Halloween -

As an adult, getting candy is still just as good. What a holiday...

Speaking of...

My brother, here's a monster he got last month in the mountains outside of Crested Butte, CO. I've posted pictures of his kills before, but nothing like this. He shot this beast with a bow! 

Saw some cows running up a ridge, took off after em', stopped when he got to the top of the ridge and heard a bull bugling behind him. He turned around and there it was, fifteen yards away, broad-side. Pulled back and shot the son of a bitch. This thing ran about fifty yards and dropped. No blood trail to track for miles, just a sharp, clean shot through the heart. Straight killer... and a sweet onesie.

Early Departure

Saturday, September 8th. My friend Brett and I took off from the group and headed South through Jersey, hitting back-roads on our way to I-80, where we planned on splitting off from one another.

There aren't too many people I meet and instantly get along with. To be honest, most people think I'm a prick when they first meet me. In time, almost all get to like me, but, you can't please everyone. I'm use to it. I keep to myself for the most part, I speak what I think when needed, and I don't kiss anyone's ass. No tough-guy routine, just the way I've always been. Brett is one guy in the industry who seems as though I've known for my entire life. I haven't, but the dude is someone I call a great friend, only having hung out a handful of times.

Riding with people for the first time can change your perception of them. It can make or break a person in my mind. I've ridden with guys who get it and others who don't. It helps separate the retards from the real deals in the motorcycle world. There are people out there who claim they ride, there are those that actually do, and there are those that excel at it to a level above most others. There's no scale or measuring of skill, but when you ride alongside another biker, you can get a feel for their dedication, love, and skill for what is.... motorcycling.

Trust in the person you're riding with, as well as the foresight to know what the other rider is thinking are two things that make riding with someone safer, and all around more enjoyable. The one other person I feel rides so similar to me that I know what he's gonna do before he does it, is my brother. I believe that's because we've ridden with one another for over ten years and we like to light it up in heavy traffic.

Feeling like we had been riding together for over ten years as well, we ripped through the curves on narrow, two lane roads. It's a good feeling... there's nothing worse than a fellow rider completely ruining your experience on the road. When you don't have to think or worry as much, riding is much more of what it should be, a stress reliever. 

We got to the I-80 junction, took a long break, and checked the weather to the West... rain. So, on with the rain-gear, said our good bye, and off I went. Once I hit the Pennsylvania border, it started coming down on me. Not bad, I've had worse, but not light either. Made it through and had overcast the rest of the day. 

With the Cannonball Run ahead of me on the same route, I wanted to catch up. Their stop for the night was in Sandusky. I knew I could make it there, and I did, pulling in around midnight. Got to their hotel and tried seeing if I knew anyone still up at that time of night. I didn't, but like always, I made friends. I met a guy from Wisconsin, about sixty years old and loaded to the gills on what I could smell was whiskey. Had a good, long conversation about his 1925 Triumph and the plan for the next day in Milwaukee, then I crossed the street to pass out for the night.

I had to wake up early if I wanted to get a glimpse of these guys taking off in the morning...

Til next time Brett, hopefully sooner than later... oh, and according to this picture, we're handicapped.

My Chopper Is For Sale

I really hate to do this, but, all great things must come to an end...

This chopper has been everything to me for the past four years, has been ridden 1,000 miles in every direction from Denver, and has been extrememly dependable trip after trip.

It's a proven, rideable custom chop that handles great, which makes this very difficult for me to sell off.  

- Engine work done last year - new cam, pushrods, lifters, shaved heads(Randall at Deluxe Motorcycles did all of the work - one of Denver's best mechanics)

- RaceTec internal suspension kit in the front end

- .4 gallon Aux gas tank(with elect. fuel pump) for long stretches between stops

- newer primary - put on this past spring

- new rear master cyl.

- new clutch cable

- new throttle cable

- new chain

- new battery

- new brake pads

- extra set of tires(with good mileage left on them)

All fabrication, assembly, and maintenance done at Shamrock Fabrication in Broomfield, CO.

Contact me and make an offer if interested : speedandglory@hotmail.com

Cat-skills

I'm not talking about kittens...

Friday morning, September 7th, I took off for the run. Weaved my way through the NYC streets on my way to Jersey for the kick off at Cool Beans Coffee shop. I had a rough idea of where I was going, getting to the spot as the masses of bikes were leaving a little after 10 am.

As soon as I got to the jump-off point I pulled up to Walter(Kickstart Cycle) at the back of the pack. With my full-face on, he didn't know who I was. As soon as I told him, it was as if I hadn't seen him in ten years. If you don't know him, take it from me, Walter is the shit!

I grabbed gas as fast as I could across the street and took off, catching up to a small group of riders, hoping they knew where to go. Zig-zagging our way through neighborhoods, we eventually caught up to the entire group. 400+ bikes strong, rolling through town after town, not stopping. Stop signs, we kept rolling. Red light, we kept rolling. Police trying to stop us, we kept rolling. People were in awe as we passed by, what seemed to be a never-ending stream of loud motorcycles. It was one of the coolest runs/events I have ever been a part of.

With this many bikes, we took over gas stations, overwhelming the workers who had no idea of what was heading their way. There were crack-ups and breakdowns, splitting the pack into smaller groups throughout the day. By chance, I got hooked up with a good group of guys, about eight bikes in total. A couple FXR's, a sporty, a bagger, a few smaller chops, and a fuel spilling panhead. All East-coast guys with Bill from Biltwell who flew in from Cali. 

Thank god these guys knew where we were headed, because I wouldn't have been able to find my way. In time, we had to cheat, strapping a smartphone to one of the gas tanks for navigation.

Got to the campground, took it over, and started to party. Anything and everything you could imagine at a biker party. I had to laugh, there was an old lady, I mean OLD, sitting in her lawn chair next to her RV with her yapping dog right next to her. I turned to the guy I was talking with and said, "that lady is gonna want to go to bed in a couple hours, and that shit ain't gonna happen." I could only imagine her screaming at her old man for draggin' her out to the country for what they thought was gonna be a quiet evening of camping. Little did they know, over 400 bikes were headed for the same spot....must've been an "oh shit" kind of moment when bikes kept rolling in, over and over and over. 

Got loaded, walking from one camping spot to the next taking shots straight out of the bottle with my pockets loaded with beers. Seeming like one of the only loners there, rolling solo from Denver, I make friends along the way. I was, on the other hand, hoping to run into my friend Brett from Jersey. Being dark as hell and with people everywhere, I figured I didn't have a chance of bumping into him. I did though, along with our buddy Andy(American Icon Screenprinting), and the three of us continued to get lit. Good times with these two, always a blast.

Rich and T-Rod will get a kick out of this one... With a massive pile of firewood, guess which drunk-ass was feeding this fire? Sure, it started off small, but that fucker was about 8 ft high when I got done with it.

Looking Back, Looking Up

Stumbled upon something rare...

I'll leave the rest of the explaining up to Irish Rich, after all, he's the reason why I came back from Wisconsin with this supposed piece of Chopper Gold -

Rest

Thursday, September 6th, was my day to rest.

I slept in at the Trump, in their unfucking-believable bed. Got up, took my time getting going, then did some sight-seeing. The only attraction I hit while I was there was the 9/11 memorial. I figured it was the  week before the anniversary and nothing else intrigued me, so I walked down to check it out.

People everywhere, hordes and hordes of people walking, biking, driving, a never-ending stream of human beings. Nuts. Security to get into the memorial was worse than an airport check-point, sort of ridiculous.

Got back to the hotel, hopped on the bike, and cruised over to the Indian Larry Garage for the Gypsy Pre-Party in Brooklyn. A four mile ride, but it was Fashion Week in SoHo, so when I left the streets were filled with people attending this deal, which seemed to stretch for miles. People, mostly younger adults, all over in the streets. Red Light, they were crossing the street. Cars coming through, they were crossing the street. An alien space ship could've landed and these idiots would've kept on flooding the streets without notice. Good thing for loud motorcycles, cuz I just kept rolling through intersections revving my motor and these fools were jumping out of the way. Swerving through people and dodging the fucking taxis, almost getting clipped by a few on my way, but I made it. Over the Williamsburg Bridge and into Brooklyn for some free hot dogs and beer.

What interested me the most about NY was the architecture and bridges. Pretty gritty, historic, and cool... I dug the whole scene. Definitely a place I wanna hit again next year if possible - the Invitational is one event that I've always felt has had more of an appeal to me than any other. I love L.A., but the NY scene has got its own feel. It's dirtier, in a good way.

Ol' Eagle Eye

Aka - Rich, caught this little gem on my bike last week. 

Walked out to my bike at the end of the day and said, "How's that chain running?" I said,"Great, hasn't worn or stretched much at all, better than any chain I've ever had." Then he said, "What's that?", pointing at one of the links. Riveted end of the chain pin busted, with the pin slowly making its way out of the back-side of the link...that would've been great going 90 down the freeway.

When it comes to reading text messages on his phone, he's damn near blind, but catching a small serious detail on a motorcycle, he's on it like stink on shit.