Odds & Sods

 

Hard to beat John Lee Hooker if you're looking for a toe-tapper.

Before anyone complains, I know wife beating is not funny. However, if you're a boxing coach, that's laugh out loud funny. 

Twin engined Royal Enfield drag bike and Bonneville competitor. Some of the welding looks pretty rough, but the engineering work must have been solid.

This is the cover photo from the Superbike book I got for Christmas from Surly. It's chock-full of really good photos of when the Superbike series was basically a run what you brung deal and the later years when the rules started to kill some of the creativity. The stories accompanying the photos are by Kevin Cameron, a name everyone who read Cycle or Cycle World back then would be familiar with. 

When the guys in the book were racing, Surly and I were going to the track to watch them. I was also doing quite a bit of frame work about that time. Mostly on drag bikes, but a few road racers. I was all about those Superbikes. 

Went to a hockey game last night in Indy. Good game, lots of action. Big fight broke out with 5.6 seconds left at the end of the second period. Everybody was duking it out in front of the Komets' goal and then Indy's goalie skated down and the two goalies were throwing punches. Then all the other players stopped and watched the goalies. When the third period started the announcer listed all the penalties. Only two guys went to the penalty box, though. If everyone involved went to the box, they would've had a couple of minutes with no-one on the ice. Quite the scrum.

That's about all for 2023. We'll see what 2024 brings and at this point, who the hell knows.

Year in Review

 Looking back over 2023 with some relief from the previous couple of years. 

The big Covid pandemic scare is mostly over. People are still suffering from the after-effects of the shots, and it has come to light that much of what we were told was pure bull shit, but the concern with masks and vaccine passports is mostly a thing of the past. 

On the home front, I dealt with some health issues. These were mostly the result of my lifestyle. I screwed up my shoulder at the boxing club while holding punch mitts. This resulted in a frozen shoulder. The doctor sent me to therapy for six weeks, three times per week. No help there and the limited movement slowed me down on a lot of things. A visit to a surgeon and a cortisone shot set me on the path to redemption, though.

I developed an infection in my big toe - back to the doctor. Antibiotics for two weeks, no help. Antifungal for two weeks, no help. Antibacterial for two weeks, no help. Abandoned the local doctor, went to a foot specialist and problem solved in about ten minutes. She figured I dropped something heavy on my toe by the way the toenail came off when she grabbed it with the pliers. Other than a little pain for a couple days, no biggie. 6 to 8 months I should have a perfectly fine toenail once again.

The only major project of the year was the Sportster. What looked to be an easy fix to get myself a "runner", turned into a fairly major project. I way underestimated both the time and money for this one. The shoulder and toe both contributed to the time element, but it's just about there finally. I've got it covered up for the winter but only a couple of little things to do in the spring - assuming the engine is in fairly decent shape since I've never had it running. I'm planning on keeping it, so whatever it takes in the future, I'll deal with. 

Only one little travel trip on the year. Cuzzin Ricky and I went to Ohio to see my brother, his wife and another cousin. Saw the AMA museum while we were there. Nice weekend. 

Rick and I only went to two races on the season and one of those got rained out. We'll be planning on getting out more in '24 as soon as the schedules come out. Rick says we should see more midget events. No argument here.

I did several 5k events and put quite a few miles in on the bicycle. Joined a health club to try and get some muscle built back up and read 30 books on the year.

As for plans for the coming year, not much on the agenda at the present time. Need to finish the vintage trials bike and get the jitney closer to being done. I moved some things around in the shop on Christmas Eve so I could get the trials bike up front and have room to work on it. I need to put in a couple more hours out there making it a bit more user friendly, but I made a move in the right direction. 

I'm going back to work at the college. A couple of the instructors are leaving, so I may be doing a bit more than I originally planned. It pays well for a part time job, and I can spend that money guilt free. Maybe use it to trade up for the new Himalayan.   

I'm thinking that things nationally and internationally are going to be chaotic, so I'm not going to make too many travel plans. Stick close to home and pick shit with the chickens. And, of course, count my many blessings.  

My best to all of you on the upcoming year.  

50 Mile Challenge

 

I took the pickup to the dealership the other day for an oil change and once over. This Bronco was on the showroom floor and only $62K with dealer prep and delivery charge added in. It obviously is not the base model, but it is the one I'd be shopping for if I was willing to go back to work full time. I can't imagine making those payments. My pickup is a 2016, is garage kept and has only 36,000 miles on the clock - might just be the last new vehicle I ever own. I do like the looks of that Bronco, though. Four-wheel drive and it only has two doors - as it should be.

I've been thinking about what I can do to keep myself on the right path as far as my physical fitness. I've done a marathon, a century (100 mile) ride on the bicycle, along with several self-contained bike tours of 200-to-500-mile lengths. I don't know how many short runs and race walks I've done over the years, starting with a 10.5 miler in 1976 my boxing coach "urged" me to sign up for, but the one year my buddy Kevin and I did 13, including two half marathons if I remember correctly. 

I've been kicking around the idea of taking the 50 mile challenge for a few years - 50 miles in 20 hours. As an old dude I remember President Kennedy trying to toughen all of us up, only to be assassinated for his trouble (just one more conspiracy theory). The 50 mile challenge originated with President Teddy Roosevelt and was revived by Kennedy. If you look at Generals Austin and Milley, might not be a bad idea to revive the challenge for military officers once again, which was Roosevelt's original idea. Milley is 8 years younger than I am, so he should be able to whip himself into shape and set a good example on the national stage - be a good retirement gig for him.

Anyway, 2024 just might be year. Coach Jen is talking about a half marathon in May, so she'll be in good shape and might be talked into it. With or without her, if I can find someone else ambitious enough, that'll work. If not, I'll try it solo and I'll just need someone to drop me off and ferry my tired ass back home.

Buon Natale

 

Merry Christmas everyone. 

Peace to you all.

Scratch It If It Itches

That's me - itchin' like a man on a fuzzy tree. I thought I had scabies but the doc says it's some type of rash similar to athlete's foot. I figure I picked it up at the health club but who the hell knows. It sure as shit itches, though. He prescribed a 10 day treatment and I hope it works. 

I've read 29 books this year, so I went to the library to get an easy read to finish off the year with an even 30 on the count. I just finished a couple by Tim Dorsey, found them enjoyable, so I thought I'd grab another one by him. However, while perusing the new book section, I came across this little doozy. I started reading it yesterday while in the waiting room of the surgery center while the Missus was getting some work done. I'm about 50 pages into it and it's very interesting. I'll definitely get this one finished by the end of the year. 

This one was on the shelf of new books also. I never read any book that's 500 pages or more, but after you subtract all the references in the back, it's under 500 - not much under but under just the same. I might check that one out and give it a go. I've read a few blogs that mention the "fourth turning" so I think it would be a great idea. Add this one and the previous one together and they should keep my paranoia well fed for quite a while.

I'm hoping the Stoic philosophy will steer me in that direction. It's only going to get worse from here.

Soul Christmas

 

A couple of Soul Christmas diddies - Christmas is only a week away now. The weather was a little more Christmas like yesterday morning with a bit of snow on the ground and temps in the twenties. It's supposed to be back up to the fifties Christmas Day - no snow but chance of rain.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, funeral last Thursday. We left the house at 10:00 and got home about 5:00. Long day but things went pretty smooth for a funeral. Health club on Friday and the boxing gym on Saturday. I worked 3 rounds each on the double end, heavy and speed bags. The muscles are starting to firm up - not as squishy as they were and the speed bag work is helping to keep the shoulder loosened up long way to go to get back to where I was prior to Covid. Doctor appointment today, Missus has a procedure on Thursday. 

It's about time to for me to look back over the year and plan for 2024 - not like I ever follow through on too many of my plans, but with what's on the horizon, plans are probably going to have to be pretty flexible.

Himalayan & Tunes

 

Big fan of Redbone - no idea how old he was when he passed away a few years ago. He was always kind of a mystery but it seemed to work for him. I especially like this cut. This song got a lot of bad press a couple of years back and stations weren't playing it due to the theme of a man holding a woman against her will. My way of thinking the people complaining are the same sorts that took down the Kate Smith, Cristopher Columbus and Robert E. Lee statues - friggin' crybabies.

Since I've been on a motorcycle kick of late, I checked out a few sites I occasionally visit and ran across this at Pipeburn. The new 2024 Royal Enfield Himalayan. I'm pretty happy with mine but it's definitely underpowered. The new model's going to take care of that. Mine has a displacement of 411cc and makes 18 horsepower. The new one has a displacement of 450cc and makes more than twice the power of mine. Enfield also has an electric version of the Himalayan that will be coming out next year. The article didn't mention the price of either of the models but I'd like to see what it would cost to trade up for one of the new gas powered ones.

The grandson and I went to the college Tuesday evening. I wanted to catch the weather before I left but the news was interrupted by Slow Joe and Zelensky wanting to give some more American tax dollars away. After a couple of minutes of that bullshit, I gave up on the weather and headed out. On the way home from the college, the news came on the radio and they started playing Slow Joe's speech. Since I'd already heard it earlier I punched a button for a different station and got Cindi Lauper with Girls Just Want to Have Fun. I decided right then and there I'd much rather have Cindi Lauper for president than what we've got now. I'm guessing she wouldn't be the most qualified candidate that we've ever had, but she'd be a lot more fun than what we've got now.

More Motorcycles

 

That's one fine piece of engineering. After coming across the photo, I did a bit of searching and came across Alp Racing & Design as the builder. Check out their website - amazing work and results.

Twin engine Norton Top Fuel bike. There's been a lot of interesting engineering on race bikes of all kinds over the years. CNC machining combined with traditional fabricating techniques has allowed for some interesting builds - like Bimota has been doing for years.

Probably the most interesting example of a non-traditional build, the Bimota Tesi. I think this was a solution to a problem that didn't really exist - at least to the extent that they went to with the frame and center hub steering.

Here's exhibit A of the simplest type of construction. This is the first motorcycle I built totally from scratch. About as bare bones as you can make one - sort of the Fred Flintstone model. It worked, though. No handling problems. Note the bell bottom pants on my buddy Steve.. If I remember correctly, full leathers were required if you ran a 12 second ET or quicker. I think this one ran 12.30s. When I built the new bike, I was the pilot and I was about 40 pounds lighter than Steve, plus lighter components got the bike down to an ET of 11.70s. Big time fun.

My father-in law passed away on Sunday, so funeral and a couple of doctor appointments for the Missus going to blow a hole in the week. I did get the shop ready for heating and most of the clean-up taken care of. I still have a couple of other things I want to do to improve the work flow through the shop - that's a joke. A time-study man would laugh his ass off watching me fumble around out there. What I need is a shop that's twice as big with about half as much stuff in it. If I was younger, I'd definitely get myself a bigger work area. 

John's Blues

 

John's Blues in remembrance of Brother Johnny's birthday - he passed away almost 12 years ago now. As a guitar player himself and a fan of Roy Buchanan, he would have appreciated this one. I miss that boy.

Sporty

 

I got the Sportster put back together. There's still a couple of things left to do, but they'll have to wait until spring. 

Surly hooked me up with the gasket I needed that goes between the carb and air cleaner base. I went to install the filter and I couldn't find any air cleaner oil. I've got motor oil, chain oil, fork oil, gear oil, penetrating oil, two stroke oil but couldn't find the air filter oil. I'm going to look once more but if I can't find it, Surly says he has some. Actually, getting his would be easier than looking for my bottle that may or not be around. I don't remember using it up, but there are a lot of things I don't remember anymore.

There are a couple of quick change rearends on Market Place. One of them is fairly close by, the price is right, and I need to see some progress on the jitney. I'm waiting to hear back from the seller about a couple of details, but hopefully the width and bolt pattern are what I'm looking for.

After I put the Sporty to bed, I'm going to do some cleaning and then get the vintage trials bike back out. It doesn't need much to finish it and since my buddy got the motor rebuilt, might as well get it together and have a little fun with it. 

Lots of other things in the works, as usual, but I'm feeling good physically and improving my mental health - got a few more refinements to make on the preps but about ready to just hunker down and let the world go by. I'm blessed with a wonderful family and friends, got a few coins in the purse and enough things to keep me busy for at least the next ten years. Life's pretty good here at the shack - hope you all can say the same. 

Drag Bikes

I don't spend much time on Facebook due to philosophical issues, but there are some things on there that I'll waste a little bit of time on, like a group posting vintage drag bikes. Lots of iron head Sportsters on there, which isn't too surprising considering what was available back then. Late seventies - early eighties, Japanese bikes were coming on the scene - mostly two and four stroke Kawasakis and then Suzuki. Elmer Trett, who was the top fuel master, switched from Harley power to Kawasaki much to the chagrin of the HD guys. Honda only had their 750, which wasn't big enough to run with the big boys, unless you were Russ Collins.

Collins on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Honda powered top fuel bike. 

This was from a different page, but that's how the rabbit hole works if you allow it to happen. These M&H Racemasters showed up on a lot of the serious drag bikes. When I was racing there was a guy had a high gear only fuel bike that would show up when they were running fuel cars. Apparently, the drag strip had a different insurance rider when nitromethane was involved. This guy would kick the bike off the stand and spin the tire about half way down the track before it would hook up - put on a helluva  show. However, as the fuel bikes developed more power, transmissions and Goodyear drag slicks in car tire sizes showed up.

This is what I was racing back then. The bike frame was patterned after a Kosman frame I built in the Washington High School Weld Shop. I built a fixture to keep everything in alignment that I made using an idea I saw in an old aircraft construction book. Most of the components came from a guy I traded my labor doing welding and machine work for. I had very little money invested that way, which was a good thing since I didn't have much to play with. Instead of the M&H tire on the rear, I ran a road racing tire on a wide rim with low tire pressure. Stock motor ran 11.70s.

I damn sure don't need another project, and that's not even factoring my advanced age, but I wouldn't mind going drag racing again. 

Soundtrack

Some great guitar work on Working Man's Blues - not the way Merle played it but that's not a complaint. 

I went with the grandson to the college the other night. We fiddled around with a couple of the welding machines, one an older Miller and one a brand new multi process Lincoln. I was familiar with the Millers, since that was what I was using when I worked there before, the Lincolns just came in this summer. I was able to figure out how to get it set up for E-6010 electrodes without much difficulty but I'll need to check out the manual or get some flying lessons to figure out what all it will do. Felt good to be out in the shop again - funny, but about half of the instructors are former students of mine.

Not sure about the Messiah coming, but that's something that's usually glossed over when the discussion turns to prepping. Having water, food and security are certainly important but the way things are going, might want to put a little effort into getting right with God. 

Roy Buchanan is probably the most under-rated guitar player ever. He had some serious issues with alcohol and ended up hanging from his shirt in a jail cell. It was ruled a suicide but there was some speculation that he was beaten while incarcerated.

When you have some time to kill, go to YouTube and type in a search for Roy Buchanan. Lots of great stuff will come up and you'll see his mastery on the guitar, and his versatility. The cut with Johhny Otis is a dandy - the video quality stinks but I would have loved to have been in the audience.

And for something completely different, Leon Redbone. The song was playing in an old Joan Crawford movie I watched the other day. I was humming it all day long - serious earworm. You've been warned. 

Henrys

 

Public television had a fundraising show on the other night that featured Michael Londra traveling around Ireland. One of the gifts for you contributing was a CD of Irish music. As they were scrolling down the list of songs on the CD, I noticed a cut from The Henry Girls. My maternal grandmother was a Henry and her people came from Ireland. In fact, when I was there I saw where there was a Henry street in downtown Dublin. My curiosity got the best of me, so I looked up the song and some info on The Henry Girls.

The Henry girls are sisters but their last name is not Henry. The group is named after their grandfather Henry. I don't know if that's his family name or his given name, but I'm inclined to think it's his given name - so no relation. Regardless, the girls put out some pretty good music. Even though I got my family history book printed up, there's been some changes and more information is available on Ancestry - might have to get another six months subscription to get all of the "hints".

Not much else going on. The Missus is still sick, the weather has been less than ideal and I'm still battling a serious case of lead in my ass. I've been doing quite a bit of reading and spending less time on the computer - all that bad news has been "harshing my mellow". I'm working a plan for 2024, however. Better days are coming - just don't know when.

Brake Pads

 

It's December and Santa's not too far off now. I can use a little musical inspiration to get me in the Christmas spirit.

This one is rather timely what with the Missus coughing and hacking around the clock these days. Between her and the dog I'm up and down all day long. I don't mind taking care of the old girl - all part of the service - but the dog could ease up a bit. Thursday night he wakes me up about 12:30 because he wants some more food. I go back to bed and at 1:00 he's barking because he has to poop. Last evening he wants to go out but it's raining. So about every ten minutes he wants to go out but wants back in after a couple of minutes since he doesn't like the rain. He managed to do that 5 or 6 times before he gave it up.

I did make it out to the health club and the shop yesterday. I rigged up a tarp so I could run the heater so I could take the chill off the shop. After I got the taken care off, I installed the new brake pads in the front caliper on the Sportster. The pads are riveted in place, but I didn't have any trouble installing them. I started on repacking the wheel bearings as well. 

A buddy of mine called me the other night and told me about a quick-change rear he found for sale. It's about what I've been looking for but the axle studs are on a 5" bolt circle and my wheels are on a 4-3/4" bolt circle. I don't know how tough it would be to redrill them accurately, but I'm thinking seriously about calling the guy and arranging a look-see. 

Seneca & Hubbard

 

In pursuance of some more knowledge of Stoicism, I drug out an old book by
Elbert Hubbard that contained a chapter on Seneca, a name that always comes up in the study of Stoicism. Elbert Hubbard was quite an influential individual in his own right, having formed the Roycroft Shops and as an author. I've got several of his books, including this one: 

Book #1 of the Great Philosophers. The binding's in pretty rough shape but the book's pages are still intact. In fact the pages are a very nice quality paper, some of which are embossed with the Roycroft name and logo. I read the chapter on Seneca, and it gave a decent biography, but it didn't go very deep into his philosophy. Also, Hubbard mentioned many names of people I knew very little of or nothing at all. My education is sorely lacking when it comes to the classics. However, I'm working on expanding my knowledge at least as far as Stoicism goes - baby steps.

Those were the days, indeed. The weren't all great. Hubbard and his wife went down with the Lusitania when it was sunk by a German submarine. 

We all better be preparing for hard times. Things are only going to get worse.