A Ride Around Lake Michigan...Or Not

Touring on the motorcycle is always great fun.  My buddy and I found a weekend in June that we both were able to get approval from the bosses to allow us to get out on the bikes.  Our plan was a ride around Lake Michigan.  After intently watching the weather all week, obsessively if you will, we headed out Friday after work with some light misting. 

While headed north the weather turned to more misting and fog. We decided to crash at a hotel in Sheboygan, WI...a wise decision. A few Champagne of Beers helped ease the intense stress that we endured keeping upright during the past few hours.

Saturday morning brought some great weather, but some bike issues for the little Suzuki. Water wrecked havoc on the electrical system, draining the battery and shorting out a few fuses.  We first tried to push the bike and pop the clutch, but that was exhausting.  Our next idea was to jump the bike...but no one had cables.  But we do have allen wrenches!!!

Since it was my buddies bike, and he's the "engineer" he got the task of holding the two batteries together while I turned the bike over. GENIUS! It started up and we were able to connect the battery and charge it. Off to buy a new battery...before it explodes. In our attempt to fix one problem we shorted out the voltage regulator. It's a little, important device...it regulates how much voltage gets sent back to the battery during normal operating of the bike. Without it we were sending too much juice to the battery...thus it could explode. Two guys at a local bike shop helped diagnose the problem and supplied a new battery....we're off....5 hours late.

While stopping in Green Bay, we decided to be the mature adults we are, and since we wouldn't enjoy the incredible roads ahead since we were in such rush we'd just turn back and stay south-west of Green Bay. Stopping in Plymouth,WI Saturday night gave us a chance to relax and booze it up.  We had a great meal, lots of beer, then checked out a local bar and played some pool with more beer being consumed.

A great night!

Sunday was perfect, the roads were totally dry, not too hot but not too cold....just right. Zipping around the area we stopped in Elkhart Lake, WI to have lunch with a friend who participated in the Mini-Triathlon the day before. Getting home before dinner was the goal so we took some smaller roads back to the highway then hauled ass home.  A great weekend even if we didn't achieve the goal of around Lake Michigan....maybe in August we'll try again.

Weekend at the Track

Heading to the track is something I really enjoy, though this summer has been really busy I was thrilled to be able to go.  My buddy Darren and I had to figure a way to put two bikes on his one bike trailer.  After a few evenings of beer and engineering, we came up with this. 
 

We had to extend the front of the trailer in order to accomodate the two chocks that the front wheels lock into.  We were pleasently surprised as to how stable the trailer was and we headed out of the city Friday night.  Once we arrived at the track, it was downpouring.  Not a good start to the weekend, so instead of setting up tents in the rain, we had some beers with friends. 

The rain stopped around 10pm on Friday and when we awoke on Saturday to the reving of race bikes, we knew it was going to be a good day.

Since I haven't been on a track since my crash in May 2008, I took it easy, slowly increasing speed and lean angle.  The bike performed incredibly, the new fork springs were much better than the stock ones and were able to deal with my weight and riding style flawlessly.

By the mid-afternoon Sunday I was running 1.32min laps, 12 seconds faster than my time a year ago.  Now I have the lap times needed to get bumped to Intermediate, just have to do a little more work on my body position.  All in all, a great weekend, perfect temps and the bike ran excellent.  Can't wait for next time.

Roadtrip to Indy

Dan posted the other day about our trip to Indianapolis for the Moto GP. He covered the motorcycle bit but left out the road trip aspect! So I will round it so you can see both sides of the story. I will be the first to admit that I was skeptical about this trip being any fun... Dan gets a little nutty about motorcycles sometimes and I was worried that it would be "sport bike overload" for me. But I had a fantastic time on the trip.

The first morning we all loaded into the Jeep and headed to Cafe Patachou for breakfast. Yummy! This place was great; very cute inside and the food was very good... even the boys seemed to like it. (Yes, I have lost all shame regarding taking photos inside a small cafe.)

Then after a quick stop at a very quiet Nordstrom (it was pretty early) because I received an incorrect weather report we head to the speedway. The guys became very animated the close we got...

We had a little trouble finding our seats... it was rather comical. Dan decided to just squat in a fairly empty section as he was dying to just soak it in.

It was incredible windy in these seats and after a while we decided to take off and check out the vendor tents and the lawn seating...

After a long day of watching motorcycles go in circles while sitting in the sun... we showered and headed out to dinner. What a fun evening. We went to a German restaurant called Rathskeller that also had a very cool biergarten with a local band playing...

Then we headed back to the hotel to rest up for another day of motorcycle racing action. Day 2 started off rocky with some nursing hangovers and 100% chance of rain looming overhead. So after stops for ponchos and the strongest coffee we cold find in Indy, we were back at the Speedway.

Between the incredible wind gusts and the rain, we still managed to keep our spirits high...

Not the hottest picture of either of us but it pretty much sums up the day...

It was pretty exciting with all the energy during the racing... but I am not ashamed to say that when they finally called the rest of the races I popped out of my seat ready to go. I really did have a lot of fun... but there is only so much sitting in a poncho, watching it rain, and listening the chairs behind you go crashing in the wind that one can take! I will definitely be up for another trip to a MotoGP race but will watch the weather before packing and will remember my iPod.

Inaugural MotoGP Race at Indianapolis

Sept 12-14th, 2008. One of the most exciting weekends to be a motorcyclist. We got to watch the worlds best racers ride the worlds most powerful and fastest motorcycles. The MotoGP is a racing class that races all over the world, from Qatar to Spain to Italy and to the US.

We arrived late on Friday, leaving us enough time to hang around with Darren, Lisa, and Jay. While Chicago was getting dumped on by rain, we had clear skies. The perfect weather to watch the practice and qualifying.

And visiting the grounds to check out the manufacturers new bikes, like the Honda Goldwing...

Sunday was Race Day!!! Over 100k people poured into the Speedway for the first motorcycle race at Indianapolis since 1907.


The motorcycles would reach around 200 mph on the front straight, in the first corner as seen above, they are going over 100 mph. Sunday wasn't the best day for racing, as around noon the skies started to rain, and rain, and rain. It rained so much they brought out the saftey car to test out the track and look for puddles....needless to say they found one....

Eventually the rain stopped and the crews were out with blowers clearing off the track.

Once the officials deemed it decently dry, the 150cc racers had their impressive race. The 150cc race bikes weigh about 150 lbs and can reach a top speed of around 130mph. The technique needed to ride these bikes quickly and safely is mind boggling. The throttle has two settings, off and "Full Speed Captain".

The GP race was impressive, Valentino Rossi (Italy) and Nicky Hayden (US) battled out for the lead the whole race.



Unfortunately the rain and worse the wind came back and wrecked the Yamaha tent.

The race was called after lap 20 of 28, Rossi won the First Indianapolis MotoGP and celebrated.

All in all, the weekend was incredible. The bikes are the loudest most exciting things I've ever seen and heard. Even Tara enjoyed watching the pros go at it. Next time Laguna Seca 2009!!!

Ride Through Kentucky

Nothing beats a ride through Kentucky. This overlooked state has some of the nation's best motorcycle roads. Smooth pavement, tight fast corners, and beautiful scenery all make for an enjoyable weekend. Our group consisted of the usual hooligans: Jay, Rick, Mark, and I. This time we had a newcomer, my track buddy Darren on a Suzuki SV650. We met up in Merrilville after work on Friday and rode straight to Louisville, Kentucky. Stopping only for gas and a pit stop, we arrived at a friend's parent's house a little before 10pm. Riding on the highway at 85 to 90 gave my gasguzzling 998cc engine a MPG of 41...incredible!

We awoke Saturday morning to coffee and breakfast prepared by our great hostess. My buddy's parents were amazing putting 5 guys up in their home. Cheers Rita and Thom.

Our route planner, Jay, had us leaving Louisville heading to Lexington via backroads. He created a nondirect, 400 mile loop of twisty backroads that were incredible.



When we arrived in Lexington at our Super 8 for the evening, we decided to go the cheap route and all stay in the same room. I shared a bed with Darren, while Jay and Rick slept together and Mark used his inflatable mattress. A little creepy and weird, but we were so tired and buzzed no one cared about the snoring.

Sunday was another beautiful day; with the birds chirping and loud motorcycles tearing through the mountains and countryside. After finally remembering how to ride a bike (I had a mental block due to my fall on the track in May), it was back to business. The RR was screaming at 10,000RPM in second gear through the tight stuff.

We finally arrived back in northern Indiana in the early evening, where we departed the local roads for the highway and headed home. Each one of us taking a different route when we approached the city, finally there was only me headed west on 88 back home to Wheaton....if I was in the city I would have been home 30 min earlier. Ha!

Track Day....And First Crash

On Friday, Tara the Dogs and I drove out to Putnam Race Course. After getting in late we headed to the track Sat am for a day of speed and fun.

The day started alright, the instructors had some drills they put us through.

I noticed that my suspension didn't feel right so I ducked out and headed to the race guys to have them check my bike over. I'm glad I did because my suspension was way too squishy for riding on the street let alone on the track. They went through all the measurements and calculations and adjusted my suspension for my weight and skill. After lunch I tried it out, and was instantly amazed in the difference, having some decent laps. In the mid afternoon I headed back out despite starting to feel the 4 hours of sleep the night before. The next thing I remember is stepping out of an ambulance with my bike already at my car with a few missing pieces.


I'm alright, just a few bruises, nothing broken. The part that sucks the most is not knowing what I did wrong. I think it was lack of sleep, a mistake I will never make again. This is all part of the learning experience and I love this sport and will continue. Now to find a new helmet....

Clearfield, PA Ride

Every year a group called Sport-Touring.net meets at a restaurant called Denny's (not the chain) in Clearfield, PA. It's a social gathering spot for sport touring riders to come together and eat some good food. More importantly to ride some radical roads!!! Riders come from all over, with us from Chicago being the furthest.

We knew the weather wouldn't be the best, so we packed for rain, and we were glad we did. My friend Jay and I left Chicago friday after work and headed to Indy, where we stayed with one of Jay's friends. The next morning we were out the door at 6.30am (one hour ahead of Chicago), we jumped on the highway and headed past Zanesville, Ohio. This is where we got off the highway and headed south on local roads.

We stayed on local roads all the way south and east of Pittsburg.

We found SR250 in West Virginia which is an amazing road through the mountains where they mine coal. We were stopped by two very long trains pulling an enormous amount of coal.

Heading north through PA took us to our final destination of Clearfield. Sunday morning it began to rain, of course that didn't stop us as we went out for a ride through the mountains.

After lunch Jay and I headed back to Chicago via I80, 600 miles of highway! Not the most fun, but better than work!