Topic: 23 Rides in 2023, Frank's New Years resolution that we can all enjoy.

[budman]

Another nice ride Bud!

The speedway races are at Industry hills (La Puente/ city of Industry). I think it is called the Grand Arena and looks to double for horse shows. If you are familiar with the area at all, it is close to the Puente Mall (Azusa and the 60 frwy roughly). The covered Arena makes it real nice for summertime races, real clean place.

I'm going to have to check on the schedule for  Costa Mesa and see what that is like. I sure do miss Irwindale.

I looked at your photos closer and saw the banner.  I looked it up.  I think I used to go to the races in Costa Mesa.  I think it was usually a Friday night thing with a swap meet.  Good times.

[budman]

Thanks, Kevin!

[jgger]

Looks good. Is that key fob size?

[budman]

Looks good. Is that key fob size?

A little large for that.  It’s 3” vertically.

[Terry in Australia]

Looks good. Is that key fob size?

A little large for that.  It’s 3” vertically.

Looks great Bud, can you make them smaller? (key ring size?) I'd like to get some extra's made up for all of the guys here who made 23 rides this year, it might be an incentive to get them off the couch and on their bikes.

[budman]

Looks good. Is that key fob size?

A little large for that.  It’s 3” vertically.

Looks great Bud, can you make them smaller? (key ring size?) I'd like to get some extra's made up for all of the guys here who made 23 rides this year, it might be an incentive to get them off the couch and on their bikes.

I could make it a little smaller, but you wouldn’t want to use it for a key fob.  It will poke you in the leg.  It’s just plastic.  It would get all scratched up too.  It has a simulated silver anodized surface on top.

The lettering probably shouldn’t go any smaller or it will just run together and look horrible.  It would require a bit of a re-design.

I’m going to put some double stick tape on the back of mine and display it in my shop, on a tool box or something like that.

[jgger]

Could you engrave it on an aluminum disc about the size of a U.S. quarter or a bit larger? Then the point would not matter.

[budman]

Could you engrave it on an aluminum disc about the size of a U.S. quarter or a bit larger? Then the point would not matter.

I can only engrave on anodized aluminum.  I think there are companies that sell pre-cut key chain things.

[budman]

I just looked on Amazon and they sell anodized dog tag blanks and leather key chain blanks.

[jgger]

That could get a bit pricey for one person to foot the bill though. Perhaps limited edition of 23 for 2023, then 24 for 2024 and so on. Then they could be numbered 1st through 23rd to complete.

Those "dog tags" could make a decent key fob. If we put our heads together I'm sure we can come up with something.  They should reference "Frank-75four" too, or however he spelled his forum handle.

Anybody else got any good ideas? ( not that mine is a good idea)!

[Kevin D]

Thanks, Kevin!

Happy to oblige, Bud
Looks nice

[Terry in Australia]

I just looked on Amazon and they sell anodized dog tag blanks and leather key chain blanks.

If you can find a nice looking one that’ll work with your machine Bud, I’ll be happy to stump up the cash for a “Limited Edition” keyring for the first 23 riders over the line. Looking at previous years we may not get 23, but if that’s the case we could always use a few spares, most of us have a bike and a car, or several bikes, and they’d be a good incentive to get a few more members over the line.

[jgger]

It looks like we might be on our way!

I'm not a man of means and may not get to 23, but I will kick in $20 U.S. bucs (as Frank would say) to get things started. Plus if there are leftovers the rest could be sold with the proceeds going to this site at the end of the year.

[budman]

Ok...so I looked on Amazon again.  25 military style dog tags is only about $12 or $13, plus tax, depending on the color.  Like anything else the more you buy the cheaper they get.  Looks like 50 would run about $20.  If the order is over $25 I can get free shipping.  They come in a bunch of different colors.  Some look very close to Honda colors.  You can buy assorted colors, but for simplicity's sake I think sticking with one color is the way to go.  I was thinking it would be cool to get a color that was close to one of Frank's bikes.  It looks like he had a dark blue Super Sport tank on the bike he rode to CO in 2017.  The bike in the photo of him taking a leak is dark green.  Unfortunately, they don't have colors close to those, but they do have a lighter blue and a lighter green.  They also have black.

If someone wants to spring for the dog tags I'll do the engraving.  I don't have time to ship them all over the planet though.  I would be willing to send them to someone else who can handle mailing them to participants.

Also there isn't much real estate on a dog tag so the verbiage needs to be to the point.  I won't be able to put individual's names on them either.  I need to be able to engrave them all and send them all out in one shot for time's sake.

[Terry in Australia]

Ok...so I looked on Amazon again.  25 military style dog tags is only about $12 or $13, plus tax, depending on the color.  Like anything else the more you buy the cheaper they get.  Looks like 50 would run about $20.  If the order is over $25 I can get free shipping.  They come in a bunch of different colors.  Some look very close to Honda colors.  You can buy assorted colors, but for simplicity's sake I think sticking with one color is the way to go.  I was thinking it would be cool to get a color that was close to one of Frank's bikes.  It looks like he had a dark blue Super Sport tank on the bike he rode to CO in 2017.  The bike in the photo of him taking a leak is dark green.  Unfortunately, they don't have colors close to those, but they do have a lighter blue and a lighter green.  They also have black.

If someone wants to spring for the dog tags I'll do the engraving.  I don't have time to ship them all over the planet though.  I would be willing to send them to someone else who can handle mailing them to participants.

Also there isn't much real estate on a dog tag so the verbiage needs to be to the point.  I won't be able to put individual's names on them either.  I need to be able to engrave them all and send them all out in one shot for time's sake.

Sounds good mate, no we don't need our names on them, and thanks for offering to engrave them all. Send me a message with your Paypal details and whatever you think it'll cost to buy them and ship to someone in the US (where the majority of the participants live) and I'll slide some bux your way. Whoever puts their hand up to mail them out to the participants can give me their details so I can pay for shipping them out.

[Kevin D]

Ok...so I looked on Amazon again.  25 military style dog tags is only about $12 or $13, plus tax, depending on the color.  Like anything else the more you buy the cheaper they get.  Looks like 50 would run about $20.  If the order is over $25 I can get free shipping.  They come in a bunch of different colors.  Some look very close to Honda colors.  You can buy assorted colors, but for simplicity's sake I think sticking with one color is the way to go.  I was thinking it would be cool to get a color that was close to one of Frank's bikes.  It looks like he had a dark blue Super Sport tank on the bike he rode to CO in 2017.  The bike in the photo of him taking a leak is dark green.  Unfortunately, they don't have colors close to those, but they do have a lighter blue and a lighter green.  They also have black.

If someone wants to spring for the dog tags I'll do the engraving.  I don't have time to ship them all over the planet though.  I would be willing to send them to someone else who can handle mailing them to participants.

Also there isn't much real estate on a dog tag so the verbiage needs to be to the point.  I won't be able to put individual's names on them either.  I need to be able to engrave them all and send them all out in one shot for time's sake.

Sounds good mate, no we don't need our names on them, and thanks for offering to engrave them all. Send me a message with your Paypal details and whatever you think it'll cost to buy them and ship to someone in the US (where the majority of the participants live) and I'll slide some bux your way. Whoever puts their hand up to mail them out to the participants can give me their details so I can pay for shipping them out.

Whoever reporting for duty.🖐️
I think I can manage the postage costs, dunno what to expect for overseas.

Maybe you all will help me out by counting/numbering your own rides.
PM me your address when/if you get to 23 rides.

[budman]

So we have two guys willing to fund the dog tags, a whoever to take care of the shipping and a sucker to do the engraving.

I have two questions.  What color?  How many?  Should I get a 25 pack?

[Terry in Australia]

So we have two guys willing to fund the dog tags, a whoever to take care of the shipping and a sucker to do the engraving.

I have two questions.  What color?  How many?  Should I get a 25 pack?

Looks like a plan Bud, and thanks Kevin, I think that if you can manage the domestic shipping there’s only a couple of us foreigners that will get the magic 23 rides in, so I’m happy to cover international shipping. Yep a 25 pack will probably do Bud, in recent years we were lucky if we had half that many finishers. I’m In Kilmore eating lunch as I tap this out, on ride #23, and happy to have had a great ride on such a nice day.

[Terry in Australia]

Yep, further to my last, it was a beautiful winters day today, only 14 degrees, but sunny. I had a ball on the Rocket III, and once again the law breaking gods were looking after me. I'd just passed a line of cars @ 220 KPH (137.5 MPH) in a 60 zone when I saw another line of cars coming the other way, so pulled in behind a caravan, and as the third car passed the other way, I saw that it was a cop car! Oops......

Rocket III SUNDAY 16 July 2023 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Rocket III SUNDAY 16 July 2023 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Anyhoo, I stopped at the chicken place and my best new chicken shop owning friend greeted me like his lost brother and asked me how I went getting home on my last ride when it was pissing down rain, and brought me out a big tub of chips with gravy. I cruised home (at slightly more legal speeds) and Spotty came over to fish around in my ultrasonic cleaner for some carb parts that he's misplaced (was funny watching him dipping his hands into the freezing cold slime at the bottom of the cleaner) but they weren't there, so he went home to look for them and I continued baking Anzac biscuits (cookies) flavoured with Golden Syrup, Maple Syrup and Chivas Regal whisky.

I ate a couple and fell asleep, and have just woken up, just in time for bed. #23 in the bag, and a great day was had.  

Rocket III SUNDAY 16 July 2023 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[budman]

Congratulations, Terry!

I can't let you catch up.  Ride #26 for me this morning.  88 miles.  Just a ride around the block.  I left early, while it was still cool.  I figured I would ride FM Road 2323 tip to tip.  I ride this road a lot and I've covered the whole road, but not in one shot.  I didn't stop for pics.  I had to get home and get a few things done.  It's going to be a busy week.

I worked on the dog tag stuff.  I did a couple of concepts with blue and black.  As you can see I added the wrench.  I wanted to keep the concept simple, using a font that closely resembled the one on the wrench, keeping with Frank's spirit.  Since the dog tags are just under 2" long I figured I could use both sides.  I did a test with plastic.  I'll have to fine tune the settings when I get the dog tags.  Let me know what y'all think.

[jgger]

Well dadgummit I got # 5 done today! 175 miles round trip. Been wanting to ride up the mountian to Big Bear Lake, we used to go camping up there back in the 50's and 60's. Started out late, about 11:15 and it was 97°f when I left. RAFster122s had warned me to stay away from doing a desert ride and suggested the mountians.......it was still f.
'Ing hot!  By the time I hit San Bernardino/Redlands it was up to 100°f but cooled down a few by the time I hit the base of the mountian and gradually got cooler as I gained altitude ( but not much).
As you go up Hwy 330 the first little town you come to is Running Springs, 1st pic I built a cabin for a guy around 1977 and wanted to see if I  old find it. I did AND it's still standing! 2nd pic. It was still in the low 90's and at that point I  resigned myself to this was going to be a hot 🔥 ride all the way.

I continued up the hill and briefly stopped at  Snow Valley Ski area, they had 1 lift running ( but no snow) . They had some modified chairs to carry mountian bikes up to the top, then the riders would come up on regular ski lift chairs. I wasn't able to get a very good pic (#3) but it was interesting and the parking lot was pretty full. I think it's pretty cool that they can stay open in the off season. Plus they had an ambulance on hand for the guys that had trouble with gravity on the way down. I stopped along the way for a few scenery pics (lost count) if you are curious  about wtf any of them are, just ask.

Since we have to include the obligatory food shot, I put one of those in here too!

Anyhoo it was a great ride, though hot.
Left home 97°f
San Bernardino  100°f

Running Springs mid 90's both ways
Big Bear/Fawnskin a frosty 88°f
Redlands/San Bernardino headed home 102°f for 10 or 15 miles!
Home 91°f.

Maybe next time I should leave earlier, ya think?

Well it seems that my picture posting skills haven't improved.

[PeWe]

Nice rides guys!
Jgger, your rides getting longer and hotter...
Tough to ride that distance at that temp.

Or difficult to stop in cooling high speed?

[RAFster122s]

High heat and high humidity are really hard to deal with. While it is 91F at 3:35am here in the desert the humidity is 31% which makes it much more tolerable. It is around 15-20% humidity during the day's heat which makes it more tolerable than 30-50 or 60% humidity would be...
We get into the 50-60% humidity range during monsoon season after a rain and then 95 to 105 is awful!
105 is tolerable if you acclimated to the heat, beyond 105 really is uncomfortable and no fun unless you are in a swimming pool...
The low humidity and high temps dry your hair or clothes pretty fast.
I never need to use a hair dryer living in AZ, going outside I will start having sweat replacing the water from the shower pretty quickly.
Fortunately I have found that the perspiration from the heat when it is rapidly evaporating doesn't carry the same kind of body odor I would be experiencing when I lived in humidity climates back east of Ohio, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Visited & vacationed in lots of other states E of Mississippi River, but lived in those states...

Working in the heat you develop the smell of course...but it is odd if you are clean and not working outside in it or out for hours on end I don't have the same body odor issues. I guess that's good cause you sweat a lot in the summer here.

[Kevin D]

Ride #14   82 miles

I set out a little later today, after lunch and morning yard chores. I’m checking the airnow site as well as the weather as the jet stream is bringing us smoke from Alberta. It’s not quite as bad as was predicted, I don’t know why, the pm 2.5 is  96. We were over 300 with the Québécois smoke a couple weeks back, worlds worst air, that was nasty. 96 is like a day in the park, cough cough.
 Anyway, I made a shorter loop, to Dexter and back. When I was a working man, Dexter was my after work destination: I could make it out and back on all the nice roads and grab a meal and be home before it was pitch dark, about 3 hrs round trip. Today I made that trip from 230-5.
 I stopped in the park at Plymouth for the photo. The fountain was out for a while, but it’s back now and looking very nice. Plymouth is a popular place these days because it’s high density and walkable, at least in the summertime. Lots of expensive stacked condos nearby.

[jgger]

Kevin your 96 has got to be a lot harder than my 96. I never have been able to handle humidity.  I have worked in 115 to 118 but dry, 90 and humid kicks my butt.
You are definitely on track to earn a dog tag!