Coop's Corner: What A Day!!

Saturday, April 27, 2013

What A Day!!

Yesterday was nice, but I decided to get some chores done around the homestead, putting off any riding until today when the weather was to be even nicer.....and it has been. A bright moon all nice, which means cooler temps and we had 'em. I knew it was supposed to be cool, so I slept in and didn't leave for Coffee until 6:30 rather than 5:30. Even at that, it was 37 degrees when I started the Morphous this morning. With my Warm Bib plugged in and thicker gloves, I actually did quite well. It takes about 30 minutes to get up and out of the river valley and once on the higher ground, it did feel warmer though that may have had as much to do with the sun shining brightly as being out of the valley. I was again reminded this morning about the riders that commute in cooler temps. I'd get away with quite cold if my ride was less than 30 minutes long. It's that next hour at posted speeds that get dicey.

Here's the Morphus parked next to Mike's '75 Condor, a Swiss Military model that used Ducati 350 engines. Note that Mike's machine is ready to protect or harm, depending on the company he keeps at any given time.

Of course there were other machines; today's batch covered most of the spectrum.

Peter had his yellow moped....

Dave got the prize for "longest bike", his 750 Honda chopper a standout in this crowd.

Stan's Triumph......

Dick's jacket with a message.....

Roy's Black Bomber, sharing the photographer's image as well as the bright yellow moped.

Pete's Guzzi sidecar rig......

Dick's Scrambler, more beautiful than last time??

'Wing and a Thruxton....

Sunbeam....Rick got to take it for a ride

Dan's beautiful 750 Honda Cafe bike....

Scott's exquisite supercharged Gold Wing.....

I was home by noon, the temp in the low 70's by afternoon. After a quick lunch, I went to work on removing some trees that had fallen into our cornfield (soybeans this year), did some fencing and after a couple 25 mile round-the-block rides on bikes that hadn't been ridden yet this year, I grilled some burgers.

Tomorrow I'll put some miles on.....not sure yet what I'll be sitting on though.

12 comments:

Erik RApril 28, 2013 at 12:12 AM
That's a nice collection of bikes. I've seen the last 2 at Dulono's. Both of them are pretty sweet!!
ReplyDelete
Replies
RichardMApril 28, 2013 at 12:41 AM
Some interesting bikes there, especially the clean supercharger installation.
ReplyDelete
Replies
Keith - Circle BlueApril 28, 2013 at 6:25 AM
"I'd get away with quite cold if my ride was less than 30 minutes long. It's that next hour at posted speeds that get dicey." I'm learning about the difference between my life at a maximum of 45mph and living at the posted speed. The windchill is definitely different :^) Oh, and the bugs. There are lots more bug hits the faster I go.

Today I get to envy your day. Here it never got above the mid-50's with a mist all day. I made it out for about an hour, but I saw no other bikes out and about.

Really glad you're getting some warmer days! Enjoy!!
~k
ReplyDelete
Replies
Martha April 28, 2013 at 8:32 AM
I like that 750 Honda!

Lovely clear landscape...
ReplyDelete
Replies
TrobairitzApril 28, 2013 at 10:35 AM
So many cool bikes in one place!! I have to say that 750 Cafe Honda is my favorite.

Have a great ride today.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousApril 28, 2013 at 6:01 PM
My fav is the one I'm on .. or sometimes the one that started... One of the many " joys " of old bikes. :o)
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Others say....

"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)