Very Late Fall/Early Winter Rides (January 3, 2016)

 Interesting period of the last few weeks since my last post here. Have been on a few rides, and some were different to say the least. Take for instance this late November Christmas light motorcycle ride which is something I have never done. Frankly thanks to some very unusual weather I got to ride during the day on a good long ride around some Civil War battlefields and the associated very interesting backroads and on that Saturday night took a night ride and saw some amazing Christmas lights. Those photos I will be posting (well, those and others) on my "Richmond and me" blog page.  It was a lot of fun, and in fact did some Christmas shopping on the motorcycle too during the holiday season.  

This was another ride, did not get to ride every weekend. While the heat was there (with some days in the 70s) there was also a good amount of rain. Still, sure made for some really good motorcycling. This is taken in my new neighborhood....have moved during this period though still in the same area. Looks like Richmond is going to be my home from now on, planning after retirement to stay here. It is a very fun and very interesting city, and has a lot to offer. It is my intention to remain here for the remainder of my days. I have come to really enjoy and love Richmond, VA.

Took this photo at Rocketts Landing over the early winter, nice place to see Richmond and the James River in the background. Most of my rides have been fairly local, with a few that covered some distance.
The "warm period" may be over for a while as the winter season is really starting to kick in. Still...who knows? Last year in February I got to take a ride to Yorktown, VA on a warm day then, so remains to be seen what the rest of the winter will bring.
So far though, late fall and winter have been pretty remarkable. Looking forward to some more adventures and some interesting places in the weeks to come, I also am looking very forward to Spring, though snow is pretty it sure is not for riding on two wheels.
At any case, hope all of you reading here had a very Merry Christmas, and a very Happy New Year.  

Halloween Ride (October 31, 2015)

Halloween fell on a Saturday this year, so took a ride on a pretty nice day, least it was sunny if a little cool. Due to the holiday rode out to Hollywood Cemetery. It is a scenic and cool place in Richmond with two and a half US Presidents buried there (James Monroe, John Tyler and Jeff Davis...Davis being the half) and a number of Generals (all Confederate). This is the grave of JEB Stuart, who was a Cavalry leader for the Confederacy. Sure he would have admired my Kawasaki...know I do.
Rode there and also to Church Hill. Got some lunch there at Alamo BBQ. Was not a big mileage ride but was fun. Traffic was not real bad, and it was not a bad days ride. Even stopped at first at the Vets office in my neighborhood to get monthly medicine for my dog. It was also a good ride around the Oregon Hill neighborhood, all local but a fun ride.  

Got a photo while at Alamo of these two 1988 Honda Hawk motorcycles. Nice bikes back in the day, and good to see them. I would imagine that one is for parts, but both are (expired) tagged. I rode a Honda Hawk (did not own it, but got to ride from a friend who did) and it was a good motorcycle. Have been on some good rides since my last post, but most have been really local. As Fall goes on toward winter the rides tend to get shorter. That may change expecting some warmer weather next weekend. Working a lot of 12 hour days at work, so after work rides have been few and far between. Of note this year, last weekend went to the Blue Ridge Parkway. New girlfriend does not like motorcycles, so we went there in the car. Was a rainy day so that is not a bad thing, but did miss being there on the bike. While the trees did change, was not a popping year for color there.

Last Ride Summer 2015 (September 20, 2015)

Last official Summer Sunday (Fall starts Wednesday) and it was a beautiful day. Took a ride starting with Riverside Drive, one of my favorite Sunday rides. Very peaceful with light traffic though along the river a lot of joggers, walkers and bikers (in this case bicycle would be the operative term). They are nice though and the views are remarkable. Also nice, was cool enough to wear a light jacket. As you can see at left it was a nice day to ride.

Rode out onto Old Gun Road (which runs right off of Riverside. I assume these are the "old guns"....well one is a Civil War cannon, and the other is a "gun mold". They did make cannon in Richmond, not sure how this ended up in the James River where it was found over 100 years later, sure there would be a good story. No way to ever know though. At any case, another neat part of riding in the area of the river. Just a fun area to be in.  

Ended up down on Midlothian, where I got this photo of the Awful Arthur's Seafood. Its a good place to eat, Richmond has a few good sea food places though they tend to be rather high dollar or else places like Captain D's/Long John Silver (not that there is anything wrong with that...have eaten at those last two many times in the past, and will in the future). Lunch though was at Firehouse Subs not far from my apartment. A short ride and the last ride of Summer was over after 42 miles. It was a fantastic summer of some good riding. Nothing to be sad over though, Fall is one of my favorite times of the year to ride. Looking forward to the roads ahead.  

Labor Day Ride (September 7, 2015)

 Labor Day took another ride. This was Cary Street on that day...this ride was around 8AM. Pretty much everyone was still in bed, a good time to ride. This is a fun section of Richmond with a lot of stores and restaurants. Some of the best food in the city can be found here.
I love early rides, and Labor Day was a beautiful day to do so.
Rode around this area a bit, and even got off the motorcycle and rode around for a bit.

This was taken on Monument Avenue, is my motorcycle in front of The Robert E. Lee statue. He is on Traveler his horse, and I was on mine that day.
Monument Avenue is very interesting, in that there are a lot of Civil War statues and even one of Arthur Ashe who was from Richmond,
There are also some very old houses and it is a very beautiful street.

Finally made a stop at Tredegar where I got a photo of the old armory and the cannon in front. I am not a fan of the Southern cause, but I do enjoy history.
Richmond is a great historic town with not just Civil War but a lot of Revolutionary War history. I love to explore it, and see the sights to be found here.

Test Rides Post Repairs (September 5-6, 2015)

Excellent ride on September 5...had gotten the bike back from the shop a few days before. They had fixed the overheating problem (which happens more often than I realized...in fact there was another bike in the shop with the same problem, and talked to someone on the Vulcan Riders Forum today who had the temperature light flash. Told him (as did others) to check it out.
Anyhow the ride started with a stop at Richmond International Raceway, which was getting ready for the race (which happened on September 12)...always a nice place to visit.

Rode out after that to Gaines Mill Battlefield. Like that for a couple of reasons; one is that the history of the place is  just amazing..the Civil War is our bloodiest war, and two...the roads out there are just remarkable. Twisty country roads...other than the asphalt the soldiers would probably find this place, as well as very nearby Cold Harbor, to be familiar. Much of the earthworks remain. In fact at Gaines Mill there is a photo of one of the scenes from back then where you are looking...very little if any change.
From there rode back into Richmond and back to Velocity. Thanked again my mechanic for the job she did on the bike. Did cost quite a bit but as noted she did some extra and the motorcycle runs like new. I really, really am happy with the work done.

The following day took a short ride out to Riverside Drive (and parts of Richmond) but love this place on a Sunday morning. Very peaceful with runners and boaters and just quiet out there. Beautiful road as well...and the James is always nice to see.
Nice to have the motorcycle back. Writing this a week later...this weekend has been pretty wet...had big storms on Friday, Saturday and even a bit of rain on Sunday. So did not ride this weekend, but it is there waiting for me. Even got a bit of a touch of fall, looking forward to the rides coming up.

Back in the Saddle Again (September 3, 2015)

Well here is the scorecard....$332,52 in parts, $369 in labor...tax and antifreeze....comes to $729.26. Pricey but first real mechanical problem in the 10 years I have had this bike. I like Velocity who also fixed my taillight problem a while back, and did tires and brakes last year.
I still feel lucky as it could have been worse. Did some other work...said the bike needed new spark plug wires and for sure it does feel a lot stronger now and smoother. So that was a good call.
Sure felt good to be back on the bike again. I did not ride it very long, This was mainly to the weather forecast (which it did not rain) and the fact the really hard day at work was today.
Hoping to take the bike out on a good test ride tomorrow as that will be the start of the four day Labor Day weekend. Plan to start with some short rides and gradually make them longer as I go to see how this motorcycle is doing after its problem. That though will sure be a lot of fun...have missed this.

Under Repair (August 19, 2015)

 Well, something I had not planned on seeing, my bike in Velocity...awaiting parts,.which are being ordered from Kawasaki. Apparently during the ride yesterday the thermostat went out.This mostly melted the housing and that has to be ordered...plus the thermostat.
Lucky in that there was plunty of coolant in it, and that protected it. I noted no damage to the engine, and should have it back in a few days.
Not exactly how I planned to spend my vacation, but things like this are never planned. This is the first real mechanical problem I have had in the 10 years of ownership of the motorcycle.

Strangely this Vulcan 750 (which like my bike is no longer made) is also in for a coolant problem. While mine is an 05 not sure what year this is. They made them for a long time though. The Vulcan 750 was actually known as a really good motorcycle with rather dated styling. It was replaced by the Vulcan 800 which was more updated and that has been replaced by the current Vulcan 900.
At any case, hoping for a quick return of the Vulcan....looking forward to getting in some good late Summer and hopefully some remarkable Fall rides very soon.