Last ride of 2010

I just can't believe this freakish warm weather this week! Usually it's in the 20's and 30's with a little snow and some ice on the ground by now, but yesterday was incredible! December 30th 2010, no snow, no ice, and a high of 65! This time around the weatherman actually hit the forecast pretty close so I was prepared and got out of the house at decent time.

While my sporty isn't quite where I want it, I figured yesterday would be a good time to scour the local indy shops to see if they may have some used goodies lying around. The 1st two were closed, the 3rd, Prairie Hawg, was open but no used sporty stuff around and I did find an oil filter for Jimmy's Yamaha project at the 4th one, Motorcycle Supply.

It was also a good shake-down run on my sporty as I've been working on her alot over the holiday break (see previous posts). The biggest changes were getting rid of that silly stock pull-back riser and mid-buck bars, switching to 5" straight risers and 25.5" drag bars with a 15* pullback, and of course getting rid of the stock shocks and switching to Burly Slammer 10.5" shocks. What a huge difference!! The handling is much more responsive than it's ever been, definitely an improvement! I absolutely love the new lowered stance, more comfortable for me since I'm a little on the short side at 5'8" with 32" inseam, I can flatfoot her at stops with ease. Like an idiot, I was in such a hurry to get out and ride yesterday I forgot to grab the spanner for adjusting the pre-load on the Burly's. The softest setting is not good for me and my 200lb frame! I'm also going to have to find another dual element light bulb for the LowBrow Customs tail light. While the marker light is plenty bright, the brake side is almost non-existent, not good, but I think it'll be an easy fix with a better bulb.

After getting some good riding in I met up with my son, Jimmy, in Wamego. He was riding home for New Years so we hooked up there and rode the last hour home together. I couldn't ask for a better final ride of 2010 than sharing miles with my son. It was dusk when we met in Wamego, the wind switched to being out of the north, and the temp dropped from 50 to 30 in a matter of about 20 minutes and I've got to admit that I wasn't as prepared for the cold as I should've been. That was one of the coldest rides in recent memory, stopping about every 10 miles or so to let our hands warm up on the warm jugs of our scoots, then haul ass for another 10. It was truly an adventure, dark, freezing, painful, yet fun all at once. Even when we pulled into a gas station close to home for one final warm before the last miles home, our hands numb and hurting, we were still smiling. The woman working, Amber, a friend of ours, obviously felt sorry for the frozen riders and the coffee was on the house, thanks Amber!! There were also some locals there that knew us and we just re-enforced their belief that those Fickbohm's just ain't right.  Maybe we aren't or maybe we are, either way it doesn't matter to me, you get one shot at life, live it, enjoy it.

Some poser shots from the ride-

I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and may 2011 bring many smiles and miles!!