The Blog of Blues

[blues2cruise]

No, I don't smoke.....never did.....however.....my parents smoked, so the first 18 years of my life were probably what set the future (also aunts and uncles smoked, grandparents smoked, all the parents friends who came over) ....then I went from home to marriage with a smoker......I lived with him for 8 years. (About 6 years too many... ...or is it 8 years too many ya....I think it's 8.... ..... I did not know any better back then..

Knowing what I know now, it explains why I was sick so much in my younger days....

Yes, I have been an avid hiker and cyclist and have always had some wheezing problems.....never knew why.....now I know...

I will still be active but now I will learn to recognize my limitations instead of pushing myself to do more....

And the great thing about motorcycling....aside from all the wonderful things we know and love.....I can do it without any effort on my challenged respiratory system...

Thanks for the messages everyone.

[blues2cruise]

Do you smoke, Blues? COPD is really rare for a nonsmoker, yet I never got the impression that you smoke.

I wondered about that myself, blues. I know how you feel about smoking and smokers, and with all the hiking and mountain biking, you impressed me as someone in good aerobic condition. Not questioning your diagnosis, it's just odd.

My Dad has COPD, but he smoked a pipe from his early twenties until he was 77. Now at 90 he's paying for it...
Like my aunt...... Although she finally quit smoking several years prior to the end...the emphysema was so advanced she had to use oxygen......she finally gave up at 78.....she had had enough....

Good luck and hope you are feeling better soon.

I usually am in great aerobic condition....resting heart rate of 60 currently ...it's up from the 55 I used to have......blood pressure good......

When I have gone hiking or biking I always start out with difficulty....short of breath and a bit wheezy. but after a while when I get warmed up and my body seems to find a rhythm, it settles down.....so that is why my aerobic condition is good...but now I know...that I pushed too far......

I'm on the mend again.....thank you.

[blues2cruise]

Well....here is the scoop about the pillion seat.....it is supposed to have another bracket......when Doc came by to help me, he said it didn't seem right...so he looked it up online....sure enough....a bracket is missing...

My only guess is that when the bike was still almost new, the dealer that installed the rack for me where the seat was, did not return the bracket to me..... That seat has been in a drawer since I brought it home from the dealer....

I am now in the process of trying to locate the part......cheap......The dealers want almost $100.00 for a bracket....talk about robbery.....

If anyone has one....

part # 5BN-2475K-00-00 and is for a 650 Classic.

It is part 14 bracket # 3 on the parts diagram...


If I can't find one that someone does not need and wants to sell cheap....I can order on online for reasonable....

[blues2cruise]

I finally got around to having a look at my pictures from the Vancouver island daytrip...aside from the one of me under the sign....

This view is of downtown Vancouver from the ferry as we are coming home from Nanaimo and heading towards Horseshoe Bay.

[blues2cruise]

Saturday May 16

I am pathetic when it comes to "fixing" things in that I am so freaking slow....
I finally got the part I needed to reinstall the pillion seat onto the V-star.

It only took me 1-1/2 hours. and 3 broken nails to get it done.

I had no idea it would be so difficult....

I took a look and decided I was going to need to remove the driver seat to accomplish this....so...off it came....
Then I installed the bracket on to the fender....backwards....

So...I switched the bracket to the correct way and then tried to fit the pillion seat on....It was such a struggle to get the seat to fit the bracket....I was almost at the point of removing the back rest....suddenly...I got it....

Then after a couple of trips into the apartment to find the correct socket wrench....I tightened the bolt and then......
I realized the rider seat could not be put back on because the bolt hole was now under the front of the pillion seat.
Sigh......

So...off came the pillion seat...I reinstalled the rider seat....and then played with the pillion seat a bit and managed to get it back on....I'm not sure how....but it went....I got it bolted back on now. Yay me.....

Then....I decided to install a back off brake light module.....So...after removing the brake light cover....and subsequently having the rubber seal fall off.....was when I discovered the module does not get installed there.....sigh....big sigh.....For some reason I thought I was told that was where it went.....
I opened the instruction and saw that ....wait for it.....

I have to remove the rider seat.....and in order to do that.....yup...you guessed it.....the pillion has to come off......

I won't be doing that today.....

Now I need to put a bit of glue on the rubber seal so that it will stay on the light cover so I can rescrew it to the bike.....

Good thing I have time on my hands....

I think this calls for a cup of tea.....

[blues2cruise]

May 21, 2009.
Thursday evening

After being ill for over a month and not being able to ride, I decided to go for a short ride tonight to start getting my strength and stamina back.
I could sure tell I was a bit "rusty".

It felt good to be back on the bike.

As my title says.....it never ceases to amaze me the things that some people do......

I went for my ride to my sister's place. I rode along United Blvd to get onto the mary Hill Bypass. There are 3 lanes going straight through. I was in the middle lane because the right lane has to merge just after the light.
There was a vehicle in the lane to my left and a vehicle in the lane to right.
I was in my dominant position in the middle lane.
A driver in an SUV, pulled up right beside me in my lane.
The pick up behind him stayed way back...as if to allow space for the SUV to back up. I tried motioning to the guy beside me in my lane to back up....I shouted that he was in my space...that he should be behind me...not beside me...
I may as well have been talking to a wall....

When the light turned green....Who ever said 650's don't have power never took off from a light to get away from an idiot on a V-Star....
I wanted to make sure I got well away from him...the bike took off like a rocket. and I left him a block behind.....

This incident reminded me of the evening a pick up pulled up beside me as he was passing on my right.....(red light ahead)...the man driving said to me....I should have put my left signal on much farther back so he could have passed me.....
Hellooooooo.....this is my lane you want to pass me in......all the cars in front of me were turning left, too. Why does he think that just because a bike is narrow he has the right to pass me in my lane?

Anyway....On my way home I took a detour and dropped off a book at a friend's place and made it home just as it was getting dark.

It was a nice evening's ride.

[blues2cruise]

Saturday May 30, 2009

I managed to finish week one of the motorcycle instructor course. I managed to pass the theory portion the first time. Barely though. We needed 80% to pass. I got 82-1/2 %.

If I hadn't made it this time, I would have been able to do it again on Monday. One of our classmates did not pass. He has to redo his tests and practicum on Monday morning. In his case, I think nervousness got in his way. He was so nervous he kept forgetting his material and could not answer the questions posed to him by the instructor. I think he will do much better on Monday. He now knows what was weak and what needs improving.

I wouldn't mind being given a chance to do the practicum again. Now that I have a better idea of what is required, I could make a better presentation next time.

One of the things that brought my marks down was that I went over the time allotted. My fault for not paying attention to what time I started.

I also got bogged down because of trying to give too much information. We had an hour to prepare the lesson plans and 4 lessons. I had prepared one of the ones on my sheet of topics.....
Then the instructor decided to have us just do three topics instead of four....He came by and crossed off one topic.....of course it was the one that I had just finished.

So...I put together my three topics that should have taken me 45 minutes for intro, the lessons, and the finish.....
I was at 55 minutes when he told me I was ten minutes over...so I did not get to do my finish....lost marks for that....

Lost marks for the excess material that I did not need. It doesn't help that I am not at home. Actually, none of the four of us in the class live here. We have all come from out of town to take this course. Although one fellow is only an hour away, but he has an hour highway ride to get to the school and back daily.

After class last night, three of us went riding for a while and then a bite to eat. It was a fabulous sunny warm/cool evening.

Today I went for a ride to see my cousin and his new Harley Davidson shop. He is well known on the island. His new shop is probably 4 times bigger than his previous one.

I was going to make arrangements to go visit my uncle also, (he is 88)...but...the other cousin showed up with him at the shop. Great! That was a convenient coincident. He is using a walker now......It has a big Harley Davidson sticker on the seat of the walker.
He told me that his first bike was HD was back in the 1940's...He was a delivery person and they used HD bikes with sidecars.

I then took a cruise through a couple of areas I hadn't been before stopping for lunch and a delicious caffe latte. The young woman in the cafe was so interested in the bike. She told me she has been wanting to learn to ride so we talked about lessons, gear and riding.


I then got back on my bike and rode downtown to go to a big bookstore and buy a couple of books before walking over to the ice cream place for a an ice cream cone.

It was a fine day.

[blues2cruise]

I believe he was flirting with me....

I was at a red light. A younger man (attractive younger man) on a Triumph Spirit pulled up beside in the next lane. He smiled and made some casual conversation.

I made a fun motion of pretending to want to race and revved my engine a bit......(remember my bike has a whopping 40HP).

He then revved his engine to the point where the back tire was making smoke and the back end was lifting....(Showing off for me)

When the light turned green he turned and winked before he sped away.

Of course a few minutes later I caught up to him at another red light. He nodded and smiled again before he moved off with the green light.

He turned off shortly after.....

Darn it anyway.....why do these kind of things happen when I am out with other people?

Ah , well....it was flattering and fun.

[blues2cruise]

Saturday May 24

I am backtracking a bit. I forgot to write about the day I travelled to Victoria.
The arrangement was for Doc to meet me at my place and then the 2 of us would ride to meet out third friend en route.
I hauled my top bag out to the garage on a 2 wheel dollie.....The thing was heavy. I was going to be gone for 2 weeks after all. I also had packed a few extra things that won't be coming back with me.

I secured the top bag, loaded the saddle bags, put on my backpack(only because I did not have room for it my bags due to the extra things I took with me. I don't usually wear a pack for riding).... and then, as I was getting ready to start the bike I realized it was too close to the front bumper of my car. So....in order for me to get my leg over the seat and onto the floor to right the bike, I attempted to move it forward to allow me the space.
So far so good.......

Oh-oh.....what's going on? The bike is tipping over too far...what the heck? I suddenly realize that the kickstand is up...How the heck did that happen? No time to stop and think about that now....I need to get the bike upright....
I realized it was too heavy with the load on it and if I continued to try to hold it up I would hurt myself....so....my only option was to lay it down...gently....the saddlebags cushioned it so it did not have to go over as far.

I left it there and went to get Doc......

It should be noted that if I was going alone, I would have unloaded my bike and done it myself and then got the next ferry after the one I was planning. However, in aid of expediency, I got Doc.......He lifted the bike using the proper technique and got it upright for me. (He is a much, much stronger person than I. )

So, I finished getting on my jacket and helmet and warmed the bike and left the garage.

I could feel the strain I had just experienced, but knew that it would be gone in a couple of days.

The three of us got to the ferry on time to buy our tickets and "tail load" onto the ferry.

There were 5 motorcycles on board that morning.

1-1/2 hours later we were disembarking and heading along the Pat Bay Highway into Victoria.

We made our way to my friend's to unload my gear and then went for a light/late lunch.

I then led them back to the road out of town so they could ride home via the Malahat and to Nanaimo for the ferry to Horseshoe Bay.

My friends were gone for the weekend by the time I got back, so I was able to relax and enjoy a soak in the hot tub.

Sometimes life is good.

[MZ33]

Sounds sweet! And a big "woot" to dr._bar for being so manly and courtly . . .