Happy Birthday Jennifer

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNIFER

May you bike be fast and the roads be twisty - and may you ride the Dragon's Tail before you celebrate your next birthday!

With much love from:

Colin, Debra, Devon, Kylie, and Madeline

Road to Where?

The say all roads lead to Rome... Well this road I seem to be on must be the path that winds through Dante's Divine Comedy on it's way to the imperial city. I know what's broken - and as usual it's all in my head. The tumor has decided to make varying amounts of it's usual poison and in doing so it's wreaking havoc with the rest of my body. I am hoping that this is all about it being caught up in "Death Throes" and just trying to make it's final mark as it exits my person forever. However, another part of me is jeering at that piece of optimistic self delusion and giggling madly in the background. Since I don't trust people that laugh manically for no reason - we'll be going with the happy thoughts. I am up and walking again - nothing big or long, but I can pass for normal for the first 50 feet or so. I'm working very hard to get my strength back up so I can make the long overdue motorcycle trip to Pensacola before I die of old age or worse. In order to do that I'm going to need to find an endocrinologist that specialized in pituitary problems and that takes Aetna insurance. I'll need to be followed very very closely in the next few months in order to ensure that I don't end up back in hospital. Sorry for the delays in writing more, but I have been very very tired and I'm starting to believe the doctor when he says that I will need a certain amount of time to rest up. Either he's getting better at estimating downtime or I'm simply not bouncing back as quickly... More to come, but not now... Now I need to sleep - perchance to dream...

A Shameless Plug for a Good Company

Click on the picture to see my bike and accessories at
www.CruiserCustomizing.com/linux_guru

A Bike to Lust After...

Once in a great while a motorcycle inspires me... It says BUY ME... Of course I would have to say that about something that isn't at my level of affordability, nor is it what the popular people like. The more I watched the show the more I realized I was tired of Juniors spiderwebs and obvious attempts to make the cruiser into a sport bike. Senior really has the sense for style - especially with his retro/modern old-school series. These bikes sing to me like the drifters of the 40's. There is a romance to a beautiful motorcycle that enables it to take your breath away just sitting on the pavement. This bike has a wonderful green paint - simple yet striking and of course the natural leather theme I have been working to implement on my bike. I would be hard pressed to choose between this and a drifter with all of it's flowing sheet metal - you see it's not about how fast you go, but how good you look getting there - and how much you enjoy the ride. Almost any motorcycle will go fast enough to ensure you are seriously maimed or killed should a mishap occur - but only certain ones can destroy all or part of you with style and finesse. This bike from OCC is one of those that has that superceding elegance. If you're a yuppie looking to impress me, do it with good taste and purchase a classic like this instead of a Hummer. That way I can get it cheap when you trade it in because you dropped it in your driveway and scared yourself so badly while doing so that you pooped your pants.

You can check it and others like it out @ OCC

Dreaming to Ride...

Unbelievable as it seems - I always seem to be thinking about riding off somewhere with just my motorcycle and what I can comfortably carry. When I was in a coma - I rode endlessly through twisty roads in hills of the greenest grass, very much like in the Windows "Bliss" desktop background.I long so for the feeling of freedom and bliss I felt then. I realize that here in the real world I am hamstrung by physical limitations and incapacites - but one day I will be able to ride all the way to the Grand Canyon, traversing the painted desert and stopping in the petrified forests of Arizona. Maybe I'll turn south after that, and make it all the way to the beaches of central Mexico - Stopping in Monterrey for some of the freshest squid in the world from the sea of Cortez and a quick jaunt on the Pacific Coast Highway before going through the border. Maybe... Maybe...

Why I Ride

To start with, I'm not the owner of one of those fancy custom choppers - I don't even own a Harley. I have a Yamaha V-Star 1100 Custom. Which is a cruiser and has been heavily modified over the years as happens to anybody's ride when it's actually ridden. I have pipes that ruble low and loud and I have driving lights and a high-intensity headlight that can blind people when switch to brights (both modifications made at the insistence of my wife after the uninsured jerk who smacked me tried to tell the police he never saw or heard me). I have enough performance engine work that I can almost hold my own with the sportbiker crowd in the low end - but like all cruisers, I wind out far sooner than they do. At the end of the day I don't need a lecture about how dangerous they are, my motorcycle is not dangerous, it's only vulnerable to the reckless and inattentive drivers who proliferate our country's vast highway system.

The truth is that I feel a certain way when I am riding, and no other legal venue is available to provide that feeling. It's like flying in the presence of the Almighty himself. Of course, I don't think there is any way to make others understand - and I'm not on a mission to do so.

Overall, my bike provides me with a firm motivation to get better and stay better. I was so determined to get back on when I got home from the hospital after tumor removal I simply tired to stand it up while sitting on it - and promptly was crushed beneath it. When I was in the hospital, it was obvious to visitors and staff that I was dreaming of riding while I was comatose. Little did they know, that was exactly what I was dreaming about.

Every person has things they love, which are important in their life - many things almost all humanity share in common, its the remainder that differentiate us. I am not asking anyone else to understand - my own mother said it best when she called motorcycles "Gasoline Powered Crack" - all three of her sons have been injured or maimed in some way while riding and broken countless bones as well. Still some of us get back into the saddle. When things are bad and I just cannot ride - I like to spend my time working on modifications or improvements for the bike - dreaming about the time when I can. It gives me something to look forward to. When things are even half-way good, I'll usually make a go if it and try to ride.

I'm not an outlaw, I'm just addicted to the feeling I get when I pull back on the throttle and the ground shimmers as it moves beneath me then feeling the way all my senses experience every inch of my travels - whether around the corner or around the country.

Balance in All Things

Of all the things I've lost, I think I miss my balance the most. It's the one thing I need to ride my motorcycle at low speed. You see once I get up over 30 mph the gyroscopic effect takes over and it's fairly stable on it's own without much help. Of course when you get over 60 mph you couldn't kick it over - it's going to stand up straight and tall thank you. Which, of course, is why I have inverted forks, a narrow front tire, and more rake than usual - with that combination the bike is even more unstable at low speeds but extremely maneuverable and responsive at high speeds where more traditional cruisers handle like (forgive the term here) "pigs". To explain to the layman, riding a motorcycle at high speed is a blase affair and won't impress other riders much - but when you see a biker playing around at a gas station doing small circles and puttering about more slowly than your toddler walk.... That is what we find impressive. Low speed skills are crucial to staying alive on America's maniacal highways, and something all bikers aspire to and enjoy trying to master.