Hailwood

Weather's looking good. I'm definitely looking forward to this.

I'd be in for karting or shooting. The rental karts at PIRC are no joke, and the Wilson kart circuit is world class. I think you can make it over there in about an hour from Akron. If we wait much longer, we might as well just start riding again.

Any word on when the new Alpinestars Andes textile stuff will be available? I'm looking for a non-leather full gear option for more casual rides. I'd be interested in an ETA, and pricing for a jacket/pant combo.

The 50 has two advantages over the 18-55. The biggest is the really large aperture for light collection and thin depth of field. I used my 50 to take shots around a fire pit at a party using available light only with some really great results. The depth of field also creates a very nice out of focus effect (as seen in the cat photo above), and is great for drawing attention to whatever your subject might be. The other area where most fixed-length primes will outperform most zooms is in sharpness, contrast, and general image quality. For under $100, the 50 is such a good value, I would recommend picking one up just to try it out. If you don't like it you can easily sell it for the same, or a very minor loss. The lighting kit you posted has all the components that you would probably want, but I don't have any experience with that particular kit. Midwest Photo Exchange in Columbus has a great inventory of reasonably priced lighting kits and very helpful staff. If you have time, I'd definitely recommend checking out their shop before ordering anything.

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Standard & Medium Telephoto Lens $86 + Free Shipping @ Rakuten B&H canon EF 50mm 1.8 F II lens for only $94 free ship The Photography on the Net Canon forum also has a huge classified section that is one of the best places to buy gear anywhere. I bought my 7D and 300mm lens used from folks on there and saved a ton of money over new. Here's a 50 for $50. It's already sold, but deals come up like that every day.

I'll probably get out if the weather looks decent. I was planning on just staying around here, but I might be up for a bit further South. Let me know where you guys are planning on meeting up and I might try to make it.

Relative to the lens, since you've got a Canon I highly recommend picking up a 50mm f1.8. Yes, it feels like a plastic kids toy, but the optics are outstanding, especially since you can find them for under $100 new. It's a great combination with a Rebel, and is how I started out. Here's one of the first shots I took with my old Rebel XTi + 50 f1.8 A good prime lens and one of the previously mentioned learning resources will be a good start towards some great shots.

Every bike is a touring bike. You just have to ride it far enough

Not only that, but racing is expensive, and the lessons learned in that environment are often guarded pretty closely, especially if they could benefit a potential competitor.

That seems like a pretty reasonable interpretation. Regardless of justification, dead is dead. This why I won't run.

I got a good basic book by Scott Kelby when I first starting messing around with photography 4~5 years ago, and it was really helpful. It explained all the camera functions and when/how to use them, without getting too technical, which was great for a beginner. The best way to learn, as others have said, is to get out and shoot. http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Photography-Book-Scott-Kelby/dp/032147404X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1364418464&sr=8-2&keywords=digital+photography+scott+kelby"

I figured the whole thing would be CORE style: No food, no alcohol, no gas stops longer than 10 minutes, and no eye contact while performing sexual favors.

It never seems to work for me either. Mostly because no one else will eat lunch with me

The engineer in me is very excited at the prospect of something this innovative, but the cynic in me thinks that it's too good to be true. Ultimately plentiful energy devices like this have been promised before, so I won't be excited until working prototypes have been put in service and validated.

Do you really need that much protection hanging around in the kitchen? In all seriousness, the Forcefield stuff is great, but doesn't offer any abrasion resistance, which is the whole issue with jeans. My recommendation, similar to others, is always at least some ballistic nylon riding pants. Any of the less expensive brands will be better than jeans, and I believe that Iron Pony keeps many in stock (in addition to a large selection of riding jeans if that's really what you're after). The best way to find something that fits is just to drop by and try a bunch of stuff on.

Clean just means not salvage to me, I don't assume it means in hand and always ask if it isn't specified.

Thanks for the link! I'll check it out and maybe head to some local shops this weekend to check out some options in person. Nothing serious, just something to take to the range for fun. Sounds like the second group would be more my speed as a relative n00b.

Thanks for the input. I'd read some good things about the M&P and it looked like a couple guys on here have them. The price doesn't look too bad either.

Any recommendations for a good .22 target pistol? I'd like to start going to the range more often, but I'd prefer a more economic method to my 9mm, which I apparently can't find ammo for anyway. I've seen a few of the 1911 style in that caliber that I think are interesting since it's such a historic design, but I'm not sure if that would be a good choice for a beginner.

+1 I've learned a ton just watching Tpoppa and Dgasser on some longer rides through WV - really helped my confidence. Including that if you're ~2 miles from the Ohio state line, stopping for WV police is probably a mistake... Also, don't ever feel like you can't ride your own ride. With some very small exceptions (that are almost always disclosed up front), almost every rider is willing to dial back the pace or wait as long as it takes for someone that doesn't want to ride at mach retard.

I think it would sound more like "fhwlagh" at that point.

The Fin in Ashland looked like it had a little bit of everything when I was there last night, including .22 and 9mm. I probably should have bought some more 9mm while I was there now that I think about it...

Stunningly beautiful bike. I check here a couple times a week to see if anything like this is floating around out there.

Come on 18th! Almost every other weekend around then is terrible, and I'd love to be able to make it this year.