Then Came Bronson

In 1969, a year before I turned 16 and bought my first motorcycle, there was a TV series about a guy wandering around the country on a motorcycle. The show was OK. The best part was his "convertible" motorcycle. When he rode it on the highway it was a 886cc Sportster. But whenever he took it off road it turned into a 350cc Sprint. Nice trick.

Oddly, a guy who lived at the end of my street owned a Sprint, so I knew what one was, unlike most people in the world. The Sprint was a single-cylinder "thumper" built by Aermacchi of Italy and marketed by Harley Davidson as one of their own.

 

When Bronson's Sportster turned into a Sprint, it still had the red Sportster "peanut" fuel tank with the distinctive "all seeing eye" motif. I don't know if that fooled many people.

Our neighborhood had some very uncool motorcycles. One friend's father rode a small Honda scrambler (150cc?) and looked kind of silly on it. Another friend rode a Cushman, a moped and a Sears Allstate. My first bike was a 250 Honda Dream, so who am I to talk?

Time of the Signs

Last weekend I took a long ride around the neighborhood and shot a few interesting photos. First I saw a sign warning drivers to watch out for acrobatic deer.

Next I saw this sign next to a pretty pond in an upscale neighborhood. It made me think, "Welcome to Funland!"

And then, a day after watching a show about feral hogs in Florida, I turned into a cul-de-sac and saw this:

At first I thought it was real. Then I made note of the familiar color scheme and decided to take this shot.

Moto Museum

I recently rode the Nun to Moto Europa in Downtown St. Louis for a minor adjustment.

While I was there I visited the Moto Museum next door. Wow. What a great collection of vintage motorcycles.

Here's my favorite, the Bohmerland three-seater. Click on the pics to enlarge them.

Dig those crazy cast-iron wheels, baby. That is one super-funky motorcycle. Talk about Steam Punk.

"Bohmerland" means "Bohemian." And yes, it's a Czechoslovakian machine. This one is a 1927 model with a 600 cc engine.

Don't you just want to fire this monster up and see if you can get it around the block without crashing? I sure do.

I haven't been to the adjacent "Triumph Cafe" yet. Maybe next time.

Zen Rider

Different people ride different kinds of motorcycles in different ways and go different routes to different places and do different things when they get there.

Sometimes I need to go someplace and I use the Chrome Nun to get there. But usually I don't have a precise destination in mind when I take off. Usually I just start the bike and then do what I want to do next.

I might sit there awhile. I might turn left or I might turn right. I might go fast or I might go slow. I might ride in the grass.

I am in immediate mode. Anything can happen and I'm awake and aware and present in the moment.

When I have a destination I might be thinking about that, or listening to a CD to pass the time, or daydreaming, especially if I'm in the car

But when I'm in immediate mode my attention and my thoughts are in the here and now. I see the road and the sky and everything between them. I see and hear and smell everything around me.

Most people usually have their minds partly on what they are doing, partly on the past and partly on the future. Their attention is diluted. And since we can't really see future or past, those parts are largely imaginary. So most people are usually only about 25% aware most of the time. They are like sleepwalkers.

That's fine, I guess. But we're only alive for a short time. I want to pay attention to this short life and glean as much as I can from it. So I often stop projecting and remembering and imagining and I just pay attention to the ever-changing now.

I probably do this best in a quiet place or in the woods. And I do it pretty well sitting at the Starbucks at the Loop. But it is a blast to do this while riding a good motorcycle.

What I do is a kind of meditation that I started developing when I was 12, back in 1966. I was curious about different religions and I was reading a book about them that introduced me to Zen Buddhism. It clicked the way Thoreau had clicked. I read more and began experimenting with different kinds and methods of meditation. Around this time the Beatles studied under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who did not click with me. I saw another Emerson in the Maharishi, and that's not a good thing.

By the time I graduated from high school in 1972 I was an accomplished Zen Rider. Two years later a book appeared called "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." Of course I bought a copy. It wasn't about Zen or motorcycle maintenance. It was the story of a disturbed guy and his disturbed son, written in disturbing prose. It effectively conveyed his screwed-up thinking and I hated it. It was like reading a 19th century German philosopher while having a migraine; useless and painful. The book was a big hit.

Now I'm old and I ride. Thoughts and feelings rise and float by and past and away of their own accord, like the ever-changing scenery. And I perch on the brink of yet-to-come, watching the now unfold.

Ever new. Ever unique. Beautiful.

Wonderful Winter Ride

So far this winter I have never had to wait a full two weeks between motorcycle rides.

It snowed this morning and covered the roads, making them very hard to navigate by car.  But by this afternoon the plows and hot sun left the roads mostly just wet and slushy. So I went for a long ride in the slush. It was a blast.

I conclude every winter ride with a stop at the car wash to spray off the road salt. The carwash lot was surrounded by hard-packed snow. I had to ride through it coming and going. The Sport Demon Tires are useless on snow. I wish I'd bought the Tourance tires. I certainly will next time.

The photo is from an apartment or condo complex near Creve Coeur Park. Moments before I parked the bike to take the shot an adult male bald eagle flew over me. I have since seen a pair of eagles at Creve Coeur Lake annoying the waterfowl.

Good Ear Plugs

I can't stand the scream of wind past my motorcycle helmet so I wear earplugs when I'm riding.

I've tried a dozen kinds of earplugs and the ones I like best are "Western Safety" brand Disposable Earplugs, item 66217 from Harbor Freight. They cost 99 cents for three pairs.

My ear canals are long and narrow so I need long, narrow foam plugs that compress to a very thin diameter. I also need a material that doesn't irritate my ear canals. These long, thin. orange plugs do the trick.

What a ride!

I just took The Nun out for her first cruise after the 12K mile servicing. She did fine.

The odometer really only reads 11700+ but we just had some un-ride-able weather, making it a good time for The Nun to be laid up. And I wanted plenty of time after the 12K to make sure everything's cooking OK before the warranty is up in April. Two months should be enough time.

So far it looks like Moto Europa did a good job. The Nun runs the same as she did before the service.

It sure felt good being back in the saddle after almost two weeks. I was having some serious withdrawal symptoms but I got through it by reading motorcycle magazines and hanging out at the Triumph forum.

Tomorrow I get to ride some more. In January! I love St. Louis.