Wednesday was National “Ride your Bike to Work Day!”

Yes, I did ride my bike to work on Wednesday and every other day of this week. What a great week! I didn’t know that there was a “Ride your Bike to Work Day.” In fact, this event has been going on for 17 years all over the world.

I did notice that there were a lot of bikes on the road, and I really do believe that more motorcycles on the road is better for our cities, especially for those who live, work and commute in the cities.

Later that night, I started getting antsy and ran out for a night ride with a few of my buds. I have to say that I am not a huge fan of the night rides. It really isn’t that much fun unless you have a chick on the back of the bike with you. I am not one of those riders who spends my time on my bike riding to Monument Circle, parking on the circle, standing by my bike and then riding up to Broad Ripple and do the same thing. That brings me to another funny story …

It was about 10:30 p,m., and I was heading back to my home in Broad Ripple. I pulled up to a guy on an all-white GSX-R with a race pipe.  The rider was wearing a helmet but was pretty much in street clothes.

He asked, “How many miles have you ridden tonight?”

I spent the afternoon in Brown County, which is, by far, the best riding in Indiana, so I had put about 300 miles on my bike that day.

“About 300 or so miles,” I replied.

At this point, his eyes swelled like softballs, and I continued to tell him that I went down to Brown County in the afternoon.

“I would like to get down there some time,” he replied.

I told him that he should be down there every week. That pretty much sums up what I mean about the riders who cruise around town, pop wheelies, drag from light to light and sit in parking lots. That just isn’t fun for me. I need routes and destinations!

Quick update on the Scrambler … IT’S STILL IN THE SHOP!!!!!!!!!

Jarrod

First off, let me give you an update on the Scrambler: Powder coating done, spokes on (not aligned right), wrong handlebars, pipes on, seat painted … almost there.

Second, some Four Wheelin’: Over the Fourth of July, I got some four-wheeling in out at my grandmother’s place. Check out a few of these clips, it gets muddy! (Editor’s note: Links to the video clips are located in the introductory “The Ride” blurb on the front pages of www.redbullindianapolisgp.com and www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com.)

And now, Part 2 of Moto-Adventure:

Phil and I woke up early so that we could get a full day of riding and plenty of cushion for our projected 9 p.m. Indy arrival. We set off from Richmond International Raceway on Interstate 64 for about 2.5 hours before we decided to take an alternate route home.  We ducked off the superhighway onto a two-lane highway that would take us all the way to Charleston.  This was a great choice because the road was fast moving, semi-windy and took us through the best roads ever through West Virginia.

The only problem was, RAIN! That’s right, on this trip we hit rain in four different states and in West Virginia it just happened to be in the Mountains on the curviest roads on the trip. Thankfully I made a quick stop to Dreyer and picked up the “First Gear” rain suit and gloves that were perfect.

(Check out the picture of Phil in his Rain Gear, Still waiting for the picture of me from him … PHIL, SEND ME PICTURES!!!)

Thankfully the rain stopped once we got through the mountains and neither Phil nor I had any issues. 

Fast Forward to our favorite place in Gauley Valley, which was dry … We made a few detours there and decided to make two trips up and down the valley at a more aggressive pace. If I ever get the video working I will have several clips to share. Once we were done “playing,” we got back on the highway and were slated to take the quickest route home according to Google maps, which would venture us through Ohio to Dayton and back to Indy. Once we started in that direction we noticed the massive thunder heads above us. We braved it anyway and decided to turn around when we saw soaked cars coming our way. This detour added about 1 hour to our trip! So it was back to I-64 where we dodged several rain storms traveling at 90 mph. The feeling when you escape a big storm is exhilarating! I felt victorious every time I sped through a section and popped out clear of a rain cloud!

It wasn’t until we got 40 miles south of Cincy where it got nasty. It was about 9 p.m. and the clouds were gloomy and we knew that it was going to rain. We also knew that it was getting dark. We pulled over, filled up with gas, put the rain gear back on and decided that we were going to roll with it until it got “too” dangerous. About 3 miles down the road for the next 30 it was dark and rainy! Really rainy and scary. Luckily for us the roads were pretty dry by the time we got into the city interchanges so it wasn’t that bad.  Once we went through the interchange and got on I-74 to Indy we were hit with minor little sprinkles all the way until Indy. But it was in Indy were it started to rain again. I only got droplets but Phil got soaked. Phil lives on the west side and got pounded!

First Moto-Adventure! Part 1.

I missed a week of blogging because I was on my Tiger and didn’t get the time to type up an e-mail, label my pictures and send them off.

So here I am armed with Microsoft Word and pictures of my ride to Virginia with my best bud, Phil. I’m going to describe this adventure in a few stages, starting with getting ready …

When we looked at the IndyCar schedule, we figured that if any of the trips were going to be the “Long One,” it was going to be Richmond. About 11 hours on Google Maps, a solid mix of highway, mountains and a great destination — an IndyCar Series race — we figured that this would be the one.

In preparation, we needed to pick up a few items. Phil purchased his saddle-box set, and we both picked up rain gear and air pants for the ride. We knew that there was a chance of rain and wanted to be prepared. After all, half of riding the motorcycle is being prepared!

We met at Starbucks located on Monument Circle, downtown Indianapolis. I was running a few minutes late because I wanted to pick up some ear plugs at CVS. That was a terrible idea because the plugs that I got were enormous and caused serious ear pain the entire ride there. We finally rolled out at 8:30ish after a quick stop at CITGO, an IndyCar team sponsor, and hit the road.

The ride wasn’t that bad. When you know that you have a long day ahead of you, you really don’t get anxious to get there. We made our first stop between Cincinnati and Lexington. Our plan was to stop at every state line and take a picture in front of the big “Welcome to this state” sign, but we missed a few on the way down. First off, when traveling around Cinci, you hit three different states in 30 minutes. When we saw the Ohio sign, we were already underneath it and surrounded by semis. When we got to the Kentucky state line, we were on a bridge, so we skipped that one too!

Fast forward to West Virginia, not a lot happened in Kentucky. Once we got into Charleston, we had made the decision that we were going to dip off the highway and travel along the river. We were very excited about this. While we were filling up, a men’s soccer team called The Crash, or something, pulled up. First off, we are in West Virginia, and second, these guys were playing hardcore girly techno! Not the combination we expected.

Off through the country, we anxiously waited for the twisties that everyone talks about in West Virginia. Well, apparently they weren’t on Highway 61. Just small town after small town instead! Then we changed plans and dumped off to Highway 60. After about 10 miles of this, we thought, “We got this all wrong!” So we stopped at the Kawika Falls. Phil then said, “Watch, in a mile, the roads are going to get really good.”

He was not serious, but he was lucky. In 2 miles, we hit a stretch of road that took us about three hours to complete. It was awesome!! So awesome that we went through one section and turned around and did it again! Along the way, we stopped and took a picture of this VW Bug that was crashed into the side of an airplane hangar-looking thing and a green hippo on the top of a building!

Let’s just say that this stretch of road made our trip. Once we got to I-64, we stopped for gas and had a BBQ roast beef sandwich. Then we hopped back on the highway and headed out. Not too much to say about this stretch, only that it was fun on the highway, and we were able to stop and take a picture at the Virginia sign. We stopped at BP for one last fill-up and were in Virginia in about 1.5 hours. Once we got to the track, we dismounted, took off our gear, grabbed some beers and walked off the stiffness!

Part two coming soon …

Jarrod

Before I get into the bike swap-extravaganza, here are a few things to note. The Scrambler is stripped down and is getting the wheels powder-coated as I type, and I had my buddy Ricky Howerton cut down my stock Tiger windscreen. The cutdown is definitely an improvement on the wind buffeting, but the cosmetics of the bike changed. If I were to re-cut the windshield again, I probably wouldn’t have been as dramatic about it.

Here is the story about the bike swap.

Bike Swap #1: Black Tiger for the Hypermotard

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is putting together a street team of three riders armed with Ducati Hypermotards. Two of them are headed down for the Honda Hoot, and one was left back at the track. Of course, I offered my services to break in the machine so I was able to take the bike home for the evening. I only put 26 miles on the bike, but it was enough to really “test” it – unlike my previous test ride at the Ducati dealership.

Like I said, I only put 26 miles on the bike, which means my test ride was pretty much to and from work this week. I took the long way home and made sure that I hit roads that I often ride on so that I could tell the differences. The Tiger and Hypermotard are nothing alike except for a similar power plant, 1100 and 1050 cc’s. The Hypermotard is much more rigid, much lighter (It’s like a bicycle!) and has so much torque! This thing is a unicycle!

Bike Swap #2: Hypermotard for Black Tiger

I returned the Hypermotard during lunch the next day because I needed to take the Tiger in to get my clutch looked at. I started to notice a weird noise when I engaged the clutch, so I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t eating the clutch plates up. I dropped the bike off at R. Falcone Motorsports here on 16^th Street in Indianapolis.

The noise that I was experiencing was like I had a vibrating metal table and I put a bag of pennies on the table. It isn’t damaging yet, but I want to make sure the bike is all polished up before I head down to Richmond, Va., for the IndyCar Series race.

Bike Swap #3: Black Tiger for 2008 White Speed Triple

Luckily Gene Tomey (the GM at R. Falcone Motorsports) values me as a customer and felt bad that both my Scrambler and Tiger were in the shop. He felt so bad that he allowed me to take a loaner bike.

At first he walked the floor and pointed at this Piaggio super-moped painted in Peanuts cartoon characters! You know Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the gang? That was a quick laugh, and then he pointed at another Black Tiger or a fleet of Sprints. I felt that if I was going to get another bike, I might as well get something I hadn’t ridden before.

I asked about the Speed Triple, and he put me on it. The Speed Triple is a fast bike like the motard, but it really isn’t my style. If you haven’t already noticed, I like to be sitting straight up with my feet underneath me, not behind me.

Much like the motard, the Triple is really nimble, light and powerful, but one thing that I won’t do with this bike is put too many miles on it or “test” it. Since I doubt it’s a normal occurrence for the dealer to give drive-a-ways while the bike is in service, I wanted to instill a small bit of trust with Gene.

Jarrod

It’s an off week for the IndyCar Series, and my family and I decided to utilize this time to take a trip to our ranch in Wyoming. Over the past eight years, I haven’t spent much time out here between school and the race season grinds. But since I have a family, it’s great to be able to come out to the middle of nowhere and play in the wilderness.

My Out of Office e-mail reply was supposed to read:

“Thank you for your correspondence. I will be out of the office and in the mountains until Tuesday June 17th. Internet connectivity and reliable cellular service is questionable, so please excuse my inability to respond quickly.”

Well, while I was gone my mailbox was overloaded, and my O of O won’t work. I guess it really hasn’t been a big deal since it’s an off week and a lot of people are taking a day here and there to spend time with their families.

Here are a couple of pictures of our trip. It was snowing here the first two days, and there is still enough to make a snowball or two!

Even while I have been away, we have been trying to figure out what type of dirt bikes we need to get out here. Like I said, with the family it’s really nice to be able to come out to Wyoming and spend time together with ZERO stress.

While we were picking up a Polaris Ranger, my brother Kyle and I test rode an ‘02 KTM 550 dirt bike. We though that it was a little tall for trail riding and was a little too expensive for our uses, so we passed. Kyle is determined to get a couple of bikes out here for the next couple of years.

Maybe next trip we will have a few pictures of the new rides. My mom and baby’s momma keep telling Kyle and I, “The dirt bikes won’t be that much fun out here….” What do they know? They aren’t going to be riding them!

Jarrod

The Scrambler is back!

How about this weather? Crazy storms, blazing heat and gusty wind! Yesterday was the first day in a long time that I have been on my bike without a jacket. I am a big believer in having the proper gear on because “you just never know,” but it was something that I felt I could take a chance on.

During lunch yesterday, I ran down to the powder coater that did my wheels on the Tiger. While I was there, I picked up a couple of painted pieces to match up with the roulette green on the Scrambler. Oh yeah, by the way, I went ahead and got the Scrambler. In response to “oldracer27’s” comment, I went ahead and got it! Once I walked into the Triumph dealer and got close the Scrambler, I remembered all of the reasons why I purchased it in the first go-around before my buddy totaled it (he’s fine). The Scrambler is just stunning! Everyplace I went I was asked, “What year is that?” told that it was cool, a classic! It didn’t matter if the guy was on a Harley or a Sportbike, the Scrambler gets attention and it deserves it.

So back to my jacketless lunch adventure yesterday. I took a sample over to Triumph to see how the colors matched up, and it just didn’t work out. The roulette green on the bike has candy to it, and all of my powder-coating options just didn’t cut it. After chatting with the body shop, I figured that I would just go ahead and paint them to match perfectly. It’s not going to be as durable as the powder coat, but it’s going to look good! 

This time around, I am going to get all of my customization completed before I event saddle up. Just before my buddy crashed it, I had the bike all lined up to get several items painted, put on and tweaked to turn my Scrambler into a Scrambled Flat Tracker. 

So here is the list: 

• New handlebars: I choose the Speed Triple Bars.
• Triumph Off Road Slip Ons: Great Sound!
• Bar end mirrors: Streamline the bike a bit.
• Paint the rims: Match the roulette green on the tank.
• New seat: The Scrambler has a heavy rear end, so I am going to trim it up with a new seat.
• Fender eliminator: The rear fender is big enough for a softail – it’s got to go.

Like I said, I haven’t ridden the bike yet and told the boys at Triumph to tear it down and start working on it because I don’t want to ride it until it’s completed! 

My two readers might be asking, “How in the world did you go from a Ducati Hypermotard to the Triumph Scrambler?!” 

Well, like I said above, the Scrambler is just a cool bike! Once I really started thinking about my options, I factored in price, usability, style and what I would use the bike for. They Hypermotard would have been fun, fast, agile, but my Tiger is all of that, as well. With the Ducati, I felt that my bike wouldn’t really be unique to me. With the Scrambler, it’s me, it’s got style that I know is me and will be uniquely mine once I polish up my mods. 

So that’s why… 

Jarrod

I rode the Ducati Hypermotard S. I was a little unsure about riding the S because I didn’t want to give myself any false expectations if I were to get the Hypermotard. As any rider will tell you, once you hop on the badder version you instantly get that urge to find justification to get it.