Fantasy Bike

http://www.robotech.com/infopedia/mecha/viewmecha.php?id=65

When I was a kid Robotech was the greatest cartoon in the world. Seriously. Unlike more common fare like Transformers or He-Man, Robotech was a serial that followed Rick Hunter and humanity's first experiences with alien technology, space battles and giant transformable robots piloted by people. Each episode built on the previous episodes, each season a foundation for the next. People died, mistakes were made by leaders, romance, jealousy, treachery, you name it. Robotech was a new level of story for a ten year old kid.

And it was awesome. F-14's that turned into giant robots protecting the Earth from alien invaders? How friggin cool is that?

First there was Macross, then The Masters and then The New Generation. I can't recall specifically when they were introduced (The Masters or New Generation), but in the third Robotech War the heroes spent much of their time wearing mecha armor doubling as motorcycles in lieu of fighter jets. The Cyclone series mecha. They drove on the ground, dirt roads, pavement or over open grasslands. No longer relegated to the darkness of space or fleeting through the clouds, this new mecha brought Robotech much closer to home for a 11-12 year old kid. Where I couldn't imagine myself Top Gunning it across the clouds, I could definitely see myself on the open road, flicking a button and instantly covered with armor with a really big friggin gun.

And then some genius went and made a replica of the Cyclone motorcycle mecha.

Robotech Cyclone Mecha Replica

A motorcycle that turned into armor that flew you around and beat the shit out of aliens? Fuck yeah! I wanted one, wanted one bad. Unfortunately, science hadn't caught up to cartoons yet. One could argue that science still hasn't caught up to cartoons, but that's another discussion for another day.

There is a scene from one of the early episodes in the Third Robotech War where the heroes come across a shipping container of these mecha somewhere in the desert and I can recall the shock I felt when they only took the one for the kid that didn't already have a Cyclone mecha. They left a container full of mecha to rot in the wasteland of North America. Where was my container of badassery?

The Cyclone may have contributed to my desire for a sportbike over other options when I finally decided to purchase a bike for the first time. And to this day I look for the switch on my clip-ons for a button that will transform my SV into wearable armor ready to take on an alien army.

But, my SV has no such switch.

In reality, the reason I bought a motorcycle was because my bicycle wasn't going fast enough and I craved speed. Now I'm older, wiser and fatter. I don't crave speed (as much) anymore, but I still crave a Robotech Cyclone. Not a replica, although that would still be cool, but a full-fledged grenade lugging gun toting wearable armor. I'm still waiting on that NASA!

The point is, we all have some bike somewhere that, if reality could be altered, we'd love to have in our stable. It might be a speederbike from Return of the Jedi, bike from Akira or any of a gazillion other science fiction outlets, like Judge Dredd.

What's your fantasy bike? Not something you wish you could afford but rather, what fictional motorcycle do you dream about?

Toy Run 2014

This year's annual Children's Hospital toy run was today. Luckily, for early December it wasn't too cold, about 40 when I woke up at 7am and then close to 60 as the day wore on.

We met for breakfast and then rode over as a group to the staging are where we sat around for a few hours. I think someone said there were 2700 bikes represented, but then someone else said that was just the final wave. So figure, at least 2500 bikes showed and dropped off toys for sick children.

After dropping off our toys and before leaving, a woman came over and thanked us. I asked if she had a child in the hospital to which she replied, No. But, she said. I did a few years ago and you motorcycle riders helped out tremendously.

For the record, I brought a die cast metal Jeep for a boy and the Frozen DVD for a girl.

Damir on an Italian Steed

Cookies! Or at least, a Cookie Monster

Bikes! Bikes as far as the eye can see!

Vroom! Vroom!

I'm Not Doing That

I'm not going to lie, my balls are not this big.

Mid October Ride

I went riding. Nothing special, just a quick jaunt up Peak-to-Peak and back while the weather was good again. I'd made the same run last week, but this week the weather was more forgiving. Mid-80s in Denver with mid-70s in Estes Park and, unlike last week, there was little to no wind.

I recorded the ride on my GoPro on the way up to Estes Park and then moved the camera to record the ride behind me. It's that video that I uploaded to Youtube. Unfortunately, I got caught up behind a few cars and even another motorcycle that was going extremely slow and had to tone it down a handful of times.

To be fair, I tried adding music to the video just so you didn't have to listen to the engine's noise being picked up by the terrible mic in the GoPro, but I couldn't figure out how to add more than one song, especially since these videos are longer than a song's length.

So, my advice is to simply turn down the volume and enjoy.


This first video is from the intersection of Highway 7 and Highway 72, heading south. This is part two. Apparently, GoPro won't record one long video, but instead cuts off after about 20 minutes. Which turned out to be fine, actually.

Peak-to-Peak

Yeah. Sure.

Yesterday as reportedly the warmest day of the week. With highs in the mid-80s I thought it was a good time to get some miles on my wheels and took the SV out for a ride.

The original plan was to head south to Woodland Park and then out to Buena Vista, returning on 285 through Fairplay and the home. It would have been an all day ride, but for the most part, very long, very straight and very boring. So, at the last minute I decided to head up Peak-to-Peak highway from Golden, CO to Estes Park and back.

Being a Monday the traffic was light, but still much heavier than I was expecting, especially after the fall viewing season was pretty much over, but I persevered - sometimes at speeds matching the speedlimit. What really annoyed me, though, was the fact that I went on the ride unprepared for the cooler temperatures up in the high country. Since I wasn't really going over any passes I didn't wear anything more than a light t-shirt underneath my motorcycle jacket and my mesh gloves. Therefore I was a bit chilly during many parts of the ride, helped in no small part by the gusting winds that at a couple of points threatened to send me careening off the road.

Colors of Fall

I refilled the bike is Estes Park and debated taking another route home, but I knew from experience the other way would have much higher volumes of traffic and construction.

Overall, the ride was pleasant. One of the things I like about riding by myself was the ability to stop where I want to stop and set my own pace, as fast or slow as I choose to go, without having to try and keep up or slow down to stay with others. For example, on a ride like this, the normal group I ride with would have stopped four or five times each way. Instead I stopped in Golden, where I turned on my GPS tracker and then again in Estes Park where I gassed up and had a small bite to eat. I did made a couple of stops on the way home, though. One for the picture with the sign and once to, uh, relieve myself. According to my GPS tracker, I was recording for 4 hours and moving for three hours and fifty-eight minutes, if that give you any indication.

I almost brought the GoPro with me, but I worried traffic would be as bad as it was and that any video I recorded would show nothing but the tail lights of whatever cage was in front of me, so I didn't bring it. Sure, there were a couple of times when I regretted not having it recording, but all in all, I think I made the right decision.

In the end, I put in a little over 220 miles. So, it was a good day. Minus all the back pain. Damn, I'm getting old.

Green Start / Red Finish (for the most part)

Safety Brief

If you haven't guess yet, I ride a sportbike. An SV1000s, to be specific. What I love about the bike is, not only can it keep up with the hyperbikes in the twisties of Colorado, but it's comfortable enough for commuting and longer rides. Especially after I replaced the stock seat with a Corbin one.

The group I ride with are typically sportbike riders. On any given ride we might have your typical race replicas, big engine bikes like the Hayabusa's or bikes that don't fit into any particular category like Speed Triples. More often than not, though, the bikes that show up for rides are superbikes, very similar to their race brethren, just as fast and just as aggressive. Since most of us push the legal envelope when riding we have a pre-ride safety brief before each and every group ride, even when the ride is filled with veterans.

For the rides I organize, I like to use these safety tips in my brief:

• Don't Die

That's right. Rule number one is don't die. You'd think I wouldn't have to tell people this, but since we're sportbike riders and we like to push our limits, not dying is something we don't always think about before kicking our stands up.

• Don't crash

Dying is bad, Mmm'kay.

Again, this one seems self-explanatory, but sometimes you have to remind people of the obvious. The truth is, some people are a lot more rational than others and most sportbike riders are wondering if they're going to get their knees down or their chicken strips erased more than they're worried about going down. Don't crash reminds them to keep the shiny side up and be aware and alert of their surroundings and actions.

• Ride Your Own Ride

We're not all riding at the same level and even when we are, some people are just having a bad day. Maybe they went out drinking the night before, didn't sleep well, have a slight cold, or any of a thousand other reasons why people aren't up to their normal riding capabilities. Ride your own ride simply means don't try and keep up where you can't. If the person in front of you is riding beyond your capabilities, let them. It's not your responsibility to keep the group together or risk going down by taking that 35 mph corner at 90 mph. The sweep, a designated position, holds this responsibility.

• Hand Signals

Since we all wear our gear, including helmets, hand signals are an important part of communicating while on the road. From left and right turns, to informing the riders behind you of a police officer ahead, hand signals are important. Each group or style of riding may have their own signals, the ones we typically encourage are: turn left, turn right, road hazard left, road hazard right, police ahead. For lead riders, with more advanced riders the signal to let others know if it's safe to pass on a double yellow or where visibility is compromised is also important to know.

Speaking of lead riders, each group ride is going to have a lead and sweep rider. Some might call them by other names, but in general, they're the first and last rider of a group. Both of these roles have their own responsibilities, neither of which is to be too fast or too slow. Leaders and sweeps should be in communication with each other via hand signals, the leaders ensuring everything is okay and the sweeps indicating if there is any problem with the ride.

• Lead Riders

Leading Responsibility

A lead rider must know the route the group will take. To be fair, everyone should know the route, just in case, but the lead rider should not only know it, but be familiar with the plans. They should know appropriate re-grouping points, refreshment locations and gas stops. If the group is out for a leisurely ride, they should also know any points of interest. Leads have the responsibility of keeping an eye out for road hazards, police and a variety of other conditions that might affect the ride, the riders or be perilous to the motorcycles.

One of the rules I personally have for group rides, and this applies to everyone, not just leaders is to keep the bike behind you in your rearview mirror. This serves a couple of purposes, to include keeping the group together and ensuring the riders in front don't keep going if there is a mechanical issue, or worse, behind them. It also ensures the lead rider doesn't get too far ahead and run into their own problems, possibly going of the road as the remainder of the group rides on by.

• Sweeps (Tails, Rear Guard, etc)

Many people mistakenly believe that the sweep rider must be the slowest rider in the group. This is false. The sweep rider needs to be as experienced or even more experienced than the lead rider. Like the lead, the sweep needs to know the route or any waypoints the group might stop at; he, or she, also needs to know how many riders are in the group, and should know the answers to basic mechanical questions should anyone have a problem while out for a ride. A preference list is to have a cellphone that works in all areas in case 911 needs to be dialed as well as basic first aid skills should they be needed. It is the sweep's responsibility to make sure the entire group stays together. They aren't to leave the group and, like the lead, they shouldn't leave their role for a different position in the group.

A quick way to be banned from rides I organize is to be a sweep and abandon a rider in pursuit of a more spirited ride. In smaller groups, this may be okay, depending on the riders involved, but in larger group rides, where experience levels vary greatly, this behavior is a major no-no.

• Police

For those of us pushing the envelope, the police can be a major buzz kill. They pop out of nowhere, sitting behind signs or off in a hidden driveway. Sometimes they are heading your way in the opposite direction and sometimes they're behind you just waiting for someone to break a rule.

Remember, in most places, the police can only pull over one vehicle at a time. They cannot pull over a group. Typically they will light up the sweep (so the sweep should be properly licensed and insured) but on occasion they will split the group and single out a specific rider.

While this is happening the remainder of the group needs to keep moving until they arrive a predetermined way point or refill/refreshment stop to wait for the pulled over individual. Otherwise, an unethical policeman will try and ticket the entire group letting the courts sort out the confusion. 

When riding with a smaller group, say three or four, no more than five, the group may not need a dedicated lead or sweep, hand signals or anything else, especially if the riders are comfortable with each other. However, with a larger group, eight, ten or fifteen bikes, a dedicated standard of rules is detrimental to a good ride with the least amount of issues.

Remember, we're all here to have fun and one downed rider or incident with the police can ruin a good time for everyone. 

Epic

Staging Point

At the last minute I invited myself along on a overnight motorcycle trip. Now, I know what you're thinking: That Jason is a such as ass inviting himself on someone else's ride. But, you need to understand, the ride had an open invite and I was just one of 5 other people who decided to partake of the invitation.

The plan was simple: leave Denver, ride out to Glenwood Springs, the long way, and return. The original (tentative) route was to take highway 285 out of Denver to Pine Junction, south to Woodland Park, west to Divide and south to Cripple Creek. After Cripple Creek we'd head down to Canon City and take highway 50 west and somehow make our way up to our final destination where we'd simmer our sore muscles in the hot springs for which the city is famous.

However, like all well made plans, this plan fell apart before the first kickstand was up. We were supposed to leave at 9:00am but didn't get on the road before 9:20am. Bob, a former racer turned MSF motorcycle instructor, met us at the meet point without his oil plug and therefore hemorrhaging oil everywhere. He had to run to the TFOG motorcycle shop and borrow a plug from the owner and meet up with us later.

Of those who went all the way, Bob, Elliot and I were the most experienced riders, Mike, his mother Deba, and Sydney were the riders with the least experience. I don't know how much experience Sydney had, but Mike and his mother only took the MSF course and started riding last year.

Bob's oil Porblem

About ten other riders decided to ride with us for a little while before turning around, some breaking of at Woodland Park and others splitting off in Cripple Creek. We had lunch at a casino in Cripple Creek (which annoyed me since we hadn't been on the road very long and it was barely noon when we stopped). I would have preferred to keep going until Canon City or even further, having a late lunch and minimizing our stops, but I was out voted.

After lunch we tried to find our way out of Cripple Creek and south, but each way ended up taking us along miles and miles of dirt roads. I don't know about you, but sportbikes and dirt roads don't mix very well in my opinion.

Cripple Creek isn't that large of a town and yet we seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time there, backtracking over our routes and stopping to check directions a gazillion times. Elliot had his directions on Google Maps out, but not the actual map and none of us had data connections. I have a map of Colorado on my bike, but nothing detailed enough to get us around and out of Cripple Creek in the direction we wanted to travel.

South of Leadville

In the end we re-traced our path to Divide, gassed up and took highway 24 west to Buena Vista. Highway 24 can be fun, but a large portion of it was newly oiled and as the lead rider at that time, I decided to take it slow lest our tires not stick as well as they should and one, or more, of us went down. We finally made it beyond the fresh oil section in time for a long straight, yet very scenic, jaunt across central Colorado.

North of Buena Vista we stopped at the intersection for highway 82 and geared up for a chilly climb over Independence Pass. At over 12,000ft above sea level, the pass is cold in the height of summer and even colder in the non-summer months. And it was the first time all day we saw even the tiniest hint of rain.

But it was beautiful. I wish I'd had the +GoPro running, but even though I hit the button it didn't start recording and I didn't know until I arrived home the next evening.

We stopped at the top for a quick picture with the sign, a wedding party waiting silently by for us to be on our way and then headed downhill into Aspen where we regrouped at the Shell station. While drying off and stretching our legs we were witness to a woman wearing a dark blue dress ride up to the gas pumps on a dirt bike. On the handlebars rested her (I'm told) Coach bag.

12,095 Ft Above Sea Level

From Aspen we headed to Glenwood Springs and then on to Silt, CO where our rooms were booked. You have to understand, the ride organizer reserved our rooms and didn't tell us we were staying in Silt. Hell, I didn't even know where Silt was before we arrived there. Our hotel was nice, though and the restaurant down the street was surprisingly good. Good at everything. Their food was fantastic, their drinks were friendly and their staff was nice. I couldn't have dreamed a better restaurant.

We woke the next morning to dreary drizzle and while we'd discussed leaving at 11am (or at checkout), one person in our group was antsy to get moving and get ahead of the rain.  So, before 10am we were out the door and heading east on I-70. East of Glenwood Springs we were witness to a State Trooper chasing down a motorcyclist who weaved in and out of traffic to avoid being pulled over. We believe the motorcyclist was able to lose the trooper from the simple fact that we never saw the trooper and the motorcyclist pulled over on the side of the road.

Only in Aspen

We pulled over onto the shoulder of I-70 when Bob's bike turned over it's 75,000th mile, so he could take a picture, and then again in Minturn, CO to await the rest of our group to catch up.

In Leadville we stopped from lunch at a recommended local gem, The Silver Dollar Saloon. However, it wasn't much of a gem. Their menu only had a handful of items, all of which were hamburgers or sandwiches. Elliot is gluten free and couldn't have anything available. When he asked if he could buy two hamburger patties in lieu of s hamburger or sandwich, they told him he could buy two burgers at eight dollars each. Sixteen dollars for two hamburger patties? He then asked if he could get food elsewhere and bring it in to eat with the rest of us, they told him "no."

Deb, her son and I ordered our food at the same time and mine didn't come when theirs came. After more than 30 minutes of waiting I told the waitress to cancel my order I was going somewhere else. Bob ordered his sandwich after I ordered mine and he didn't get his until after I'd left to find food elsewhere. As it turned out, my sandwich came at the same time, even after I cancelled the order.

Horses at the Saloon

We adjourned from Leadville and headed south to Buena Vista and highway 285 which would bring us back to Denver. Once again we found ourselves surrounded by beautiful landscape as we shot along the center of the valley. In Fairplay we stopped for gas before heading east once more. At the west end of Kenosha Pass it started raining on us and then it turned to hail. Hail! Our options were limited: either continue on and hope it cleared up quickly or turn around and had back the 20 miles or so to Fairplay. There were no avenues around the storm to take and no place to shelter anywhere.

And so we trudged on. Up the pass through an inch of hail on the ground and then over and down the other side where the hail came once more. At the first chance I had I pulled over at an abandoned building that had a covered walkway and made a headcount. Luckily we all made it through unscathed, but many stories of fishtailing abounded. Having ridden through hail before, I knew what to expect, but three of the six of us had been riding less than two years and the other two hadn't ridden through hail at all.

This trip made riding veterans of everyone.

From Grant, CO until Lakewood we rode in the rain, which sometimes came down as a drizzle and sometimes so hard the Force was our only ally.

Looking East From Fairplay, CO

At C-470 we stopped to say goodbye to each other and for the first time in all these miles we had a mechanical fail. For some reason my bike wouldn't start. Nothing. It was weird. It had just started thirty minutes prior without a problem, but now I wasn't starting at all. Just as I was resigning myself to calling a friend and glad that we were so close to home Bob suggested trying to push start me. So, there we were on the shoulder of a highway trying to push start my SV1000s.

I popped the clutch and the SV started without a problem. I rode it straight home, another thirty miles, or so.

As I mentioned before, we had a rough outline of where we wanted to go, but no one created a detailed travel itinerary, so, like all well made plans, we ended up scrapping them as soon as they became inconvenient.

More Pictures:

Vroom! Vroom!

Mike

Deb

Elliot

Bob

On A Steel Horse I Ride

Our Route

And, if you've made it this far, here's a video of highway 24 between Minturn and Leadvilled, CO. Normally this video would have been more fun to watch, but the rain settled in and I kept having to slow down to wait for the rest of the group to catch up.