Keep Walking

Quick Trip

Fate and a sick child overtook my plans for the Swap and Drag this past weekend. My mother in law was kind enough to watch the girls Friday so I could get a little seat time in before the cabin fever inspiring weekend. BamaRides has a pretty great photo-tag game going on and since I had the time and the location, I went for the tag. It was placed on an awesome stretch of county road just outside of town.

It was chilly and the rain chances ended up being more than just empty threats. That said, 60 miles are better than none. I met a friend close by for Mexican food and stuffed myself with skirt steak before heading back out into the downpour. Much to my chagrin, the precipitation situation had gotten worse.

I stopped for a photo to move the tag. 10 miles away from the house the three layers of cotton up top were soaked through insulating my torso with water. The wind cooled it further and I reached the point of abject misery. At times like this, a handful of miles might as well be a million and you feel like you'll never get home. Eventually through the droplets and fog on my glasses I could see the end and pulled the bike into the garage. The sizzle of cool rain on hot exhaust rang in my ears as I dashed inside, stripping off the layers and rushing to start the hot water in the shower stall. If a day is good enough, not even cold and rain can ruin it. I put this one in the "W" column.

Barber's Vintage Festival 2013

Once again it was an excellent year. I spent so much time hanging out with folks I don't get to see ofter enough and meeting new people that I didn't see any of the races, any of the special events or anything but the swap meet area really. Thanks to the shine, rum and cold beers a lot of it was a blur. It was great and I even bought a little over an 8th of a minibike. After a couple weeks it ended up in the garage and I've been riding...a lot.

Special thanks to the Inbreds RC for making me feel at home and giving me a place to crash. Also to the Haints for a great party and Lowbrow for the Coctagon. It was great meeting the men of MHT and kicking it with the BamaRides crew. Seriously, if you don't go to this event you are completly missing out.

 

The Wonder Shovel

Nick came by last week for lunch and to drop off some parts. Something about us getting together that always leads to the departure of sobriety...good seeing you buddy and thanks for the risers. Hope you enjoyed the returned parts...haha.

5 Step Program

 1. Buy motocross helmet on clearance online for $27.00.

 2. Apply masking tape...badly in this case. More on that later...

 3. Sand with whatever sandpaper you have on hand.

 4. Apply chalkboard paint.

5. Remove masking tape, apply touch-up paint, apply Fifty's Haze helmet sticker. Take bad photo. 

Comic Style

from MSF's "You and Your Motorcycle: Riding Tips"

Helmet Progress/Experiment

So my buddy Nick posted some time ago about rattle-can glitter paint and I got curious. Picked up a can last week to try it out on what is more or less a throw-away piece: my shitty German novelty helmet. I had already repainted the base flat black and found the glitter paint so there went nothing... 

The paint, $8 at a local hobby shop. The first can was junk, 30 seconds of good use before the paint went away and nothing but propellant and adhesive came out. No questions asked exchange and #2 worked much better. 

The result so far, darker than I expected but I think the flat black base coat is to blame. If you bought yourself one of those red HD '72s that have been getting coverage all over the place, this would be the paint color for you! Needs one more spray in a couple spots and should be good to go.

  

Overspray is a huge issue with this paint. Even with the cardboard, it got all over everything. The patio table I put the cardboard on now looks like it spent a late night in a strip club. Thankfully I have enough of the flat black left to fix it... 

Once that coat is done, I am going to add a little more paint and try my hand at a reline. There are several tutorials out there, seems pretty easy (famous last words).