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1979 Honda XL75 and new rider … more than 20 years its senior My brother-in-law has over 35 years riding, and tinkering on them, now with a stable of Harleys. There was this little Honda training bike taking up valuable garage space until his vertically modest sister sat on it during a recent visit we made to his house. He did a thorough mechanical restoration, added rare bits to make it street legal, then delivered it to his sister. He, she and I have been working on rider training for about a week now, starting with a bike strapped down, rear wheel in the air. As you might understand, kick starting, left foot shifting, left hand clutching, separate front (right […]
There seems to be a common thread in the motorcycle community that transcends all the different types of bikes and riding styles. Choppers, cruisers, sport, touring, dirt, racing, scooter, townie, trails, vintage … We may disagree significantly on how a bike should fit and function for us, but we agree on this main point. All of us find riding them to be theraputic. Riding a motorcycle is similar in that way to painting, making music, skiing, shooting, meditation, dance and so many other activities that require the full employment of our minds. There simply is no space in the conscious mind for whatever troubles or trivialities of life may sometimes bother us, once we get into the zone. The […]
My frisky young friend stopped by yesterday on the way home from picking up his frisky 2-stroke 250 Yamaha. We went for a ride around the block – a 7 mile or so loop that is half gravel/dirt and half paved. He, of course, was ‘on the pipe’ all the way as I plodded along riding Dr Zee at my own pace. The rain started almost immediately, but we went anyway. Near the half-way point, on the dirt, a newish pickup and newish Suburban were mostly blocking the road parked window to window while the drivers chatted. I stopped, then began to inch around the front of the Suburban that was aimed in the direction we were headed. I […]
The weather has been in and out of season for me until recently, but gardens, shop and yard work grabbed every decent outdoor day that came along. FINALLY I got my Suzuki DRZ400S in a ready-to-hop-on mode and my head-space corrected. Today I ran an errand to the bigger town 18 miles downstream and Dr Zee got the nod as my preferred transporter. Of course the route he chose was not the main highway, but the scenic old road way. It put a smile on my face and in my spirit. I gotta get out more… and think I will now. I must say that I LOVE the lowering we did to the 400S, turning it into a 400SM […]
I was going to build my own utility trailer from an old boat trailer I bought, but came across a more commonsense approach at Harbor Freight. To the left is the completed unit with my added decking lumber. Its maiden voyage was ferrying my Dr. Zee to an Idaho Star motorcycle class in Twin Falls. Here you see my wife’s brother Bruce tying it down HIS WAY for our trip back home. Assembly was not overly challenging, but without a significant tool set, skill set and helping hand friend it would have been difficult or not possible to complete. The result is a new trailer with new lights, wires, bearings, tires, paint and all. Sure, they are all of […]
Sigh… apparently my turn came up again for special attention from the USofA Census Bureau. I received bonus letters in the mail, phone calls, Agent Smith visits and, today a FEDEX overnight letter soliciting my participation in their extra-curricular data mining program. Their constitutional mandate is to count the number of people in each household within the borders of our country once every decade. All else is what our Army calls “mission creep”, Libertarians call “government over-reach” and computer geeks call “data mining”. Regardless of the title, I am not keen on contributing to their dossier on me any more than I have to. The last time the Census Bureau decided to dance with me was September 2010 – […]
I am sharing this from another rider and writer as a note to self as much as anything – Ted – by an ER Nurse Who Rides How do you mix bikes with a career in the ER? Photo: Mircea Moira/Shutterstock.com Alex Colpitts is a registered nurse who spent years working in the emergency room—and he’s also a motorcyclist. How does he reconcile the risk of riding with his time seeing the aftermath of crashes? Read on: I have been riding motorcycles for 20 years now. Like most riders, I’m frequently asked “Aren’t you afraid of crashing? Dying?”. My answer is always that, yes, of course I am—I’ve seen the consequences first-hand. I have been a registered nurse for […]
Today is the biannual celebration of control our overlords wield over details of our lives. They remind us twice a year that even little things are within their power. For absolutely NO GOOD REASON, they send us scurrying around our houses, shops and vehicles resetting every clock and timer therein. It is just a little jab, not like they are starving or poisoning us … with that poke anyway. I am approaching the mark where half of my life will have been spent self-employed. When you do not report for work at a time fixed by others, the annoyance level of biannual clock manipulations is reduced. I get up when I am awake and go to bed when I am […]
In my estimation, my websites are the tiniest little annoyance, minuscule, less than a pinprick. Nevertheless, five out of the five that I maintain are now being regularly probed by hackers located in Ukraine. Really??? How do they have time for me? C’mon Russia, give them something more interesting to think about. You probably know one of my websites, but I built four for various purposes from commercial to politics and one for my wife to play with. They are all still standing, and regardless of their extremely low threat profile to anyone, do attract enemy attacks with unending regularity. Check them out: Bitterroot Bugle, Idaho Liberty, Ted Dunlap, The Fixer, Free Missy. Do you see anything worth their […]
. This evening my 10 day fast ends. I have decided to cease this depredation. Eye, ear, nose and throat have returned to reasonable normalcy. Left lymph node shrunk to normal, right side is close. My skin has largely cleared up with little of the excessive dryness and flaking I had two weeks ago. My chest congestion has gone from severe bronchitis to tiny bits of flem expelling what it can of the nastiness in our air. Sure, I would likely see more healthy progress were I to continue, but I am just tired of it. I want to enjoy meals, an occasional beer or two, and a return to the social aspects of eating regular meals like, and mostly […]
This was published a couple days ago at Bitterroot Bugle.com, but this evening I see no reason not to share here. Looking at a websearch on what others have shared about fasting, I tripped over a new-to-me phrase that fits well: therapeutic fasting. Upon finding out that I am fasting, the normal first assumption is that I am working for weight loss. Not that my 6′ 175-pound figure appears to be overly plump, but few can come up with another answer to “Why a person would skip meal after meal for days on end?” As I begin Day 7 of this fast, I weigh in at 163 … down 12 pounds. However my love handles are still apparent and […]
I am now certain that the ketosis state of fasting arrived this time almost immediately. In that phase, the body has settled into a ‘cave-man’ mode that can sustain it until the hunting and foraging delivers more food. For people of typical USofA lifestyle, that takes about four days on a diet of water only. I am now into Day 3. My bowel purged Saturday (Day 1). The low-grade fever that I have experienced around bed-time with every fast I undertook also began Saturday – which surprised me for arriving so soon. By Sunday my recently chronic congestion was reduced. I was somewhat disbelieving that I could be in the healing phase of ketosis THIS EARLY. Today, however, I am […]
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