Stone Mountain

I took my bike up to Stone Mountain this weekend, which is about 30 minutes east of downtown Atlanta. The total time of the trip was about 2.5-3 hours. There where some nice curvy roads that had a 35 mph speed limit on them, of which I broke the law the entire time. As we all know it almost harder to go around a curve at a slow speed. It messes up your timing and your lean. Hopefully, you'll notice that the bike is a little cleaner from the previous picture that was taken right after I got it, rust knocked off, chain adjuster replaced, and new back tire. It's actually not a bad looking bike now. It still needs a thorough cleaning which I plan to do this weekend.

It was a fun trip, the first thing I noticed was the smell of the trees as your driving through them. Robert mentioned this to me, and we've talked about our professor mentioning the same sense. You realize very quickly that riding a motorcycle is a full sense experience. With all these senses popping I find myself kind of letting go of everyday stress and life's annoyances. Almost like your brain doesn't want to think, it just wants to enjoy the experience. It's safe to say that I'm addicted to this drug.

Buell Blast

This is the bike that I took the course on. Single Cylinder, 4-Stroke, 492cc By no means would I ever buy this bike, it had lots of vibration and seemed a little cheaply made. BUT! I will say the bike was a blast to ride. It was actually very fun to do the courses on this bike, almost like it was made for it, maybe it was? Whatever bike you picked first was the bike that you kept throughout the entire course, so that each rider could get accustomed to their bike's little nuances e.g. clutch lever, throttle response. I think the Blast are known for very clunky transmissions because it seemed like all of them took time to fiddle with. I have to say by the last day I was very attached to my bike. The riding portion of the course was from 7:00am until 5:00pm for 2 days, when I woke up the last day I just couldn't wait to get on my bike. It's amazing how quickly you can get attached to a machine. A motorcycle seems to have a overwhelming feeling of connection. In just 2 days I felt very connected with this bike. I started to like the feel of the overly vibrating engine, I began to embrace it's flaws. This is partly why Harley's have such a huge following, and they have people that love there bike. I hate to compare this to a relationship but its very much like that. You have a connection with this bike and even though it breaks down and cost a ton of money, you deal with all the flaws because of the connection you share. In saying that, my Ninja 250 purrs like a kitten and has little to no vibration, yet also very reliable and cheap parts. It's a entry level sport bike, that's how it should be. I still share the same connection with it as every Harley guy shares with his Hog. MY relationship is just not as high maintenance as there's :).

Anyway, if Buell still made bikes, I would seriously consider buying one. Just not the Blast. But it was a great bike for the course.

Rider's Edge

I took the Rider's Edge Course a few weeks ago. I was one of three people in the class to get a 100% on the riding portion of the test. There were around 20 people in the class. I got a 98% on my written, missed two really easy questions that I second guessed myself on. Anyway it was actually a great experience, the first day I thought it would be tough and annoying, but everyone in the class was actually pretty cool. I didn't really talk that often, it was all business, hence why I got the award at the very top. Here are some pics of my stuff.