Thursday, May 14, 2015

TBT: Three Years Ago: Fairbanks, Alaska

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Three years ago I was in Fairbanks, Alaska on my Everyday for 7 Weeks trip. Click the link if you want to see the daily posts and photos. I rode my SV650 for seven weeks and 12,000 miles from Minneapolis to Fairbanks to San Diego and back.

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While I was in Fairbanks, I had the great fortune to meet and stay with Richard and his family. We also went on a couple rides. It was great fun.

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Check out the other posts:

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Everyday for 7 Weeks - San Diego by way of Alaska

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Teaching My First BRC of 2015

Teaching a BRC

This past week and weekend, I taught my first Basic Rider Course of 2015. I have seven courses scheduled for this year.

This class was at Century College. The normal schedule is a weeknight classroom session followed by a half day Saturday and Sunday.

Teaching a BRC

I had the afternoon class this past weekend with eleven students and a co-coach. The class went well. It rained a lot on the second day, which I think makes the students better since they can get over being scared of rain.

Most of them did very well, and only one failed. She is determined to come back and give it another try. Maybe I will see her again. I have a couple weekends off before I teach my next BRC. It was an enjoyable experience.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Dual Sport Tech Day 2015

DualSport Tech Day 2015

This last weekend was the TC Dual Sport Tech Day hosted by my friend Paul. The day is for folks to get together talk about motorcycles and get some maintenance work done with friends. There is usually a few people doing tires and at least one KLR doohickey mod.

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My WR250R needs tires, battery, and few other odds and ends to make it safe to ride. I thought about riding it over with the tires strapped to my back somehow, but I was feeling lazy. I decided to take my Super9 instead.

plum tree blooming

It was REALLY nice weather compared to past years. It was sunny and almost 80F by the time I left around noon.  This plum tree in Paul’s front yard smelled amazing. I can’t wait until mine is as large.

DualSport Tech Day 2015

Paul is a good bike mechanic and has a nice selection of tools. He was also kind enough to brew up some coffee. You can see him below helping someone break a stuck nut loose on a KLR.

DualSport Tech Day 2015

Not many motorcycles showed up compared to previous years. Usually there is 10-20 people, but this year there were less than 10 (see related posts below). Everyone else seemed to be riding a KLR except for me.

DualSport Tech Day 2015

My lonely Super9 surrounded by Kawasakis.

DualSport Tech Day 2015

Another KLR getting ready to do the doohickey mod. I can’t say I know exactly what it is, but it seems really popular in the KLR community.

DualSport Tech Day 2015

I had a nice time chatting with friends and meeting some new ones. One of these evenings I will get motivated and swap the tires on the WR.

 

Related Posts:

Friday, May 1, 2015

Evening Ride with a Friend

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Wednesday night, I had my first ride of the year with a friend. We met in the NE suburbs and then headed NE towards the St. Croix River. Her on her Ducati and me on my SV650 our v-twins taking turns growling as we went.

We headed east on 96 towards Stillwater, and then turned north on Jamaca. What a fun road! Lots of nice big sweepers and the road meandered around the different farm properties.

We spent some time on 95 running north from Stillwater along the St. Croix River. I’ve ridden this road many times; I love the views of the cliffs and the river riding north.

We ended up taking a left to head west onto what I think was cty 7. I had never been on this road, and really need to look at a map to figure out how to hook it up with Jamaca. It was fun and twisty with most of the corners marked at 25-45mph.

A short ride of less than 70 miles, but I appreciate being shown some fun new roads by a friend. We were too busy riding to stop for photos. I will have to go back and get a few later.

Have you found any new roads lately?