Clean up

Memorial Day was the nice day of the 3 day weekend, sunny and the temps got into the 60s. Charlie spent Saturday and Sunday at the Air Guard, taking the MSF basic rider course to get his M/C endorsement, and had to suffer through lousy weather and inept students. By Monday he was ready to ride. Fred joined us on his new CBR500R. Hannah rode the Monster and I was on the VFR.

We had a mostly pleasant ride north to Jay, which is on the far side of Jay Peak Ski Resort. The road up and over the mountain has been torn up in preparation for new pavement, so it was pretty rough, but we made it through to Jay and stopped there for lunch.

After a quick stop to look at the water coming over the dam in Fairfax, we rode back to Fred's. I swapped bikes with Hannah to see what the Ducati Monster is all about. It's all about fun, is what I can tell you. A first gear roll on wheelie is ready when you want, and there's enough power to get you up to speed anywhere anytime. I don't think I'll be leaving her behind at stop signs anymore.

We got back home with plenty of time to wash and wax the bikes. Jay came over to do some maintenance on his KTM, so we wound up with a garage full of bikes at the end of the day.








Jay got lots of advice about how to change his wheel bearings.




Tucked away in the garage; KTM 300EXC, Suzuki SV650, Yamaha XT500, BMW F800 ST, Triumph Bonneville, Honda VFR800 fi, KTM 200XC, Ducati M1100

Ducati roll-out

This past Friday, Hannah and I attended the Ducati Vermont Launch Party, put on by CyclewiseVT.com for the launch of the new 2013 Hypermotard 796. At least I think it was for that bike...but more on that later.

We had received instructions to meet at the Staples Plaza at 6:00, where we would get arm bands in support of the Boston Marathon victims, and ride en-masse down to the waterfront where the party was. I will say it was kind of fun riding down Main Street in Burlington surrounded by Ducatis. Its the only time so far that I've ridden the VFR and not been able to hear it because it was drowned out by the other bikes around me.

Once we parked the bikes and took off helmets and gear, it was a very comfortable evening and I recognized a few people in the crowd. It was always nice to answer the question "So, do you ride a Ducati?" with, "no, but this is my daughter, she has a Monster". She got a lot of respect.



This was a section of the bikes that showed up, dig the yellow 900 Superlight.


I even had a few people comment on the VFR, so I didn't feel totally left out on a Japanese bike.


Once we had some snacks, the party moved inside to the Echo Center, which is a fishy museum/educational center, where there were several new Ducatis strategically placed around. There was a DJ playing loud and tedious dance tracks, and the lights were dimmed to create more atmosphere...not sure what kind of atmosphere they were hoping for, maybe I'm too old to get it, but the room filled in pretty quickly so I guess it worked.

After a while they did in fact roll out the Hypermotard, as well as a Super something or other, we were stuck in the back of the room and couldn't really hear over the Techno-dance music or see much over the heads of all the 6+ foot tall Ducatisti. It didn't take too long for the crowd to disperse enough for me to get close enough to take this lousy picture...



So after the not so climactic climax, Hannah and I walked up the street for a quick bite, then took the long way home. It was a very nice evening. I want a Ducati.

Toronto Supercross!

Just returned from a trip to Toronto to attend the Monster Energy Supercross. We (Sandy, Hannah, and Charlie) left our house Saturday morning for the 7 hour drive to Toronto. The race is held at the Rogers Centre which is pretty much in the middle of the city, and is the home of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team. It's a dome. We got to Toronto in time to check in to the hotel, then walk to the venue and take a look at the schedule. We caught the last 450 practice session before they closed the track for intermission before the evening racing, so it was cool to get a little teaser of what we'd be seeing in the main program.

But we also had time go back into the downtown area and find dinner. Right outside the dome is a popular local brewery, Steam Whistle Brewery, so we stopped in to check out their pilsner, which was very drinkable. All the popular restaurants within a few blocks were jammed with race fans, but we found a nice little place just a little farther away that could seat us right away. They had a friendly bar menu, kind of similar to tapas, which was perfect for us.

One of the trains in a turntable by the Steam Whistle Brewery.


We got back to the dome with time to take our seats and a short time later the program started, with the "Lite's" class heat races. I won't go into detail about who won what, you can get the results online.

The racing was very cool to watch. It became obvious to me that the critical area for suspension set up was the "whoop" section ( short for "whoop-de-doos" but sometimes referred to as moguls ). This was where the noticeably faster guys (factory riders) were making up time by pinning the throttle and effectively skimming over the tops of each whoop, whereas the slower riders were allowing the bike to ride lower into each whoop, requiring more suspension compression and a lower average speed. On most of the rest of the track the bikes and riders seem to be a little more evenly matched.

Another thing that struck me, seeing it live, was just how mentally and physically demanding these tracks are. The only time riders get a "rest" is on the longish triple jumps, where they can actually take the time to yank a tear-off off of their goggles in mid-jump. The rest of the time they're either in rhythm sections, sand, whoops, or a short straight that crosses the starting straight. All of these sections just have different technical challenges that require constant riding adjustments.

#12 Wiemer, in the air as #800 Alesi has just completed the finish line jump and is hard on the brakes to make a 180 degree left into a short rhythm section.

#1 'Poto" heading into the whoops.

#18 Milsaps in the classic "attack" position entering the whoops. This guy is over 6" tall, which is a little unusual in M/C racing, but he's really fast, and was the most impressive to watch in the whoops. He'd jump the first whoop and carry the front wheel over the next three before allowing it to come down halfway through the section.

Track maintenance.

The start of the main event, #7 Stewart, #5 Dungey, #1 'Poto, #18 Milsaps, #22 Reed, #12 Weimer, #800 Alesi

Race Fans!

Montreal

This past Sunday I made the annual trip to Montreal for the motorcycle show, this time accompanied by Sandy, Hannah and her b/f Charlie. It has become a fairly anticipated event, a nice way to see and sit on all the bikes you could ask for, and get thinking about the riding season. Occasionally I'll find a deal on gear, this year I bought some gloves since my racing gloves are starting to come apart.

An opportunity to sit on a full dress H-D without a salesman hovering nearby. Definitely the largest bike Hannah has handled.



Hannah had to get a picture of Charlie lusting after this "Sporty".



Hannah has been on a mission to decide what her next bike will be. I think she had pretty well made up her mind on the Triumph Daytona 675R, but I wanted her to at least consider the Street Triple, as well as some of the Ducati line up. Tough choices.









After the bike show, we had a quick lunch, then drove up to the Botanical Gardens. This has been a popular place to visit, especially in the winter, they have an extensive greenhouse complex. A pleasant way to spend a couple hours in a controlled environment.







The latest attraction for the greenhouses is a section that has butterflies and silk moths flying freely through the greenhouse.

But I'll still ride...

Sunday was a beautiful day to be out on the ice again, the sun was out and temps got into the teens or better. We'd got about 7 or 8 inches of snow on Friday night, so Matt stepped up with his yard truck to plow us an oval. The ice was in great condition under the snow, so we had a smooth 5th mile oval to run around on. As usual in Milton a few quads showed up and joined us on the track.

These photos were taken by Brett Macy, a super nice guy and avid photographer who happened to be driving by and saw us getting ready to go out. Thanks to Brett for sharing these on facebook.


Matt in his classic form, stretching that throttle cable.

Mike Kuebler on his air-cooled Suzuki 250.

Rees chasing me down.

Seamus threw some ice tires on this 2003 CRF450, said it was a blast to ride. I didn't get a chance on it.

Clean ice...

Rees was pushing pretty hard. Ultimately crashing a few laps after this photo. Unfortunately I was right behind him and couldn't avoid hitting his bike as it spun back across the track. We both walked away, but both bikes suffered some damage and were unrideable after the crash. His sub-frame, exhaust and rear fender took the hit and were mangled beyond repair, my handlebar hit the ice so hard it bent, and I've never seen a Renthal Fat-bar bend. My exhaust also got punched in.

The aftermath. Rees's bike doesn't look so good, I haven't even gotten up, Seamus arrives.

Unidentified quad rider. He was the first out on the track and thought he was running pretty fast. Till we all roosted him.

This photo shows all the ice chipped up from our tires. It gets deep enough that we have to plow it off...

or this happens...

Although to be fair, Matt was also pushing pretty hard, if he dialed it back a notch he wouldn't have crashed, but Matt doesn't dial it back on the ice very often, if ever.

Birds

This year I decided I need to get back into bird watching. I've been doing the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count for about the past 15 years, and the most recent one was pretty great, with some ducks that I haven't seen in awhile, as well as some unusual "land birds" for our count area. Anyway, it inspired me to start paying attention, and to finally replace the spotting scope that disappeared from my truck about 5 years ago.

So now I've got a new scope and tripod, and I intend to put them to good use this year. Sandy and I have already been out a few times, but the circumstances have not been favorable for using the scope. I've started a year list, and I'm looking forward to doing some trips around the state and beyond. I don't really know what to expect for a total species tally, but I'm thinking 250 should be realistic, maybe close to 300 if I do some travel out of New England.

I need to update my camera as well, because I think I'll try to take some photos through the scope, but that may have to wait for the bank account to get a little fatter.

Anyway, I had a nice afternoon of birding near the lake (Champlain, that is). I was near Button Bay and spotted a bald eagle sitting in a tree on an island, and below him on the lake were several hundred Canada geese, with lots of diving ducks mixed in among them. I decided to get a better (closer) vantage point, which meant getting back in the truck, parking a few hundred yards up the road and walking about a half mile down to the lake. By the time I reached the position, the eagle had apparently taken wing and scattered all the geese and was perched on the ice near a duck that been partially eaten. Don't know if it was his kill or not.

While I was scoping the rest of the ducks, the eagle took off and headed north, and I think he re-scattered the geese, 'cause they all started heading back a few minutes later.

I like the "sun dog" in this image. The ice was extending well off the shore, and we have another week of single digit nights ahead. These are Canada geese flying over, but I noticed an odd couple pull out of one group and fly off in a slightly different direction, it was a snow goose paired with a Canada.

Ice

Got out on the ice yesterday for the first time this season, on Arrowhead Lake. I was lacking motivation until we got a solid week of sub-zero nights and no snow. I figured the ice had to be pretty good, and sure enough it was. Just a little 1/4" layer of snow on top in spots, but still pretty fresh and smooth.

Anyway, Rees and Cameron Harris came out, as well as Matt and his son Jarek, who hasn't ridden a bike since he outgrew his KTM 65. He's as big as his dad now.


Matt and Jarek

Me

Cam started to figure the bike and the oval out. He got to the inevitable point where once he got in front of me, I couldn't catch him. I'll blame it on my AMA screws vs his Canadian screws.

After a break, we decided to turn right for awhile...

I tried a little foot up in the turn riding, which is different/fun/scary on an oval.