Raging Bikeaholic

Inaugural Trip

pete in Midland — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 20:34:45 +0000

What with the ICE folks deciding to make my crossing the Canadian border a little more difficult as of the beginning of June — I made a mad dash for Edmonton in mid-May in order to get back before June 1 (and have time to clean out my office as well).
This was a great opportunity to see what the new bike was like — whether it had any substantial differences from the ‘02 Wing or not — and to try out stuff like the built-in GPS and XM radio.
Before my journey started, I asked my wife (she’s so much better on the phone than I am — I loathe phones) to contact XM and see what kind of deal she could get me, since my 3 month free trial had ended before I could even use it. Smooth talker that she is, she managed to get the free trial reinstated! Of course, when I set it all up again, I noticed that neither the weather nor traffic icons were active, so I asked if she could check on that the next day … which she did — before I had crossed the Bridge, I noticed that the weather was active.
The trip started uneventfully, although the Mackinac Bridge was under repair, as usual, with the southbound lanes closed off and traffic sharing the northbound lanes. I had gassed up the Wing in Midland and left at about 7:00 AM from the gas station with exactly 350 miles on the odometer. Shortly before 10AM, I was sitting in the McDonalds in St. Ignace having breakfast and coffee. The speedometer seemed to be absolutely dead on the speed, unlike the ‘02 … likely a function of the GPS, and the cruise control was also dead accurate.
On down US-2 with a detour around some construction, and then following the path laid out by the GPS, I took a few new roads across the UP. The winds were rather strong when I got close to Lake Superior, but the day was basically very enjoyable, and I reached Superior/Duluth in the late afternoon. I kept to US-2 into Minnesota … looking for somewhere to stop for supper … the place I’d planned on was closed up (of course). The place and meal couldn’t have been very memorable since I cannot dig it out of the sludge pile in my head … but I am pretty sure I stopped and ate somewhere along the way.
Shortly after that, mid-evening, I was getting close to Bemidji and the light rian that I’d encountered suddenly changed tenor! The first indication that this was HARD rain was a clunk from the top of my helmet, quickly followed by several more and then the hail really kicked into high gear. Fortunately I’d already slowed down a bit when the light rain started to get heavier … but I was still doing about 45 mph when I suddenly noticed that the ENTIRE road surface in front on my — 2 lanes and wide shoulders – was COMPLETELY covered in hail. As you might imagine, memories of my last Wing unceremoniously tossing me down the road flashed through my mind, and I was starting to FEEL the impact that was sure to come when my tires no longer had any purchase on the road … but somehow I managed to get pulled over to the shoulder. During this whole time, there was a solid sheet of hail beating down. A pickup pulling a trailer had pulled up behind me as the visibility would have been just as negligible for them, and they pulled up beside me and asked if I wanted to climb in and wait it out. But being the tough guy (– idiot –) that I am, I said I was ok, and it would surely die down quickly. And so it did … and funnier yet, when I got started up again (very, VERY slowly), I had only 150 feet or so to go before the solid covering of hail turned to just a wet road … I could have saved myself a few minutes of listening to hail bounce off my helmet and biek if I had kept going a short bit longer …
Not needing to have a 4×4 bounced off my head to tell me that was enough for one day, I pulled into Bemidji (I had planned on making Grand Forks) and grabbed a motel for the night.
When I got up and started the pack the bike at 6AM the next morning, I immediately noticed the ice on the seat. When I had shut it down for the night, it was still in the low 60’s, so that was surprising. I started the bike and hit the temp display and realized that packing an extra sweatshirt and heavy gloves had been smart … it was 26 degrees. To add to the low temperature, I must’ve gotten a bad batch of gas during the last stop, since I wasn’t 5 minutes out when I got a Check Engine light. I immediately pulled to the shoulder and checked it out but couldn’t find anything, and turning the bike off and on reset the light. It reappeared several times in the next several hours but disappeared at noon after the temp exceed 50 degrees.
On down US-2, west into North Dakota, and then north to catch the border at Portal where I encountered a huge lineup — mostly caused by a few people in cars not realizing they didn’t need to sit in the midst of all the trucks. I grabbed a quick pizza at a truck stop and then passed most of the traffic to get to the customs station … and then headed into Canada. A guy walked up behind me at a stoplight in Estevan and asked if I had time for a coffee and I figured, sure, why not … so I allowed him to buy me a coffee at the local A&W and we talked about an upcoming bike rally in Estevan. After he left, I got back in the saddle and followed the GPS directions (instead of my inclination) … and ended up sweating for over an hour as I searched for a gas station. The odometer was showing 275 miles when I finally located some fuel … and they were just about to close, so I was doubly lucky! With a load of fuel sufficient to make Saskatoon, and my sister’s place, I headed northwest again … into the rain that started just as was finishing putting gas in the bike. The further north I got, the more the temperature dropped, and as I was about 30 miles away from my destination … the temperature display was showing 34e degrees, and the rain had turned white!! I did that last 30 miles wondering just where my last vestiges of sanity had deserted me to … and being very, VERY careful in my handling of the steering. By the time I got to my sisters, my red bike was mostly white!
As the weather did not improve for most of the next day, I put off my departure for an extra day (which was good since it had been a long time since the last visit), and continued my trip to Edmonton a day “late”. I enjoyed several days of just visiting with my mother and brother, and made a quick trip to Ft. Saskatchewan to have a “retirement” lunch with friends I had worked with. They all got a chuckle out of my account of the trip, and a bigger chuckle over the fact that it was AGAIN snowing lightly … it was 20 miles of snow back into Edmonton before I left the snow behind!
During the trip out to Edmonton, I had listened to the XM country stations most of the time, and I had enjoyed them sufficiently to be considering getting a subscription … but on my trip back to Midland, I was only able to get a signal about 15-20% of the time. It seemed that any time I was headed SSE, SE, ESE or East … I was getting a NO XM SIGNAL message. Strangely, though, I could always get the weather map with current info. And obviously I was getting better at reading the weather map, since I was able to see all the storms in front of me on the way back (not that I could have easily changing my routing).
The return trip was much less eventful, at least until I got to the Bridge. Now I understand why all the routing maps always ignore the route to the UP and across US-2 … it’s just to avoid the Bridge. Not only do they charge as much for a bike as a car, but then they try to make the trip as dangerous as hell … since the southbound lanes were closed, I had to do the entire bridge deck crossing on the grating … and I’m not sure whether it was the tires, the grating, the conditions, or a combination of those, but it was the most stressful part of the entire ride … I felt — for two miles — like the front tire was going to slide out from under me at any moment. I think that instead of charging me $3 to cross … they should be PAYING me! From now on, I’ll attempt to route any crossing except the Mackinac!

Yes, I am still alive

pete in Midland — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:36:05 +0000

well, I have been THINKING that it’s time to update the blog for a long, long time, but the two things uppermost in my mind weren’t blog fodder. The number one thing is my current state of unemployment … my former employer was/is rather jealous of their reputation and I didn’t want to jepordize my settlement or retirement … and the lawsuit over my motorcycle accident is still ongoing.
Hopefully that’ll get settled some time in the near future so that I put that memory behind me.

While some people seem to tie their identity to the car they drive, the house they live in or the style of clothes they wear, many of us most tie ourselves to our professions … so it has been a quite sever shock to my system to have my employer figure out they could do without me. June 1 was my first day without a job since I was in high school … and we took a couple of weeks of long overdue holidays to help smooth the shock. Unfortunately, it didn’t make much a difference … now that we’re back home, I’m floundering … many, many things to do that have been left undone for many years while I worked my butt off … but no ambition to get at them (yet).

Having a pension spread across a couple of countries means that we’ll have to be inventive if I do actually retire, but, on the other hand, this is quite an opportunity — I can get in all the motorcycle riding I can stand for awhile. Maybe I can even finish coloring in the US & Canadian maps showing the places I’ve ridden!

Let’s Talk Safety

pete in Midland — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:34:08 +0000

The recent accident really served to confirm, to me, that concern for safety trumps concern for comfort anytime. I’ve always gotten incredulous looks and weathered lots of snickers when I’m riding, since I outfit myself as if the phrase “dress for the slide, not for the ride” were printed on the inside of my visor.

While others wonder what kind of goof would wear top to toe heavy safety stuff in hot weather, I’m constantly amazed by how little others wear.

I guess it all started way back in my early 20’s while in the Canadian Air Force as a medic. (Medical people all seem to have reservations about motorcycles since they see the aftermath, not the joy of riding). Within the space of one summer, I had one friend lose an acre of skin when his front wheel went screwy on the highway, and another end up in a coma for many months when he drove his head into a concrete wall while learning at low speed in a mall parking lot. The first was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. The second was just learning so no helmet was “necessary”

Enough of those sort of incidents … seeing the aftermath show up in my ward, or being on ambulance duty when we had to pick someone up … really made me appreciate my skin, my bones and my noggin. So, as is usual whenever I ride – even the daily 7 short miles to work, I dress the same. OK, so I’m not a fashionplate … but I don’t have to try and match accessories, or spend time choosing matching clothes.

Sturdy riding boots with thick rubber soles and thick leather shafts. Check.

Aerostitch Roadmaster one piece riding suit in cordura and kevlar, with high visibility stripes. Check

Gauntlet leather gloves that cover any skin left exposed by the suit. Check.

Full face or convertible helmet. Check.

End results of encountering a slide, while dressed for a slide: The boots — not even scuffed, that I can see. The suit — extremely muddy, and the cordura is abraded through in several spots on the right rear side on a line from below my hip to below my armpit. The strap used to cinch the waist on that side is almost torn off. But, from my review of the condition, nothing that can’t be repaired by the “factory” for a reasonable fee. The gloves – scuffed and muddy but pretty well intact. The helmet — pretty well intact. The visor was ripped off, and the lining must be crushed, as I apparently got an impact bruise on my forehead, showing that the helmet impacted the pavement. Bottom line, new gloves and helmet are needed. Pretty good when you consider I came off the Wing at 45-50mph and slid down a chip-sealed road before coming to rest in a ditch.

Dress for the Slide, not for the Ride! I think there’s definitely something to that!

he’s sliding … he’s ….. OUT!

pete in Midland — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:15:39 +0000

Well, that was a VERY sucky couple of weeks. I guess I was a little too cocky after my mishap with the deer last year, and needed to be taught some humility.

Right now it appears as though the Wing is totalled, the costs for replacing all the plastic and other bent parts being higher than the Blue Book value.

I had a very embarrassing accident on September 30th on the way to work. Embarrassing to me, because I thought I could ride any motorcycle through any conditions. About a 1/2 mile from home, at about 45-50 mph, in rain and dark, I suddenly encountered a 20-30 yard long stretch of mud/clay on the road (farmer had been harvesting corn, and that was the spot where the trucks left the field). The first indication I had that something was wrong was a violent shaking of the bike with both wheels shuddering and sliding. The back end tried to pass me 3 times and I wrestled it back into line, but the 4th time was the killer, just as I was trying to straighten out the bike again, the front tire hit clean pavement. That sudden gain in traction (loss of sliding) caused the bike to “high side” or throw me off the bike … in front of the bike. The bike and I slid some distance and entered the ditch, and the bike managed to catch me just as I impacted the far side of the ditch. The trunk of the Goldwing connected with my right chest just as I hit the bank and crushed my rib cage (and crushed the trunk as well). The result of that impact was a collapsed lung and 4 fractured ribs, and somehow that force also managed to place 2 small fractures on the INSIDE of the L5 vertebrae. After I managed to stop groaning, I pushed myself out from under the trunk, and sat upright, pulled off my helmet, unzipped my riding suit, got out my cell phone and called 9-1-1. Surprisingly (to me) I don’t remember losing consciousness at all, although I don’t remember hitting the ground from the highside. I have a large bruise from the top of my ribcage down to my hip. But no abrasions as the riding suit did its job.

I spent 3 days flat on my back while they made sure nothing else was wrong … they had me on the heart ward for a day until I managed to convince them the afib was “normal” for me. Once I had the back brace, on day 3, things started to improve quickly. They discharged me to home 7 days after I got there (I think they were tired of me prowling the hallways), and now I’m itching to get back to work and get all this behind me.

I guess the bottom line is that we need to watch out for more than just deer and turkeys … gotta watch for them killer farmers as well.

We took a few pictures of the forlorn bike sitting at the towing yard. Check out “Death of a Goldwing” in the pictures section.

OUT . of . their . frickin’ . minds

pete in Midland — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:34:15 +0000

Oh yeah, this is just what we needs! The worthless assclowns in Washington who created this financial mess with their interference and political maneuvering …. are going to “fix” it? And they’re even letting the stupid overpaid stuffed shirts who passed the laws that gave us this debacle – like Barney ~~Fife~~ Franks – participate in the discussions?
Oh, and even better, the Dumbocrats who forced the banks to lend to losers are now trying to stick in support fo rthe corrupt organizations like ACORN that helped perpetrate this?
Arghhhh …. just friggin’ arghhhh! Why in the hell did we – those of who bought responsibly and paid our bills – play by the rules?

I got yer CHANGE right here …

pete in Midland — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:26:08 +0000

DAMN! I am getting so utterly fed up with the hopeychangey crowd that it’s giving me a headache! I keep hearing and reading stupid liberals (I know, sorry, I should have warned about the redundancy) going all agog about B. Hussein O’BamBam and his message of change. Hope and Change. HopeyChange. Which is actually DopeyChange!
I know that the difference between conservatives and liberals is that conservatives accept change grudgingly and want proof change is needed, while liberals embrace change for change’s sake. But I can’t say I understand how brain-dead you have to be to just want change … without any clue as to what the change will be.
I understand change. I grew up with change. I grew up going to a new school almost every year. I grew up being uprooted from one country, speaking one language, and moving to another country many thousands of miles away with a very different language. I understand change.
I’ve lived with change. I’ve lived in military barracks. I’ve lived in the arctic with air travel being the only way to get to civilization. I’ve lived in a northern city with a single highway leading south to civilization. I’ve lived in cities and towns and villages and on farms. I’ve lived in Euroipe and Canada and the USA. I understand change.
I understand change enough to know that not all change is good.
Alzheimers is change.
Cancer is change.
Deviancy is change.
Hurricanes are change (just ask New Orleans).
Yesterday L.A. experienced a change … a 5.8 earthquake.
Tens of thousands of years ago, a common change happened when the northern hemishere experienced a periodic occurance – an Ice Age.
Actually, come to think of it, I can think of some Hope and Change I would really, really like. I HOPE that when the “Big One” hits Kalifornikate, all the brain-dead liberals in the US are visiting that state and CHANGE into crushed mulch.
I have a hard time coming up with change that liberals have foised on this country that has value.
We’re still paying the cost of the New Deal, and have yet to see any benefit.
We’re still paying the cost of the War on Poverty, and have yet to see any benefit. We can certainly see the downside with the utter disintegration of black culture.
We are still paying the cost of the liberals capitulation to communism, especially in ceding Viet Nam to them.
I cannot come up with a single solitary change that American Fascists (liberals) have foisted on us that has improved this country, yet they keep whining for more change. And yet … with all the whining … the one constant is that American Fascists (liberals) never change.
What have these asshats given us? Changes that include:
Welfare. What a disaster that has been.
Aids epidemic. Because we need to elevate deviants to sainthood.
Kyoto Protocol – because the eath is warming. Or cooling. Or something. Whatever.
Social Security. Another wealth distribution scheme to rival welfare.
Energy shortages. Because protecting imaginary wildlife is more important than denying funding to terrorists. Again.
No New nuclear plants. Because it’s better to have wind turbines killing birds, and someday, maybe, producing a few milliwatts of power than to have safe clean cheap energy. (And yeah, build one in my back yard. It would piss off the neighbors, LOL)

What’s the point of paying a mortgage and taxes?

pete in Midland — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:34:06 +0000

So, I was p.o.ed enough already after seeing how our elected officials are pandering to the wastrels in our society, and THEN I found an article this morning on an Extreme Home Makeover case. Argggghhhh!
I used to think that Habitat for Humanity was a worthwhile organization. It married those who wanted to contribute to those who needed a helping hand. Even with the involvement of the dispicable Jimmah Cartah, it seemed like a great idea. However, after seeing the aftermath – the rate of default, the conditions that many of those home devolved into, and the attitudes of those getting all this charity, I changed my mind. Completely. Bad thing!
Ok, so now we have the kegislation of these United States deciding they need to bail mortgage companies out of a mess THEY created with their stupid policies … in forcing the mortgage companies to give loans to wastrels that had bad credit or no credit. Great Idea, Uncle Sam. By all means, let the folks like us, that bought houses we could afford, and that make our payments and pay our taxes and live within our friggin’ means, help out the damned jackasses and wastrels that bought mansions on a McDonalds salary. What a great idea. Lets continue the education of the American public that being a total loser is an acceptable thing, and the government will always steal from others to recue them. Heck, why budget? Why deprive yourself of anything? As long as the evil bank will give you a credit card and a mortgage – why not run up your debt to third world nation levels? It’s not like you actually plan to pay it off. Or like you’ll have to pay it off. John Q. Public will do that for you … enjoy yourself. Gahhhhh!

So this morning I see the news on the results of one of those charitible undertakings that used the reality show concept to make it “newsworthy” – Extreme Home Makeover. I have to admit that I’ve never watched any of those shows, of course, but I have a pretty good inkling of what it is, since they spend more time advertising the shows than they do beaming the actual shows. In Clayton County, Georgia, back in 2005, they built a new home for a “deserving family”.

Lake City mayor Willie Oswalt was among the 1,800 volunteers helping “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” build the Harper’s new home 3 ½ years ago. Beazer Homes of Atlanta was the main sponsor. The mayor said he is baffled.

“Beazer gave them $100,000 cash, paid their mortgage off and they still can’t make it,” said Oswalt.

They get the house for free and then take out a $450,000 second mortgage on it. Big friggin’ surprise. Deserving famil, indeed.

Chip Seal!

pete in Midland — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:45:22 +0000

I’ve calmed down a little bit, but yesterday evening I was ready and oh-so willing to find the frickin’ idiot road commissioner that signed off on chip sealing roads around Hemlock … and drag that asshat face down over the entire length of all the chip sealed roads.
Chip Sealing is a method they use around here to make roads worthless for a time. They put down a layer of tar or heavy oil, and then they cover the road with crushed rock. Loose crushed rock. To a healthy depth. Well, not healthy for motorcyclists, of course.
Once the road is turned to shit by pouring all that loose rock on it, traffic is supposed to slow down, and to gradually force the rocks into the tar, with the surplus being blown to the side of the road to lay in the ditch … or to just generally be dangerous by forming deep gravel strips on the side of the road. They call that “paved” around here.
Really, really frickin’ annoying and dangerous.

I encountered such roads last night, laid out in such a way that I was basically trapped – no choice but to continue on until I found a cross road to get me to one that wasn’t such “fun” to ride. And every frickin’ cross road that I came too was also chip sealed. The inside of my helmet has no paint left as the profanity seared it off. You can’t imagine how much fun I was having riding a $30,000 bike on crap like that and praying that I didn’t encounter any traffic … since the average cage driver around here doesn’t pay attention to the 35 mph signs nor worry about how much of that fine gravel they spray around. And listening to the gravel beating the inside of the fenders, the underside of the bike … and probably the radiator shroud as well … I haven’t had the nerve to look yet as I’m afraid that I would go beat some shitheads face off …

Noise! Arghhh … my ears!

pete in Midland — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:00:09 +0000

The last time, some years ago, that we went to the Soaring Eagle casino in Mt. Pleasant for a concert, I swore we would never go back.
I forgot.
Carolyn had mentioned more than once .. much more than once … that she would like to see Bobby Vinton when he does another concert here. We missed the opportunity some years ago when he played an outdoor venue in Frankenmuth, and couldn’t get down to Holland last year to see him. So, I happened to catch an ad showing that he was playing in Mt Pleasant on Mother’s Day. How apporpriate. So … I got us tickets.
Understand that we’re talking a performer that had his hits … are you ready for this (talk about making us feel old) … in the early ’60’s! More than FORTY years ago. So, I’m thinking we’ll be among the youngest folks there.
And I was mostly correct … the vast majority was the walker and wheelchair set, although there were many of us fifty-somethings.
And the point of all that preamble is that we’re talking a crooner, and we’re talking the age group that isn’t inordinately fond of boomboxes and amplifiers and car windows vibrating from the bass volume. And, I forgot why I vowed never to go back to the Soaring Eagle venue to see another concert.
Yeah, you guessed it already … it was somewhat loud. Somewhat being a term that means, in this instance, eardrum shattering. I think that if you have a concert where you have to either bring hearing protectors, or place your hands over your ears to get the volume down to where words might be distinguisghed .. it may be somewhat loud. The only explanation that I can possibly think of is that the sound engineer is totally deaf and gets the volume up to the point where THEY can HEAR it (being deaf and all).
I would hazard a guess that this concert … with Bobby Vinton, just as the last one with Charlie Pride … broke every freaking noise law in the state. And no, I’m not being facecious … I had a headache for a full day after the show.
What a way to spoil a concert … considering that Bobby Vinton was totally entertaining. Man, not only does he still have his voice, but he played a trumpet, a sax, a clarinet AND a piano … and played every bit as well as the professional musicians backing him up. Awesome.
Fortunately Carolyn enjoyed it … since her hearing isn’t quite as sensitive as mine.

Playing Monopoly

pete in Midland — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:31:02 +0000

There’s a series of ads on the media here in Michigan that I find highly amusing. If you did no investigation, as I’m sure the majority of sheeple will admit to, you would think that whatever PAC is sponsoring the ads just wants to ensure power, and provide jobs.

If, however, you do happen to do a little investigation, you find the PAC is composed of those who want to give a monopoly back to the power companies (after the conservative government fo some years ago opened the state to competition). Apparently, the power companies NEED this monopoly in order to pay for the upgrades they need, and build new plants.

I find this rather “interesting” … since I’m not aware of any other business that manages to convince the government to force the users of a service or commodity to guarantee a profit, and pay for construction or updates to their operations. If the local grocery chain decides to expand their operations, they don’t go to Lansing and convince lawmakers to grant them a monopoly and squeeze their cometitor (usually Wal-mart) out. Nope. They get to use their profits, or capital, to do the construction. And they don’t just increase the price of all commodities they sell to recoup their investment overnight, since we’d just wander down the street to do our shopping. So I can certainly see why the PACs are pushing these ads so hard, convincing the sheeple that without increasing their prices and granting them exclusive territory, we’ll be at the mercy of competition. GASP!

What happened to everything we learned about the value of competition after the AT&T breakup? If we still had them for a sole source for communications, would we have Treos, Blackberrys and iPhones? Or would be still be using rotary dial phones with party lines?

Personally, I can’t understand anyone WANTING to give these clowns another monopoly AND let them build more coal-fired plants. I think the evil greenies would get nowhere today with their anti-nuke-plant rhetoric … and that’s what the power companies should be building … long-term, cheap sources of power. Not plants that will spew more crap, require even more trains using fossil fuels to move the fuel supply to the new plants. Dumb, dumb, dumb! I’m thinking the biggest contributors to these ads are likely Peabody Coal and it’s “competitors” in the coal industry.