The following passage just spontaneously wrote itself when I was writing about something else. I thought it was a good message for the holiday season so I'm re-posting it here:
I'm a WASP-born agnostic with zen leanings. I might be an honorary Catholic because my wife's family and so many of my friends have been Catholic. By that reasoning I might be an honorary Jew as well. And maybe an honorary black man. And I'm on my way to becoming an honorary east Indian and Mexican. If you hate me on sight for not being just like you, then stay the hell away from me. But I'll have a beer (or coffee) with anyone and everyone else. Most people are just people. Ignore the divisive media. United we stand.
Wednesday, December 27, 2017
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
I love motorcycling!
Today I took what will very likely be my last motorcycle ride for the year. It was also, possibly, the last ride of my life. (That last statement is truer for a leukemia patient like me than for the average rider. I'm doing well on that count but it's always touch and go.)
The day couldn't have been nicer. It was around 50 F and damp. In my cold weather gear I was snug and comfy and the big British twin LOVES damp cool weather. On days like this the Chrome Nun doesn't like to end the ride and neither do I. On my way home I kept turning down side roads and taking a longer and longer way home.
The Chrome Nun is a 2008 Triumph Bonneville T100, arguably the last truly great retro motorcycle. It's the last model year with real carbs. It also sports old-fashioned incandescent lights and mechanical gauges. It even has tall spoked wheels that require inner tubes. The only brake control and traction control are provided by the rider. The T100 version of the new Bonneville line is a 60s style motorcycle with 21st. century engineering and quality.
The Nun got her name because she's black and white and chrome all over and because in the hot months I take lots of early rides on Sundays which I refer to as "going to church." "The Chrome Nun" was a nickname that David Crosby gave to Grace Slick. Like her namesake, my motorcycle looks like a lady but is lots more fun than a lady.
Around Saint Louis, once the temps dropped below 60 F all the hogs disappeared. Below 50 F the sport bikes all disappeared. Then it was only me and a few BMW riders out risking ice patches. The BMWs were always newer models, probably equipped with heated handgrips. That means I won the prize for craziest winter rider. (The prize is really cold stiff hands.)
But in Northwest Indiana, I see very few BMWs. Instead, I'm joined on the road on cool days by hogriders. Any rider who can't wait for warm weather is a bro of mine. You'll hear me criticize hog-poseurs, fair weather riders who only ride to the bar to be seen with their fellow boys. But you'll never hear me criticize a true rider, no matter what he rides. Besides, some hogs are really @#$% cool!
On one of my last rides I went down to Cedar lake and rode all around the area. I saw a few real hogriders and a bar full of poseurs. Also, when I pulled over to check my phone for messages, I was passed by about a dozen youngsters on sport bikes. They were respectful and safe and several of them waved. They weren't in town on busy streets showing off like assholes, they were enjoying a ride in the country. That makes me feel good.
It's noteworthy that my Bonneville gets respect from hogriders and sport bike riders alike. The two groups don't always extend the same courtesy to each other. I expect all real riders do. To me a real rider is someone who simply loves riding motorcycles, like I do. You don't have to be the fastest, loudest or most reckless in order to enjoy riding. Just seeing a nice motorcycle makes you feel good, and riding one makes you smile inside and out.
The Chrome Nun 12-2017
click to enlarge
Saturday, July 15, 2017
Moto Explorer
[I've written about this before but it's one of my favorite topics. And though I tell some stories over and over, at least I never tell them the same way twice.]
I enjoy riding a motorcycle. I don't have to go fast or look cool or impress anyone in any way. Just being on a motorcycle makes me happy. I make this distinction because many people who ride motorcycles don't simply enjoy riding motorcycles. They are dissatisfied if their mount isn't fast enough or cool enough or impressive enough. But put me on any motorcycle and you'll put a smile on my face.
I do prefer naked standard midsize motorcycles. "Naked" means no fairing or other body work. "Standard" means an upright seating position with feet straight down, instead of reclining like on a cruiser or laying face down like on a "sport bike." Midsize these days would be around 750cc - 1000cc. My 865cc 2008 Triumph Bonneville T100 is all these things.
My favorite kind of riding is unhurriedly exploring back roads. I take off in no particular direction and when I see any road that looks interesting I explore it. I've equipped my Triumph with dual-sport tires for roads that turn to gravel or worse. I ride roads that aren't suitable for cruisers or sport bikes.
I've done this kind of riding since I was 16 and rode a 250cc Honda Dream.* As a result, I've seen countless interesting sights that no one else has seen unless they live down those roads or have had some kind of business there.
I know there are more moto-explorers like me out there, but I bet there aren't many. And I bet that between us we've seen as many interesting sights as all other riders combined.
You, too, can be a moto-explorer. You just:
get your motor running,
head out on the back way,
slow the @#$% down,
pay attention to your surroundings,
stop and take a closer look sometimes.
You can thank me later.
---------------------------------------------
*It wasn't fast or cool and no one was impressed, but I had a blast on that little bike!
I enjoy riding a motorcycle. I don't have to go fast or look cool or impress anyone in any way. Just being on a motorcycle makes me happy. I make this distinction because many people who ride motorcycles don't simply enjoy riding motorcycles. They are dissatisfied if their mount isn't fast enough or cool enough or impressive enough. But put me on any motorcycle and you'll put a smile on my face.
I do prefer naked standard midsize motorcycles. "Naked" means no fairing or other body work. "Standard" means an upright seating position with feet straight down, instead of reclining like on a cruiser or laying face down like on a "sport bike." Midsize these days would be around 750cc - 1000cc. My 865cc 2008 Triumph Bonneville T100 is all these things.
My favorite kind of riding is unhurriedly exploring back roads. I take off in no particular direction and when I see any road that looks interesting I explore it. I've equipped my Triumph with dual-sport tires for roads that turn to gravel or worse. I ride roads that aren't suitable for cruisers or sport bikes.
I've done this kind of riding since I was 16 and rode a 250cc Honda Dream.* As a result, I've seen countless interesting sights that no one else has seen unless they live down those roads or have had some kind of business there.
I know there are more moto-explorers like me out there, but I bet there aren't many. And I bet that between us we've seen as many interesting sights as all other riders combined.
You, too, can be a moto-explorer. You just:
get your motor running,
head out on the back way,
slow the @#$% down,
pay attention to your surroundings,
stop and take a closer look sometimes.
You can thank me later.
---------------------------------------------
*It wasn't fast or cool and no one was impressed, but I had a blast on that little bike!
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Leukemia
Starting April 1, 2017 I was slammed down by Leukemia. Some April fool joke, eh?
Last Sunday, June 25, 2017 was the first time I rode the Nun since March. It was wonderful.
I'm in remission right now and feeling pretty good. But the doctors will soon put a stop to that.
Next on the agenda is worse chemo than I've already done, plus stem cell therapy.
Prognosis: 50% chance that I'll be "healed", 50% chance that I won't, and 15% chance that the treatment will kill me. Gentlemen, place your bets.
Those odds are based on average patients, meaning much older and sicklier than this tough old dog. So maybe I actually have better odds. Odds are for suckers, anyway. Anything might happen. The Russian roulette aspect of the treatment just keeps things interesting. Yeah, right.
I'm not really sad or despairing. It mostly just kind of sucks. I had finally reached a point of contentment in my life. All was well and I was looking forward to maybe ten more years of the same. Surprise!
Oh well. I've had one helluva good full life. If my life flashes before my eyes as I depart this existence, it'll be the blockbuster of the year.
Last Sunday, June 25, 2017 was the first time I rode the Nun since March. It was wonderful.
I'm in remission right now and feeling pretty good. But the doctors will soon put a stop to that.
Next on the agenda is worse chemo than I've already done, plus stem cell therapy.
Prognosis: 50% chance that I'll be "healed", 50% chance that I won't, and 15% chance that the treatment will kill me. Gentlemen, place your bets.
Those odds are based on average patients, meaning much older and sicklier than this tough old dog. So maybe I actually have better odds. Odds are for suckers, anyway. Anything might happen. The Russian roulette aspect of the treatment just keeps things interesting. Yeah, right.
I'm not really sad or despairing. It mostly just kind of sucks. I had finally reached a point of contentment in my life. All was well and I was looking forward to maybe ten more years of the same. Surprise!
Oh well. I've had one helluva good full life. If my life flashes before my eyes as I depart this existence, it'll be the blockbuster of the year.
Sunday, January 22, 2017
Winter in NWI
Since buying the Nun in the spring of 2009 I haven't gone for more than two weeks at a time without riding... until now. Now I live in NWI (Northwest Indiana) where there's more snow and cold than I've encountered since a residency in Iowa in the 70s.
This winter hasn't been bad and I don't think I've gone more than three weeks between rides, but the winter is young and I'm not. If I stay here for the rest of my life, like I plan to, there will be some long spells between rides most winters.
Good thing I bought a battery monitor/charger when I bought the motorcycle, not that I've needed it until now. It was not a cheap one so I'm kind of glad to be getting use from it. I always use a little fuel stabilizer during the colds months which is probably not necessary but better safe than sorry.
Yesterday, January 21, temps got just over 60. All the motos were out and I was among them. It was a grand thing. I think all the waves and nods of motorcyclist to motorcyclist recognition were genuine and that most were accompanied by smiles. My smile was hidden under my full-coverage helmet.
The Nun is a true Brit. She loves cooler weather and especially damp or foggy weather. I used to think I was imagining it but it's too distinct a difference to be imaginary. Maybe its the result of the engine's first tuning taking place in the UK.
Nothing more to add today. I'll try to write again before 2018.
Monday, May 16, 2016
Leisurely Motorcycling
I have described the Chrome Nun, my 2008 Triumph Bonneville T100, as a "Gentleman's Motorcycle" and I tend to ride like a gentleman. I don't make unnecessary noise, pull wheelies or drag race. I simply enjoy riding a motorcycle. I'm in no hurry to get anywhere and I usually don't even have a specific destination. The ride itself is my goal.
This came to mind last Sunday when I "went to church" (my term for riding the Nun on Sunday). I recently moved to Northwest Indiana, which is nearly as flat as the Central Illinois flat-lands I swore I'd never return to. There are no exciting hills or curves, but I enjoyed my ride very much. I was doing the kind of motorcycle riding I like best: exploring!
A motorcycle is the best vehicle for exploring. You have the best view and it's easier to turn around than a car. This is important when roads unexpectedly end. And when I pass a road I want to explore I'm more inclined to turn around and explore it if I'm on two wheels. Finding a place to turn a four-wheeler around in the middle of nowhere can be a problem.
I turned around several times last Sunday and the ride was much better for it. I gratified my curiosity and saw new places and things I would have missed otherwise. The speed limit was consistently 30 mph. The only real curve was a wide, banked curve marked "dangerous curve." What was dangerous about it? Nothing, except it was the only curve around.
On the map this area looks like it would be boring to ride. But I've taken two long rides so far and both were far from boring. I found a lot to explore. In fact, the lack of challenge posed by the roads makes the ride more leisurely. I can pay less attention to the mechanics of riding and more to the scenery. That's a good thing for explorers like me.
This came to mind last Sunday when I "went to church" (my term for riding the Nun on Sunday). I recently moved to Northwest Indiana, which is nearly as flat as the Central Illinois flat-lands I swore I'd never return to. There are no exciting hills or curves, but I enjoyed my ride very much. I was doing the kind of motorcycle riding I like best: exploring!
A motorcycle is the best vehicle for exploring. You have the best view and it's easier to turn around than a car. This is important when roads unexpectedly end. And when I pass a road I want to explore I'm more inclined to turn around and explore it if I'm on two wheels. Finding a place to turn a four-wheeler around in the middle of nowhere can be a problem.
I turned around several times last Sunday and the ride was much better for it. I gratified my curiosity and saw new places and things I would have missed otherwise. The speed limit was consistently 30 mph. The only real curve was a wide, banked curve marked "dangerous curve." What was dangerous about it? Nothing, except it was the only curve around.
On the map this area looks like it would be boring to ride. But I've taken two long rides so far and both were far from boring. I found a lot to explore. In fact, the lack of challenge posed by the roads makes the ride more leisurely. I can pay less attention to the mechanics of riding and more to the scenery. That's a good thing for explorers like me.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
OREGON !!!
I moved again.
This time I moved to Corvallis, Oregon.
Corvallis is a peaceful, sleepy little village full of pale-faced college kids and pale-faced natives.
It sits next to the Willamette (dammit) River, which looks like a creek compared to the Mississippi.
The river runs the wrong way; that is, it runs straight north.
I went to the river yesterday just to witness that for myself. It seemed so wrong!
This town is not the most exciting motorcycling town.
But it doesn't matter the least little bit.
Why?
Find Corvallis on Google maps... then zoom out... !!!
Mountain-ish hills to the west, real mountains to the east, real MOUNTAINS further east.
One of the best ocean-coast highways in the world less than an hour away.
The "high-desert" or Mount Hood a "good warm up" ride away.
More terrains and biomes within a day's ride than I have time left in my life to explore.
Practically year-round riding temperatures.
Conclusion?
I am in paradise.
The photo is from a gloomy day at Agate Beach in Newport, Oregon. Click the pic for a bigger image.
Wife and I love Newport. It's not a touristy town, it's a real fishing town.
The breakers looked big enough to surf on... to surf for a few feet, anyway.
I expect I'll be posting articles and photos here more frequently than I have the past couple of years. Where I lived in Missouri the best riding was right around my home. Once I'd written about that I'd pretty much covered it.
But in Corvallis I have to "leave home" to reach the good stuff, and there's different good stuff in every direction!
UNFORTUNATE UPDATE:
Oregon was a bust. Their ecology was ruined a generation ago and good motorcycling roads were much fewer than anticipated. A lot of the twisties on the map are just old logging roads lined with rubble and surrounded by identical species trees and nothing else. It's like corn country, only with Douglas firs instead of cornstalks.
I started out on the twistiest highway from Corvallis to the coast but turned back after awhile because the road was far more dangerous than fun. The pavement is crap from snow chains and spikes. The lanes are barely big enough for two vehicles to get past each other and drivers cross the line at every blind curve. The edge of the road is immediately followed by a rockface or a chasm. The curve banking in the twisties is so exaggerated that it just makes navigation worse.
Willamette Valley was as flat as and even boring than Central Illinois. At least in Central Illinois you saw wild animals. I could stand in the middle of the valley sometimes and scan the sky from the Coastal Range to the Cascades and not see a single bird. Creepy.
Most of the "wildlife" I saw in Oregon wasn't very wild. Most towns have resident half-tame populations of blacktailed deer (many of them crippled by SUVs) and a particularly stupid variety of turkey wandering the streets. Most towns also have an equivalent population of homeless people.
I do miss Newport, though. Sea lions, whales, crabs, sea birds, tidal pools...
This time I moved to Corvallis, Oregon.
Corvallis is a peaceful, sleepy little village full of pale-faced college kids and pale-faced natives.
It sits next to the Willamette (dammit) River, which looks like a creek compared to the Mississippi.
The river runs the wrong way; that is, it runs straight north.
I went to the river yesterday just to witness that for myself. It seemed so wrong!
This town is not the most exciting motorcycling town.
But it doesn't matter the least little bit.
Why?
Find Corvallis on Google maps... then zoom out... !!!
Mountain-ish hills to the west, real mountains to the east, real MOUNTAINS further east.
One of the best ocean-coast highways in the world less than an hour away.
The "high-desert" or Mount Hood a "good warm up" ride away.
More terrains and biomes within a day's ride than I have time left in my life to explore.
Practically year-round riding temperatures.
Conclusion?
I am in paradise.
Wife and I love Newport. It's not a touristy town, it's a real fishing town.
The breakers looked big enough to surf on... to surf for a few feet, anyway.
I expect I'll be posting articles and photos here more frequently than I have the past couple of years. Where I lived in Missouri the best riding was right around my home. Once I'd written about that I'd pretty much covered it.
But in Corvallis I have to "leave home" to reach the good stuff, and there's different good stuff in every direction!
UNFORTUNATE UPDATE:
Oregon was a bust. Their ecology was ruined a generation ago and good motorcycling roads were much fewer than anticipated. A lot of the twisties on the map are just old logging roads lined with rubble and surrounded by identical species trees and nothing else. It's like corn country, only with Douglas firs instead of cornstalks.
I started out on the twistiest highway from Corvallis to the coast but turned back after awhile because the road was far more dangerous than fun. The pavement is crap from snow chains and spikes. The lanes are barely big enough for two vehicles to get past each other and drivers cross the line at every blind curve. The edge of the road is immediately followed by a rockface or a chasm. The curve banking in the twisties is so exaggerated that it just makes navigation worse.
Willamette Valley was as flat as and even boring than Central Illinois. At least in Central Illinois you saw wild animals. I could stand in the middle of the valley sometimes and scan the sky from the Coastal Range to the Cascades and not see a single bird. Creepy.
Most of the "wildlife" I saw in Oregon wasn't very wild. Most towns have resident half-tame populations of blacktailed deer (many of them crippled by SUVs) and a particularly stupid variety of turkey wandering the streets. Most towns also have an equivalent population of homeless people.
I do miss Newport, though. Sea lions, whales, crabs, sea birds, tidal pools...
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