Last Rides

[Fatfatboy]

[oldironnow]

Damn good day !
Smells like … victory.

Fatfatboy wrote

Friday we got a fluke warm up so I took advantage of it to get my first ride of 2025, other than my short commutes on the z125.


I headed north towards my old stomping grounds.
Rode a bit with a couple young men, one on a Ducati Motard and the other on his just purchased Yamaha XSR700. It’s the first I’d seen of this model. Great looking Nike that he carved the tarmac quite well with.



A stop by Busch Wildlife just to kill a couple Camels and soak in the beauty of the day.


Even the ducks were enjoying paddling around in the warmer temps before it drops back into the 40’s.


Even though it was just a short 100 mile or so day it brought fresh air into the lungs.
Quite the phenomenon how sunshine, wind in the face and a two wheeled motorized machine can give one a fresh perspective.

[hacksaw]

lol😎good one!

[oldironnow]

Took a ride between rain showers up to Alice’s for a Celebration of Life of a good rider and good guy who left this reality.
The rain had other ideas climbing up to Skyline, and then fog set in to the point where the wet road reflected the fog-colored air and the road disappeared just beyond the next Botts’ Dot. Rain-stabbing-face ride for 75 minutes each way because the Bell fogs up like crazy.
Surreal, soaking wet ride.
Shivered through the memorial.
Made it to the gathering down in the flats.
Rode my best bike in his honor - only one who rode.
Got to meet his buddy who had a dog tee-bone into the front wheel of his GS1200 which caused the entire machine rotate over and squash him.
Broke nine ribs, lung, scaphoid, both hands…
Bike largely unhurt.
He got better.
Two years later he hits a deer in the Sierra foothills (same bike) on a week-long group ride to do 22 passes over the mountain range. This time gets smashed rearward into the top box, breaking back, nine ribs, same lung, arm. Gets airlifted to Reno.. put back together. Still rides. Harley.

Ça ira..




.

[hacksaw]

Looks dry there at least.
May your friend RIP

[Fatfatboy]

Man, sorry to hear about both your friends. Your one buddy is a trooper to take those beatings and staying in the game.
A lot of people don’t understand why we keep playing with the reaper on two wheels but once it’s in your blood it’s hard to get it out.

May your other friend rides in peace now.

[hacksaw]

True to a degree. But around here the traffic has become a death wish over the last few years.  Guess it depends on how much one has to lose . I may have to truck out of here to do any real riding. Getting old hasn’t helped. My family is still pretty much dependent on me.
So no way I push my luck on crap weather etc.
been there and done that.
Sure it’s still in my blood. But I am more into the machines themselves than actually riding. There maybe a toy hauler in my future.
I do find ripping thru the gears the most pleasurable experience this side of starting a new motor for tge first time  .  Nice country lane in May too, if I could find one

[Fatfatboy]

Sounds like you need to move. Prices and interest rates are coming down.
Heck maybe a move to a 55 or older community is the way to go.
My folks did it at 80 y.o. and love it. No mowing the grass, leaking faucets, broken appliances, taxes, insurance, etc.
They have a 2 car garage, two bedrooms decent size living room and dining room so enough space for the two of them. It's really not a bad way to go.
Kinda tempting for myself but my wife doesn't want to give up her pool.

[motogrady]

Fatfatboy wrote

Sounds like you need to move. Prices and interest rates are coming down.
Heck maybe a move to a 55 or older community is the way to go.
My folks did it at 80 y.o. and love it. No mowing the grass, leaking faucets, broken appliances, taxes, insurance, etc.
They have a 2 car garage, two bedrooms decent size living room and dining room so enough space for the two of them. It's really not a bad way to go.
Kinda tempting for myself but my wife doesn't want to give up her pool.

I’ve seen that quite a bit the last few years.
Heck, we talk about it.  

But change is hard.

A guy builds something, the memories,
the uncertainties of having to deal with unknown neighbors, I can see why many choose to rough it out till
the grim reaper shows up.  

[oldironnow]

hacksaw wrote

Looks dry there at least.
May your friend RIP

Appreciating your condolences.

Indeed, dry at Alice's.
Highway84 crosses Hwy35 right there, naturally it's the pathway sought out by walkers and horses and wagons for eons, because the ridge line drops lower a bit, so the whole shebang was un-raining.

Leaving three hours later, it was even drying up, so I convinced myself to head back the same way I came, right up into the clouds and the rain getting stripped out of them by orographic lifting.... I need to think deeper about shit in the moment....

[oldironnow]

Fatfatboy wrote

Man, sorry to hear about both your friends. Your one buddy is a trooper to take those beatings and staying in the game.
A lot of people don’t understand why we keep playing with the reaper on two wheels but once it’s in your blood it’s hard to get it out.

May your other friend rides in peace now.

Damn, I bet he does/is/will. He was a real gearhead.

'Bob,' who had the Animal Magnet option installed in his BMW at the factory, told me exactly that - people question his willingness to ride at all (The Fear), much less riding after wreck A and then Wreck B.

We agreed it feels so freakin' good to ride in any moment. And with life always being at least a day too short, the Capital-R risk that comes with the Capital-J joy is not enough to let others' rational decisions to live the car-life mean much at all.

[oldironnow]

Rode yesterday to Solvang and back to look over an old pickup.
Did not purchase.
500 miles.