Zooooom

Sometimes you can do the coolest motorcycle things, without motorcycles!

Here James shows that getting squirrely is fun.

Spring BBQ

All neighborhoods should look like this, right?

I had a great ride with about 12 riders this morning and then 40 come over for BBQ in my community park. The best part of tthe day was seeing 30 bikes, all parked nicely in a row in front of my house.

Good times and a lot for fun! As photo's get posted up I'll post their location.

Yummy Ride

Today was another awesome day to ride and ride I did. Mostly I rode alone, covering a few different canyons, all in beautiful bloom.

At the suggestion of Trouble from the South West Rides forums I tried a place called Hog Haven BBQ and I can tell you this, watch for more reports about this place!!

Riding Into Spring

They call it Chamber of Commerce Weather, I call it freeking AWESOME!

This is the reason I moved here, I probably have already said that a few times in the past few weeks, but you just will never understand unless you get out and ride.

I took a trip to my favorite place today, a little town called Tortilla Flat. The road is one that I normally run at a much more aggressive pace, but today I had to take some time to view the flowers. Miles and miles of the desert in bloom is awe inspiring and you have to take this beauty in while you can, because it doesn't last long.

In a mere month we will be in the 100's and then the riding is just as good, bit maybe not as beautiful.

Yes, I'm going to say it. Sometimes you have to stop to smell (and enjoy) the flowers!

SPOT Review Complete!

I finished my review of the SPOT - Satellite Personal Tracker, you can find it by clicking here.

All in all it is a good product and something I would suggest you buy if piece of mind is something you desire.

Nice & Shiny

I guess there are two camps in the world of riders, those who wash and those who are too lazy! Haha

Well, I am obviously in the camp of those who believe that a clean bike, is a happy bike. I was told that I would hate silver wheels on my bike, but I love the fact that I can see all the dirt to get it off.

This time of year is awesome, but the bugs are beginning to show up and that means more time washing the bikes. The good news is that it is warmer, so not so bad on the hands and the water dries up faster as the year goes on.

Ahh, I think I might crack open a beer and enjoy the view.

No Bunny

But a happy Dino!

I hope everyone had a great Easter holiday.

It Gets No Better

We had our first "Coin Ride" for Southwest Rides today and I don't think it could have been better.

Lots of fun and 20 riders, I even gave away 7 more coins to members of the Rim Rider's BMW group.

The weather is perfect this time of year and the bugs are starting to show, but there are not that many.

The next few weeks show see even more people getting a coin, and hopefully they will be reminded to Ride Safe - Ride Smart

On The Spot

Today I stopped by Euro Motorsports to pick up a Spot Satellite Personal Tracker to test over the weekend.

I set the unit up today and will be interested to see how it performs in the field. I'll use it on my ride tomorrow, which takes me through areas that have no cell service. Nothing like a real world test to see how it works.

I'll get more into how it works tomorrow, after the ride.

Just Another 200 Miles

I set out today to give out a couple coins. That didn't happen, but no big deal as it was an awesome day to go for a ride.

Nothing beats Arizona in the Spring, except maybe Arizona in the Fall. But, the Spring seems to have a longer stay and with the flowers in the desert coming into full bloom, every corner has something spectacular to see.

I rode up to Wickenburg, AZ today, that town always amazes me in the fact that is always seems to have a traffic jam right in the middle of town for no reason. I know the shortcuts, so no big deal.

Back I home I almost want to head right back out. Hmm, maybe a nighttime ride?

Oh, Stegy had fun today as well.

Feeling Good

Good music in my mind is key to good riding, so when a friend of mine sent me her husband's newest album I loaded it up on my iPod and off I went.

I gotta tell you that I stuck on the song Feeling Good and it so happens they made an awesome video for the song.

Check it out - Click here!

Be careful hitting the twisties with this songs as you'll double your pace.

Enjoy!

Rolling Proper

I've been working with Lenny from Race Tech for a while now on my ST1300's front end. he is using the work to help develop the kit for that series of bike and over a period of a year we pretty much have it nailed down.

Yesterday I took my forks to North Phoenix and Lenny made some minor changes and today I took a quick 100 mile trip that had me smiling all the way.



Getting a good suspension is paramount to an enjoyable ride and a safe one at that. Being that the ST is a mile-muncher I want it always be spot on when it comes to traction and control. With the Hyper-Pro rear shock and Race Tech front end I know feel 1000% better on the bike and can't wait for the first big trip!

Giving Back

When a friend and I launched Southwest Rides a few years ago we did so with the goal of making a site that was centered around safe group rides. We wanted a place where people could find one another to go out, ride and have fun.

Safety is always important and when everyone rides safe, everyone has fun, it just sort of happens that way.

Unfortunately the topic of safety only seems to come up after something bad happens and the person who was the unfortunate one always feel the topic is focused on them, when in reality it is only because it was brought to the front of peoples minds.

We at SWR wanted a way to bring up safety without everyone feeling bad and without taking 10 minutes to repeat the same thing at the beginning of rides.

So, I came up with the idea of using a challenge coin as a way to remind people to Ride Safe - Ride Smart. The coin is an award of sorts for riding safe in the first place and then continues to help remind everyone to ride smart by making them carry it always, or risk having to buy a round if they are caught without it.

Stop on over in the forums and check out the threads on the Coin to see what it is all about and remember to Ride Safe - Ride Smart!

OK, I Wimped Out.

On a ride, I'll explain in a second.

When planning for the Pahrump trackday I originally planned on riding. As the week before the trip progressed I was paying close attention to the forecast and I noticed an interesting trend. Since I have taken a few different long distance trips before I make sure to look at waypoints and not just the destination.

Looking at Mesa, AZ of Pahrump, NV the trip had a little potential for rain, but not much else. However, when I looked at Kingman, AZ I notice the chance of rain, but a temp in the 30's. I double checked and the forecast kept calling for rain, but understanding how water and altitude works, I knew snow or worse yet freezing rain was possible.

So, I decided to drive.

Guess what? I should be the forecaster!

Things I See

Yea, sometimes I see the oddest things on the road and this is just an example of how weird things can get.

What you can't see is that there is stuff in the bed of the truck that is inside that big truck and there must have been fifty bungy cords going every which way to hold stuff and hopefully not the truck in place.

I was standing with a group of other riders and we were all in utter amazement of the fact this way driving down the road.

I know for sure I never would have followed this truck and the phrase "accident waiting to happen" was never more aptly portrayed.

Oh, and people say motorcycle riders are crazy?!?

Hard To Believe

In just a few months we will be in the 100s!

The Whatever Ride

Sometimes you start out with the idea of one ride and end up on a completely different one, today was one of those days.

I originally planned to join some people for a ride to Tombstone today, but their plans were restricted by the return time of a rented bike, so when we made it to Tucson we decided to just ride around the area and then stop for lunch.

I had such a good time going I literally forgot to take photos. Oh, and then there was the gum incident. I can't believe with all the miles I have logged over the years and all the places I have ridden that in never happened before, but today it did.

I was riding along and stopped at a light. When I did my foot felt kind of funny, it slipped slightly but not like oil or water, so I was not too concerned. As I left the light and was using the brake for the next light my foot felt funny, as if stuck to the foot peg. Oh, well it was!!!

It took a few hours to clean my boot and the peg, but all is good now. LOL

Time for some tune up rides.

Well, the weather is now perfect for the nice just under 400-mile day rides in Arizona.

Today was an awesome ride for me. I started in East Mesa and rode to Tonopah, AZ to meet up with about 12 riders. We took a quick trip to Wickenburg, AZ to meet a few more.

From there we looped Northern Arizona, including the fun 260 and up to snow in the upper sections of AZ87.

Temps for the day ranged from 46 to 72... as I said, perfection!

For more photos - Click here.

Forum Management Fun

Or more appropriately, the pain in the ass that managing a forum can be sometimes!

For the last couple days I have been fighting the nightmare that is servers and php and a half a dozen other things that I don't really understand.

Hopefully it will get sorted soon, because I am ready to ride!!

Ride into the Night

Devil Riders, a local club, decided to have a night time ride. Food at Sonic started things off, and then the ride.

This club started off as a college club a couple years ago and has grown in popularity primarily with the university crowd. I stopped by the see them head off for a nice nice mountain ride. Their organization was pretty decent and their pre-ride meeting was safety minded.

I ducked out to head home, ah the pangs of responsibility some times.

It was windy on the ride home, but man you can beat this weather!!