Hello, Santa Cruz!

Some El Niño we're having. It was like 73° F today in Santa Cruz, CA! I happened to have the day off, so rather than go work on stuff that really needed to get done, I decided to go for a really nice mountain bike ride. I called up my friend, John, yesterday to secure his day, so we were good to go!

I thought we were getting jump on the day, by me meeting up with him at his house in Hayward by 9am, but I got a little behind schedule due to some very heavy traffic. We shoved off from his place around 9:30, but still didn't arrive to Wilder Ranch State Park until 11:00! I brought my old trusty 100 Best Mountain Bike Rides in the Bay Area book, (yes, the one that's 20 years old and has gottem me lost numerous times) and we were good to go! Well, it's been over 10 years, since I was last at Wilder and things have changed a little, starting with the parking lot area. Immediately, we set off in the wrong direction and got a little lost.

Eventually we found our way to the "tunnel" and we were somewhat on our way. The book had a shitty map and we weren't really in the mood to keep trying to decipher what it told us to do, so we just picked a loop and started riding. We first headed up the Engelmans Loop until we got to the Wild Boar Trail. There was a bit of climbing to do, but it wasn't too bad- very manageable. It was great that the sun was out and there was a slight ocean breeze breathing down our necks. The ground was a little gravely and sandy with ruts, but not unridable. It was nice to actually have some trees to ride in!

Then we took the Old Cabin Trail to hook up with the Eucalyptus Loop. The climb up Old Cabin got a little tougher, but it still was nothing compared to the Pine Mountain Loop on Mt. Tam. (That was so steep and exposed, it wasn't even fun!) Finally, we got to the top of Eucalyptus, where we took a break on a park bench and ate some fig bars. After that, it was almost all down hill :)

We took Eucalyptus down until we found the Wilder Ridge Loop. It was totally the payoff! This ride was basically 4 miles up, 4 miles down. Lots of ruts and hardpack single and double-track. With it raining not too long ago, the dirt was nice and packed- very little dust. The trail dumped us out on Highway 1, where we had to struggle to figure out where to go next. Eventually we figured out that we just needed to ride South for about a mile until we found the park entrance.

All-in-all, it was a fantastic ride! No one crashed! No one cramped! The perfect starter climbing ride for what I hope will be an equally smashing season. We packed up the car, took down the top and headed into town for some Pizza My Heart! I couldn't think of a better way to spend my Wednesday!

SV Time Again!

So the time has finally come to start preparing for the departure of my dear old SV650S. I've had this bike for 15 years and she has been nothing but fun and dependable! For the past year and a half, I've been riding the Harley. It's more of an "I'm getting old thing", because my lower back starts screaming at me after an hour of commuting on the SV. If I was going to continue commuting on motorcycles, I had to make a change. So the SV sat in my backyard under cover.

I did have to move her back in September, when I moved to the new house. Thank God it was only 5 miles down the road, because the bike wasn't really running well. I was able to get her to start, but I could tell that she was only running on one cylinder. On a V-twin, that is a major issue, since you only have 2 cylinders! I figured that all the sitting and the stale gas, plus the long time it took to try and start the bike again probably fouled a plug.

I ordered some new plugs off of eBay. Yesterday, I finally had a chance to get in there and change them out. It had been so long since I last really worked on that bike that I had forgotten all that it takes just to get to the spark plugs! I had to rip off both front side panels, plus drop the radiator! And for the rear, I had to pop open the gas tank! The plugs weren't difficult to replace, once I had access.

I also did a little cleaning, while I was in there. I ripped out the airbox and made everything all shiny again. Plus it was a good chance to pick off all my upgrades off of the bike, like my speedo healer, cigarette lighter accessories charger and trickle charger pigtail.

When I put her back together again, she started up without a fuss, running on BOTH cylinders now! So now I'm just tasked with trying to work that old stale gas through the system! It sucks that I filled up the tank before putting her to bed :(

Next on the list- syncing the carbs, changing all the fluids and lubing the chain. I just paid the registration on her and got some insurance going again. I had forgotten how much I love this bike! I'm thinking that I might ride her a little bit before putting her up for sale...

Beware of Free Web Hosting!

So over the past week or so, I have been consolidating all of my seven or so blogs into this one dogpile. The idea was to just have one place to go to to post whatever I needed to post. I've been scouring all my old blogs, trying to import each individual post to this blog.

At one time, I had used Wordpress, then I purchased my own domain name. I shopped for some free web hosting, importing all my Wordpress content to their servers. I have used 000webhost, Free Hostia, but worst of all, Byethost. It seems that I have evacuated all my content from 000webost and Hostia, funneling everything into Byethost. But a couple of years ago, my website died on their servers and I didn't have the time to keep up with their shitty email support, so I just let it be dead, never to revive itself again.

Well, this week, I've been trying to get back into my Byethost account. Apparently, they've changed their name, wiping out their accounts database. I've tried to contact them, but they don't even recognize my email address! Their login screens are all broken- every time I try and log in with my original credentials, it automatically changes my usrname in the textbox.

Thankfully, there's not much of anything in there on that blog, so it's not that big of a deal. I will just let it go and build up around it anyway.

In any case, shopping for free hosting is really a crapshoot. Make sure you back your stuff up, because one day, your host might just change their name, db's and blow away your credentials, and not even email you about the changes! I'm sure I've got that Wordpress backup somewhere on one of my backups. Now I have a new project do do- hunt for remnants of my old Wordpress!

Taking Advantage of the Weather

So....it's the middle of February. We're in an El Niño. There's more snowpack base at all the Tahoe resorts than there's been in eight years! But lately, the rain has disappeared. The weather is in the upper 60's. For the past two days, I decided to take advantage of the dry weather, before the rain starts up again. And boy! was it glorious!

I put some air in my tires and made sure my battery was topped off. I forgot how much fun it was to split lanes and rip through all that traffic standing still! Getting on the bike actually inspired me to do a little much needed work on it- last night, I took the throttle grip off and gave it a lube job. I also tightened up the throttle play a little. Last week, I did a slight clutch adjustment, since the clutch was engaging too late on the clutch lever release. Now, everything feels great!

How I miss riding! And the with the Bay Area commute, it's the best way to get to work on time!

Responding to the 2nd Amendment

After the 2015 San Bernadino "terrorist" event, I started thinking about how firearms would suddenly again be on the chopping block. I remember when Obama first took office- I thought for sure that handguns would be outlawed- that's when I bought my first gun. Well, after the Fedral Assault Weapons Ban didn't get renewed, I figured it was just a matter of time before it would come to the forefront again. With Sandy Hook and now San Bernadino on everyone's minds, the President could try and make it harder for those weapons to be available. I started looking into getting an AR-15.

Well, it just happens to be that the AR-15 is America's most popular rifle. Maybe because it's so easy to shoot. Maybe because parts are readily available. Maybe it's because it's so customizable. I've heard it described as the Barbie-doll for men. Whatever the case, there are thousands of options out there on the web. You can buy the rifle complete and assembled or you can buy them part by part and put it together by yourself. Some buy the firearm complete, then swap out parts customizing them to their particular liking. There's plenty of help out there on the Internet on how to choose what's right for you.

After doing my due diligence, I elected to buy the parts separately and build the firearm myself. After careful calculations, I figured I could build my custom AR-15 for around $600. Buying a built rifle, then modifying it would've cost over $2000. Most all the parts can be shipped directly to your house- only the lower receiver (the part with the serial number) has to be shipped to an FFL, where they will do the DROS. Here in California, I had to wait my 10-day waiting period. Currently, there are only nine states (and DC) that have a waiting period.

I decided to buy a stripped lower from Palmetto State Armory and put it together myself. I bought an Anderson Manufacturing Magpul MOE lower build kit through Toms Tactical and a complete upper receiver assembly from Midstate Firearms. I also decided to to go with iron sights, since I was pretty much building a range toy, so I bought an inexpensive red dot scope through Cabela's, then a 3X magnifier through Amazon. Magazines I purchased through eBay.

The lower receiver build was easy- I found a few YouTube videos for reference. After that, it was a matter of snapping parts together!

The rifle is a pretty nice shooter. For my first purchase of ammo, I bought 55gr .223 Federal American Eagle FMJ. My barrel is a 1:8 twist and I know this bullet was a little light, but it was cheap and I just wanted to make sure the rifle would fire. After that, I bought 62gr FMJ through Freedom Ammunition. The rifle shoots to 100 yards with no drop! The red dot is a little fuzzy with the 3X magnifier, but I'm slowly getting it tuned in.

My buddy, John, taking a test drive

For my next cheap mod, I already purchased a lighter spring kit for the trigger and an adjustment screw. I'll do a little polishing on the trigger parts and I should be able to smooth out the pull and decrease it to about 4 lbs. with very little creep.

I'll keep you posted on the trigger project.....

Ironing Out the Last of the Suspension Bugs

After last weekend's ride, I decided that perhaps my suspension needs just a touch more work. I took a ride on Craig's bike and with his Superbrace fork brace, his bike seemed really solid at high speeds. Conversely, Craig noticed that sometimes when I was in high speed open turns, my frame seemed to wobble, to the extent that he thought I was going to just break loose and lose it! I did notice that my fork was undulating and wobbling a bit, but that just seemed natural to me. Or maybe I'm just used to it, now.

Well, I got to thinking- this is my main bike now. I'll be riding for probably most of the winter, provided it's not wet out. If the frame is shaking, then the tires won't keep a good solid contact patch, and with motorcycles, you don't really have much patch to begin with.

After going online and shopping for the lowest price, I decided to purchase a Superbrace for my bike. Of course, I got the denim black paint to match my bike's semi-gloss paint scheme. With tax and shipping, the cost was just over $190. Not horrible, but for a 6 oz. piece of aluminum, it seems a little steep. I did consider buying a cheapo Chinese brace off of Ebay, but who really wants a "Made in China" suspension piece of their American made Harley. I rest my case.

Beach Bound!

After commuting with the Blackboard all week long, I felt that she was definitely roadworthy and ready to hit a little bigger stretch of road. I just happened to have this weekend off, so I called up my good friend, 808Nightsta, and we headed down to the Santa Cruz area for some lunch.

We were fortunate that the sun was out, because there's a front approaching and the rain was due to arrive by Sunday. We met up shortly after 10am. I was ten minutes late, due to a bad valve in the rear tire- it only went bad, when I was checking the air pressure! Luckily, I had a couple of extra valve cores, so I swapped the bad one out, took my handy bicycle track pump to it and I was good to go!

We topped off before shoving off. I turned on my bluetooth headset and we were on the road. We had a pretty leisurely ride down 680 South until we hit 880. There was a small fender-bender near Camden Avenue which slowed traffic a bit, but we just split the cars, so it didn't bother us too badly. From out of nowhere a trio of Sportsters appeared, merging onto the freeway. The lead guy gave me a head nod, then jumped up on his seat and flanked one leg out, while weaving between the cars. His minions followed. I was slightly in awe that some young hooligans took up the hefty XL to do some stunting! I had never seen that before! I guess that Harleys have really made it into the fold of the mainstream!

Once we got to Santa Cruz, we merged onto Hwy 1, then exited at 41st Street. We took the scenic route down Opal Cliff Dr., enjoying the sights of the coastline to the Capitola Esplanade. We pulled up to two motorcycle parking spaces just waiting for us along the beach, locked up our stuff, and paid our parking fees. I am really digging the room in my HD hard bags! I was easily able to keep my glasses, hat and other knickknacks in there awaiting my use! I locked both of our helmets onto my new Ztechnik license helmet lock and we were off to eat.

We grabbed some patio space on the back deck of Zelda's. I had a Fat Tire ale and a spicy chicken sandwich, while Craig had grilled mahi mahi. Both dishes were delicious. It was just great to sit and relax, soaking up some sun. It was a really tough week at work, so I felt this reward was just. Afterward, we took a walk around the shops and snapped some pictures. After spending a couple of hours in Capitola, we got on our bikes and headed for downtown Santa Cruz.

Downtown we found some free parking, which was really nice. We strolled down the sidewalks of the Pacific Garden Mall, me telling stories of long ago, before the Gap store had ever appeared. I was actually a little shocked to see that Downtown now has an American Apparel store! But mostly, I was surprised to see that Lulu Carpenter's had risen from the dead! It was in it's original location with what looked like the original sign! I told Craig about how way back in the day, they used to have this 1 lb. spaghetti special on Thursday nights, and free jazz music all night long. But when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit, it took Lulu's with it and closed it down. On the way out, we stopped by Pizza My Heart and waited in line for almost a half an hour. I ordered a slice of pesto and a blue T-shirt, while Craig got the mushroom. He said it was the best pizza he had ever had!

It was getting kind of late in the afternoon, so we topped off at some gas station on Ocean and headed back home. Our original flight plan was to take Hwy 1 back up to Half Moon Bay, but we had pissed away too much time, so we were forced to take 17 back all the way, just to recover some lost time.

It really was a fantastic day! Sun, beer, lunch, beach and pizza! Oh, and motorcycles! Love that bike!