Grand Finale

I'm back... A long trip looping through Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico filled with more than I expected. 2,500 miles of howling at the moon, break downs(calling Yoda), new friends, an amazing place called Austin, hot girls hoola-hooping, drunk honky-tonkin, Texas hill country, Luckenbach, rippin with a huge pack of Choppers, river camping, Shiner Bock, more breaking downs(Yoda again), Texas BBQ, head-winds in west Texas, Roswell, and ripped pipes. Obviously, there's a whole hell of a lot more than that, but I'll save it for later - I'm beat...

Tay-haas

Well, here I go. Off to Austin for the weekend for what's gonna be one rad chop-trip. Everyone I've talked to with knowledge of Texas has said that where I'm heading is the place to be. Austin and the Guadalupe River south of the city. All weekend party on the river with a bunch of gear-heads and no goods. Riding solo down there and meeting up with Mike D.(Cheap Thrills) from Arlington, along with some of his boys, before heading down into Austin on Friday. Riding back through Big Bend National Park on the Texas/Mexico border - place looks pretty amazing. 950 miles, one way - that's one long ride to not remember most of my weekend. The weather's supposedly great down there right now, 50's at night-drinking weather, 80's during the day-riding weather. We'll see how well these Texas boys throw a party - I can't wait.

Got a new Mustang 3.5 gallon tank to throw on the chop for this trip. Not that I didn't like the 2.2, but stopping every 75 miles on trips makes for a long ride, not to mention the idea of running out of gas in the middle of nowhere. Rich and I threw it on there and primed it to keep it from rusting. Didn't have to do much - new mounts, grinding, welding, drilling, sealing, and priming - but pics and story from that repair are coming...



All artist on this playlist are from Texas, figured I'd leave you with that while I'm on the road....

Bangin' Bars Racing - Erie USA

Last dirt-track races of the year at IMI Motorsports Complex just north of Denver. Motorcycle, ATV, and micro-sprint races. Supermoto, Amateurs, Vintage, and the Pros. Hooligan class as well - ride in and race.

Here I Sit....

buns-a-flexin, givin birth, to another Texan...

The Beer and BBQ on this trip will do more than make me feel like shitting my pants - hell, my pants might not be on most of the weekend. Last road-trip of the season before the snow hits the Rockies. Wanted to hit up the Slab City Riot 2, but, this is gonna be quite the adventure as well.

Got a bigger/new tank that I'm setting up on the chop this week so I can make it more than 75 miles without having to fill up on gasoline.

One week from now - 2,000+ miles for a weekend of causing trouble in the Lonestar State. Lock yer doors, grab yer guns, and hide yer women - trouble's comin...

HellHounds and BreakDowns

Our trip out to L.A. and back for the Born Free 2 had no plan, no route, and we had no idea what was gonna happen along the way. We stayed where we wanted - camping out under the stars, hotels, friends' garage floors...yeah. We came across a few problems before hitting L.A., but took care of them once in the city. Most of our problems came on the ride home.

Unforeseeable, Charlie's pipe-wrap was covering up tears in his pipes near the engine ports. Friends, and fellow Sinner brothers to Irish Rich - Brawny(Hapa Is Prapa Blog) and Dustin, hooked us up with pipes and the needed shop to fix our problem. A big thanks goes out to both of those guys for lending a helping hand when we had no one to help us.

Next, Charlie's stator and regulator took a shit on us in Kingman, AZ. Luckily, there was a HD dealer in town that hooked us up, sort of. They changed out Charlie's regulator and wiring, but never checked the stator even though they told us they were going to. Therefore, with a new regulator, wiring, and battery, we took off down Route 66 thinking our problems were behind us. Hell no. We got to Williams, AZ and found that Charlie's bike wasn't actually fixed.

A small bike shop located right off of the highway couldn't help us, but they called ahead to Rick's Cycle in Flagstaff and asked if they'd stick around after-hours to get Charlie fixed up. They agreed, so we tore over to Flagstaff and they fixed him up after a few hours of us beer drinking and wondering what was coming next.

The sun was setting when they finally finished up on his bike. We took off into the night for the Grand Canyon. 80 miles through wooded, deer and elk infested twisty roads. We got behind a truck and stayed on his ass to avoid the wildlife, only to get pulled over when entering the Park. We hadn't gotten more than a quarter mile into the Park and we had already gotten kicked out - at midnight. So, we pulled off on a side dirt road and bedded down in the woods for the night.

The next day was our last of the trip. 700 miles of heat, speed, wicked sand storms, freezing cold mountain passes, and frustrated bickering - all in good fun though. A long day on the road can make anyone snap, this day was no different, but we laugh every time we talk about it....

HIGH ON FIRE - Denver

Tonight at the Bluebird Theatre, ghetto spot, but the place is bad-ass. HoF is playing with Torche, Kylesa, and Kingdom of Magic. Their North American Tour is dubbed the Sanctioned Annihilation Tour and they're off to Europe after the Fall. I've seen HoF three times in the past year or so - they're metal at its best, pure and simple... Matt Pike is from Golden, CO so the band plays in the Denver area quite a bit. Great time if you enjoy head-banging and mosh-pits.




These pics are from the Bluebird's website - http://bluebirdtheater.net/ --- Really cool venue

Metal week for me. Riding the chop over to this show, then taking the party bus down to Red Rocks tomorrow night for Deftones, Mastedon, and Alice n Chains. Last hurrah of the season for Red Rock Shows - things always get out of hand when we take the bus to shows. Tomorrow night should get rowdy...

Mountain Rides

Cool, fall ride through the Canyons. There's a lot of twisties in the Mountains and the leaves are changing. Makes for a fun daily ride just minutes from my place. Plus, back-country saloons are scattered everywhere...






There's only one problem, cold weather is on the way. Some people like a change in seasons, I hate it. Been slowly hating winter more and more since I moved out of Wisconsin. I'll be itching all winter - waiting for a 45+ degree day in December or January to get the bike out. Once spring comes, I'll have my bike out balls to the wall trying to get it out of my system....