WARNING: Geek quotient high, proceed with caution

Today I took the Sidecar/Trike intro class. Well, it actually started last night, but that was just the classroom stuff. Today we got out on the range and actually piloted these crazy contraptions around the course. Since the first exercises required some ballast in the side car, half of us got to be that ballast while the other half drove. Apparently we're called monkeys when we are in the sidecar because of all the clambering around that we do (leaning in the turns, etc.)

It was tons of fun. It's a lot harder to actually drive these things. On a motorcycle you counter-steer when turning... push on the right handgrip to lean the bike to the right and turn to the right. It sounds odd but once you do it it all makes sense. On a sidecar or trike you use direct steering, like a car... or a bigwheel for that matter. The problem is that with this bix tube hanging off the side of the bike it's actually pretty hard to turn the handlebars because the sidecar wants to drag behind. So the way to get around this on a left turn is to turn harder and give it more gas until the rear wheels start to slide. No joke. I thought that it would be freaky but it's actually a whole lot of fun. I was one of the first to push it that far and I was pretty stoked after the slide. Right turns are totally different though because the side car wants to lift off the ground and dump you over.

After the range we headed back to the classroom to finish up the coursework and take the test. The test seemed pretty easy, made plenty of sense and all that. A lot of the questions applied to motorcycles too so it wasn't hard at all. But then the instructor graded the tests and all but 2 people failed. I was shocked. The two guys that passed did it by the skin of their teeth. The instructor handed back the tests and started to go over them and something was clearly wrong. Apparently his grading guide was wrong. In the end only one person didn't pass. The instructor is giving her another chance in the morning though because she was really close and did very well on the range. Oh yeah, I got a 96%. I still maintain that the two that I missed were because of semantics. :P

So yeah, tomorrow morning I have to be in Kent at 7:30 to learn the advanced techniques like sliding through a right turn and intentionally 'flying' the side car.

Oh, and here's the rig that I rode:


Oh hey gordonmessmer: one of the trikes was a converted Intruder. Same color as yours, looked like maybe the same year too. You should have joined me man :)

orewaanpanman: now you and adrinna need to take the class so you can be the monkey.

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Just for the record, I actually did get over to the gym on Friday and work out for 25 minutes. I think that it helped my energy level for the rest of the day. I felt pretty good and more eager to get stuff done. I just did 25 minutes on a bike while listening to my iPod. Included with my membership are two consultations with a trainer to set up a plan to get fit. I need to get that done so I can have a routine to go through in the morning.

Let's see... I had a terribly exciting friday night. I stayed at home and baked creme brulee custards and played with meringue trying to make cookies. The custard came out great... not so much with the cookies. Oh well.

Saturday crankygirlie and I went over to her aunt and uncle's house to bird-sit for them. crankygirlie's little brother came over too and spent the evening whistling to the bird, who absolutely loved him for it. We watched Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow which we'd not seen yet. I was pretty impressed actually. The characters were so stereotypical and the acting was a bit overdone, but that actually helped lend to the comic book feel. The visual effects were perfectly matched to that feel. I loved the plot too, it was so 50's comic book ridiculous.

Today we got up and did a bit more bird-sitting. I left early to come home and ride my old bike down to Tacoma for my dad. He's buying it from me so he can save on gas riding it to work. I nearly didn't make it as I rode the less than 2 blocks to the gas station and back, killing the engine but leaving the high beam on for a couple of minutes when I got back. The bike hadn't been really run for a couple of weeks so the battery was low to start with and that did it in. I tried a few more times before I called for roadside assistance. After I got off the phone with them I tried one more time, and of course it started. A quick call back to cancel the jump start and I was off.

Riding the Suzuki after being on the BMW for a couple of weeks was interesting. I really do like the BMW more, but there are some things that are nice about the Suzuki. It's lighter and revs much higher, so it's a totally different feeling bike. I missed the tourque of the BMW though :)

Got down to Tacoma without incident and put the bike in my parent's garage. I showed my dad some of the finer technical details of how the bike worked before we took off for Seattle. We had dinner at the tasty place with mimsy, ibexris and xsorin. My dad was a little puzzled by the selection of food, but I think that he liked it. I must have been hungry because I finished off my meal.

We got home and my dad tried on my old riding gear and I let him borrow it. I also managed to get rid of some bicycle stuff from the garage. My dad left with some tires and pedal clips. More-room-in-the-garage++

I got to sleep in a bit on Sunday morning which was very welcome. In the afternoon gordonmessmer and a friend of his and I went for a ride down to the Harley dealer so Gordon could look at the cruisers. We had lunch at Jack in the Box and headed out. One the way home I stopped by ibexris and mimsy's place to say hi and show off my new bike (so excited.)

I went home, got bored, and decided that even though it was stifling hot outside that I'd go grocery shopping on my bike. First though I cruised on over to Krispy Kreme for some donuts. After that I stopped by Freddy's for varios items. Mostly to see how well it all fit in my side cases :D

I futzed around at home for a bit and then tried to get to bed early so I could get up in time for the code golive that we're doing today.

Today I went out and bought a new motorcycle. I'll be putting my current bike up for sale, and riding this instead:

( Click for picture )

It's a 2004 BMW R1150R Rockster Edition 80. There were only 250 of these built. It's number 30 :) I love the paint job, it's matte white and gloss black. I love the combination. It came with all the gear that I want and still has over 2 years left on the warranty. There's a small amount of damage to the finish of the heads where it was leaned against a wall, but that's it, and easy enough to fix when I feel the need. The best part is that the cost of the bike is only a bit more than what I was paying before, just a longer term.

So, anybody want to buy a 2000 Suzuki Bandit 600S? ;)

I started the day off early hooking up with gordonmessmer to cruise down to Red Label Moto to drop his bike off for service. We chatted with the owner for a while and then headed over to University Honda/Kawasaki. I sat on a Valkyrie Rune. That's a big bike let me tell you. After that I went home and crankygirlie and I had some chinese food and played Katamari Damacy. If you've never played it, then you need to go try it. It's hilarious to watch and fun to play.

At this point my brother calls to tell me that his bachelor party is in progress. This is news to me as I was one of the people supposed to be planning it (I'm the best man after all.) Anyway, I headed out on my bike and hooked up with the group. They were already tipsy when I got there. I stayed dry for the night as I was riding. After a couple of belltown bars the six of us decided to go bowling. I had brought an extra helmet and jacket with me and so I took my brother to bowling on the back of my bike. He said that he had fun and only got a little nervous. I guess I should have tried harder ;)

Bowling was amusing. I've never been around my brother while drunk. He got more drunk as the night went on. We played two games, his bowling got very bad near the end. I then had the bright idea to get him to play some DDR. Now that was amusing. I think that he hit maybe 10% of the cues on the intro level. On the next level he fell off the pad.

That's where i left them and headed home. I think that they're all out drinking more.

He's going to have such a hangover. :D