Face to Face

There's always a bit of trepidation when meeting someone face to face when all you've had previously is an online relationship. Sounds like an internet dating situation doesn't it? Truth be told, the thought pattern is similar. Will we hit it off? Will they be disappointed when they meet me? Will I be disappointed? Bobskoot has called me a legend. What will he think when he finds the legend is actually an ordinary guy with a very worn 'Stich and scruffy riding boots? I experienced this situation several times last weekend. I'm very pleased to say that we strengthened the friendships in each case.

I had to be in Klamath Falls on Saturday. It's not real far, somewhere around 220 miles SE of where I live. Our motorcycle safety program has a system to do quality control checks around the state. That was the reason for this trip. Having some work related customers in K Falls, I went down a couple of days early. The plan was to leave for Bend on Saturday afternoon and meet up with the traveling bloggers.

This would be a good time, since we're talking about spreading the love, to say that I have officially fallen in love with Elvira. You've already seen here about her cornering prowess. The road I took between Oakridge and Klamath Falls is pretty much arrow straight. Long open stretches that are sometimes obstructed by big trucks and recreational vehicles. Being stuck behind these rolling roadblocks isn't much fun when it's 91 degrees outside. ( I was going to translate that into metric for Bobskoot who insists we have to use that system, but I fnd I don't really care )

There are a large number of drivers who are still wondering what that black and yellow blur was that blew around them. Probably a swarm of killer bees. Yeah, that's it. I'm not going to incriminate myself. You have to love that motor. 'Nuff said.

O.I.T. is one of the end users I call on when I'm in town. You know how it is. We take pictures of our bikes near identifying objects. Don't know if we're marking our territory or proving we were there. Either way, Elvira was parked where you see her. I hate mid-day sunshine as it washes out everything. The sun was behind me so the polarizing filter wouldn't help. I'm standing across the entry drive from the bike adjusting the exposure compensation. Along comes two absolutely gorgeous college age blondes in a cyan blue convertible.

They offer to take my photo with the bike. I decline the offer, telling them the bike is the important thing, anyway. Waving, the two goddesses drive away. Only later, as I'm once again on the road in the brain baking heat, does the thought occur to me.

I have totally wasted an opportunity to benefit from the attentions of these two young women. I can hear Riepe groaning and slapping his ample forehead. Yes, Jack, your reputation has spread literally from coast to coast. I know what you would have done, my friend. Animals would still be flocking to the oasis in the desert caused by your drooling tongue hanging out, too.

All I can say is that I'm lucky to have a girl like Katie. Why eat hamburger out when you can have steak at home? Again, 'nuff said on that.

Thursday afternoon I get a call from Mrs. Conch. We talk for a minute or two. Then she hands the phone to the man himself. I'm actually talking to the famous author of Key West Diary. Turns out we will both be staying in K Falls Friday night. On Friday a text message comes in that says they are running a bit behind schedule. We had planned to meet for supper but that won't work. I send a text back telling Conch that I prefer drinks only for the first date, anyway. You know, just in case it soon becomes obvious things aren't working. You're not trapped as long.

Mrs. Conch replies that they have a bottle of wine for our first date. Turns out that San Francisco traffic is horrible and they won't be in town until really late. Talk about covering miles in a day! So our meeting will have to wait until breakfast Saturday. I recommend the Black Bear Diner which is next to their motel. Now it's official. A real date with a real time and place.

We've arranged for 7 AM. I show up a bit early and back Elvira into a spot next to the front door. Across the way I spot this big bear of a man doing something in the back of somebody's car. There's a blonde dog with him. It looks like the man's stealing dog food from the car to feed his dog. I'm tempted to call the local police. Until my gaze moves down the man's legs which are bare below the hem of his shorts. I spot pink crocs. My God, I've just had my first look at Conchscooter and his faithful four legged sidekick, Cheyenne.

Much to her disappointment, Cheyenne is deposited into the backseat of the car. Conch's wife, Layne, joins us for breakfast. Conch may have a differing opinion, but we hit it off right away. Both of them possess lively minds. Layne is a Saint, while Conch has a bit more of the devil in him. Which he proved by trying to get a photo of me stuffing food in my mouth. Years of developing aggressive scanning skills on a motorcycle proved useful. I believe I saw and foiled his attempts. We'll see when he catches up his blog.

The portions at the diner are huge. Both Conch and Layne were served bisquits with their meals. Both of them decided to save them for later. If they had a flat tire on the road, the bisquits were quite large enough to be used as wheel chocks. I went a different route and ordered ham and eggs. According to Conch the ham was half a pig.



We parted after a few photos were taken. Below is a picture of my well worn riding boot with the famous pink crocs from Key West. I thoroughly enjoyed the visit. We both had to move on to our next destinations. Mine to the motorcycle training range and Conch to a lunch meeting with Bobskoot. Don't know how that went. I just know they were both still alive afterwards.

My mission complete, I headed North to Bend. Another 135 miles of straight road in the 90 degree heat. Once more, I blessed Elvira's powerful and vigorous motor. As had been the case all week, it seemed hundreds of BMW riders were out on the roads. Their rally was in Redmond which is 18 miles North of Bend. Riders were either going to, coming from, or enjoying day rides.

Arriving in Bend, I checked into my motel room. I use this place often so the management knows me. I was given a big room which had a sofa and a kitchen. I'm not sure if the motel folks were being nice or not. Yes, it was a huge room. On the other hand, it was the room farthest away from the office.

Bobskoot and I exchanged text messages. Plans were up in the air for meeting. Finally, I got a text that said they had all decided to come to me.

First to arrive was Richard. We had all used the BMW Rally as the excuse to be in Bend. I think Richard is the only one who attended the rally. Next to arrive was Stacey and Stacey, along with Troubadour and Trobairitz. ( also known as Brad and Brandy ) As you can see, we had motorcycle parking in the shade in front of my room.


Bobskoot and Sonja showed up a bit later along with Bluekat ( aka Kari ) and Ron. Bluekat and Ron were staying at the same motel as me, so they parked over by their room. We offered Bobskoot and Sonja shaded parking with the rest of us. For some reason, Bob chose to park out in the sun. Perhaps his philosophy is the same as mine. A quick escape route open on the first date, just in case. Although, he is stripping his riding gear, so perhaps not so quick. Maybe he just likes restaurant dumpsters!




Once again, I took a photo of my scruffy riding boots beside a famous pair of crocs. These belong to Sonja.


What Stacey has now dubbed the 1st International Moto-Bloggers Convention was very unofficially called to order. I am delighted to have served as host. I have to say this was an extraordinarily nice gathering from my perspective. We were all just "us". Real people sprawled about the room telling stories and getting to know each other better. I had met Brad and Stacey ( Bolty ) before. The rest I was meeting in person for the first time.

I do have to issue a huge apology to Richard about these photos. Richard was sitting against the wall next to Brad, who is next to the kitchen entry. I didn't realize it until much later, but Richard is completely hidden from sight. I was simply taking a couple of quick snapshots and didn't check the camera review screen. I should have taken the time to make sure everyone was visible. Richard was certainly with us and was wearing red crocs. That made four pairs in the room.

Our meeting started a little after 5 PM. Time flew by as everyone kicked back and relaxed. Mention of supper was made several times. Everybody was so relaxed that nobody wanted to move. All of a sudden it was 8 PM. Stacey and Stacey decided they needed to leave for their night's lodging. Richard was headed to Corvallis. The rest of us decided on a restaurant close to the other hotel and departed for a late supper. It was 10:45 PM or so when I got back to my room. What a thoroughly wonderful time we had! I would rate our first gathering a smashing success.

The hotel parking lot was full of bikes. I counted 37. This is a very high ISO photo of the view from my room.

A plan had been made for the gang to meet for breakfast around 10ish ( heavy on the "ish" according to the Stacey's ) and ride back to the Valley together. Bob and Sonja were going to spend a few days on the Oregon Coast. For the rest, the Valley is home. I don't sleep much. 10 AM seemed really long to wait for. I have an old friend another 45 miles east whom I haven't seen in years. My plan was to go see him and the two of us would ride some more. I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but did want to see my friend.



Here's a Can Am taking up my parking spot. I had to scrounge for a space by some other bikes. This is 4:45 AM with a flash. The ride with my friend was great and I arrived home late Sunday night.



Here's a photo of a mountain at 6 AM in the morning sun. I'm so used to looking east towards the mountain that it seems totally weird to look west and see them.



My friend and I got an early start. We successfully avoided deer encounters three times that we know of. Seems deer in this part of the state get a kick out of crossing the road in front of passing motorcyclists.

I hope we have another bloggers convention ahead of us. This one was awesome. Next time we all have to go to Key West!

Miles and smiles,

Dan

Cones.

I spent the weekend teaching a motorcycle class. I know. What else is new? Teaching riders is rewarding on so many levels. The passion still burns. It was literally a hot weekend, as well. I got home in the late afternoon, savored a cold beer, then fell asleep on the couch. Being a high energy instructor takes a lot out of a body! I'm still a bit groggy but felt the urge to play with photos. Another rapidly developing addiction.

Cone were on my mind today. Weird, isn't it? Not for an instructor, actually. Most of my world is made up of, and defined by, orange cones. Big ones and little ones. It's amazing how a parking lot or stretch of blacktop becomes our world. Cones define the borders of our kingdom. Cones direct our paths inside the walls. Sometimes they become a means for one instructor to deliver a message to another.

A big cone in the early morning sunlight.


Placed in a line they become a sort of miniature castle wall.

I was actually trying to capture an effect and failed to achieve it. Steve Williams provided a link to a photo of a line of soldiers. I was trying to duplicate the effect early this morning. The cones were too far apart and stretched over too much distance . My lense would only open as far as f/4. Now that I think of it, I guess I could have moved the cones closer together. My only excuse is that I had to get ready for students this morning.

Cones become the start point for braking and turning exercises. Both the start of the line and the start of the practice itself.

Cones form either a chute or a maze, depending on the need at the time.

Small cones transform into imaginary obstacles for students to swerve around. Bless the small cones for they spare instructors from serving as the obstacles!

Then there is this artwork left on the whiteboard. This greeted me when I arrived in the classroom this afternoon. The other classroom instructor invoked the small cones for this masterpiece.

What was his intent? Since this instructor is a truly good and caring man, I choose to take it as a gesture of affection. After all, must not people pay homage to a Legend?

Miles and smiles,

Dan

Street 'Cred for sale!

After a long day of motor officer training Dean W and I were sitting in a small room at a community college. Also present were a couple of other instructors who had worked with us all day. The rest of the attendees were present via a telephone connection. It was just as well. Nothing like a two hour meeting in a closed up room with no air-conditioning. Or any other way to bring in fresh air, as a matter of fact. The four of us were dog tired, sun burned, and pretty ripe. As Jeff Earls, who was physically present declared, consider it a bonding experience. I believe he said we all looked and smelled like Day 4 of the Iron Butt Rally.

Perhaps it was the heat and the exhaustion. Maybe it was the effect of our bodily emanations, but suddenly Dean looked at me with a look of mischief on his face. Of course, Dean looks like that a lot. That's one of the reasons we get along so well. This particular look had the added elements of triumph and discovery shining around the edges.

Dean had an idea for a new business venture. He said we could sell street cred to wannabes. As a further proof of the bad air's effects, I heartily agreed. We would sell our ground off peg feelers to those seeking physical proof of their claimed riding prowess. Part of the deal would be that these riders, in turn, send us their virgin peg feelers. We would be discrete. Dean and I would then proceed to grind these down and sell them to the next poser. It might just work. We could probably even get some sort of government "green" tax credits. Our product would be made from 100% recycled material.

As a matter of fact, the following Monday would bring a potential customer.

This a close-up of one of Elvira's pegs. As you can see, it might be getting time to replace them. Here's another look.

Being excellent multi-taskers, Dean and I were using his laptop to go online during the meeting to price new peg feelers. As you remember Dean rides an FJR, too. He was actually in the FJR camp long before me. Dean is no slouch on the tracks, either. He isn't shy about grinding away. Please note his most excellent head turn, by the way!

We were both shocked at the price of new peg feelers. There was a small discussion on whether the feelers might be made of aluminum. Ray declared that he had seen my peg feelers spark so we were pretty sure they were steel. I figured we might as well not waste our money as we would just grind them off again. That was the spark ( pun intended ) for Dean's idea.

Of course, it can't stop at the peg feelers. Other things would need to be scraped up, too. Take the center stand, for example.

Some of this scraping is simply from amazing lean angles. The last bit, though, was a mistake on my part. As much as I hate to admit it. Yes, even the legends mess up once in while.

See, the cops are in the classroom for nearly two hours. That leaves us instructors some free time to work on our lines. We'd never be frivolous enough to just go out on the track and ride for the sheer fun of it. No, it's all business. As we are, um, working, we tend to build momentum. I also swear there is never a spirit of competition or any testosterone rush. We are strictly self disclipined.

Being so self disclipined, we were riding. Faster and faster as time went on. The last turn coming onto the straightaway is tricky. Apex too early, and your line will rub against a chain link fence. Apex too late and you'll hit the fence before you can apex. The faster you go, the more precision is required. My precision was a little off. I was about two inches too far to the left on this particular lap. Nothing like solidly grinding the centerstand onto that red and white striped concrete curbing to lift your back tire off the ground. That's a weird feeling, by the way.

Elvira and I recovered and sped down the straight. The harm is when your fellow instructors see you. I'll never live it down. At least until one of them screws up.

Besides peg feelers, there's the tire issue. I mean, a true poser can't have severely ground peg feelers in the middle of two striped tires, can they? You know the kind of stripe I'm talking about. A narrow dark stripe between two wide lighter colored stripes. I believe those lighter colored stripes are commonly called "chicken strips".

Here's Elvira's front tire.

These are the low calorie version chicken strips. The back tire has zero calorie strips.

I'm using Elvira as the sales model, but Dean is manufacturing the same product. This back tire only has a few thousand miles on it. As you remember, the previous one had a nail in it so I replaced it. The tire, not the nail. ( Just in case Jack's reading ) I figure we can turn out tires and peg feelers at a pretty decent rate. Is there a market?

At the risk of yet another long post, I have to share a quick story with you to prove my point.

Dean and I were teaching an ART ( Advanced Rider Training ) class last week. One of our students was riding a black FJR, the same year as Elvira. The man told me that he had changed the OEM tires to Pilot Sport II's. He claimed the bike was a totally different bike with these tires. The guy said he could corner like crazy, now.

During one of the breaks, I took him over and showed him my mostly identical FJR. I pointed out the severely ground off peg feelers. I figured that I had pretty much reached the full cornering potential of the bike with my Metzeler Z6 tires. It might be time to consider an aftermarket shock. The guy told me that he didn't know if his bike had peg feelers or not.

That comment struck me as odd. I mean, if he was really cornering like he claimed he was, wouldn't he know?

We ventured back to his bike to check it out. Hanging proudly beneath the pegs were peg feelers. Each as smooth as my new grandson's little backside. The chicken strips on his tires were high in calories judging by the portion size.

I detected a potential customer. If one is going to play a part in the play, the correct props are essential. Dean's idea has a lot of merit, don't you think?

Admittedly, we won't get rich at it. On the other hand, job satisfaction would be off the chart!

Miles and smiles,

Dan


Disclaimer: I do not advocate judging a person's character and riding solely by scuffed tires and ground-off parts. Nobody has to have a bike in the same condition as Elvira to earn my respect. This is intended solely as a tongue in cheek poke at those who brag about their riding ability but their bike shows they are not walking the talk.

Neither should this kind of scraping happen on the streets. The photos are of professional trainers with high skill levels doing business on a closed course.

Motorcycle Symmetry.

Don't know why, but my photography has been drawn to patterns lately. As I look back over some photos I took during the last two motor officer training sessions, I find a fair number of them were of patterns and symmetry. Just wanted to share a few of them.

These are all right from the camera. The first one was set for a "Cloudy" white balance. The rest were taken in bright sunshine with a "Daylight" white balance. I used a circular polarizing filter. I didn't take time to run them through any Photoshop enhancements. They are what they are. Like I say, I was after the patterns, not to make works of art. Not yet, anyway!

Notice the way the bikes point to the jet in the distance? Motorcycles and jets seem to go together, don't they?

There are somewhere around 40 police bikes in this group. It's unusual to see so many at one place from numerous departments. Elvira seems to fit right in, I think!

BMW's comprise the vast majority. Still, though, the Honda ST1300 is well represented. There was actually one bike from Medford that was the new Kawasaki Concours. Nice bike! Sorry, it's not pictured here. You'll have to visualize the jet black bike for yourself.

The blue bike in the foreground belongs to The Director of our program. He's inside teaching the classroom session while the rest of us play. I mean, work.

This is a nice trio from Oregon's capitol city, Salem.

That's it for today. Hope you're having an awesome 4th weekend!

Miles and smiles,

Dan

Road construction and pavement seams.

I've encountered a situation twice in the last two weeks that I wanted to bring to riders' attention. More exerienced riders have likely already dealt with this condition. Hopefully, the first time was successful! Newer riders may still have this to look forward to. I'm writing about the seams that happen between roadway paving sessions.

In Oregon we have two seasons. Winter and Road Construction. This year, according to the Oregon Department of Transportation, there are more road projects happening at the same time than ever before in Oregon history. This is due in large part to the federal and state stimulus monies. I am steadfastly going to resist making a political commentary here, much as I want to.

What this means for riders is added hazards. What happens is that the crews will grind a road surface away. This leaves a thin base of chopped, grooved, and rough pavement for motorcyclists to deal with. At least the crews usually put up signs that warn motorcyclists of the grooved pavement.

Next comes the laying down of blacktop. Crews typically put it down one lane at a time. Which means one lane's surface is higher than the other. Recently I rode home on backroads that took me through St. Paul. It's a small town north of Salem. Very small town but home to the large and very well known St. Paul Rodeo. Which is happening this weekend, by the way. Anyway, we all had to follow a pilot car for a couple of miles through the paving work. The right lane was at the ground-off level while the left lane had the new layer of blacktop on it. Near the end of the run behind the pilot car we all had to move to the left lane. The four wheel vehicles were able to just hop up onto it. Not so with a motorcycle. I wasn't able to stop and get a picture of the actual seam. I had to take this photo a bit later. However, it will give you the idea.

This is at the edge of the roadway, but picture this in the middle of the road between the lanes. That's what I faced. As well as any other rider coming along. You can't just hop up onto it with a slow sideways move. The edge of the seam will catch the side of the front tire. A motorcycle tire is constantly countersteering itself to maintain balance for the bike. If the tire rubs up against the seam, the tire can no longer countersteer. Which means the bike will want to fall over. That's neither good, smooth, nor cool!

To deal with it, a rider needs at least a 45 degree approach angle. Move to the outside, attain the proper approach angle, then immediately move to straighten out the bike in the new lane. Cagers will think you're being weird, but so be it. We don't really care, do we?

Our concern is being safe on the bike.

My most recent encounter with this situation was in another location on two consecutive nights. The first night was ok. The second night on the same stretch of road was potentially hazardous to a rider who wasn't being extremely vigilant. Let me briefly explain.

On Wednesday we did police motor training. Afterwards we had a training program related meeting in Salem. So, after a long and hard day of training, Dean, Ray, Jeff, and I rode to Salem. Our meeting was done at 9 PM. Ray and I headed south on the freeway. This was 16 hours after we had left home in the morning. It was dark. So we chose to deadhead it down the Superslab. To those not familiar with CB trucker lingo, that's the Interstate.

Paving work was going on. In this case it's being done at night. All the freeway traffic was constricted to the right lane. Orange construction pylons on one side and cement barriers on the other defined our travel lane. That wasn't bad except for the slow crawl. As Ray said, this was what we needed after a 16 hour day!

The next night I rode through there on my own. No work was going on. Which meant no orange pylons. Thus, both lanes were open to traffic. Interestingly, the hammer lane surface was a good two inches higher than the right lane. The only warning consisted of a couple of signs that read "Abrupt edge center".

I knew there had been paving work the night before. There were still signs of the paving activity present that would have alerted me had it been my first time through there. However, the difference in height between the two lanes wasn't readily visible. It was dark. The only illumination was Elvira's headlight. Can you imagine the consequence of merrily whipping into the fast lane at 60 mph ( or whatever! ) without seeing the sharp edge of the blacktop?

The moral of the story is to be aware. If paving is being done the chance for the two ( or more ) lanes being of different heights is pretty large. Watch for the clues. Don't trust your well being to actual signs. These signs might not be present. When you spot the condition use a minimum approach angle of 45 degrees. That might prove to be pretty tricky to pull off at freeway speeds. The best approach is to not change lanes unless you have to for some pressing reason. This same strategy applies to railroad and trolley tracks running parallel to our path of travel, by the way.

Miles and smiles,

Dan

What are they capable of?

"Will they, or won't they?" This is a question that riders find themselves asking quite frequently. Those referred to as "they", of course, are drivers that we're forced to share the road with. It's a guessing game where guessing wrong can be disastrous. The process can also leave a rider mentally frazzled by the end of the ride. I'd like to suggest a better method. Think of capabilities instead of possibilities.

I have a couple of issues with the "guessing game". Firstly, while riding is certainly fun, survival on a motorcycle isn't a game. Winning or losing isn't measured by points on the scoreboard. Secondly, call me a control freak, but I don't like the idea of basing my health and well being on a "guess". Waiting breathlessly to find out if I made a good guess isn't my style.

Is there a better way? In my opinion there is.

Think in terms of capabilities rather than possibilities. Consider an example.

The rider in the picture above is looking across the intersection at this white vehicle waiting at the light. Notice the sign above the stop lights. It's not a protected left turn. The sign tells left turning traffic to yield to oncoming traffic during a green light. This means the rider is having to decide whether or not the white vehicle's driver will turn across her path of travel. Thus begins the guessing game.

Will they or won't they? I talk to a lot of riders. As a professional trainer I tend to analyze their understanding of, and behaviour in, traffic situations. There are a lot of riders who, having guessed that the car won't turn left, relax their preparations. No bogey, no countermeasures. What if they guessed wrong?

Here's the vehicle turning left across traffic. A rider who guessed this wouldn't happen is not only surprised, but they are also faced with a pretty critical situation. Any accident avoidance move has to start from scratch. That takes time that might not be available. Chances of success are worsened by the added adrenaline rush which impairs a rider's abilities in the moment.

The better way is to approach this situation thinking in terms of capabilities. Instead of asking what is possible, ask what the driver is capable of. Then make actual preparations based on that. We know drivers are capable of turning left in front of other large vehicles, not just motorcycles. I was talking to a cop who had a woman turn left in front of his patrol car. He was running "hot" with the overhead lights activated and the siren blaring.

Just recently an elderly couple were killed south of Astoria on the Northern Oregon coast. Both Mike and I have written about the Camp Rilea Military Reservation in the area. It's the place where we both have photos of our bikes with the tank. Anyway, a 72 year old man was driving. His wife was his passenger. Coming out of Camp Rilea, the man turned left into the path of a dump truck. Both the man and his wife were killed. Sad.

If a woman can turn left in front a very visible police car and a man can turn left in front of a dump truck, I'm certain any driver at any time is capable of turning left in front of my motorcycle. I'm not asking myself whether the driver will do it. I'm asking myself what the driver is capable of in whatever situation I am in. Then I take the actual steps to protect myself for when it happens. If the driver doesn't move, then it's a bonus, but I was prepared. No guesswork involved.

I know this seems like a subtle difference. A lot of you are very vigilant and have strategies in place to deal with traffic. I salute you. In my opinion thinking in terms of what drivers are capable of gives me a bit of an extra edge. When a person reaches a certain level of proficiency in an area, sometimes that's how their skills develop further. A fraction of a second here. A certain tweak in the mindset there. The difference between a sharp knife and dull knife is sometimes measured in microns. Those microns, though small, have a huge affect on how the knife performs, don't they?

Will this driver pull out in front of me? I'm not going to guess. I kow they are capable of it so I'll be ready. I hate nasty surprises!

Miles and smiles,

Dan

More Chicago photos.

I started the post on tactical mindsets for motorcyclists. Partway through I decided to postpone it a bit. I'm way behind on reading everyone else's blogs. So I am going to post a few photos from my return trip then go read blogs. Look for the other post tomorrow or Saturday.

Chicago's O'Hare Airport is huge! We got to the airport a couple of hours early. So I wandered around with the G11. The Chicago Police Department patrols the airport. I took several photos in front of a uniformed cop so I have to presume I managed to look like a tourist and not a terrorist.

I know who Wolfgang Puck is. I have also heard that he has a frozen pizza line, now. It was interesting to see his place in the airport. I thought this was a Chicago thing. However, when I got to Sea Tac Airport in Seattle I saw another one. Although not as fancy as this one.

It was a cloudy day with frequent heavy rain storms. There's a lot of glass in the terminal hallways. I thought this abstract looked kind of cool. This is the actual lighting. No Photoshop conversion here.

This hallway was a bit more festive than the others, for some reason.

You see, there is motorcycle content in this post! This is inside a secured terminal. I'd expect this in Milwaukee ( See, I got the two e's Krysta! ). No bikes, just accessories. Wonder what some of the loud pipes would do to all that glass?

My cigar tube with wings is rolling up to the gate. One group off, one group on.

I did manage to get a few decent shots out the window with the G11. These were over the Washington Cascades.






The best photos would have been coming into Seattle proper. We were low to the ground. The Space Needle, Qwest and Safeco fields with the roofs open, and other great stuff begged to be photographed. That announcement about turning off anything with an off and on switch is annoying. I was tempted to sneak some photos anyway. Several pilots I know tell me that a digital camera would not interfere with the navigational instruments. I decided not to try it. Flight crews are getting pretty touchy about these kind of things. I was much more interested in just getting home without too much hassle than sneaking photos.

Miles and smiles,

Dan

Ride to Work (tm) Day

The first day of summer arrived early this morning with a bit of promise. I looked out my front window at 5 AM. As I did I felt like a teacher looking at a struggling student. This has been the wettest June on record. Like a pupil that you just know has the potential to shine, this day could turn out all right. My optimism was rewarded. After riding under grey skies in the morning, the afternoon's return journey was done under mostly sunny skies. Yes, I think Spring is finally going to graduate into Summer.

Not only is today the first day of Summer here, but it is also Ride to Work Day. Andy Goldfine's great idea for promoting the use of motorcycles for practical transportation. Not only that, but it's a show of force at work places. Take us seriously. Work with us. We're motorcyclists. On top of that we are fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, and so on. We're the valuable employees that contribute so much to the success of the companies we work for. Celebrate the fuel efficiency and smaller demands on the earth's resources with us. Give us parking spaces close to the buildings. We don't take up much room. Give us our own space and you'll have more parking left for those still piloting the cages.

I'm afraid I fell a little short in that particular effort. You see, I have no office or place of employment to commute to. There are no fellow riders to join up with in the parking lot. Riding by myself for work doesn't seem to constitute a show of force. Although there are those who would argue that point. I've been called a Force of Nature. Those less kind say I'm a Freak of Nature. Whichever.

So I rode for work on Ride to Work Day. I had a meeting scheduled with the Director of Security at Warner Pacific College in Portland. Since this was a new contact for me, I decided to make the first impression one of a motorcylist. Thus I showed up on the bike in full riding gear, including my TEAM OREGON retroflective vest.

My instructions were to show up at the main entrance and call the guy on his cell phone. Good plan. Although, as I explored the lot, I discovered that all the parking spots required a student parking permit. Visitor parking was up the hill. Elvira is parked right in front of Building 12 shown in blue on the sign. Visitor parking is up the hill, or towards the top of the sign. So I mounted up and parked up there. Which meant I needed to walk back down the hill. This has a point to it. I'm getting there now.

As I'm walking back down the sidewalk I call the guy I'm supposed to meet. He's nearby. In fact, while he and I are talking he says that he thinks he sees me. "Are you the guy in the vest walking down the sidewalk?" he asks.

Mission accomplished. His first impression of me was exactly what I was aiming for. A security professional who happens to ride a motorcycle.

It's a beautiful campus, by the way. The header photo is one I took from the opposite side of Elvira.

From here I figured the best thing I could do was ride around so as many people as possible could see me on the bike. Tough job, but we all need to sacrifice for the cause, right? Hey, that's harder than it sounds. It meant I actually had to be riding, not holed up in a Starbucks! Somehow it took twice as long to get home as it did to get to the meeting. Weird how that happens. The total for the day was 164 miles so I figure we got a bit of exposure.

On Highway 99 there's a very small town named Aurora. I had the urge to tour the museum but it was closed. There was a small colony of settlers here originally. Sometimes one of the hardest tasks in life today is to keep perspective. Wandering around this museum and the old shops out back help me do just that. We have it pretty easy these days. Too cold and wet to ride? How about a long ride on a horse with just a rain slicker and no electrics? When I get home I park Elvira and retreat into a warm house. Back then I'd still have to take care of the horse first. Things aren't so bad after all. Perspective is a wonderful thing to have in any aspect of life.

It felt like everybody and their spawn were out on the roads today. Freeway or back road, it was busy. Had I not been on my toes I could easily have been taken out at least once and probably twice. That got me to thinking about some tactical training I participated in recently. Suddenly I had this connection to something we discussed there and motorcycling. The next post will deal with Tactical Thinking for Motorcycists.

While I was on the road I heard my cell phone's text message alert go off. Later on I took a look. My son Clinton had sent me a text. At the risk of embarrassing him, here's what it said.

"Rode the bike to work today, I'm the son of iron-rider, I had to!"

Dang. We strive so hard to set ourselves apart. When we succeed we feel pretty good. Suddenly we have to ask ourselves what we're doing to our kids!

I sent Clinton a reply.

"Sorry. Being the son of a legend must be tough."

Let him deal with it. I still have dragons to slay!

Miles and smiles,

Dan

Business trip.


It's a good news / bad news thing. The good news is that I'm not chained to a desk. The bad news is that travel is required that's too far to ride a motorcycle! I think I went to Chicago but there's not much to affirm that. All I really saw for the week was O'Hare and a hotel. Corporate made sure we were occupied the whole time. The G11 came along for the ride. Thought I would share a few photos over the next little bit.

Found this little guy in the Chicago airport. He's a present for Ryan. A green Pooh Bear also seems a fitting opening shot, for some reason. I played with a feature of Photoshop that I hadn't tried before. The program has a "photomerge" function. You can blend two or more pictures into one. Not quite the same as Layers but interesting. I took a photo without flash and one with flash. Then I used "Photomerge Exposure" to blend them. The program matched the two pictures exactly. Tripod highly recommended!

Why do these trips always start so early in the morning? My alarm was set for 3 AM. Had to drive an hour and a half to the airport. There was already a crowd at the airport so I wasn't the only early bird. I have to give Alaska Airlines staff high marks for their efficiency in getting everyone through the baggage check process. It helped that I had checked in online earlier.

Here's my first ride of the day. Portland to Seattle where the bigger bird was flying from.


From Seattle I hitched a ride on a 737-900. Here's the view from seat 21F.

The plane might be a bit faster than my bike but you certainly don't get that feeling of being out in the open and free. In fact, it feels downright hemmed in! On the other hand, it's not a good idea to be out in the breeze at 34,000 feet, either. On the other, other hand, it's entertaining to think of being six miles up and, umm, draining the radiator in the back of the plane, so to speak.

This was my home for the next few days. My room was on the ninth floor looking down at the top of the flat roof. It was reassuring to look down at the air conditioning units and see they were still working. Right across from me was the Doubletree Hotel. I guess business travelers can stand in their respective windows and see if they're wearing the same color underwear as everyone else or not. I chose to pass on that activity.

I'm not sure why the sinks are on top of the counters. My guess is that some laborer forgot to cut the hole in the counter. Then some interior decorator saw it and thought it was a grand idea. These folks are always looking for that "special something" to set them apart. Hey, anybody can put a sink flush with the marble. Check this out! Next thing you know some designer will put them in the middle of the bed.

The reading lamps on each side of the pillows were kind of interesting. I was sure I would bump my head on one of the lamps. Surprisingly, it didn't happen. Of course, the odds were in my favor because Corporate gave us precious little pillow time.

Things got more interesting as the days went on. Beer, food, and a Jewish wedding that I crashed are among the highlights. Did I mention beer and food? Stay tuned.

Miles and smiles,

Dan

Ride to Work Day



Just a reminder that Monday, June 21 is Ride to Work day. I'm in a hotel room in Chicago and don't have much time for this post. However, it's important that riders use their bikes for commuting on this day. We need employers and co-workers to see how many folks ride motorcycles. Hopefully it will inspire others to ride. It can also inspire things like employers providing special motorcycle parking spots. There's more, but Andy Goldfine can explain it much better than me.



You can listen to an interview of Andy if you follow the link above. There's also more information. More from me later.

Miles and smiles,

Dan