Well, it was a great weekend for weather (except for today for some of you heading home, getting a bit damp). It was also a great weekend for FJR peeps! We had a great turnout, and even managed to provide some preferred parking for a special guest...
KJ was honored by the special treatment of course, but he managed to make a couple of minor modifications to the signage...
It started on Friday as Ray came down and arrived a little after noon. He wanted to get our bikes done before Saturday. He did the first of four fork flushes/rebuilds of the weekend on my bike and then we swapped the shock on his V-Strom. We never even unloaded it, just did the work right in the truck bed!
Bill arrived late Friday afternoon and we had a nice supper (Laura really had a whole weekend menu planned, as she enjoys cooking for crowds! I love this woman!!). Saturday got started with Steve/Pista arriving bearing Timmy's doughnuts. Excellent way to start the day! Jeff/FJRPittsburgh rolled in not long after that and things got moving. Bill did a quick TBS on his AE...
Steve got his forks off so Ray could tackle those. Some folks came by even though they didn't need work done on their bikes. They just wanted to socialize and lend a hand where needed, like Wayne here helping Steve get his forks re-installed.
It was great to see Ian/Shakin and Cindy. We met Ian last summer at CFR and not long after that he had his 'incident'. He's not riding yet and still has more surgery and healing to do, but he wanted to come down and see everybody, and we were all glad to see him!
I'm not sure what he and Greg/Geezer were talking about, but perhaps Ian was trying to remind Greg that dirt and bugs increase the drag coefficient of his bike...
My friend Tom (who rides an older Yamaha Venture Royal and took most of these pictures) came by and brought a couple of nice canopies to keep the sun off of us and provide more work space. Taking advantage of the shade: Jeff, Bruce/BWV, Tim/Madmudder and the 'Geek.
Andy brought Sooze too, and in fact they made a two-fer out of the weekend by riding in Friday to stay with her sister in West Seneca, and then riding down to Eden for the day on Saturday. Laura and Sooze keeping an eye on us to make sure we don't do anything stoopid:
We attracted not only familiar faces, but some new ones as well! Tim and Ian and I talking with EmmtBt from Buffalo, who rode his '13 down and even brought his own tools!
Did I mention that Ray spent most of the weekend doing forks? And doing his Rainman impression by spewing out torque values every five minutes as someone reassembled their bike!
Mike/Wineguy brought in a set of tires for his '13. Really Mike, I'm sure you coulda got at least 15 or 20 more miles on those old tires! Not sure why you swapped 'em out so early!
Eventually the work was done and it was time for a little food and drink. I fired up the grill for the burgers and dogs while Laura got the salads, rolls and other such stuff ready. Apparently, I must have looked a little unsafe, judging by the distance being kept by the observers here. OK, so I had a few flare-ups. Hey, Burger King makes a big deal about flame-broiling!
Nice photo-bomb Tim!
Everybody got enough to eat, and had a relaxing meal.
KJ was his usual shy, introverted self, but eventually we managed to draw him out of his shell just a little...
After dinner, we said goodbye to some folks, while a few stayed the night and enjoyed a crackling campfire in the back yard. This morning, after a nice breakfast (Laura loves to cook, did I mention that? I LOVE this woman!), the rest of our guests drifted out and headed home.
I want to thank Ray for all his assistance in making this weekend a success, as well as Bill, whose sign-making and tire changing expertise were highly valued! And of course, Laura, who had no earthly idea what she agreed to when she said "Sure honey, you can host a tech day here." I've already checked, and even before cleanup was complete on this tech day, she agreed we should do it again next year. Can you say, "Mike, you're a lucky *******? I knew you could."
Thanks to all who showed up to have work done and to those who showed up to help others get work done and to those who just showed up! It was fun meeting new folks and seeing familiar faces again. Now, let's take a look at the calendar for 2015...
