Coop's Corner: Two Things

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Two Things

Two things I almost never do, even more rare done together, were carried out today and it was a blast. Urban riding is something I do very little of, primarily due to our living rural. The other thing very seldom done is my joining a group ride. These guys justify exceptional.

Our local VJMC (Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club) group gathered after coffee this morning for a Grand Rounds Ride. Long ago an idea which was then followed through and executed by the founders of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, the goal was to set aside and protect for future generations a ring around the city of boulevards and parks. We did our best today to cover as much of the system as possible.

Leaving home by 5:30 this morning, our windy 42 degrees felt as if we were a good 20 degrees short of great riding weather. Even so, the Helix fired right up and I was in north Mpls. by 7AM. I'd venture to say that the majority of riders that arrived for hot morning beverages joined us on our ride....there were 15 bikes, including 1 sidecar rig. Two of the bikes had passengers.

The early arrivers........

The 10AM ride began......

North on Central and then here our first Parkway riding.....

Downtown Mpls Tall Buildings on the horizon......

Typical of the Victory Memorial Section....

Theodore Wirth Golf Course......

Walking and biking paths everywhere, both busy today especially so by the lake sections of the ride.

Approaching Lake Street and Lake Calhoun......

We stopped for a short break at the Lake Harriet Band Shell parking lot.

The 'Rounds go past lots of water.....the Chain of Lakes as well as Minnehaha Creek.

Many sections are one-way......

Things were crowded and busy around the Minnehaha Falls Park, between the busy events and road construction, detours and adjustments needed to be made.

We stopped for another break, this one across the river on East River Road.

J.P. imagining the luxury and elevated social status that Helix ownership provides.

My ride with the group ended here since I had to get back home for another event in the afternoon. I left the group here, the ride continued without me on to Chip's place for food and refreshments. Many thanks to Mike for leading us around the loop, to Chip for hosting and to all that participated in making this a very fun group ride.

What it looks like, at least the part that I participated in, a counter clockwise voyage.

18 comments:

RichardMApril 25, 2015 at 7:26 PM
What is the Cozy sidecar hanging off of? A Bonneville? Kind of hard to tell in the pictures. It looks like too large of a group for me. It took me a while to figure out what you decided to take from your stable.
ReplyDelete
Replies
SonjaMApril 26, 2015 at 1:49 AM
On a day of at 5:30 with 42F I might have decided to do something different ;-) Respect, that you got there it meet a seemingly fine bunch of likeminded people. The Helix looks pretty big compared to the other bikes.
ReplyDelete
Replies
TrobairitzApril 26, 2015 at 10:32 AM
A nice turn out for a chilly morning.

No easy feat keeping that many bikes together in an urban setting with stop signs and stop lights.

Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete
Replies
Scott GApril 26, 2015 at 1:07 PM
That red and black GPZ looks pretty sweet.
ReplyDelete
Replies
JasonApril 27, 2015 at 4:29 PM
It looks like the Grand Rounds was a huge success. I love seeing those old bikes out on the street, they have such great character (and characters). I wish the XS and I could have joined you. I had it on my radar but the calendar was full.
ReplyDelete
Replies
Scott GApril 27, 2015 at 5:10 PM
I had a 1985 Kawi 750 GPZ. It was the red and silver color.Not sure what I was thinking when I bought that bike.My secret desire was the blue and white Suzuki GS 750 ES.For some reason I just loved the way those Suzi's looked.
ReplyDelete
Replies
Scott GApril 30, 2015 at 9:37 PM
You always know the right thing to say my friend.Sooner or later I will get that desire back like you have.Working all the time just kills my limited time.I think of all the things I need to do on my limited time off and leaves no time for a ride.
In no way am I depressed.More like I am realistic about time management.Doesn't stop me from drooling about bikes all the time.
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)