circa1968

Oh, and its a bit north of 50, closer to Elko, but the Ruby Mountains and Lamoille Canyon are spectacular. My son & I stopped in there during the spring and were blown away. A real gem and well-kept secret.

Whichever direction your going, its ~110 miles between Austin & Fallon, with absolutely nothing in between them. Fill up your gas tank going through either town. That was the longest stretch I ever encountered without gas. I made the mistake of not stopping in Austin on my trip last fall. I was counting down the miles I was going to be walking as I rolled into Fallon on fumes.

Cutoff the heel shifter peg & replaced it with the woodcraft folding toe piece: https://woodcraft-cfm.com/products/08-7099-folding-toe-piece-black Its about 3/4" shorter & I installed it so it folds up. This allows me to move my foot backward on the floorboard and I can just push it up out of the way with my boot. I just finished the project as it was getting close to dinner and haven't had a chance to test it yet. Will do that tomorrow. Heading out for a 5k trip in August, so it will get a really good test then! On my previous long trips, I like moving my feet back from time to time to shift my body position and that darn heel peg is just in a bad spot, limiting left foot movement. Hopefully this is successful. If not, I'll be ordering another shifter on ebay & thinking of another solution.

Congrats! Don't call it retired, call it rewired!

Nice work! Please update once the final paint is on. I love doing woodworking, but it has also been many years. Took an evening "class" at a local high school wood shop many years ago, just to have access to more tools & space. Our instructor told us woodworking was nothing more than cutting up big pieces of wood into smaller pieces of wood and then putting them back together to make big pieces of wood again. LOL! Attached is the piece I started in that class, but didn't finish until a few years later. It was one my last and my best pieces, which I built for my Dad. My Dad was a barber back in the 50's/60's and when slow, he & the other barbers played checkers. He was a checkers master, no one could ever beat him! The base with two small drawers is made of cherry, the checkerboard is maple/walnut. Unfortunately, dementia & time robbed him of his checkers abilities by the time I finished it. One of my hard life lessons on procrastination. The photo is from Christmas 2004, when I gave it to him, my son was 2 then. He was already on the downhill slide then and we lost my Dad about two years after that photo was taken, will always be one of my favorite photos with him & my son. Enjoy what you do, do it with & for your family and make good memories today, tomorrow may never come!

fertilizer too. Water, food & sun are essential for most plants to grow. I have the goodluck with Scotts fertilizers, though they are not the cheapest. They have a mix for each season, spring, summer, fall, if I recall correctly. They also have weed & feed mixes, but if you want to avoid using herbicides on your lawn (probably a good idea), stay away from those.

Great! Glad to hear you figured it out. That may have been my solution too. I do recall that at some point they moved easily, so I probably went down that same path...sorry for having bad memory. Good luck with the fairing, just take your time with it. How far did you lower it? I did 1/2" and was surprised how noticeable the difference was in handling. I probably could have gone a little lower but with the Corbin seat and 1/2" front drop, I'm very close to flat-footed at a stop, maybe a slight heel raise but not much. Please report back on how you like the change, its good for future readers. I know reading back on others' posts is what convinced me to do it.

Its been a while since I did mine, but this sounds familiar....I had everything loose, but they would not move when it seemed like they should. I remember I was a couple hours in at that point and about to lose my mind. I eventually got them to move and once they did, they then moved easily. Now the frustrating part...I don't remember what I did between nearly losing my mind and success to get them to move. So, instead, I will suggest some penetrating oil and firm taps from a rubber mallet from the top/bottom to see if it will work loose.

On two cross-country trips last year, I averaged in the 30-32MPG range. That was with ~ 200lbs of rider/gear weight, standard height, but wide F4 windshield and going as fast as possible for given road, traffic, wind, location etc conditions. When I was on open highway with little to no other traffic, I regularly did 90+MPH (triple digits occasionally). I would say my average speed was likely 80-85 MPH. If you graphed your speed/MPG results and extrapolated out a little further, I think I was on the same plot line as you. Others with more knowledge can weigh in on the octane, but seems there is no benefit to 91oct. When over 5k feet in elevation, I run 85oct and it seems to run better(all subjective, of course), but normally run 87. On one trip to KC I saw ethanol free 91 at a Quicktrip and tried that, but can't say I noticed a difference. I was happy when I found some ethanol free 87 in rural Kansas and ran a couple tankfuls of that, it felt like I was buying my gal some top shelf tequila to drink. LOL.

Scary. I always assume the worst case scenario is awaiting me on the other side of hill or around a blind curve where I can't see. Drop a gear, slow down and put my fingers on the clutch/brake, just in case. Pays off a very small % of the time, but keeps me 100% alive.

I've got a few things brewing over the summer, so waiting to see how the summer schedule shakes out. In any case, how does late Sept/early October work for everyone interested? Would give us more runway for planning. Somewhere in the Lake Shasta, CA area (very northern CA)? Mount Lassen, Burney Falls and a few other great day rides can be done from that area.

Don't disagree with anyone's comments here. But I will say I believe the good/bad parenting, good/bad kids thing isn't entirely new. Yes there are newer factors (internet, cell phones, etc) involved, but growing up, I was probably on track to be a bad kid from good parenting. Actually, I think I WAS a bad kid. I pretty much hated school & was not a great student, started drinking with friends at a stupidly young age, but was fortunately given two gifts by God in life. One was he gave me math skills that were above average - even though I really didn't understand that at the time, math just came easy, so I was able to do the bare minimum to get by. So, unfortunately, I didn't really care to take advantage of that gift, until God's gift #2 came along when I was a freshman in high school. I typically slept through my 1st period algebra class but still got straight A's on tests/quizzes & was always first one done. My friends used to give me crap about it, so I started sandbagging a bit. Enter my 2nd gift: My Freshman Algebra teacher! He kept me after class one day and gave me a verbal slap in the face. He told me that I had a gift and if I didn't straighten up & get my act together, I was going to waste it and waste my life. I will never forget Mr. Pat Probst for caring enough to make a monumental difference in my life that day. That was 40 years ago & I still remember it vividly because that day literally changed the course of my life! Perhaps that's where the disconnect is in today's world, teachers who don't care, police who are too afraid and parents who are more into facebook than their kids lives. My parents were too busy raising 6 other kids & putting food on the table to be overtly involved in every aspect of my daily life but I had a ton of chores to keep me busy and teach me a work ethic. They also sacrificed to send each of us to catholic school. Can't say I was a fan of it then, but will now say; Thank God for Mr. Pat Probst at St. Vincent High School in 1982!!! Sometimes all it takes is one non-parent adult to care enough to make a difference in a kid's life. I also believe a lack of consequences and ability to do stupid stuff like this with impunity, by young, immature kids not only encourages more of the same, it emboldens them to always try to take it one step further. I found out the other day, they went to 6 other intersections on Easter Sunday & did this, just playing cat/mouse with the police. A handful did eventually get arrested/cited and their cars impounded for 30 days. One idiot hit a PO, a mistake he will not be making again any time soon. All that is going on in the country/world today can be shocking and depressing, but I think we go through cycles of new rebellious generations that always piss off the older generations. My great grandparents knew nothing but church, hard labor, eat/sleep and be dead by your 60's, Grandparents ushered in the electricity & radio generation, probably stayed up past dark listening to that heathen Howdy Doody! My parents generation found TV, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and fast cars. Our generation, well geez, what bad things didn't we get in to! Haha. Back to the sideshow issue I started all this with, I wish the City and Police would just hold a couple of sanctioned events a year for them to do this at an empty parking lot. Let them get it out of their system, keep everyone else safe and we don't tie up 40 police officers for an hour for nothing. Boys will be boys. Heck, NASCAR came about from a bunch of wild country boys running illegal moonshine.

At this point, I resemble that remark! Thank you for your service!!!!!!!

Thanks for that painful reminder. Is it a sin to wish the plague on just a single person? Well, maybe his aunt too. I'm probably going to the hot place...

Ride it like you stole it

I moved here (Northern Cali) in 1989, from the midwest and settled in San Jose in 1994, when I bought the house I still live in today. In the 80's/90's, California still had that magical place feeling to it where anything was possible and dreams came true. Even my family loved coming out to visit me and see all things CA. I worked in the Silicon Valley tech world for 20+ years and there was a sense of community and respect for others here, both in neighborhoods and in the work culture. Somewhere along the way since then, this dream has turned into a nightmare. There is not one single thing I could pinpoint that brought the change, but there are a handful of things I believe brought it on. Out of respect of forum rules, I won't go there though. San Jose used to be a nice place to live. Now it is filthy, trash & graffiti everywhere, homeless camps at every intersection and along our creeks, polluting them. Crime is rampant, cars are regularly broken into, etc. We pay the highest taxes in the country, but have the worst of everything. Sorry to unload all of that guys, Its become borderline depressing for me, so thanks for allowing me a small bit of therapy here. I've managed to spend more time out of state this last year, traveling & visiting family in the midwest. I think that's the only thing keeping me sane at this point. One thing that does give me a little hope is how many people from the neighborhood came out on Sunday and expressed their outrage. When enough of us get fed up, things will change, one way or another....history tells us so.

It's a "thing" here. But, I am not going to lie, I did a burnout or donut or two when I was a young lad, but this is a bit over the top. They blocked a major intersection for 20-30 minutes, with impunity.

Yes, I agree. Even if the cops succeeded in arresting any of them, the consequences would be minimal, if any at all. Without consequences, they have no reason to change their behavior.

That's the issue I have too. My wife is a CA girl. I grew up on a farm in the midwest...opposites attracting and all that crap.

Life in the big city in California. Such a nice Easter afternoon treat for our neighborhood. We actually had what appeared to be a well-coordinated response from the PD, they staged out of sight from all 4 directions, then with everyone in place proceeded to close in. Looked like they would box them in and then start cuffing/stuffing....but... they failed to account for one unusual side street or the fact that these idiots would drive over curbs & medians to escape. In the end, it looked like every last one of them got away. It was wild to watch in real time. The sideshow lasted a good 20-30 minutes, while the police staged, then the punks all scattered like cockroaches. IMG_2421.MOV IMG_2423.MOV

YES!!! WOW!! This will be my next bike, when that time comes. Sorry Yamaha https://www.indianmotorcycle.com/en-us/pursuit-limited/ Liquid cooled V-twin, 122HP, electronic preload adjustment, inverted forks, cast aluminum frame, Almost 100lbs lighter than star venture, 26.5" seat height, closed-loop fuel injection, removable trunk, 200W Stereo, Apple CarPlay & drop-dead gorgeous! Trying to find something not to like about this bike, but I might just find the Easter Bunny first! Ok, maybe the price, but $5+ gas has desensitized me to that....sadly

Thanks Ron! I've been traveling, visiting family, son in college, etc over the last month or so and just getting caught up.

wonder bread. Just kidding. microfiber cloth, I've done it before and it works - crazy as it sounds

Peanut butter and a toothbrush.

I love riding up in that area! Haven't been up there in years. But yeah, the fires/smoke and the tragedies that come with them. Maybe will be better this year, let's keep our fingers crossed. I think we're up to 4 of us westerners now!