Home > Archive > Cobol > June 2006 > OT: Ridin' tall on the Santiago Canyon Road (was Re: What could J4 (or WG4) do)
You are viewing an archived Text-only version of the thread.
To view this thread in it's original format and/or if you want to reply to
this thread please [click here]
| Author |
OT: Ridin' tall on the Santiago Canyon Road (was Re: What could J4 (or WG4) do)
|
|
| Chuck Stevens 2006-05-24, 9:55 pm |
| Part 3 (not exactly COBOL related):
>
> And should be showing a bit more responsibility at that age !
Rode a bike from '86 to '96 when I was involved in an accident on my '73 BMW
(a toaster-tank SWB R75/5 for those who might know of such things).
I'd like to say I "laid 'er down", but what happened was I got squirted off
the bike like a watermelon seed when I got hit broadside after blowing a red
light, and I and the bike went flying in different directions!
Anyway, when anybody struts the "I laid 'er down" line, I think to myself
"Yeah. That's biker-speak for 'I fall down go boom get big owie.' " I
chuckle (snicker, even) every time I hear it.
When I brought up the subject last Labor Day w end of getting another
bike, after coming to the realization I'd done ten years penance as of
September 17 for misreading that light, my wife thought a minute, and
responded "If not now, when?" and figured I'd be better off having a bike
*now* than when I'm 75 or 80. That was around 6PM on Saturday September 3,
and by 8:30AM on Tuesday September 6 (the very next opportunity; the dealer
closed at 6 on Saturday and didn't open again until 8 on Tuesday) I was
riding home on my BMW R1100RA. Since that date I've put 4100 miles on my
Toyota Avalon (a very nice car indeed) and 14,700 miles on the bike.
My commute in the cage used to be stop-and-go all the way up the I-5 from
Mission Viejo to Anaheim, about 24 miles. Now I take surface streets to the
Santiago Canyon Road, and it's about 33 miles, and it's a sweet, sweet ride.
I take the same route in the cage these days, but 't'aint the same.
> Visions of somebody fitted out with a biker helmet emblazoned with
> Teutonic symbols, studded jacket, and the boots of course.
Well, my helmet's modular full-face, currently emblazoned only with a BMW
roundel and the Flag of the Republic of Texas on the back; my jacket and
chaps are unadorned; I own no vest at the moment; and my boots are Western
in style (can't shift reliably in thick biker boots) -- relatively
inexpensive Dan Posts. I've got a number of HD-ridin', patch-holder
friends, though (and a few one-percenters), so I'm hardly unfamilar with the
style and subculture.
I do wear a helmet, not because the law requires it, but because I prefer
both the protection and the noise insulation helmets (in particular
full-face helmets) provide. My choice, my preference.
> Jerome G could have asked his brother Art to come up with different
> lyrics, to that lovely theme which you could have hummed to yourself while
> on the road,
Met Jerome at an OO Ad Hoc back when Vickie Gould was involved with the
COBOL standards process. Haven't seen him since, though.
My musical training is almost entirely classical (I have two flutes and a
piccolo, all of good professional-symphony-orchestra quality; I also have a
clavichord in our living room), so I don't recognize the tune to which
you're referring. Title please?
Enjoyed the lyrics! A few points ...
> The windshield is covered with rain, I'm cryin'.
What comes to me on this line is more like:
I'm ridin' in the rain
Just ridin' in the rain
What a glorious feeling,
I'm happy again! ...
I think you can figure out the tune to that one ... I've actually found
myself singing that one, in the rain, on several occasions! Man, oh, man!
I don't like bein' in a cage. I like bein' on my scoot.
I ride in the rain. I like riding in the rain. I like riding when it's hot
out. I like riding when it's cold out.
I rode to Las Vegas for the J4 meeting in full leathers (including chaps, at
my wife's request) and when I went through Baker it was 117 degrees. My
feet, being behind the cylinders, got a bit warm. I like riding. I
commuted from my home to the previous J4 meeting in Ontario every day along
the Carbon Canyon Road. On the last day, I took a *long* route from Anaheim
to Ontario, via the Santiago Canyon Road, Live Oak Canyon Road, San Juan
Capistrano, the Ortega Highway, Lake Elsinore and Corona. Was a half-hour
late for the meeting that morning. Oh, well. I like riding.
When I leave for work in the morning, if the temperature's below 40, I wear
my heated gear. If it's below 42, I wear my chaps. If it's below 45 I wear
my winter gloves and keep the liner in my winter jacket. If it reaches 50 I
switch to the summer jacket. I like riding. If it's raining when I leave
for work I'll put on my rain gear, and if the forecast says it's supposed to
rain I'll take my rain gear with me. I like riding.
Whoa, doggies! Man, oh, man, do I like riding! It brings me joy. I don't
think I really had a clue what "happy" meant until I got this bike.
[I will admit that I'm not sure I'd be comfortable riding a street bike like
mine in snow or ice, and I don't think I particularly want to try.]
> (** Have you got [a windshield] on your bike ? )
I have a windshield *for* my bike, had it mounted, took it off, put it back
on again, and took it off again just before my round trip from the Southern
California coast to the Hill Country of Texas in April. I'll keep it around
as an accessory to include with the bike (along with the Corbin  dle setup
I bought really inexpensively on the internet, which dle doesn't fit me
as well as I'd hoped) if I ever decide to sell it and get a different one.
I have NO intention of putting it back on as long as I'm riding it. I'll
put the Corbin back on when I send the stock seat pans off to have a more
comfortable dle done -- probably this fall. The stock dle's
generally acknowledged as not very comfy long term. Then the Corbin will go
back on the shelf.
The aerodynamics of my helmet are beyond reproach. I've learned to deal
with buffeting on the body without the windscreen; I learned that on the
I-10 eastbound toward Texas. At one point I was traveling 90mph in the slow
lane and got passed by a semi; shortly thereafter I found myself in traffic
on the right lane cruising along at 110 (held that speed for about 90
minutes). My experiments before the trip convinced me that the windscreen
raises the noise level around the helmet to an unacceptable level. The
noise level *without* a windscreen with this helmet is a quiet rush. There
may be bike-and-windscreen combinations that work really well, but as far as
I'm concerned the stock windscreen on a R1100R ain't a combination that
works for me. And yes, I've tried a laminar lip. I've learned to ride
without a windscreen, learned to *really like* riding without a windscreen,
and have no particular desire to have a bike with one.
[And as far as the speed goes, riding *with traffic* is a whole lot safer
than riding at the speed limit, if traffic's going faster than the speed
limit.]
When I come back from a long ride, I offer a moment of silence for all those
who sacrificed their lives so that I might ride, before I clean off my
helmet visor so I can see through it again ... Whoa, buggies! Man, oh,
man! ;-)
> Pressing my foot on the gas, I'm flyin'.
I don't know if I've *ever* seen a bike with a foot-operated throttle! On
most bikes I know of "grabbin' a handful of throttle" or "rollin' it on"
comes closer ...
Maybe somebody'll get a kick out of this anecdote ... 8-)
-Chuck Stevens
| |
| Howard Brazee 2006-05-24, 9:55 pm |
| On Wed, 24 May 2006 10:03:09 -0700, "Chuck Stevens"
<charles.stevens@unisys.com> wrote:
>I rode to Las Vegas for the J4 meeting in full leathers (including chaps, at
>my wife's request) and when I went through Baker it was 117 degrees. My
>feet, being behind the cylinders, got a bit warm.
In my one motorcycle accident, I was wearing a WWII leather jacket,
but normal pants. My jacket and gloves were torn up, my helmet was
scratched, but my only personal damage was to my leg.
Leather can be hot, but it protects.
Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com
| |
| Chuck Stevens 2006-05-24, 9:55 pm |
| "Howard Brazee" <howard@brazee.net> wrote in message
news:2q6972p87ug60snd33799lhfo31dq81l7d@
4ax.com...
> In my one motorcycle accident, I was wearing a WWII leather jacket,
> but normal pants. My jacket and gloves were torn up, my helmet was
> scratched, but my only personal damage was to my leg.
>
> Leather can be hot, but it protects.
I almost always wear jeans, which are at least a little better than slacks.
I agree that chaps protect. And *so long as I'm moving* chaps really aren't
that much of a heat problem. Problem is that my 33-mile commute includes
about 21 miles of normal surface streets and only about 12 miles of canyon
road. And I need to get a new pair; my current ones were *very*
inexpensive, and turned out to be worth every penny.
In the case of my '96 wreck, two metatarsals in my left foot were crushed,
my right fibula was broken at the ankle, I had a hairline fracture on the
left femur, I had hefty soft-tissue damage to both knees (which still bother
me occasionally, as does the left foot, which has two screws in it), and I
had deep-purple bruises covering the inside half of both thighs from below
the knee to the groin that took a long time to fade. I was on 2x750mg
Vicodin q4h 24/7 for a month, in a wheelchair for two, and on crutches for a
month after that. I came back to work maybe three ws after I got off
the painkillers.
My summerweight leather jacket suffered an abrasion on the right shoulder
and elbow, my helmet suffered a quarter-sized paint-scrape off the back
center, and I suffered no road rash *at all*. I don't think I was wearing
chaps at the time. I'd still be wearing that jacket, except that, alas, it
shrank to the point that I couldn't zip it up any more ... Amazing how
leather does that as it ages ... Too bad, nice jacket ...
I'd have gotten right back on a bike as soon as I could walk, but since my
wife had come to the accident scene and hauled me off to the ER, and it was
her birthday, I didn't push the idea too hard at the time ... Her request
that I not jump back onto a bike wasn't unreasonable ... and she still
panics when I get on the bike ...
-Chuck Stevens
| |
| Howard Brazee 2006-05-24, 9:55 pm |
| My accident occurred the evening that I was drafted. I happened to
be in AFROTC at the time, so I was able to get my deferment. I was
driving towards Drake University with my chess board to go to chess
club when a car pulled out of a bar and hit me. I was always told to
make sure to get the license of a car that was involved in an
accident, and I did, it was embedded in my leg.
The driver stopped for a moment and then left, saving himself a felony
(drunk or hit and run). Leaving the scene of the accident didn't
work if I had his licence plate. Six months later I was in ROTC
Summer camp. I did get a year of school paid for though - my grades
weren't nearly as good as they were when I worked full time, as I had
plenty of time to study/procrastinate.
Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com
| |
| Chuck Stevens 2006-05-24, 9:55 pm |
| "Howard Brazee" <howard@brazee.net> wrote in message
news:uh9972pun9kb6mephkavcjsdue17snsabt@
4ax.com...
> I was always told to
> make sure to get the license of a car that was involved in an
> accident, and I did, it was embedded in my leg.
The plate itself, or the information on the plate?
> The driver stopped for a moment and then left, saving himself a felony
> (drunk or hit and run). Leaving the scene of the accident didn't
> work if I had his licence plate.
Not sure why that would make a difference; surely the license plate (or its
image) would be considered some sort of evidence that at least his car was
there and was involved ...
Alas, "There's two kinds of bikers: thems that've been down and thems
that're goin' down ..."
-Chuck Stevens
| |
| Howard Brazee 2006-05-24, 9:55 pm |
| On Wed, 24 May 2006 12:06:28 -0700, "Chuck Stevens"
<charles.stevens@unisys.com> wrote:
>
>The plate itself, or the information on the plate?
Maybe I should have asked, instead of just assuming...
>
>Not sure why that would make a difference; surely the license plate (or its
>image) would be considered some sort of evidence that at least his car was
>there and was involved ...
If he hadn't stopped, it would have been a Hit & Run felony. If he
had stuck around, he would have had Drunken Driving felony. As it
was, he got charged with Leaving the Scene of the Accident.
>Alas, "There's two kinds of bikers: thems that've been down and thems
>that're goin' down ..."
A friend of mine is a horse man. For a while on his cubicle he had
an article saying "If you spend time around horses, you will get
hurt".
As a programmer, I know that "things will happen". I might be called
in the middle of the night because I overlooked something, my users
overlooked something - or maybe there was something unforeseeable. I
keep hearing people say that most crimes don't get solved. Well most
of my programs work fine as well, but things Will happen. If my
business is crime, then I will pay the cost when something happens.
Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com
| |
| Chuck Stevens 2006-06-05, 6:55 pm |
|
"James J. Gavan" <jgavandeletethis@shaw.ca> wrote in message
news:GW4gg.223560$P01.73255@pd7tw3no...
> Having read you, Howard and Alistair comin' a cropper on those beasts - I
> knew I was right to avoid them ! A much more modest progression - a
> tricycle when five, (went around the family among cousins, with a fresh
> coat of paint each time until it arrived back on my doorstep for my kid
> some thirty years later. Possibly only improvement a fresh set of rubber
> hand-drips and brakes ! I don't think the modern phrase 'built-in
> obsolescence' had been invented back then). Teen years a bike (bicycle);
> nothing fancy, an 'Hercules' with standard handlebars, not your sports
> drop-downs.
Yeah, I had a three-speed Hercules with caliper brakes back when machines of
this type were called "English racing bikes" and most people rode Schwinns
with a single speed and coaster brakes ... that would have been, oh, about
1955 or 1956 ...
> Real progression - a moped - a bike with an engine in the back wheel -
> Wowee ! Perhaps 20 mph.
Had a Garelli moped in the early 1980's, and often commuted to work on it.
It was not one of the folding ones, though. Had what was euphemistically
called an "automatic transmission", when in reality what it had was a big
synthetic-rubber doughnut that acted as a centrifugal clutch. I think there
was a total of something like seven moving parts in the entire drivetrain,
if you counted the chain as a single part ...
There were some pretty sophisticated, and well-built, mopeds back then -- I
remember Kreidler being regarded as the Ne Plus Ultra of mopeds at the time
....
> ... As somebody in the Sergeants' Mess unkindly put in once, "I looked
> like and elephant sat on a pea :-) ).
I remember a guy some 6'5" riding on a Honda Rebel, which is something like
a half-size Harley Dyna, looking a little silly ... Then there's the whole
modern "pit bike" phenomenon ...
> but the noise suggested the bloody thing was coming apart under your feet.
> ... A gent from the AA (Automobile Association) arrives ... Informs me
> solemnly, "The Big End's gone".
Which is probably what it was trying to tell you with all that clattering
and banging before it quit ... 2-strokes are really sensitive about
lubrication, better too much (and have to scrub off the spark plugs
occasionally and risk the ire of the gendarmerie from the clouds of blue
smoke) than too little ...
> Come on Chuck, has to be your era when you were young and romantic :-
Sorry, not my style. I discovered the joys of Telemann in Junior High. And
that's way, way before the Baroque got popular.
>
> "99 Miles from L.A"
>
> The tape copyright says 1975.
Thanks, I'll hunt it up.
> Get impression, and from what you have written previously that you like
> what I would call the 'heavy, sombre' classics.
Well, hard to say. I'm particularly fond of Bach, but I don't find him
particularly somber (in fact, I'd say parts of the Tocatta, Adagio and Fugue
in C Major are downright riotous).
> Somebody going out of town offered me tickets for a concert evening - a
> real pain in the butt - mournful music from Mahler.
Generally I find Mahler way more trouble than it's worth. But I have
performed in the chorus in the 2nd Symphony (Resurrection) and have to admit
Mahler's attempt to outdo the ending of the Beethoven Ninth succeeds, if you
can last through what it takes to get there ...
> Fortunately the 'Germanic' evening finished with Beethoven's Fifth.
All nine of the Beethoven symphonies have something to offer.
> I really draw the line at the sun-tanned gentleman wearing drop-down
> clothes and orthopedic caps on their heads backwards, constantly pointing
> at the camera - I look, and before I switch I have a dire need to throw a
> grenade at the screen !
I have a great deal of difficulty associating their antics with "music".
> Why I asked was because a windshield was a real necessity with Vespas or
> Lambrettas. Unlike you bikers us folks were dressed like normal people -
> so you could get pretty wet even in a heavy drizzle.
I've been told that a windscreen is a real necessity on any cross-country
trip by some serious bikers. I've pretty much decided I don't agree, bugs
or no bugs, rain or no rain, and if I get into a hailstorm the windscreen
ain't gonna do a heck of a lot of good anyway!
The way I figure it, I'll give the idea of riding in the rain a second
thought if I'm *leaving* home, because if I get wet I'll have to stay wet
the whole time I'm out, but if I'm *coming* home I don't even think about
it; if I get wet, no harm done.
>
> Again refers to pressing the gas pedal in a car. Same with scooters - we
> throttled from the handlebars like you bikers. Only pedal was the brakes,
> as I recall - could be wrong.
Probably so on the automatic-transmission scooters. Motorcycle controls
these days have standardized to left foot pedal = gearshift lever, right
foot pedal = rear brake, left hand lever = clutch, right hand lever = front
brake, and right handgrip = throttle.
-Chuck Stevens
|
|
|
|
|