The beauty before the storm, or how to spend a nice day not riding...

We had an absolute beautiful day last Friday. Temps were in the mid-80's, and aside from some early a.m. showers, it was gorgeous out. 

I decided to brave the small amount of rain in the morning to take the bike to work, just so I could enjoy the ride home. I ended up very wet for a good prtion of the morning. A slight bit of discomfort for a warm and sunny afternoon ride? I can handle that. 

The ride home was great! The bike was running wonderfully after the clutch swap, and the roads were clean. It was my nicest commute ride this year. 

Now, you may ask why I'm writing about riding when the title says I spent the day not doing so. Well, my 15 mile commute was all I got. My wife had an appointment after I got home, so I got to play Mr. Mom to my 2 young children. 

So, what did I do? Well, what any good motorcyclist would do. I let the kids run crazy in the yard while I pulled out the cleaning and maintenance supplies. My trusty GSXR-1100 was about to get the Harley treatment! 

It all started with scrubbing off the chain and wheel grime. No joke, I think I used half a can of degreaser on just the chain. Who would have thought it would get that nasty.

Then came a thorough hand washing. I scrubbed off every spec of bug gut, dirt, grime, and "other"(don't ask...). There really is blue paint under there!! 

Next, I busted out the wax. We're talking multiple coats and all hand applied, and hand buffed. You could swim in that paint now! 

The final cleaning step was the hardest. You see, I have a lot of polished bits and pieces, so I thought it would be fun to get out the Mother's polish. Boy, let me tell you, "fun" is not the word for it. I carefully applied the cream, and rubbed it in with the tip of my fingers. Then, I grabbed the clean cloth and buffed it all off. Its taken me 2 days to recover enough to type this blog! 

The rest was just adjusting and lubing the chain, and checking various nuts and bolts for torque. By this point, I was absolutely done with cleaning for the rest of the season. This is as clean as she will be for a long time! 

So, bascially I spent the entire afternoon and early evening cleaning and polishing. By the time my wife got home, the storms that were forcast for the weekend were rolling in , and I got the bike in the garage just in time to not get rained on. The rest of the weekend? Cold and rainy. Go figure... 

At least she looks good sitting in the garage.

It's only water...

Well, here we go with this blog thing. I figured I'd try it out. I'm also working on a podcast to back it up, so keep your eyes open for updates.

I'm an avid motorcycle rider. Ok, I'm an addict. I'll ride just about any time, and any place. It isn't unheard of to hear me taking off in the middle of winter, even. I ride a lot!

After a long and frustrating weekend visiting family, and no bike to disappear on, I decided I needed to ride to work. I woke up to cool temps and a bit of rain, but nothing that would even dampen my jacket, so off I went.

The ride in was nice. I have a short 15 mile commute, but it takes a back highway through some nice scenery. The weather was wet, but not bad. To be honest, I love to ride in the rain, so it didn't bother me one bit.

Now, I live and work in Harley country. The people around me spend so much time talking about their bikes that you would think they never got off them. Why is it when I walk in with my helmet still on, and water still beading up on the visor, people look at me funny? I'm the only one who has a bike in the lot today. I was the first bike in the lot after the new year. Hell, I'm usually the only bike out there unless its sunny and 70+ degrees out!

Water dries, an good gear keeps you warm and not-so-wet. You never see a motorcycle in front of a shrink's office, so I'll keep on with my "twist of the wrist" therapy, rain or shine.