from Progressive Insurance white washed and commercialized the hell out of it. 

We went with good intentions and mustered a positive attitude, but even that couldn't save this year's show. It was a small venue held at the Portland Convention Center, the weather was absolutely terrible, not conducive for a successful motorcycle show, nor for the only marque offering demo rides, Harley Davidson. We braved the flooding in the little Fiat and paid to park under cover; the trip home had me wishing we'd brought the Subaru, the rain was that bad!

Honda was a no show, which was a 'Big Red' disappointment. In previous years, Honda anchored the entire show with a huge, bright yellow carpet, lit signage and displays, with numerous bikes in the center of the arena. They continued to do so when it was moved to the Seattle Convention Center. I was disappointed as I was really looking forward to checking out the CB500X, with hopes of seeing and discussing the Rally Raid conversion kit.

Yamaha didn't make it to the show this year either, that's a 50% no show from the big four. Fortunately, Suzuki and Kawasaki picked up the slack and had some great displays, I appreciated checking out the Kawasaki Versys 650 and 1000cc bikes. (Don't lick the cookie).

 As well as Suzuki's new GSX-S1000 (nice bike Geoff).  

Local dealers did do their best to represent the absent brands, but could only deliver and show the models they had in stock, lacking the vast models available.

KTM, Triumph, and Indian also failed to show, relying on dealerships to fill in the void.

Ducati had great representation as did BMW, but so they should based on their high MSRPs.

The vendors selling gear, helmets and other wares were there physically, but as we found at the Subaru show earlier this year, seemed more interested in texting their friends and spouses than talking to live people standing in front of them with wads of cash in their hands. I like to call myself Joaquin Byer.

We spent nary an hour at the show, didn't collect any swag or take any pictures, and couldn't wait to go home. It was then I realized what Bobskoot meant when he said he didn't go to the show for the bikes, but went to meet other bloggers.

It's the social aspect that make the shows, not the bikes, the vendors or Flo for that matter. So I expect  it to be a social affair for the Vancouver show in January.

See you there!



~ My whole life is waiting for the questions to which I have prepared answers. ~Tom Stoppard