World of Wheels and World Cup

Ok, I admit, I've been a bit pre-occupied with both work and well, WORLD CUP (there are so many great teams I'm rooting for, but I would have to say yep, home country USA and my second home country Portugal, and yes, I'm still a Benfica fan from when I lived there).  And I absolutely love being able to get instant Google updates, online highlights, and even full games live.  The internet does really make the world a smaller place.  Mostly in a good way.

A Motorcycle Buffet

Honda v4 concept bike

Ok, I was accused of being a slacker because I hadn't posted a new article in a couple of weeks, so I thought I'd better get on it right away.  So, I'm offering a smorgasbord of moto-treats and eye candy this week while I get my act together (and get the bike waxed).  

In the Pit of My Stomach

After an almost solid month of rain and colder temperatures again, this week has finally shaped up to be not only warmer, but sunny and very green to behold.  I am working to get my bike waxed right now and have had some errands that required my truck, so I hadn't ridden to work this week, even with the nicer weather.  I was starting to pay the price for it yesterday on my way home from work when everything was so warm and beautiful and I was thinking, "today would have been a great day to ride, if it wasn't for the ice cream in the back".

125 Years of Motorcycling and the Possible Beginnings of World Peace

Great River Road, East side of the Mississippi River, Illinois

Wow, we're legacy babies now... Motorcycles, since 1885, has it really been so long?  The state of Michigan actually put out a press release on their website this week about 125 years of motorcycling and I thought I was getting to be mature.  I hadn't really thought about it before, because I've been around them since before I was born.  We have slides that show my mom, pregnant with me on the back of a Honda, with my dad smiling.  Motorcycles have always been a constant in my life, even before I officially started riding them.  Now even the State of Michigan article says motorcycling may be older... 1885 for Gottlieb Daimler's gas-engine powered wooden motorcycle, but 20 years older than that if you can accept a steam powered motorcycle by Sylvester Roper (1869). 

Happy Earth Day! I love you Earth!

 Range Creek Canyon, Utah

I love the Earth.  Even today, when you would think that things are too overcrowded, overdeveloped, over-explored, etc. That there wouldn't be much to say... Well, talking is for wusses, riding is for those that appreciate the Earth in all of her multi-faceted, colorful, varied, and sometimes completely off-the-wall glory.

That's one thing that I really love about riding motorcycles, especially traveling across country.  There really is so much to see, feel and experience.  There are really never two days that are the same.  And every time I'm on a new road for me, I am an explorer and I like it!

If you love the Earth, get out there and show some more appreciation!

Virginia isn't just for lovers, it's for riders too!

I'm not just talking about motorcycle riders either, I also feel inspired to share the light with our fellow two-wheeled, without motor, brethern... the bicyclists.  My flat-six pistons have nothing on the bikers I saw with their killer calves, thighs, and everything else.  I saw some true iron-everythingers.  Cheers two wheeled brothers and sisters all!

A Comedy of Errors, or This IS Supposed to be an Adventure

There is this older movie that I like called "The Mountain Men".  Charlton Heston and Brian Keith are mountain men and they run into each other in the middle of the west somewhere and they have a conversation about traveling.   One says to the other "Have you ever been lost?"

The other one tilts his head and thinks things over a bit and responds, "Nope, I've never been lost.  Fearsome confused for a month or two, but never lost."

You Can Never Be Too Careful or Too Visible

I just read an article this morning about a horrific motorcycle accident in Phoenix, Arizona (http://my.earthlink.net/article/us?guid=20100326/b7a7627b-f469-4a43-9073-a3a2c4d966d4).

I'm sure most of you are like me, very careful when we're out there on the roads.  Heck, I know from driving in a truck that people don't see my in my big, honkin', 4-wheel drive truck at least 30% of the time, so I'm sure they're going to ignore me on my motorcycle 65-70% of the time.

Public Service Announcement: Get Out There and Ride to Work!

You know how good it makes you feel to get out there and ride.  Every day you can ride is just a little more adventurous and joyful because of the opportunity.  Did you know that it can make your co-workers happy also?

Who Doesn't Love Mystery Meat?!

Ok, so this won't exactly be your regular motorcycle article, but it may garner a laugh or two.  I participated in a fun writing exercise this year, a contest sponsored by the public library in Centerville, Ohio, which hosts the Erma Bombeck Writing Contest.  Well, I didn't win exactly, and alas mine wasn't the only one left out in the cold, but I found a term for my condition:  "Adjacent Winning" or "Leftovers: Failed Entries from the Erma Bombeck Writing Contest" as coined over at the "Life Just Keeps Getting Weirder" blog (where you can go for some additional chuckles at others expense).

I figured that my entry would be most appropriately labeled as "mystery meat", so here goes:

Spring Erupts

I love the smell of motorcycle exhaust fumes in the morning! 

I wrote a haiku last spring and it suits today perfectly:

spring erupts
chrome pipes boom
motorcycles gleam brightly

Hard-Core Buns of Iced Steel

This morning was sunny, a really beautiful day, the kind of day that would lead one to bad thoughts of turning the truck around and calling in sick, if it was say 60 degrees or so.  Just as that thought was filling my head and I was beginning to think spring-like thoughts I looked ahead of me, at the intersection and there was a fella on his Harley, making a right.  My butt warmer was finally starting to warm my butt, my hands were still cramping in my fuzzy little gloves, and I glanced up at my temperature gauge 27degrees.  A chill ran down my spine.