Category Archives: Bikes

This category is shamelessly dedicated to my motorcycles. Neither bike is the fastest, biggest, most expensive, or prettiest motorcycle on the planet, but each has become extremely well-suited to me. If you gaze upon them and do not find yourself dazzled by their brilliance… so what. I didn’t buy them to please you.

Cruiser, Road Tales

You know you’re lucky when…

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You hit reserve (remember, the Cruiser is an old-school Harley with a carburetor and a gas valve) with the next service plaza on the Thruway 19 miles away and you know you can get 20 miles on reserve.

So, we cruise along with no real worries until the engine starts to stall again. I know the bottom of the tanks are curved and trap usable gas, so I yank on the brakes to slosh some more gas down to the carburetor. A sign for the service plaza appears ahead. Hallelujah! But wait, the sign says the plaza is still one mile ahead. Arrrgh!

We repeat the sputter-brake-run sequence another 15 or so times and glide into the service plaza and directly to an available gas pump as the engine quietly stalls.

We were laughing our asses off.

Lucky. Very lucky.

Cruiser, Road Tales

Night departure for New England

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I had the Cruiser all packed and ready to rock when I was at work on Friday. I needed to get a few things done so I was unable to leave a little early at 3:30pm as planned. Instead, I escaped around 4:10pm and pointed the handlebars up I75 to pick up Karen and head east.
Continue reading Night departure for New England →

Cruiser, Road Tales

2011 MAMMARY Run Wrapup

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In the four days and one evening it took for us to travel to the 2011 MAMMARY Run and return home, we covered 1,548 miles. The following are the individual posts related to this trip:

This was a bit of a shakeout trip for the Cruiser since it hasn’t been on a long trip since 2006. I now have a long list of little things that require attention before Karen and I venture out on another trip on it.

Mitch and Kathy were, as always, excellent hosts and threw a great party. I’m already looking forward to next year.

Cruiser, Road Tales

It’s NOT a dry heat

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The last day of our MAMMARY run ride was greeting with good news and bad news. The good news was that the weather forecast for today called for only the tiniest chance of rain. The bad news was that it called for near-record high temperatures. Karen and I would be riding through some nice two-lane roads in south-central Ohio before hitting the superslab for the last stretch home. There would be no cool mountain passes or sheltering forests to ride through today.
Continue reading It’s NOT a dry heat →

Cruiser, Road Tales

When to avoid the I495 Beltway

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After a good night’s sleep at the Super 8 in Warrendale, PA, Karen and I packed up the Cruiser and headed back out on the Pennsylvania Turnpike on our way towards the 2011 MAMMARY Run.
Continue reading When to avoid the I495 Beltway →

Cruiser, Road Tales

Wet, but not so wet

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I was able to leave work around 4:30pm and headed north out of downtown Detroit to go pick up Karen, who had escaped her employer around 4pm. The rain in a huge system heading northeast had already arrived in the greater Detroit Metropolitan area so I donned the rainsuit for the trip out to Karen’s.

A quick check of traffic (I love the Google Maps app on my iPhone) revealed I75 north to be its usual parking-lot state so I rode up Woodward Avenue to Royal Oak. Karen was already changing into her Leathers and put on her rainsuit while her parents joked about there being “dryer modes of transportation”. Aren’t they hilarious? 🙂

The weather radar showed a steady line of rain down to Toledo, Ohio, but then a break between that and another long line of heavy rain near Cleveland. Lurking off to the southwest of Youngstown, Ohio was another string of nasty yellow and red on the radar image, denoting some heavier weather that was slowly marching towards our path to the Pittsburgh area. It looked like it was going to be a dicey ride.
Continue reading Wet, but not so wet →