The Techno V-Rod

My friend and riding bud, Hoppy, has done the impossible. After I bought my first V-Rod and showed it to Hoppy, he wanted to know where he could get one. After many years of not riding, Hoppy thought the smaller Harley would be perfect. It is fast, yet lightweight and water cooled to boot. Buddy Stubbs Harley-Davidson in Phoenix just happened to have another used one and we drove down in his truck to check it out. The rest is history; he bought it and has been riding every weekend since.

One fine day a couple of weeks ago, Hoppy told me he wanted to add some new technologies to the bike. I informed him that his V-Rod had all the technology he would ever need. “Wrong,” he said with a smile. “My bike needs GPS and a frame-mounted camera.” “Are you serious?” I asked with a grin. “Yes, indeedy, Mr. speedy,” was his reply.

At first I thought he was just putting me on, but, low and behold, he added the GPS and camera. The bike now looks like a space vehicle ready for launch. The more I thought about it, the better I liked the idea. Now I have a riding partner that can take all the pictures while we are riding and we won’t ever get lost.

Personally, I don’t care for bells and whistles, but having the spaceship riding with me is kinda fun except for one thing. Hoppy always likes to ride last in the group. If I head in the wrong direction and look in the rearview mirror to his flashing lights, it’s too late. We will have to do the U-turn maneuver, which always spells chaos. He should ride in the lead, but no way. Mr. Technology will just have to flash his lights and photograph the rest of the group, including me, trying to make a U-turn without crashing and burning in the middle of the highway. The thought of having that maneuver on video with me in the lead and three or more Stooges following is blackmail looking for a place to happen!

Ride on,

Mittster

Jungle Riding Anyone?

I had always been interested in surfing Hawaii in my younger days, but never made it because I was too busy trying to earn a living in construction on the mainland, but I did manage to surf the coast of California and Mexico. I finally surfed Maui in 2004; better late than never. It was a great experience, but I knew right away that my surfing days were over when my arms felt like they were going to fall off from paddling out beyond the breakers. Out-of-shape was an understatement!

In the meanwhile, riding Harleys had become my passion and occasionally I would jump on someone’s dirt bike just for fun. I recently went to work for a building contractor from Hawaii who also lives in Sedona, Arizona. After a couple of weeks, I learned that his passion was dirt bikes, and that his favorite place to ride was in the jungles of the big island of Hawaii. Holy smokes, riding dirt bikes in a jungle never occurred to me, but now that I think about it, why not, they ride everywhere else on earth.

I had the opportunity to see Kevin’s (my boss) dirt bike and I was impressed. Immediately I had the urge to ride it, but I kept the thought to myself. I am very nervous of any motorcycle that is so tall that your feet don’t touch the ground. Still, fantasies of riding the red rock country of Arizona danced in my head, along with the jungles of Hawaii.

Oh, brother, is this going to turn out to be something else my wife can worry about? I keep telling her that if I croak, she will be able to collect insurance money and not have to worry anymore about my crazy stunts. Her reply is always the same, “With my luck, you won’t croak and instead turn into a veggie. I will then have to take care of you for the rest of my born days!” I don’t understand her attitude; she already does that now….

Write on,

Mittster