Page 79 – Mechanical Sympathy

Your Typical Sunday Ride Isn’t My Typical Sunday Ride

a 260km amble around
theNiagara Escarpment.

I cranked out some miles on the Tiger this weekend. On Saturday it was a 160km round trip down to Ancaster for a conference, on Sunday I left with a buddy from work along with his wife and son on a big 260km loop out to the Niagara Escarpment and back.

Jeff was two up on his new-to-him Goldwing and he son was on his dad’s Super Ténéré. We left Fergus following the Grand River and immediately came upon two cruisers burbling down the road next to each other. Any questions I had about passing etiquette on other bikers were quickly put aside when Jeff dropped a gear and blew by the two of them without a second glance. They (politely) went into single file so that we could catch the fleeing Goldwing without crossing a solid line.

Chasing the Noisy River into
Creemore is always a nice ride.

Elora to Creemore happened in a snap and the Tiger was becoming more and more familiar with each mile traveled. Chasing the Noisy River into Creemore was well timed on empty roads and the Tiger and I had no trouble keeping up with the more experienced riders around me.

We stopped for lunch in Creemore and then helped a Harley rider try and jump start his dead, brand new bike (his typical Sunday ride, but I like my dependable, thirteen year old Triumph). He eventually found a local who offered to jump start the bike from a truck. After working up a sweat pushing a Harley up and down Main Street for a several minutes in our modern, textile body armor (while being watched by groups of leather clad bikers who I’m sure felt great kinship with the old fella whose bike wouldn’t start, but not so much that they wanted to help), we headed south toward River Road.

In addition to being a windy road in a
place that doesn’t have many, River
Road also has the benefit of taking
longer than five minutes to complete.

The River Road was a twisty delight. Riding a bike is a fine thing, but the moment I’m off the crown of the tire I feel like I’m earning bonus points. At my first training course towards the end of day two they set up cones and we were allowed to weave through them at speed and then ride a decreasing radius circle. I stopped at one point and said to the instructor, “I could do this all day!” The lean of a bike is nothing short of fighter-pilot magical (even Top Gear digs it).

River Road was a rollercoaster ride until we once again arrived on the tailpipe of a cruiser. On any straight this guy would gun it, making a pass impractical (200km/hr passes, while possible, aren’t wise on twisty country roads). We spent the last bit taking the corners at floor board friendly speeds.

The action cam was clipped to a front
fairing for the twisty bits.

In Shelbourne there was a big, new sign advertising the Veteran’s Highway pointing south, so rather than go over to the overcrowded Highway 10 I thought we should try it. The moment we were past the last factory two hundred yards down the road the “Veteran’s Highway” turned to dirt. The Tiger seemed frisky and excited to be on the loose stuff, feeling very sure footed for such a big bike. Behind me the Super10 was also rolicking in the gravel, but the two-up Goldwing? When we stopped Jeff referred to it as an adventure two-up mobility scooter. We turned left toward the highway at the first paved intersection.

The wave on River Road

Back at Highway 10 I once again suggested we push onto unknown roads in northern Mono Hills. This road also quickly turned to gravel, but this time loose, twitchy gravel. I’m bad at picking roads. We ended up turning around and heading back to 10 before burning south and enjoying some time in Mono Hills and Hockley Valley.

We wrapped up the ride with a quick blast down the Forks of the Credit, which had the road closed into Belfountain, before heading back to Elora in lengthening shadows.

I got home sun and wind burned and wonderfully exhausted. Can’t wait to do it again!

Dropping into Hockley Valley.

That ‘Lucifer Orange’ paint just pops!

Working the corners of the Forks

Jeff making a three point turn on a Goldwing 2-up look easy.

Forks of the Credit: the road into Belfountain was closed, so a bevy of sports bikes were parked on the road.

The artful exhaust pipes on the Tiger.

Stopping for a break in Hockley Valley before heading down to the Forks of the Credit

Moments From My First Season On Two Wheels

From a new (to me) Ninja with 8100 miles to 11,410 miles by the end of my first season, April to October, 3,310 miles, … 5296kms.

2013: Out and about on 2 wheels!

The first time I looked at that map I wondered why I didn’t go further afield, but I did make some longer sorties. Next year I’ll make a point of doing some overnight riding trips

Here are some moments from my first year in the saddle:

The first time I changed gears without consciously thinking about it was probably about a month into riding. I then immediately became aware of the fact that I’d just changed gears without thinking it all through and had to focus on the road again before I rode off it.

In that first month I kept pushing further away from home. The first time I went on our local (rural) highway I had a lot on my mind. I found a left hand turn and got myself into the turning lane. In a gap in traffic I began to make the turn and gave it (way) too much throttle, my first wheelie while turning left on my first ride on a highway! I leaned into the bike and got the front wheel down in time to make the corner. The kid in the Cavalier waiting to pull on to the highway got all excited by my wheelie and did a huge burnout onto the highway. I had to laugh, I’d scared the shit out of myself and he thought I was showing off.

First time I was on a major (ie: limited access) highway, I’m riding up toward Waterloo through Kitchener and the new slab of tarmac I’m on begins to taper out. It’s the kind of thing you wouldn’t think twice about in a car, but I couldn’t cut across this. The new pavement began to peter out and I ended up slipping three inches down onto the old pavement, sideways, doing about 90km/hr. The clench factor was high, it felt like the bike just fell out from under me. That was the first time I really realized how little is around me on a bike, and the first time I had trouble understanding what it was doing under me.

The lightning is to remind 348
drivers that it’s fast… for a car

Early on I was out on local back roads getting used to the Ninja. I pulled up to a light and a red Ferrari 348 pulled up next to me with a very smug looking boomer at the wheel. He started blipping the throttle. I’d never really even gone into the top half of the rev range on the Ninja, I only knew what it might be capable of from stories online. The light changed and I twisted the throttle harder than I ever had before (which probably meant about 75% rather than 50%). I didn’t know where the Ferrari was but it wasn’t next to me. The Ninja is quick in the lower part of its rev range, more than able to stay ahead of the traffic around it. In the upper half of its rev range something entirely different happens… it lunges. I made a clean shift into second even while registering astonishment at what my little 649cc parallel twin could do when that second cam came on. Second gear lasted for about a second before I had to do it again for third. I eased off and sat up to look over my shoulder, the Ferrari was many car lengths back. My little thirty five hundred dollar mid-sized Ninja could eat Ferraris for breakfast. I’ve owned some fast cars in my time, this thing was something else entirely.

On the long ride back from Bobcaygeon I was within half an hour of home when I was trundling along behind a greige (grey/beige – featureless and soulless) mini-van at 75km/hr. By this point I’m getting comfortable on the bike and have a sense of how it can pass and brake (astonishingly well!). In my helmet I suddenly ask myself, “why are you following this clown? If you had bought a Lamborghini would you be driving along in the row behind this P.O.S.?” I passed the mini-van on the next broken line (easily) and, in that moment, adjusted my riding style to suit the vehicle I’m on. Everything is still by the book (indicators, shoulder checks, passing on broken lines), but I don’t wait for BDCs to begin paying attention to what they are doing, I just put them behind me.

Speaking of which, I’m riding in Guelph in the summer on the Hanlon highway and the old guy in a Toyota appliance (it was even the same colour as a fridge) pulls right into where I was, no indicator, no shoulder check… at least he wasn’t on a phone. I had the radar on and could see what he was going to do before he did it. Being on a bike I was able to brake and swing over onto the curb in order to avoid getting mashed; my first experience of being invisible on a bike. I had to look down to find the horn, I’d never used it before. He studiously ignored me. What is it about people in cars not feeling responsible for what they are doing?

The commute to Milton and back was a big part of my first season. It began after I got back from my longest trip to Bobcaygeon over the Canada Day weekend. I quickly had to get rain gear sorted out after deciding to take the bike every day rain or shine. In those three weeks I rode 400 series highways, big city streets and miles of country road. Temperatures ranged from 8 degree fog to 36 degree sun beating down.

One morning I left torrential rain and rode the whole way through fog, rain and spray. Another day coming home the sky in front of me turned green and purple, real end of the world stuff. I stopped and got the rain gear on and rode into what felt like a solid curtain of water only thirty seconds later. As the wind came up and the rain went sideways I remember thinking, “OK, if you see a funnel cloud just hang on to the bike, you’re heavier with it than without.” The bike’s narrow tires cut down to the pavement even as the wind was trying to send me into the trees. I eventually rode out of that darkness and decided that if a bike can track through that it can handle any rain. The commute also contained the first time I didn’t think twice about riding through a busy city. Riding day in and day out on the bike gets you comfortable with it quickly.

My first tentative steps onto the 401 (staying in the inside lane for the whole 13kms) quickly turned into opening up the bike and syncing with traffic in the left hand lane. I think a lot of that had to do with coming to trust what the bike can do, and what it can do is quite astonishing.

River Road out of Horning’s Mills

My last big fall ride before the end of the season had me doing one of my biggest rides down some of the best roads within a hundred kilometres of where I live. The bike was humming, it was cold until the sun came out, then it was perfect. A last perfect ride before the snow fell.

It was a great first season, and I got some miles in and really enjoyed the bike. I’m now torn whether to get rid of it an get something else, or stick with it for another season. Either way, first time we see the sun and some clear pavement again I’ll be out.

My Ninja and I in the fall on the Forks of the Credit

Risk And Danger In Play? In Learning?

Should play always be safe? Does risky/dangerous play offer opportunities that our helicopter-parent/granny society play doesn’t?

Mathias Poulsen got me thinking about this on Twitter. The related educational question is: does safe learning lead to limited chances to improve your knowledge and skill? Are there advantages to risky and dangerous learning?

In most circumstances learning is a risky proposition. A friend of ours, Heather Durnin, said how her farmer husband was a sink or swim kind of teacher when he said he wasn’t a teacher at all. He expected your attention and then threw you into the work directly, expecting you to get a handle on it. Most jobs I’ve had are the same way. For that matter teaching itself is pretty much a sink or swim proposition. Most of the world makes hard demands on learners. Ironically, it’s only in education that learner engagement is so tenuous, dare I say optional?

I was struck a couple of years ago with how rigorous and unapologetic my introduction to motorcycle training was. Students who could not manage the physical, mental or emotional requirements were failed, students who slept in on Sunday morning were cut. It seemed a stark contrast to the fifty-is-a-pass/attendance optional approach that drives learning in school classrooms. You can’t have stringent, risky experiential learning when you’re more focused on anything other than that learning.

The implication of risk is failure. If we remove failure from learning we end up with what we have in Ontario education today: students lacking in resiliency with a poor metacognitive idea of what they are capable of. The grades they earn reflect the political will of the current government rather than what the student is capable of.

Risk taking shows us where the edges of our skills are. We risk failure when we overreach, but this isn’t a bad thing. Fear of failure creates a false sense of our limitations which is why overly coddled students have no idea of what they are capable of. Students who never have the opportunity to take real risks turn into self-oblivious narcissists who think they know everything but can do nothing. One of the reasons I enjoy teaching tech is because my subject matter doesn’t coddle students. If it doesn’t work you need to buck up and figure it out; opinions matter little to reality.

The only time in life you’ll find the padded learning/guaranteed success formula is in today’s classroom. The rest of the world isn’t geared to make you feel good about whether you feel like trying or not. Fortunately, for those of us who want to learn in a more realistic way, the world is full of risk and danger, and reward.

****

A Possible Computer Technology Project?

It’s basically a how-to guide for online hacking…

At the moment Anonymous is counter trolling some of the biggest trolls on the internet. This feels like an opportunity for students to exercise their skills and take action based on real world issues. But I’ve always had doubts about directing student political action, it feels a bit too much like indoctrination when someone in a position of institutionalized power tells the people beholden to them what they should believe and do about it.

Internet activism aside, the Noob Guide offers insight into the various tools needed to hack online. From a purely technical point of view this offers students a chance to comprehend the nature of online communication by looking at the frailties of its architecture.

It’s happening right now in the real world. It’s potentially risky. Sounds like a real world learning opportunity.

Motorbike Wants

I’ve been re-watching Jo Sinnott’s Wild Camping. That Roof Helmet she wears looks fantastic. It’s a French designed, multiple function helmet with a fighter pilot vibe. The Desmo Flash in Orange and black gets itself on my want list.

ROOF Desmo Flash from Canada’s Motorcycle: $550

I’ve heard a lot about Aerostich. It started when I read Melissa Holbrook Pierson‘s The Man Who Would Stop At Nothing. For serious long distance riders, the Aerostich is pretty much the only choice. Armoured, weatherproof and virtually bullet proof, it’d be nice to have the last word in motorbiking overalls, but they don’t come cheap.

Aerostich Roadcrafter Classic: $1014

(Black Friday deal! usually $1127!)

I’m hanging in for a fix on the oil cooler on my new-to-me, found-in-a-field Kawasaki Concours, but what I’d really like is a new one. They aren’t cheap, I’m looking at about $500 with shipping and customs costs – which is only a couple of hundred less than I bought the bike for. I could pick one up from ebay used for about sixty bucks delivered, but it might not be much better than the one I have.

$500 new – not going to happen. Han would never by a new part for the ‘Falcon. I’m going to aim for the $70 delivered used bit and see how it goes.

Rumour & Innuendo In The Age of Information

TVO’s Agenda did a diligent job this week of fact checking following the round table discussion they had with teachers. In retrospect, what this discussion did was bypass the political spin of teacher unions and the government and give Ontarians an insight into how teachers themselves are seeing this on-going mess. What I found unnerving was how insular and, in some cases, inaccurate our thinking is.

In post-show fact checking it was shown that some of the commonly held beliefs by teachers were not exactly true. The bankruptcy lawyer story had been circulated out of the union all year. Paikin seemed surprised that all the teachers there knew of it, but it was loudly repeated by our unions as a way of framing this disagreement prior to 115 coming in. In fairness, these lawyers do deal with bankruptcies and they were unfamiliar with education negotiations and were aggressive in their demands, but to call them bankruptcy lawyers shows a use of absolutist language aimed at polarizing union members in order to make them feel victimized. It’s this kind of manipulation that makes me uneasy.

That the KW bi-election was a reason for the ridiculous piece of legislation called Bill 115 appears to be a matter of record. That Kathleen Wynn can say it was a cynical, Machiavellian move to win a bi-election while having voted for it still makes me question her credibility and these ‘social justice’ values she seems to have branded herself with. In the meantime our unions are still funding the OLP, even as they encourage us to demonstrate in front of their leadership convention. I’m not sure who is on what side any more. With four parties involved in this (the provincial government, grassroots union members, union provincial executive who seem out of touch with the members they’ve tried to direct, and school boards), it’s murky at best.

The followup research on the sick days/leave issue indicates just how deeply the political spin of this has cut teachers.

“…it’s strange that they would seem to think the province would just leave them in the lurch in terms of short-term disability. It either shows a colossal failure of communication on behalf of the government or on behalf of the union to its members. It certainly illustrates that the level of distrust of teachers with the government is extremely high, which is just very, very sad.”

The negativity itself around 115 created such momentum that the provincial executives who were pushing it suddenly found their members turning down contracts they wanted passed. Executive was building up this fervor as a bargaining tool, but the anger was genuine, and now the rifts between teachers, the government and internally in their unions are deeper than ever. There hasn’t been a lot of honesty with how this has been managed. How a teacher couldn’t feel manipulated in this by all the parties involved is beyond me. Trying to get a clear eye on the issues is almost impossible with all of these giants hurling boulders at each other.

I was ardently against Bill 115, I’m still astonished that it got passed – it is one of the most offensive pieces of ‘law’ ever put into the books. I was more than willing to go to the wall over fighting it, I still believe we should have walked immediately when it was passed. As one of the wiser heads in my school said in a staff meeting, “it’s a bad law, you fight bad laws or we lose everything.”

Watching those teachers on the Agenda line up behind the vitriolic rhetoric of our unions when I find union interests focused on the political self interest of certain (older) members makes me question much of what I’m hearing. I certainly no longer feel represented by the people who lead us, and while I don’t agree with all of the fact checking done, it does make me question the accuracy of what I’m being told.

I find myself a teacher who is very uncomfortable with how this has been handled, the mess in my own district aside. The Agenda’s round table only emphasized for me how insulated and groomed our thinking around the turbulence in Ontario education is.

’98 Fireblade Winter Project: Wiring & Petcocks

With the carbs sorted I’m chasing down anything else that could have caused the fuel leak into the engine on the Fireblade. Yesterday I had the petcock out of the gas tank again and tested it over a catch basin. Fuel flows fine when it’s on, but it continues to drip when it’s supposed to be closed, so a new petcock is in order. Fortunately they seem to be a regularly replaced maintenance item because you can buy them on Amazon for not much money.

The neutral light wasn’t working, so I got some LED replacements – they’re super bright. The wiring to the neutral sensor was stripped down by the drive sprocket, so I cleaned it up, reattached it and taped it up. Voila, working neutral light again.

There were also a set of wires coming out of the drive sprocket housing that look like they go to a speed sensor which were resting on the exhaust pipe and had melted. These too got sorted and re-wrapped. I’m also going to fasten that loom so that it can’t touch the exhaust again.

There are still lots of little details to sort, but the Honda is coming together nicely. I’ll aim to have it safetied in the spring and then run it for a few months and see if having a second bike in the garage is worth hanging on to, or it might just be sold on to fund the next project. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to running my first true sport bike.

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2020 Moto Wishlist

Next season is a long, cold winter away, but I’m already daydreaming about what might be…

TomTom Rider 550 Moto-GPS: I’ve always made do with my phone, but Google Maps is kinda crap when it comes to navigating on a bike. Whenever you reach a way point it wants input, which isn’t easy when you’re flying through the air at 60mph with gloves on. The TomTom not only is glove friendly, but the software is moto-specific, so no pointless inputs. It even has a twisty-roads function! $370CAN

A New Roof: I’m partial to Roof Helmets. To date I’ve owned a first generation Desmo and a Boxxer. The Boxxer is a simple thing and I miss the plush, quieter and more substantial Desmo I had before. Roof has actually come out with a new Desmo, the RO32, and I’m partial to the new flat dark blue lid they’ve just done. Roofs are hard to find in North America, but Chromeburner has the new lid on for about $500CAN.

Racing Kit! A one piece racing suit for the other thing below. Now that I’m with sports bike, perhaps I could take it out to track days. To do that I’d need the proper racing kit. To get the right spec helmet, boots, gloves and racing suit, I’m at about $2200. Fortnine has the bits I’d need.

A long time ago I did a car performance driving school at Shannonville Race Track and really enjoyed it. Taking the Fireblade out on track would be a brilliant way to get to know this athletic machine. Riderschoice.ca has track days. I just need to get the bike sorted and have the kit necessary to do the business.

Starting at about $170.

Of course, if you’re doing track days and need to prep a bike for the track, you need to drain coolant and all sorts of other stuff. What you really need is a way to get it there. The new Transit Connect is super fuel efficient for a van and would carry my stuff and people when needed. About $37k.

Van’s got a tow hitch, so trailer, obviously… $1600 at Canadian tire for this one. Maybe trailers don’t matter, but I’d like to colour match this one to the van. With that and a fitted cover, it could take one or two bikes to wherever the snow ends in the winter and trackdays in the summer.

BIKE WISHLIST:

A next level off-roader. I’ve done a few rounds of off-road training and dig the experience. I’d like to race enduro and need something dependable and big enough to carry me. There was a Suzuki DR650 I looked at in the summer for a very reasonable $4000. It was five years old but basically brand new due to some back luck by its owner. I wish I could go back in time, get that bike, sort it out for enduro racing and then do it!

Track-day bike: I’ve already got this one underway with the Fireblade project. Sorting out the CBR900rr in the garage and then making it track-day ready would be brilliant. The real block to entry is the cost of racing kit and the ability to transport the bike to the track. I think I’m some finishing up and detail work away from putting the Honda back on the road in the spring.

Top Speed Machine: I’ve always been partial to the Suzuki Hayabusa, and it would let me do a bucket list thing (200mph on a motorcycle) with only a few modifications. To stretch the bucket list wish, I’d take it out to speed week in Bonneville and do 200mph on the salt. If I wanted a leg up on this, someone has a modified turbo Hayabusa in Windsor.

A 2-up Touring specialist: The Tiger will do 2-up work, but it isn’t ideal for it. A bike that’s a 2-up specialist would be the ideal tool for the job. Out of all the big cruiser/touring bikes out there, I think the Goldwing is the best. I’ve ridden a friend’s. It’s surprisingly athletic, even with 2 people on it. Touring bikes don’t come cheap – the ‘Wing is a $30k thing.

Anime Dream Machine: The Kawasaki Z1000 has long been a favourite and its Sugomi designed look is pure anime awesomeness. I’ve got to admit that the Fireblade project sitting in my garage scratches many of the same itches though. There’s an orange Z1000 in Quebec going for about $10k. I think the Fireblade might have scratched this itch…

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A Week After New Years

Norman makes the PCH look pretty magical.
At nearly a thousand bucks a day for this Canadian,
it would have to be.

Strange timing means I’ve got the week off after New Year’s Day this year. That means flying is a less expensive possibility, so what motorcycling trip might I do with that time? Norman Reedus did the PCH last year, that’d be nice. If my son and I were to go what would that cost?

1) Drive to Detroit would be a bit of gas, border & hotel money, pack only bike gear and a single change of clothes. Parking in Detroit would cost about $170 for the week including a night in a hotel (the flight leaves at 6am).

$250 for the first day and night (trip, hotel & parking). And that’s just to stay in Detroit!

2) Flights from Detroit to LAX are going for about $675. Throw in another $50 to eat bad airport food.

Land in LAX, cab over to EagleRider (10 miles) $30. EagleRider renting a BMW sport tourer for a week costs over $1400US ($1900 Canadian) if you want decent insurance coverage in the liability driven US.

Figure $300US a day in food, gas and hotels (travelling fairly minimally), and our eight days and nine nights on ground should run us about $2400US ($3250 Canadian).

The flight back is another $574 plus expenses…

Once back it’s another four hour slog over the bridge and back into Ontario through potentially lousy winter weather. Figure in an extra $100 for gas, tolls and eating to get home.

A thousand miles up and down the Pacific Coast Highway
would be a nice way to end the holiday break, but
at seven grand it’s a salty trip.

I might have the time free, but this cheap-as-I’ll-go trip to California for just seven days (plus one in Detroit) would run to almost seven grand. It’s a nice bike, but the price difference between that and a smaller, less able bike to carry us and our stuff around isn’t that much (maybe thirty bucks a day less). This is assuming $100 a night-ish hotels, so nothing special and nothing near anything good. Other than the riding there isn’t much left to visit anything with either.

Renting a bike is expensive. Flying is expensive even if it isn’t a peak times and even if you drive to Detroit first. Hotels aren’t cheap, and the whole thing jumps up by 32% when I pay for it with the Canadian money I earn.

I guess I won’t be doing that the week after New Years.

Last Light of the Sun

Tuesday, November 26: I got outside after work and noted that the weather didn’t hurt. Could this be a chance for a final ride before the icy grip of old man winter chokes the life out of my riding season?

On our way home I saw a determined rider on a Harley with scarves tied around his face and that tipped it. It took me about 10 minutes to thermal up (this opportunity was still only a 5°C one) and wheel the Tiger out from under its blanket.

The 16 year old Triumph started at the touch of the button, though the battery didn’t sound happy after sitting in freezing temperatures for a month. As the bike warmed up I made sure no skin was showing and off I went.

I just did a 30km run down to the Westmontrose Covered Bridge and then back to Elora, but the chance to fly again before the winter closes in was priceless. There is nothing better than an unexpected ride when you think you’re months away from being out in the wind again.

A brief stop at the church in Westmontrose for some thematically relevent early November sunset shots in the graveyard before riding back upstream. I pulled into the gas station in Elora and was surprised to see four other bikers filling up before the long cold resumes.

The Tiger is now parked up with a full tank of gas, ready to slumber once again under its blanket until the distant spring approaches…

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Re-awakening

From August, 2012 courtesy of Dusty World:

I just finished reading Matthew Crawford’s “Shop Class for Soulcraft”, a philosophical look at the value of skilled, physical labour. Having come from a mechanical background into an academic one, a philosopher-mechanic’s critical examination of the ‘creative economy’ we’re all dying to jump into was refreshing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12108000

I’ve often missed the clarity and satisfaction I found in repairing machines, and now I have a philosophical explanation of that sense of loss. Crawford delineates meaningful work in terms of objective standards, a sense of community and individual agency. He then goes on to disembowel the MBA speak found in the otherworldly knowledge economy that can only exist in an entirely abstract sense of work, one I fear that has been applied to the skilled trade of teaching courtesy of lawyers and politicians.

It’s been a few weeks now since I finished the book. I’m finding that the lasting impression is one of embracing my smart hands again. The idea that mind work is somehow superior to hand work is nonsense, though our school is streamed according to that logic (academic/applied, university/college). The argument that we discover the truest aspect of human intelligence when we work our minds through our hands continues to ring true for me.

The other, unintentional side effect has been a re-awakening of my love of motorcycles. I’d originally gone after one when I was 16, but my parents offered to up what I’d saved to get me into a car. It’s probably one of the reasons I’m here today, it was a smart move. At 43 I’m not interested in wrapping myself around a pole. Riding is a way to be alone with your thoughts, no obtrusive media, and the development of a constant awareness; you can’t let your mind wander on a bike, they are ruthlessly observant of incompetence. Riding also offers an intimate familiarity with a machine in a very minimalist way that is appealing.

I come by my urges honestly. Here is a picture of my Grand-dad Bill in the late nineteen forties… I need to get myself some white riding shoes! I later learned from my Aunt that Bill was a stunt rider in the R.A.F. motorcycle tatoo (they would do gymnastics and stunts while doing drill on the motorbikes). Wild!

I hope to be licensed and riding in the spring.