Spyders Everywhere!

Not the 8 legged kind, the Can-Am kind.

Can-Am makes mostly ski- and sno-doo's and ORV/ATV stuff, but not so long ago branched out into paved road type vehicles. Their road-worthy brainchild is the Spyder.



Spyders are odd vehicles, being reverse trikes, but they have so many electronic brains that they have 3 more brains than I do. On paper, it sounds nearly impossible to have a single vehicle accident on one. Of course, we all know that's not even within the realms of possibility, but the Spyder's 4 brains all conspire to "assist" the rider to stay in that lane and make that curve. It practically won't skid. All those brains sound a tad bossy to me, but then again, who doesn't need all the assistance they can get?

There is a dealer up in Lynnwood, but the young salesman didn't know much about the thing. We learned more from the brochure and an article in Motorcycle Consumer News.

It's tall. It's very tall for this short lady but oddly enough, even though it's very tall for me, the pegs are positioned so that my short legs are scrunched up like a grasshopper's and I have to lean waaay forward to reach the handlebars that supposedly already had a lifter kit installed. My knees don't fit on the tank where they are supposed to. It seemed to me the seat was short, front to back. It has a reverse gear, so it doesn't matter that I can't touch the ground when I'm seated.

Maybe with 2 handlebar lifter kits and some repositioned pegs I could ride one for longer than 15 minutes and still be able to walk afterwards.

It's very powerful, over 900cc. Well, ok, maybe not all that beefy for the likes of you, but I'm used to 250cc. The Spyder would fly up those mountain passes like the wind. I would not be relegated to racing with overloaded motorhomes.

It's uncomfortable for short senior citizens and they love their Spyders very much, wanting $18,000 for the semi-automatic model. And, it only gets 30 mpg. Yikes!

So, next I'll investigate Piaggio's MP3.

To Blog or Not to Blog, That Is The Question!

Justin has a blog. But he doesn't like that word, so he says it's an online journal.

Whatever it is, take a look at Motoronin (over there on the right there's a link to Motoronin and the Blue Bomber) and follow his wanderings around the country.

Our baby boy is a motorcycle bum. Sigh.

Wish I was going with him. Are there senior citizen motorycle bums? I know there are plenty of senior citizen motorhome bums.

OIL! No more

It being a spectacular day and The Motorcycle Doctor having some time, and Ray having worked at home and being done at 2:30, both Silver and Wrex went down for Oil! Oil! Oil!

Ray shuttled them both down and back, me not feeling well. Still. Again. Whatever.

All Oil!-ed and gassed and ready to go. Too bad Wrex is not street legal. Still mulling what to do about that and feeling fairly bummed and trodden on by the WSP.

But yesterday and today were so beautiful. I tell you, these spectacular days are worth the wait. And the bit of rain and clouds we have to suffer through to get to a spectacular day is all forgotten in the splendor of the blue, blue skies.

It's true, you know. The bluest skies you'll ever see ARE in Seattle.

Training Day

I completed an intermediate riders course yesterday. It was raining very hard when I got up and had breakfast, but by the time I was ready to go it was just misting. With the forecast being 60% chance of rain all day I put all the rain gear on and headed off. Normally I would not go out in that kind of weather but looking on the bright side I figured if I did OK in the rain than everything would be great if the rain ever stops here. It was still misting when I got to the class but stopped before we did our first exercises. It didn't rain or mist any more the rest of the day. The clouds started breaking up about noon and we needed sunglasses shortly after that. It turned into a nice day. It is beautiful today, but that's a different entry.

The exercises were mostly the same as the novice class, but no classroom sessions. The class was all on the range. There were a couple of exercises that were focused on cornering techniques. Those participants that didn't have an endorsement could test after the class to get it. Justin also attended the class, tested and passed. He's now official and legal on two wheels.

They have a rectangle in which you have to make a figure eight. I think it is the hardest of all the exercises you have to do. I could not do it when we started but after many tries and remembering to really look waaaay over my shoulder and trust the bike I was able to consistently make the turns.

There was another exercise which was basically a big race track around the range with weaves on one side. That was fun. By the end I had gone 11 miles during the class. I took a longer way home it was so nice but it was a little cooler on the road than at the range, at a little higher speed. All in all worthwhile, fun and a good experience.

It is beautiful day today and I am thinking of going for a ride. Susan is still getting over a cold so she doesn't feel like going. So it may be a lone ride.

Illegality On 4 Wheels

We've been informed by someone in the know that the Washington State Patrol in it's infinte wisdom has decided that my wheels render my bike illegal. They say it's not a motorcycle and it's not a trike. They don't say what it is, so I guess they were so confused by the 4 wheels that they simply can't say.

I won't be stopped just because of the wheels, but if I am observed doing something not within the parameters of the law, my bike will be impounded on the spot and I will be instantaneously afoot. Of course, if some patrol person is having a bad day, that officer could decide to arrest my scoot and I just because.

I also suppose that should I be involved in a multi-vehicle accident that it will automatically be my "fault" whether it is or not.

That makes me wonder if the insurance will cover me if I'm riding an "illegal" bike.

Oh, bother. I really can't afford another bike.

39 years. Seems like a long time but that’s how long we’ve been married as of the 11th. And as of this summer I will have been retired from the Navy 20 years. We’ve been in the Seattle area 23 years as of last Tuesday; in our house for over 21 years. Our boys will be 29 and 33 years old this year. Listing all of these milestones kind of makes me feel old. Need to go for a ride i.e. road trip. But the weather is lousy. Possible snow this Sunday or Monday. Nothin' warming up here.

One Lesson Learned

While on our second ride yesterday, about an hour into it, a single ominous word began flashing on my dashboard.

It flashed OIL...OIL...OIL...OIL.

Urgently. OIL! OIL! OIL! EEEK! OIL!

So I used the handy dandy helmet-mounted communication device to report to Ray that my bike's oil light was on and I thought we should head for home. He was suprised, because he'd checked the oil on Saturday and it was fine. My scoot was not smoking, there was no oil on any of the places I'd parked since then. Puzzlement.

We get home and immediately check the oil. Hmmmm. Looks, ok, but let's get out the book and be sure. So we page thru the book, which has an index, but that turns out to be useless or we don't think the same way the book's authors did. But on page 6-15 we find information about oil. No picture of the dipstick's cryptic markings, but enough info to figure it out.

The problem was, the scoot has decided that it needs an oil change. Oil! Oil! Oil! means change me NOW. I know The Motorcycle Doctor changed the Oil! Oil! Oil! at 600 miles. Now the scoot has 3853 miles on it, so I do suppose it's time to yield to the scoot's will and change the Oil! Oil! Oil! NOW!

So, let this be a lesson for you too. Before riding season starts, get out that owner's manual and give it a quick read. It may save you the horrible sick feeling I had when I thought something was terminally wrong with the Oil! Oil! Oil!

And Motorcycle Doctor, if you're reading this, you know you'll see that scoot and I soon. Be sure to have OIL! on hand. I'll bring the OIL! filter.

Fun!

Want some fun sometime?

Ride on over to your local Mickey D's and go thru the drive-thru.

The look on their faces when you pull up on a motorcycle is priceless.

I actually did go inside today and get a bag o'calories to go, but I have used the drive-thru on my scoot. It's pretty funny.

Sunshine!

We have finally gotten some decent weather! Saturday was cool but Sunday! Sunday was glorious.

Beautiful clear blue skies, warm sun, bit of a cool breeze, no humidity to speak of, and the road called to us.

As soon as we could, we fired up the bikes and went for a ride. oooo, my rear needs seat training all over again. I had to stop at midway point and let some air out of the air seat. It was fine the last time I rode, but not yesterday. You'd think all the sitting I did over the winter would have helped to "harden" my buns to the scooter seat, but no.

We just went an hour north and then turned around and went an hour south. No big deal, but it was fun and it felt good to be out there again. We did some practice in the park n ride before we took off. My new brake cylinder works fine. I love my wheels.

Amazingly enough, no cage drivers did anything stupid in our vicinity and the only idiots we saw were zip-splat riders riding in an extremely zip-splat fashion. No accidents that we laid eyes on though. As usual Big Pink and her wierd ride attracted a fair number of lookie-lou's, We make a stir wherever we go. The thing that continues to suprise me is that the bikers who look most hard core are the ones who seem to "get" my wheels the most.

There were rare riders who waved or acknowledged the presence of another rider in any way. Last year, it seemed like most everyone waved, even sometimes the zip-splat riders. Yesterday nearly everyone was feeling fairly unfriendly, or something. I wave at them all anyhow, if I see them soon enough and I'm not "busy" with riding. I didn't see any women riders, although I saw several female passengers. Saw one young couple on a 650 Burgman, very nice ride.

Today is another glorious day, it will reach low 70s. Tomorrow will be in the high 60s. We'll ride to supper tonight and I plan to ride to the Family History Center to work tomorrow morning.

And on Wednesday, cold and wet comes back for a week or so.

Retrospective & Introspective

With all the poor riding weather (snow? in April? Yuk!) I've been doing some thinking.

Did you know that the 11th of February was National Inventor's Day? Well, it was. That makes me think about my inventive ancestors, particularly my grandfather and great-great grandfather. They were inventors. We have the actual patent certificate to prove that great-great grandfather Marcellus was an inventor.

And I know that Grandpa Harold invented radish rosers, household sized wire cheese slicers and egg slicers along with many more things. I have the prototypes for all those useful items. He invented those things on his own time. For work he invented that little round thermostat that says "Honeywell". And he invented those skinny little green scrubby things...they used to be called Scotch Pads, but I don't know what they call them these days. Those things were never his, but the property of the companies he worked for.

And the things he invented on his own time? Given away, mostly, never patented or marketed by him. Mom thinks it's because he was a bad businessman, but I think it was because he loved the chase more, loved the hunt for the perfect combination of form and function. I don't think he cared much about what happened once the gizmo was invented and functioning well in it's intended purpose. I suspect many inventors are like that. I know at least one genealogist who is more interested in the hunting and finding than in data entry. Yes, that would be me. And there are others like me, all of us with heaps, piles, closets, boxes, file drawers, storage lockers full of collected information. The joy is in the pursuit, the drudgery in the data entry.

Notice the inventive gene skipped a generation? As far as I know, great-grandpa Max never invented a thing, other than a good life for his family, which is inventive enough and entails hard work.

That skipped generation means that the children of my generation might be expected to be busily inventing things right and left. But we're not. Some of us are crafty, one of us is a genealogist, each of us is creative in some way, all of us have been busy enough just inventing a good life for our families. What happened to that inventive gene? I don't see the next generation's children inventing things as of yet, although some of them are too young and may yet invent wonderful things.

Is it gone, that inventive spark? Did it surface in only those 2 generations of our lineage? I don't know enough about the older ancestors to know, but one day I'd like to know. Is it just in waiting for the right descendant to come along? What genetic combination was present in our inventive ancestors that's not there today? Will my grand-nieces and grand-nephews and grandchildren be the ones to bring home workbench inventiveness back to the family?

I don't know. I guess I'll have to wait and see.