Friday Night…

A quick run in the balmy weather after work…then headed home. A big front is coming and tonight…I was not up to fighting the cold. That and I have a big day tomorrow…rebuilding the forks (yet again) and replacing the front tire…which has no tread left. Hmmm…another reason not to hit the roads real hard tonight…

If I hit the roads very hard with that tire…I’ll be hitting the roads hard…as in splat.

But home? I dunno…the wife’s out of town…not much for me there tonight.

Ah well. Sure. I need to relax a bit anyway…and I was hungry…

Sooo…hmmm…what’s in the house? Some fresh spinach, tomatoes, some shredded mozzarella…uh huh. You see where this is going.

I cheated on the crust…one of those Pillsbury ones out of the can. Some Alfredo sauce.

Pizza ready to bake?

I think I need to add some color.

Pizza done

Ahhh. Ready to go!

Pizza for me! And, well, how about an Underworld marathon!

Batch’in it now and again is good for the soul…

CUAgain!

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Pro tip…

As a motorcyclist I am hyper-aware of road debris or obstructions in the road. Sadly, many cage drivers and indeed many riders are not, only seeing these kinds of things when it’s too late to do anything but hit them or swerve all over the road trying to miss them.

Rider Courtesy:
Point out road debris or obstructions/dangers to the cages or riders behind you.

I do this by extending my arm straight out to the side (gets attention) and then moving it down and pointing at the obstruction. If it’s safe for me to do so, I continue to point until I pass the problem.

Unintended Consequences:
After pointing out a road gator (truck tire tread) on the expressway to the rider some ways behind me, he turned out to be a motorcycle cop and pulled me over for “flipping him off”.

Pro Tip:
The proper response to this is probably NOT:

“No, *this*,” I point at the road, arm straight, “is pointing out road debris to the rider behind me.”

“*THIS*,” I bring the arm up, elbow bent, hand in front of my face, and extend my middle finger, “is flipping you off.”

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer (no tickets for me, but thinks it may have been worth a ticket to get a copy of the dashcam video)

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Liberty Sport Motorcycle Eyewear Review

If you follow my blogs/stories, y’all probably know by now I expect a lot out of my machine and my equipment. I frequently push my bike, my equipment, and myself to the limits. Over the years, distance and hard riding have taught me a lot about what works and what doesn’t. “Ride ‘em hard, fix ‘em when they break” is sort of a lifestyle for me…or perhaps a mantra.

Many years ago on a distance run out west I ended up with welder’s burn from riding into the sun with cheap sunglasses. They were marked as UV rated, but actually were not. It was a painful experience and cost me a couple days stranded in a small town wondering if I was going to be able to ride anytime soon.

As a result, one of the things I’m picky about is eyewear.

A few weeks ago I started wearing a pair of Liberty Sport “Free Spirit” sunglasses. Liberty Sport makes premium eyewear designed to meet the needs of specific sports. They have a large assortment designed for the motorcycle rider.

These are great sunglasses. The frames are comfortable and also very robust, without being overly bulky. The nose bridge is soft and fits very well, keeping the glasses in place easily. Hinges seem strong, and the lenses are distortion free. They are ANSI rated.

This model has magnetic “eye cups”, an attachment that reduces wind and debris from getting around the glasses and into the eyes. They stay firmly in place and can be easily removed if desired for “non-riding” wear. The eye cups are remarkably effective at shielding the eyes from wind/etc without impairing peripheral vision. I typically wear a helmet, but rarely close the face shield. I’ve also been known to ride without, and the glasses worked perfectly.

The frame design provides good venting with or without the eyecups and I had NO issues with fogging.

The glasses came with a very nice semi-hard case and a strap. I didn’t need/use the strap as they stay in place even without the helmet.

You can get prescription lenses for these, and some models are available with built in reader lenses. I don’t need the prescription option (yet) but I definitely need the readers nowadays (for some reason I can’t read the maps in my tank bag anymore…can’t imagine why) and I hope to try a pair with the readers soon.

Short and sweet? I like ‘em. Check ‘em out www.libertysport.com

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

Disclaimer: I was not paid for this review, but was given the sunglasses to try.

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Stop SOPA

Take action.

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Anatomy Lesson

It was the most amazing skirt…though ‘skirt’ may be too ample a word. It was really only the suggestion of a skirt, barely reaching from the small of her back to the top of her thighs.

Of smooth black leather with buckles and straps, it defied the laws of physics just staying where it was. An amazing skirt, on spectacular hips. Curves. A woman’s curves.

Only those hips could have held it in place…unless perhaps it’s lined with duct tape. Curves and crevices. Enticements. The stuff of life…and of death. Those curves…those shadows…those have started wars. Pain and pleasure.

Visions in the night. Words and a tune from the Dave Matthews Band surge through my head. ‘Hike up your skirt a little more and show the world to me’.

Passion. Drive. The strength of them often astonishes me. It’s a wonder we ever learn to control those drives…to harness and channel them.

Moving down from the impossible skirt, dark but translucent fishnet hose simultaneously hide and enhance the curves…the mystery…the world. A fascinating contrast…both hiding and revealing the beginning and end of all things.

I shake my head. She was out of place. Not out of place in the night, indeed, I could scarcely visualize her elsewhere, but rather out of place, here, at a lonely fuel stop in small town Texas. But she was here and no reason was needed. It just was. That is the magic to be found running hard in the night.

Lower. Boots…over the calf, heavy leather, heavy buckles, with startling red flames stitched over the top half and at least six-inch-tall, very thick heels. Not dainty. With the skirt and the hose those boots make her legs go on forever. Having looked down, there was no choice but to follow the features back upward.

The same heavy fishnet pattern covers her lower midriff, and the eye catches the lower point of a push-up, leather sculpted, laced corset-style bodice and is drawn inexorably upward. Drawn upward, sliding over the black leather, noting the pair of embossed dragons with jeweled eyes emblazoned on the bodice under her breasts, traveling ever upward to the top of the bodice, only to be captured and held by the luscious curves perfectly revealed there.

I mumble under my breath, “In a boy’s dream.”

She walked…long confident strides…placing one foot directly in front of the other and resulting in all her curves working together in a stunning symmetry of timeless motion. Her hair, in a single, thick braid reaching the small of her back joined in, swaying back in forth inverse to the motion of her hips. An angel. A demon. Perhaps a god.

Maybe all three.

I briefly wonder if she understands the strength and nature of the power she is wielding at that moment…and the sheer relentless drive that power has evolved to awaken. The dark side of the man howls. It’s all I can do not to echo it out loud.

Captured by the vision and the motion, I sat lightly in the saddle of the big cruiser and watched her approach. Shortly she would pass me by on the way to her ride and my world could get started again.

Almost.

At her point of closest approach she paused to give me an anatomy lesson.

“Hey,” she said, “my eyes are up here”.

Not the slightest chagrined, I just grinned. That outfit wasn’t chosen to get me to notice her eyes.

“I believe ya babe. But I wasn’t looking at your eyes.” I looked up slowly, deliberately, and met her gaze.

She laughed as she walked on by with a flourish. “I do like an honest man.”

In answer I thumbed the start button of the big cruiser and smiled in satisfaction as she came instantly and smoothly to life. It was time for me to fly.

Roaring down the highway, burning miles, I settled in the saddle, cranked up the music, and thought about the world.

Passion. Beauty. Drive. Power comes in many forms.

We wield, we awaken, we strive, we taste.

We live.

Steel, muscle, bone, and blood merged into a single entity. Machine and man, at one and howling through the night. There is power in that too.

The wife is a thousand miles away. My thoughts predictably darkly male, I glance at the instruments and bump up the speed.

The night sings. The power at my fingertips cuts through the darkness. A falling star streaks through the heavens ahead of me. Passion and elation surge through the man.

And folks wonder why I ride.

It’s a big damn world.

And I can’t wait to see what awaits me at my next stop.

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

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Ride ‘em hard…

Sooo…I dunno…a couple months ago or so I broke the kick stand spring bolt on my Valk…I hit some part or other flying off a couple cars that were enthusiastically wrecking out on NB 75…and I lost the spring as well as the broken bolt (typical)…got home with a bungee cord…

It’s the lowest point on the machine…breaking them is not uncommon…

Had a spare spring and bolt…replaced a couple days later.

Two weeks after that I hit a road gator and broke it again. Back to the bungee cord. Got the part (I was short a spring) and repaired the machine again Monday…and took it off again TODAY hitting of all things…a football! (came out of nowhere, ain’t goin anywhere ever again.)

So, to sum up, I’ve broken more of these things in the last 2000 miles than I have in 150,000 miles.

I’ll put another one on tomorrow (I ordered extras!)

Ride ‘em hard. Fix ‘em when they break

Ride it hard or take it on home.
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

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Just a dream?

I dreamed last night…

The bureaucrats have won. Paperwork must be filed in advance for all aspects of life.

Gonna eat dinner Thursday? You needed to file form 34578-b in triplicate at least 4 days in advance. Be sure to attach supplementary form ROCE-1 if not eating the federally mandated “healthy” diet listed in pamphlet 666-1.

“Ah, Mr. Meyer, we see that you wrecked your motorcycle without filing the proper paperwork in advance. Please file a form 7562 with your nearest tax office and be sure and include a check for the late filing penalties. You won’t be allowed to proceed with repairs until the proper notifications have been completed. Please see instructions in book ECKER-234″

And so on. The purpose of the entire system was to raise money to perpetuate itself and in that quest, it had regulated every action in life. Sleep. Eat. Everything. Proper forms and fees had to be filed. God help you if you die without advance notice!

This, of course, spawned an entire class of workers…all “gainfully” employed pushing paperwork around. Filing, penalizing, mailing, processing. Producing nothing, helping no one, building nothing, they somehow managed to make it home at night feeling satisfied that they had accomplished something.

I woke up sweating, thankful it was just a dream.

I’m headed to work…right after I stop by the car tax office to get a $65 sticker to put on the license plate of my motorcycle, and after I hit the post office to drop off the state sales tax paperwork (again). Oh, and I need to stop by the inspection place to get the other sticker stuck on my bike too, but first I need to stop by the insurance company to get another copy of the paperwork that shows that I have paperwork that says that I have insurance. Oh, and I guess I need to see my accountant about my federal taxes…she’s saying that since I opened a small business it’s gonna take at least 40 hours work for me to get the paperwork together that she needs to start my return. She’s confident that I’ll get to deduct her costs from my return…as long as I file the correct paperwork.

Ah well. I guess I’ll get to work eventually. Not really a lot of point in going in though…the guy that approves the change paperwork is on vacation so we can’t do anything…

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
(form 385, advance notification of posting on a federally regulated blog is filed with the office of BS for this posting)

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Hmmm…

Y’all may recall this post where I indicated I may have hit a number of deer-type dear furry critters.

I jokingly mentioned in a conversation with one of my friends that in some circles I was an ace and may need to put the little stickers on my fender or something.

This particular friend knows me well and mentioned that if I did that, the 6 deer would not be accurate. What about all their suicidal brethren I’d encountered over the years? (thanks for the reminder James!) :(

So, in the interests of attempts at accuracy…this probably represents a couple hundred thousand miles of night riding…though some of the hits were in the daylight…

Note: Numbers and occasionally species are approximate and have not been verified by the IMMLFCSAA*

*Independent Motorcycle Mounted Little Furry Critter Slaughtering Association of America

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Borrowed Time…

As my friend Ron would say…air goes in and out, blood goes round and round. Life is good.

That’s 6. How many do I get?

I took the truck home tonight.

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

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Ride more…or wash more.

It’s been raining or misty here for days…the roads almost constantly wet. When it wasn’t pouring, the roads have been greasy and slick…the road mist thrown up by my and other vehicles’ passage gray and filthy. It sticks to everything.

My machine is a mess. Covered in this stuff from top to bottom. I’ve had to use my thumb to wipe the mirrors enough to see more than a bright blur of headlights behind me.

Today was the first sunny day…and even then the roads were still wet this morning.

At the gas pump this morning:

I nodded at the rider fueling up his bike across from me.

He looks back and says, “Man that’s a shame.”
“What?”
“Your bike, don’t you care about it?”

I look her over quickly…it’s been a tough couple weeks…and I’ve run a *lot* of miles. I suppose I could have knocked some part or other off, or perhaps I’ve damaged a tire…that commute can be rough…but she looks fine to me. Ready, in fact, to go fly.

“What do you mean?”
“It’s *dirty*.” Somehow he made the word sound like profanity.

I glanced at the big Valkyrie. Dirty? Sure she was! Of *COURSE* she was! It’s what happens when you ride in the rain. Hell, it’s what happens when you ride at all!

I look over at his bike. It is absolutely spotless. So spotless in fact, that I know it hasn’t seen the light of day in weeks.

I love clean bikes. I love them so much in fact that I frequently ride them till they get dirty…and yes…I do occasionally clean them too.

The ones that have never been dirty though? They seldom venture outside the garage. The poor things languish, longing for the day somebody will ride the piss out of them…truly use them for what they’ve been made for.

Bike Purgatory. ‘Butt Jewelry’.

I couldn’t think of anything positive to say so I just said, “Have a good ride then.”

He didn’t let it drop though.

“Well I think you should wash it more.”

I just looked at him a moment. There was no experience there…no respect. What I wanted to say was, “I think you should ride more.” but instead I just pulled away. He’s got a ways to go before he’ll understand. Clean is fine. Clean is good. Clean is what you do so you can see how dirty you can get her.

But what she’s made for is to ride.

I could clean…or I could fly.

Me and the Valk…we are gonna go fly.

Ride ‘em hard…or just take ‘em on home.

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

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