Trying it Again . . . . with a review

I have missed writing. (Although, with a year and 8 month absence, that is probably a little difficult to believe.) For what it's worth, I have written a very few entries on the Sky Island Riders site. As we all know, "life happens" and priorities change, as does the amount of time one has to write on a blog.

One thing I have had a bit of time to do is read. I was watching a bit of television (usually NetFlix) most nights before I went to sleep. I realized that I had several books about scooter and motorcycle riding, that my loving bride had bought for me, laying around and that watching the tube was a poor way to show my appreciation for those gifts. I started spending some time reading most evenings. I have read some really good books, some average and some below average books over the past few months.

I have been feeling bad about not posting here and was trying to think of a good way to break back into the habit. Something quick and relatively easy to write sounded good. Then it occurred to me that I could start writing reviews of the books I have been reading. Some of the people I know may discover a good book or two, after all, the books I have been reading are not "high profile" and while some are very good, i don't think any have made the Billboard charts (with one exception, although I haven't decided for sure if I am going to review that one.)

Let's get one with it, shall we?

Long Rider - A tale of just passin' through by Mark Tiger Edmonds

. From the back cover: "Take a BMW motorcycle, one million miles and Mark Edmonds. Distill for 35 years. Result?You get an insightful, compassionate (and passionate) view of America and what it means to all of us who, after all, are "just passin' through."...Mr Edmonds' assessment of this country and the changes it's undergone remains as unswerving as his assessment of himself as he rides his own pilgrimage, just passin' through."

Tiger Edmonds is a motorcycle riding, poetry writing professor at a college in Florida. He writes like he talks and he talks like a biker. If you are offended by profanity and use of the "f-word" books by Mr Edmonds are not for you. For those who can appreciate passion, even if you don't agree with its author, you may love reading Edmonds' work as much as I do.

Longrider is Edmonds' first book. It is not his best, in my opinion, but it is still very good. As mentioned above, mark has more than a million miles on motorcycles. He has a poet's heart and a painter's eye and he writes and passionately about what he sees and experiences on his rides. I will review some of his other books soon, I hope.

I think, no, I KNOW, that my favorite chapter of Longrider is called Roadsongs. In this chapter Edmonds explains that "different roads have different songs." He describes different roads he has been on and that many roads have "songs" that they sing to you as you ride. A road in West Virginia along the Tug Fork "sounds more like "Amazing Grace" than anything I ever heard." Another road between Austin and Abilene, he says, sings "a slow polka with a pretty heavy oompah beat to it." Personally, I had noticed that different roads have given me different feelings (other than the differences in pavement/asphalt) but when I read this chapter I had an "Ahah!" moment. Now I am more attuned to the songs that various roads sing to me.

This road has a different song to sing.....

than this one. Don't you think?

Chapter Eleven is another favorite. In addition to amusing roadside repairs, there is a section about signs. I have a tendency to notice and take photos of interesting and/or humorous signs I see. I was glad to see someone else who has similar observations about such signs as I do.

Sorry for the poor quality, but this was taken with my cell phone, through the drive thru window at a local burrito shop.

Other things he muses about in Longrider include Dead Animals, Savior Waitresses, Ex-Wives, Winnebagos (he hates them)Zen, Truckers and the Girl with the Paisley Paint Job and many others.

Savoring the Switchbacks

It took me a while, but I recently took a little vacation to Sedona with my wife. While there, I shot some video with my new Go-Pro camera. I learned a bit about shooting video and a bit more about editing it. Here is the first video I shot during the vacation:

I hope to be posting again soon. I also been posting recently at the Sky Island Riders site. I posted, already, about the trip from Tucson to Sedona.

Ride on,

Howard

I got a Go-Pro camera for my birthday this year and really hadn't used it yet. I do plan on using for some upcoming "You Are There" type videos on the Sky island Riders "Riding SoAZ" series.

I took it along with me on a one of the rides we did one the rally and included that footage in a rally montage I edited using the video and pics taken during our rally. The video has been posted on the various club sites, but I am posting here because some of the people who read this blog, do not read the others.

If you've seen it already, I apologize, if not, I hope you enjoy the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBjkN9ggmNE

Ride on,

Howard

Resolutions

Like most people, I'm sure, I make goals for myself, my family, my job, my hobbies etc, as I go along. Also, like most people, the beginning of a new year makes me reflect a little more than usual about goals (aka resolutions) that I'd like to make for this newly started year.

One goal I had for most of last year was to start a personal, scooter related blog. Check! It took til, uh, the 9th of November, but I got this thing going. I'm still not real happy with it, but my first resolution is not only to post regularly, but to improve quality.

So, now it's 2010 and I now have two blogs. One of the member of our scooter club, the Sky Island Riders (SIR's), gave me a new website with blog for Christmas. There is also a very nice bulletin board as well.

Goal #2 - To keep both blogs rolling. Specifically, I want the SIR's blog to be useful and to be a"force multiplier" for the overall website. You can check it out here:

http://skyislandriders.com/

Goal #3 - I want to make more off road rides through non-scooter terrain.

The picture above is taken on the fire road (4wd only) on the north side of Mt Lemmon. I did this ride in August of last year. I am hoping to ride through Reddington Pass and also I want to ride the Florence/Kelvin "Highway." Per haps ride out to another ghost town or two.

Goal #4 - I am hoping that our Mayday Rally will be successful, although I'm not sure how I want to define its "success" yet. Above is a photo taken at the Great Southwest Scooter Fiesta in Gilbert in October. This was the metro-Phoenix club's first attempt at a rally and it was very good. Look at that turnout!

Goal #5 - I am planning on riding an Iron Butt ride. Known as a "Butt Burner" one must ride 1000 miles in less than 24 hours. Iron Butt is an organization that promotes endurance riding. The Butt Burner is their shortest qualifying ride. a thousand miles is tiring, but simple on a motorcycle. After all, with a 75 mph speed limit, it would take less than 14 hours to ride a thousand miles. However, on a 150cc scooter, this a much more difficult. If I can average 50 mph, it will take 20 hours of continuous riding. I'm looking forward to it, but will have to wait til March or April so that weather condition will be friendlier. I'll keep you post.

Have a prosperous, healthy, happy, productive 2010.

Ride on,

Howard