Leaderboard

Update from the Family --- John took a great step today. He is now breathing on his own. They've removed the ventilator and I believe they are starting to remove the sedation. They are not allowing visitors at this time as he needs a ton of rest. This is incredible step from when I was there on Saturday! He truly is a fighter! Keep fighting John!

The speed of the ride leader, or other riders in NO WAY should affect your speed. Your speed should be based on your skill, confidence, and how you prefer to be riding that day. End of story. If I'm content following the rider in front of me, I'll stay there. If not, I may pass in a straight, or the next time we change roads. If I want to chill, I'll either drop way back, or let someone know that I'm going to split off and do my own thing. In any case...I am riding MY ride.

For those I'm not friends with on FB I figured I would put something on here for all that knew Ryan Hill. Last year after he passed I decided to buy his 750 and run the endurance race on it, it's something he wanted to do. We kept the group to close friends and just wanted to have fun and bring the bike home. We had myself, @RonStopable, @RVTPilot, and Bill riding with @TimTheAzn, @J_Copeland and Ron's brother helping with pit stops. I spent the better part of 2 months going through this bike trying to make sure it would survive the 4 hours. Ron and I haven't had a ton of suspension setup time and we made some poor choices when we were able to ride it. Friday came and we had no choice but to get it sorted. It's by no means perfect but it's very rideable by the end of Friday. We make one small change for the race Saturday and ride through any other issues that still persist. Things are going great until about the 3 hour mark when Bill comes in and says the clutch is starring to slip. We were determined to finish for Ryan epically since his mom came out to watch. The last stint I put is was probably the hardest I have had to do. Nursing the clutch on shifts and the bike only ruining about 120-125mph before it would slip made for very slow straights. Tim throws me a 10 min to go sign and I start taking to Ryan, asking him to help make sure the bike makes it. What feels like 40 min goes by and I see the checkered. I have never been so excited to see a checked in my life. Crossing the finish I started to cry and almost blew turn 1 lol. While none of us were setting the world on fire with the lap times it was a great adventure with a great group of guys. @Jester_ and @TRMN8TR were a huge help since they have ran these before and gave us a lot of pointers. Thank you everyone for the help. The shirts were also a huge success. I'll have more pics once I get them from @Photos by Marty and maybe Ron can post up what video he has from the gopro.

Well all restrictions removed and will be back to work Monday. Doc said I'm fastest recovery of any of the simular case patients she has ever had. She said usually its a 5 month recoveey time and I'm only at 3 months. I always tell doctors I'm a fast healer but they never believe me till after the fact. She also said im going to have stiffness and soreness for months if not another year but the chance of reinjury without another trauma is slim. Thanks again to all of you for helping me through this whole ordeal.

No Dennis you earned your screen name, it is yours forever. I call Dibs on your Camero, but I hope you never sell it. Bike is epic. Needs a good cleaning and polish. Other than that it is perfect. Dennis actually had it cleaned and lubed... ready to go. I love this thing. It is exactly what I need for a second bike.

Confirmation from the family. Its true, he is back. A little spacey at times but no big deal.

The one that isn't broke.

This is what I envision an OR track day is really like. http://i.imgur.com/wglBzGh.gifv

Ahhhhh, reminiscing

Looks to be holding up that guy on the SV650 as well. Needs to pull over.

Well, in his defense he had some dude on the phone that was complaining about getting wet in the rain while on a motorcycle.

Well it was that time again to take the Wife on a multiple day ride with camping and small town shopping on the menu. I needed to visit my old Boss from my days in Virginia who retired in the Fredericksburg, VA. area and we also wanted to stay at the Big Lyn Lodge in Little Switzerland, NC. I wanted to return to my 80-90’s version of sport touring on the Z1K with Tank Bag and Tail Pack with sleeping bag on top. I loaded the tent and camping crap on the Wife’s Spyder to keep things even. Day one we road 33 out of Ohio to Elkins, WV. and continued into the area of Harrisonburg, VA. We then jumped on 211E an old favorite on mine by late afternoon. We were going to camp in Luray, VA. where we use to back in our Virginia days but I talked her into a Hotel in New Market since we were running behind scheduled and so we could be fresh the next day when visiting friends. Day two started with a great breakfast in Luray we pushed on to an area just west of Fredericksburg. We spent the day visiting so by the time we got back on the road heading SW to pick up the BRP it was too late to camp so we hit a Holliday Inn with a Bar/Restaurant in Staunton, VA. All backroads in the foothills provider great riding but at a pace well below what I consider sport touring. Wife’s speed parameters are as listed: Interstate/Divided HW- 10 over, No higher than 75. All others: at or 5 over. Curves 10 below posted recommended. Day three was a southbound on the BRP day. With the day time high temps the upper elevation was a blessing topped off with the standard BRP views. My wife loved the parkway pace and low weekday traffic. I on the other hand came up with a fun event I call. “Hitting the Chicane” Once I checked the overlook turn off asphalt surface conditions I started hitting them at speed as one should when they are empty of cars and people. We got off the BRP at Meadows of Dan and proceeded to Willville M/C Campground. The Wife checked the restroom/shower facilities and gave it thumbs down. So it was back north on the BRP a few miles to Tuggles Gap Restr/motel that was full. They recommended Hotel Floyd just down the road a piece in Floyd, VA. Great place, Neat town with a lot of (Earthy’s) ?? Clean Hotel with a Blue Grass Band playing in the hotel court yard. Great restaurant across the street called the Dogtown Roadhouse with a huge stage for live bands. It was Thursday night so we enjoyed the BG Band at the hotel. A great little town to stay in on motorcycle road trips. Day four started on a fun road 221 out of Floyd to 211S into NC and up the mountain to Little Switzerland, NC. We hit the Diamondback route and finished at the Big Lyn Lodge in Little Switzerland for the evening. A fantastic Dinner and breakfast included with the room and beautiful views of the Blue Ridge. Day five started with a forecast of rain and thunderstorm in the NC./TN area we were heading so we decided to head home on back roads with an overnight at the Old Clark Inn in Marlinton,Wva. This put us on WVa. 219 one of my favorite roads for riding with the Wife on day six returning home with just under 1500 miles. Mission Accomplished: The Z1K did just fine in the sport touring mode with the little few little modifications. Wife was happy but could have used a few more walks thru towns window shopping with me and less riding each day. No video’s just a few pic’s. The End. B.

I blame theroamr for posting a ride without describing it correctly. I bet the rest of the guys riding with him were acting like jerks too. It's a requirement if your are going to ride with that group. Something, something fight club something.

Well, yeah... shitty lines will eat chicken strips.

Thanks for the input gents. I'll probably just go with the KTM Super Duke R anyhow. They've made some substantial improvements this year & I've had a hankering for one since they 1st came out.

So I had to do a conference call with State Farm last night. The rep I got was Jake. He was not appreciative of my jokes.

Holy crap, I can do Novice track days now!!

In my opinion if you ran Mobile 1 you would have avoided this all together because it's the best oil.

Here's my .02. I love riding with the smooth guys... I won't say fast, because they don't look fast, they just look incredibly smooth. The bike is on rails. Then they just fade off into the distance ahead of you. I enjoy the tow from the fast guys because I like to watch how effortless they make it look, but I only like following predictable guys. Even if you aren't fast, if I know your tendencies, I enjoy following. If you are sporadic and unpredictable, it really can hurt others' focus and generally means you are riding over your head. A rule of thumb is a lot of the times if a group really wants to ride hard, they likely won't let guys that can't be vouched for into the group. I know in past Epic Ride years guys have tried to jump into the fast group only to be told no because of the pace they were going to be running. In the past, the group didn't do this, and newer guys paid the price. If you join any of these rides that people put up for everyone, they will wait for everyone at route changes. No-one will mind waiting 5 minutes for people to ride their own rides, rather than waiting hours for ambulances and tow trucks cause you crashed riding over your head. Edit for typos.

First time that me and the mrs. officially 2up on a bike. There was the one time when she was prego 18 years ago i ran her a half mile up the road total squid like. But tonight was the official first time. Did 215 miles to the Valley View Bike Night. It was a great feeling because just a year or more ago we were too heavy to do this, now there is 190 lbs gone between us it was possible. Think she fell asleep on the way home..lol

You know Vulcan Tonik, you don't know FZ6Sonik - This is a new man desiring to drag knee and shred tires. It's a man destined for inside passing through blind corners. He will leave your ass in the dust!

I will have some room under my canopy if anyone beeds a place to park. I have also done a track day or two and can help anyone through the process once we get there.

Negative rep for posting about rep.

The correct term is post whore.

Day 1 down. 450 miles. We stopped at the Kinzua Bridge Skywalk and got some awesome wings at Elbow Room in Elmira New York. Thanks for the food recommendation @Namdum68

Nice shoes, squid. Now, eyes on the road.

Actual photo of Tonik getting off a cruiser and onto something sporty

Wish we could all just get a grip. Country's become quite unhinged as of late. We need to start getting along again or we're fucked. This Libtard v Repuglican crap is really bullshit. I would like to think that most of us are more centered. I know I am.

So I just visited again. Yes @NinjaDoc the movements are significant. Entire body, arms legs head and not just from stimulus. Today he started to sit up....raised himself up several inches. And the movement is frequent. No changes since yesterday. Still running a 38.3 fever with fluid in lungs. So they are postponing removing the ventilator and waking him. Perhaps until Friday, but maybe tomorrow. The family really needs our visits, it really helps them. They are good peeps.

Pick your own GD helmet color then spend your efforts learning to ride better.

What the camera didn't catch is I saw his van nose out of the drive. He was just sitting there, barely creeping forward. So I closed in on the center line just as a precaution and then he just starts coming across the road. By then I'd already committed to the left side of my lane and didn't have much room to change my direction towards the tail of the van. I didn't want to stop so abrupt that I caused my bike to become uncontrollable, so I just let the rear slide while I carefully applied front brake pressure. In hindsight, I should have gone full hog on the front and let the rear come up. I would have stopped a lot sooner or maybe created room to shoot right and tuck behind him. Either way, it was pretty gnarly from behind my visor. I had less room than the video shows and missed a collision by inches. I'll study this vid some more and work backward from there to gain a better understanding of how to more appropriately handle a situation like this in the future. I would like to point out to @Tonik that my Ducs clearly have all kind of rear brake. Just sayin'...

Not much update recently, but after seeing the picture Doc took today, I figured I would show a comparison. It's crazy how much better I feel in the bike since losing weight and adding muscle.

I'm on the south side of columbus, i'd be up for a ride if you get something together. oh and i'm one of the slow ones, not like drooling all over the place slow but i probably should wear a helmet full time.

So I headed back to camp and decided half way there I was hitting the Dragon for a lap. And it was the most perfect time to hit the Dragon. No cops, no cruisers and only had a few cars to get around and they pulled right over. Has such a great time on the way back I got to the state line and turned around and did a second lap. Night at camp was relaxing, meet a couple other campers and we shot the shit till 11pm then called it a night. That night I thought I add a day to my trip and head over to the BRP campground for a night before I went home. Next morning I walked over to the TOTD store for their wifi and realize the weather for the next day was going to be shit so I then decided to head home. Clicked this pic while enjoying the morning. Decided to head home via BRP out of Cherokee, then jump on The Rattler (209) out of Maggie Valley. 209 while the tarmac was beautiful all the gravel in the corners made the ride total shit. But I managed to get through it. 208 was nice and took TN70 north towards US23 and took it most of the way home into Ohio. Stopped for lunch on TN70 and noticed my tire was almost gone so it's a good thing I decided to just go home. And yes this is the tie wheelers put on just 3 weeks previous.Made it home on the tire and got the set I had in the garage mounted the next day, got the old connie shined up and ready for the next adventure. Sorry so winded but that was my Adventure.

Man, that shit really bugs you. I'm getting a vlog setup just to post random videos of me talking about ridiculous bullshit while riding my bicycle. I'd say motorcycle, but ever since HD suggested a sale, my Ducs all started not starting.

Well said Tim. I started riding with Dave L and Bill B from Core in 2001 I think. Loved the corners but I sucked and was slow due to lack of skill and saddle time. Over the years I've logged about 250,000 miles. Most of them in Southern Oh. I can honestly say that when riding I rarely blow a corner, don't use brakes much and feel comfortable riding the speeds we do. The small group I ride with does ride fast. Who leads depends on the day and how we feel. We all have had days where we just don't feel it and have broken off. To put it bluntly, slab about 100 miles to get to the Twisties and don't want to ride at 50%. I only get out every 2 or 3 weeks and want to wick it up a bit. Sorry if our rides have offended anyone. We often keep our rides private.....Maybe we need to continue doing just that.

My teenager had a very bad morning she says "thanks @Casper "

Here's some pictures that I took, there may be a couple more on my Instgram account. There's a video on Instagram as well...

What does @hiro think?

Link to race 16 on Sunday. This was after the oil incident. Last lap was fun, made a pass for third on backstraight, got passed back under the brakes. Made another pass going into 13 and made it stick. 😀

But, but, don't you want to know the secret tooth whitening technique that has dentists fuming?!?

Many of the rides I have been on, the group will wait at each stop, or turn, to wait for everyone to catch up. If the ride doesn't have this courtesy, and you're not 100% sure you can keep the pace, don't go!

Say good bye to Desmo. Welcome pushrods and hydraulic lifters. Say hello to the new Multi-Glyde or the revolutionary Fat-Panni. I suppose the new dealerships will have a barnyard theme since they will be selling Ducs and Hogs.