A ride through West Virginia on scenic HWY 52.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

It Sucks to Get Old

and Slow.




Excerpt from a letter to a dualsport riding group about this last weekend's ride at Renfro Valley:

I've gotta say I'm really impressed by how awesome these dual sport blokes are. I was winded after about 1 hour in the mud, dumped enough times to start naming tree roots and rocks with intimate accolades, and will forever be in debt to the most generous man on a gasgas? 250? who picked my ass up out of the mud on 2 occasions cause my back was blown. It was particularly humbling when on the 2nd occasion he got me up on the bike, I was ready to go, only to fall the other way on the trail before I even let the clutch out. I will pick up the next poor sap who dumps in front of me, I swear.

After limping back to the hotel taking a long cut on the road which turned my ass to a shade of black and blue (love ktm seats), I shuffled up to my room, took a shower and a nap. Got up and went to dinner and guys were still out in what looked like a wet scene from that lobster fisherman show, and I thought.... how?

Went back to the warm cozy room only to be disturbed at 6:30pm from noise outside my room and 2 guys were just getting in! No food, nothing, just back from trail. And they said they were getting too old.... dang...

You are all supermen to me and I can only aspire to keep up with you. Jeff kicked my ass and Barry was somewhere in front of us and he lost me. I don't know how many passed me but in all fairness it was only because I was laying winded and broken in a face full of mud waiting for someone to roost over my back.

Cant wait till the next ride but beware young and old supermen.... these old broken bones will mend and I will get in shape. Look out for the orange (and hopefully not bleeding red) shape in front of you. He will do the whole trail...... I hope....

No, that's not me, but I'll not say it's never been me.

JACmail

Help a brother out, y'all.

Zion's Paladin (24.205.64.113)
Hey y'all. I'm gonna branch OT here.

JAC, this is mostly to you, though anyone else can feel free to chime in. Not like I could stop you from doing that anyway. Smile

Anywho, I finally got off my ass and scheduled an appointment with the DMV to take the written test for my motorcycle license. Since I already passed the MSF course, the practical is over and done with. But I'm facing two concerns that I need some advice or suggestions on.

1) Riding jeans. I've found at least one good site that sells a wide variety, both in the amount of armor plating they offer, types of jeans and sizes, including mine. My cautious nature tells me to get as much armor plating as they'll put in, but I wanted to check with the experienced riders here on whether that's the way to go, or if there's armor plating in certain areas I should avoid.

2) This is the doozy. Riding a motorcycle is my first experience with a manual tranny ever. While I am very confident in my ability to handle a bike in terms of steering, braking etc., the throttle control and gear shifting is what's got me concerned. With a car, someone else could drive down to a parking lot, field or whatnot and switch places with the learner so they can get the necessary experience. With a bike, my only choice is grit my teeth and learn or rent a trailer to haul it back and forth while I get the necessary experience. This is where I need the majority of the advice and suggestions.

Woulda e-mailed you JAC, but my previous laptop had a glass of water run into it, and I couldn't find your e-mail address anywhere else.
Today, 4:33:35 AM

Real quick, ZP.

1) Riding Jeans. They are nice in very hot weather and I use Diamond Gusset brand, but an armoured oversuit or overpants is preferable like this.

2) Shifting. It ain't that big of a deal. The basics are;keep the RPM's between the engine dieing and the tachometer redline and all is well. The initial takeoff is the difficult part as there is so much going on all at one. A primary foible a new rider will make is while making a left turn across traffic: So much attention will be paid to a successful lutch/accelerator interaction that none is paid to the rate of acceleration resulting in either a) panic and freeze up while turning leading to collision, or b) a dropped bike in the middle if the intersection. Bear in mind you may "slip" the clutch as needed to learn a feel for it and it is always permissible to pull the lever back in after taking off. That second bit will save your ass from a lot of rookie screwups. I watch my brother damned near ride off a bridge 'cause he was concentrating so hard on letting the clutch out to take off without "killing" the engine.

Best Practices

Should be copied and expanded. These deep thinkers should be sent up to a national level office. Oh, wait.... that already happened.

From WGN news and the Chicago Tribune:

State reps want to fight violence with National Guard's help

So far this year, 113 people have been killed across Chicago, the same number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan combined in the same period, Fritchey said.

"As we speak, National Guard members are working side-by-side with our troops to fight a war halfway around the world," Fritchey said. "The unfortunate reality is that we have another war that is just as deadly taking place right in our backyard." While the National Guard has been deployed in other states to prevent violence related to specific events and protests, the Chicago legislators said they are unaware of guardsmen being deployed to assist with general urban unrest.

So how is it Chicago isn't a paradise on earth? Leftists have had their way in Chicago for the last half century. The streets are surely made of gold, the shiny science fiction future of communal living, urban planning, high taxes..er.. "contributions", and suborning the individual to the state will take hold any minute now. You'll see. Really.

Fun News Day!

Two happenings are very interesting and, yes, amusing today:

1) From the Daily Mail: White racist lawyer stabbed to death by a black racist convict.

and;

2)From Pravda: Chomsky warns US on the verge of becoming a new WWII Germany.

It is worth noting that both stories are from the foreign press, especially given that their perspective seems to be a view askance toward the US as an unstable entity.

Item one has me head scratching in that there is a so much going on it is nearly overwhelming to try to determine who the greater villain is. One one hand you have a white skinflint lawyer who keeps to himself locally apparently taking advantage of his neighbor's convict status to get some work done really cheap, on the other you have a black tribally decorated violent criminal who committed the public service of lawyercide.
You see why this is a tough nut? I have ommited the term "racist" from the description of both parties as it is useful a descriptor of an individual human as "bipedal".

Item two contains the following:

It's very similar to Weimar Germany, the parallels are striking." Here, too, there is a tremendous disappointment with the parliamentary system, pointed Chomsky interviewing on Truthdig.

"The United States is very lucky that no honest and charismatic figure has appeared, and if this were to happen this country would be in real trouble for the frustration, disillusionment and the justified anger combined with the absence of a coherent response," he concludes.

In Germany, he recalls, an enemy was created to explain the crisis which was the Jew. "Here they are the illegal immigrants and blacks. We will say that white men are a persecuted minority. We will say that we must uphold and defend the honor of the nation. Military force will be exalted. There will be blows. This could be converted into an undeniable force. And if it takes place, it will be more dangerous than Nazi Germany. The United States is a world power ... I do not believe that this is far from happening," he says.

This is interesting in that folks watching the US from afar have a take on the country that is far different from those among us who self identify as the most wise, cosmopolitan, and politically savvy; i.e. the non-classical liberal or leftist. To ask a modern leftist to put the US on an historical timeline with both the beginning and an endpoint will illicit only rapid eyelid flutter. They are very hard to jolt out of a mindset that includes an eternal economic system and an eternal representative government, both of which are obvious absurdities, but speak to the traditional historical ignorance of the left.

The only comment I have regarding Chomsky's characterization of the racial component of unrest in the US is the fact that the only folks not over the black/white thing are black folk. Now, if folks ever start to realize their beef isn't with illegals, but rather those who wish to drive down their labor costs by increasing the available workforce through the attraction of illegal immigrants, coupled with the ongoing Depression, then we are looking at something a bit more akin to France circa 1788 han the Wiemar Republic circa 1932. Though it must be mentioned in support of Chomsky's analysis that the US has already implemented the Gleichschaltung.

Some Days is Does NOT Pay to Mess With the Bunny

From this thread:



Spacebunny: 4/14/10 8:56 AM:
Nicholas_Gascoine: 4/14/10 7:52 AM:

This IS from WND, isn't it?


Yet another reason to hold you in contempt Gasbag - you can't even read for comprehension or follow links. If you could you wouldn't make such demonstrably STUPID statements.

You're dumber than a box of rocks and an ass.

Glory Days

We've all got things that cue memories of more innocent times. I was rolling through Southern indiana yesterday when I came across one of these for sale:




Mikesbo sends this:

This thing was in excellent condiion. That exhaust had its twin on the other side. Based on that and condition, I'd say this guy is probably making a wee bit more than stock, which means it'll go like stink and then some.

Yamaha moved the engine closer toward the front on the RD400 to try and tame the unintended wheelie proclivity of the RD350. My first bike was the grand-daddy of this one, the YDS3.

Another ubiquitous beach trip.

Life's a bitch.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Overlooking the Dixie Highway

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

MrsJAC the immigrant.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

One man. Two states.

On the ky virginia border at Cumberland Gap.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Spotted: 5K on the clock.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

A Master of the Tall Tale

Take heed, for this is how a Tale is rendered:


I said, "Jerry, they ain't no way."
An' he says, "I'll show ye'!"

Editors Note: No relation. Really.

High Seas Freighters Must Convert to Oars

The latest Obamacrat to utter what passed across his stuttering brain synapses thinks the Third World has the right idea when it comes to folks getting around: Pedal Power!
Yes! You, too, can extend that half hour commute to a half day bicycle trek!



This signals that the Obama administration has come to grips with the fact the US population will be poor for the near future and is seeking to incorporate this paradigm shift in personal transportation; Put simply folk won't be able to afford gas.

Notice the idiot didn't say anything about efficiency, speed, or even cheap transport, just how we need to spend money on a mode of transport that only the poorest, most miserable folk on the planet are forced to adopt. Fear not for your betters, though, even the Commissars had the Zil.

Yeah, that was boring for me, too.

Women..... What are they good for?

Sewing zippers into riding suits! MrsJAC is definitely a keeper

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

A Good Day to Ride: Cumberland Falls

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

The inevitable result

Government ownership of land.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Spotted

1978 Zook. Complete with megaphone mufflers. Sounded great!

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

From Mikesbo - a brand new Suzuki UJM!

Now That's Entertainment

Big Blue Style.