Post-Apocalyptic Desert Biker Grub

Canned bacon is pretty neat, and coffee in a tube is simply brilliant.

And now, canned sandwiches. I, for one, can't wait for Candwich to go into production.

This is just an awesome product idea on so many levels. It's presumably shelf stable for a while. Rather durable packaging, and I imagine you could re-purpose the can as a small hobo stove. Or as a drinking/eating/cooking vessel. And you won't have to use your precious water supply to rehydrate it!

Of course, in a nomadic post-apocalyptic biker society, the bulk would require you to either have a food stash hidden away, or a large support vehicle in your tribe. That could be a problem if your survival requires light and fast travel.

And the Little Vespa is Sold!

Yesterday I experienced the fastest vehicle sale I've ever been a part of. A gentleman called me around lunch time, made a reasonable offer for the Vespa ET4, and we agreed to meet around 6:00.

He didn't want a test ride, so I gave him a quick tour of the machine, and had him follow me on the scooter to his bank. Title notarized, payment exchanged and in less than 40 minutes he was the proud new owner of a Vespa ET4 and I was the proud new owner of roughtly 20 square feet more garage space. Nice!

My New Route To Work is Awesome!

Yeah, maybe it's a little silly to be excited over something like a good route to work, but you have to understand how hard it is to get to my office. The area is a maze of one-way streets, dead-ends and construction. Since there are so few workable routes for the area, traffic is kind of intense as well.

But, apparently some of the recent construction has paid off in terms of making my commute easier. You see, a particular road was closed and torn up for so long due to light rail construction that now no one uses it.

Which means I get this glorious road mostly to myself. The stoplights are almost always go-lights, and if they aren't, there's so little traffic that I don't feel bad just letting off the gas and rolling slowly until the light is green again. If I tried that a block over, I'd get run over by an angry coffee-drinker on his/her cell phone. There are also several sections of road that are visually interesting enough, to me, that I get a bit of a charge riding through them.

All told, it takes me maybe ten minutes longer to get home than it would if I were using the HOV lane on the freeway. Frankly, for this much ease, I'll deal with ten extra minutes.

And I wouldn't have found this route if I hadn't been trying to exercise the Vespas. So, one more reason scooters are awesome: you're likely to find low-traffic back routes you might not have otherwise sought out.

Which is pretty cool when it works.

The Hummer is Dead. Long live the Hummer.

GM is eliminating the Hummer brand.

Ahem...

HOORAY!!!!

That is all.

Yet Another Reason Why Full Face Helmets Rock

The headache I have today could make Chuck Norris say, "uncle," so this is going to be a short post. I'll make it up when my head doesn't feel like it's going to start rampaging through San Francisco any second.

So, full face helmets: Mine actually squeezes my head in exactly the right way to reduce the pain of a monster headache.

The sad part is, sitting in my cubicle wearing a helmet will do nothing good for my professional reputation. Though, I suppose it might do something for my blogging reputation... hmm.

Take a Look Around

Irondad has a brilliant post about how you ought to be scanning for threats while riding. If you haven't read it already, well, go read it.

Fatigue Can Kill You. Avoid It!

Here is a useful article about recognizing fatigue, and tips on avoiding it, as applied to the fine art of motorcycle riding.

You can't have fun if you fall asleep and ride into a truck.

Fatigue and Motorcycle Touring

(Thanks Nate!)

Better Tires for Better Riding

I gotta say, I absolutely love my Pilot Road 2 tires.

Tire quality makes a huge difference in the overall motorcycle riding experience. My experience with the previous incarnation of Pilot Roads was that they had no grip (leading to a lot of scary moments) and they caused sluggish handling.

Not so with the Pilot Road 2 tires. I feel like I could drag my knee all day with these tires. I'm going to have to see how tight I can get my figure-eights one of these days...

In the parking garage at my office, there is a turn where the floor is painted all the way through. I have NO idea why they did that, but it resulted in a slick, low-visibility nightmare. On the old tires, that turn was usually the scariest part of my ride.

But the new tires stick like velcro. I no longer feel like I'm suddenly going to lose traction and eat pavement in every curve. It's nice. In fact, it's made a huge difference in how much I enjoy riding.

So, if you're buying tires, spring for the good ones. It's completely worth it.

New Tires Are Warm and Fuzzy

Don't you love the little fuzzies sticking out on new tires? They're like bubble-wrap, I just can't wait to get rid of all of them. So satisfying.

So last night I picked up the Triumph from Phoenix International Motorsports. I am very impressed with the service I got over there. When they encountered a small problem, they called to let me know rather than waiting until I showed up to pick up my bike. They actually called me to let me know my bike was ready. Nice!

The old tires were Pilot Roads. I hated them with a passion after the first week. They weren't sticky enough in curves, and it took too much muscle to move the bike around. They were a detriment to my riding confidence. On the upside, they lasted darn near forever.

The new tires are Pilot Road 2s. They've got a new multi-compound makeup which means they're hard in the middle and soft and sticky on the edges. Frankly, I was a little nervous about them, but the parts manager told me that even guys on all-out supersport bikes like them.

I have to say, the Triumph is a whole new machine. I'm so tickled. In curves, I start to lean a bit, and then hit the sticky part of the tire and the bike just dives into the turn and spits me out, confident and happy, on the other side.

It was rainy today, and I didn't want to test the traction of brand new tires in the rain, so I took the Vespa to work. I'm very much looking forward to getting out and wearing down the chicken strips on my new tires, though.

The Most Awesome Schwinn In The World

Look at this kick-ass Schwinn Stingray. I mean, just look at it. You've got a motor, racing slicks, a yellow purse to carry your stuff in, and an ornamental seahorse. Check out the racing stripe on the banana seat!

And dig that chain locking the bike up. The owner clearly knows exactly how cool his or her bike is.

I was bummed I couldn't find the owner of this bike while I was at the library. Lurking nearby until the owner appeared seemed a little too creepy, so I settled for taking a quick picture and heading home.

Here's hoping I can catch up with the rider some time...

Pizza Hacking!

So this guy banged together a wood-fired pizza oven out of a Weber grill and some refractory concrete, and he sets up his outlaw pizza restaurant in different places around San Francisco.

How cool is that?