Saturday, January 28, 2012

GarlicTech Extravaganza I, Gilroy, CA - Jan 21 & 22, 2012

The event was well underway by the time I arrived at John's man cave just before 11:00am on Saturday morning. Ed's ST1300 was already done. Todd's "parts bike" ST1100 (purchased for $650) was getting the works with assistance from George.



Todd and George...


Soon Jeff arrived with his ST1100 and a bag of farkles and set to work.



(L to R) John, Jeff, Todd, and part of David...


George checking the valve clearances on Todd's ST. Sadly, 7 of the exhaust clearances were too tight and a shim kit had to be ordered. George kindly extended his trip to 6 days to stay and help Todd with the valve adjustments. What a great guy!



Steve arriving at the event...


The man cave had lots of room. These lovely STeeds were visiting only, no work required. Unless you count the key mod that Flip was kind enough to help me out with while I was there.



Rudy showing off his BMW (Fiona) to David, next to George's faithful STeed.


Saturday lunch featured garlic burgers prepared by John and his daughter Lauren, with pies for desert made by Todd's wife.



David and Jeff...


Rudy, Dave, and David...


 David and Flip...


While the others were hard at work a few of us had a bit of fun playing around in John's cool backyard...





 Flip and John at the range...


Sunday morning breakfast. John grilled up the bacon and George and I cooked the pancakes for the group.

 

Sunday morning after breakfast, one of Johns neighbors' (Jeffrey?) brought his bike over for some carb troubleshooting.


I'm really looking forward to the next GarlicTech event. John worked really hard to make this one great... And his man cave can't be beat!

More pictures are located HERE.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Corbin seat pick up and Phil's Fish Market RTE - Sat/Sun, Jan 14 & 15

I haven't been out and about much since 666STOC in Az, just a few RTEs and local rides with friends. Since I have been really bad about not stopping to take any pictures, I have not been motivated to write them up. I will try to be better about it going forward.

Anyway, I've been needing to get out on my own for a nice long ride so Friday morning I was kicking around the idea of making a run on the central tag Sat morning after I got off of work. It would be a nice ~200 mile outing and I could be creative and avoid some of the slab.

Just about the time I was getting ready to start planning my route, I noticed that one of my riding friends had just posted a good condition used Corbin seat for sale on my favorite forum for less than half the price of a new one (new ones are $289). Here's the picture he took of it, not bad... It should be a lot nicer on my tush than the stock seat I have endured for just over 39000 miles...


I had been thinking of buying one off and on but hadn't actually gotten around to it. Because of the good price I decided to go for it and then see if I could just ride down to pick it up at his house in Lompoc.

Out with the tag run - at least for now... Maybe by the time I get to the tag run I will actually start taking pictures again...

So it was that Saturday morning at 7:30am, after stopping at the house to feed the cats and give the sick ones their meds, I headed off for Lompoc snuggled up warm and protected from the cold (39F) thanks to my heated jacket liner. After a couple of stops for coffee and a lunch break I arrived at Mike's house in Lompoc at 12:30pm.

I spent the afternoon visiting with Mike and his lovely wife Cindy (who works way too hard). Their son Travis worked on my netbook for hours making sure all the updates were done and getting it optimized for me. Then they fed me dinner and gave me a bed for the night. Sure, I could have made it home okay but I was a little tired from working the night before, and I would have missed out on visiting.

Sunday morning I was up early to have coffee and visit a bit more before getting back on the road in time to make it up to Phil's in Moss Landing for the RTE at 12:30pm. After a nice lunch of clam chowder and bay shrimp salad, and a nice visit with the guys (Dave, Kevin, Kim, Todd, and ???), we all headed over to Gizdich for desert... This is where I actually bothered to take a picture. But only because one of the guys could not be there and Dave was supposed to eat his share of dutch apple pie. This is for you Khris...


While I was there I picked up an apple pie to take to my sisters house on the way home. Too soon it was time to say goodbye until next time.

I made my way over Hecker Pass to Watsonville Road, then I took Uvas Dam Road up to Bailey Ave and on to my sisters house for a short visit.

I arrived safely at home at around 5:20pm. Not a bad weekend at all. I had a couple nice days riding, got a nice new (to me) seat, had lunch and pie with friends, and had nice visit with my sister.

Trip total: ~525 miles