The VFR is BACK ... kind of

I've been doing some work on my VFR recently.  Suspension improvements, valve clearance adjustments, bodywork repairs, and so forth.  Major work.  Well, I "finished" a few days ago and it's ready to ride again. So I took it out for a little spin on Saturday.

Some friends were doing a weekend (Friday-Sunday) ride in the North Georgia/East Tennessee/Western North Carolina mountains.  I decided to ride up and join them, but I only had one day to do it.  So it ended up being a long day.

They were planning to hit the Blue Ridge Parkway, ride it up past Asheville, then turn around and ride back. I figured that was a wide enough window that we couldn't miss each other.  They'd be heading back west on the Parkway, while I was eastbound.  A couple texts along the way to let each other know where we were was the plan.  

As it turned out, I got a late start and I ran into them on the Parkway before I even had a chance to text them.  I had stopped at the Pisgah Inn and turned on my phone but my phone was taking its sweet time getting a data connection so I decided to let it talk to the network while I rode on.  Not long after that, I see some familiar faces (and bikes) approaching me in the opposite direction!  I slammed on the brakes, turned around, and gunned it to catch them.  So we didn't even need the texts to meet up.  Shortly after meeting up we snapped some of the pictures you see below.

Here's a map of the route I think I rode (not starting from my home, but from a generic point).  According to my odometer, I rode 563 miles on the day.


View Larger Map

I explored a few new roads on the way up (around Lake Rabun).  Did some old classics (Wolf Pen Gap, Richard Russell Parkway, Warwoman Road, Hwy 28, Hwy 215, etc.), too.

On the way back, while stopped for gas, one of the locals gave us a nice tip to take Pine Creek Road (turns into Walnut Creek Road) all the way to Hwy 28/64, then turn south to Highlands, rather than the North Norton Road/Norton Road route I had hoped to talk my friends into taking.  GREAT suggestion, and we'll remember that for the future.

My plan in general while in that area is to try to avoid Hwy 64 between Highlands and Hendersonville as much as possible.  After riding 64 many, many times I have decided that I hate it.  I mean, it's a nice road, but I've had enough parades in my life.  Seriously, there are some SLOW TOURISTS on that road that just grind that thing to a halt.

Speaking of grinding to a halt, on my way up traffic was completely stopped on I-285 just east of I-75.  Not sure what happened, but after sitting for a while they opened it back up.  They must have just finished clearing a wreck off the road.  Gotta love Atlanta.  Stuff like that happens regularly.

I also ran into the same situation on the way home, somewhere on Hwy 76/515/5.  Road was blocked and we sat there for a while while a flatbed truck pulled a wrecked car off the road.  More wasted time.

Had the normal amount of cars pulling out in front of me, just because they can.  They look at me, see a motorcycle, and just pull out in front of me.  Seriously, they realize that they have more mass than I do and deliberately decide they don't have to obey traffic laws.  Happened again on Sunday, in normal city driving.  Guy looked right at me and pulled out in front of me while he had a red light and I had a green.  Police are all over that (not).


On one occasion a guy on a Harley pulled right out in front of me on the Parkway.  He and his herd of stupid sheep were pulling out of an overlook parking lot.  Dude was looking to see whether his fellow sheep were following him and didn't even look at the road as he pulled out, right in front of me.  I buzzed right past him and just shook my head.

Vic recounted another fun encounter with an idiot on a Harley.  Apparently the dude chased him to an overlook and wanted to fight him or something.  Just because Vic safely passed him.  I don't know what's wrong with some people.

After a nice dinner in Dillard, Georgia I had to hit the road to get back.  I had a little bit of light, but it got dark soon.  I elected to take the simple, straightforward route back (76/515/5/575/etc.).  Vic was concerned about deer because I was riding so late.  And he was right, I rode right past one, about three feet from me!  Seriously.

But it wasn't as bad as it sounds.  Since I was in "get home safely" mode at that point, I was on a somewhat major road.  And at the time I saw the deer I was the third vehicle in a small convoy (a deliberate riding choice given the time of night).  As such, I didn't even see the deer until the second vehicle drove past it, allowing me to see it.  It was just standing there, by the side of the road, either unconcerned with traffic or paralyzed by it.  So, yes, I guess you could say I had a close call with a deer, but it wasn't as bad as it sounds if I were to only tell you that I missed a deer by three feet!

Finally, some pictures:

Man, that picture of the VFR is beautiful.  Great to be riding it again!  Great day, all things considered.

Unfortunately, it's not all good news.  The bike sat too long while I took my sweet time on the repairs.  It appears that the carburetors are now gummed up, particularly the low speed circuits, the pilot jets.  The bike now stutters at low rpm, doesn't idle cleanly, and doesn't have the low and mid-range power it used to have.

It was very difficult to ride it quickly.  In the past I could leave the bike at a low rpm, say 4-6000 rpm and glide through a series of turns.  But now the bike stutters and doesn't get a good drive out of corners.  Therefore I ended up having to shift a lot more, to keep the bike in a higher rpm range all the time and sidestep the lower rpm stuttering and lack of power.  Not a problem, per se, but that should be one of the VFR's strengths, that you don't have to do that.  The VFR was missing an essential element of its character on Saturday.  Still a fun ride, but not the same.

Maybe some Sea Foam will help.  If not, the VFR will go under the knife again for some carb work.   :(

Two Phones?

I love this article.  Gotta love those sheep and their iPhones.  By the way, I don't think that ALL iPhone users are sheep, not at all.  I happen to work closely with a consultant who has an iPhone and he responds with very detailed and lengthy e-mails (at crazy times, too) from his iPhone.  But these people in this article are ridiculous.

From the Wall Street Journal:
"When Two Phones Are Better" by Will Connors
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443437504577546922450333572.html

So much material to comment on here.

"Style-conscious executives are happy to pull out their iPhones at cool restaurants but when they really need to fire off lots of work emails, they cling to their BlackBerries."

My comment?  Baaaaa.

"A few months ago, she ditched her BlackBerry in favor of the iPhone but quickly became frustrated with the touch-screen keyboard and its autocorrect function. So, despite the hassle, she now always carries both."

Hmm, why not consider a nice Android phone?  There are plenty with real keyboards.  And even if you get a phone without a physical keyboard, Android phones let you customize the soft keyboards, to superior versions provided by the likes of Swype or Swiftkey or similar.  I've long maintained that this is one of the underappreciated fundamental differences between the Android and iOS platforms.  Not just with keyboards, although that is a perfect illustration of the point, but the fact that Android lets you customize the phone in many ways that the iPhone rigidly controls, as I understand it (I've played with iPhones but not used one). I didn't switch from Blackberry to Android myself for business use until they came out with such custom keyboards.  I happen to have used Swype since their earliest days, when they were a very limited Beta release and have loved it from the beginning.

Oh, did you catch one other way to interact with your phone?  Handwriting.  Yes, handwriting.  From the Google Official Blog:
Make your mark on Google with Handwrite for Mobile and Tablet Search
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/make-your-mark-on-google-with-handwrite.html
Can the iPhone do that?  (Really, I don't know if it can or not.)

"And then there are image concerns. Amanda Slavin, the 26-year-old director of marketing and events for a New York restaurant group, is used to getting skeptical looks when she pulls out her BlackBerry. She quickly heads off any judgment. 'Don't worry, I also have an iPhone,' she says."

Ms. Slavin went on to say, "Baaaaaa.  Baa Baaaa."

"I hide my BlackBerry unless I actually need to use it," says Stephen Matyasfalvi, 38, a Toronto business consultant. "If I am choosing what device to have out for browsing, calling, etc., it's the iPhone and not the BlackBerry. It's not even about being cooler with the iPhone, they just look so much better!"

What a sheep.  It's not about being cooler?  Please.

"For a couple with four phones, there are multiple annoyances. When a phone rings they have to check all four. Their bedside table is piled high with devices and chargers."

Okay, finally something I can relate to.  In fact, this is a real issue at work.  Someone else described the "problem" this way: "I simply cannot tell which one of my multiple smart phones, tablets or computers just went 'ding'."    :)

Song of the Day: Sarah Darling - Bad Habit

You know, there are a LOT of great artists out there that are not nearly well enough known.  Here's one of them.

"Bad Habit By Sarah Darling"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRbu6FS7tTo


And then I do some surfing and found this great version of a U2 song!

"Sarah Darling sings U2's With Or Without You"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GBqf_8LjCo

Song of the Day: Ed Sheeran - The A Team

Ed Sheeran - The A Team

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KlOodL9Gw4

I heard another singer, Sara Lou, perform this song.  I'll have more on that later, hopefully soon.  But for now let me just present this song as is.  Beautiful song, with beautiful lyrics.

Things I Learned in Ireland - PG 13

Ah, you learn so much when you travel.  This post is dedicated to James, Paul, and John.  You know who you are, you sick bastards.  :)   One of them very helpfully provided the above picture for me.

Okay, so this blog post might be a little off color.  But the guys I was working with seem to be experts--enthusiasts, even!--on this subject, so I thought I'd pass along some knowledge.  They said they have a calling for this subject.  It sounds like this: "Baaaa!"

It all started when I said I was going to take a motorcycle ride to Achill Island, on the west coast of Ireland.  One of them said that there would be plenty of company out there for me, lots of sheep on the island (and he was right).  He said he likes one in particular.  Because she has a bad leg and can't get away so easily.

Over time I learned more and more from these experts.  Just book learning, by the way!  No hands-on training for me.  For example...

• The ones with the short front legs work better if you're on a hillside.
• Wear "wellies" (Wellington boots), so you can put their hind legs in the boots ... so they can't get away).
• Have a cliff nearby.  Because when a sheep approaches a cliff their natural tendency would be to back up.
• Finally, they advised me to make sure that I get one that can't talk.

Yikes, they must have some long winters there in Ireland!

I'm happy to say that I failed all their pop quizzes.  They's ask me why would someone want to wear wellies when working with sheep.  They asked me why it's good to have a cliff nearby.  And so forth.  I didn't know ANY of the answers--but they did!

Here's a quick joke:
Q: Do you know what they call sheep shearers in Ireland?
A: Beauticians.

In closing, here is a simple--but disturbing--image one of the guys sent me, demonstrating how the wellies are used.

P.S. They guys said that my Adsense numbers (the number of clicks my adds on this site get) will go through the roof after this post.  They said that my blog will suddenly become VERY popular among farmers.  So I guess there is a bright side to all of this.  Maybe.   :-/


P.P.S. I have waited to post this until my flight is leaving Dublin.  This way the guys can't exact revenge on me, not yet anyway, for revealing their secrets.  :)

Wait, I think I spoke too soon.  Knowing that I was preparing this blog post, one of the guys put together this meme, specially for me.  Like I said, sick bastards!

Song of the Day: Billy Joel - Summer, Highland Falls

Song of the Day: Billy Joel - Summer, Highland Falls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqiDOuwUJxk



Summer, Highland Falls
From the Turnstiles album
Billy Joel

They say that these are not the best of times
But they're the only times I've ever known
And I believe there is a time for meditation
In cathedrals of our own
Now I have seen that sad surrender in my lovers' eyes
I can only stand apart and sympathize
For we are always what our situations hand us
It's either sadness or euphoria

And so we'll argue and we'll compromise
And realize that nothing's ever changed
For all our mutual experience
Our separate conclusions are the same
Now we are forced to recognize our inhumanity
A reason coexists with our insanity
And so we choose between reality and madness
It's either sadness or euphoria

How thoughtlessly we dissipate our energies
Perhaps we don't fulfill each other's fantasies
And as we stand upon the ledges of our lives
With our respective similarities
It's either sadness or euphoria

July 4th - The Tradition Continues ... Sort Of

 Not much to report here, just documenting for the record that we did another long skate on July 4th.  Fourth year in a row, I think.

Tradition would have dictated a skate from Smyrna, Georgia all the way to Anniston, Alabama, the full length of the Silver Comet and Chief Ladiga Trails.  But if you define the tradition as being merely "a ridiculously long skate on the Silver Comet" then I guess we kept the tradition going!

I can't do any better than Sammy did, so here's his report:

July 4th Silver Comet Skate Review: APRR's on the Comet Like Flies on Shit; GI Sam; and Team Stops-A-LotWe had a nice group depart just before 10AM from Tom Blooming's house this morning for the July 4th Silver Comet Skate.  Most of the delay from the hoped-for 9AM start was due to me: (TMI Warning, but Tom feels this is integral to the story, if not THE story, so ...) I got home from Peachtree at 8:25 am and had two bouts of diarrhea before I could get out of the house.  Considered bailing but didn't want to leave Tom hanging.

As it was, by the time I got to Tom's, Brent Minder had made it, as had Mark Day, and Ben Hall, too!  Mark lives by the caboose by mile 14.6 of the Comet in a van down by the river, so he skated in from that lot and turned around at Mavell before stopping at Tom's.  Brent and Ben I think started from Mavell.

So we had a pack of 5 tearing up the Comet at a good clip, about 14 mph, from Mile 1 to Mile 15, where Mark and Ben slowed to turn around and Brent did not get the memo, so he finally turned around a quarter mile later to see he was not where he should be, and then had to chase Ben and Mark down, I think.

Tom and I continued on together.  It was hot and by around 20 miles we were debating whether to cut 10 miles out and turn around at the Coots Lake gas station store.  But was we got closer, with about 5 miles to go, Tom suggested blowing by Coots Lake completely and stopping for lunch at Frankie's italian in Rockmart at the old end of the Comet.
Seemed like a plan!
But wasn't.  Cause Frankie's isn't open on Wednesdays.  Or Tuesdays.  What about Hometown Pizza & Subs (and now Wings) across the street.  No, they are not open on the 4th of July.  Nor was anything else in Rockmart, except the bathrooms in the park.  We thought about crashing one of the picnics but decided we could make it back to Coots Lake and pretend it was a sitdown restaurant.

Back at Coots Lake, we both got Chocolate Milk, Tom got Coke, and  (forget other one), and we sat on the bench outside next to 3 ladies with bikes.

Sharon, Terri, and Angel were fascinated by our wheels and inquired.  I handed them an APRR card (I'm now down to just ONE left, does someone out there have some to give me?)
They also had planned on eating at Frankie's and were similarly disappointed.
They do lots of bike rides, have done BRAG and Sharon remembered the APRR skaters who did BRAG 6(?) years ago.
They called themselves Team Stops-A-Lot, and they were NOT kidding.  They said they are usually the last riders in wherever they go.

They left us at Coots Lake, and Tom and I finished off our beverages before rolling out.  We got about 2 miles into it when GI (Gastro Intestinal) Sam struck again, and I had to pull over in a clearing.  Tom continued on and said he'd wait in the Brushy Mtn tunnel, which is like Air Conditioning!
Speaking of Like Flies on Shit (TMI Warning Number 2, if by Number 2 you have a loose definition of something looser than what you normally think of as Number 2).  Within SECONDS of dropping trow, several flies were already on my pile.  I would not be surprised if some of them even rode it down mid-air.
And yes, Tom insisted this factoid had to make it into the Report.  And no, if he insisted I had to jump off a bridge, I would not do that.  That would be dangerous, this is just gross TMI, although to Tom it is Gross Essential Information.

When I reached Tom at the Tunnel, Team Stops-A-Lot was also there!  They had made it a grand total of 2.6 miles since we saw them last.  To be fair, it was now pouring down rain on the trail.  So we all waited out the storm at the edge of the tunnel.
Tom and I started up again as soon as the rain stopped, but we had wet pavement to deal with for most of the next 10 miles, so we were going as slow as 9 mph for some mile splits.  In fact, we could not even get past Team Stops-A-Lot for several miles due to our lack of traction.

Once it dried up, we managed about 13-14 mph most of the rest of the way.  Just after we reached the heaven that is the asphalt pavement at mile 13 (after 50 miles of grooved cement), we spotted Blake and Elizabeth coming in the opposite direction and stopped to chat and take photos of our 3 RoadSkater.net jerseys.
(On Sale Now -- contact blake, they are awesome!)

Tom was out of water, so we stopped briefly at Floyd Road, even though it was just 3 miles from Tom's.  Better safe, and hydrated, than sorry!

I bet you're sorry you missed this skate, and sorry you read the report!

I would clarify that my other drink was Grapefruit juice.  And Sam would have written everything anyway!!!



And now Blake's report:

notes from the trail...but first in reply to sam's glowing reviews...

ha! if you want one of those jerseys, the deadline is past, but put in the order and i'll ask them to add it and refund if they can't.
http://roadskater.net/RSN2012jerseys.htm available in ROYGBVM and this year's mystery color (latter for $10 less). supersweet 19" zip. comfy wicking fabric. 3 pockets on back. all that. injected with skateylove yes and grateful to be skateful.

now...elizabeth and i did 50 miles rolling out at 2:36p. getting ready in the mile 0 parking lot we both thought it felt hotter than any time we had been there. i had driven in from nc the night before and sleep had to be the first part of training for today. we were looking for tos (time on skates) and to find out who i am (no sorry that's a dixie chicks brain diversion). we had solid water in bottles and skaterade or liquid water in our packs, but not many interesting calories (no good'n'plenty, for example).

after we started i felt i was skating one-sided...not equally from both sides somehow...like i had body slammed a pedestrian, but without the personal gratification of having cleared the trail of some large chunk of debris (jk). it was toasty hot and at 4 elizabeth went in to buy another cold water.

we had decided that no matter what the pace, time on skates is essential to being ready for the fall (tour to tanglewood 2x45, athens to atlanta 87, carolina century 102). it's also calorie burning as elizabeth reminded. and as she did not say, i could use me some o dat.

as we reached 11 we were hoping for that storm to come our way, as by mile 10 it had been sending a breeze to us in advance (the outflow). at the shelter, we met 2 rec skaters (well their equipment was rec) who were finishing their skateyday...first time in 5 years for them. sweet.

at the last long slow uphill on the asphalt we saw sam and tom and yes too variously configured 3 out of 4 skatergraphs. we heard news and told our vague plan and departed. by 13's concrete we still had no rain but the weather had cooled and clouded enough to make everything nicer, except underfoot.

we kept missing the cooling rain, but did get to skate some wet pavement. at 20 we got some very good, cold water at the now-working water fountain at the back of that rest room. this was a huge help and makes me want to go spend some money in dallas, now. there's a home cooking place across the road there. i don't really need my home cooked, as it is pretty hot in there right now, but maybe another day.

we went out to the pumkinvine trestle where the mile markers go wrong by 0.6 mi and kept on skating until both of our gps indicated 25 miles and turned around, almost entirely due to calculations regarding sundown you'd better take care. we were sad to be unable to make it to the tunnel and still have daylight with a margin for safety. but time on skates and calorie burning are good.

coming back we noticed or gave more attention to a couple of things. the flower nursery has expanded and now has an open-air seedling plot on the north side of the trail, and they put in a small shelter with no seats but a water fountain. well...a fountain...the liquid that came out was white, while the water in the dog dish below was clear, so i figured tiny bubbles (no lyrics this time). but i did decided sometimes you've got to stop and smell the water and it smelled like paint so i only drank none of it. (other times, at mile 16, you've got to stop breathing and not smell the water).

oh yeah and coming back over the trestle we stopped for a look and saw a skeleton sitting in a chair at a table under an umbrella near an archery target. yes we did. i guess he died waiting for something to happen out there.

back at dallas we gleefully got more cold water and i changed my socks as the ones i was wearing felt like they might be starting to blister my feet (surely it's not my bad technique ha). so those first pair we now know were a failed experiement. the wal-mart/starter non-cotton standards were much better than the bike ride gift socks, sad to say.

back on the asphalt our hope of survival improved and i had been yakkin about last week's family outing and all the parameters of every event weighed down by decades of decisions about who is what and how their motives are either pure or not. you know, light entertainment. the miles flew by and the pain of skating seemed nothing compared to the love we feel from it...as it can be with family.

so we had missed the rain all day and again were skating on it. at the shelter at 11 we made a brief water stop and were on our way again. we were in mindless repetition mode and remarked how few people we had seen on the trail that day, probably because of how late we started, how hot, then how wet, it was, and because they were enjoying hot dogs and burgers and questionable potato salad as we slogged our way back.

oh yeah...on the supersmooth brief concrete section with new tree saplings we saw a girl skating with bright orange knee high socks wearing the dark green rollerblades with abt brakes i think. she was out with her mom and maybe a brother who was maybe skating in less dramatic attire. so we saw several people on skates, including one skater who called out "aprr" when we went by as we mumbled "uh oh yeah hmm hi!" urr should we go back was that so and so should we go back did they stop we are pretty close to finishing maybe we'd better get to the car.

back at the car we met more people than we expected or intended. there weren't many there but/so they were interested/inquisitive. so we told the we usually do 94 on july 4 story 2 or 3 times. we learned about a woman's triathlon training for an ironman in mexico and about a guy who will be at east point on the velodrome this friday and saturday for some big races.

then we negotiated dinner with tom and settled on los bravos this time and u.s. cafe next. we had a nice time with tom learning some details of his journeys, his visits to various manufacturing sites, and discussing jellybean android and the new asus tablet developed with google jellybead and a 4 cpu processor. as we left we got to see the restaurant's family fireworks show in the parking lot, and craving chocolate milk too late, we rolled home without.

I wish I had known Blake and Elizabeth wanted chocolate milk.  First thing I did after leaving dinner with them was to go to a grocery store to buy milk so I could make chocolate milk at home!!!

The Rainbow Jerseys!

Brushy Mountain Tunnel and Team Stops-A-Lot

Sammy writing a Facebook Update: "Waiting out a storm at Brushy mountain tunnel on the comet with tom blooming on our way back from rockmart. Did not buy any rocks. Save yourself the trip. And Frankie's was closed so no lunch."

And Sammy took a picture of me at the Tunnel.