New Toy

This Saturday's ride was quite chilly and my arm was bothering me, so it was just a short ride around the neighborhood, fuel fill up and then back home. This might be the last ride of the season, but I hope not.
I got a new toy. It's a digital camera. The old one took very low resolution images and it's time I bit the bullet and got a better one. This one was not too expensive, but more than I want to pay (I'm very frugal, some would say cheap!). So now, the blog will get some better imagery.

Sunday Beemer Breakfast and rides

Sunday was a little chilly, early on, but a lot of riders made it. My back has been bothering me so after the meeting, I returned home for a rest. Later, feeling better, I went out for a couple of short rides when the weather got warmer.

New (to me) farkles

I just got back from East Providence, a hundred dollars poorer but more space on the motorcycle. I added two side cases. They are not as big as the top case, but this is what I wanted. Now I have some extra storage; enough to go on a short camping trip.
The ride there was a bit long because much of it was in the city. Then trying to find the place was interesting as I had to cross over a large river with limited crossings. Once I found one, finding the guy's house was a bit easier.
My ride home was mostly north on route 114 into Pawtucket, then into Cumberland to Woonsocket then into Blackstone when I stopped in to visit my friend Mike, who wasn't home. I talked with his wife for a short time then continued on my way home.
Riding out after a storm takes a little more concentration because some of the dead leaves have blown off the trees and litter the road. Combine that with some rainwater and you get a slippery areas here and there. A rider must look a little further under these conditions.
I haven't ridden much this month due to colder weather. Today, I waited until 2pm before the temp got over 55^oF. Then I rode out to Pascoag on my way to east Providence. It was chilly and when I started out, my sleeves on my jacket weren't zipped. After stopping for fuel, I made sure I zipped them up. After my first stop, I had to put on my chaps, scarf, and heavy gloves. Then, the rest of my ride was comfortable.

Watch out for sand!

It was a nice Saturday ride that took me south on route 12 to Connecticut. East on route 44 was the next turn. That brought me into Rhode Island. Then routes 100 to 98 through Burrillville. North on Douglas pike then into the Douglas Forest area brought me to a pull-off where 3 younger riders were stopped. I went down the road a bit and found there was no roads going in the direction I was heading, so after a turn-around, I stopped for a smoke were the 3 younger riders were parked. One of them, it seems, was a little too aggressive on a smaller side street and hit a patch of sand at the end of the road. He then slide his new 1000cc motorcycle across the road, instead of stopping for the stop sign. After helping them get the injured motorcycle on his girlfriends truck I bid them "good luck" and was on my way. The three of them were riding 'crotch rockets', not something made for the secondary streets. I like riding the back roads and off-roads, but a rider needs to be careful of sand showing up in the worst places. When coming to a corner, there may be some washout where sand can collect and make a nice day go bad, rather quickly.

It's back!

After a too long repair session, my bike is back! Found excessive leak in the cylinder head and needed to be rebuilt. Replacement parts included head gasket, exhaust valve, valve guide, air filter and battery. After riding it back from the dealer in Worcester, it seems to be riding a bit rough, this could be due to the age of the gas (bought in May!). Now, after finally getting it home, I need to check every screw, nut and bolt to be sure they are all there and they are tight. Then, I need to give it a good cleaning as it came back looking like it was in the neighborhood garage.
Update:
The screws, nuts, and bolts were ok, for the most part (a couple were loose). It still needs a really good cleaning, as it seems there is a lot of fine oily dirty dust all over the engine and some areas near the engine seems to have a bit of oily dirt around.

In the shop

The weather is getting nicer and I am looking forward to more riding. However, my bike has some starting issues. It's in the shop now, getting an inspection sticker and figuring out this problem. It seems to be the same issue that arose after I purchased the bike. This is quite disconcerting as I am planning on taking some longer rides in the near future. I wouldn't like to be caught out in the middle of nowhere (where I like to ride!) and have the bike quit on me.
I plan on some long rides, but probably not as long as this nice trip.

Overdue report

At long last, another post. I have not posted lately because there hasn't been anything noteworthy on my short rides. Yes, the weather has been unusually nice and I have been commuting to work. I have also taken some short rides around town and neighboring towns, just to relax. I also had some long rides and a short ride with a new riding friend, Dennis. With just the usual hazards of drivers on cell phones too engrossed in the conversation to notice who they are about to kill, roads in bad to worse states of repair and, even worse, the repair of the road has begun in some places leaves dangerous riding for all of us. On the plus side, detours make for new and sometimes interesting rides. One of my regular roads was closed for repair and the detour added ten to twelve minutes to my ride. But the road was nicer and there seemed to be less traffic on it; it might become a regular route! The quality of the road and the added twisties make up for the extra time. I could just leave a little earlier when I wanted to ride that scenic route.
Dennis and I had a nice ride out through south central Mass and then south to Connecticut. A short stop at the Vanilla Bean Cafe for a quick bite and then back home due to the looks of the weather. (The weather turned out to reach 90F as was predicted, but no rain as predicted and looked.)