| Would you believe, it only cost me $123 for 7 months of insurance? Hot damn. And only a few days to crack 80mph for the first time ever? Playing in the powerband, I looked down just as I had to pull up, and noticed. I think the tach indicated close to 10K rpm - I was in fourth gear. ;-) |
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A pictorial of my June trip from Saskatchewan to Los Angeles, my first real twisties, and well, just lots of fun!
I didn't ride that often after I got home. First, I was spoiled. Secondly, Saskatchewan was(is) suffering our worst drought in recorded history. That made riding boring, hot and dusty. Then, on a lovely morning that just begged for a ride..... I couldn't find my keys.... turns out, they were just leaving in advance of Aretha. Because the next morning I went out to the curb, and couldn't find my bike.
Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 10:34:13 -0400 (EDT)
Aretha was stolen last night.
--
Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 07:41:18 -0700
WTF? In a town that size? A bike that custom? Are they fucking morons???
Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 11:42:41 -0600
I'm soooo sorry to hear of your loss. My thoughts and prayers are with
you in this time of need. If it is any consolation, I know you will meet
again someday at the Honda Bridge. May you find solace with all your sweet
little furkids. I will give mine extra hugs and pray for Bike's safe
return.
Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 14:46:23 -0400
The furuselesstits better stay the hell out of my way today. Not a single
one of these alleged alarm dogs bothered to wake up while my baby was
being spirited away.
Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 14:49:22 -0400 (EDT)
damn you're violent when you're wronged.
On Fri, 31 Aug 2001 kate@katewerk.com wrote:
> On Fri, 31 Aug 2001, Ken Woods wrote:
Then about 24 hours after I first went out to the street to stare
gaping
at the blank pavement where Aretha should have been parked, I returned
from the city to stare gaping at a suspiciously familiar RD350 parked on
my lawn.... Found! At the golf course, lying on her side in some
bushes...
Date: Sat, 1 Sep 2001 18:46:09 -0400 (EDT)
On Sat, 1 Sep 2001, Justin wrote:
> <
Except I still can't find the f'ing keys! Your hotwiring instructions
would only be good for as long as the gas in the tank holds out....
(The key opens the cap, as well.)
Did find my missing watch and flyswatter, though, so things are looking
up. Now back to turning the house upside down...
Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2001 09:27:11 -0400 (EDT)
On Mon, 3 Sep 2001, stephen.phillip@bt.com wrote:
> Whoo-Hoo a result. I'm glad she's back home- hope the police can
trace the
No serious damage - a broken turn signal lens. (Anybody got one to sell?)
The RCMP excuse was funny. Becuase she was lying in the grass, there was
no way to get prints
??
I'll have to remember that next time I commit a homocide. Throw the murder
weapon in the grass...
I gave up on finding my keys. Or rather, I decided to give in to The Fates
and let them be found the old fashioned way - have new ones cut.
So, I turned down an offer from a friend to truck Aretha to the city, so
he could take it apart and send out the main switch to get it to a
locksmith for new keys.
I did it myself.
And I did get it apart, but not before forming some opinions about the
design of motorcycle componants, and the absurd things one must do to get
at one simple fucking switch.
Take mini fairing off, take out headlight, so one can get at the fucking
nuts to remove the headlight holderthingie, then, discover that you own no
screwdriver capable of removing the screws that hold the switch to it's
support, so opt to remove the support bracket instead, and make notes
about where a previous owner had reinforced wiring with electrical tape
(obvously for a reason) hold breath while finding out if the wiring clip
will actually fit through the opening at the back of the headlight
holder...
Which reminds me - I better go out and label all those fucking bolts
and
screws....
Didn't they have velcro in 1981?
This pic has nothing to do with Aretha.
The Cagiva V-Raptor.
AJ, you messed up buddy, she's even more attractive in real life.
What can you say about a chick that digs full leathers and takes her bike
with her on trips?
What a blast! My brother and I hung out with Kate all day yesterday riding
some of the best roads in the area.
We went to Holy Hill, a shrine on top of, you guessed it, a hill. It's the
highest point in the area and provides some beautiful views, especially
during fall.
http://www.vbe.com/~tfonstad/holyhill.htm
Kate and I made the trek to the top of the steeple to check out the view and
get some pics. Yeah, the view on the way up wasn't all that bad either.
http://www.sliderphoto.com/friends/images/holyhill.jpg
We spent the rest of the day riding. Kate really pours it on. You'd never
tell that she's been riding only a year or so. She let me have my way with
Aeretha later in the day. Yikes! I think Justin is right, she needs a new
bike. I'd never ride that thing as fast as she does!
I can't wait till our next meeting, it was a blast, and it was great to
finally meet you Kate.
Jack
I think you have to live here, where, as beautiful as it can be - it sucks
the big black donkey dick when it comes to motorcycle-friendly roads. For
an idea of what I mean, these pics were taken
just after I crossed the
border from North Dakota.
Followed by this premonition of
things to
come ....
Time
to winterize, I guess.... Canada, eh?
Well, I winterized her, all right. Fixed some scratches on the tank I'd
inflicted with the buckle on my jacket, while pushing her off the center
stand... cleaned her up, tank drained, carbs full of oil, and into her
resting spot in the living room for the winter.
Then I decided to go to Denver to a dog show.
Steve Holden (from the cbr list) lives there, and the weather forcast
predicted tolerable temperatures. We went for a couple of rides in the
mountain parks west of Longmont. The first was in the evening, to a small
town up the moutnain. Great twisty roads, the high altitudes that Aretha
seems to like, elk, snow in the ditches. Frozen fingers. Frozen arms.
Frozen body. My legs were warm enough though. So we decided a morning trip
would be better.
I had to show my dog at 1 pm, so that gave us about 3 hours
riding time.
When I got back, I was walking a little more carefully.
The ride started out cool, but better than the night before. The sun on
black leather helps a lot... successfully negotiated my first ice patches
up high in the mountains where melting snow was running across the road in
shady spots. Steve is a sensible rider - just fast enough to be lots of
fun, but slow enough to make the fast stops required when you aren't sure
what's up in front around the next corner.
Or the next intersection.
After stopping for coffee to warm our hands in a little quaint remnant of
the 1960's hippie era, we began to head back to the
highway, with only one intersection to negotiate. As it turned out, it was
one too many. A car made one of those "moves"... as though it were about
to cut across our line of travel, and Steve hit the brakes on his F4. I
was closer behind him than usual, becuase we were going slowly, and when I
hit mine, I was on a surface of fine road sand.
Thankyou to the cow who gave her life to save my skin. As lowsides go, it was a measly little thing. Just enough to
send me on my stomach a few feet, scrape my jacket, my helmet visor... *THINK* ABOUT
THAT, YOU HELMETLESS FOOLS OUT THERE .. and bounce Aretha down the street. A motorist was there to help me pick
her and
myself up before Steve could even get turned around. No great harm done. A tankslapper means I'll be repainting her
again. A broken oil pump cover, that my roll of electricians tape took care of, and a broken brake lever - the most
problematic, as her brakes aren't great to begin with. But, after dusting myself off and checking her over, we were
both declared fit to continue. Just enough lever to catch with two fingers, we made it back off the mountain, and I
had a story to alarm my already alarmed dog people friends that afternoon.
So, now she is in cold storage. One of these days, my trusty bike mechanic
from Unique auto body and I are going to take a case of beer over there,
so I'll have something to cry into as he makes up a long list of the parts
she needs to repair both the damage, and bring her up to a better
roadworthiness level.
Gonna have to do that if she stands any chance of passing inspection for a
track day this summer...
heh heh
From: "kate@katewerk.com"
To: "cbr@deleted"
Subject: [cbr] I didn't need the keys, after all.
Kate
http://www.katewerk.com
From: Hammy
Subject: Re: [cbr] I didn't need the keys, after all.
From: Ben Laible
To: "MINSCHCON@deleted.net"
Ben
From: Catherine McMillan
From: Ken Woods
> > What can I do?
>
> Teleport me into the scrotum of the dude who stole her, where I can
do
> damage he'll never forget.
From: "kate@katewerk.com"
To: "cbr@deleted.com"
Subject: Re: [cbr] :) :) :)
>
> Thats great Kate! I knew it would turn out alright.
From: kate@katewerk.com
To: "well_ard@deleted"
Subject: RE: :) :) :)
> thief (es). Hopefully no serious damage to Aretha?
Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2001 13:45:20 -0400 (EDT)
From: kate@katewerk.com
To: cbr@deleted.com
Subject: The world needs more female engineers
Keys and bike and Kate reuinited, and planning a trip to Michigan and
parts East, I decided that carb job could wait no longer.... FYI - this
is what $126.00 (plus tax) looks like in motorcycle parts...
This is the bike I'd own, if it were available here, and I like, had
money.
And eastward we did go. With dog and bike packed in truck, with a few
clothes and the requisite grooming stuff, we headed to first Monroe,
Michigan, spent a few days in Virginia
resting up, then to just north of Philadelphia for the Montgomery County
Kennel Club shows, loaded again and made a midnight run to visit Justin and Beth. Justin was
sick with the flu. A few hundred miles to the westward, where Jeff and Jennifer Kufalk put up with me
for a couple of days.... and thanks to Jack and Dave Beaudry, I finally
got her off the truck for some real riding in Wisconsin.
From jack_bedry@hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001
To: "cbr@deleted.com"
Subject: [cbr] Canadian Invasion
http://www.sliderphoto.com/friends/images/holyhill_1.jpg
http://www.sliderphoto.com/friends/images/holyhill_2.jpg
I don't think Jack and Dave had ANY idea at the time, how much I
appreciated their day escorting this newbie through the beautiful winding
roads of Wisconsin.
November, 2001.
