July 18, 2011

I'm still not 100% sure I'm a “Bike Guy.” I keep thinking about it, and I'm just not sure. I'm not afraid, per se, but I recognize my mortality and know that NO ONE on the road knows how to drive. Sure, I should be used to driving everyone else’s race from staying alive in The Seven, but at least there I have a more stable platform and “some” protection around me. I'm not going to just tump over and get road rash in The Seven. That cannot be said with all sincerity about the bike. Now, having said that, I was a bit surprised when I pulled up to the shop and saw John's bike sitting there. I'm not sure why I was surprised, but I was. Anyhoo, I tested and installed the horn on my bike, works perfectly by the way, and then hung out while Dave worked on Barbecue Bob and John messed with his bike. When we got Barbecue Bob to fire up, run, and drive around the complex, I said to John, “Quick! Let’s roll Lil' Wiggly in before he gets back!” I was joking but John thought it a good idea. He had Dave park Barbecue Bob while we rolled Lil' Wiggly inside. Dave then parked Barbecue Bob in Lil' Wiggly's spot and we began to clean up. It was decided that John and I would bike down to the little Mexican restaurant down the road for lunch so I rolled Bobbi outside. When we were all locked up, John and I took off. It took a while for me to get up to the same speed as John, which was more a comment on my balls than the bike, and we headed down the road. When we crossed 1187 I pulled up next to him and “sang” the CHiPs theme to him. I then twisted in a little more throttle and took the lead. I pulled into the parking lot and up to the door. I managed to let the bike die as I was coasting across the lot but clutch-stared it again without anyone being the wiser. John parked next to me and we went in to eat. El Azteca’s Tacos al Carbon are really good. Now, I'm about to say something I never thought I would be saying: there was almost too much food. Yep, now that I'm trying to cut down on my caloric intake, I see that “normal” portions here in the States are exorbitantly huge. John agreed. When we were finished, we waited for the party ahead of us to pay and then tried to settle up as well. The credit card machine didn't work. Eventually we let them write down our numbers so they could manually enter the amount later. We went back out into the heat and fired up the bikes for the trip back to the shop. I, apparently, ride a bike like I drive a car. John said I was really giving it the throttle as I took off but I felt like I was just accelerating at a normal pace. Perhaps I'm just used to being under-powered. Anyhoo, we got back to the shop and put Bobbi away. John took off and I headed out in Ms. Clio. I drove back to the restaurant to clock the mileage and it turns out the place is almost exactly (within 0.1 mile) five miles from the shop. So, after doing a ten mile jaunt on the bike... I'm still not sure I'm a bike guy. As I was headed down 1187 towards Whiskey Flatts, John called to say his clutch cable broke and ask if I'd mind rescuing him. I turned around and hauled ass to the shop. I picked up the ramp and headed towards home to get Fifi. When I saw John at the Mobil station, I pulled in to ask if he wanted to ride with me or wait. He checked with the gas station owner and hopped in the car. We went to the house and got Fifi. Back at the gas station, we loaded the bike in the truck and tied it down... mostly. No, it didn't fall over... all the way, but we had a bit of a scare. At his house, we unloaded the bike and rolled it onto the garage. I'm not sure why we didn't look at the clutch at that time, but we didn't. I headed back home and hung out the rest of the evening. Sunday I woke up and thought, “Did I shut off the fuel petcock?” I couldn't remember doing it so I headed to the shop to check. I took Hedley LaMarr with me so I could swing by the range in Whiskey Flatts and try it out. Turns out I HAD shut off the petcock after all. Well, who knew? By now it is about 1100 h and I knew I had an hour before the range opened. John had told me about a motorcycle shop which was open on Sunday. I headed across town to see if they might have a petcock. See, the guy from whom I got the bike told me to never use the stock petcock but to use the in-line guy someone had installed. Well, it is a pain in the ass. I want to use the stock location petcock. I drove all the way across town but they didn't have what one. It was a long shot anyway. I began to head back to my side of the world and decided, since it was only 1130 h now, I'd just go home and wait for mom and eat lunch with her. We went to... um, oh right, we went to Papadeaux for some seafood. It was tasty. I decided to just drop mom off at the house and head on to the range. I did and ran some ammo through Hedley LaMarr. The first magazine shot a nice little group, maybe an inch and a half maximum spread. I was quite pleased with that. The second magazine... not so much. They began to spread, and have a flyer now and then. By the time I'd used up all the CCI Blazer ball ammo and moved on to the two magazines worth of Winchester hollow points, I was now and again shooting decent groups. The Winchester rounds were much hotter than the Blazer stuff, which doesn't surprise me for personal defense ammo. I took aim with the first round of Winchester and it went off with a mighty bang... but I couldn't see where the hell the bullet had hit. I lined up another shot at the same spot and still missed! What the fuck, over. I finally fingered out where the point of aim was with that ammo but was mightily disappointed with it. I finished off all the ammo I'd brought and reeled in the target. Not one I'd put up on the wall, that’s for sure. I swept up my “brass,” and everyone else’s apparently, then threw away my target and the empty ammo box before leaving. I paid up and headed out. I forewent going to the shop to clean the gun because I was pretty sure I had everything I needed at the house. I did. I cleaned and oiled the gun and put it away. I oiled both Saigas while I was at it and then wasted the rest of the afternoon. So, that’s about all I've got for today. Hopefully my license and registration for Bobbi will arrive this week so I can get that thing legal. I'm not sure if I'll be riding it much, but we’ll see.