12 posts tagged “motorcycle”
I apologize to all my fellow voxers for my truant behavior of late. I hate it when people make excuses but I thing I will anyway.
As many of you know I was horriblly injured in a motorcycle accident a year ago and have been constantly plaugued by health and motorcycle trouble. Plus I quit teaching Yeah
Location: Griffith Park, CA
Yesterday, on something of a whim, we jumped in the truck and headed south to check out the Griffith Park Sidecar Show. We knew where Griffith Park was, but had only a vague idea of the whereabouts of the show. Fate was kind t because as we neared the exit for the park a motorcycle with attached sidecar appeared in front of us.
Not a hard guess where they were going. Sure enough the old game of "follow that sidecar" soon led us to the Crystal Springs Picnic Area and a sea of classic, unusual, and just downright bizarre sidecar rigs.
The show was started almost by accident by Doug Bingham 36 years ago. Bingham is owner of Side Strider, Inc. and the first event was held just on the suggestion that he and his customers get together for a picnic. When over 40 rigs showed up Bingham knew he was on to something.
Since then the show has grown to include 300-400 entries and thousands of visitors each year.
Richard Williams poses with his Vintage BMW sidecar rig which has original paint and stripes.
Some entries were wilder than others..."calling Buck Rogers."
Please see the photo gallery for many more pix of the event
I have been working on this project for a long time and, unfortunately, it is still not complete. However, I have decided to publish the first section. This is a pictorial story in comic book form with accompanying music.
Click on the link below to view the comic book and on the red speaker icons to the left to hear the music.
Lines in the Sand, Part 1
I know a couple of you have been following along with the progress of the Beemer rebuild. I have just about completed her brain surgery: (Rewiring the front panel) and got to put the front fairing on for the first time today. Just for laughs I threw on a side panel halfway to see what the color scheme would look like...
Not too bad....but I think what is really important are the practical spiritual lessons I a learning along the way.
Lesson number 1: Keep your attention focus on what CAN be done at any given moment. I can't tell you how many times over the last few days I have been focused on one particular task or area of the bike, only to be thwarted by missing pieces, misfits, etc..
My habitual pattern under such circumstances is to become agitated and start frantically looking for things amid making mistakes and just generally making things worse. What I am learning is that a more effective way to deal with such problems is to just move to the things I Can do. Once I have done that , the missing bolt or the needed insight will appear at precisely the right time.
Now if I could only apply the same principles to my life overall!
I finally got around to putting the materials together from my last ride and here they are.
I am a little downhearted today because the guys in the Beemer club are giving me a hard time about this rebuild.
Usually it doesn't bother me but today it does. Anyway, here is the video.
Last week I had the privilege of interviewing Dave Barr at his home. Barr is a double amputee who holds to Guinness World records for motorcycling...with two prosthetic limbs mind you! As I was leaving, he pulled me aside and gave me some strong advice "cripple to cripple" as he put it which I could not have heard from anyone else, Much like one friend of Bill talking to another. And, it gave me some of my mojo back.
"God" however you want to frame that concept, puts the things you need in your path when you need them but that assumes you are putting one foot in front of the other in "faith"
(Please excuse the use of the words God and faith as I use them in the same sense as the Big Book of AA..."A God of your own understanding."
To wax even more metaphysical....and hang in there with me for a second I give you the following quote.
In astrophysics and cosmology, dark matter is hypothetical matter of unknown composition that does not emit or reflect enough electromagnetic radiation to be observed directly, but whose presence can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter. According to present observations of structures larger than galaxy-sized as well as Big Bang cosmology, dark matter accounts for the vast majority of mass in the observable universe.
From Wikipedia
I have a friend who believes that dark matter is the energy of God flowing through the universe....hey who am I to argue with that.
What this is all leading up to though is, of course, my motorcycle. The patient as of today looks like this....
Although I consider myself a somewhat advanced motorcycle mechanic I have never rebuilt a beemer from the sub-frame up and it is a daunting task. I almost lost hope today, but as Steve said, "To try is to have hope, so I will keep plugging away
.
David Robertson is the owner and propieter of the website:
In his own words:
"Welcome to BestBikingRoads.com, the motorcycle routes knowledge base for Motorcycle Travel. Using this site you can search for the best sport touring and Motorcycle touring roads in your area and for motorcycle holidays, then enter your favourite roads to see how they compare with others."
Send your articles and suggestions for the Road Show Magazine to: editor@roadshowmagazine.com
BMWeerman's Ghetto Garage
This week I polled a who's who of the world riding community for their list of the top 20 things you need to know to ride around the world. Below is an abbreviated compilation of their answers.
Learn the local language: The leading advice of everyone I spoke too. Whether or not you get it right or wrong a few sincere attempts at speaking the native tongue will take you further than anything else. Know bike Maintenance: A close second was knowing your bike and how to maintain it at least to some degree Plan well but be ready to improvise: The longer and further away you are from home the more likely your are going to need to be flexible. Emergency Evac Insurance Pack--then take half out Get trained Know how to navigate Buy medivac insurance Have paperwork in order Be Healthy Smile Research where you want to go Be security conscious Bend the Rules Self Care Know Political Situation Use Dummy Documents-Keep the real ones locked away Carry your patience Let others know where you are Just do it.
Road Music
Last summer while interviewing Tim Mayhew of www.pashnit.com he made the comment that, to him, each road has a theme and that is how he would structure his writing. It occured to me at that time that maybe roads could have songs too, so since that time I have been working on an album called Road Music. A few samples of which you can hear here.
