Misadventures in wrenching and riding

[Skier]

Yesterday was one of those days...

Get the bike held up by the grab bar in the garage. I was moving around the bike as it pivots around me and lands on.... something... with its brake lever. So now my brake lever curves out from the handlebar. Awesome. Nobody around here carries the part so I've got it on order from Bike Bandit.

So, I get the bike lowered safely, lift it from TWO points in the back and proceed to mangle my rear rim getting the back tire off. Thanks to a conversation with Sev, I should have the correct technique for changing tires now. I think he should take a trip down here sometime and show me in person. I'll even supply his Guinness!

So anyways, new tire is here, bike is out of action until I get a new brake lever in about a week. Oh well.

Thankfully, though, today was a day where everything went smoothly. Work went well, I took care of a few little things around the house and got some things cleaned up. Hooray!

Now, to figure out which book I should read next...

[Skier]

Quick update: STAR training went well. I was accepted so I'm now a range apprentice. Two to four classes and I'll be a ranger intern. Some more classes after that and I'll be certified to teach the range portion of the curriculum. My first class with a mentor will be coming up in the next few weeks.

Contrasting with the good news of the previous weekend was one of "those" days today. I watched someone open their car door into my car while picking my GF up from work. Of course, they didn't notice or bother writing a note, they just kept going on about their business.

I also had to call a buddy up and, well, berate him about leaving me hanging. I blew off hanging with fellow STAR instructors to hang out with him for a bit and he left me high and dry. I let him know I didn't appreciate that and a quick voice mail message would have helped out tremendously.

Also I'm still tired since my plans of an early night the other night were completely blown out of the water. While hanging out at my favorite coffeehouse/pub, I was sucked into an involved debate about the social and educational problems of the United States. It kept me there almost two hours past when I should have been at home, sleeping.

Oh well. My latest shipment of AMSOIL is in and I have a ride scheduled with some friends for the weekend. Hooray!

[Skier]

I've been using a large set of Joe Rocket sport saddlebags on my 599 for somewhere around 4000 miles. Some of the roads were pretty rough on the poor bike, yielding this ugly problem:



Rather than dropping the $900 on a set of Givi hardbags plus mounting hardware, I went with the $15 approach. As a bonus I can ride onto a set filming Mad Max and fit right in.

Fitting the engineering abomination:



Lots of hacksawing, filing and more hacksawing later:





A good amount of clearance while shoving the bags around, simulating rough roads:



The metal is mounted to the pillion peg on the left side and the rear seat cargo hook. I have to unbolt the 10mm pillion peg bolts to put the GF on the back but I only take a few long trips a year - worth the paint saving!

The exhaust side doesn't mangle the paint, so I left it alone for now. The heat shield gets scuffed, but I'm ok with that... it would have happened eventually!



This should keep the paint from getting any worse in my trip to Denver next month.

[Skier]

Tomorrow is my first time instructing a class for Idaho STAR. I haven't met either the other instructor or my mentor, but I'm sure they're as excellent as everyone else in the program.

I'm a bit nervous, truth be told. I have a date with the range cards before I go to bed tonight to make sure I'm well acquainted with 'em.

I'll be sure to wear my instructor shirt, hat and have my range card holster on to complete the environment.

[Skier]

My first Idaho STAR class went fine. It was a ton of fun, much more than I thought it would be!

I feel the instructor prep (IP) class did a superb job of getting us ready to coach with a mentor. I felt confident in my ability to coach every exercise and to properly score the students on the skills evaluation.

I must say, every single possible incorrect technique or error during the maximum braking drill showed up at least once. Well, except the front wheel skid, thankfully! I thought it was a bit ridiculous to see the STAR instructors do some of the common errors in IP, but they were right on - everything came up and I knew how to coach to fix it.

My fellow instructors are great. Very supportive, we work as a competent team with excellent communication. I'm very excited about instructing more courses!

[Skier]

NOJ fork guards installed:





Looking at the radiator guard for mounting my extra lights:





Err, something like that, but aimed up higher.

Adjust and match mark:


Needs some aiming when it's dark, but close!



The switch is mounted on the handlebars. It's straight now, but here's the crooked duct tape "make sure it works and full lock to full lock works fine."

[Sev]

Your bike gets nerdier every day Haha. I love it. I'll probably end up copying your running lights some day.

[Skier]

Ok, whoever stole my bike's spare keys, please return them.

I just spent the last two hours searching for the bastards, they are nowhere to be found. I only use them when unlocking and moving my bike in the driveway to wrench on it. I used them yesterday and they aren't around now.

I sure hope I didn't leave them somewhere on the bike and somebody swiped them.

(edit)

Two days later, keys found. They were in the bedsheets that just went through the wash, so my GF and I were sleeping on the dang things for at least a couple nights!

[Skier]

Check out my week long, unsupported trip through Colorado.

[Wrider]

Freakin tourists... Hey!!! Why the heck didn't you send me a PM before you headed out, you went right THROUGH where I live, good old Colorado Springs... I'd have shown you some fun roads and such! Ah well, maybe if you're out here again sometime...
Wrider