Gold Coast, July 4th, 2010.

So for a long time now, I've enjoyed just simply going on a motorcycle ride and finding an unassuming town and enjoying whatever little tidbits it has to offer. Whether it be enjoying a farmers market, a parade, a local show, etc... it's always fun to experience a bit of Americana on road trips.

So this July, I had about 5 days off, and figured a road trip was in order. The multi would be going on it's first west coast ride.

I had no real plan, but to ride north, maybe hit some of the fantastic roads that Norcal has to offer. I would end up taking 299 from Redding to Arcata which was fun enough, with light traffic. Not to shabby, but I still need to hit Hwy 36 with it's imposing 140 miles of twisties.

Since we were on a leisure ride, and no real plan, we simply got out of the bay area on the first day, slabbing it north to get some distance towards our destination...wherever that may be.

Spent the first night in a regular motel, in Anderson, Ca.

Then jammed it over 299 to the coast.

Along the way, we stopped for some gas and a pbr, and took a photo with this homage to a local legend. Bigfoot. :D

From Arcata, we rolled north along the coast on Hwy 1 towards Oregon.

We made a run through the Redwoods N.F. (note myself and the bike under the redwood) and stopped at the Trees of Mystery to check out this giant statue of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. :D with testicles and all. hahahaha

We passed into Oregon, without much fanfare, and stopped at the tallest bridge in Oregon. The Thomas Creek Bridge, at 345 feet.

..and walked around to some of the sights....this photo above, is about 500 ft above the water below. pretty deceiving unless you look closely. The reason the trail was closed, was due to the high amounts of poison oak along the trail...hahahaha didn't see the sign, before I went over the log blocking the way. Oh well, PO doesn't affect me. so it was all good.

With the day getting long, and it being super windy, we decided to go no further than Gold Coast, Oregon. I'd been thru here before, on my rides to Seattle, and found a nice cheap local motel to stop at. After getting settled in, we bought some drinks, and went down to the beach for a nice sunset. A bit chillier than socal, but still enjoyable nonetheless.

No one else on the beach, but with a nice sweatshirt, thanks to the Kimchi, it was just fine.
Especially while enjoying a Chelada on the coast. :)

The next day we decided to make the most of the trails in the area, and hike about. As well as to stick around Gold Coast, and enjoy the local 4th of July celebration. Which would start with an F-15 fly by at about 11:30am. That was cool to see, even though it was quick.

We rode around, and saw Arch rock, and then a few of these ginormous boulders, rocks, remnants of a bygone era........and the sheer size of them is impressive. That's me on the far right photo, down by the water.

After a nice day, sunny, yet windy, we headed down to the piers where the main festivities would be held. On lineup, was the Cajun band to play, the pie and watermelon eating contests, and the patriotic pooch show. hahaha As you can tell from the above photo, there is always one little dude, who doesn't care about what others think. He got out with the band playing and danced to his own tune. Much to the enjoyment of the entire crowd. That is how I hope my kid will be one day. Simply can't be bothered with what others think of his behavior, and about people looking/laughing in his general direction.

The patriotic pooch show went well, with many a different class of dog out there, and all the local kids trying to be in as many events as possible. The pie eating contest was held with great fanfare, and the little dudes (dancing dude included) went at it full throttle. hahaha

Finally, it was time for the fireworks, and they were stellar. Great to spend a good evening checking the fireworks, and enjoying a bit of rural America, in my opinion, every now and then. Reminds me of why this country is so great, and why I love it so much.

We took it easy that night, as it was 400 miles home the following morning. It went well, with a spirited ride down the 101 south into SF. With an obligatory stop to get a post-ride beer, at Zeitgeist. I went for 2 pbr, as that is how I roll. :D

great trip, great experience, and I can honestly say, this was one of the better July 4th's I've spent in a long while.

too much time away from the computer...is good, no?

Well, I haven't been able to get on here and update lately, but have had some good trips recently. My laptop is on the fritz, and hopefully getting it looked at tomorrow, and possibly fix it, so I can put up photos.

Recently rode out to Hawthorne, Nv. with a bunch of friends from the bay area, and spent 3 days in Nevada, riding and seeing sights, but more importantly, drinking and hanging out by the pool. :D

I have to talk about one thing while I'm at it....Saturday evening, after a good day of riding with several of the guys and gals, we were swimming and I was chatting with one of the ladies in the group. We were throwing stories back and forth, and somehow the story of myself being sent to a survival camp in Ontario at the tender age of 11 y/0 came up. Before I could finish, she asked "Was it Northwaters?"

I was like, "wtf?!" and then "no, but it was Langskib, the all boys camp" and she was in the sister camp (coed, but both run by the Northwaters group) What the hell?! out of nowhere. I've seen this lady a few times in our motorcycling groups and chatted here and there, but to randomly find out all of a sudden that she was at the same camps as myself only a few years after I was...was pretty rad and unexpected.

Needless to say, we talked a bunch and filled in each other with memories that either we couldn't remember, and were filling in spaces for each other, or just marveling at finding someone that had experienced the same thing. 27 years, and I had never met anyone else that had been to these camps. It was an intense 4 weeks of canoeing, camping, hunting, and learning to live in the bush, with little to no resources, while respecting the land and what it has to offer.

The camp had a few agreements with the local Ojibway Indians and for that, were allowed to use their land, and tried to instill the same philosophies to us. It pretty much defined the rest of my life and how I have been able to do just about anything I put my mind to. No complaints, no crying...just do it. Survive! Live! and if the world takes everything you own, away from you....you live with the certainty that you will survive and not fall apart.

eh.. it was crazy. but loads of fun to know/meet someone that had been there too.

after that we all drank heavily, ate tons of good food, and talked motorcycles for the rest of the night, before riding home in the morning.

I have many photos from the trip, and will get them uploaded asap, as well as a few fun videos. :D

Here is a teaser, from our Saturday. I decided to tag along with one group, and we rode to Bodie State Park/Ghost town.....and then we rode back to Lee Vinning for some lunch at Mono Cone (best burger, just east of Yosemite) and then we stopped in Nevada to toss a few rounds down range. :D

The Stinkin' Rose, SF. 7-6-10

The Stinking Rose
325 Columbus Ave
San Francisco, Ca.
94133

So I've been in the bay area for about 5 years now, on and off, traveling back and forth, and out for contracts.....and probably about a year into being here, I heard of a restaurant named "The Stinkin' Rose". A restaurant that specialized in using Garlic as it's main, if not primary ingredient in all of it's dishes. As some of you may know, Gilroy is the self professed garlic capital of the world, and just south of San Jose, Ca. Each year they have a garlic festival, and you can smell it for miles and miles.

I had heard varying reviews, and one of them was that this place was overpriced and more hype than worth it. well, screw it, I really like Garlic, and wanted to try out this place, so, I finally made it out for some dinner, with Lindsey.

We started off with some roasted garlic cloves in olive oil sauce, with bread on the side. The garlic simply smushes onto the bread like butter.....garlicy butter. DELISHIOUS!!!!!!

Followed by a little Garlic and Fontina cheese fondue. Holy smokes, if nothing else, you have to get this. So good...I could have eaten 2 orders by myself...but I was saving myself for the Piece de resistance.

I ordered the Lamb Shank, in chianti sauce with farva beans, and a nice side of garlic mashed potatos, with cream spinach. I have to say right away, that the meat was so tender, soft and juicy, that I immediately seemed to go into a food coma when I began to eat it. hahahaha

Lamb can be weird to cook, and sometimes gets to dry. Not here. It was succulent, tasty, well complimented, and definitely a dish I could see myself eating a lot of. Needless to say I finished the whole thing, and we rolled out of this restaurant.

It's definitely somewhere that you will need a reservation on a busy weeknight, but we walked in about 7pm on a weekday, and they had plenty of tables available. It's surprisingly roomie inside, and there is a row of private tables, more suited for 2 people, but definitely will hold 4 people in a cozy and private setting, around the side. The waiters are a little tardy and innattentive...but not by much. Not enough to be a problem, that's for sure...and I personally like to be left alone when I'm eating, instead of having a waiter constantly by to ask, how I'm doing.

all in all a great dining experience in North Beach.

WORLD CUP FINAL!!!! Netherlands vs. Spain!

Netherlands vs. Spain.

Some history real quick, Netherlands has been to the final 2 times in '74 and '78. Both times Netherlands lost. Spain has never been to the finals, but has been to the last 13 World Cups, which equals 52 years of playing world cup, in a row. (World Cup is every 4 years, for those that don't follow it. haha)

Spain is playing a good game, controlling, and keeping the ball the majority of the play so far. A few close calls, but who knows where this will go. I'm torn on who to root for, as the Spanish have always been disrespectful to the Mexican community, as if looking down from their pompous high horse. the netherlands, well, it would be cool if they finally won the WC, but honestly, from the first 30 minutes of play, I think the Spanish have outplayed them. There is already 5 yellow cards in the first 30 min of play. I foresee a red card and ejection to come in the second half. Possibly in the next 15 minutes. hahaha

I am happy to see new teams making it to the final, and not the same ones of the last decade.
The favorites are out, Argentina, Brazil, Germany, France and Italy....some of the heavy hitters, who as we know, some of them didn't even make it out of the first round....fu France! hahaha

back to the game....

July 4th weekend!

Had a great weekend riding in Norcal and Souther Oregon for the July 4th weekend celebrations. Made a last minute decision to stay in the town we were stopped in, for the fireworks, and it worked out great.

Over 1000 miles
beautiful scenery, and roads.
fast, fun, twisties
Experienced a bit more of America, randomly spending July 4th in Gold Beach, Oregon. :D

pictures to come as soon as I download and organize them.

update:

been offline for many days. so much going on.

had some good trips around the area lately.

World Cup fever is coming to an end soon.
So far USA, Mexico out. The two teams I was rooting for the most.

Spain just beat out Portugal, and Japan was axed by Paraguay in a very hard game, that went to penalty kicks after 1:20 hours of play.

be back with more soon.

oh, and Brownie, suck it. hahahaha

good day of games in the World Cup.

Damn, there are some serious surprises going on in World Cup.

Too bad too many Americans think this game is boring...I absolutely love the World Cup. Brings out the best, worst of every countries team. hahaha

Surprises, Germany upset by Serbia. Holy Hell, that ref was handing out yellow cards as if they were candy, plus the red card that dropped the German team to 10 players, allowing Serbia to score soon after. Then the Germans were given the greatest gift you can receive in World Cup play....a penalty kick....and they botched it. what the hell?! hahahaha

USA ties in their match, in the second half....2-2, which was huge, since they were down by 2 through the first half. It keeps them in the game, but they have to play Algeria next week. Who probably won't be an easy team to match up against, seeing as how Algeria just tied with England 0-0 (they played hard, and both sides defended very well), that was a major blow for England. but then again, I'm okay with that. hahahaha

I really need to start recording these games...as usually there is 3 games per day. Starting at 4-4:30 in the morning, 2nd one at 11am, and 3rd one at 1-2pm. hahahaha doesn't help that I'm working nights in a row. oh well, it's World Cup....only happens every 4 years.

GGOOOOOLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mexico vs France

Mexico by 2 goals, one by penalty!

tied in 1st place with Uruguay in their group.

Tomorrow, USA takes on Slovenia for a key game to keep them in play.

watching the games on a 50 inch flat screen is the best!!!

R.T.O. relay race 6/3-4/2010

Well, for the 2nd time, I participated in the Reno/Tahoe Odyssey relay race, around Lake Tahoe, starting in Reno. I hooked up with the same team as last year, all hashers, and this year we would be rocking the #69. haha

I drove up to Reno on Thursday and met the other hashers for dinner at Silverpeak. We figured we'd be meeting up at the start point in the morning, and then have breakfast. I would be in Van #2, which had 3 new legs for all of us. (last year, we were in Van #1).


My first leg would be #11 (5.5 mi), followed by #23 (6.2 mi) and #35 (7.5 mi) Some photos at the first van exchange. All the members are hashers, so it's pretty laid back. Ray (No Film) would go out first from this section.

A few hashers and the van painted up for identifiability. haha


Photo on the left was at a stop we made for Greg (Got Wood!?), on his running section.

Photo on the right is Joe (posterior), waiting for Mike to get in and tag off, so she could run the downhill of Geiger grade. This is during the final 6 stages of the race, and we all are running our final leg.


During my legs, I just told them to drive to the exchange point, and didn't need them to stop, except for the last leg, because it was near 90 degrees, and 7.5 miles. I had a hand water bottle, and it held me just fine the evening before, and that morning (around 3am).


The Reno Tahoe Odyssey Trail relay is a fun event that brought 153 relay teams together to run around the lake for a total of 178 miles. Our final time was 27 hr 47 min. an hour faster than the year before. My brother in law was kicking 6.5 min miles...hahaha he had the fastest times of our team.

This is one of the final photos at the ceremonial finish line, with the whole team. The final runner, fudgina, had just finished her leg. Included in the picture is Beaver Spit who broke her leg 2 weeks before the event, and needed an alternate to run for her (my brother in law). She was our team Captain.

Aluminum swing arm repaired

So a few weeks ago I put up some photos of my faithful steed. I've ridden across the U.S. on her, especially the west coast. So I'm a little bit attached to her. So it was my dismay when she was damaged due to my carelesness. I called a friend of mine in Reno who welds and I figured I'd just take the swingarm off and have him repair it. So right before going to Reno, I decided to remove the swingarm. hahahaha 5 hours later, I had the swingarm off (doh!, a little longer than I expected), and was enroute to Reno in traffic (exactly what I was trying to avoid) hahaha
Before: After:

I took the entire rear of the M900 apart.

...and cleaned the hell out of everything. hmmm, don't think I've seen that part of the engine be any other color, other than black (covered in oil) haha

and in the end, she's all back together. I had barely gotten a little over 100 miles of scrub in time on my new tires, so I was itching to go out and ride.

I called Dave Moss at Catalyst Suspension, and rode down so he could dial in the bikes front forks, and rear shock. He made some measurements, and he dialed it in. Holy crap, the bike handles so much better now...it doesn't wallow on hard acceleration, and it tracks perfectly through corners under heavy acceleration. So I promptly rode home and got my other bike and came back to get that one dialed in. :D

Back on track!!!!!

Well, as many of you know, I got the trackday fever again recently, and got to work on my racebike.

Well, Memorial day I got a chance to take her out (it has been a year, since I'd been on the track), and it felt amazing. The bike was running great, got her warmed up, and managed to not do any damage, and do well on the laptimes. The track: Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, Ca. (about 140 miles north of SF)

I've been here many times, but it had been a year since the last time I was here, and today was all about getting myself back up to track speed.

A few photos in the morning at our pits. I went up with several friends, Correne, Dave, Brian, Linda, Adam, Dave, Jeff and myself +1. :D We pitted together and that makes for a great day of hanging out with friends and pushing each other on the racetrack.

My first session out, was great, got up to a decent speed, and since I was also breaking in new slicks, I had to take it easy for a lap or two.

Dave and I went out together for the first session. He's on a Triumph Street Triple, while I'm on the SV 650s. We were managing the same times, and once my tires were scrubbed in, it was time to pick up the pace and drop him like a cheap habit. HAHAHA :D

The track was closed and evacuated temporarily when someone ate it coming out of T13 (the back S curves) and high sided, with the bike partially lying on the track. Fortunately, with the many crashes, no one was seriously hurt, nor required a trip to the hospital. That is amazing actually. hahaha so a quick photo of us waiting for the track to go green. It was getting warm, but no where near the 105 deg weather that can hit here in July and August.

A little salute to our favorite photographer, Dito. :D from gotbluemilk.com

all the photos from this one, down to the end are courtesy of one of the finest track photographers I know. Dito.

The day got good, and I picked up my speeds more and more. The goal was to get around the track, get a feel for my bike again, and see what my current running speed is. I always feel better with brand new tires, and today was no different. About mid-morning I started to drop my times, and was consistently in the 2:10 range. not horrible, but not where I wanted to be.

Dave and I played for a while on track, and then Adam and I went to dicing it up, and that carried my pace even faster. Especially since he is on an R6 and technically, should be pulling around the track way faster than me. :D It was good though, since I kept pace and it pulled me around the track that much faster.

In the end, a really fun day. It was Memorial Day, and I saw it fitting to go out and do something fun, and enjoy our freedoms that this amazing country offers us, with special thanks to all of our Military personnel worldwide.

more INK...left side started.

So I finally got the appointment that I wanted with a guy in San Francisco, Tim Lehi at Blackeart Tattoo.

I had heard of Tim about 8 years ago, when living in Seattle. A friend of mine had a lot of tattoo work, and most of it had been done by Tim. He recommended him, and the work looked fantastic. Imagine my surprise when I walked into Blackheart one day, just looking at artist renditions, and asked if they knew of Tim Lehi...they in turn said to me that he worked there. hahaha what a coincedence. I had been going to the bar next door for a couple years now and never knew. geez.

anyway, I got a call that he had about 2 hours free on Saturday afternoon, after being put on the cancellation phone list, mostly because I live right here in SF.

So Saturday afternoon, I went in for some work to start the left arm. It is the female companion Foo Dog (Chinese Lion) of the one rendered on my right arm.

I'm pretty excited to see the work as it progresses and this piece took Tim a little under two hours to do. damn. :D