im so tired of seeing baggers!

We went to the Woodstock IL motorcycle swapmeet today. It was a great time, saw some CRAZY stuff like a 50cc snowmobile for kids, lots of sweet cafe bikes, and a bunch of jap/british bobbers. It was an all around good time.
The only set back is the sea of stock harley davidson baggers that are everywhere. Im so tired of seeing everyone and their mother riding a La-Z-Boy on wheels. That shit is not manly, its not womanly, its just boring. Plain and simple. Put some pinstriping on it and rediculously loud pipes and call it custom. Its not that i dont like the bikes, but more so the fact that every one of them looks exactly the same and the riders all look exactly the same. Theres no individuality anymore. Its all generic.
Now, im not saying that everyone should go out and ride some homemade hard tailed monstrosity. Although that is what i do prefer myself. But, atleast take some pride in it other than the fact that its been washed and you have a leather vest. Make it "Your's" and make it different. Stand out and try to show a little of yourself. Would you get a tattoo that everyone else had and think it was awesome? Hell no, because everyone would look like fools.
Spend some time, look at it, make it something that is an extension of you.
There are motorcycle riders and there are motorcycle owners. If you just wanna ride and dont care about what it looks like just go buy a brand new japanese bike and save the money, cause it doesnt matter anyways. If you wanna be excited everytime your leg over that thing, then make it something thats going to get you excited. Like your riding it for the first time all over again.

School is cool

I had my first day of my next class last night and lets just say it was interesting. The teacher is really nice but very low key. Almost to the point of boredom but not quite there. It's a business class so it fairly interesting and could definitely come in handy later on in life. He's got real life experience as a business owner so i can take his opinions seriously. He's not just reading out of a book and delegating the answers out to us in a big list.
It's definitely strange being the only one in the class above the age of 20 or so. I'm not much older but they can still tell. (did my beard and Iron Maiden shirt give me away?) A few people were trying to befriend me on our smoke break, but something tells me they might just be looking for someone to buy them beer.
Although, one person did seem very cool. They approached me and asked me what kind of motorcycle i have to which i responded politely and we struck up a conversation. We talked about how he used to build cars with his dad before he passed away and how much fun he had doing it. It's nice to meet a truly genuine person once in a while. Someone who's not trying to blow smoke up your ass or just impress you by oneuping your stories with something that probably never happened or atleast didnt happen that way. Good thing me and him are on the same work team because if I had to spend the next 8 weeks listening to "man, i wish would could get some beer for this party tonight. wink wink nudge nudge" i think i might put a gun in my mouth.
Here's to hoping that school is still cool.

Well, here it go's....

OK, so I've never done this before. Computers aren't new but the blog thing is, so here it go's.

My girlfriend/almost wife/fiance told me that i have to much rattling around in my head and not enough paper to write it down on. The Internet, being the seemingly endless sheet of paper that it is, seemed like a good idea to me and her. A way to get all those experiences written down and if other people enjoy reading about them eventually then even better. Bringing a little happiness to someones day cant be bad. Can it?

They all called me crazy last week. My parents, wife, friends. I called up my lady while she was at work and said "hey, can u drive me to my dad's house when u get home?" Right away she piped that it was too cold to get the bike already and i was a total loon for even thinking it. Instantly I thought it as funny how she knew exactly what my intentions were with just that question. Never the less I responded with "I'm a man and i don't give a shit." She laughed and agreed to cruise me over there, plus my mom offered to make everyone dinner if we came, so it was definitely on.
We shot over there, my mom instantly sees me looking at the bike in the garage and knows whats going on. She proceeded to tell me i was nuts as well also accompanied with a slew of "be safes" that only a mother can give properly. I told her i was fine, the bike was running great, and there was nothing to worry about. It's only a 20 minute ride back to our place. No big deal. A cake walk.
Holy shit was i wrong. Now bear in mind this was one of the first days of March and i live just outside of Chicago. 45 degrees and a bit windy. Not exactly optimal riding conditions. Plus we can't forget, "I'm a man and I don't give a shit." Yeah, I ate those words after about 10 minutes.
I decided to take 31st street all the way back to route 83 and head north from there. Simple and not alot of traffic. It would be A perfect first cruise of the year. By the time i got to 83 I was pretty well frozen, but that was the least of my concerns.
The bike was running in top shape. I did an oil change the week before, changed the plugs, and checked every bolt on the bike for safety's sake. (Weather changes can make things "magically" loosen up). What i didn't remember and what almost left me stranded was the fact that i never changed the gas that had been in the bike since last October. Gas like to go bad and gather water in the winter, hence why we have HEET that we put in our gas tanks in our cars. The little Suzuki motor didn't like the old gas and was on the verge of dying at every traffic light to the point that i had to have the bike at around 2,000 RPM while i was idling. Then i noticed that the over flows from the carb's were pissing out gas as a result as well. Perfect.
I finally got the thing home after a quick stop at the gas station to at least put some fresh gas in with the old stuff. It helped a little after it started to mix but not that much.
The 20 minute ride took a total of around an hour to do, with the gas stop included. I was frozen and the lady was laughing her ass off when i walked in. She just sarcastically asked me "How was the ride in this nice weather?" I responded with all i could think of.
"I'm a man and i don't give a shit about any weather!"
We both laughed and then i scurried off for a hot shower.

Today, that's another story. I have the day off except for school later on tonight. It's a high of 59 degrees and it's sunnier than hell. Time to jump on that thing and see where it takes me for a couple hours. Hopefully that couple hours turns into a whole afternoon.
And yes, i did drain out all the old gas and not she is much happier.

Until later.
See you on the road and watch out for soccer mom's!