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Not that there is any thing wrong with Honda.

There is a old Honda in my hometown like this.

If the weather is right, sunshine, no clouds, and the humidity is just right, you may see it parked some place.

CBRXX

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Never seen so much as a bug on that bike.

If a for sale sigh ever appears on it, I won't be able to pull my check book fast enough.

 
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Not that there is any thing wrong with Honda.
There is a old Honda in my hometown like this.

If the weather is right, sunshine, no clouds, and the humidity is just right, you may see it parked some place.

CBRXX

[img=[URL="https://www.motoprogress.com/photo/HONDA/HONDA-CBR-1100-XX-Super-Blackbird-1998-4.jpg%5D"]https://www.motoprogress.com/photo/HONDA/HONDA-CBR-1100-XX-Super-Blackbird-1998-4.jpg][/URL]

Never seen so much as a bug on that bike.

If a for sale sigh ever appears on it, I won't be able to pull my check book fast enough.
I know where there is a nice one for sale.:) :)

 
Just a gentle reminder of my OP suggestion - please be discouraged from posting commentary on this thread unless that includes your own picture and story. I'm not playing thread snob to be mean. I'm trying to develop a collective story from the sum of its parts. I hope you understand.
I have not posted anything in this thread yet out of respect for you. Sorry, but here are my thoughts:

This is the FJR forum. You know we are a free spirited bunch. We do not like rules, we do not like to be fenced in. To try to impose rules and to attempt to exert control over a thread because it is YOUR thread is probably not going to work. These guys have only held back because they all like and respect you.

I personally thrive on the feedback and comments I get on the pics and the story. I love it when something I post triggers a memory, a story, or an emotion. I read everybody's Ride Reports and I see that happen often. That is at least half the goodness of the Ride Report section.

When I post a pic, I want to know what you folks think and what you feel. If I am to be deprived of that, I have no desire to post and share.

Out of respect for my friend and his One Picture RR thread, I have chosen a special picture. This picture meant a lot to me because it was a special moment with special friends in a special place. The sun was in the perfect spot at the perfect angle, the bike was clean and shiny, and the guy on the bike was having a great time. The guy in the pic likes to Just Ride with No Plan, No Reservations. He likes to just Laissez les bon temps roullez (Let the good times roll) and see what happens. So, the subject of my selected pic is a contradiction here. In his thread he wants to stick to a plan. But on his bike he does not.

My very, very good friend hppants as we left Goosenecks State Park Utah just a few miles north of the AZ border and Monument Valley. A day I hope I never forget.



 
May 2013

Sometimes, by yourself is just fine.

I've moved on to Sport Touring, but my ties to my Honda Nighthawk friends are still strong. Apparently, you can take Pants out of the Nighthawk, but you can't take the Nighthawk out of Pants. With my good friend Gus in tow riding his 2002 Nighthawk 750 with 125,000 HARD miles on it, we run up to Deals Gap for the annual Nighthawk Rally. This is my 4th year in a row attending the rally. This year, the weather is not too great. The temperature is tolerable, but we have been plagued with that nit picky drizzly shit that is just enough to wet the road. Still, we made the best of it and simply held our right wrist in check and congruent with the road conditions.

Late in the afternoon Saturday, most of the guys in my group ride have had enough. One guy has brought useless cheap rain gear and he is soaked to the bone. Another is fighting a partially plugged main jet in a carb. Yet another has chosen the wrong group to ride with today, as we are riding a bit fast for his liking and it is stressing him out. Others in the group are experiencing their own concerns.

For some reason, Pants gets his second wind. I tell the group that I will meet them at the campground later in the evening. I turn the GPS off and decide to just wing it for a while. Not far underway, wonderful thoughts start running through my head. The road is still damp, but the rain has stopped and the Hemlock Trees are so pungent this time of year. The grass along the road is green and it kind of sways back and forth in the wind. There is a touch of fog (or smoke) running in and out of the mountains and as I move my machine down the highway, the smoke moves with me and it becomes kind of mesmerizing.

I'm in the zone now. This is what they call "Zen" and it hits me like a brick wall. It was wonderful and I wished it would have lasted forever. But alas the sun will set soon like it always does and in these parts, when that happens, Bambi comes out to play. I best start heading back to the campground. Shoot, I guess I'm ready for a beer anyway.

Hwy 74 somewhere between Ocoee, TN and the North Carolina border. That was one fine evening on the road.

By myself.

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... after losing both my parents, my job and a great girl in less than 8 months. ... TL;DR Sometimes it takes a lot of miles to get your head right.

...
Sorry to hear of your losses.

You are right, here's no better therapy. Just so long as you keep your mind on what you are doing. Reminiscing too much while riding can be fatal, too easy to forget your surroundings.

From a solo Scotland run September 2014, just because.



 
1996 was the year I resumed riding after a 25 year layoff while raising the young ones. I saw an '83 Yamaha XS 650 in the local want adds and had wanted one since they first came out years prior. IIRC, it only had 3000+ miles on it, price was right, and it proved to be dead balls reliable for the 50k miles I put on it. Like a lot of "new" riders, I had a ball exploring places I hadn't been within a day's ride of home. This ride took me to a spot about 17 miles west of Bedford, PA on Rt.30. Don't have a date, since this was shot with a 35mm pocket camera I used at the time, but this old restaurant had been long since closed down at that time and I believe is no longer there. One of those places that was built when Rt. 30 was the major east/west route through the area, before the days of the interstates. For anyone interested, some history concerning it may be found here https://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/pa-heritage/ship-hotel-lincoln-highway-landmark.html

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Just a gentle reminder of my OP suggestion - please be discouraged from posting commentary on this thread unless that includes your own picture and story. I'm not playing thread snob to be mean. I'm trying to develop a collective story from the sum of its parts. I hope you understand.
I understand there was no comment when a feller posted "another picture from the....". The word "another" implying of course more than one picture for the same ride report. Citizen's arrest!! Citizen's arrest!!

Of course I'm just being cantankerous. I hope you'd reconsider, I like folks' comments and insights.

So, in keeping with the theme....

I had a week off from work, times were slow as I had mentioned earlier. So slow in fact that everyone had a week off. So I decided I was going to Key West. Why Key West? To this day I don't know really, but I haven't been since I was a teenager and the visit then was, shall we say, limited in exposure. I begged and begged for someone to come with me but alas, no one would. So much to my wife's concern, I went by my damn self. After all, I have no problem talking to myself. Sometimes it's the only intelligent conversation to be had!

I think I had something to prove. To me, no one else counts. Time to cut bait or fish. I'd done the research, I'd done the maintenance, I'd read the advice. Do it or sell it.

So I did it, specifically ignoring everyone. This is my trip, done my way. The only plans made were where to sleep and shower. The rest I'll find along the way.

I've often wondered if others have had to do this. Prove yourself to yourself. I've done it many times for many different reasons, mostly bravado & machismo killing.

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Just a gentle reminder of my OP suggestion - please be discouraged from posting commentary on this thread unless that includes your own picture and story. I'm not playing thread snob to be mean. I'm trying to develop a collective story from the sum of its parts. I hope you understand.
Of course I'm just being cantankerous. I hope you'd reconsider, I like folks' comments and insights.

So, in keeping with the theme....

I have no problem talking to myself. Sometimes it's the only intelligent conversation to be had!

I think I had something to prove. To me, no one else counts.

I've often wondered if others have had to do this. Prove yourself to yourself. I've done it many times for many different reasons, mostly bravado & machismo killing.
My only issue with this thread is that feedback is forbidden. I love to hear what you folks have to say.

I know exactly what you mean about having to prove yourself to yourself. Here is an example:



 
The words "suggestion" and "recommendation" were chosen intentionally. This website does not belong to me, nor am I a moderator. I greatly appreciate the deference and respect everyone has shown at my suggestion, but in the end, as long as Bounce doesn't have a problem with it, we are all free to write whatever we want, whenever we want.


September 2014

Who are these people on the FJR Forum?

In today's day of situational awareness and security paranoia, why would anyone share personal thoughts on the Internet?

I'm not a brand loyal consumer. I'd like to believe that marketing strategies are bullshit for people that are naïve. Informed consumers will chose products and services only based on their individual and unique wants and needs. Why would anyone listen to these idiots? They are paid promoters - they would back bacon wrapped turds if the contract was sweet enough. I liken them to the World Wrestling Federation. In front of us, they bash each other violently, trying to make themselves look better. But after the cameras go away, they join each other for dinner and laugh all the way to the bank.

Well, no so fast Pants. You've got the FJR forum to thank for that. After you peel away the first couple of layers, true colors start to appear. We are a group of bikers with very similar interests, but it goes well beyond our love for our commons machine. Any one of us will happily go 300 miles for a piece of pie. We will ride hundreds of miles in the worst weather imaginable just to have a beer with one another. We will gladly give our own money, thousands of dollars collectively, so that one of us who is sincerely down on his luck can continue with his 2-wheeled mental therapy. We will spend hours writing and providing technical support for others trying to fix a problem. We will create wonderous how-to threads on maintenance and repairs, providing fully illustrated step by step instructions that make the Yamaha factory service manual look like a time-share brochure. Doing this supports our less mechanically inclined brethren to buy a set of tools and take a chance. We help them every step of the way with encouragement and advice. And if they hit a wall, one of us will ride over and lend a personal hand. Others check into the thread daily, if for nothing else just to offer help or a literary pat on the butt. In the end when the problem is fixed (and sooner or later it ALWAYS gets fixed), we share in the triumph with our friend. A sense of pride overcomes us, knowing that our brother is back on the road to adventure again.

Oh, this is not your typical enthusiast group. No sir, indeed.

Like any social group, at times we have our differences of opinions. In relationships of any kind, one has to get past the formalities in order to truly understand the other. We rib ourselves and each other playfully. Some of us are more direct than others. It is hard to understand context in the written word. And of course naturally, there is always something that sets each of us off. At times, this is often supplemented with dribble and side bar conversations. Who knows where the NEPRT may take us? The administrator and moderators hold us to a standard of decorum and purpose. While a very few see this as unforgiveable censorship, the vast majority of us know why this is really necessary. Keeping our conversations light and humorous is a part of who we are. I believe it is one of the things that draws us to each other at rallies, rambles, ride-to-eats, or just a meeting at the highway intersection. Inside, we want to know who that person really is behind the keyboard. He or she reminds us that the world really is a good place where people do things for the right reasons. In our own way, we want to thank them for their selfless gift.

Each of us has a story to tell and on the forum, we are free to tell it in our own way. But the real story is the collective story. The whole is far greater than the sum of its parts. We are not posers. We are not bikers.

We are riders, this is our story, and it's a good one.

Maggie Valley, North Carolina. We stopped on our Fall tour at the EOM gathering to say hello to some old friends, whom we have never met before.

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I think this forum is populated by some strange folks. I know one forum member who once rode over 500 miles for BBQ just so he could ride 500 miles back home so he could say he did it.

Then he talked another dumbass into doing the same thing. But the second guy was so dumb he did his ride in the hottest part of the summer through Louisiana and Texas.

At least they both have good hair cuts.



 
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We were riding in the Little Belt Mountains by Neihart, Mt and one of the riders ask, "Why do you have that chain saw on your dirt bike?"

Must have been someone that had not ridden with us before.

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I love my brother Bill's beard. Yes, yes he does look like a homeless person

 
When I was much younger, I had horrible experiences with camping.

I suppose a definition of that term is appropriate. To each his or her own, but in my book, dragging a 1,000 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 15,000 pound house behind you to the woods is not "camping". To me, camping is done in a tent with a minimum amount of shelter in order to enjoy the environment. As a young man, I enjoyed deer hunting and for a couple years, I camped with the boys. In my memory, it rained every single time we hunted. I had a cheap tent, cheap sleeping bag, no mattress or matt, and everything leaked. I distinctly remember a cold and rainy November night in north Louisiana. We had been hunting for several days, had not seen or shot anything, I was soaked to the bone, and shivering in my sleeping bag. That night I declared if I live until sunrise, I'm packing my shit, driving home, and writing off camping forever.

Fast forward to 2011. I've bought the FJR and I'm going farther and farther away from home. My friend MikeP has been moto-camping for decades and is working me hard to go back on my word and join him. REI had some great closeouts on gear and I bit. With his help, I bought some high quality stuff and concentrated on lightweight and small sizes to accommodate the motorcycle.

For the shake down, we decided to go close to a section of the Kistachie National Forest about 100 miles from home. We would camp only 1 night and see how I liked it. I was nervous but excited to give it a try. I brought all kinds of extra crap that I didn't need, but was worried I would miss if I didn't have it.

It was wonderful, dare I say spiritual. We built a nice fire and after a simple dinner, started a great conversation about the meaning of life. We sipped on some fire water and I thoroughly enjoyed it. When it was time to bed down, again I was nervous. But the air mattress worked beautifully and was very warm in the mummy sleeping bag. I slept like a newborn baby. In the morning, the air was crisp and the forest was quiet. I've always been an early riser. The first hour after day break has always been special to me. It's a chance to be quiet, to reflect, and to look forward at the same time. Doing this in the forest is rewarding beyond words. This is so cool and I can't believe I waited this long to try it.

Since then, I've camped from the motorcycle dozens of times. I bring the camping gear on all of my tours. I may not camp every night, but I usually do at least some of the time. Having the house with you adds a new dimension to the motorcycle touring experience. I don't have to worry about pushing to the next city for a room because if I want to, I can stop right here, right now.

This is a private campground on the French Broad River in Hot Springs, North Carolina. The white noise from the fast water was hypnotic.

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Racing the sun down I93 in New Hampshire. Some guy I just couldn't seem to shake followed me the whole way.

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Many, many moons ago I owed a motorcycle shop in Northeastern Montana. When I purchased the shop, my brother and I were into Trials Races but not motocross. Most of the young riders were motocross riders. All track time and no riding off road just for fun time. We owned a ranch with lots of room to play so we took the young riders out to the hills, creeks, sagebrush and trails. Needless to say, they became awesome off road riders in no time at all.

Now, many, many years later, one of the young riders, Jeff, who is now a dad with a two sons sent me pictures of Poison Spider Mesa in Moab. Jeff is there riding with his sons and friends having a blast. Jeff said six of the riders there started riding me at the ranch. It gives me a good feeling that I started something that has lasted this long and is a family affair.

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Beautiful day here today, low 60s and sunny. Not wanting to waste such an undeserved gift, the old Suzook and I did a 160 mile loop up through McConnellsburg, Clear Ridge and back. Found a bit of faded Americana along the way.

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Daddies and Daughters​

She will jump on the bike anytime, any weather, any amount of distance.....5 miles or 220. Full gear doesn't phase her. She doesn't balk one bit about what a helmet does to her hair. Amazing considering recent teenage styling requirements. She can be ready to ride in less than 5 minutes. That includes earbuds, playlist selected, and gloves.

This was a less than 20 mile trip. It can't be a real ride without a drink stop. We stopped to get her a Starbucks Frappe from a gas station. It is like crack cocaine for her. 10 min later, we were home. She dismounts off the bike like a pommel horse.

"We gotta do that more often"

She never heard me reply "Anytime"

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I wish I could bottle this look on her face.

 
Enjoy now Cav.

At thirty something they get damn independent.

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Old photo, I need to update my album and get a photo of the CBR she shares with her other half.

 
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What is this "Zen" that motorcyclists refer to?

I hear that the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is dedicated to this concept and is a worthwhile read. I cannot confirm this because I haven't read it. I will admit that much to my dismay, I'm not much of a reader. If I can finish it in 15 minutes or less, no problem. But to sit down for an hour at a time and pluck away at a book is very challenging for me.

My impression is that the literal definition of Motorcycling Zen varies and differs between all of us. I had a nice conversation about Zen with an older rider in North Carolina at a campground one evening in 2010. He rides a mid-90s Harley with 170,000 miles on it, and it looked like it hasn't seen a bucket of soap since the Clinton era. He pulls a small trailer with it – it opens into a small pop-up tent and the whole operation looks quite comfortable. Retired many years ago, every September, he leaves his northwestern home and wanders all over the south until the next April, when the snow at home has melted. Five minutes with this dude and I knew he didn’t have a care in the world. To me, the Trilogy of Life is Time, Health, and Money. This guy had all 3, a rarequality among us.

That evening, under a cloudless and star filled sky, we sat by the fire with an after dinner adult beverage. He threw a fresh log into the fire and we jumped right into the meaning of life. I had a great ride through the Appalachian Mountains that day, and sarcastically quipped to him that I was in a state of Zen. He then asked me intuitively what I thought that word meant. In a rare moment, I was speechless. I had a concept in my mind, but couldn’t express it in words. After a few seconds of awkward silence, I confessed my ignorance. My new friend was not the least bit surprised and quickly offered his own observation on the subject. He stated “Zen to me is the realization of happiness, contentment, and true inner peace all at the same time.”

That was plenty good enough for me and since then, I have used that comment as a barometer to self-judge my own Zen. On the bike,it comes often enough and usually surprises me like an unexpected birthday gift from a distant relative or friend. It can happen for me anywhere – I’ve had Zen moments 5 miles from my house, and 1500 miles as well. The best motorcycle Zen for me is when all of my senses are engaged. The ceiling is unlimited and the depth of field is sharp. Perhaps my ear buds are playing a perfect song for the conditions. Maybe the pungent odor of a local tree is whiffing up through the chin curtain on my helmet. I can feel the machine underneath me, its weight moving as I do back and forth through the curvy asphalt. The combination of these things brings me much happiness.

Cognitively, the concentration required when riding leaves little room in the bucket for other worries. I can’t think about job, relationships, chores, or much anything else. My burdens are laid down and, at least for me, true peace takes its place. I’m where I want to be, doing what I want to do. There is no worrying about what happened yesterday, nor any expectations for tomorrow. I’m completely content with the now. It’s utterly fulfilling and satisfying.

Fall 2014, Grandfather Mountain, Blue Ridge Parkway. I’ve found my Zen and the world is indeed a very good place.

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