COTA Trip Planning

So this is what I’m thinking (direction is counter clock-wise); stops include Dallas to check out the new G.W. Bush Library and OK City to see the memorial. Not that I have a lot of time to detour or spend at any one location, but if you have any additional suggestions, let me know.

Here I come…

I’m taking off Wednesday, May 15 through until the following Wednesday, May 22, 2013

I’ll be riding the Explorer. Here’s how the trip planning is looking so far;

Riding out from Junction, TX, I’m planing on doing the three sisters (a.k.a. the twisted sisters) ranch roads 335, 336, 337 – so I’ll need to add a few more miles and time to my estimates above.

If you have and additional suggestions/thoughts/insider knowledge of must see things to do on the way there or back, feel free to drop me a line.

This is gonna be fun!

…at the Garage Co., Inglewood, CA, Saturday March 23, 2013.

I went to Born Free 4 last year – it was my first time (guess I missed the first 3). What a great show these guys put on – their mission statement pretty much says it all (and how awesome is that they even have a mission statement…);

The Garage Co.

The Born-Free Show is about the love of old motorcycles and like minded individuals having a good time together and enjoying these bikes of the past.It is also a family event,young and old a-like are welcome to come out and enjoy the show. This show is meant to unite people from all walks of life by bringing the passion that we all have of these old machines together for one special day. If you come out to the event please be prepared to have a great time, see some vintage bikes..lots of vintage bikes in a peaceful friendly family environment. The event site and local law enforcement have a (( no Patch or Colors )) policy that we must abide by. We respect everyone’s right live & do as they choose so we must respect the event site’s policy as well. We thank you in advance for your cooperation and look forward to seeing everyone June 29 2013 @ Born-Free 5.

Show Hours are 10 am to 5 pm.

I highly recommend you put this event on your calendar. If you’ve been before, you’ll want to go again, and if it’s your first time, I guarantee you’ll have a great time.

See you there!

Click here to see more pics of the Born-Free / Loser Machine party

Out on a casual hike at Bolsa Chica Conservancy this past Sunday, I stopped to take a picture of the horizon when Cindy shrieks with excitement, “your 10 o’clock!”…

Osprey

Click here to view the series of the pictures we took that day

Tags: bird, Bolsa Chica Conservancy, fish, osprey

Death Valley is one of my favorite places to visit and the early part of the year is a great time to go. I was first introduced to Death Valley, back in 2002 through motorcycling, specifically as a member of the BMW Airhead M/C Riders Group. As I recall, there used to be a fairly major pilgrimage to Death Valley every year organized by the Adventure Riders Group, called Death Valley Daze (DVDaze) – usually scheduled over Martin Luther king Weekend. Not sure exactly when it happened, but from what I know, it was essentially squashed due to – dare I say it – rowdy behavior. As far as I know, the event is still alive, just somewhat covert, with unofficial schedules, meet ups and individual bookings (rather than groups).

These days I don’t worry too much about being part of the unofficial event, instead opting to book my own itinerary on a schedule that works with the opportunities that I have to get away. This time of year is a magnet for tourists, and of those, there’ll be plenty of m/c riders that I can share stories of adventures with in the evenings at the local watering hole over a beer or six.

I’m particularly excited to go this year as I’ll be combining my love of motorcycle riding with my love for photography. Having recently acquired my first DSLR, I plan to be making this as much about photo shoot locations as riding destinations.

This years trip is planned from February 7-11, staying, as I did the year before, at the luxurious Atomic Hotel, Beatty Nevada.

In preparation, I’ll be studying the geography with an eye to take advantage of sunrise and sunset. I’m also very excited to be experimenting with night shots, taking pictures of the earths rotation as shown in the star trails.

Watch this space for my return and I’ll post a link to the pictures that I took – hopefully some will be suitable for framing.

Tags: Death Valley

The process to convert over from the old photo gallery to the new version involved manually transferring over 5,000 pictures in 260 folders including file names, dates and related comments. I’m probably 80% complete. The remainder need to be further re-classified, organized and categorized, which is lower priority right now. Next steps include tweaking some of the newer functionality, perhaps looking into changing the look and feel a bit, and reviewing available Wordpress integration options (plugins).

Gallery WErX

All that said, the new gallery is now open for business. All links from the blog site should be linking to it (rather than the old version). Please feel free to check it out and let me know what you think. Also, if you come across any issues, something broken or not working correctly, let me know so that I can take a look. Also, I’m open to suggestions/thoughts around organization of the images – if you think things are hard to find or navigate to, let me know if you have some other ideas.

Meanwhile, my first ‘new’ published photos include a series that I took recently in which I was experimenting with a wide angle lens (Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8) that I rented for my camera. It was amazing, given how close you are to the subject, just how much you can get in a picture. Click the image below to see more…

Watts Towers

Cheers

Tags: Gallery, Photography

As much as I’ve enjoyed using the previous application (4images), with over 5k pictures posted in 40 plus albums, I think I’ve out-grown it. Additionally, recent events have highlighted that it’s not a secure as I’d like it to be, and controls to manage accesses are cumbersome and limited. So, it’s time for a change.

Having spent a few days researching, I’ve decided to go with Gallery.

This is a part time venture, so bear with me while I go through the update process. I need to clean up the structure and reconsider the organization based on functionality of the new application. Good news is the new program has way more flexibility in addition to enhanced photo, video and audio sharing solutions.

Together with making the change to the new gallery software, I’ll need to update posts in my blog that have link to photos. If you happen to be looking through the site and notice a broken image link, please drop me an email and let me know so that I can be sure to take care of it.

Thanks for your patience.

Cheers!

Tags: Gallery, Photography, pictures

SoCal (Long Beach) edition

Just in time for Christmas…

With the downturn in the economy, shows of late have been a little dull – several of key manufacturers have been a no-show and/or under represented. The same goes for the manufacturers that have offered demo vehicles for test rides. Still, when you are a bike nut like me, who just can’t get enough, you keep turning up every year with a hope that you’ll find a gem, gadget, discounted gear or some new prototype vehicle that will likely not look anything like the version you saw in a few years time, that will have made the trip worthwhile.

And so it goes. My previous MO is to go both days; one day to test ride new bikes, while the other will be spent walking the showroom floor.

Let’s hope – since they moved this event to later in the year (early December) – that the weather holds out for the test rides.

If you’ve never been before, do yourself a favour – it’s a relatively cheap day out and  if, like me, you’re a local rider, it usually turns out you’ll run into fellow riders that you haven’t seen in a while. Also worth noting, if you ride a bike to the show, parking is free.

For more info, click here

Tags: Motorcycle

Look what arrived!

and the following day…

Ready for touring duty

Just got back from a 180 mile ride – with gas light on and 4 miles left on the ODO countdown When I bought the bike they said they gave me a full tank of gas – who knows – but when I went to fill it up again, all I could fit in it was 4.6 gals.

So I rode out to Malibu, through the mountains, stopping off briefly at the RockStore. From there I followed PCH along the coastline to Long beach where I made a final stop to say g’day to Vince at the House of Hayden before heading home again. The ride consisted of open freeway peppered with some heavy traffic conditions, twisties and more than enough stop and go.

FWIW, I guess I should mention that this is my first Triumph, so some of this might be old news to some but I have to say that I love the gearbox – It’s silky smooth. Also the engine power delivery is spot on.

keep in mind I’m still in the break in period. Nonetheless, the bike did superbly. I think it’s been said before but it feels very light. It handled the twisties extremely well. The brakes, while not as good as the 2012 Speed Triple that I’d test rode the weekend before (with its mono block brembos), are however plenty powerful and have no problems, with just a couple of fingers, pulling the big girl to a quick stop from freeway speeds.

I played around with the windscreen settings – I’m 5′ 11″ and with the shield in the upper most position, I was able to ride comfortably at 70mph with my face shield up. I also put the seat in the taller position and may adjust it yet again by dropping the back of it as I felt I was leaning forward just a tad

Lane splitting was a bit more of a challenge – with the wider handlebars, but creeping along at slow speeds was no problem at all – very smooth.

As for the throttle; it doesn’t feel broken to me, but it is somewhat sensitive. Definitely need to be gentle with it. Having said that though, I feel like it’s something I can get used to. One thing I noticed was that after the ride, my throttle wrist wasn’t complaining of aches – I guess that’s because it doesn’t require a heavy grip and or a lot of twisting. Once the bike has broken in, and I have the opportunity to use the cruise control, it should be even better.

The last thing I have to comment about is the computer; I feel like I need to spend a bit more time playing around with it. There seems to be a lot of info and I’m not sure what all of the readings meant. Perhaps I should read the manual… 

On a final note I think this bike will be a keeper. The riding position suits me (I loved my Uly and this bike has similar ergos), it has plenty of horsepower, and it handles great, rides smooth, and looks like a bike that was made for burly folk.

I think the only thing I’m missing at this point is luggage – as long as it gets here for before I head to MotoGP, Laguna Seca, this year, I’ll be happy

Tags: Laguna Seca, Motorcycle, Triumph Explorer