Almost a rant !

I almost posted a long and rambling rant a few times this week.
I edited it about 10 times, and sometimes it sounded whiny and other times, kind of rage filled.

It all goes back to this past Monday, when I went out for a little spin after dinner.
I was going up the Queensway to St. Laurent, and passed an OPP SUV.

The long and the short of it is that he followed me, pulled up behind me at my turnaround spot, and gave me  a hard time for my helmet, then my insurance, and then my bars.
Nothing he could ticket me for, and he left disappointed.
A real Ass-hole..... with a capital a.

I was mad all week about this because I am feeling harassed.
Yup.
You heard me.
I have been pulled over a few times now, for no other reason than that I have long hair, and ride a Harley.
Seems fair.

I was going to use all kinds of terms like " donut munching prick with a giant ginger head"  to describe the cop.

I was ranting about helmet laws in general, and the do-gooders who think they know what is best for me.

And then I went for a ride today.
Nothing massive...just to Brockville and back through Smith Falls.
It was sunny and cold with no wind, and it felt awesome.
Saw other bikes.
Enjoyed the scenery and the smell of country people burning their leaves.

And that is when I decided that if there is such a thing as karma...and there is.. cops like the one who pulled me over , and do- gooders will get theirs in Hell or in a next life.
Seems just.

I can't let my whole week be defined and spoiled by the actions of one donut munching prick with a giant ginger head.
And I won't.

Cuz if I do?
"They" have won.

Getting cold....

I got out for a few rides this weekend.
Saturday night, I just bombed around town a bit for about an hour.
It was actually mild out, and not too bad except for the wind.

This morning I headed out for a longer ride, and froze my nads off.
I was gone about 3 hours, and never saw the sun.
Cloudy and windy. 2 degrees.
I headed up to Perth, and rode back through Balderson, Lanark, Wolf Grove road and Almont.
It was nice to be out, but every 20 minutes I had to pull over to warm my hands.
I can understand why some people get heated grips...

I got home..did some stuff around the house, and then the sun came out.
hmmm...looked "more better" out than it did before. It was now a whopping 4 degrees...so out I went again.

Ended up at Petrie Island in the east end.
It's a pretty nice place.

I saw 3 herons and a beaver while I was there, and strangely enough, quite a few people fishing from shore.
They probably thought I was a little different being out on a motorcycle.

Even with the sun out , I was cold by the time I got home.
I envy the people with the big touring bikes on a day like this...they are almost totally protected from the wind.

I hate to say it...but I can see the season coming to and end.
3.... maybe 4 weeks left...tops.

Shudder!

Not much new....just some riding

As the title says...not much new here.

Last week I did a whole bunch of small rides, and then got out for a nice ride with Greg and Frank from work on the Friday.
It was sunny and 20 degrees....pretty good for October.
We went to Westport via Lanark, Watson's Corners, Elphin, Maberly.
Came home through Perth, Smith's Falls, and Stittsville.
They are both good guys to ride with.
Unfortunately the few pictures I took, seem to have not turned out.

I noticed the bike was sounding loud, which I don't mind, but it shouldn't happen by itself.
I checked the mufflers and they were all good.
Followed up to the rear head and voila..the nuts that hold the pipe to the head were gone.
Could have something to do with the vibration on a Harley ?
Not a big deal though...I got home just fine.

Saturday I bought some nuts to install.
Looked pretty easy.
Took 2 hours. :(

You would need to have hands like a 4 year old Asian piano prodigy to get the top one on.
I,  unfortunately,  have short stubby fingers and no fine motor skills.
Great.

I took the heat shield and the battery case off for more room.
Every time I thought I had it beat...I would hear the "tink" of it falling off, when I went to tighten it.

Although I am not one to swear..this was an occasion when swearing would have been OK...maybe even accepted and expected.

Finally though,  my "rain man-like" patience was rewarded...it was conquered!

Only took 6 or 700 tries.
A triumph for all short-fingered spastics everywhere.
If there had been an audience...I think there would have been applause.

And that is all of the excitement fit to print.
It has been rainy and shitty.
I got a 1 hour spin in last night...not huge for sure.

It looks like the coming weekend might be sunny, but the payoff is that it is supposed to get cold....like highs of 4 or 5 degrees.
I will have to ride anyways, and will freeze my nads off.
You can't not ride when it is sunny , in the fall.

Hopefully,  we get an Indian summer in a week or so.
Then there will be all kinds of blogging to be done.

Weekday get away and update

Up until Thursday, there has not been much riding happening for me.
I have manged to get out after dinner for some quick rides here and there, but nothing substantial.

Thursday was sunny and 20 degrees.
Seeing that forecast on Wednesday, I emailed my boss and asked if it would be OK for me to escape for the afternoon to get a ride in.
Being the great Commander in Chief that he is, he said yes.
Sweet!

I talked to Brent, and he was in.
Thursday morning Mark from MNO stopped by my office and asked if I could get away for a ride.
I told him I was running with Brent and that he was welcome to join in.
He was in.

Mark and I rode out to Carleton place to meet up with Brent, and then we all agreed to head up highway 7 to Sharbot lake, and then ride back in and around Wagerville.
We made an obligatory stop at Silver lake.

From Wagerville we headed to Tamsworth, and then cut back up towards 7 through Arden.

Beautiful country, especially with  the trees in colour....at least the ones that haven't dropped their leaves already.
Even big stands of all yellow are impressive when there are a lot of them.

Some spots were kind of like the land that time forgot...you could well imagine banjos being played by the inhabitants of the shacks along the road.

Saw a real nice marsh hawk ( northern harrier ) up close, and quite the herd of wild turkeys on both sides of the road.
Some were sitting on a fence.
These turkeys were not butterballs..they can fly, even.

We checked out the time outside of Arden and decided to head back via 7 to Perth.
Mark and I kinda debated doing the run to Calabogie, but that would have put us riding back from Arnprior in the dark.
We headed to Lanark, and at Hopetown, turned for Wolfgrove and headed to Almonte.
 It seemed wrong not to be continuing, cuz it was still bright out,  but by the time we hit Kanata it was dark.

Not a huge ride, but definitely a worthy one.
We agreed that we would aim for at least one more good ride day before the snow.
Perhaps we will get an Indian Summer.

Friday it rained. I did get out for a little blast in the dark, though. The roads were semi dry.

Saturday, I had some projects, new and old , to work on at home so I didn't get a long ride in.
Plus, the hourly weather forecasts said it was going to rain off and on all day.
I follow 3 of them...they all agreed. Rain.
Not a drop. The rotten Bastards !

I did get out for  3 - 1 hr mini rides, between tasks.
The nicest one was at night. It was a warm evening, so I blasted up the Queensway to Orleans and back.

Sunday looked crappy, but I did get out for some mini rides again.
 In the morning I stopped at the greenbelt to look for wild turkeys...they were on holiday or something.... didn't see one.

So I took a picture of my bike instead.

There can never be enough photos of my bike in different settings...right?

After lunch I did a little spin around the south end of the city, and stopped in to look at Triumph motorcycles, but the dealer was closed.
Triumph makes a sharp looking bunch of bikes.

And as I type this Sunday evening...it is raining just enough to be a piss off.

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny. If so...I will ride in to work.

West Carleton Ride on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Monday was a busy day.
We were having my family over for dinner, so there was a ton of stuff to get ready.

Nonetheless, around 11:30 am my wife said we were all good, and did I want to go for a ride?
Does Rita Mcneil look bad in thong ?
Sunny and nice?
Of course I want to get out!

I headed up to Richmond, and somehow found myself just before Arnprior.
Headed up Galetta side road and saw a sign for the Morris Island Conservation area.
Hadn't been there before...

Turned out to be a good choice.
Nothing specatular about the ride aside from the fall colours, but I found a great spot for future hiking and canoing.

All kinds of trails going from one island to another.
Dogs allowed.
A canoe launch.
And of course, lots of fall colours.

I came home through Galleta and Dunrobin.
Again...nothing special about the ride, but the fall colours, especially across the river in the Gatineaus, made it great.

Thanksgiving dinner was awesome.
Combined with the feast from the night before, I walked around feeling like "Jabba the Hutt" from Star Wars all day.
Nice.

Spencerville

I got out for a couple of hours yesterday in the afternoon.

When I headed out, I really had no idea of where I wanted to go, or even direction to start.
Heading up Richmond rd. towards Bayshore, I did a last minute turn onto the 416.

Started riding and thought that I would either just blast up to the 401 and back, or get off at Kemptville and go to Burritts Rapids or something.

Was daydreaming and missed the Kemptville turn, so it looked like 401 and back.

Then I saw the Spencerville turn-off.
I have never been to Spencerville, believe it or not..and I have seen the signs for the heritage mill a hundred times.

What a nice small town!
Kind of artsy looking and  well kept.

The Mill was certainly worth the stop.
Gotta love stone buildings.
It is on the Nation River which looked pretty low, but there is still something primal about being near water.
I have a fascination with it.

It was very quiet and peaceful there.
There were some kids at a park nearby, but aside from the that...not much noise.
I could hear schools of minnows feeding, and 2 white geese honking.
I have to get get back here in the spring when the water is high. It would be something to see.

As usual, I took a picture of my bike.
I was feeling rather happy with it yesterday for some reason.
It's 4 years old now, has almost 80,000 km ( 50,000 miles) on it, and there isn't much I would change about it.
It has that well used, well maintained feel about it.
I think that barring some minor tweaks, I have it just the way I want it.

It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but that doesn't matter.
There is no another Harley done up like mine. Maybe similar...but not the same.
And oddly enough....I like that.

Some Fall Riding.

 Thursday evening I got out for a couple of hours out towards North Gower and Richmond.
Just a nice warm fall evening, and a leisurely ride.
For some reason , the farmer's fields seemed particularly peaceful to look out over.


Friday, 2 colleagues from work ( Greg and Frank )and I went for a pretty awesome ride in the afternoon.
We have all been working pretty hard, and being Friday before the long weekend, the sites were a ghost town by around 11 am.
Seemed like the thing to do.

We went up to Calabogie and then followed the Matawatchan up to Griffith.
People rave about the road between Hopetown and Calabogie, but I think this road is better.
Not as great asphalt, but a much more scenic ride.
From there to Denbeigh, and then the Boulter road to Combermere.

We stopped at the same spot Brent and I had stopped, for the view.
Photos just don't do it justice.
It is so peaceful...the smell of the fall leaves, only the sound of the wind in the trees...horses grazing..
We were probably there for 15 minutes just taking it all in.

I am pretty sure the guys both liked the rest of the road as well.
What is not to like ? Lots of corners and small hills,a wood plank bridge, trees changing colour both sides of the road..

We decided to head to Barry's Bay but first we stopped at the park on the old Barry's bay road.
The water level was low so there was no waterfall, but it was still a great place to stop and see.

Greg and Frank 

We gassed up in Barry's Bay, and then headed to Eganville, and then Renfrew.
A quick break in Renfrew, and then home via the highway.
By this time it was getting pretty dark.

I am not crazy about riding in the dark at this time of the year because of the deer. They are everywhere.
I am guessing it would suck to hit a deer at 60 mph.
Might even put a damper on things.

We took it easy and stayed in the pack with the traffic, and nobody aced out a deer.

I was happy I had my leather jacket with me for late afternoon and the night ...when the sun went down it was positively nurpley.
I almost just left the house with only a jean jacket on...I could have frozen my "special guys" off.

Greg and Frank are great guys to ride with , and we committed to getting out again before the year is over.

Out and About / This and That.

The weather has been a little nicer the last few days.
No massive rides...just out and about.

Both Thursday and Friday I was able to ride to work. A little nurple-ish on the way in, but coming home was nice.
Friday after work my wife and I went out for a little ride and did the Experimental farm, canal and Ottawa River parkway.
The Exp. farm was beautiful as usual.

Saturday morning I took a little ride and stopped to see the rock sculptures along the river.
I was the only one there...that was nice.

Saturday afternoon we went out to Arnprior via Galetta, and came back through Pakenham, Almonte, and Carleton Place.
Actually, it was near perfect riding weather when the sun was out.
Wasn't too cold or too hot..... the Super Glide was happy..it's air cooled.
No back firing, or burning nads from the heat coming off of the motor.
As fun as it looks to be on a Harley on a really hot day... it is not that fun.
They definitely run hot, and prefer the cooler weather.

Saturday night I got out for a little ride up the Queensway to Orleans and back.

Sunday...rainy and cold.
Really crap-tacular weather.
As much as I love to ride ( must be true...look at my profile...it says so.) ...I stayed home and started on one of the many projects I have been backburnering due to my busy riding schedule.

It felt kind of different to be home on a Sunday.
Good, but different.

Tonight I got home from work, gorked back a yummy meal of Salisbury steak, and mashed, and headed out on the bike.
Really nice evening.
Again nothing huge, just down to Maitland (between Prescott and Brockville ) and back.
Still, it was nice to ride steady for 2 hours.
And surprise ! There are still a shit load of bugs looking to commit suicide against my wind-shield.
A couple of frosts should put an end to that.

Tomorrow is looking OK, so maybe I will ride into work, but the rest of the week looks like solid rain.
I don't mind getting caught in the rain, or an iffy day even...but getting to work soaked would suck.

The detachable wind shield and sport front fender on my bike do a pretty amazing job of funnelling all of the dirty water straight to my crotch  from over the tank.
Sweet!
 ....It is hard to look like you know what you are doing, when you look like you pee'd yourself.
I would not want to spend the first 2 hours of my day explaining that no...I do not suffer from adult incontinence....I rode into work.

Any ways...here is hoping the weather people were smoking crack and got it all wrong, and the long range is going to be sunny.

Small rides and more tire action

Been a really bad week or so, weather wise.
Too much rain.

Last week I tightened up my clutch cable, which meant I had to remove the derby cover on the primary case...and as always, one of the crappy Harley torx head screws stripped.
Bought a screw extractor, removed it, and then changed all of the screws to Allen key chrome.
Never as easy or as cheap as I planned.

I have gotten out for a few small evening rides, and on Sunday went out to Brent's in Lanark, and then to Renfrew for breakfast.
I had already decided to cut the day short because it was windy and cold and looked like rain, when Brent asked what was on my rear tire.
I took a look...it was down to threads in 2 spots.
Not good. Not good at all ...

That ended any debate about riding farther...I took the back roads home.
We stopped at the church in Burnstown.

When I got home, I took the wheel off, because I did not trust the tire to drive on any more.

Bit of a beast..I had to remove the shocks to get at the axle bolt, and remove the brake and belt guard too.
Next morning I texted Don from Black's Corners Tire to see if I could drop my wheel off with a new tire and tube, and pick it up later in the week.
He said he would change it while I waited...what a guy !

That night...put the wheel back on and went for a little test ride.
Back in business.

The Madawaska from the Church in Burnstown

Got out for a little ride tonight after dinner. I went out to Rideau road and back on the 416.
Not exciting or anything,but it was nice out.

It gets dark pretty early now. By 7:30 it's black out, and there are a lot of deer rampaging about at this time of the year..
It would suck to hit one for sure.

Hopefully there is some sun this weekend.

The week and then the Barron Canyon

It was a pretty good week last.
In between some not so nice weather I got some after dinner rides in. Nothing huge...all under an hour, but still good.

Wednesday I went out to Brent's and we changed my front tire. He had  a virtually new tire that he had no use for, and he has a bead breaker, rim protectors, and the spoons.
Went really well, and I have a tire that will get me the rest of this season and probably into June next year.
Sweet !

Saturday I got out for a few rides in the city doing chores and pick-ups. I would rather take the bike to do something than drive the SUV any day. It takes longer somehow...but that is OK.

Sunday I left the house at 7am to meet up with Brent in Lanark for breakfast. Foggy and cold.
Froze my nads off.
Any ways, we met up and decided to run to the Barron Canyon in Algonquin Park.
The turn off is between Pembroke and Pettawa, on the left.
The 1st few miles were paved, and then we hit gravel, and then packed earth...took a good 45 minutes to get there . A few times I thought I had hit bumps hard enough to break a spoke.
Definitely not a motorcycle friendly route.

All was forgotten once we got there.
Pretty spectacular place!
The only thing I can compare it to, ( geek alert!..... geek alert ! ) is the scene in "Lord of the Rings" where the fellowship is canoeing through the canyons.
There was even canoes/kayaks.
Kind of a fairly steep uphill trail.
Brent and I looked totally out of place in our boots and leathers with the other hikers.
Oh well.

There are no guard rails of any kind, just signs saying watch your kids.

I am so getting a canoe for next year, and trying this  !

The forest is of a different kind than I am used to seeing...it seems almost West Coast-ish for some reason.
Beautiful, in any event.
We saw deer tracks, and were told there are definitely bears and wolves.
We did not see any of the bald eagles that are there, but there are supposed to be all kinds of hawks and birds to be seen soaring around, and living on the cliffs.

We had a good chat with a game warden...real nice guy.
When asked, he informed me that yes, there is indeed a helmet law in the park.
I had to ask. :)

In typical Parks Canada fashion, everything is clean, well maintained, directional signs everywhere....the whole nine yards..
You can't mind seeing your tax dollars being well spent in a tangible fashion.
Cost at the gate for a day pass?...6 bucks each. That is almost free.

The ride out was not as bumpy, but still took a while. You cannot get past  40km/hr on roads like these.

Looking at the time, we decided to highway 17 it home.
Not a particularly exciting end to the day, but it cut at least an hour off going the scenic route.
Uneventful ride home.
I was actually kind of beat from the off-roading and the hiking we did , so that was OK by me.
The coming week is looking like a mixed bag for weather. It looks like the heat spell is over as well.

No more riding in just a t-shirt and vest.
Jackets, gloves, hoodies and chaps are the order of the day now.
sigh......