Motivation in Colder Weather

When I first bought the scooter I was very determined to ride in all weather except for ice and snow.

40 degrees F?       Yes, no problem!

30 degrees F         Hell Yes!

20 degrees F         Well maybe not hell yes, but okay!

10 degrees F         Well now you're pushing it, but I've done it

This year?              Well.....

I admit to being less aggressive in the cold this year. Oh, I've been out there, but not near as regularly.

Potential excuses:

I've needed the car more when at work. Somewhat true.
I've been walking more. True but does not account for the that much of the difference
Weekends have been busier, less free time. True definitely
The heart doesn't like cold weather quite as much. True
The weather hasn't been cooperative. Somewhat true

But then again, most of those are just what I say they are, Excuses!

I need to ride more!

I got Max out this morning. It was about 30 degrees. Hadn't ridden in about 3 weeks. He started up as if to say, "Hey, How You Been!, Where we going today?" Fired instantly on the first push on the starter.

I've been trying to make some plans for the summer and fall. Maybe some longer type trips. Been thinking about even coordinating some of those with a little camping (which I haven't done in ages) and even some long hikes. Saw a movie recently about hiking. Sort of liked it. It's healthy for my heart. Hmmmm.

And another book report might be on the way soon, but the book wasn't near as good as Jack's book.

But for now, we are heading into another "tax season" at work. Lots to do, little free time. Most riding will just be to work and back.

But I hope to do more of that!

Ride On and Carpe Diem , my friends.

Jim

East Douglas on a Sunday Morning

My next older sister had called me on Saturday to check up on me and chewed my butt pretty good for not posting anything on the blog for a whole month.  I apologized to her and said there were two reasons:

1) I can't drive a car or ride my scooter right now and it's a bit tough to come up with motorcycle content for the blog. Yeah, a bicycle ride is fine, but I bet some readers are bored with that.

2) It has been hotter than Hades here. Yesterday was our 48th day this summer where our high temp reached 100 degrees. The record number of days is 50 from 1936 (Dust Bowl Days). August isn't over yet and it is predicted that we will break the record. Our normal for a summer is more like 11 days, so there you have it.

But my sister did get me thinking, so on Sunday morning I took off at 7:30 am on Bruiser, my mountain bike for a ride downtown to check out the car and motorcycle show that had been going on all weekend.

I arrived downtown at about 8:00. The show was scheduled for 8:00 to 4:00 for Sunday, but it was obvious that a lot of people and cars hadn't made it back downtown when I first arrived. Not a lot of cars or motorcycles yet to look at. I did find a display trailer for a Kawaski dealer from Hesston, KS, about 40 miles from here. This red Kawasaki is way too big for me.

But they also had a Kymco Agility Scooter.  (Too small for me)

Then there was this screaming green Kawasaki sport bike. Pretty nice , but not much in my taste either.

The next trailer over was for another dealer here in Wichita. They sell lots of bikes, everything from Honda, Suzuki, even BMW's on occasion. I talked with the sleepy looking guy manning the trailer a bit. As I took a couple of pictures, he asked me if I rode. I said yes and said that I had a scooter, but sometimes wondered about stepping up to something a little bigger, I mentioned a V-Strom, a Bonneville, even a Honda Silverwing scooter.

He said they had a Silverwing in stock, a 2010 model and he liked the V-Strom. Here's a Honda Shadow they had on display.

The local Harley dealer had a big display last year, but didn't see them this year. They still might have been around and I just didn't see them. Harleys are very popular here.

But just in case you run out of cash while you are at the show, here's a portable ATM for your convenience.

I rode back around the convention center and checked out a few cars. Here's a nice roadster.

And I really liked this pickup truck. A '34 Ford if I remember correctly.

 Then this Mini Cooper caught my eye.

And then this Mini Mini Cooper caught me eye as well, (check out the valve cover).

I eventually decided to ride back home in a leisurely fashion down East Douglas Street

I arrived at the train station onthe east end of the downtown area. Wichita has not had passenger train service since I have lived here. But we do have a marvelous old train station that over the years has been owned by a couple of corporate entities, most recently I believe by the local cable television provider.

I notice as I ride by that it is for sale again. Kind of a shame, if you ask me.

Then about another mile to the east of there, is the former world headquarters of  Big Dog Motorcycles. They produced very expensive motorcycles from the 90's to the early 00's at the rate of maybe 2,500 per year. That was until the economic downturn of 2008, where the company essentially tanked itself as people gave up their luxuries. Apparently not many people needed $30,000 motorcycles no matter how beautiful they were.

The building housed  a former Chevy dealership. They declared bankruptcy last year and formed a new company (BDM) to take care of parts and supplies for the Big Dog motorcycles still out on the road.

There is not much in the building right now except for a few bikes. I became somewhat interested in the reflections that resulted in some of these pictures. I was standing in the middle of the street when I took this shot. I am eerily visible if you enlarge the photo.

Most of the people that worked here have of course lost their jobs. Ironically, supposedly they sold lots of bikes to construction workers in the Las Vegas area during the real estate boom in Vegas. Well, Vegas now has one of the most depressed housing markets in the nation and it apparently spilled out into the motorcycle world as well.

Of course, this place is now for sale as well. Kind of a shame. They made beautiful bikes. Not really my taste, but beautiful bikes nonetheless.

Here's Bruiser up next to a chopper frame inside the building.

Down the road about a half mile further east is East High School. Built, I believe, in the 1920's and it only became known as East High after other high schools were eventually built. There is construction going on here at the school for a new auditorium. At the same time there is discussion about building 2 new high schools. But a potential problem with the new schools is that even though there is money available to build the buildings, there may not be enough money for the teachers. The state is bleeding money these days and education seems to be an area that is taking a hit.

It's a beautiful old school. Both my kids graduated from here. My son now teaches and coaches here.

About another mile east is a rather unique building with interesting tile work. There used to be an old guy that ran a hardware store here. It was one of those places that you could find something when nobody else seemed to have it. It was dirty, messy and grimy, but I loved the store. Even though it was sort of a mess, the old guy that ran it knew exactly where everything was.

Then another half mile east or so is the Hillcrest Apartments. It is mostly condominiums by now I believe. Condos are not real common here. There are lots of apartment complexes, but then there are also lots of single family homes. These condos are quite nice and somewhat expensive. As soon as one goes up for sale here, it gets snatched up pretty quickly.

A little further east again and there is a rather stately home. I don't know the history to this, but it's quite a place. This home sits just a little north of College Hill Park, possibly the nicest park in town.

And here's a view of another older home in the College Hill area. This home is on the National Register of Historic Places. As old goes, some would not consider it very old. Wichita wasn't even founded until 1871, but this home is just about that date, perhaps just a bit younger. This home sits atop a little hill in the park area. Bruiser is good at standing without a side or center stand. (No tachometer either)

Another view of the park. The park is surrounded by nice homes. There is a pool and it is a great place for kids to play and grow up. Following in the footsteps of Jim Ryun, who grew up in Wichita and went to Wichita East High School, the cross country team for Wichita East frequently runs and practices here in this park.

And finally at Douglas and Oliver sits what is essentially the first shopping center ever built in this city. It has been a fairly vibrant shopping center since its inception in the 1950's. Not huge by today's standards, but in its day......



There are residential neighbrohoods for the next mile east or so, but then you encounter the city of Eastborough, which was once a sort of suburb, and is now compleyely surrounded by Wichita, having steadfastly resisted the urge to be annexed into the city. But that is a whole other post by ityself. I'll get back to that someday.

____    ____    ____    ____    ____    ____    ____    ____    ____    ____    ____    ____    ____

Just a final word about my health. I'm doing fine. I am walking about 2 miles a day and bicycling on the weekends. I'd probably do more exercising except for the unbelievable heat we have seen lately. I will not be able to drive or ride until at least February 2012, but I am in a way sort of enjoying the change in lifestyle.

The little gadget in my chest, designed to keep me alive should my heart screw up again, is amazingly sophisticated. I keep finding more and more about it as we go. For instance, not only is it a defibrillator, designed to be capable of completely restarting my heart should there be a need, but it is also a pacemaker too. It constantly analyzes the behavior of my heart. If my heart rate drops below 60 beats per minute, it will act as a pacemaker and get me back to a 60 bpm rate. If my heart rate goes to 170 beats per minute, it first studies my heart rate to see if my beats are steady and even. If so, then it assumes I may be exercising, and not give me the big shock, yet keep an eye on me. If my faster heart rate is uneven, then it may first try and pace me out of it using the pacemaker function of the device. If that doesn't work, then I may get a big shock from the device to hopefully restart my heart.

The device has a wireless transmitter and sends, once a week, some diagnostics to the manufacturer through a phone line connection in my bedroom. My cardiologist then can obtain this information for my chart. It is designed to report any unusual rhythms my heart has had and any attempts made by the device to correct those aberrant rhythms. Pretty fu*$in' amazing if you ask me.

To date the device has detected no unusual rhythms since the time it was implanted back in February. That's a very good thing.

The device is commonly called an ICD (Implanted Cardioverter Defibrillator)

To me it might mean I Can't Die!

Trendy, but Mis-Spelled Street Names and a Hot Bicycle Ride

In a housing development near you, you might encounter a street sign like this. Trendy, Huh?
Wouldn't you be happy to live near this intersection and tell all your acquaintances what the street names are.

Except, why can't they spell it Governor?  Huh?  What's the deal?  Are you special or something?


We can, I think, blame Brits and Canadians for spellings like this!

Last Sunday I went for a bicycle ride and explored a section of a bike path that I had never ventured on before. It's mostly flat and straight in spots, like this area.



Straight and level, good for bicycles, just not always very exciting.



Then again there are some spots where the road isn't very straight and that makes it a bit more interesting. 



A little bridge over a small (very small) creek

 It was a blasting hot day! I was out on the bicycle at 7:30 am. Any later in the day and I would have fried. And I don't want to fry. I just wanted to ride. I think we have had 20 days above 100 degrees this year, normal is about 11 days. Summer has a long way to go.

There is even some signage on the route. I am not sure I have even ever encountered a stop sign on a bike route, but here you go.



It's a little smaller that a normal stop sign. Is that fair? And why is it that the bikes have to stop? Couldn't we instead make all the cars stop? In Kansas, we just recently passed a new law for motorcyclists that get stuck at red lights where they cannot trigger the signal sensors to change. The new law now allows a motorcyclist to pass through after a reasonable wait and watching for traffic. In honor of this new law, when I encountered this stop sign, I sort of "coasted through" just for fun. No harm done.

  There is even some wildlife to be encountered on this bike route.



Nice deer statue at the entrance to part of the route, complete with its own gang sign graffiti.

Continuing on with more signage and another creek encounter.



I'd rather encounter a sign like this out on the open road on a scooter, but it's not bad on a bicycle either.

 Finally, this last sign sort of sums it up for me right now.



No motor vehicles allowed for Jimbo right now due to health conditions.

There has been some clarification to my driving (riding) restrictions placed on me for medical purposes. The powers that be have determined that it should be one year (1yr) from the date of implant for my ICD (Implanted Cardioverter Defribillator) before I can drive a motor vehicle again. One thing's for sure. It will be a lot cooler in February when I get to ride again, and I won't get nearly as sweaty. That's a good thing.

Motorcycles Not Allowed

IronDad made a request for any kind of 2 wheeled content from this blog even if not motorcycle or scooter related. So here you go Dude!

Saturday Morning Shadow on the mountain bike

Been riding a bit lately, just not on the scooter. During the week I had a yearning to explore an old railroad line that had been converted to a bicycle and jogging trail. The rails are gone and replaced with some gravel. Not exactly fantastic for running or road bicycles, but pretty fun on a mountain bike.

The converted rail trail looking west. This was actually a very small bridge over a creek.



The rail line had not been in use for maybe 15 or 20 years. About 5-7 years ago, they improved it for trail use. The trail only goes for a few miles, but is nice and relatively pretty. There are lots of abandoned rail lines in Kansas. A national organization called the Rails to Trails Conservancy has been active in converting old rail lines to recreational pathways across the country. They have met a lot of resistance in Kansas for some reason. There is now a trail that goes from east to west across the entire state of Missouri. No such luck here in Kansas.

Looking east on the trail. Not much traffic today.

I encountered a couple with a small dog not far from here. I had to laugh as the couple was sort of jogging and walking along and the little guy looked like he was having a great time although he was struggling a bit to keep up with the humans. But you know how dogs are, they'll do anything to make their masters happy.

"Bruiser" at the waterfall

I proceeded eventually through a couple of residential neighborhoods, just sort of leisurely riding along. I got passed by a guy on an expensive road bike that looked like he was in a hurry. My initial thought was thet he was trying to be a jerk and just showing off. Then I decided I really didn't give a hoot. I was having too good of a time.

A very shady sidewalk.

My feeble attempt to make this bike ride look sort of look like "Scooter in the Sticks"

Many years ago when our kids were young, we had a trailer for our bicycles and our kids used to ride in the trailer and go along with us for bicycle rides. This neighborhood was a fun place to ride because of the scenery and lack of traffic. At one time we had a tandem bike and with the trailer hooked up to it, it was like riding a semi down the road.

Sidewalk Twisty"s?

It was a beautiful morning and a great ride. Only about a 10 mile ride, but that's really good for me for right now. Small moves, you know.

A Road Trip as a Survival Mechanism

A book report on a 50,000 mile road trip

Ghost Rider

Travels on the Healing Road

Neil Peart

The moment I realized I could get this book in e-reader form it was only a matter of time before I would acquire it and read it. I had been reading some mysteries lately and when I discovered this book I knew I wanted to read it. And report on it. For I know very well who Neil Peart is. I didn't know he was also an author. My knowledge of the author goes back to the 1970's. A time when I used to play a little electric guitar. We used to put a record on the turntable, plug in our guitars and play along to the albums. We would dream of playing on the big stage. Most of all we would just have a lot of fun. Sometimes we would nail the music sequences. Sometimes we could hit the 'licks', other times not so much. One of the bands we liked to play along with was the Canadian Rock Band "Rush". I remember a couple of their early albums very well. After more than 30 years they are still Rockin', even though there was a couple of years where they took a break. The author of this book, Neil Peart, is the drummer for "Rush". I didn't know until just recently, that the author had experienced some personal tragedies in his life. The kind of tragedies you wouldn't want to wish upon anyone. First, his 19 year old daughter, his only child, was killed in an automobile accident. Then, not too long later, the love of his life and mother of his daughter died. She officially died of cancer, but as the author puts it, she really died of a broken heart. Damn! Now, I can't begin to even try and understand what I would do in a similar situation. I just hope that nothing like it ever happens to me. But the author, also an avid motorcyclist, decided he would try and deal with his grief by going for a ride. The author thought that maybe riding would help him get his mind off the pain and grief he was experiencing. In an almost Pirsig like expression he talks about how riding his motorcycle causes total concentration and attention to the road in front of him. That would help keep his mind occupied and even lull him into a tranquility caused by the the constant motion and vibration of the motorcycle as the world passed by him. We're talking a lot of miles, hopefully a lot of healing and a lot of months all over the north american continent.

Peart's weapon of choice. A BMW 1100GS

I believe the author calls himself the "ghost rider" in part because of the many demons, memories and monsters that travelled along with him. He mentions that the world around him doesn't seem quite real and that he experienced a disconnect with the world surrounding him.

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In the book, the author really bares his soul, his deepest thoughts and that is part of what made the book so fascinating to me. Some of the book is also a compilation of notes from the road and letters to friends and family during his "self imposed exile". The effect is to make the words more immediate to the moment being experienced and more real to the reader. There's some great stuff here.

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Did I mention Pirsig like phrases?

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"And sometimes there was music playing in my helmet, too, as my mental jukebox transformed the white noise of the wind passing into a soundtrack in richly detailed high fidelity ... When the riding became demanding, the music receded into the background, but when it was just me and the motorcycle on a pretty stretch of road, my brain would turn up the radio."

. Man, have I been there. I constantly have my "music" with me when I ride. There's no stereo on Max, just my mind.

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Part of the book talks about the author's love for literature. He mentions various authors that he admires or has enjoyed. Names like Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, Jack London, Sinclair Lewis and even Truman Capote are mentioned in the book. He would buy books in bookstores, then mail them back to his home in Canada to be read later or given to a friend. He even stopped momemtarily in the town I was born, Garden City KS. He was interested in Truman Capote's book "In Cold Blood" about the murder of a farm family occuring in the late 1950's. He wanted to stop by and see if he could find the farmhouse of the Clutter family. He did.

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I took lots of notes as I read the book. I enjoyed it that much. The subject, yes, is a bit gloomy, but the insight into his mind is fascinating. At one point as I read, I imagined how the end of the book would turn out to be. The author gives a couple of hints. In a silly fashion I imagined sort of a Hollywood type of ending, which of course didn't turn out to be the case. The issues were much deeper than my mind was envisioning at the time. The ending is maybe a bit peculiar, but as I think back on it more and more, the better I like it.

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A final conclusion I drew from the book is that life is just what it is.

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It Just is, Deal With It!

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Alex Lifeson on the left, Geddy Lee in the center and the author, Neil Peart, in the background to the right.

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They first played together as a trio in 1974, the year I graduated from high school.

I just really like their "sound". I always have. I'm not sure they are the greatest rock group ever to be, but three and a half decades later, they still tour and play together. I have never seen them in concert and had a chance to this year, but we had already bought tickets to see the Dave Matthews Band (who rocked the house, btw), and the family budget for attending concerts isn't unlimited.

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But I will tell you that I have a little CD player at the office and the "Rush" CD's get played as much, if not more than a lot of the other CD's I have.

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I highly recommend this book for a bunch of reasons. Motorcycles, Rock n Roll, philosophy and life. How good can it get.

"Thunder Road" on a Sunday Morining

You might think the name "Thunder Road" would conjure up images of a Friday night where a '69 Camaro convertible might line up against a Ford Mustang, or maybe a Pontiac GTO 'Judge' against a Dodge Challenger. The girls would be in the passenger seats waving at their friends. The guys would serious have looks on their faces. The presence of beer might be there, but no cell phones in sight. This road between Wichita and Augusta Kansas. just about 25 miles in distance, has that kind of reputation. I am sure lots of memories of vehicle races, boys and girls, beer, and maybe a fight or two are present in the minds of a lot of people who grew up in Wichita and many of the small towns close to this area such as Andover, Derby, Mulvane, Augusta, Towanda, Rose Hill and many others. The road is listed as one of the favorite motorcycle roads in Kansas. Here's a link: http://www.motorcycleroads.us/states/ks.html

Can I really afford this scootering stuff?

I topped off my tank before I left town, camera in tow, on a relatively warm November day. Not much traffic on a Sunday at 9:00 am, probably most people on the roads are on their way to or from church.

A suburban church on my way out of town, with lots of cars.

I first pass through Andover Kansas, about 10 miles east of Wichita. My plan was to ride to Augusta, Kansas first and then take "Thunder Road" back toward home. You can easily do the ride in the other direction, or ride there and back on "Thunder Road". I pass by this ranch and stopped to take a picture. The airplane contrails in the sky were very noticeable. I haven't a clue why this rancher has 'metal' palm trees at the entrance to the ranch. Maybe they think they look "cool". To me, they don't quite fit in Kansas.

The entrance to the ranch

A little further down the road between Andover and Augusta there was a small quarry. I wasn't able to get a closer picture. Not even sure what they produce there.

A quarry and some now dormant wildflowers.

Not far away there is a nice view of a valley just before arriving on the north side of Augusta, Kansas.

Max in the morning sunlight looking over the valley. The bridge in the distance goes over a river that passes on the west side of Augusta. There is another river on the east side of Augusta, while the city itself is mostly on a nice hill.

I arrive in Augusta and stop for a few minutes. Across the street I see a house with Christmas decorations ready to go. I decorate a tree in my yard each year, but for me, it just doesn't seem right to do it before Thanksgiving. I'll wait to do some decorating until next weekend.

Ahhh, Christmas seems to come earlier and earlier each year.

Every town like this has a Wal Mart, or so it seems. My personal opinion is that the existence of a Wal Mart drives some local businesses out of business because they cannot compete with the prices. But that's just my opinion.

There's a pharmacy there too.

I ride around the town a bit. Some of the streets are brick and have probably been in place for many years. A few people were out mowing their lawns or raking leaves. It was a nice weekend to get outside activities done. Much colder weather is expected soon.

Brick streets in an older neighborhood in Augusta, Kansas.

I ride south a few blocks to get a picture of the downtown area, fairly typical of a lot of towns like this.

More brick streets in downtown Augusta

It would seem that the side of a building can be much like a billboard, with advertisements for various businesses. Apparently this is the "Red Brick District".

CPA's can even advertise here apparently.

From downtown, I spied the road that leads to "Thunder Road". It's easy to miss this street, and I have mised it before. There is no sign that identifies it as "Thunder Road". But now I know whre it is.

The entrance to "Thunder Road" from downtown Augusta.

Just down the road a ways would be a sign like this. The speed limit is generally 55mph, but some curves are less than that. I wouldn't call them real twisties, but they are fun and the scenery is a bit different in some areas.

Even the sign is bent.

Near the road was this oil well. After all, this is Butler County and there is a significant amount of oil production here. Some wells have been producing since the 1920's.

"Black Gold, Texas Tea"

Knowing how some bloggers are interested in railroads, I stop a few miles away to get another picture or two.

Is there an East Augusta?

When I took this shot, I didn't see the approaching train. I didn't even take my helmet off to take the picture. It was hard to read the display on my camera, but on the other side of the road I noticed some birds.

The next thing I experienced was the sound of a very loud train whistle.

I turned around and there the train was. No danger, but I would not have parked so close to the track, had I known the train was coming.

Max stood his ground.

I ride a little further down the road after the train passed by.

The train carried mostly containers of who knows what.

A few miles down the road I stopped at another intersection and took this shot of the trees, now without leaves.

Another curve

A few miles more brought me to another railroad crossing, and surprisingly, the gates were coming down for another approaching train. It seemed like less than 15 minutes since the last train had passed. I barely had time to stop, get the camera out and, without benefit of even looking at the camera display, I got this shot. I was sure at the time that it would not turn out.

Another train, more airplane contrails too.

Patiently waiting at the crossing

There are lots of ranches along the way. Some buildings and homes looked new, others a bit tired.

A nice looking ranch area.

I am getting closer to Wichita now.

Wichita is a straight shot west from here

A little further along I see a display of old farm equipment along the side of the road. I had to stop, if for no other reason than, you don't see this kind of thing everyday.

Old farm implements all lined up.

A couple of others And yet another combine of some sort

A little closer to Wichita, I spy a pond that looks sort of typical for Kansas. You can tell from the grasses that it was a bit breezy this day.

The water in the pond looks a bit down. Not surprising. We had a wet spring, but summer and fall have been dry.

Here is the intersection marking the other end of "Thunder Road" near the east side of Wichita.

47th Street South and Andover Road

A final shot near Wichita and typical of the clash of farming and real estate development. Suburban homes fighting with farmland for space here on the planet.

The ride was about 55 miles in total. It was a beautiful if breezy day. There are lots of stories about "Thunder Road", probably a lot of those stories are not true or highly embellished. I didn't take many pictures of the road itself, partly because the ride is so much fun and I didn't want to stop. I have actually ridden on the route 3-4 times, and this is the first time I ever took any pictures. It's not spectacular, but it doesn't need to be. It's just fun!