when on the road. Go figure, at 59 years of age, Brad had never eaten at a buffet before. It took him a bit to get the drill down, but came away with a generally good impression and heart burn form over doing it at the Golden Coral. I do tend to digress on this type of trip, and some how some mother nature found it’s way into the hotel room. It was truly a smoking room, and poor Josh was a victim of circumstance as Brad and I misbehaved in a way we don’t often do. We were back on the bikes at sunrise, again in search of food. Brad needs a counter for breakfast, but alas, all we could find was a breakfast buffet. Poor Brad…. I thought he was actually going to go into shock, but he handled it like a trooper. We were going to a party in the paddock that night, so I knew there was good food on the horizon. On the road again, the sky wasn’t lookin good at all, but we had less than 100 miles to cover, and were all use to riding in the worst rain imaginable, we’re from Florida. I had mounted...

A long road, and takes many turns to get where you’re going.

October was such a great month when all is said and done. The schedule had but one event on it, the Vintage Festival in Alabama. Being generally smart in early prep for trips like this. I ordered tires, chain, and sprocket set for the bike in mid September. Of course, Mr Murphy was around, and the SNAFU that ensued almost kept me from riding up. It started with a wrong sprocket, which held me up a full week from starting the work on the bike…… 3 weeks to the event. Once the sprocket deal was straightened out, I installed everything. Taking the bike for a test ride, I have a severe thumping in the front end. Mr. Murphy shipped me a defective front tire. Call the rep, and he’s got another tire on the way, and should have it in four to five days………… 2 weeks to the event, and I have no clue on how the new brand of tire I’m putting on will be at speed, having not been able to do over 50mph with the bad tire. New tires...

Wow, life has had me so crazy, I forgot to post this entry well over a month ago.......

As the rainy season is on the downhill side of its 09 run, one can only feel that I haven’t been spending enough time on the bike. Between the training schedule, and the weather, I haven’t ridden with my boys in months. My last good ride was solo to school on the other coast, and what a trip it turned out to be. Don’t ya know it was one of the hottest days on record. I had a side stop at Mike’s house, and that’s when it started to go downhill. While heading out for lunch, his 70 Triumph quit on him, and I had to trek back to his house, grab truck and trailer to rescue his sorry arse. On arrival back at his house, the 74 Norton wouldn’t start, so we said the hell with it, and went out in the truck for lunch. Parting ways, I thought it would be nice to take scenic RT 1 a while. As I’m riding along, something hits my right calf. Not with any force, but enough to know something did hit me....

Yes, I’m still alive, though I haven’t posted in some time now. So much to do, so little time as they say. My actual quest to be able to ride many miles in a day is still a priority, but little progress has been made. I’ve come to the realization that I’ll never be able to ride as much as I want until I retire from doing physical work. Some days are good, and some bad no matter what I do. It’s a mixed bag, and never know what to expect from my body. This past Sunday for instance. Rolled out, and did a solid hour on the slab (highway) at about 85 mph, and my hands were perfect. Met up with my guys, and lit out for a few hours of abusing our bikes. Somewhere in the third hour, like somebody flipped a light switch, the right hand went numb. Bare in mind that we were averaging around 95 to 100mph on the straights when this happened, so it wasn’t a good thing. We hit Solomon's Castle for lunch, and the hand was fine the entire hour and a quarter ride home after lunch. My guess is that at those...

With the dog days of summer gone, September seventh was the opening Sunday of football season, but that was the last thing on my mind. Today was the big day. The day I had worked for over a year on getting a group of riders together to form an official clan for the state of Florida. I hadn’t been this excited in so long about anything, and I was gonna be meeting four guys for the second time, and three more for the first. I was meeting Brad in Arcadia for breakfast, and then riding out to the town of Okeechobee. A pro photographer by trade, Brad was a Triumph rider since he went to college in England in the 60’s. Chuck was a new guy on the clubs forum, and not yet an official member of the club, and he never said if he was gonna make it or not. I printed out my directions to Wheelers in Arcadia, and hit the road bright and early. Getting there early as I always do, I walked down to the main street. I was surprised to find a somewhat restored street of building from the twenties and thirties....