Late Starter

By all intents and purposes, I am a late starter in the world of motorcycling. Sure, there were the occasional rides on the neighbor's little Honda 50cc dirt bike in the backwoods of Illinois when I was in high school. Maybe that is what lit the fire. For decades that ember sat somewhere, waiting.

Not until late in 2007 did the ember catch on. The reasons for the delay are many, and for the purpose of this, do not matter. What matters is that it did catch.

Yesterday I enjoyed the opportunity to ride up to Eureka with several other riders. No, we were not on bikes. 14F temps, in my opinion, are not conducive to enjoyable two wheel time.

The arid landscape is quite unlike that of Las Vegas. Here, is a quiet stark beauty. The roads are mostly two lane and sparsely traveled. The land, populated with trees and scrub, beckon the hiker, the rider, the adventurer. Odd signs, old roads and paths, ruins from the 1800's exercise an odd gravity to some.

To go where few if any tread. To experience what few if any do. To see things that few if any can or will.

These things urge me to go out and buy another type of bike. Maybe a little Honda CRF230L. Maybe a Yamaha TW200. Maybe something larger like a V-Strom or a BMW F650GS (see pic).

To think of the roads, the trails, the nights under the stars, the dirty, messy bikes, the broken spokes and chains, the friendships and experiences I missed while traveling my own path...

Being a late starter does not preclude one from missed experiences, it only means the new experiences can be savored more with a better trained palate. My project bike and the roads are calling.

Five Things About Razor

Reading through a "how to write a successful personal blog," article, the topic of new post regularity was mentioned. It went something like this, 'Post regularly, even if you have little to write about.'

One of the other topics was 'what to write when you have nothing to write.' That looked interesting. Right there was a post idea; a top five or ten list about you that no one knows. It shouldn't be a regular post topic and should contain obscure yet not mundane topics or things from your life.

So, here goes. Five things you may or may not know about me, Razor.

1. First Thing I Wanted to Be When I Grew Up: Astronaut.
2. First Motorcycle I Piloted: Little Honda dirt bike when I was thirteen years old. I was riding it in a field and the clutch cable snapped. Had to speed-shift it three miles or so, up and down hills. Quite the challenge.
3. First Computer I Owned: A Timex-Sinclair ZX81. After that, I built my own computer based on the 8080 processor, then moved up to a Tandy MC-10 Micro Color Computer.
4. Things I Did As A Kid to Stay Out Of Trouble: There were plenty of things to keep me out of trouble on the farm. I did the typical farm work, hunting, fishing and climbing trees. Books, short wave radios, computers and electronics also occupied my time.
5. What Am I Thinking About Right Now: Riding my dirty motorcycle to work. What else???