Family Portrait

Here's one big picture that pretty much shows where all of my disposable income has gone over the last 15 years.



Friday I signed up for another couple of days with STAR. I'm going back to Pahrump NV in November. I've put about 900 miles on the Ducati so far but it's still fairly intimidating so I thought the best place to understand it's track manners was at STAR (instead of with a bunch of bozos trying to cram one last trackday hurrah into the Seattle riding season). I think I'll be able to borrow an enclosed trailer and a truck to tow it with so I don't have my Ducati spending the night out in the open at the Notel Motel during the trip. Plus the trailer is large enough to take two bikes so if no one else joins me on the trip I might take the Suzuki as well.

Now I just need to figure out how to paint that fiberglass race body before I head down there.

I may have been dropped on my head as a child

That Ducati 1098 Tri-Colore isn't at the dealer any more. Someone snatched it up on Tuesday.

The problem is that 'someone' was me.

Here's my 12-step program for Ducati ownership:

1. Lose mind.
2. Find a banker who has also lost thier mind.
3. Buy Ducati and race bodywork.
4. Break-in Ducati.
5. Figure out how to paint fiberglass.
6. Service Ducati.
7. Get extra bike protection widgets.
8. Break-in Ducati some more.
9. Paint fiberglass.
10. Install race bodywork and widgets.
11. Go to track.
12. Try to stop giggling.

So far I'm on step 4. (Well, a little bit of step 12 too.) With some luck I'll get comfortable with it and get it to the track this season.

It's a little hard to get a truly accurate picture since I'm limited to < 6000 rpm during the break-in picture. But early indications are that it's scary powerful. It's 100lbs lighter and has 60hp more than the Daytona.

Sweet dreams are made of these.

Wow! March 4th?! Eeek, I'm not very good at this am I? Oh well, you get what you pay for and I'm sure none of you are paying for this.

What's happened in 5 months? Well, the weather got nice so I got out from in front of computer and did stuff. What stuff? I can't remember but I'm sure it was fun.

... Uh ... Hmmm..... 5 months? .... What *did* I do? ...

Track days! Right! Three tracks days at Pacific Raceways. June 2nd + 3rd, and July 30th. On June 2nd I snapped the chain during the first session. I thought it was going to end my whole weekend but luckily I had an extra link and with some help I was back in the action after missing only one session. Here's one of my laps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc9LsSHHYIw

BTW, that's a new camera setup on the bike. I replaced the Archos AV500 recorder with an Aiptek MPVR. The Archos couldn't handle the vibration very well since it writes to an HDD. The Aiptek writes to a CF card and it works pretty well. (And it's smaller.)

July 30th I was at PR again. I was pretty sick so I only ran 4 or 5 sessions and most of those I came in early. Much to my surprise I was able to get a knee down in turns 2, 3, 4, 6, and 9. (Six really freaked me out, it was totally unintentional.) My lap times weren't spectacular but I did manage to see 133mph on the computer at one point. (No, mom, I wasn't watching my speedometer at 133mph. The computer records my max speed and I check it when the session is over.)

My group at work was given the week of July 30th off. (Hence being at the track on a Monday.) I thought I'd take some time to myself and drive out to Glacier National Park. In preparation I finally had the other 5 Redlines put on The Triumph. I know my dad thinks I'm crazy (for many reasons we won't get into here) but the Redlines really do make a difference. They somehow just look right.

Gentlemen, please remove your hats as we observe a moment of silence to commemorate the loss of our beloved original spare. .............. For 32 years it sat patiently in the trunk. Ever vigilant. Always ready to step in when needed. It was a fine old tire and I'll miss it terribly.

But in the end I decided it wouldn't be too smart to drive 4 days with the top down if I was sick. So I never did go to Glacier. (No, I could not have put the top up. I have a convertible. If the top is up I might just as well be driving a coupe. And that's just silliness.)

The same day I had the Redlines mounted I had new tires put on the Daytona in preparation for the track day. While they were being mounted at a local dealer I made a strategic error: I went upstairs to sales. Why was that an error? Because I found one of these on these on the floor. Whoever had put a deposit on it couldn't finish the deal and there no one else was waiting for a Tri-Colore. (The other 1098 models have a waiting list almost a year long at this dealership.) I tried it on for size and woudn't you know, it fit!

I talked with the sales guys and the service guys and they were clearly conspiring against the sensible part of my brain. But I managed to escape with new tires and before their Jedi Mind Tricks forced me into a new Ducati. I got in the car thinking "Whew! That was close! Good thing someone even dumber than me will snap that up. And probably even before my credit union opens again."

Except... I stopped by the dealer today and it is still there.

Waiting for me.

Calling to me.

It must be a sign.

Maybe it's the re-incarnation of that original spare. ... Maybe I should get it. Maybe it's trying to keep looking out for me. ... Right?

Mud Bath

I took the bike to work on Friday. Some folks were planning to ride to the premier of Wild Hogs in the afternoon. I was going to join them on the off chance that the weather was cooperative. Of course this is Seattle so ... well ... yeah, that didn't happen.

But an odd thing happened at 11:30. I decided to go for a lunch ride with a couple other crazy fools. They wanted to get a burger at a little cafe in Fall City which is a 30-minute ride. Me? I just wanted to burn some gas.

It was raining. The road was wet. And I have no rear fender to speak of. I ended up covered in dirt.

It was great!

Did you worry about getting dirty when you were 7? And when mom told you to get out of the rain didn't you mutter something about "When I grow up I'm going to do what I want!"? ... So? Are you eating ice cream everyday? Are you playing in the mud?

On the Road Again

Good ol' Willie. Anyone know if he's paid off his taxes yet? ... Oh well.

It actually happened on Wednesday. I picked my Suzuki up from the dealer! (What? You don't think that's exciting? Just because I've done that about 2 dozen times in the last few years? Ah, okay, here's the important point -->) WITHOUT A TRAILER!

That's right boys and girls. It's alive and kicking and coming to a yuppie-biker-hangout near you.

It runs pretty good in the mid rev range. I'm not sure it's getting enough fuel once the revs pick up. It's a little early to say. My hope is to push a tank of gas through it this weekend. (If the weather cooperates.)

I've covered about 25 miles so far. And I've learned a few things already:
1) Mirrors are almost useless on a bike. But not as useless as having *no* mirrors.
2) If you have a short rear fender and you ride when the road is wet, you're going to get a nice disgusting stripe of grime on the back of your jacket.
3) Riding a cruiser with forward controls is absolutely nothing like riding a sport bike. (Although the riding position is oddly similar to the driving position in a TR6.)

Work items left:
- Polished / chromed final drive.
- Polished / powdercoated lower front legs
- Replace the oil cooler with something slimmer.
- Hide / cleanup the bluing on the front pipe.
- Get a speedometer cable.