Twin Cities Area Campfire BS Thread

[Grainbelt]

Off to STL for a couple days. Hope everybody gets out for a ride in this spectacular fall weather!

[Jon B.]

And...

Speaking of Tough Mudder, SSgB and I - among others - will be running the July 21, 2013 event near the Twin Cities. If some of you FFs want to join the team - or form your own - this event is a hell of a lot of fun.

We ran with the Wiscon contingent of inmates a few weeks ago, and had a blast. Yes, it's damn hard work but it's a team effort and a metric shitload of good, dirty fun. If you've been to the CADVR, you've probably met those guys; C-Squared, papalobster, gasdoctor, TimCC, MattBastard, The OtherBart, BenRon... Oh, crap! I can't remember everyone. Sorry, guys and gals!

www.toughmudder.com

Should you care to be on "my" team (I just happened to have registered the team, is all), lemme know, and I'll send info via PM.

Jon B.

[swann]

Looks very challenging Jon B., there's no way I'd be an asset to any team doing that!

Ok, yesterday was a lot of riding at least for me. Short story for those who aren't interested in the details - I got the tag.

Rambling story for those who want to know -
Stats:
1 dead deer
2 dead skunks
1 dead kitty - still in the road :(
3 dead raccoons
right around 250 miles round trip
waved to seven motorcyclists (two waved back!), one boy on a ten speed and one little girl walking home from school who immediately looked away from me (neither one waved back)

Speaking of waving, I saw a video on youtube to help out with waving that you might get a kick out of too: The Motorcycle Wave - The Solution http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7tBHoq49RU

Sorry for all the posts for getting the tag, the place was crawling with those biting ladybugs and the address I copied and pasted from dropping a pin on iphone maps somehow wiped out the rest of the posting using tapatalk. I could clean up and consolidate the posts but that wouldn't be as amusing.

Firsts for me:
riding with someone else
leading a ride
following someone else
a decreasing radius exit/entrance ramp to get on I35
stop and go traffic in construction on I35
having a motorcycle "shimmy"
steering to avoid a dead animal (cat) in the road
mentally tallying roadkill
getting a tag
posting a tag
having strangers approach me about my bike/motorcycling
discovering my motorcycle's name
and on a COMPLETELY unrelated note, I always wondered what would happen when a motorcycle ran out of gas. It coasts for quite a ways. Speaking of which, if one were to read online that a motorcycle, say a Rebel, has a certain size gas tank, say 3 gallons roughly, and one notices that a Rebel seems to get 50-60 miles per gallon, one might assume that a Rebel could go about 150 miles before needing to be filled. Alas, this is not so, my friends. Somewhere after 120 miles (the latest point at which a gas station stop would occur previously), a Rebel will need to be switched to reserve. As this is a completely theoretical point, I also wondered what folks do when switching to reserve. It seems that it could be done while riding - reaching down to turn to reserve, then pulling in the clutch lever and then pressing the start button. http://www.obairlann.net/reaper/moto...serve-faq.html confirms and explains this. Just in case you didn't know either.

One of the items on my motorcycle wish list is a headset, mainly for when my family rides four wheelers, but I realized I need to have one that at least has the option to not be voice activated. I found myself singing and laughing at different things that would undoubtedly annoy someone else. Like when I was riding on I35 and came to the cement part with the grooves that go in the same direction as the road, my bike started kinda waving around under me. It surprised and amused me and I laughed and started singing "Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Bop" by Little Anthony and the Imperials (had to look up who sang that one). It was different to have the bike wiggling around but I just kept kind of a loose grip on the handlebars and enjoyed singing.

It also came to me while riding that my bike has a name, and at least part of it is Lil Blue. I think my bike has a lot of heart and I gotta respect it for that. It really tries. However, the Rebel is not a bike that can "make up time". I was supposed to take my daughter to a class last night but with the later start, the construction and other adventures, I wasn't going to make it home on time and had to ask hubby to bring her. I looked up the location on my phone and was able to meet them there shortly before the class started. Fortunately, I had picked up a caramel roll at Tobies for the kids on the way up to the tag, so I had a little bribery. But my sweet kiddos were just happy to see me, no need for a caramel roll! Awwww! While there, a guy noticed I was wearing a lot of gear and asked me what I rode. Turns out he has a blue Rebel too, and says he set a record in it some time ago, smallest bike to attempt going around all the great lakes. He succeeded though he lost his gel pad seat and had to go without for the last 2,000 miles. Oh, and another stranger approached LazyRider and I as we were getting ready to leave Tobies, saying she used to ride many years ago. I forgot what she said she rode, maybe LazyRider remembers?

Thanks for a great trip LazyRider! Lots of new experiences for me and I'm happy I could finally get a tag!

[swann]

Originally Posted by Grainbelt

Off to STL for a couple days. Hope everybody gets out for a ride in this spectacular fall weather!

Have fun in STL!

[HBL]

Great story Swann! So, you did not actually run completely out of gas yesterday...no pushing?

FWIW, you may want to save the attached link as a bookmark on your phone. It just might come in handy one day...http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=685516

[Ride_There]

Originally Posted by Grainbelt

Off to STL for a couple days. Hope everybody gets out for a ride in this spectacular fall weather!

I've heard East STL is nice this time of year... Just remember your armored vest.

[swann]

Run out of gas? Who, me? ;) Not totally. I won't tempt reserve until I get a rotopax thingy to carry extra gas.

Hopefully I'll never be stranded but the help list is a great thing to know about and be a part of! I put it in my phone contacts in case of future need. Thanks!!

[propforward]

Swann, sounds like you are having a blast - good stuff. You'll get the hang of switching to reserve "on the fly". Also, check out the Gazetteers maps for alternative routes to the interstates. Old highway 61 and Mn 23 are much nicer alternatives to I 35 for example. I just like staying off interstates as much as possible.

Damn, this is fabbo weather. Been kamping in Kettle Moraine the last couple of nights. Heading to Door Kounty today.

[cheetah_mn]

Originally Posted by propforward

Swann, sounds like you are having a blast - good stuff. You'll get the hang of switching to reserve "on the fly". Also, check out the Gazetteers maps for alternative routes to the interstates. Old highway 61 and Mn 23 are much nicer alternatives to I 35 for example. I just like staying off interstates as much as possible.

Damn, this is fabbo weather. Been kamping in Kettle Moraine the last couple of nights. Heading to Door Kounty today.

I second that 61 and 23 is a much nice ride. Better scenery and less traffic.

[Metallic Waste]

Nice ride, you two. The grooves in the road surface are called rain grooves. Yes, your bike will start to wander a bit, so let it. It's perfectly normal.
-K

[propforward]

Now having a sub on the shore of Lake Michigan. The sub place is called "Fatzos", so I thought that was a good sign. We shall see, I suppose.

[Spikehead]

Where are you / whatcha doin'? Is this your RR trip?

Originally Posted by propforward

Now having a sub on the shore of Lake Michigan. The sub place is called "Fatzos", so I thought that was a good sign. We shall see, I suppose.

[barnyard]

If you go through Racine, get a sandwich from Lee's Deli on Washington Ave. Yum, yum, yum.

[swann]

Thanks for the tips! For the sake of time the interstate seemed the most efficient route. Future rides will avoid "the slab". Hope Fatzos was all it promised to be! ;)

[Klay]