“Keep The Rubber Side Down”

• Rider magazine reports a guy rode his motorcycle across the United States without stopping.
• “Keep The Rubberside Down” rides to AMA Vintage Days, July 26th!
• Long Way Down, Big Screen Version from BMW Motorrad.
• Robbie Knievel Breaks record with a jump over 25 cars.

Wednesday night means one thing around here, a ride to Jackass Flats, for a beer, and some bike watching!  Tonight was a spectacular evening, and the place was more crowded than I have ever seen it. A couple thousand people were walking around everywhere!  Getting in was tough, and getting out was going to be a nightmare. 

After we spent some time checking out a few motorcycles, chatting with some friends, enjoying a beer and smoking a cigar, it was time to leave.  I fired up the BMW and headed for the exit, but no one moved!  The motor is so quiet no one heard me coming up behind them.  Right then I had an epiphany!  I realized the one thing a Harley Davidson is good for.

As you can tell, I am continuing to mess around with a Wordpress theme.  I was content with the last one, but my friend,  Atlas Rider, informed me the RSS subscription button wasn’t working, and I could not find the problem.   My wife told me I would never be happy with a theme and that everyone should get used to the ever-changing skins.

If you haven’t yet subscribed to the site I encourage you to do so, as I update daily and sometimes several times daily. 

This morning my friend, Steve, sent me a link from MSN , entitled “Why We Ride: The Joy of Motorcycling.  Hope you enjoy! 

 Thanks Steve.

I would like to thank Mr. Walter Kearn for his knowledge, and insight, into the world of motorcycling.  He has produced an excellent dicitonary of cycling terms, and if you get a chance to stop by his sight it is well worth the effort.

On Saturday evening my wife and I, attended a wine tasting event sponsored by the Springfield Art’s Festival.  It was a lovely summer night filled with good food, good wine, and good music.  One of the numbers played by the band, Good Vibrations, was “Route 66″, people were singing, dancing, and thoroughly enjoying themselves.  As the song played, I remembered that Riding Route 66 Motorcycle Tour was leaving  to ride the famous Route 66.  The tour was to head out of Chicago on June, 28th, and concludes July, 12th.  I personally think this would be a fantastic way to spend the summer.   I may have to add this to my To Do list.   Is it just me or does anyone else think this would be a great ride? 

Desmodromic: Desmodromic has to do with valve control in the engine. With desmodromic control, no return springs are used and the engine relies on compression to seat the valves. This is a design used previously by Mercedes and others but became an integral part of the Ducati motorcycle engine. It allowed for much higher rpm and horsepower and immediately proved itself in racing. See the book, Ducati, for illustrations of the Desmo valve control system and a description of its operating principles.

Thanks Walter Kern!

As the coffee is brewing, I am preparing to head for Louisville, Kentucky, home of the Louisville Slugger, to meet up with my son.  As I mentioned in an early post, Jonathan rode solo to Myrtle Beach, and is now on his way home.  We are trying to time it so we can hook up in Louisville, have a little lunch and then head home.

We have had a great deal of rain over the past few days, and the pavement is wet from an overnight storm, but forecasters are predicting an all clear for today. 

Well, the coffee has finished and it’s time for me to ride.  ”Keep the rubber side down!”

I have made a few mistakes in my life, and I am certain to make one or two more in my future. Yet, I attempt to live by this motto made famous by Mark Twain.  Enjoy!

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. 

I make my living in the car business, and as you may have heard, things are a little unsettled right now.  Oh, it’s not that we aren’t making money, we simply are working much harder for less of it.  This week has been especially taxing as it is the last week of the month and we are pushing extremely hard to salvage it.

This morning I awakened, and  felt as if I could sleep another 8 hours, but it was time to get moving.   After my morning routine, I headed out the door and jumped on the bike, immediately a peace came over me, and I felt, be it only for a moment, all was well!