Leaderboard

My husband and I decided we needed some more laid back bikes for around town. Last year he finished his project Moto Guzzi and he's been working on my bike this year. It's a 1980 Yamaha XS400. We still have a lot to do on it, but it's getting closer. We are hoping to have it at least functional enough to ride to the Mods vs Rockers event on Saturday. My husband took it down to the frame and manufactured a lot of the parts by himself. I'm really happy with how it's coming together and looking forward to riding it. He has a build thread over here http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=73622.0

Saturday is fixin to be my best shot at an iron butt this year. Been procrastinating at doing one for years. I just finished my route with stops and I feel more confident now.

But he was a good boy and wouldn't hurt nobody. "You couldn't ask for a better person in your life, you really couldn't," said Amy Bruce, who said she is Wilson's aunt. Queue the lawyers lining up to sue the police department.

140 in the straights and 40 in the turns isn't a track day.

I made it home around 2:30 pm. When I got up this morning it had rained over night. Rode in the rain for about an hour and a half. I stayed pretty dry, until I got splashed by cars driving through puddles. Oh well, a day of riding in some rain is better than working!

When i 1st herd this, I was like wtf I didn't even know New Straitsville had a PD!

Keep your booger hook off the front brake lever...

But it would be fun to take one for a test ride.

New peddles on the mountain bike. Got some 510 shoes as well. Hopefully hitting the trails tonight to try them out.

4 years is the 2nd longest I have ever owned a motorcycle.

If only that were true. Might be getting another one tonight.

I actually set my pressures before my ride. 3 laps on the red loop. Got passed by a couple of guys on nicer bikes. They did not drop me quickly enough for me to be jealous of their fitness. I wouldn't mind their bikes.

Right before we leave for our trip to deals gap my buddy decides he wants to put an exhaust on his FZ. I have already built one for my other friends FZ09 (who is also going with us), but this one was going to be a mid mount exhaust. He bought a universal muffler on Amazon, and after it arrived I got to work. I really wanted to do it all in stainless, but he is cheap, and time constraints being an issue I used what I had, which was some aluminized exhaust tubing. i cut the stick muffler off, and started making my pieces, I pie cut the pipe in places to make my bends. My goal was to keep the mid pipe close to the motor to give it a sleek look, and give good ground clearance. I managed to make a mount to use one of the stock exhaust mount points underneath, and for the muffler I dabbed a small bracket to be attached under the passenger peg. After it was finished up, I coated the section I made and we wrapped the pipe to help with heat. No issues with interference with your foot while riding, which was a key point for me when making it. Sounds really good for a $50 muffler.

Me likey.

Ugh, do I have to DOUBLE check everything I do because I can't rely on anyone to do their job properly????

Exactly. And the potential shit show Saturday could have become if I had stayed home and not pulled 5 people out of the main group. But if peeps don't get it, I am cool with that. I tried to help, that is all I can do.

Listen here, bicycle boy, we ain't letting you sell Isabella!

Get the fuck out of here with that nonsense.

I prefer to be the ride leader, but will only do so in certain situations. There's a group of people that I've ridden with for years, all of us a capable of being the lead, sweep, or middle of the pack. There's no egos, and we all know what to expect...we're all riding our pace, which is pretty similar for each rider. I rather ride with unfamiliar riders when there's just 2 or maybe 3 of us, not in a bigger group...and I watch closely. I've met some outstanding riders that way, and some others I would NOT invite to a group ride, until their skills & maturity are more developed. I've also ridden with some skilled riders that AREN'T a particularly good fit to have on a group ride. When I'm leading, I tend to watch my mirrors a lot. I'm actively trying to keep the group from getting split too far apart, and making sure no one is putting them self or another rider in jeopardy. I won't ride with people who's ego exceeds their talent, or think a group ride a pissing contest. My level of comfort with other riders has nothing to do with pace. It has everything to do with skill, smoothness, and being level headed. I've dipped out of lots of rides when it just didn't feel right.

Yeah....I'll admit, I didn't know the route...and rarely do. I know 80% of the roads down there, so if I make a mistake I can usually get caught back up with the group. That's exactly what happened Saturday. Apologize you guys had to wait for me, but maybe it was for the best since Todd had something come up that he needed to handle. To be honest, I don't necessarily think knowing the route is the solution. I think being honest and vocal about one's abilities and pace, and splitting yourself into a group was the solution Saturday. Nobody wants to boss people around (i.e. "you're in group a, you're in group b, you suck go home"). So if we have 12 riders and someone says let's get into groups, give them a hand. Anyway, it ended up working itself out in the end, as we only had 6 bikes in the ride for the duration.

Hmm back when I used to ride we typically had 7-10 riders in the group. Nobody ever got lost or complained and I never knew the route. I still to this day don't know half the hundreds of roads I rode back then

This is a good reminder. I'm often guilty of showing up not even knowing the route, just happy to be there. However, I have gone off on my own upon seeing a similar situation as you describe. If I can't step up, I'll do my own thing. I don't mind leading, but I'm not going to create a cluster f, fumbling around not knowing the area.

Uhhh... I had a good day. I understand it's nice to have an idea of what the route is even if you didn't plan it, but whatever. Like Todd said, I had the route and other folks led when there were road changes and I waved them on. No big deal. Luckily I knew most of the people in our group so it was easy to get along. An aspect of being the "ride organizer/poster" is feeling a responsibility to help everyone have a good time and while it would have been nice if more folks were 100% solid on the plan, I would hate to leave someone out just because they didn't know the route. Hell, @thompsonian had to get us through Marietta because I don't know the best way. @B-Mac, next time I'm riding with you.

No one rides with us because. A. We are old and have to pee frequently. B. We don’t have helmet communications. C. Our stops are for fuel, snack and pee. NO! Facebook updates or “there I was” stories. D. It’s about the ride. We did have an unscheduled stop on route 7 when we saw the Hate Train at a café. We checked in on them and hit the restroom and tried to down some coffee. We left shortly because Tonik was seductively licking a soft serve ice cream cone with his eyes locked on the large bearded short order cook who had a strong Russian accent. A lady left with her infant child before she could finish her lunch it was so bad. I had fun and thanks for letting me ride along. I don’t mind leading a group but please publish the route in a (gpx) format and last thing. Jacob, Quit whining like a bitch to Tonic off line.

Snort some powdered cinnamon. That'll fire ya right up.