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:

  1. That's a nice collection of bikes. I've seen the last 2 at Dulono's. Both of them are pretty sweet!!

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    1. Erik, the brothers do VERY nice work. I've only done a First Thursday's once; attendance for me doesn't fit our commuting schedule very well.

      Maybe I'll get there again someday....

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  2. Some interesting bikes there, especially the clean supercharger installation.

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    1. Scott was explaining yesterday that much of the technology/tips about adding a 'charger to a flat four came from a history of bumping up VW horsepower.

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  3. "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

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    1. Keith,
      All too soon we're back to 50's and wet, this weekend an aberration it seems. I'll be out in an hour or so and am hoping for a big weekend next week, we'll see how that goes.

      Bugs? Use care on the inhales.

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  4. I like that 750 Honda!

    Lovely clear landscape...

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    1. Thanks Martha, we've got views too often taken for granted.

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  5. So many cool bikes in one place!! I have to say that 750 Cafe Honda is my favorite.

    Have a great ride today.

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    1. Brandy,
      Not to brag, but this group has a combined collection that is almost staggering. It's fun for us all since we're pretty sure WHO is going to show up, but have no idea WHAT will show up.

      The ride was Supreme!

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  6. My fav is the one I'm on .. or sometimes the one that started... One of the many " joys " of old bikes. :o)

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    1. It's hard to argue with that Mr. Amonymous....as you know, logic would say that at no time will I run out of choices but it has happened more than once. I've walked out and choices were, let's see......One.

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