Topic: 24 Rides in 2024, Frank's New Years resolution that we can all enjoy.

[70CB750]

Ride #60, 138 miles.

Well gentlemen, this is where my riding year ends.

Bud - 1
Deer - 0
Indian Scout - ?

The young buck thought he'd make it.  He was wrong and ruined my day and probably the next few weeks and beyond.

I was out doing what I do.  My route got cut short due to some rain coming in from the southwest.  Had to turn around west of Hunt.  The bike photos here are the only ones I took on the ride along the south fork of the Guadalupe River.

I made impact with the deer heading to Comfort from Kerrville.  I had just ridden over an overpass crossing I-10.  I don't remember the crash at all or riding on the overpass.  The last thing I remember was passing a car before I got the overpass.  The next thing I remember is the EMT waking me up on a gurney telling me I hit a deer and they were taking me to the hospital in Kerrville.  I got a glimpse of the bike and remember damaged saddlebags and I saw the dead buck.  I went down in the grass.  The state trooper came to the hospital and told there were witness.  He said they told him I had taken off my helmet after the crash.  I don't remember.  I guess I passed out.  He told me where my bike was hauled too and gave me his number so I could get the report.

I was awake in the ambulance.  They put the neck brace on me and I think gave me and IV.  They brought me into the ER and after a CT and a couple of X-rays they sent me to a trauma center in San Antonio at a military hospital.

I'll get back with more details later.  They kept me overnight.  I got out this morning.  Walked out on my own.  Only a small fracture on the back of my neck.  I can't even feel it.  Said I didn't have to wear the neck brace.

My neighbor came and picked me up.  Got home about noon.  Ate some food and took a nap.  I'm very sore all over.

I'll try to find out what's up with the bike later in the week.  The Trooper said it didn't look too bad.  I don’t think I'll be riding anymore this year.  Not sure about next year.

Get better soon, Bud.

[jgger]

Hello, gents. I hope you all had a good Christmas. It has been so long since I posted a ride that I thought that I should show myself before the year is over. Looking back it was Aug 16th for the last entry for me, I have had a few since then, but not alot. At the end of August I came out of retirement (I know, stupid move) and that cut deeply into my " oh what the h=!!, I think I'll go for a ride" time. But i have been riding along with all of you virtually,  and that has helped me hang onto what little sanity I claim to possess, thank you all for your postings and pictures.

When I started back to work,  the idea was to commute on the bike because they only wanted me to supervise, that unraveled a bit and I started driving the truck. The job was about 55 miles one way and I could ride over the mountian on Ortega Hwy to Laguna Beach AND get paid for it, what could be better?

And then.......and then....and then.......................
Sitting at the top of Ortega on my way home the Friday before labor day enjoying a cold bottle of water, I set my fat arse on Eeyore and knocked him over.  Boy is that fun standing a 600 pound bike up by yourself, but this old fart did it! I was able to lift everything back up EXCEPT for the right foot peg that was still laying on the ground, crap! So after scratching a hole half way through the seat of my pants trying to figure out if I could ride down the mountian with only peg, I noticed the rear pegs were very simular to the fronts. Not quite a dead nuts replacement, but close enough. Changed it out and headed home.

The following Tuesday, it was a 3 day weekend, I was headed to work on the bike and as I was getting on the freeway and giving it the beans, the oil light came on. Worried that I had damaged something during the previous tip over, I pulled over and shut it down. After checking everything I could on the side of the road, I saw the oil was low.......wtf, where did it go? I walked home about 4 miles, got the truck and some oil to top off the bike. Fortunately all was good, rode it home, then had the wife take me back to the truck.

After the bike was sorted back out with a new foot peg and the oil light caper solved I was back to riding to work again. We'll the next event was half way over Ortega the Forrest service/Fire department has the road closed because of several small fires along the road, aw crap again. I rode up to where the firetrucks were and waited to see if it would open soon, no joy so I turned around and headed back down my side of the mount. From where the road block was to the end of bumper to bumper cars was 3 1/2 miles, soooo glad I was on the bike.

Then only after a few days that the real fires started and shut down Ortega Hwy, oddly enough the Airport fire was started by an Orange County road crew doing fire prevention! OK, so no Ortega, no bike to work so I would drive 2 hrs there and up to 3 1/2hrs home in the truck, that sucks. But i could still ride on the weekends going a different direction, NOPE! That is when all of California seemed ti ignite and it ended up closing many of the other places i like to go.

So now I fully understand what you guys go through by not being able to ride because of winter. By reading about all your rides while I couldn't ride has kept my spirits up, thanks.

I concur with the others, that if Greg/Ofreen doesn't get #24 on the Honda he has still earned the tag. Go get em Greg, i hope the weather allows you to be able to complete all 24 on a 750 four, Frank would be proud.

To budman, good to hear you are healing up, now we just have to get you back on a bike!

I do have some rides that passed their 2 week to post rule, but since I already have my 24 I think it would be OK to post them for your viewing pleasure. Plus I hope to get maybe 2 more before the year ends.

Ride safe guys,
Jigger/Jim

[Terry in Australia]

Well done Jim, yep, post away, can’t hurt this late in the year seeing that you’ve already joined the “24 Club”. I did another ride on the KZ750 yesterday, I’ll post it later after Spotty and I do some more Ducati fixing.

[jgger]

Into the way back machine......

Ride 34
August 24, 2024

This was the last night of Speedway at Industry hills, so I had to go.im doing these catch up posts from memory, so some of it may or may not be true. I don't have notes for stats so weather report was hot and clear. As I got close to my exit the traffic started backing up, but out here in California we can lane split, so no problem. When I got to the accident there was a Tesla wannabe truck and 2 cars leaking antifreeze and some freaked out people, so I stopped to assist. Helped one lady out of her car and she was fine, the other woman was going nuts ( I think she caused the wreck) i sat her on the guardrail and gave her some water, then i proceeded to talk her out of the tree, so to speak. As it turns out it wasn't her car, she had no insurance, AND no drivers license! I stayed until the paramedics and Highway patrol got there, they asked if I was involved or had I seen what happened, nope! OK thanks for stopping and you can go, so i did a backflip, u-turn, and a wheelie and headed for the races.

By then I was running late and they had run out of programs, plus most of the good seats where I usually sit were taken. But it was a great show with some awsome racing. A guy I used to work with sponsors Billy Janero who ended up placing 2nd, so that was cool too.

That was it for Speedway until next year, and I'll be there!

I clocked about 70 +/- miles for this one. And just a few pics.

[RAFster122s]

Thanks for sharing Jim, glad you talked her out of her tree…they will want to bury her beneath the jail… or are the courts super lenient with everyone? Here it would be an ugly expensive outcome. Whomever owned her car is gonna be pissed and their rates will skyrocket or they will get canceled. Will insurance cover damages with that many strikes out of the gate?

Some good photos, glad Billy did well that night!

[Kevin D]

Thanks for your ride reports and photos Jim. It’s been a long time since I have been to SoCal. I went to Ascot Park for short track races. I don’t believe there was speedway racing way back and there’s none around here. But looks like it would be a nice evening.

[jgger]

Kevin, before Ascot closed they did have Speesway but I never watched it there. I'm not sure about the timing, but I think they started around the time the original Irwindade track closed. Back in those days I think there was 4 or 5 nights a week that they raced at different tracks.

[BallAquatics]

Got in my last ride of the year today.  50+ miles wandering around on county back roads.  Rode out to check out Mom & Pop's place and then just took the long way home.



Year end totals are;

CB550 - 3162, CBR - 616, CBX - 566, NC700 - 1481, and Turbo - 1420 for a grand total of 7245.  Quite a bit short of my 10000 goal, but I didn't ride much at all this summer.  Looking for better days in 2025!

[Terry in Australia]

Well with only a couple of days to go before the end of 2024, I better get off my arse and get a couple more rides in. Christmas Day was hot, Boxing day (26th December) was stinking hot, (over 100 Deg F) but Friday was quite pleasant, so after driving my truck over to the mother in laws place to pack up my BBQ stuff, I drove over to the storage unit and took the KZ750 for a quick 60 miler. It started right up and ran really well, and I had a very enjoyable ride.

KZ750 27 December 2024 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

That's #38 out of the way, and shortly I'll go over and drag the K0 out for #39. With luck I'll get 40 in this year.  

[RAFster122s]

Nice job, great rides and nice bikes… cannot ask for better… Hope you reach your goal Terry! If tens cooperate you can do it. Gonna be 72 this afternoon in Tucson area, won’t be riding, still fighting an illness.
David

[jgger]

Keep at it Terry, you will make your 40. Plus remember if you are riding in the higher temps, that is just training for your Rt 66 adventure.

[jgger]

Ok, next up on my trip down memory lane is ......

Ride# 35
Aug 25, 2024
" The Birthday Ride" +/-215 miles ( I think)

So every year since I started riding again, i treat myself to a nice ride. This year, having ridden part of the Palms to Pines Hwy, I wanted to do the whole thing. The road goes up into the mountians from the Palm Springs/ Coachella Valley area, through Mountian Center and Hemet Lake, then down to Banning. It is a sweet ride and if you are out in the area it is worth the effort to ride.

It is about 60 miles from my driveway to the start of Palms to Pines in Coachella/Palm Springs,  so yes it is a bit warm in August. I took my usual 1st break at Whitewater rest area and it was about 101°, so I found some shade and chilled. There was an old guy there on a Harley that was loaded for cross country life, so I chatted with him for a bit, had my snack while he had his McDonalds. I think he said his home base was Tennessee. We shook hands and both continued our journeys,  he was headed for the Colorado River with about 2 or more hours of 100° + weather!

Any hoo it was Palm Springs for me. I can easily ride in 100° + temps on the open road, but, 108° in stoplight to stoplight absolutely sucks. Just as I was starting to doubt my sanity, there it was in front of me, a long straight desert road leading to the base of the mountian! I have always enjoyed riding from the Desert floor up into the mountians, the changes in landscape and the views are so awesome. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.  I hope this will keep those of you who are just beginning hibernation inspired! The first pic is the hills behind my house after a burn, this was not a part of the later " all of California is on fire" ,but a few weeks prior.

[willbird]

12-28-2024

#95 CB500X rode 53 miles, 55F sunny but windy
Got the CB750K2 out for a 20 mile spin too.

[RAFster122s]

I can deal with 105 or bit higher in moving city traffic on 40 mph roads but opening helmet visor at lights just makes it worse! This soaking helmet liner in cold water until it is dripping and wearing a hydration cooling (evaporative) vest. But extreme temps really dry out the vest quickly in 105 and higher temps and best not to ride more than 45 minutes to hour in those temps before cool down hydration break and recharge of cooling vest as it will be pretty bone dry by then in dry climates like AZ.
 Good evaporative cooling vest runs around $30-35 typically (no more than $40).

[Terry in Australia]

Another beautiful day yesterday, so I jumped on the K0 for a pleasant 80 mile ride. I rode into Kilmore from the opposite direction that I usually go, and saw a sign pointing to the Old Kilmore Jail. Well over 100 years old, it's now a museum with a cafe, but sadly it was closed until late January, so all I could do was snap a couple of pics. I was surprised at how big the building is, considering that Kilmore is only a small town.

K0 Sunday 29 December 2024 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Anyway, I rode on to Broadford, Cloninbane, Wandong, and back home. I made the mistake of not taking my summer gloves, so my hands were sweating in the Joe Rocket winter gloves, next ride I'll remember to take my summer gloves. Hopefully I'll get #40 done today or tomorrow.

K0 Sunday 29 December 2024 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[BenelliSEI]

Terry…. The more you ride that bike, the better it looks!

[newday777]

Well done Terry, Jim, Will, Dennis and all.
I'm hoping to get a ride in tomorrow afternoon once the rain ends washing the salt off the roads, maybe another on Tuesday depending if I need to work....

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, I’ll do ride #40 tomorrow and then start the “25 rides” thread. I’ve been ignoring some of my other bikes so might have to wipe the dust off one of them for my last ride in 2024.

[jgger]

Good on you, Terry. You are going to get your 40! The last one i posted was #36 and I still have 3 past rides and one that hasn't expired yet and I'm hoping to get1 more on Tuesday. We shall see.

It is pretty cool that this thread has stayed so active gir the whole year. Plus we have had a bunch of new faces this year and some real over achievers too. I know I have enjoyed reading the tales and seeing the pictures. A big thank you goes out to ALL who have posted rides even if you didn't make all 24. It's been fun. A special thanks to  Terry, Budman, and Kevin,  you guys made it happen!