Successful failure

  It takes 10000km to know your bike ? Yes it takes time to really know your bike. The first 1000km (600 miles ) you learn  your low speed handling braking shifting  ext. How your bike handles different road condition  , hot  cold weather  rain  grit and more . Even finding what  type of fuel it likes . Does it burn oil or not ? Does it run hot in traffic ? Learning to trust the bike on long trips . Getting use to the controls .Is it comfortable to ride ? After a while you will find  you just have a natural trust for the bike . By the time you put 10000km on your bike there will be vary little unknown , although you might get a surprise from time to time (unexpected things ) . Now will it  take you 10000km to really know your bike ? Maybe not  but you will be fully acquainted  with your motorcycle by that time. The fun part is the journey . Ride well ride safe take care .

    I have now named my bike. Pegasus . If your like me and name  inanimate  objects , you'll find there is a process  to it . You cant just name  something out right . It has to come to you . Although I  felt like I was on a mechanical  Pegasus while riding  during  the eclipse , I didn't name the bike till today . I was out riding  and was hitting some great twistys . I was blasting threw corners on Hy366 QC  when it  came to me . First  run threw was smooth . The bike just  zoomed threw the corners  seamlessly . With a grin on my face at the end of the twisty  run I  turned to go back threw again. As I  lined up on the road I  yelled " Wings away Pegasus ! " Humm! Pegasus ? I now have found a name  for my bike. I crack the  throttle  and off I  go to zoom back threw the corners again . What a glorious day . Ride well ride safe take care . 

LOUD PIPES SAVE LIVES !  We  all have heard this one I'm sure, but is it truth or myth ? Lets  take this from  three points of view . First  your on the side walk and you hear a loud  bike  coming up  to the stop light.  As the  bike  stops at the light you hear it well . Then an average  car stops behind  the bike,  You now hear the car and the bike about 50/50 . Then a bus stops in the other lane  just beside the bike . You  now only hear the bus . The light turns green all the vehicles take of at  the same speed .  Now  you just have  a symphony  of engine . The bike is lost in the mix .  The secon d  point of view . Your on your  bike .Ill use my BMW R60 as an example . This  bike was no louder then a Church mouse. Ive had  Harley's with  sawed off  drag pipes  pull up  behind me   many times and they would be a...

Back in 1995 I bought a 1948 Harley panhead. I road the crap out of it . I would open the throttle from time to time on it sure! But I mostly  just putted along at the speed limit . Now we all know Harley's are torque monsters . My pan was no exception .  From light to light it was just a blast of frenzy . Being a chopper  gave me the advantage  off the line for sure, well most of the time. What a great machine . So much fun .  I would ride  the speed limit 99% of the time  . I would see new road kings  1340cc  they would be  going slower  for the most part. On the highway  some guys would ride 110km - 120km for a bit then slow to 90-100 kms  . This was the trend at the time . Of course there was always the guy doing 140kms everywhere , but he was not the norm. I would here fellow Harley riders time after time complain   about how guys on crotch rockets were always riding too fast . "Take it too the track" they wo...

      Hi beam on during the day? So your out riding its a nice sunny day , then  it gets a little cloudy . As you ride along you notice that  part of the  road is well lit  and  some is in the shadows . Coming the other way is another  motorcycle . You see them well when they are in the  lit sunny areas but there silhouette  is lost in the shadows .  You can see the headlight  but they are now less visible.  If you ride with the hi beam on during the day  it could be a little bright for on coming drivers and other riders. But it wont hurt there  eyes . How ever it you keep the hi beam on  and then  switch to low  beam  it creates a  flicking  contrast . It might  catch the attention of on coming  traffic switching from North star to low beam. I ride with the hi beam on  and  switch  to low beam  when traffic comes the other way . See...

-+    The worlds most incredible motorcycle ever  built! Well ? Maybe not .lol . What you are looking at is  my vary first motorcycle  , a 1985 Kawasaki LTD 440 , a 28hp six speed belt drive cruiser commuter  . I swear it got 75 miles or 130km to the gallon . I wasn't the fastest but  it was a great little twin air cooled engine .  I road the  crap out of this thing . Of the over 210000 kms or 130000 miles  on the road , nearly half was on this bike . I would ride all over , sun rain you name it  , strait  roads twisty roads , paved grave ext . Your first bike is something  you will never forget . Like your first high school  sweet hart . Even thou we move on after time , bigger  bikes ext , we will always  remember the lessons learned on the starter bike.  The stories  the charm the memories . I only wish everyone  could have met this ride , for what it  did for my soul and spirt I...

 I now pronounce you committed  to the corner ! Here is the  scenario  you have a new rider with a group and  there off to the twistys . The new rider is  in the middle of the  pack ,  at the  front  the most experienced  and  the rear  another experienced  rider to over watch the group .Then heaven  curve after curve . The  front of the group  speeds up  zooms through corner after corner  like pros. The new rider enters the first of  three   consecutive  corners. First corner  speed is ok  apex  is normal  then speeds out of the first corner  entering  the second corner a little faster. The rider still  is on an ok line  then slightly over shoots  the apex then speeds up out  of the  second  corner too fast for the third  corner . Entering the  third  corner  the new rider  now is  about ...

Motorcycle = risk ! Rolling death traps some say. Ok  so I'm  back into biking  , I use to  ride  20 years ago , and  I'm back in the game now. I love riding just like anyone. But this  time around  I  look  at things  a little different . Risk yes  risk is the name of the game when we ride. So when does the  risk start ? Well  as  soon  as we throw a leg over the saddle  it starts.  From the driveway to the 500km  road trip , we see asses  and  anticipate  out  safety . Most think of  the obvious , cars  potholes  , deer  , debris , ext . Did you think of checking your  bike before the run ? Did you put on good riding  gear ?  Are you  tired or have a distracted  mind ? Are you stressed ? Is your bike mechanically sound ? There is a  huge list  one can come up with for sure. We may not  be able to eliminate...

      All. The . Gear .All .The . Time. VS  Squid riders ?  Ok ATGATT makes sense  but what is a squid ? Well  you could say to be polite  anyone who doesn't  wear proper gear. Now we are all guilty of  doing this ,self included . Years ago when I use to ride my 1948 Panhead  I  use to be the biggest squid . Didn't I have  good riding gear ? Yes !  But it was too hot two ware  the jacket  , my jeans  were good enough  and  tennis shoes  were  comfier then  boots . Yip that was me then lol . So what has  changed for me now ? Well  this time around my 22 years older  and  ponder my invincibility  a lot  more lol. I believe  we should be confident when we ride but also  realistic as well . If we watch  world super bike races we see some of the vary best riders in the world . And yes the go down form time to time . Here is the scenar...

  Keep your dang feet on the pegs ! Yes you heard me lol . Ok so what am I talking about ? Well let me paint the picture for you. When I took a motorcycle  course  years ago  they  taut us  to  come to a stop using both  brakes . Then you  put your feet down . Ok sounds normal right ? Ok let me go further  ,  now  your at the light  with  both your feet down  , light turns  green you start to  go  your feet are dangling  through the intersection  THEN! it happens  a smurf runs out in front of   you . You try to swerve  but  because  your feet are dangling  your bike wobbles unbalanced instead  of  steering  and manoeuvring.  You grab the front  brake  with the  handle bars  turned ,,,, SKUPUNK!! flop on the ground you go! What just happened ?  Simple you were not in full control of the bike.   Fast forw...

 Went  riding  during the  eclipse , did you feel it?  Now I'm not  superstitious but I do believe  the earth and man have a connection. But what about man and machine ? Ok now what  am I yapping about?  Well I'm in western Quebec  and the time of the eclipse was to start around  1:30- 3:30 . I was  planning a  ride today anyway , I try to do at lease one run per day. I wasn't sure  what time it was  but like a switch  I had this massive erg  to GET ON THE BIKE ! GET ON THE MACHINE NOW! I looked up and then moon was half way over the sun. There was just enough cloud to see the eclipse . So I run into the house  and  put on my onesie race suit. I harness the  gopro  and whip the  garage door open .Rolling out the bike I start it. Roaring to life I feel it instantly . Something has changed . A charge of energy  is in the air and  surroundings . The eclipse night of da...

 Ok so your new to riding ? Now you have a bike  and you have taken a course . So what should you do first? Well its simple  go riding lol. But  your still new at this . You have the basics sure ! But can you make your riding  better ? Yes . Now you need to take  your bike  to a place where your can go over what you learned in  your  course. It doesn't matter  if your a new  rider or an experienced  one  you will have to get to know the bike your on. So learn your low speed handling  get it  down   . You will find that when you can handle the  bike at low speed  well you will feel safer and  understand  your bike  better , and  you have more confidence . But  what about  high speed?  Simple  riding  and the  speed limit is easy , learning  what lane to ride in and when is a bit of an art. Learn how to be seen while  riding . And of cours...

 Oh no I caught motorcycleitis !So I'm lying in bed and  I happens .The sleepless nights . What will it be , what will it ride like? Do I get this or that? How long will it take to get all the licence ? For once we taste the  love of ridding we never let  it go. You can take 18 years hideous from ridding  but you will never shake the fever .  If you  think about  it  more then a few seconds it  consumes your mind  all day .There is  no cure. It  can only be treated by  open road therapy .Even as technologies  make more and more advance machines  the draw is basic primal  simple   and  liberating .We must ride and for  ride we must . To love the ride is to love adventure and to love life .So live to ride , ride  to live .We can never share the full experience  we can only encourage  others to join the club . Too fuel the  addiction  is to share the  love of ...

 So I'm riding down the road on my TT600  I'm now  back on the road after 20 years .So I just did my 30th ride this season  and I've  yet to do a really long run .I love to ride and try do at least 20kms a day. So one day I'm out riding  I'm on a 130km run round trip , the ride will  take around two hours . I'm  good for the first 45 minutes then it happens ! That tree looks like that last 3000 trees I past , OH NO !  I'm now board ! Say it isn't so ?  Don't get me wrong the day is nice  and I love to ride , and theres  lots to see ,BUT! BUT! the mind , yes the mind starts to wonder .Then I see IT! yes IT!  the big porpoise in the middle of my lane , it looks like a small bear but its not its a giant  porcupine . That's  one!  soon I see the goose  of a raccoon  that's one  then another that's  two. One unidentified  fur smoosh  on the road . Oh the smell  a sunk well ir...

With all the  crazy stuff going on in the world . We need to remember people have different of opinion , we can debate argue  agree disagree  agree to disagree . But we should never shut down speech . For when we stop talking we start fighting .As we witch hunt demonise  our opponents  we dehumanise  , then great violence will fallow. So before you close yourself off from those you oppose  remember your humanity . Take the step of the bigger man  have the difficult  conversations in a civil  manner . Because the civil war on the horizon  will be  horrible for all. There will be no winners . Take care.

   A many fish I've slain over the years , but some years you get the fish curse . And this year seem to be the year of the most uncooperative  fish .  I have yet land  the big one this year , so just too get my ego up I  will go to and catch the easiest  fish in the world , the rock bass  or what I call rockbastards .  so I  grab my weapon of choice , my fly rod. In the water I go , I  sneak  in the water looking for my  pray . There was a lot of rain this  year and the water was high .I know when the water is high  fish  don't  bite , there too well fed.  Ah! there you are ?  I see a googly eyed fish  beast , so I move in slow .He starts to face me like a bull ready to charge. I release my  fly line,  the stupid  fish  perks .The red mean eyed  looks  at  my fly, Its on now . Soon I will catch this  dump brainless scaly  finned googly ...

 The fast green snot machine rides again after 20 years. Well  kind of . Back in 1994 I  bought  my first  motorcycle. It was a Kawasaki  LTD 440. great little bike , got 75 miles to the gallon on it.I  moved up to a 1972 BMW R60 , road the tires off it  twice in one season .        Yip  that LTD 440 was  a fun little  bike , I had many great adventures with it .   It was a hit with the  girls at my  collage too lol. But it came to a tragic end one snowy  night in November, yip trying to get the last ride in  it snowed wile I was at  work. And as you would guess being young and stupid  I wiped out (at low speed ) tying to  ride  home in the snow. Conclusion ! STUPID HURTS! lol . So onto then next bike. The R60 BMW was  a sport touring bike , heavy enough for the long roads. Still  got 55-60mpg back  when it was  only .$.45 a liter...

 So I'm  44 years old and I'm adulating  just  fine but something is missing, not sure what it its. Am I bored ? Maybe ?  What  could one  do to take up the time? Hum! lets think , What could inspire me? I think  back to when I was a kid . I use to work for a lot of seniors .They would all say the same  thing " Do it while your  young !" Ok !  so what was I  doing when I was younger? Biking  swimming  fishing  , oh yes ! Skateboarding.  I start looking into  skateboarding  and thought , I'm too old for that. Then I see him and him and that guy , they are old men on skateboards. With  white beards  blowing  in the  wind these roller geezers surf the pavement like pros. Longboards  are now the  tool for guys like me . So how do these guys stay able to  do this  in there later stages in life? Simple  really  the did it when they were young and...

Ok here's  how it happened . I was on a mission (get break parts for brothers car) riding  my lovely Triumph Daytona TT600   sport bike. Was  just  heading  back through the small town of Otter Lake on the Hy301 Qc  , THEN!  I  saw a group of  of   unsuspecting bikers  , so I did what I usually  do  and sneak up and play  bike stalker . So I zoom  up on them and  join the group.  At the  back of the  group is a orange R1 (sport bike )  on it a female rider . I think nothing of if. So we are now just outside the  town and  the group starts to throttle up a bit , BUT WAIT!  She is slowing , I think Ok maybe she is not with that group . She slows a  little  more as the  group now leads us by a few 100 feet. That's Ok  ill just  ride with her , ill let those other throttle heads  rip up the  road ahead. Plus that's  a lot of...