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.

Charlottesville, VA (August 17, 2015)

 A good day...though ended sort of sad. Rode out to Charlottesville, VA a favorite place where I planned to do some exploring. However had a problem (a leak) on the motorcycle and decided to cut the ride short. I headed back to Richmond after getting a few photos from an apple orchard which offered scenic views. Indeed they were.

Took the motorcycle to Velocity Motorcycles which to me is one of the best shops in Richmond. After 10 years of ownership this is the first real problem I have had with my Vulcan and it looks to be a leaking hose at this time. I should have a better answer tomorrow, they are currently working on it. Once again though the motorcycle at least got me to the shop, it has never (knock on wood) left me stranded on the side of the road.
Even with that, was a very good ride. Noted that they are doing a lot of work on I-64 heading toward the Blue Ridge Parkway, and that is a good thing.  

Two Days - Four Rides (August 15-16, 2015)

 Did some riding on my first vacation weekend...Saturday went to Chester, VA and then rode out to Buffalo Wild Wings near Woodlake on Hull Street Road. While there a pair of Harley Davidson motorcycles joined mine. To me, some of the best hot wings in the RVA (though its a chain) and got to see some of the preseason Carolina/Buffalo game from the night before.
It was a good day to ride, not all that hot, low humidity and traffic was not all that heavy for some reason. I enjoyed it a great deal.  

Something I don't do much is ride at night, but that on Saturday night was wonderful. Sweet coolness and just nice seeing the city with a different look. I rode to Church Hill where I got this photo of Richmond from up there, and that was really nice.
It was fun to get out, and enjoyed seeing all the people out having fun. Shockoe Bottom was really busy with a lot of things going on..and just loved the ride. Before dark really fell I had ridden the motorcycle to Crossroads Coffee where I checked out the band playing there and had some...coffee. A nice night.  

Sunday rode to breakfast at Galley, and rode around a bit. I was going to go the BBQ and Brew Festival at the 17th Street Farmers Market in Shockoe Bottom, but it was SLAMMED. Instead went down Nine Mile Road and for the first time visited The Dobbs House. It is a museum from the Civil War and once was the headquarters of Robert E. Lee. This was his room, the furniture is period but not original to his time, but it is much as he would have known..least his part of it. Much of the house has been added to over the years.    

Had a good time on Saturday night, so on Sunday night did it again. Once more to Church Hill (after a visit to a friend's house) and took this photo from Libby Hill Park. Actually talked to some people in cars while driving when stopped at red lights, and once again had a wonderful time riding in the coolness of the air. Love taking night photos and got some good ones both Saturday night and Sunday.
For the two days covered some 115 miles and all the rides were a lot of fun. On Monday going to Charlottesville for a look at that city.