My First Motorcycle Crash

Ow. And did I mention, OW!

What happened?
It all happened so fast, and was so unexpected. I was starting my tip-in to turn 9 at Spokane County Raceway and all of sudden it felt like the front wheel locked up completely. The front-end was pushing out toward the edge of the turn, and I'm still trying to lean it over, to get it to turn. Then BAM I'm on the ground. Then I'm tumbling, rolling. Like I said: Ow.

I'm okay. Nothing broken. My left hip is poofy from the impact and my right foot from being slammed during the tumble. I landed on my left side and my arm gave my ribs a good whack too, but they're just a little bit sore. So far a big dose of Ibuprofen is all I need.

The bike held up really well too. The left exhaust can is pretty bashed, but usable, the frame slider derlin puck is rubbed down and the bolt is bent (easily repaired). The clutch lever and handlebar bar-end are bent, but he handlebar is fine. The windscreen is scraped badly from its stint in the gravel, but salvageable. The tank is fine other than a ding and scratches. The tail just has some scrathes, too. That's it. Mostly because of the frameslider. If I didn't have those, the bike could have been totalled!

The bummer about this whole thing is that dad's SV650 is due out here any day. And the idea was to make it a dedicated track bike so that I wouldn't have to worry aobut crashing the SV1000...Oops.

So, what was the lesson here? Other than the obvious, "don't crash...it hurts!" Well, I have a few and was given some good guidance.

1) Equipment:

* My foot is hurt mostly because of a feature on my boot that actually caused more harm than good. I'll be grinding that down. Sadly this feature is common on virtually all Sidi boots.

* One piece is better than 2 in leathers. The zipper on my Teknic Violator jacket tore from the lining and gave me a bit of a scrape (no road rash though!). I would recommend attaching the zipper to the leather, not the lining.

* Anyone not wearing leather above 40 mph is crazy.

* Frame sliders that use a single bolt through the frame are a must! If it weren't for those the bike would have been in much worse shape. If this had been a simply bolt-to-frame on each side, I probably would have damaged the frame.

2)Riding

* Okay. I am now a believer in smooth riding meaning, the transitions in downshifting, braking, applying throttle, tipping in to the turns. I was overriding my traction. Failing to be smooth. I had the lines down right, but I was struggling with the flow of the track. Meaning that my braking and throttle inputs were jerky and upset the bike's composure. In this case, I came in and grabbed the brakes hard, downshifted and tried to be smooth on the release of the clutch. But between the engine braking and the brakes and then tipping-in to the turn, I used up all my traction and just like that, I was down. It wasn't that I was going too fast, it was that I was using too much of my traction on the wrong activities and at the wrong time.

The rub is that one of the instructors, Bret, had just come to me after the second session and talked to me about that very subject. In fact, I was trying to be more smooth on the clutch release, but didn't put the timing and sequence of actions together in the correct order.

So Now What?

Well, I'm going to try to buff out the scratches on the tank and tail, replace the exhaust can, bar end, clutch lever, frame sliders, and think about either repairing or replacing the windscreen. There's also a bracket that should also be replaced. Depending on how successful the buff attempt is, I may have the bike repainted next winter...Hmm, options and more options.

I still plan to make the SV650 a dedicated track bike. For this year I'll stick with the handlebars, rearset risers, new tires, frame sliders, and suspension setup. Over the winter I'll be probing around for suspension bits, and plastics. Next summer - more power from the SV through tuning and exhaust.

Aren't you Afraid to Ride the Track Again?

Absolutely not. I was going to have a crash eventually, I had hoped it wouldn't be on the SV1000, but what can you do? It's part of the game. I have good equipment so I wasn't seriously injured despite falling at what I would guess is about 50 mph. I have a feeling I'll be a bit timid my next track day, but that will wear off before the end of the day as I get over any residual hesitancy due to my incident or adapting to a new bike. I also want to focuse on being smooth and clean and get my speed up the right way.

See you at the track!

An Historic Moment

Tonight was an historic moment for my nation. A man was elected president who less than a generation ago would not have been. He presented a promise of a new direction. A possibility of a better future. Now he has to deliver on that promise. Time will tell.

Proposal Night...From both sides

Chris's Side:
First of all, the background: May and I have been talking about getting married for a while. We agreed that we should go through May's mom (Marguerite) to get the engagement ring, as she has fabulous contacts in the gem industry and has impecible taste. May knew that she wanted a color-change sapphire, but after that point Marguerite and I took over.

I knew that I had to figure out how to make it so that May would have some level of surprise at being proposed to, so I kept the illusion that the ring wouldn't be ready until at least Christmas. After all May's mom is in the middle of launching a new business! But in fact, Marguerite had sent me the ring by mid-August. The ring is a heart-shaped color-change sapphire surrounded by diamonds. It is amazing! I can't believe what Marguerite was able to wrangle for us. But as she said, May is her daughter and she wants the best she can do for her.

So I kept telling May that the ring (and therefore the proposal) would not be ready before Christmas. I kept up the charade, hoping she would believe me. May wanted to have dinner at the Herb Farm for her birthday, so I planned to propose to her then. I called the restaurant and they became part of my devious plan.

The big Night:
We arrived at the Herb Farm in time to go on the tour of the gardens. The Herb Farm uses only local produce and grows a large portion of their own herbs and produce on site and at another location. The rest is locally sourced. Carrie, the owner (and my accomplice) let us sample some of the herbs that would be used in our 9-course meal for the evening. All the while I was pondering how I was going to get the ring to Carrie so she could have is brought to May before dessert. Finally, the opportunity presented itself. Carried seated us and took our coats. I excused myself to go to the bathroom and caught up with Carrie.

"Carrie?"
She didn't miss a beat. "There's something in your pocket?"
"Yep. Inside jacket pocket."
"When do you want it delivered?"
"Just before dessert."
"So late? Are you sure?"
"Yep. I want her to have her guard way down."

And so the plot was laid.

May will describe the meal in much more modest terms, but it was truly an amazing experience. They change the themes throughout the year as different local food is available. This year the theme was called, "The Iron Sommelier", which pitted their two amazing sommeliers against each other to come up with the best wine-food pairings. Needless to say there was no bad wine served that night, and some were absolutely astounding.

We shared a table with three other couples, very kind and friendly people. A couple from Dallas, Texas, and a mother-daughter pair from southern California. The evening went on and we talked on all sorts of subjects, revelling in great food and wine.

Finally, Carrie came by to clear some dishes. As she leaned over she whispered in my ear, "it's coming up next." Ah. The big moment is nigh upon me!

The conversation carried on normally. Then Tysan, one of the sommeliers, came by with a beautiful plate with a silver domed bowl. They set it down in front of May. She looked around wondering where everyone else's was. The rest of the table was guessing that it had something to do with her birthday. At this point, she just sat there, ever the queen of ettiquette, refusing to open the bowl until others were served.

"It's just for you, Hon. Open it."
"But what about everyone else."
"It's just you. Open it."
"But-?"
"OPEN IT!" (She is far too polite in her version)

She reached out and opened the lid. Inside is the red box with the ring in it. She gasped. She just sat there with her hands over her mouth. I reached in took the box out and opened it. "Ohmygod!Ohmygod!Ohmygod!" she said as I opened the box and revealed the ring. I took it out and put in on her finger.

"For 3.5 years you have been my friend, my companion and my love. I want you to be my friend, my companion and my love for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?"

For a few seconds all she could say was, "Ohmygod!Ohmygod!Ohmygod!"
"Um...Does that mean yes?"
"Oh yes! Of course!"

At that moment the whole restaurant erupted in applause and a standing ovation. We eventually stood up and gave our thanks to all, and were given glasses of Dom Perignon to go with the event. WOW!

May was totally stunned, her mouth was wide open. The whole table was a-flutter with chatter. I apparently gave no signs of being nervous. Cool as a cucumber!

But I must admit I was a little bit off kilter. You see, May is a crier. She cries at commercials and anything remotely sentimental. But not a tear had yet been shed. However, after the meal was over and we gave our thanks to the staff at the Herb Farm, and were driving home, then she started to cry. Luckily, she just kep saying how happy she was along with the tears.

The next morning she woke up and just stared at the ring on her finger...By noon (about the time her hangover wore off...after all we had tried more than 15 wines by the time the night was over) she was already getting her wedding planning spreadsheets up and going...EEK! :D

May's Side:
We drove to the Herbfarm on Saturday for a dinner that was going to start at 7PM. We got there before 6:30PM and had a chance to join the garden tour.

Everything was so beautiful! Dinner was exquisite. The food was phenomenal and the wine was spectacular. We were having a great time chatting with other guests seated at our table.

After the main course was over, one server came by and placed a plate on the charger in front of me. It had a small domed silver container with a slide-open lid in the center of it (the kind you’d expect caviar to be served in…on ice). I thought that we probably were going to have some ice cream for dessert.

However, I looked around and noticed that no one else at the table was served. I sat there and stared at it until Chris said, “Open it.”

I objected by saying, “But other people haven’t been served their dessert yet!”

By this point, Chris was a bit more adamant. He said, “No, I suggest you open it.” I pushed the lid open and there was a small red box inside. My jaw dropped.

While I was still in shock, Chris opened the box, revealing a beautiful sapphire ring inside. He took the ring and placed it on my left ring finger then uttered the most beautiful-sounding words to me (that I am having a slightly difficult time recollecting since I was in such as state of shock). The last sentence that I will never forget was, “Will you marry me?” I paused for a brief moment, letting it all sink in and replied, “Of course. Yes!” All the guests in the restaurant stood up and clapped their hands.

Everything else that happened afterwards that night was sort of a blur. The whole thing finally hit me during our car ride home and I began to shed my tears of joy. It could not have been more perfect. A wonderful dinner in a beautiful environment on my birthday, but most of all… The best birthday present I could ever asked for is to have Chris in my life, now and forever

Note to Self

Note to self: Next time rent a dumping truck from Handy Andy and save myself some work!
http://handyandyrentatool.com/

Funny part is...They're literally next door to Pacific Topsoils, where I dropped of my waste concrete, sod and soil.
http://pacifictopsoils.com/

Cleanup continues

For the last three days I've been moving the piles of concrete, sod, and soil to Pacific Topsoils. Et Voila! I no longer have very large piles of crap in my yard. Now there's just the matter of spreading the smaller piles in the planting beds, overseeding some areas of the lawn, redoing the landing behind the rear stairs on the front patio, cutting back the lawn where it is higher than the patio, and filling in the back-out areas around the patio.

See. Not much left to do at all...Piece of cake...Really.

Gads.

Best Day EVER!

Today my nephew was born. Alex and Lori welcomed William Richard Remington by c-section early this morning, perfectly healthy and very hungry! He is going to be one of the most beloved children in the world!

William Richard Remington

DOB: 1 August 2008, 5:02am

6 lbs. 10 oz.

20" long

Patio...FINISHED!!!

Today I finally finished the Patio project. I put in the joint sand and that's it! Of course there is still a alot of work left to do for the cleanup, but I have finished the project!


Here's the final product: