Ctrl-z, Ctrl-z, Ctrl-z

Yesterday I did something cool. I rode ~250 miles on my motorcycle. This was, by far, the longest ride I’ve been on, as well asbeing the first group ride I’ve been on. I rode down to Dekalb, Il with a guy I know from the XJ site, to meet another guy from the XJBikes site and work on our bikes.

It was a long and (mostly) uneventful ride. We got a little lost and Ike (the guy i was riding with) pulled some amazing feat of orienteering and managed to improvise a new route based on a quick glance at a gas station map and just the text direction from mapQuest. I was completely impressed and completely lost, but we got there.

The work on the bike went well, and my little guy is running just a bit nicer now that the carbs are all in sync. I also had a number of “uncertainties” resolved:

• It’s supposed to CLUNK like that when I shift into 1st
• My carb boots are cracked, but not leaking
• This is all specialized knowledge, not secret knowledge.

Ike replaced his float bowl gaskets, and was kind enough to run me through the carburetor parts that could be identified with the float bowls off. Actually seeing him pull the carb rack, and then wrestle to get it back in also helped to demystify the whole process.

The ride back was a bit of an adventure. Most of the 1st hour was spent wondering if we were lost, and included the plastic side panel off of Ikes bike flying off to land among the weeds and beer can on the side of the road:

Ike (driving the back roads in deep thought, distracted by the prospect of being horribly, horribly lost. After a few minutes looks into his side mirror): wheres charles? holy @#!
Ike (Pulls over as charles comes riding up from the distance)

Ike: “whats wrong”

Charles: “your side cover flew off dude”

Ike:“what! where?”

Charles: “like a mile back!”

Ike: !@#!@#!!!!!!

We found the cover and moved on down the road, eventually coming to the landmarks that told us we were in the right place (for me it was a particular tatoo parlor, for Ike, the Subway that was sadly closed when we passed it on the way in. Oddly, we’d both marked that same intersection but with different landmarks). After that, it was smooth sailing. We parted ways at the top of Ravine Rd. in Lake Park (if you’ve not ridden this, do. It’s a fun little ride) and I wass off the Family Dinner where I ate my fill and then ate 3 pieces of cake. Hellz. Yeah.

The point here, is that in order to be ready for this long ride, I had to undo the changes I’d made to the seat and tail. We’re back to stock seat and tail, but they both have a first coat of Olive Drab. I think I like the look of it all together to keet it as is and just pursure the paint job for now.  I’ll get some pics up as soon as i get around to it. Maybe tomorrow.

Not all metaphors are good

Charles: Good job, Tom! You have some value as a person.

Tom: Thanks, Charles! that site I was working on has some crappy things about it.

Charles: I agree… but you learned stuff from it, and so did I.

Tom: That’s true.

Charles: Sometimes, even in crap, you can find things of value… like kernels of corn, or peanuts.

Tom: …

HMKIC

Charles: Hey, Mike, I was thinking about doing a row of LEDs up the back of the bike that lit up in sequence when the brake was applied

Mike: Cool idea! I was thinking about that some time ago… my idea was to light them up based on how hard you were pulling the brake lever.

Charles: Very cool, Mike. You’re neat.

[time passes]

Charles: Hey, Jemiah, I was thinking about doing a row of LEDs up the back of the bike that lit up in sequence based on how hard you were braking.

Jemiah: Cool idea, Charles, but what about measuring deceleration instead? You’ll need one of these UBW boards, and one of these accelerometers, and a DC power converter.

Charles: -blink-blink- of course! That’s brilliant!

Charles: Mike, listen to the shit that Jemiah just said [relates story] .

Mike: Brilliant! That Jemiah sure can say some shit!