How was your day

[Testarossa]

Hi, Mike --

Forget Austria. The West Coast is having a fabulous snow year. And we're at 120% of normal snowfall in Colorado, with more coming this week.

Gail says hi!

[Guzzistajohn]

Hey Seth! Good to hear from you! Tell Gail we said hello!

[Muzz]

On Thursday & Friday it "all came together on the night" as they say. My mate has a K1200 BMW that he bought after advice from the owners on this site. He has ridden around Canterbury here, often with his wife on the back, but those who have been here know it is pretty flat. We did go for a squirt to Akaroa, which has a few hills in it, when he first got it but we have been trying to fit in a longer ride.

Thursday we left his place, temps around 55F but they quickly settled on 50F. Headed North over the Lewis Pass, which has a mix of twisties with a few sharp corners thrown in, and then hung a left at Springs Junction to go to the West Coast through the Rahu Saddle. This piece of road is motorcycle heaven, twisties carving through native bush until you burst out at Reefton, where we stooped for a nice lunch and coffee. Temp also went up to 60F On to Greymouth which I find hard to get excited about, and then on to Hokitika which is a much more attractive place. I had wanted Al to lead to set the pace but he preferred to follow and I just kept an eye in the rear view mirror. Beautiful warm weather on the Coast, and not raining! Al was beginning to get used to the Beemer in the tighter corners at this stage, and was thoroughly enjoying the ride.

Stayed in a backpackers on Thursday night, then back to Christchurch on the Friday via the Otira Gorge and Arthurs Pass. This road tends to be a lot tighter in places, but Al at this stage was dialled in and all went well. The road from when you leave the coast through to Otira is the most fantastic piece of road, good surface with constant twisties and tight corners.

Both bikes never missed a beat, clocked in over 400 miles, and we both had a whale of a time. Even when Al dropped back he said he could still hear the V twin bark as I wicked it coming out of the corners. It still has the standard La Franconis on it which I thought were pretty mellow but he assured me you could most certainly tell when the power went on.

He is currently trying to settle a deal on a 2007 Breva, which johnr has looked at and pronounced to be "a minter". Here's hoping. It would be a fitting end to a mighty fine couple of days.

[oldbike54]

 Thanks Muzz , ask John to check in please 

  Dusty

[beetle]

Yesterday was shite. I did a wee high side. Buggered the rear brake lever and scuffed my valve cover and oil cooler cover. Bruised my leg and hurt my shoulder. Very annoyed, as I dropped my head on the pavement and stuffed my brand new Shark Evoline Carbon Pro. Used all of 6 times. Curse!

[Triple Jim]

Sorry.  When something like that happens to me, about all I can think about is the big, non-fun project of repairing the damage.  I hope it goes smoothly for you.  Repairing the damage to your bike and your body, that is.

[oldbike54]

 Not a drama mate .

 Dusty

[Muzz]

The helmet may be bu**ered but it sounds as though your heads survived. Same as the bike heads by the looks of things, scratched but no holes.

What caused the high side Beetle?

[balvenie]

What a bitch
Try not to be too angry for too long. Hope you feel better soon

[beetle]

What caused the high side Beetle?

Some loose gravel on bitumen as I was pulling over. The front wheel starting sliding and then the bars went 'whack' to the right. The bike bucked and I went over the bars. Hit the deck with my right shoulder then my noggin decided it wanted in on the action and hit the deck too.

I felt like a right pillock as I was only doing about 25km/h as I started sliding. There's gouges in the helmet, so can't be saved.

I had a spare rear brake lever in my spare bits from a previous get-off, which I had straightened. The rest is just cosmetic. Shoulder is just a bit sore today.

[Muzz]

Some loose gravel on bitumen as I was pulling over. The front wheel starting sliding and then the bars went 'whack' to the right. The bike bucked and I went over the bars. Hit the deck with my right shoulder then my noggin decided it wanted in on the action and hit the deck too.

I felt like a right pillock as I was only doing about 25km/h as I started sliding. There's gouges in the helmet, so can't be saved.

I had a spare rear brake lever in my spare bits from a previous get-off, which I had straightened. The rest is just cosmetic. Shoulder is just a bit sore today.

Not good, but good that you survived ok. That loose gravel is real nasty to come across; pea metal (also known as ball bearings ) is absolutely dangerous, no matter how fast you are going.

[beetle]

Ball bearings; yes, that's exactly how it felt.

[lucydad]

Beetle,

Worst road surface ever?  Or close?  Saw my brother in 1968 low side his Honda Super 90 right in front of our house trying to turn into garage on the same stuff.  Slick as goose snot on a warm day.

One more week of Alzheimer's clinic here.  Grandpa Larry had an epic emotional meltdown on Friday.  His brain sometimes connects and out comes a volcano of negative emotion?  Strange stuff.  It is sad watching him get lost, over and over and over, in our living room looking for the bathroom.  Stressful.

New house unpacking continues, but we are past the insane stage.  Still lots of labor and expense. 

Looking forward to a break in NYC to see daughters mid-April.  I need one.  What happened to retirement?  Planning trips for summer to MT and CO, maybe AK also? 

No lucking finding a retirement car yet.  No rush though....

[Muzz]

New house unpacking continues, but we are past the insane stage.  Still lots of labor and expense. 

Looking forward to a break in NYC to see daughters mid-April.  I need one.  What happened to retirement?  Planning trips for summer to MT and CO, maybe AK also? 

No lucking finding a retirement car yet.  No rush though....

LD, I am finding that I am busier now that I am retired than I was before. I have concluded that I am doing more of the stuff I LIKE to do rather than HAVE to do. There is a difference.  In your case with shifting house etc. you are still doing things you have to do. Houses don't shift themselves and it seems to take a long time to get them to the stage you are happy with.

Our retirement  vehicle is a Suzuki Swift manual. 1500cc. With the manual you can get that motor hitting those variable cams, and then it goes like stink. Handles well too. Not as refined as some other (more expensive) marques but it suits us fine.

All the best with the house and family dealings.

[Penderic]

Meanwhile, back on the wet west British Columbia coast.....

A little bit of sunshine in the last few days and some outside chores can continue......

Got the PTO chipper attachment mounted on my little 25hp  tractor.



Just waiting now for new grade 8 bolts for these new blades I already have. I reused the old bolts when I flipped the old blades to use the second cutting edge but one bolt had not seated correctly (the thread was badly galled when the bolt was removed and inspected), and the blade cracked at that spot after a few days of heavy use. I have a new set of blades but still waiting for the new bolts - should be here this week.

3 of the 4 new chipper blades and the stationary anvil shown. Double edge blades can be flipped over ... good simple design.

Tuning up a "free" lawnmower given to me 3 years ago, found beside the road with a free sign on it. Not a good sign. It had a broken starter, bent blade, gummed up carb, self propelled drive didnt work, etc. Fixed it up and used it for a year on the farm.

Havent used it for a while and someone I know wants it, so it gets a tune up before being passed on. Carb gummed up again and had to be rebuilt, then the spark disappeared ... arrrrrrgh. Took a while finding a spare spark plug that worked right.

Next sunny day project to be continued: Old Honda Generator. (cue the musical crescendo!)

 

[lucydad]

Dusty,

Thanks for asking....talked with Mr. CPA--long story short we got killed on 2015 taxes due to a perfect storm of retirement income, need to pull IRA funds due to new house fake-out closing dates by builder, and other events.  So bye-bye to new car concept:  burned up by tax.  Bracket creep hit us, and very chaotic, inability to plan anything in 2015.  Good news is we have cash to pay.  But bummed.

Oh well.

Mosquitoes hatched and chased me in clouds around neighborhood while on poodle walk.  Fortunately I sprayed the green OFF and had on long pants, long shirt and hat.  As bad as Alaska, no kidding...due to construction everywhere and perfect higher spring temperatures.  City does not spray here--so it is going to be a long buggy summer, hope ZIKA does not appear.

Grandpa Larry had a bad day yesterday.  Ms. LD takes him home, maybe this weekend.  His Alzheimer's anger flares are the most difficult to deal with:  unpredictable as hell.  He only gets worse, there is no better with big A.

Might take my Social Security in May.  Might use it to buy a car on time. 

Time to run more financial errands, seem endless.  Wind kicking up, rain soon.  Could use a ride, but not sure if it will happen. 

Cooling off and sweat soaked...but poodles happy. 

[atavar]

... I'm not sure. I hope it fell off.  ;D

I think the bolts vibrated loose on a quick "sprint" I made on the freeway.  :-X

Yep, this is the time of year when stolen plates are rampant.  Guys forget to renew or don't have the money and just snag a set of plates when you are stopped and not looking.  I have had that happen to me before.  Get home and find no plate or my fresh tag missing and expired ones on the bike.

[Muzz]

A really great day thanks Dusty. it was the Princess's 66th birthday today.Nice start to the day with agood strong espresso while reading the paper in bed. (aint retirement grand.) An enjoyable morning just doing stuff together, then in the afternoon I spent a couple of hours at the nephews place doing the grounds and trying out a couple of new toys, which worked just great. Back home for a rather nice French bubbly, and then the family arrived to celebrate. I cooked the world famous MUZZABURGER, which just so happens to be a family favourite. A quiet evening catching up and generally relaxing.

Finished putting the finishing touches on a ride my son and I will do on Sat/Sun, about 400 miles over some rather nice country on our West Coast. Should be nice weather and am really looking forward to it.

A great day all in all.

[Chuck in Indiana]

a ride my son and I will do on Sat/Sun,

Good on you! Rides with the Kid are some of my most treasured memories.

[oldbike54]

 Thanks Muzz , sounds like a wonderful day in Paradise 

 Dusty

[lucydad]

Dusty,

Gorgeous day out.  Finally worked through some major retirement investment decisions with my advisors and CPA.  Youngest daughter gave me some fits on her taxes, even though CPA did them.  Basically she has low understanding of the whole paying taxes if you are making income game.  She will get there.  Ms. LD is guiding her through final filing steps, she is better at that stuff than I am.

Geared up and about to take the V7R out for a romp. 

Investigating the yellow Cayman S.  We will see. 

Sad about Merle.

[O]

LD, to cheer you up, here is a bizarre and funny commercial where (I think) a Triumph triple makes a cameo. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOpsnNf9Wj0

Jason Statham cracks me up.

[Huzo]

Terrible and thanks for asking, ' just got a metaphorical clip under the ear by the Kirbmeister, best thing for me. Cocky Aussie smartie pants.

[oldbike54]

Terrible and thanks for asking, ' just got a metaphorical clip under the ear by the Kirbmeister, best thing for me. Cocky Aussie smartie pants.

 Uh , I don't think it was meant that way Huzo . The Kirbster is a pretty modest guy who just happens to know stuff about airplanes , having flown Phantoms AND 1946 Cubs , along with pretty much everything in between .

 Dusty

[Huzo]

No you misread me Oldie, he's clearly knowledgable and articulate as well. What's that old saying "'Tis better to be corrected by a wise man than agreed with by a fool" at least when he pulls you up,at least on this topic,you'll be better for it. My post was supposed to be mildly humorous, at least I'm grinning. Happy that he took the time.

[Huzo]

Oh and BTW in my opinion, if you've flown ANYTHING that smells like a kero heater, you should be listened to, you have to do a LOT of stuff before you close the canopy on a jet. That's my last comment,'bye on this one. Huzo.

[balvenie]

Just for a change, my GF invited me out to dinner tonight. We went to a seafood restaurant where our entree was oysters in crusted parmesan, with goat curd and pumpkin jam. As good as it was, it went even better with a few drops of juice from a freshly cut lime and the "Impromptu" pinot noir from Central Otago, that I had chosen for my steak,  was a surprisingly smooth compliment to a scrumptious mouthful of culinary imagination.
You're only young once

[Unkept]

Pretty Good!

Lindsey and I bought some cool little things at the Porter country garage sale thingy, big swap meet deal.

I finally recorded my cover of Merle Haggard's "Today I Started Loving You Again" https://soundcloud.com/unkept/today-i-started-loving-you-again-merle-haggard-cover

Charged my camera, soon I'll be back at my Guzzi restoration... !!! Waiting on parts for my machinist to get the cylinder head done.

-Joe

[giusto]

Every day on the right side of the turf is a great day!
It would be nice if it stopped snowing...but then again a day in the cave with the Convert (not Covert) and the heat turned up is a good one.

Still looking for a blue/silver tail light cover :)

Thanks for askin Dusty

[HardAspie]

Pretty good day:
quiet recovery
had a nice lunch
and chocolate
listened to a stirring lecture
visited a friend
made some arrangements