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HispanicSlammer

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Blog Entries posted by HispanicSlammer

  1. HispanicSlammer
    NEW VIDEO riding the sweepers with Motoman
    It is snowing here in Colorado and when the bike is stowed away for the winter months I turn to my dv tapes and start reliving the rides from the season past. This ride was part of my long trip to go see the US MotoGP with my friend Dan (Motoman) we where two days away from home, already we had 350 miles on the day and we had come to the turn off to the Flaming Gorge Uintas Scenic Byway. It had started to rain when we stopped in Manila UT, but we pressed on. Rain in the West is usually a sprinkle here a shower there. Not very often do we just get all day drenching, but it usually rains every day in summer somewhere.

    video preview
    :media: The Flaming Gorge Video High Resolution
    10 minutes wmv - Dan and I started up the pass up and over the plateau and back down to the bridge.
    The Map of the route
    [map=AARTsJraQnUrbLnpvhEPWjcvt66k6FYXfg]http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=6571286530006078049,40.949402,-109.711592&time=&date=&ttype=&saddr=UT-44+%4040.949402,+-109.711592&daddr=40.908583,-109.435501&mra=mi&mrsp=1,0&sz=12&sll=40.927003,-109.436531&sspn=0.11595,0.31929&ie=UTF8&ll=41.197257,-109.497986&spn=0.923778,2.554321&z=9&om=1[/map]
    Low Res YOUTUBE

    Some more pictures from the area


    Flaming Gorge area

    Steinaker State Park 5 miles west of Vernal UT

    vfr bathed in sunset

    Green River Reservoir Flaming Gorge

    Bridge at the Flaming Gorge
  2. HispanicSlammer

    Oregon Days

    By HispanicSlammer,

    Shaniko Oregon Maddog and his y2k 800
    Maddog and I spent a day riding across eastern Oregon on the way to the pacific north west meet, he rides a nice yellow 2000 vfr800 in a well used stich. He told me tales of how he spent an entire summer on that bike touring the usa, living in a tent and enjoying the vagabond motorcyclist life. He can definitly ride it well and seems to be able to accelerate at a pace I cant. Here is some video footage I took out of the Town of Fossil on the way to Antelope, up and over Prindle Pass on the Shaniko-Fossil highway .
     
     

     
     
     
     
    fossil_hd.mp4
  3. HispanicSlammer
    I have never been on Boreas Pass before, drove or ridden past the entrace at Como several times on the way to College or on a vfr ride. I decided this last August that I would give it a try. Not knowing if it was challenging I figured I would take the Piggy this time. Turned out to be really tame actually since I passed an Accord and several minivans on the way up. The way to Cumo was much more challenging to be honest, taking every dirt road I could find that connected me all the way to Breckenridge. Boreas pass was the old route to Breckenridge by stage coach from Denver and the front range.
    I rode up to Woodland Park by hitting the Pikes Peak highway then splitting off just before getting there and heading northwest to Green Mountain Falls. It is a sleepy little village on the way up Ute Pass about three quarters of the way to Woodland Park from Colorado Springs. Its a nice diversion from the hustle of Hwy 24 and all the highway traffic, you can avoid hwy 24 by about 80% if you turn off at Chipeta Park and stay to the left. In Green Mountain Falls there is a nice lake in the center of the village, and a big Gazebo and fountain highight the park in the middle. Then to the west is a strip of small buisnesses, a local tavern and a great little resturant called "The Pantry" the ham sandwitch has 1/2 inch thick ham and real swiss cheese, and the breakfast is scrumptious. I like to stop there when possible for some lunch.

    Tarryall

    Tarryall

    Tarryall
    I rolled into Cumo to find its mostly closed up, boarded up old buildings so I started my way up Boreas Pass with large rain drops falling all around me, it was a quick summer shower and it did not last long.

    Boreas Mountain Packer Road

    Boreas Mountain

    Wild Flower

    Tarryall from across the valley on Boreas Pass

    Packer road from which I just came
    I was surprised to see so many cars on the pass, its wasnt challenging at all really so I rode it very fast. I passed about 4 minivans and was at the top in less than 5 minutes, seemd all too quick really. There were a ton of folks stopped at the old rail house at the top so I kept on going prefering the solitude of riding than stopping with tourists everywhere.

    Windy Point Boreas Pass

    Breckenridge

    Boreas Mountain Crossed the Continental Divide

    Breckenridge hwy 9 lies below - Hoosier pass is to the left
    I did not stay around Breckenridge only to gas up at the 7-11 and get a snack of some chewing gum to make my ears pop. Sometimes up in high elevation my ears dont equalize like they should. I decided to head up Loveland pass and ride down to Georgetown via I-70 then make my way up Guenella Pass. I had a burger at the "Red Ram" in old Georgetown and well I did not enjoy it as much as I would have liked too. Its a very old 100 year old building and well I can only take so much hippy music from the 70's before I have to get out, I like the Grateful Dead but not that much! I have had a better time there before, I should have waited for lunch - headed up Guenella pass and had a burger in Bailey instead there is a wonderful little diner there called the Trout diner, just a few hundred feet from the Gas Station. Should have but didn't Oh Well I was surprised to see all the work being done on the North side of Guenella pass, there was lots of heavy equipment being used to divert the creek and expand the road, it was practially paved all the way to the top, paved over 70% I would say!

    Guenella Pass strait south of Georgetown once again crossing the Continental Divide
    I headed down the pass and was soon back on gravel road again all the way to Grant at hwy 285, I found myself rubbernecking when I caught a glimps of a large hot dog building just west of Bailey. It was the old hot dog stand I remembered from my youth - Coney Island Colorado‎. It wasnt were I remembered it, they moved it by truck from Connifer to Bailey some 15 miles down the road! "Whoa" I said "whats that doing there?"
    They have the best chili dogs - foot long chili dogs and fries!
    I turned off hwy 285 as soon as I made it to Bailey, saw the trout diner and sighed that I missed out on a good cheeseburger and headed back into the dirt on Wellington Lake road, then I turned off at the Buffalo Creek turnoff sign and was on Hwy 67. The pavement was perfect and I at that moment I wished I could flip a switch and be on my viffer cause boy the road was perfect!

    Pikes Peak Heading down the bowl at hwy 67 to Horsepower Hill

    Pikes Peak in the late afternoon

    Full Size
    A - home
    B - backroads
    C - Tarryall
    D - Packer Road
    E - Boreas Pass
    F - Loveland Pass
    G - Georgetown
    H - Guenella Pass
    I - Wellington Lake Road
  4. HispanicSlammer
    Garden Of The Gods Pikes Peak
    So I am mostly done, since it seems that this paint job is a never ending time of fixing drips, scratches, redoing messups and well there are plenty of mess ups to fix yet. However the bike is back together and running after a bout with not starting and replacing parts. So I figure I put about 120 man hours into it this winter here is the final accounting
    Replaced fork oil Replaced fork seals Replaced wheels Powdercoated wheels Powdercoated rear swing arm Replaced swing arm axle Replaced all swing arm bearing bushings dust covers Replaced chain sprockets Replaced stator cover, the gasket, fixed oil leak Rewired accessories moved all forward to make more underseat space Fixed busted plastic plastic welded cracks and dedumbo the front signals Replaced exentric hub bearings Replaced wheel bearings dust covers Rebuilt rear brake caliper new bolts, seals, bleeder bibs Painted mirrors Painted frame part of it Painted plastics Took tank to the bare metal and repainted Replaced tank gaskets, vent hoses, fuel hoses, fuel filter Rebuilt Ohlins shock Powdercoated rearsets Powdercoated pegs Powdercoated passenger hangers and pegs Rewired signals Replaced dash lights with LEDs Replaced fuel hoses cleaned and rebuilt thottle bodies and fuel rail new seals on injectors Replaced exahust studs, replaced copper exhaust crush seals, new seals in the down pipes, drilling out broken studs was a bitch thank goodness for carbide drill bits taps! Sanded and refinished stainless Staintune exaust muffler Installed new rear cargo mount from Kanadian Ken the beefy version Cleaned fuel system with seafoam treatment Cleaned fuel injectors Rebuilt seat latch mechanism new spring Replaced ingition key system, helmet, and tank locks thanks Baileyrock for providing the parts New tires New red anodized wheel 85 degree vavle stems from Kurvy Girl New st1300 tank pad (yet to install) New vfrd graphics on the plastics New bolts on the brake calipers Powdercoated chain drive hub New rubber drive chain dampers New copper and steel spacers bushings all over Replaced head cover gaskets Valve check and shim swaps, sanded shims where I had to too for tight vavles Replaced coolant hoses that cracked Drilled and tapped leaky water pump drain hole Replaced coolant Painted mirrors Installed SAE Mount for battery charger Installed steering column powerlet and rear powerlet
  5. HispanicSlammer
    Texas Creek
    Last Tuesday was the first ride of the year for me, the vfr shod with a new set of sprockets and chain, was rarin to go. I waited for my buddy Craig to show up patiently - my brand new visor, and freshly washed stich, I was ready to go as well. The sun was shining and blue - there was still snow in the hill sides and ice on the yellow strip in the shady parts of the canyon but it was warm enough to enjoy a ride. Our destination was a short trip over to Texas Creek Junction, where Texas Creek meets the Arkansas River and winds its way east.
    Highway 50 intersects Colorado in half and although it is considered southern Colorado it is most definitly the middle. The highway begins in Kansas but it doesnt get interesting until you get to Canon City where you find the Royal Gorge. Then it drops down into the Arkansas River Valley and it gets rather interesting for a good 40 miles to Salida, Texas Creek is roughly half way from Canon City to Salida and the last few miles before you get to Texas Creek is the absolute best part. The Canyon walls are high and the sweepers are fast and furious. Craig and I saw triple digit speed in some of the faster turns, its double lane in some parts so you can get around slow traffic rather easy. It was nice to heat up the tires once again on those great sweepers, I have balled up lots of tires on those turns in the past - usually in the hot summer sun its always hot there in summer.

    Texas Creek a Centry ago
    We had some lunch at this great cafe at the junction, we love to stop there for lunch and home made pie. I had a nice bbq sandwitch and I was admiring the historic pictures on the wall.

    The Destination Lunch at the Texas Creek Cafe

    Warning If your gonna be a turd go lay in the pasture

    The View From the window

    What it looked like a centry ago Trains were the rule of the day back then hauling silver ore from the mountains
    I found my groove much sooner this year than before, after my winter layoff (more winter on the way <_< ) a break from the winter doldrums was a welcome thing! I was expecting to be a bit rusty and slow but - nope not this year, it was like I never got off the bike at all. Perhaps it was because November wasnt that far away, but it sure seemed like an eternity. Man I love my bike
    Here is a satalite map of the best part - triple digit sweepers
    [map=AARTsJorJEljnPDCNQVk7LLwbqt8cMUbMg]http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=7552852696277805325,38.445091,-105.525327&saddr=US-50+%4038.445091,+-105.525327&daddr=38.409213,-105.582905&mra=mi&mrsp=1,0&sz=13&sll=38.431404,-105.544109&sspn=0.075707,0.187111&ie=UTF8&ll=38.426429,-105.551319&spn=0.075713,0.187111&t=k&z=13[/map]
  6. HispanicSlammer
    Arapaho Peak Peak to Peak Highway w/ a new video
    Monday NOV 19th, yea thats right November its 72 degrees in the mountains and I was riding. Gotta save that for posterity, because tomorrow it is supposed to snow, and all this great riding weather will be gone. Back to cold days and tons of gravel in the corners. I was on the bike by 9am and heading up Ute pass, slowly since I wasn't sure what the roads would be like. It was like riding in summer, though I took all my cold weather gear and stowed it in the Givi trunk. I never needed it. It was like riding in the late afternoon all day cause the sun was so low in the sky, long shadows all day long. I gassed up in Woodland park after crawling up Ute Pass, I was soon on Deckers road heading west. I love this road but it sometimes scares me cause it was the scene of my first crash. So I always take it easy there, and it was a good thing, there was gravel in all the hard turns. Seems the Rednecks with dual wheels cant stay off the shoulder and they always kick gravel into the turns.
    Its always like that but today with the long shadows it was difficult to see so I took it slow, I was following a guy on a K1200S he was riding rather conservative - which was fine for a while, but once he saw me he waved me on by. It wasnt long before Horsepower hill was comming around the corner, where I would rev it up to top speed for the climb. Deckers road is really strange, its a fairly tight mountain road, and smack in the middle of it is a wide three lane highway that has been knicknamed Horsepower Hill by the locals. its a 5 mile climb up the mountain with fast sweepers all along the way, then up and over and back down the other side the fast sweepers continue. You can do the whole thing at triple digits if you have the nerve. Today I did and dropped mister Beemer in no time, at the top the road goes from 3 lanes back to 2 but the speed is the same and you end up in a curvy valley called "the bowl" you can really top it out there and then there is a long strait at the top of that that you can see for 2 miles. More top speed but I always slow down there - no more turns till you get to the bottom so whats the point? I didnt see the Beemer again till I stopped a half an hour later and he finally went by at Pine Junction. I had to get a drink of Red Bull to keep me alert. Working nights messes up my inner clock ya know.
    I tossed around hwy 285 for a bit, doing a nice back road called North Turkey Creek road and ended up in Morrison a half an hour later. I was stopped at the stop light pondering to turn left and head up Bear Creek Canyon or turn right and go into town. The light took for ever so I backed up a bit and headed into town - here I got the notion to do a loop up Golden Gate Canyon and back into Central City and do the Central City Parkway to I-70. It was only 1pm but I knew I only had a few more hours of daylight left to ride. I did end up doing Bear Creek Canyon 2 hours later after I finished the Denver loop, that was fun, lots of traffic as usual, but I had the tight parts to myself for a while. There was a guy riding an old Honda race bike, it looked like a small cc, not sure what year, it had dual shocks and it looked like a Cafe racer. He was riding slow so I passed him and waved as I went by and dissapeared into the next turn. Those skinny tires looked like mountain bike tires.
    GOLDEN GATE CANYON

    Video Preview
    :media: - Golden Gate Canyon Video
    I took my camera along not knowing what to film, I should have filmed Horsepower Hill cause I was really going fast on that, but instead I did half of Golden Gate Canyon. I started out going 7/10ths but upped it to 8 when I realized the road was good. You have to be careful this time of year. I stopped half way cause the bike was whobbling like it had a flat tire or somthing, I got off and looked at the tires and concluded the road was just bumpy like that. I then caught and passed the fella on the Norton a minute later - if you want to know. The video is the tight parts, no music just the V4, I cut out all the parts where I got stuck behind a car, or had to tiptoe through some slow gravel strewn road. 7 minutes long wmv format - I will upload it to youtube later if you dont like wmv movies.
    I saw about 20 bikes out and about - mostly Harleys and I waved at every one. There were lots of guys riding slow, but not me, I wanted to go go go. So I went alone today. I pretty much passed them all and waved at the ones going by. I only stopped for gas twice and once for a drink, the rest of the time I was rolling. I have done this double loop a number of times - it is really two loops combined, one out of Denver and one out of Colorado Springs and they intersect. Here are some map files below. It felt so good to be railing corners this late in the year!

  7. HispanicSlammer

    Yosemite

    By HispanicSlammer,

    Tioga Pass New Video
    This is a part of the trip Dan and I made to California to go see the USMotoGP, we took a half day and visited the park. One of Americas National Treasures the place is definitly worth the time to visit once in your life, many more if your a true outdoors person. We started out in Lee Vining and made our way up Tioga Pass, where we entered on the east Gate at the top of the Pass. It is a national park so there was alot of traffic, I took over 3 hours of video and boiled it down to 12 minutes.
    :media: Yosemite National Park Video
    High resolution video wmv format 1mb/s sample and 12 minutes runtime, music by Foo Fighters, Cold Play, and the late great Johnny Cash
    The Map
    [map=AARTsJqwtAxDPukzS07Ix6SmJ3xAJVygmw]http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=14239156040400631956,37.933710,-119.179250&time=&date=&ttype=&saddr=Poole+Power+Plant+Rd+%4037.933710,+-119.179250&daddr=37.711529,-119.663086&mra=mi&mrsp=1,0&sz=11&sll=37.71859,-119.514771&sspn=0.242789,0.63858&ie=UTF8&ll=37.800019,-119.367828&spn=0.485041,1.277161&t=p&z=10&om=1[/map]

    Tioga Pass 6 sportbikes tore it up right before we did

    Tioga Pass

    Lembert Dome we did not stop

    Yosemite

    Yosemite

    Bridalveil falls closer
    LOW RESOLUTION YOU TUBE two parts


  8. HispanicSlammer
    Two Horsepower next to 172 hp Lunch at the Dogbar in Cuchara CO
    I just got home about 4pm after riding 300 miles of New Mexico and Southern Colorado on my brand spaking new vfr1200f - I am pooped, 300 miles yesterday of slab and no throttle lock I had one sore right hand by the end of the day! I am so stoked about this bike, its hardly become real to me, its like I am stil riding the old girl sometimes but then I roll on the throttle and its so quiet I cant hear it, but boy I can feel it. Gobs and Gobs of power, its a bit intimidating really. I have been given 75% more power to the wheel and its definitly there. 6th gear roll on passes of cages is nothing for this "Buffalo" I havent named it yet but Buffalo Bill is rolling around in my head - not sure about that one! Buffalo Betty?
    I rolled into some back roads near Folsom New Mexico this moring and hit some very bumpy rual roads, it was set way to stiff. I ended up softening the rebound on the forks 6 clicks in the final account, stopping every now and then and clicking off more rebound and then 3/4 turn softer on the shock too. I think I got it just about right. I have yet to get the sag set properly its definitly steering neutral if perhaps a bit slow. She does like to tip over easy but the side to side flick transitions are more effort then the the 5th gen. Its the extra wieght but it is stable in the turns - if not for the Bridgestones, I cant say I like these oem tires. They seem planted but every now and then they get squirrly especially rolling on out of turns in low gear at 5-8k rpm powering out of turns. I havent even come close to the edge yet. I am still learning this bike. Its gonna take a while to get completely comfy it wieght is in a different place the longer wheel base. I suspect it will steer more effortlessly when I get the sag sorted out. No center stand makes that a bit of a chore!
    The first thing I noticed is the pegs are higher up, and in a spot that seems to be just right to for makeing my hip injury ache. It goes away after a 1/2 hour or so but its a bit uncomfy I might need to lower the pegs for now, and they seem to stick out farther just in a differnt position then what I am used to. more sporty then the 5th gen or the vtec for rider postion. However the bars are not as far of a reach for me. She does not like ot run below 80mph it seems as I would naturally seem to be rolling over these Colorado meandering turns at that speed without thinking. You know the easy stuff drop it a bit and round the turns all day long. Oh and the seat is WAY comfy, its all day comfy, I did not start to feel the usual butt fatigue till well into 300 miles! Its narrower too so that helps alot, more supportive then my corbin too! Very happy with the stock seat! I did the Bishops castle ride about 10-15mph slower then I run it on the old girl and it felt very good, I was timid with it at first then I got more aggresive as I rolled into the more open hills with less forest where the Deer hide. Plus the wind was gusting again, this damn southern colorado wind is annoying its pushes me over in turns and just destroys my confidence. But I think after a few more rides I will be back at my usual pace through there. Hike it up in the back perhaps and it will steer a bit quicker. Comming down Cucharra Pass I noticed the quirky nature of a shaft drive. Its definitly not as responsive as a chain drive, but darned close. There is a slight, very slight delay at low gear when first rolling on and when the power kicks in I can only describe it as drive line lash and its a bit jerky so I have to be very smooth on the throttle when In lower gear 1st and 2nd gear are the most noticeable, but 2-6 is much smoother. I am sure its somthing you will have to manage to learn to ride. For me I slowed down in the tight stuff more then usual not used to the tires, or the shaft drive or the different powerband. Oh yes I am glad it has a gear indicator cause it reves out power at a lower rpm so what feels to me like 6th gear is actually 5th or 4th. I has the same thumpy vibration as the older vfr but its at a different harmonic - what I am trying to say is I am used to the vibes of the 5th gen in 6th gear crusing being up into 6-7k rpm at 80mph in 6th gear. The 1200 feels the same in 5th and 4th gear but at 6th gear its cruises 80mph at 4-5k rpm so its just a bit less revy in top gear!
    I think the fly by wire averages out sudden imputs, it will take off if you whack the trottle but it will be smooth and not like the older bikes, where it will reve out very fast, this one just builds more power with less revs so it seems like your not going as fast by the vibrations but the speedo is indicating quite the opposite your hauling with much less twist of the wrist!~ I cant explain it, it seems tame when you whack it but its doing 100mph without feeling like 100mph! The vfr time continum has changed and warped out a bit on this beast. I hope to become much smoother with throttle inputs in the twisties and be more confident in the turns as I learn this bike, towards the end of the day I was feeling like my old self again if not a bit wiser to the bike!

    First MOD! Drilling a hole to install a Powerlet socket to Power my GPS

    Looks like a fish gill it slides right off the front of the bike

    Gswanson - Fabricator GPS vfr1200 stem mount cut - welded - drilled - deburred - painted

    Stonewall Colorado

    Stonewall Sangre De Christo mountains in the background

    Stonewall
    Source: HS's Buffalo Roundup In Oklahoma
  9. HispanicSlammer
    Loveland Pass
    It has been a while since I have actually day tripped on the VFR, most my day trips have been on the XR and the VFR has been doing interstate duties this season. Not last Tuesday, I just had to get out and see for myself if the autumn leaves are changing color yet? For the most part yes! Unfortunatly they seem to be falling right off the trees as soon as they do. Most of the path I took was Evergreens.
    View Google Route Map
    I took some twisty mountain roads around the Evergreen/Connifer area to keep my skills honed, and well they are not so honed. It was good practice but some of the 180 degree up hill hairpins on Connifer mountain proved to be tricky. I decided to try some more on Brook Forest Road, the looped back into the Denver Area - well no quite I turned off in Morrison first and stayed in the mountains.
    Then I heade up the Interstate to Hwy 6 and went up and over Loveland Pass, I was having some fun on the turns and then saw some guy at the top photographing me as I leaned it over into the twisty parts. Well not just me he had his lounge chair all set up, waving as I went by. I stopped at the top to see a young long haired bicyclist on his Lamond road bike, he was very fit and it looked like the bike had some miles on it. I offered to take pictures for a few tourist out for a drive in thier minivan. Everybody has to take a picuture at the Loveland pass sign - including me.

    Loveland Pass

    Grizzly Peak

    Continental Divide

    A popular snow boarding area

    Loveland Pass
    Then I got back on the bike and headed down the pass to No Name Gultch where A-Basin ski area resides, there is a nice switchback there with a pull off to view the scenery.

    No Name Gultch ten mile range in the background

    A Basin

    Ten Mile Range

    Grissly Peak dusted with snow
    I waved as the family of tourist passed by in thier minivan. I was a bit cold but nice to be out riding. I was up here last year learning to snow board, I was sore from falling over and over again. I remember seeing a lot of Grizzly peak that day.

    Hoosier Pass
    Hoosier pass is also on the continental divide, I had to pass a long line of cars to get to the good turns near the top - where I was alone and free to rail at my leasure. I stopped breifly at the top with no sign of the cars I passed at the bottom. It was turning out to be a great ride.
  10. HispanicSlammer

    Oh Woe Is Me!

    By HispanicSlammer,

    Bad Karma is Kicking My Ass as usual! I have never been one to live my life by a set of unbreakable rules, nor am I paticularlly Pious by any means, however I do have a stong sense of right and wrong and knowingly once in a while, I take advantage of the situation. It never seems to pay off since Karma comes back into play to make things more interesting. Such as my Helibar procurement - of which I am sorry for, read thread if you havent a clue - on "Throttlemisters and Helibars"
    I took the low road on that one! And It surely was strewn with mud, and a lot of members more than willing to sling some in my direction! I know I know! I was wrong, I confess I did it, I regret it but I needed those bars, as I am begining to suffer from riding, some new discomfort did not have before. After riding Baileyrocks bro's bike with the bars I saw that there was somthing I could do about it, and not loose too much sportyness but at the tune of $200 dollars plus?
    Then I saw an ad in the classifieds for them at a substantial discount, albiet used! I had to get them!
    So I emaild the guy from Cali and asked if they were still availible, - waited till he wrote back then pounced! Not thinking I deleted the thread, I guess I just assumed it was a done deal, clicked the delete button and poof no more classified! OPPS! Wait I did not read that all the way, his reply he did not say SOLD!??
    Aw crap what did I just do? Oh well too late now! and for a couple of weeks it nagged me, then having completed the deal with the bars in my hands I realized wait I cant use my throttle miesters with these?? Payback for being greedy from the Karma police? Yea it was greedy and well Karma strikes again, but I still feel guilty for what I did! Bad Karma was not enough to repent!
    So I posted a question and just sort of tacked on a confession of what I had done and wow I feel way better! Half arsed too, Of course it got back to my detractors, the same ones who always seem to pounce on every oversight, or any mistake, any thing that I should be doing with VFRD that I am not doing now that they could do better! Those who see themselves as doing my vfrd job better than me and make every effort to let me know that! More smilies man more smilies!
    If I wasnt using this POS Invisionboard but instead boardIneverheardoff.com nobody uses we would not have been hacked! I am btw the reason that hackers exist, without me there are no hackers they have no reason to hack without me right there is no challenge in not hacking a board without Miguel to spit on!
    Yea right hmm perhaps If I bought out microsoft tommorow and replaced it with firefox all the hackers would just dissapear never to be seen from again, never mind that you have to download 400 plugins to see a webpage now!
    OPPS off on a tangent there! Back to cleansing my soul!
    AHEM clearing my throat!
    Its winter time here and I am bored, tired from long hours at work, and working nights, seems that days of sunshine just dont exist anymore!
    I know there is sunshine I saw the pictures! I remember it riding my vfr, and while blowing up my xr on Rampart Range road! Damn my wrist hurt! My back is killing me and My knees hurt, my butt is a bit sore too! Hey look there are some Heli Bars on VFRD! Hey its not too late either I will just dash off a quick email to the guy and see whats up home! - I work with young folks I pick up slang
    Hmm I dont know why I added that quote - it was a suggestion from one of my detractors, a long standing one who I happen to actually like but hes a ball buster none the less! hes funny so I am amused by the guy even though I know he doesnt like me much! I guess I am just a whore for my fans! More smilies man more smilies! Miguel you suck theres not enough smilies! Why wont you post that video of me at the Texasmac ride last year - but your other videos suck! How do you mount your camera btw I have some videos I can post there are way better? Some member here posted a how to on how to fix your chain can you fix his pictures? (what that was you oh never mind?) I forgot my log in password. Hey you passed that car on a double yellow in that video you give all motorcyclist a bad name! HMM even the ones named Michele Dumbas Dicoff? Shoot a boy named Sue, we already have girl named Martin and guy Named Stephane! You mind if I give you a bad name? I passed on a double yellow so here you go your now named Jabbadodeeddeeee!! (With 6 E's) Barf! gagged on that suggestion post haste! Ignore that one at all cost! Bad name giver that I am, so you see there is no Karma that isnt bad Karma - as I understand it the road to Nervana has no Karma! I expell you Bad Karma! Go git! I confess I suck!!
  11. HispanicSlammer
    video preview
    I was putting away some of my videos into boxes for storage today and came across this slice of the Texasmac ride from 2006, it is footage from Deals Gap to Fontana Village. I tried to identify all the riders in the video and I think they are as follows, perhaps sombody can correct me if I am wrong, Baileyrock, mq105, jeremy556, vtecal, vfrmonkey, intAceptor, and Billyjackjimbob who was in front of me. I think it was from the first day Thursday right after riding Deals Gap - Enjoy the video!
    :media:
    Crossroads Of Time Video
    5 min runtime, wmv 1mb/sec sample, music by the "Smashing Pumpkins - Rocket" 32mb file size

    google earth route
  12. HispanicSlammer
    It all started like this... I PM Reddog..."any thoughs on a fathersday ride"? This ride is somthing that Bill and I have been doing for the past 4 years now and this year it was a bit of a Cluster *&&^ to get it going. He writes back that he has things to do and perhaps we can do it on such and such a date, and I write back "no how about such and such", and he writes back "nope cant do that". Then I write back "well what about this weekend?" and he says OK. The of course then I change it cause some guys from work want to ride too, and of course they cant do that day. Reddog comments that usually our ride plans consist of a few grunts and a place to meet, nothing this rediculous, we took of on 3 day rides with less than 4 words!
    Well it all came together for yesterday 4 riders - one of us was new. Reddog Myself LDSRIDER and our newcomber Ryan all met up at the Texas Creek Diner at 8:30am. Well OK thats not quite true, LDSRider, Ryan, and I met at a gas station in Colorado Springs then rode the hour and half to Texas Creek to meet Bill (Reddog). We had a bit of fun on the way. Passing vehicles that is, Ryan got stuck behind a slow mover in the canyon and LDSRider got away for a about a mile or so. I slowed up to let him catch up because the diner was comming up soon and I did not Ryan to miss it. Just as we slowed up we saw a State Pat-troll on the side of the road tucked in behind some trees WHEW just in time I looked at my speedo and it showed the speed limit right on the dot! GOOD THING We waited for Ryan or he would have been waiting on us!

    Texas Creek Cafe the meeting place

    LDSRider - Ryan - and Myself we arrived first
    We had some breakfast at the diner and introduced Ryan to Reddog, he is a fairly new rider on a F4 CBR. He was riding much more mature than most guys his age and well within his limits from what I saw, but he had some difficulties getting around the slow moveing cages. The breakfast was good it was starting to get up to an hour we decided we had a long way to go yet and mapped out our stops, when Ryan would need gas cause he had the smallest gas tank amoung us, and off we went for Monarch Pass.

    Monarch Pass Our First stop at the top of the pass

    Monarch Pass LDSRIDER and Reddog
    Reddog had mentioned that he was a bit rusty at the breakfast diner - only putting on 6k miles in the last year. He said he had slowed down his pace from our usual (yea right ok) - I will believe it when I see it! Reddog says "I dont ride like that anymore"! HEH yea if he slowed down any I guess I have too! We determined that Ryan and Scott (LDS) would ride pace with each other, then Bill and I would rail for a bit and wait somwhere up ahead when there was a stop, or a turn, or when the road just plain got slabby. It worked out well and there was no issues with getting lost, missing turns, or anybody riding over there limits. The Slab was about equal to the twisties, the slab is scenic though, jostling with cars and trucks on the all too few broken dotted lines to get ahead. You know the boring parts! Well I think the Black Canyon would just not be as sweet if it was so easy to get too, you need the build up to really appreciate it for what it is - a great road. Boy was it sweet, the road was clean for the most part and the wind was minimal, no rain and it was warm! You cant ask for better conditions, all day long, and we had at it
    Comming down Monarch Pass we encounted a State Pat-troll who had pulled over a car in the turns on the downhill section? What, I never have seen that before and it soon became appearant why, CONTRUCTION CREWS. A land slide had to be cleared and so we had to wait a good 20 minutes for that to happen. I have only once been stopped by any cop in Colorado in a twisty section, because it is dangerous for cops to stop in areas where they can not be seen, and the twisties usually can not accomidate a parking area. Not only that cars dont usually speed in the twisties so why would they stop there to collect speeding taxes? I read about Deals Gap and well that makes sense, it gotta be a gold mine with all those speeding bikes every weekend. Oh yea the public saftey and all of that too. Monarch Pass? No it does not qualify, the bike to cage ratio is much much less than Deals Gap or Angels Crest Highway. I knew there was somthing comming up down the road, and sure enough the construction sign was just around the next turn.

    Stuck on the pass waiting for crews to clear a land slide
    THE VIDEO
    [vid]94[/vid]
    I got a little carried away with the length of this video, its a long one but it has excerpts from all the best parts of this ride. We were stopping a bit more than usual, what with the extra gas stops for Ryans bike, more riders than usual, and picture stops it was still a very good day so far. I was again very excited to be on my favorite road of all time. (MINE ALL MINE) Heha boy do I love hwy 92.

    The Damn at Blue Mesa the guys take a look

    Black Canyon goes on from here Gunnison River below

    Looks good already Colorado Hwy 92
    There was NO traffic in the Canyon at all, none that we encountered anways except there were a few bicyclist and a chain gang out from the sherrif cleaning up the road. They were not friendly when I waved as we went by nobody waved back and I think I heard the F word. OK well then dont do the crime boys!!! Maybe you would be out on a motorcycle too if you stay out of trouble! I was really enjoying it the more the turns came, and the more miles into it we went, Reddog had somehow managed to shake off the "Rust" he was talking about and was going what I thought was a darned good pace, perhaps a bit slow in the straits is what he ment cause it sure seemed like I was all the way leaned over in the turns! I managed to scrub in my new tire all the way in anyhow. When the rest of our group caught up to us LDSRIDER took off his glove and put out his hand. It was visibly shaking cause he was so darned pumped, a Black Canyon virgin he was - he had the same reaction I did my first time. Positively overwhelmed is the word I am looking for, but loving it.

    Reddog and I waiting for the others at the overlook

    Marrow Point Reservoir

    San Juan Range

    Reddog and Ryan
    We tried to find a new lunch stop this year, another place in Crawford I tried last year but nothing was open besides the Boardwalk Cafe. The same place we always stop, last year the food was a bit lax and dissapointing but they more then made up for it this time. I think I inhaled my burger it was so good! Perhaps the ride was so good that I did not care but it really hit the spot, the company was good too. I caught up on what was going on in the Reddog Household and Scott and Ryan were just as forthcomming. Ryan was looking for a ring finger on the young woman serving us cause she was rather cute. "Cornfed" he said and well she filled out them blue jeans as good as any city girl could! I think she was married to the cook cause he sure was eyeing us, well keeping an eye on Ryan anyway!

    McClure Pass

    McClure Pass
    We took off for Paonia after lunch and were a bit on a tight schedual cause we had dilly dalleyed a bit too much the first half, so we picked up the pace up McClure pass and past Paonia Lake, I love that section too the sweepers there on Hwy 133 at the bottom of the pass are so sweet you can do your best Valintino Rossi imitation and crack a huge smile as the speed and those turns are just right for the sweeper reapers! The ride up to the top of the Pass was sweet too but we all stayed together cause I did not want them to miss the incredible view of the other side. I was surprised they did not feel the same way about it as I did, perhaps it was getting too late and they were tired but I am always amazed by that view from the top of McClure pass.
    We had to endure a bit of slab into Aspen then the weather got worse and colder but for the trip over Independance pass but it was not so bad, I never ride well when I am cold so Reddog started to pull away from me in the tight stuff, I had to gas it a bit in the short strait areas to catch up. I guess my issues with the really tight stuff continue on from the Texasmac, I did not get dropped though just was not so comfortable.

    Independence Pass

    Twin Lakes Reddog and I wait for the others
    It was here that LDSrider said he had noticed his Concours was showing his rear tire pressure low, I KNOW! The bike showed him he had low pressure in his rear tire! It has a pressure sensor in the tires? OK wow - well thats really cool, so we looked and found a screw embedded in one of the treads on his brand new Pilot Road 2! He starts pulling out a kit and its one of those gunked up thead kits, Reddog pulls out some fix a flat - but I had my Stop and go kit with me so we decided to use it. I went to work for about 40 minutes reaming it out like I had practiced, the first plug failed I did not insert it correctly but the second one went in like a charm. Then I pulled out my mini pump and we had him up and running in no time!

    Repairing LDSRIDERS tire he caught a screw somewhere in Aspen
    The ride from here was a lot of slab but at least the traffic was low, going up hwy 285 was a lot of traffic I decided we should wait till the turn off at hwy 24 then pass any cars who turn off as well its wide open there. Then it was the usual easy going riding to Woodland Park but LDS was running late so he picked up the pace and so did I, I took off after Wilkerson Pass cause it felt good and was soon by myself. I decided to pull out and wait for the rest when we came to Lake George and ride in together. Reddog pulled out in Woodland park for home and the rest of us continued down UTE pass - but somehow we had an extra bike with us? I thought for a moment I misscounted but we managed to catch on to an interloper squid guy who was messing with the formation the whole way down, going ahead, merging into us, slowing down, then pulling out? He was annoying me with his in and out routine, we just took it easy on Ute pass cause we all know its patrolled by the State guys alot. I noticed the traffic was really lite for a weekday, it was actually really low and so I decided to take the canyon section at pace and keep my eyes peeled for cops on the sides. I hit the first turn at 80 and the squid thought he would follow, I did my thing and was having fun when I noticed squid guy had overcooked the 4th turn and went way wide so I rolled off right quick so he wouldnt try to continue to keep pace - I was pulling ahead of the guy rather easily but I wasnt expecting him to do that so I thought I should shut it down and just roll into Manitou Springs with the guys. After that he stayed well away from me and the other two of us caught up. The sun was going down and we where back in Colorado Springs. I dont usually school Squids but I was going to ride it anyway like that, cause its not often that the Ute Pass Canyon is free of heavy traffic, so I took a chance the cops were taking a break and ran it. I pulled the bike into the garage and noticed wow I was really really tired! Thats a sign of a great day of riding - when you ride all day long and dont notice how tired you are till you get home!
    The Map

    Full Size
    for some reason google maps does not recognize Indepenance Pass as a road so it routes around it.
  13. HispanicSlammer
    Labor Day Plans Out The Window
    I have had a fubared Labor Day Weekend, I was supposed to ride down to New Mexico and go camping with my sister, but she called and said that my Niece has come down with the flu or something and my Nephew looks like he has it too! Kids are in Bed and mom needs to take care so camping was out!
    That is what friends are for!
    My buddy Dan says he got a few guys lined up to go riding half day down to Bishops Castle, since I am out of plans why not go along. I ask him is it a spirited ride? He tells me nay just a couple of squids who have never been on a mountain road before on a bike. So I get there and none but one of his buddies show up, and hes a complete noob but the three of us regulars are there and thats all we need! Dan, Craig, Dans Noob Friend (sorry can remember his name) on his R6, and myself go hunting for a Dragon!
    A click here a click there
    You have read the Robert Frost Poem "The Road Not Taken" a poem I seem to be living as of late. Deep into the twisty part of Greenhorn Highway 165 I found myself being pursued by Craig rather closely, and that has been rare of late as I have not been hunted so closely by him or Dan in the past year or so while on the vfr (dirt-bikes are another pokey story), but sure enough there he was, and soon he was going ahead on past me as I struggled with the bike, bouncy as all get out! I felt like I had lost my nerve on those long extended twists around Bigelow Divide and well getting passed while your going as fast as you feel you can go is always a bit of a let down! OH well I cant ride fast all the time.
    It was later at a gas stop I decided to soften up the suspension on the Ohlins a bit and see what that would do!! OMG I was back to my old self again in no time, the ride back up the mountain had me going much faster in and in far greater comfort than I was feeling before! A click off - and that has made all the difference! I was in third and found it no problem to keep up this time, and after passing some Labor day cage traffic it was a snap to speed up and charge a turn or two and be right back up there with the two of them! It was amazing the transformation!

    Bishops Castle Parking four bikes Labor Day ride

    Craig Buttons up his gear

    Bishops Castle In full glory - SEE THE DRAGON!!
    Mr Bishop was out and about, a smallish sort of dude with huge muscular arms and claws for hands, talking about his rights as usual and complaining about the state of Freedom in America - as usual. It seems to be a favorite topic in the San Isabel area since we ate at the restaurant at the lake and found all sorts of signs on the wall with the same sentiment. Mr Bishop has been building that castle alone since he was 18 years old, and now almost in his 70's he still labors every free moment he as building it, now he is building a dungeon walled tunnel all the way around the property which will connect with the buttresses of the castle. I reached out and shook the mans hand as he was explaining his plans for the tunnel - its not a moat he maintains! The dude has huge hands!

    Dan and Craig walk the plank
    Labor Day it was Crazy
    I had never seen so many people on that road, usually we are on it alone virtually with a car here and there along the 30 or so miles of Greenhorn road. Mostly the traffic is along 93 going to Westcliff near Hardscrabble mountain! I love that section of road near the Mountain its so rugged and twisty, but lots of gravel in the turns cause of all the dual wheeled pickup trucks running short and kicking up gravel. Pickups and SUV's are requirements of living in Westcliff I guess?
    Like I mentioned before we where having to make a lot of passes to ride our normal pace, the poor guy Dan brought along was overwhelmed with the road and just decided to poke along way behind the rest of us, we waited for him at key places - a nice kid who for the most part rode a very mature pace for a guy so young, although I attempted to ride sweep at a few points I guess it made him nervous, even though I kept my distance, he ran way wide on a tight section but did not go off road! I decided to go ahead on ahead and let him ride undisturbed. I did not think I was pushing him but sometimes you just have to feel a new guy out before you figure out whats the best way to ride with him. He seemed to be having an OK time, if not then he was going to jittery all night from the adrenalin shock we gave him! We all tried to give him words of encouragement and told him to ride his own pace Don't let get sucked in and ride faster than your ready to ride - which he did not - thank goodness, but the running wide incident got me worried for sure! So I let him go ahead and take up the rear with no pressure of me following him!

    San Isabel Lake Four riders

    Hardscrabble Mountain as seen from McKenzie Junction
    right before we stopped at the Junction and waited for the R6 I passed a Goldwing pretty fast on a downhill section doing about 90 or so, I knew it was either pass or get stuck behind him for all the good turns, so I gave him uber wide berth while passing and jammed it into the turn about 100 yards ahead of him, and low and behold waiting for the r6 we never saw the Goldwing at the bottom of the hill? Did the new guy make a pass on another bike? I guess so! I mean it took him an awful long time to catch up to us at the junction, I actually dug the camera out and took that picture of Hardscrabble Mountain and had it put away for a good 3 minutes before he rolled on down, still no goldwing? When I passed the guy he was doing at least 70 in the sweepers maybe he turned around for another go?
    Dan was riding like a banshee cause he was supposed to be home at 2pm, and the woman was waiting for their thing together! His buddy brought along a cell phone so he called and you could hear her yelling at him over the phone HEH life as a young sudo married couple! Dan decided to top speed the flat section near the Supermax prison. I saw him pass me, he was about 500 yards before he disappeared down the hill, when I got to the crest of the hill he was already a mile away! Damn!
    It was great to get my riding back into the comfort zone! I was hanging out with my pop for a while later and he asked me where we went riding, I told him Bishops Castle, he said "you have already been down there once this week on your dirt-bike" then he said "you do that ride at least 10 times a summer'? - some people will never understand!
  14. HispanicSlammer
    Long Scraggy Overlook
    Mrdude - or Millertm as he is named here at vfrd - Mark by everyone else said hey lets go riding! I says "where" he tells me that he was up on Horsepower hill 2 weeks ago that it was clear. Then he told me a story of how he smoked some guy on a CBR or some such thing liter bike going up HPH. On his 1250 Bandit that he has piped, sliponed, big sprocketed, and fuel thingy adjusted to give him more torque and HP. Big Horsepower for Horsepower Hill. Anyways we head up the interstate to Hwy 24 and make our way up the Canyon into Cascade. Mark is hanging back presumably at the speed limit cause hes unemployed at the moment (layed off like half of America is right now) and he has to keep his driving record clean to get a truck driving gig. Me I take off for a few turns and wait for him on the straits. Its a short set of double lane twisties that is way overcrowded anyway and sometimes patroled but not often going up. More cops on the down side than the upside but either way its not worth a ticket, then it opens up near Cascade and you just have to Cruise to Woodland Park. Its not a freeway but it might as well be, split like a freeway with 2 lanes going up and down.
    It starts to become clear there is a lot of snow near Woodland park, its melting all over the road with cars spraying up the wet muddy water thats streaking across the road. So I try to stay far enough behind the cars that I dont smudge up my visor with overspray. Its always a chore from Cascade till your out of Woodland Park. I dont know maybe 6,500 live up there? Mostly White guys who drive SUV's, wear baseball caps and chew tobbacco. The girls are cute but not too friendly - in other words I dont fit in there! Well maybe thats not true but I avoid the place if I can, but its difficult since I have a couple of friends who live there.(both white guys who wear baseball caps, drive sub's and chew tobbacco HEH) REDDOG YOU KNOW YOU DO!
    THE MAP

    Full Size
    A) Colorado Springs
    B) Woodland Park
    C) Deckers
    D) Horsepower Hill (I dont know we just call it that)
    E) Pine
    F) Pine Junction
    G) Bailey
    We finally get past the the last remnant of Woodland Park the golf course (which looked like it would be fun on a snowmoble today) and are following a few cars north on 67 for about 10 miles till the road turns into the hills, so far your just on the high mountain plains till you get to Rainbow Falls where it gets curvy. We are weary of the gravel on the road so we follow a few cars down the hill into the creek bed - Westcreek its called - where the road is fun. It follows along side the creek for a good 5 miles again afraid of gravel I followed a truck for a mile till I finally said "F THIS" and went around him only to find that there was a whole chain of cars basically spaced 1/4 mile apart, I get them all one by one. Mark follows cautiously behind and soon we are passing Deckers - no more cars! I hate the part from Deckers to Horsepower hill it always has gravel in the turns, no matter what time of year, no matter if it is in the sweetest part of summer it always has had gravel in the turns. I baby it and Mark is right on my tail.
    I was expecting him to take off at the base of Horspower hill since he was talking about his CBR encounter just that morning, I see its rather clean and so I hit it - seeing triple digits for a good couple of minutes and Mark is about a 1000 yards back basiclly mirroring my speed, I slow down toward the top cause its not so clean I am thinking but its is clean! Its clean all the way to Pine! Matter of fact the climb from Pine to Pine junction is super clean! I enjoyed that alot, Mark was nowhere to be found cause well he is more into sweepers that the tight turns. Any way I stopped at the top of Horsepower hill at the Long Scraggy Overlook

    Millertm Mark and his Bandit

    Me New knee pucks - nope not even close this ride
    I sent my suit into Aerostich to have it repaired and had them sew on some knee puck velcro, not sure I will ever get a knee down or not? I ride fast enough but I just dont toss my knees out far enough to do it? I am hopeing to get in a trackday and learn - I do ride fast but my form can use some improvement. In more ways than I can count starting off with the wieght!
    I stopped at the light and waited for Mark at the top of Pine Junction, he pulls in about 30 seconds later and I say lets go to Bailey and get a burger at the Cut Throat Cafe! Hes good with that and so we head west for about 7 miles to Bailey - going slow cause the road is busy and there are construction crews out, the hwy 285 cooridoor is rather congested in the mountains all the way to Grants where it opens up, thats bascially where most of the mountain communities end, the commute to Denver is too far from that point to be reasonable, which its not reasonable anway, some 20,000 people must live along that route? I dont know its all strung out along the highway. Its beautiful up there in anycase, but cold in the winter.
    We pull into the Cut Throat Cafe and find its closed, a fire it says forced a shutdown - shoot! I love that little joint too. So we go across the road to the bar and it is closed as well! OH hell back to Pine Junction and we finnaly find some food at the Junction Resturant. Good food there! We hang out for an hour, seems like a good place just to hang out and talk! Alas we are 70 miles from home, Mark says he needs gas? I am like HUH? Gas after 70 miles? OK he says he can wait till we get back to Woodland park. My bike has at 3/4 tank and he was at 1/3rd? Jebus man that thing is thirsty!
    On the way back I am not so scared anymore and know where the worst parts are and proceed to basically run it at 80% pace of my normal summer speed. Its much more fun for me the way back, going down HP hill I get a good view of the snow on Pikes Peak and enjoy the twisties much much more, I just run it my speed and check to see if Mark is still back there every once in a while, he is! Its all good, it is great to be in the mountains once again!
  15. HispanicSlammer
    I havent ridden the VFR in over a month, shes been having trouble starting. I finally got her fixed and it felt wierd to ride it again after riding the XR650r so much more. I felt like I was laying on top of it. It did not take long to get back to normal, at first I was having difficulty leaning it over so I intentionally sought out all the twisty roads I could find, and went a littler overboard. I did all the tight twisy roads I could find from here to Denver that actually pass through from one to the other. Ute Pass, Deckers Road, Horsepowerhill, Kings Valley Road, Connifer Mountain Road, Kennedy Gultch Road, Shadow Mountain Road, Brook Forest Road, Little Cub Creek Road, Stanley Park, Turkey Creek, Parmelle Gultch, Kerr Gultch and then Up and over Squaw Pass. I stopped a bit here and took some pictures after having got over my strange feeling on the bike.

    Continental Divide Looking north

    Same shot zoomed out

    Perry Peak Saint Mary's Glacier? Not sure

    Looking north again

    The Sawtooth Mount Evans off hwy 103 Squaw Pass

    Central City Parkway I was ripping that road 20 minutes later

    Fish Eye Lens

    Evergreen below Denver off on the horizon

    My VFR Still sweet on her after 89k!
    I kept saying to myself I will stop at the next stop and get a bite to eat, but then I would pass sombody on a double yellow cause they were going slow as S**T, and I would just keep going not wanting sombody to rant about how I passed them! I was surprised to see many of my fellow Coloradoans letting me pass on by - pulling off and waving me on by - it was Sunday after all and boy there were a ton of folks in the mountains driving.
    I must have seen at least 300 bikes - I stopped waving after about 50 cause that just gets old after a while, I mean Jebus how many more where there to come? I just want to ride Mister! I was ripping the new road to Central City (well 2 years old now) its a fast 4 lane sweeper fest - and I encountered a train of Harleys, two of whome were not lock step lane disiplned in the right hand lane like the rest of them, riding slow as hell so I had to actually pass from the oncomming lane, which scared the shit out one of them cause he swerved like I was going to him his as I passed by - way over from the other side of the yellow line?? Idiot I was a good lane away from him??!! Get out of the fast lane fatboy! I had to do it again five minutes later, these gangs of Harleys just hold everybody up - I dont get it? Why cant they take up just one lane on those damn parade rides they do they have to take up every availible lane, even the cages get pissed? Oh well I wizzed on by from the other side of the yellow and was gone after the next corner!
    I only saw one cop the whole day and I was cussing under my helmet cause he was doing 20 mph in front of a line of 6 cages going down my favorite part of the Pine Junction to Pine hill! He pulled off half way down and I was soon gone not long after! Darn I would much rather ride on Mondays the weekend is full of slow bastid idiots in the way! I managed to scrub off the rest of the mud on my rear tire - left overspray from cleaning my XR with the hose. I guess I got over my strangness - overcompensated for it really 320 miles of nothing but twisty!!!
  16. HispanicSlammer
    The last installment - riding home
    Memories, they are already getting cloudy - especially since this is my 4th attempt at writing this diddy. I first accidently highlighted and erased a couple of paragraphs then had to start over, when I accidentally closed the browser. My third time the browser locked up so I guess I just needed to take a break and do it later.
    First thing we did Sunday was get lost, that is to say my gps routed us to Shoney's by way of an alley way - turning while BR, Ezilla and Dutch went strait. 5 minutes later I was waiting for them at breakfast. I waited after I turned off and saw they stopped, waved them on and waited some more, then I turned around to go get them and they were gone?? At breakfast we discussed science fiction and the furry people, Ezilla explained them to us (extreme nano nano according to BR) Heh and off we went to go riding again.
    We basically rode out the same way we rode in excepts we avoided Whya Bend road and did Hwy 28 instead and ran into Ezilla on her way through Deals Gap, we instead rode over the Cherehola Skyway. Baileyrock, Dutchinterceptor, Steven (don't know his screen name) and myself. Had a good time however we had to pass a good deal of slower riders. Baileyrock passed a particularly slow rider on an Fz1 and so I waited for a clear spot to get around him myself on an uphill section. I went around him and then dived into the left hand turn at the top of the hill - giving him a wide berth. We rode on for a good deal and the others were not in my mirrors, went on further and still not there! So BR and I both turned around to find the FZ1 all cracked up and the guy riding it sitting on the guard rail shook up a bit. I asked the guy if he was ok and he said was OK, and I apologized for passing a bit close. He stood up almost a full foot taller than me and just huge, and shook my hand and said he was ok. He cracked up at the bottom of the hill where some gravel was in the turn. Steven said he just panicked and stood the bike up and went off the road. We stayed to make sure he was going to be OK and see if needed medical attention - his buddy was riding a tricked out Kawasaki had a trailer and went to go get it.

    Chrerehola Skyway On the Way Home

    Flowers On The Cherehola Skyway

    Butterflies on the Cherehola Skyway

    The River

    Cherehola Skyway

    I waited 10 minutes to get this shot and he slowed down as soon as he rounded the corner
    We rode into Dayton and had lunch at some forgettable place, good enough food but they had a curious habit of covering the table with a sheet of paper, the server wrote her name in crayon on the paper with a smiley face and served us some decent food (not great but good enough to hit the spot). BR wrote on the sheet "Refill" and when she returned with drinks he wrote a line through it and gave a funny grin which just cracked us all up. What a character.
    After lunch we got back on the bikes and I turned on the camera for the video below, Tennessee Hwy 30 mostly and some footage from this road named Bone Cave Road.
    The video

    :media: The Road To Nashville Video 10 minutes wmv format and music from BDylan.
    The ride was nice and I enjoyed it, we stayed at Br's place and he took us out to go get a steak at some joint downtown, the food was great but the service was - well comical to say the least. Our waiter had a curious habit of doing just barely enough to server without actually getting the job done. Cant take an order with something in his hands, had to go get rid of his tray, then asking about menu items was taboo, with an overhand flick of his pen pointing to the items on the menu, read for yourself. Then came time for drinks he would hold the glass about 4 inches off the table and just far enough away you had to get up and reach for it, which sort of seemed like self service. He had a curious habit of saying "AW-Right" whenever he took an order. The dude was entertaining if nothing else cause we where just waiting to see what he was going to do next!! "whenever you gentlemen are ready I am your cashier" - gave us some spiel he had probably said more than a few times to elicit a tip and then I said "OK we are ready" - and then he walked away?? BR Dutch and I looked at each other and and Said "Aw-right - got it - NEXT TIME" what a jackass!!
    Kevin was kind enough to let me use his garage to fix my broken brake switch, it was stuck on for half of the Tmac and the Hyper lites where flashing constantly on. I figured out it was a short on the front switch housing, dutch helped me diagnose and fix the thing, which worked for about half a day and then it started all over again, I replaced the switch from Kevin's stash which he so gracefully gave me ( Kevin's a flipping saint guys I mean that you cant find a better friend anywhere I really appreciate him putting together the Tmac, putting us up, taking care of everything and going above and beyond all that anybody could ask ) They don't make em like that anymore!

    Dangerous waters rising

    Factory at Rock Island State Park

    The Falls at Great Falls Road

    Balieyrock and I
    Kevin had to go to work so Dutch and I finished fixing up my bike as best as we could and then locked up the place and took a northern route into Kentucky finding a few good roads on the way to ride "the Trace" in the land between the lakes. hwy 232 on the way there was much better and was full of sweepers, I knew it was going to be good cause there was a house at the bottom - right as we turned on that had an abused CBR sitting on the side of the house that seemed have been put there to ride that road specifically. Good stuff man!!
    We took up residence at Swannee KY and I had some ribs a the only restaurant around, it was GOOD!
    The Great Furnace The Land Between the Lakes

    Land Between The Lakes

    The Bridge over the Lake

    You should have seen how graceful they took off when I started my bike back up
    The next morning we slabbed it via some interstate to get to the Confluence of the two biggest rivers in the USA at Whickliff KY we would cross both rivers and three states in 5 minutes sort of like standing at the 4 corners but with bridges involved

    Crossing the Rivers Ohio first then the Mississippi you can see the other bridge in the distance

    Whickliff Kentucky

    Crossing the Ohio

    Barges on the Ohio

    One bridge down one to go

    Barges on the Mississippi

    Crossing the state line you cross three state lines in 5 minutes Kentucky Illinois and Missouri

    Popular Bluff MO

    Redneck attempt at an amusement park
    It was mid day by the time we made it across the slab in Missouri to the edge of the Ozarks and the skies had clouded over enough to spit on us, we took some lunch at a Chinese buffet and I overate as usual, I don't know what it is with Chinese food I always eat too much. Then Dutch took the lead for the next two days since we were in familiar territory. Up hwy 160 for some good sweepers when it wasn't raining and down to mountain home for the night. Mountain home sounds like a great place to go but its like a suburb to nowhere, nothing interesting about the place at all really just a place to bed down. It does however have Push Mountain just 10 minutes away - my gloves where dry from the rain the day before and fitting a bit tight - so tight my right throttle hand had gone numb, I kept shaking it out but the entire time I was following Dutch into those fast straits and getting on the brakes hard into the turns I couldn't feel anything. He opened up a can of whoop ass on me and started pulling away a bit, I had to really put my head down to stay in contact and not get dropped - he was on fire! I am not so good on the brakes. I can use some practice on my next track day with brakes and turn transitions.
    We had a full day planned for the Ozarks heading into Mount Judea a the Eagles Nest Café for a Bacon Cheese burger, this was my second stop to this place, the 2006 TM ac trip I did I stopped here and had the best Bacon Cheese burger I have ever had my whole life. I was expected to get disappointed cause how can you top the first one? I was very surprised to be served another that was equal to the last and on par for best bacon cheese burger in the USA!!! I mean that! Little joint in the middle of nowhere with nice homey God fearing folks who would expect to get food so tasty so crisp and so darned good?? No credit cards though so bring cash.
    We ran hwy 123 again - same as the video from the first TM ac post and this time Dutch still had some whoop ass left in his can, I had to really get on it up those tight switchbacks to the top but once at the top on the sweepers I am in my element and I had opened up a can of my own! Then the rains came again and we had both come to the same conclusion, that the Ozarks in the rain where just too much. So we turned south on hwy 7 to Russleville where Dutch would head home and I too would begin 2 more days of slab to Colorado.
    Man the rain really started pouring when I crossed into Oklahoma, I-40 is full of trucks so I couldnt see a darned thing, I turned on my weather radio and listened for severe weather reports, a tornado and touched down 30 miles west of me in OKC, so I found a motel and spent the night out of the worst of it. Woke up groggy and grumpy cause I knew I had 645 miles of slab to do, popped in a sd card into my Zumo with an audio book and started in on the drone. It wasn't bad really not even the pan handle, it did not suck until I crossed back into Colorado cause all of a sudden the wind picked up to 40 mph gusts and I was having to duck down to keep from being blown off the road - and not mild wind either a cold 40 degree wind with drops of rain mixed in. I made for the bluffs along hwy 160 to get out of the wind

    Back In Colorado cold and windy

    South East Colorado

    How is that for a homecoming
    OH and one more memorable thing about the Tmac - this picture dutch took right after we came down blood mountain at a gas stop

    wow she sprinkled on glitter like this for a good 5 minutes which of course set us all back by that much
  17. HispanicSlammer
    For me the lure of riding often comes with months of anticipation, especially when it comes to TexasMac. I have made this trip twice before on my vfr, each time a slightly different route and each time an epic journey. I watched in earnest the weather reports along the Colorado Front range, one thing about Colorado the weather can get cold an nasty in an instant. I woke up at 4am, a habit I picked up working nights and well I just do, still dark out I walked my luggage up the stairs and into the garage where I parked my bike the night before, attached my gps, snapped the Givi top bag onto the bike and slipped on my boots. Then I walked around for an hour, wondering did I forget anything. I had packed really light this trip - opting for gear and clothes that I can wash in a hotel sink if I have too. Fast drying wickable shirts and pants, they look awful but are really comfy on the road.
    Finally the sun came up, or rather the light diffused itself through the solid pillow of cloud overhead, sunk so low I could not even see Cheyenne Mountain 2 miles away. I worried it would all come tumbling down on me when I turned on the key. It did not of course but it was sure frosty, 55 degrees out and windy. I made my way down to Pueblo via the interstate, squirming around on the bike trying to find the best position in which to get comfortable in the cold weather. I turned on my custom heated seat and grips and just sat there solid following the morning commuters to Pueblo. I hate riding interstates, either your going too fast or too slow, so you have to change lanes all the time and adjust for the variable speeds of traffic, the worse is the constant passing of semi truck by semi truck. Its like watching snails pass each other, or rather turtles all the while your hoping they don't suddenly move that massive load right into you. Who would know your there you cant see them and they cant see you so you back off and wait for the massive snails to do their thing.
    I was soon off the interstate 7am and gassing up, I had routed myself along a secondary road along side hwy 50 going through Boone and eventually heading north diagonally to a Grain Silo they call Eads. I was enjoying the views of the bluffs along the north side of the road, they sheltered me from the wind and the road winded around them just enough to keep me awake and alert. I was surprised at the traffic, a car every minute or so heading the other way. I was in the rolling hills - hills of foothills of mountains that is. Along the Arkansas River Valley then the elevation climbed a bit coming out of the valley into Eads and I was soon on the Colorado High Plains. There I would see something that astonished me. Box cars, miles and miles of Box cars used for the transportation of Cattle. It was a good 2 miles into the endless row of box cars before I thought to look at the Odometer to see just how far these cars went. I could hardly imagine the amount of iron they had parked on the rail road tracks let alone the combined weight of them all. Ten miles long I estimated this went on for, and it was magnificent in the sunshine peering through the holes in the clouds. I was following a pickup truck with Missouri Plates already for a good half and hour and I just knew I would be seeing this one all day long. My path was to head strait across Kansas into Great Bend and then further along till I made it to Emporia to stop for the night.
    I followed the truck into 3 or 4 small towns - blink and you miss them but each one of them forced you to slow down to 35mph and one of them made a right turn into town. This pickup truck was going 25 in town so I followed a bit, till the town limit disappeared and I was able to make a pass, he was going 90 or so on the plains which was fast enoug for me but each town he would slow down 10 mph below the speed limit? Sorry see ya! I have no interest in following some pickup truck all day long anyway.
    Soon enough I was passing trough the last Colorado Town on the plains Towner Colorado where I have a cousin, a school teacher. No time to visit but I did notice the sign on the barn that said "Heres your sign" shit kickers have a sense of humor too. My cousin hates it when I call her that, so naturally.....

    George Washington Carver lived in Kansas Before beginning his career as a scientist
    Crossing the boarder is really no big deal Kansas and Eastern Colorado are the same, just the road is in better condition in Kansas and a lot straiter! At least Colorado has a few bends here and there bumpy and potholed but it has bends! The clouds got thicker and the temperature dropped even more to 42F, time to pull off and put my Electric vest on. I stripped off my back protector and put on the Gerbing jacket, sure enough that same MO Pickup truck went speeding by. I pulled back onto the road toasty and warm and a few mintues later I passed a gas station 12 miles down the road (guess who I saw there?) He waved! I waved back, and it was just about 10am when I needed gas myself so I checked my gps for the next town, it showed 20 miles to go on mile 182 of my tank. I thought well that should be good, then the 2 lines on my dashed disappeared at mile 195 and it started flashing. I had 8 miles to go and I started to get concerned - I hate how my dash does that skips from 2 line to flashing no one line left just 2 lines then all of a sudden its empty?
    I made it into town looked around and found that it was closed, the whole place was closed, no gas station, no diner, no nothing just empty boarded up houses - OH SHIT! I hit the gas locater on my gps and it said 45 miles away to the next station! OH HELL! Well shoot I just said OK why not just head east as far as you can get then thumb it if you have to to a gas station. Just then a major intersection came up and there was a gas station there, 2 miles east of that ghost town. YES! I filled it up and watched as that same MO pickup truck shot right by me again I waved! Now it was 11am I thought I can make it to Great Bend for lunch! Then it would be 2pm I estimated to Great Bend - the road was even straiter and the wind picked up however with it the clouds disappeared and I had sunshine finally and I was baking like a potato. I pulled off and took a break on the side of the road under a tree. I drank my Red Bull and ate some beef jerky and stripped down to my one shirt, 3 layers peeled off and much more comfortable I popped a acetaminophen and stretched my legs. My butt was in pain after some 300 miles on the road. Only 200 more to go! 2pm and I was in Great Bend and I was so unimpressed I just kept on going stopping only for more gas - guess who I saw at the gas station! MO PICKUP again! I pulled in and said hello and talked with them a bit, they were from Fredricksburg MO and had family in Colorado, apparently they where staying with folks till clean up crews could clear up the town - a massive tornado had hit there property and made it unlivable, they took their kids to their folks in Colorado and were going back to clean up. I decided I would check it out the next day for myself.
    I spend the night in Emporia Kansas and promptly fell asleep at 5pm on the bed without even getting out of my clothes, waking up at 4am again I was disoriented and confused - where the hell am I? OH yea Kansas. I watched some stupid movie on the tube and waited for the sun to come out, it did not, same old pillow cloud nightmare covering the entire sky again, but whoa it was warm! 60 degrees felt like a warm shower, I gassed up and hit the road.
    I was disappointed by my route mostly 4 lane freeway like stuff, that doesn't look like that on the map, so I turned on my audio book of "Beloved" by Toni Morrison and listened as the miles shot by. It wasn't until I was half way across Missouri before I found a twisty road, and it was a typical Missouri road, first it started to undulate up and down rolling over hills for miles then it got steeper and lower into the hills and then boom it started twisting like a snake, easy at first then I had to lean it over a bit YEA now it was getting fun! Then the rural roads started getting darker and the trees started closing in and I was really enjoying myself . The Mark Twain National Forest - I must have been there, Salem MO popped up and I realized it had only just begun - then all of a sudden I saw the damage this tornado had caused, whole trees uprooted and lying on there sides, large trees where the roots where taller than I am. Thousands and thousands of uprooted trees - clean up crews everywhere with chain saws and chipper trucks - the place looked awful and it went on for 50 miles! I did not take any pictures cause well I had 500 miles to do that day no time to stop really except for gas.

    Baileyrocks new business heh not really this is Bixby MO
    There was a family at the gas station asking for a pay phone cause cell service had been knocked out, and back on the road I found myself in the hometown of the MO pickup truck, Fredricksburg MO and it had been hit hard, the place was beautiful for a mile are so then disaster, then beautiful and again disaster. I looked for that pickup truck but never saw it again. Houses seemed ok for the most part but all the trees where uprooted, barns torn apart and sheds gone, but amazingly the homes were ok save a few shingles here and there - every once in a while I would see a home completely gone just torn to shreds. It really got to me how bad it was and how far it went on for, thousands of folks displaced. The town was on curfew and no school so I saw tons of kids out and about in their yards playing Frisbee among the dead trees. Kids it seems can cope with anything.
    I found a great road that rivaled anything I had ever been on for fun, hwy 32 at Bixby was awesome! I railed it at 8/10ths cause there was still dead trees in places some in the road. I was soon coming to the Mississippi river where I would spend the next night, and cross into Illinois in the morning.

    Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge Cape Girardeau Missouri completed Dec 13 2003
    I was able to stay up later this time and wake up around 7am - just in time for the sun rise, and losing an hour to the region. I was impressed by the bridge but not with Illinois in that area as soon as you cross you run into strip clubs and liquor stores over there, strait roads again and turning south I made my way to Cairo IL where I would cross into Kentucky across the Ohio river this time. I rolled through the sleepy town of Cairo and its run down buildings watching this incredibly beautiful young black woman cross the street in front of me she crossed it sideways and it took what seemed like forever for her to make it, all I could think was watching her walk was like watching music. Wow she was something she even turned around and waved as I went by, of course I was going like maybe 3mph the whole time behind her caught in her spell. I don't care I admit it you probably would have too guys! I think she said "hey" and that was it, gone she was and the spell was broken.
    Wickliff KY was an interesting little place, right in the confluence of the Mississippi river and the Ohio it sits on the east side soaking up the traffic and shuffling it out in a fan on all directions east, I headed south east to Nashville, its not twisty like Missouri but it has the undulation of the hills - and 4 lane roads that to see seem like pork barrel projects going off to nowhere towns for no reason, 5 miles of 4 split lane freeway with maybe 3 vehicles on it only to merge back into a 2 lane road again? I was wondering why cant we get another lane of freeway between Pueblo to Denver to Fort Collins? They can send money to make unused freeway in Kentucky why not a busy freeway in Colorado?
    I waited 2 more hours on these strange freeway like roads in Kentucky and was soon crossing into Tennessee, I found hwy 232 off the Donnelson Parkway and was again thrown into the twisties, twisties that seemed to me to be a bit tighter than I remembered - had been on this road before, and it had a slope going down hill I did not remember it reminded me of Warwoman road one of the roads on the menu for Texasmac.
    wow - I was soon lost and I found myself at the Cumberland river at a Damn with no exit.

    Cheatham Damn Cumberland River

    Tug Boat pushing a barge up the river at the Cheatham damn locks
    I waited out a small rain under the gazebo and talked with a Harley rider who lived only 3 miles away, he having lived there all his life had a Harley with 180,000 miles on it. Second owner 1978 Harley He said of the AMC era with a full fairing and Mag wheels. It looked ancient but it sounded Harley! He had a definite Tennessee drawl and I knew I had arrived in the south. I stopped at this Pizza place in Erin Tn and ate a small pizza that took over my body and made me unable to ride any good. OH boy I was stuffed I had a hell of a time riding into Nashville, getting lost in town till finally I was at Baileyrocks Doorstep, the first phase of my ride was complete, I was was there!

    http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/videos/491/1243382074_tm2009.wmv.flv
  18. HispanicSlammer
    Colorado Hwy 69 To Westcliff
    Colorado has been a bear this winter, snowing one day and sunny the next. Yesterday it was sunny - however not exactly warm in places. I decided to go for a ride to sort out my gear before I head out for the TexasMac ride in 3 weeks. Sort out my new video camera set up, and my new autocom sound system. Both were in need of refining and testing. I took of for Texas Creek up hwy 50 and had some lunch at the café (see my blog last month) good lunch. I was alone today and so I like I always am when I am alone I ride aimlessly, just going where ever on a whim. Today I decided to head to Westcliff and stop at a rather well photographed spot on hwy 69 - as seen from the photo above. This little section of road has appeared on the cover of many a motorcycle magazine. I just happen to know where it is so I took my own shot.
    Right off the bat my autocom is set up wrong, its always mic on, so I stop and fiddle with the vox control till it only comes on when I talk loudly. I can tell I wont be singing along to the latest songs cause - well I can here myself know and boy it wont go over the radio too well!~ HEH I tried the radar detector with it and it was just too noisy, I ordered a ground loop filter and a power smother from the Electrical Connection to hopefully get radar warnings without a whole lot of noisy interference. I turned it on in the areas I know are patrolled and turned it off the rest of the time. I got home and dug out a bit more Styrofoam from the ear wells cause the speakers just irritated my ears to no end, now the are snug but comfortable. I KNOW don't do that, but it wasn't much it was just a bit to make the speakers not stick out so far.
    Now on to the new video cameras setup, I added some more ram mount balls for more camera positions and tried out one from off my Givi rack its stable and it gives a right hand forward or backward shot from the rear of the bike. The new Sony hc-30 (new to me) camera with its lanc worked great, turning on the camera when I wanted it to be on and pausing it when it did not, and I rewired my camera switch (dual setup) to work with the new camera. I took some video of me riding sort of quick, well allot quicker than the cages on that road (perhaps I wont say how much)
    I stopped at the intersection at Mckenzi Junction to take a swig of water and noticed I have a blown fork seal, oil all over the fork tube. OH well it lasted 3 years and I really need to freshen up the fork oil anyway - so I stopped at the dealership on the way home and stocked up on fork oil and new seals. I guess I have some extra work to do.
    NEW VIDEO
    :media: The Road To Westcliff Video - this High Resolution video runs about 5 minutes and has a song from the movie soundtrack "Once" hope you like Irish folk! ( I am half Irish / Hispanic)
    youtube

    The Route
    [map=AARTsJqFvJdFZ77MhM8oiJNQs7U6Q7itbQ]http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=2190822805370928413,38.405437,-105.584706&saddr=CO-69+%4038.405437,+-105.584706&daddr=38.144008,-105.324898&mra=mi&mrsp=1,0&sz=12&sll=38.163716,-105.301895&sspn=0.156293,0.374908&ie=UTF8&ll=38.256515,-105.534668&spn=0.624372,1.499634&t=p&z=10[/map]
  19. HispanicSlammer

    Why I Ride

    By HispanicSlammer,

    Mountain Road
    I was clearing out some old data CD's from my shelf and ran across a sort of poem I wrote while VFRD was still part of Delphi Forums, way way way back in the day.
    Why I Ride
    Riding my motorbike
    Down a swift road
    Leaning into a turn,
    And then another
    Kicking the gear
    Dropping into third
    Grabbing the throttle,
    Looking down the road
    To where I really want to be
    Humming song of my motor
    Piercing a silent hollow in the forest trees
    Stuttering rays of sunlight and shadow
    Drum my heartbeat
    Thumping as my motor does
    Leaning further into that turn
    With a hint of fear of exhilaration
    Where the scent of Vanilla Ponderosas live
    Strengthened by
    Raindrops on dry asphalt
    I have come on my motorbike
    To steal the rainbows
    From your twisted curves
    I am alive on my
    Mountain Road
  20. HispanicSlammer

    Oh Man Not Again

    By HispanicSlammer,

    Well from my previous blog entry you can see I took the XR650r out for a long jaunt in southern Colorado, long enough to screw up the bike again! I can't say the bike has been unreliable, cause it always starts and keeps running taking me from here to there and back home again - in that respect its always gotten me home! However she is a fragile beast in the cam shaft deptment and has a few quirks the vfr just doesent have!~
    Last spring I rode her out 300 miles and came back home with a burned up valve and tore up cam shaft/rockers. I spend a good deal on rebuilding it,replacing the parts, new rings, valves, oil locks, gaskets, cam chain, cam shaft, new rockers, and all the time I spent doing that myself. I got home last Tuesday with a familiar tapping but not as pronounced as the first time, I had hopped that the bike was just out of spec and needed a valve ajustment. So I did that yesterday, easy enough but when I got her all back together it was still tapping hard?? I guess I fubared another rocker/cam shaft set AGAIN!! Damn this sucker is either running dry on oil or getting too hot. I remember stopping for gas and checking the oil each time, on the last stop it needed oil so I topped it up. What was more significant was the oil was smoking when I opened it up! So I checked the radiator, the thing was dry! Darned it I overheated her again!
    Once I got home I took a look at the thermostat, it was stuck open and the pin had jackeknifed inside the housing! Replaced that! Then I bought a higher pressure radiator cap 1.6 bar Kawi lid so it wont spew so easily, more pressure but if a KLR can take it so can an XR! At the altitudes I ride at it tends to boil off way to easy. I have an oil temp gauge I monitor as I ride and rarely does it go over 200F but I should have stopped when I saw it go down to 150f, that indicates a problem, not enough oil on the dipstick to register the temp!
    OK so I replaced the main components that control the heat and filled it up with new radiator fluid, now I have a new camshaft and rockers on order - waiting to get that, so I can go adventure riding again, perhaps with more confidence it wont spew antifreeze all over the dirt so easy!
    I know hot means lean condition but it boggs down otherwise up in the high country, my problem is I ride up and down mountains too much the jetting issues are difficult to get right!
  21. HispanicSlammer
    The Entrance to Shelf Road You can see the cliffs in the distance, its a bumpy jeep road when it reaches the canyon - taken just north of Canon City
    Here are a few pics from my recent solo run on the gold belt tour, mostly dirt roads in the Wet Mountains and along the Pike Forest.

    The Sangre De Christo range hwy 96 near Rosita

    Cooling Clouds An afternoon rain storm forms over the mountains

    Westcliff taken from the gas station in Silvercliff, beats me why there are two separate towns right next to each other?

    Shelf Road In all her bumpy glory at Trail Gulch - Four Mile Creek below

    Work Horses they scrambled when I came up to the fence but when they saw the apple slices I had they were soon eating right out of hand

    Goldfield Mine just north of Victor

    Pikes Peak South Face

    Pikes Peak South Face at the end of Gold Camp Road

    Cathedral Park On Gold Camp Road

    Cathedral Park up close

    Old Stage Road Descending to Colorado Springs my home town below - it was getting dark and cold!

    200 mile loop
  22. HispanicSlammer
    Pikes Peak
    It is not very common in November to find so many warm days to go riding, matter of fact you take what you can get! Usually its sunny but the temperatures range in the 40-50 range with snow and ice on the sides of the roads and gravel in all the corners. Yes it has already snowed in Colorado - once here in Colorado Springs. However we are having an Indian Summer and the temperatures have been an unbelievable 70 degrees out. So what do you do? You go riding of course.
    Sunday I decided to do a tour of Colorados famous Gold Belt tour, a three road loop of all the old Gold camp roads to the Cripple Creek Victor area. I asked my Boss he was free for a ride and he agreed to come along. Me on my XR650 and him on his DR350. The man stands a full foot above me at 6'8" and hes the most jolly happy man I know. Seems nothing fazes the guy, he recently was promoted at work and is moving to the other night shift so I wont be seeing him at work any time soon. So off we went up Gold Camp road to Victor, down Phantom Canyon - he wanted to see where I spent the night looking for Bigfoot, ha ha It wasnt so spooky, matter of fact he looks more like Bigfoot than anything I saw that day. Then we had some Mexican food for lunch in Canon City and then headed up Shelf road - Nate said he had never been on Shelf road so we went up it.

    Me and my XR650 south face of Pikes Peak in the back ground

    Riding with my boss This is Nate
    After we ate lunch we were climbing the 20% grade on Shelf road when my headlights all of a sudden stopped working, I pulled off as the sun was going down to fix it but I couldnt get them to work. So when we got back on pavement Nate lead so I could see what was going on in the dark. We stopped at a gas station and bungied some cheap flashlights to the fenders as makeshift headlights and tailights. Going down UTE pass we passed a couple of cops and I thought for sure I was toast but I made it all the way home with no insidents. Nate is more of a comuter on his bike than a weekend explorer like me, he said he really had a great time and he was glad for the dirt riding practice. He went from really going slow to keeping excellent pace with me - I am no dirt demon at all so it not a stretch to keep pace with me. He followed me home and we laughed about all the cops we passed - I guess they just couldnt see me with no lights on. It was dark and the temperature had dropped to 45 but who cares I was all pumped up on adrenelin from the thrill of the adventure.
    Gold Belt Tour Map
    [map=AARTsJrQVOhsknZuKjJBw8cWX8vrPlSGcg]http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=7467263987749735846,38.765810,-104.813840%3B277796909954106813,38.724770,-105.021520%3B5534676680459063252,38.560716,-105.223531%3B6347464844011596467,38.447680,-105.205290%3B14943544766476927283,38.613150,-105.134450&time=&date=&ttype=&saddr=Unknown+road+%4038.765810,+-104.813840&daddr=Gold+Camp+Rd+%4038.724770,+-105.021520+to:CR-9+%4038.560716,+-105.223531+to:Royal+Gorge+Blvd+%4038.447680,+-105.205290+to:CR-67%2FPhantom+Canyon+Rd+%4038.613150,+-105.134450+to:divide+co+to:Colorado+Springs,+El+Paso,+Colorado,+United+States&mra=pi&mrcr=2&via=1,2,4&sll=38.819381,-104.939346&sspn=0.239137,0.63858&ie=UTF8&cd=7&om=1&ll=38.733732,-105.010071&spn=1.206186,2.993774&t=p&z=9[/map]
    TWO DAYS LATER
    I couldnt beleive my luck yet another day of 70 degrees, where to this time - I wanted to ride the VFR this time, I hadent been on the viffer in over a month, lots of riding the XR but not the Viffer. Partly because my rear PPower was spanked all the way past the tread indicators. I had a slightly used rear in the shed, a take off from my trip to California this summer. It was just starting to show wear near the indicators and so I took it off before my trip to New Mexico and the Gila Monster, it was good enough to keep for just this sort of occassion. It was all worked over to the edge but it slipped on the wheel like a well worn glove.
    I pointed it south and twisted the throttle, let the wind take me where ever! I had my New Zumo mounted on it shake down test. I am impressed with this thing. I actually took it on the XR ride too but it shut down when the lights went off, I used battery power when it got really dark to see where the road was going.
    The zumo said I was doing a good 90 somthing somthing on the sweeper of the Green Horn Highway, I had somehow managed to make it to the Wet Mountains after slabbing it down hwy 115 - I decided to do a loop to Bishops Castle, over to Rye, back to Mckenzi Junciton and head over to Westcliff then wind my way to Texas Creek and up into Cripple Creek from High Park Road, then head home the same route I did with Nate. It is amazing how much more ground I cover on the VFR 250 miles compared to 130 with Nate in the same amount of time.

    Bishops Castle my vfr parked on the road

    Bishops Castle

    At the top of the lowest spire

    The Atrium weddings, raves, parties, you name it - its has happend here

    I climbed to that top spire lots of wobbly steps made of wrought iron

    A typical Jim Bishop creation not strong enough - slap another bar of iron on it.

    The Dragon from above

    Everybody says this is a moat but Mr Bishop says its a Dungeon
    I actually passed a Harley Davidson rider near Wetmore and made it to Bishops - climbed all over it and was heading back out when the HD rider pulled into Bishops. Behind him a guy on an Aprillia stopped too, it looked like a Falco at first but when I got closer it was clear to me it was a Mille. I was filthy with no lower fairings and about 6 months of bugs on it. The rider looked like he was just as filthy. Now my bike has been this filthy too, no passing judgement here, so I went up and introduced myself. He said his name was Larry and he was heading the same way to Rye for some lunch. He asked if I was interested in joining him - sure why not?
    He then said somthing I thought was funny "I will meet you at the turn off in Rye.. I know this road really well" - Rye is some 15 miles down the road! OK "why not ride together I thought"? Then I realized this guy meant he was gonna go so fast that I wasnt gonna be able to keep up! I thought OK? He did after all refer to my VFR as a sport tourer! So I got on the trusty viffer and Larry pulled out on the Mille.
    He took off like a bat out of hell doing 120mph! I reved it up and stayed in contact, he did after all have a liter bike. He was hauling, then some easy sweepers came up and I started to reel him in, and a few more staits but I was still in contact. Then the harder sweepers came up and all of a sudden I was right on him. He wasnt shaking me at all! I seemed to have surprised the guy cause he was checking me out in his mirrors. Yep I was right behind him - I KNOW THE ROAD TOO! 15 miles to Rye wasnt too long of a ride. We had some lunch and he told me about his 10 bikes he owns and how he never came across anybody who could keep up with him on the Green Horn Highway Like I did? I thought he must ride alone then? I know plenty of guys who ride that fast.
    He is one of them loners I guess who always pins the damn thing, all the time, pinned. All his bikes are for sale, all ten, he said he even has an 86 viffer for sale - salvage title 2 grand with some mis matched body work? OK lots of old bikes too.
    We headed back to Mckenzi Junction together for the 40 miles of the Green Horn Hwy on past Bishops Castle, a great road full of long sweepers and nice S shaped turns. I started out ahead of him but he passed me on the stait, and got a good 1/4 mile ahead of me. I reved it up to 117 or so to catch him and got a bit closer, but that Mille has more power. I wanted to stay close till I could catch him in the turns, sure enough the turns came up and I was on him like glue. He was unpredictable in the turns so I passed him on an easy turn and got way ahead for the next set of turns. I guess he wasnt used to sombody riding turns like that? He passed me again on the next strait and so I stayed close for the next set of turns and then he started to blowing turns, he blew one really hard - over the double yellow and the next one too going all the way into the oncoming lane - which got me rather alarmed. I realized I was riding too close so I rolled off and let him go on ahead for a good 10 bike lengths - he was a bit shaken I could tell - and I didnt want to see him go down. I was having a blast myself, and feeling really comfy - what a Day. I stopped and said goodby, and we parted ways I had another 100 miles of twistys to do! He was all tuckered out on his Mille - not me the Viffer was just getting warmed up!
    Back to the same spot for a picture - as I took with Nate two days before.

    Same place two days later southern face of Pikes Peak

    Pikes Peak
    Map of the Bishops Castle Loop
    [map=AARTsJpQxq7sU9PIvfNWKP8SNhXT-nhwYQ]http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=7092982224853031565,38.789280,-104.822010%3B8627210910271840572,38.613330,-104.893570%3B17582621160096791106,38.164850,-105.189980%3B11175003633667319254,37.923200,-104.927270%3B10271801768667968077,38.135870,-105.459080%3B5119389560107096371,38.673200,-105.344980%3B10469175807363240318,38.764570,-105.203930%3B11197392464292667535,38.711030,-105.137110%3B2551081133983032187,38.725050,-105.122580&saddr=CO-115+N+%4038.789280,+-104.822010&daddr=CO-115+%4038.613330,+-104.893570+to:CO-96+%4038.164850,+-105.189980+to:CO-165+%4037.923200,+-104.927270+to:Main+St+%4038.135870,+-105.459080+to:CR-11+%4038.673200,+-105.344980+to:Cripple+Creek-Florissant+Rd+%4038.764570,+-105.203930+to:CO-67%2FDiamond+Ave+%4038.711030,+-105.137110+to:CR-81+%4038.725050,+-105.122580+to:Woodland+park+to:38.794768,-104.823303&mra=dme&mrcr=2&mrsp=10&sz=10&via=1,2,4,5,6,7,8&sll=38.629745,-104.971619&sspn=0.603987,1.496887&ie=UTF8&ll=38.582526,-105.227051&spn=2.417421,5.987549&t=p&z=8[/map]
    I love Colorado - days like these are what I live for.
  23. HispanicSlammer

    Work Has Begun

    By HispanicSlammer,

    Where to start starting with the chain
    All my parts arrived one by one, the chain and sprocket set first, then the brake pads, fork oil, fork seals, and various other things. I decided to replace the cradle on my Zumo and with it install a bmw style plug in the head tube from Powerlet. They make a vfr kit so I bought it, using the existing molex setup I had before I just solidered the molex wires to the kit and then taped it all up good. I figure I need a disconnect if I want to use the new head stand I bought, I will need to move the wires out to use it.
    I took a look at my brakes and boy they look good up front, I decided to keep them on since the new ones are not much thicker. I was under the impression that my brakes were in bad shape when I bought the parts, not the case. So I set about removing the front wheel and taking out the forks. Fork service has become easy for me, lots of practice with the dirt bike and my vfr, buddies bikes too I have done it a number of times. My fork oil was dark and dirty as it can get. I removed all the parts and cleaned it up best as I could and then replaced the bushing and slider with new parts, new seals and topped it up with new fork oil. I thought perhaps my forks were a little harsh so I checked the spec with racetech and sure enough I had too much oil in there, I must have used stock oil hieght - I used 120 mm for the gold valve/racetech setup I have. Should be a bit less harsh on the bumps with a larger air pocket. It took me an hour to finish both forks off and anther half an hour reinstalling the front end and torquing it to spec.
    Country music blasting in the garage cause I cant stand Prarie Home Companion - sombody please tell that guy Garrison Keeler that he cant sing for squat, please stop! Sometimes its funny the skits but I dont agree with the guys point of view - So I changed the station. I never listen to Country music let alone a nationally syndicated program from Nashville but for most the night it was kind of fun easy listening, the longer the night the twangier it got.
    I got the forks done and decided to make a how-to-video (not yet edited) on chain and sproket replacement. I did not think I had time for the fork service, to stop and go over every step and deal with the camera so I skipped that. Changing sprokets is a messy job. On into the 3am region (I work nights so its old hat for me) I was done by 5am. The garage was a disaster area and grease and grime everywhere.
    Sounds like an opportunity to change the radiator fluid, I sort of lost my fan switch this summer and so I was boiling off on a trip to New Mexico, I used alot of water to replace the boiled off stuff, I fixed the fan switch but by then I had spit out a good portion of my coolant onto the road. A stop at the grocery store in some small town and a bottle of distilled water topped me back up. Its been super cold lately and so I started it up to see - what if I got too much water in there and not enough antifreeze? I wasnt about to chance it for the rest of the winter, the worst is yet to come! So I changed the antifreeze. I did a great job on it tightended the plug so much that it got easier as I went, so easy in fact that it came right off! Snapped - damn it! I did not have the correct size and my easy out was not getting the broken part out. Good thing I had a bucket handy I just drained off all the coolant, a sort of half ass flush job all over the garage floor. I did manage to get most of it into the bucket. I took the cover off and drilled out the hole and then tapped it with a larger plug, works doesnt leak and it did not snap off this time! '
    Much more work to go, need to remove the shock and get it serviced, my old Ohlins has 70k on it now! wow time flies. My plastics are in bad bad shape and my tank is too. In think I need to replace them, I cant paint for shit so I wont even try that! Unless anybody is a painter wizz on the forum? I happen to like red! I could put some VFRD graphics on it! That would be cool eh?

    Removing the speed sensor

    Removing the clutch slave cylinder
  24. HispanicSlammer
    Oh man what day! The Colts fulfilled there destiny and Payton stepped up to get his ring. Not that I care all that much but the guy was starting to look too much my like my very own John Elway with all that dissapointment, these last few years, nobody wants to see reruns! I was glad to see the Colts collect on a promise they made!
    Me however I was listening to the action on the radio as Craig and I drove home from PMI in Pueblo Colorado, not sitting on our asses on some strangers couch eating stale potato chips!! We took our XRs out for some riding instead! Four months of snow and cold and a weather report that said 40 degrees was all it took for the both of us to get the truck loaded up with two honda relics called once dirtbikes (XR'S)!
    SIDE NOTE: We did see some CRF's out there today, matter of fact the place was packed with dirtbikes and ATV's Man I love Colorado!
    Where else can you find so much to do outdoors and all relativly free! Look this way theres Pikes Peak, look that way theres the Spanish Peaks, look that way theres Craig rolling on in some nasty ass mud! OK I think he took me through every mud patch there is in Pueblo and at the end I asked him "is there any mud we might have missed there Craig"?
    Good times and tired! Boy he worked me out - I know I slowed him down on my 650 cause he had to stop a few times once when I avoided a patch of standing water and headed for the thistle only to find a 2 foot deep ditch - down I went, and once down a sortid 60 foot cliff that I wasnt so sure about! Its a 650 man but I went down it anyway! hells ya! The the both of us got schooled by the youger generation on there YZ's and there CRF's doing 60 foot triples where we were going around to easy parts, well I was anyways! Darned kids looked mighty good jumping those berms! I had a great time and was soooooo glad to be back on two wheels and thankful to the Lord for providing us with the bounty of warm weather in Febuary after so much misery and snow these last four months, what a great day! Looks like those of us who had a destiny to fulfil did so on this day, I am a rider plain and simple! I ride!
  25. HispanicSlammer

    Pushy Pushy

    By HispanicSlammer,

    So I needed spark plugs for my two bikes, I don't know how long its been since I replaced the plugs on my vfr? 35K? So I decided it's time, off I went to the dealership. Once in the parking lot I notice the place is packed, its Tuesday 2:30 in afternoon and the place is packed! Don't these folks have jobs? I know its close to downtown Colorado Springs so I guess its rather easy to get to. Me I am driving the lot looking for a spot to park and boom one opens up. I was wishing I had the VFR and not the Civic today, but the VFR is torn down for maintanience - Laguna Seca Trip next week.
    I spy a VTEC parked in the bike only parking and go over and look at it, nice candy red a new one! It has some well worn in Pilot Powers, just a smidge of unused rubber on the sides, the guy rides it well enough to lean it over anyway. Newish tires too. So I go in and there are people EVERYWHERE, I go up to grab a ticket - but there is a line for that too. A line to get a ticket to get in line for parts! Oh well I wait patiently for my turn when this corperate looking sales type guy walks up pushes his way in front of me and an another guy and snatches a ticket from the machine! This instantly makes me angry, and I start to say somthing to the guy but he walks off with his cell phone glued to his ear speaking loudly into the damn thing. I just grab a ticket and stew for a bit, then see a nice street legal KTM 450 on the showroom floor - the one everybody is raving about. Trail worthy and you can ride it on the street to get to the trail!
    Then I hear them call my number, and phone jerk is next to me hassling the parts lady too - shes politely trying to get him to tell her wtf he wants but hes on the phone of course can can't be bothered, and actually had the nerve to get snooty about it?? Nevermind the 6 people waiting to get parts behind him - ASSH**&L. I get my spark plugs and head for the car - and who do I see getting on the nice VTEC sitting in the lot? You guessed it! It makes me ashamed to think that this jaggoff could own a VFR! Its seems counter to the guys personality, he would be more at home on a Duc! I know one thing if hes a member here - it is not for long!!
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