Monday, December 26, 2011

Oakville Muffling Motorcycles

"Oakville Muffling Motorcycles"
I believe, Belfountain was first in Ontario to introduce noise restrictions on motorcycles.

So, who's next?

Would you believe it's the Town of Oakville?


Sunday, November 13, 2011

Forks of the Credit

Despite overcast skies, the forecast this Sunday was for a comfy high of 14 degrees with no rain till the evening.

Like a crack addict getting his last fix before an intervention, I managed to convince my lovely wife to partake on what might be our last ride of the season.


Here's a brief pictorial of  our ride through the lovely Caledon Hills which includes a stop at the Sprit Tree Estate Cidery 

Fred
  
Photo's by Kim

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

November 8, 2011 Ride


Lynn and Darek

Morning was rainy, around noon in Waterdown (top of Niagara Escarpment)  was fog but decided to get some short ride in. Destination?Nowhere!
I take Snake Rd then ride through Crooks Hollow Conservation Area then take Weirs Ln to Dundas Valley Conser.Area, (lots of curves), Ancaster  traffic was not 2 bad. Beautiful and sunny weather, so I go to through Six Nation Indian Reserve and finally arrive at Wind Mill Restaurant in Mt Pleasant. Take a quick stop to relax my butt :).

Monday, November 7, 2011

November Ride


Monday November 7th.

Nice enough for another quick ride today.

Headed out at 10:30 going west.  Rode Snake road, and towards Sydenham Road into Dundas.  A quick stop at the overlook on Sydenham and there were two long skate boarders getting ready to go down the hill into Dundas....

Breakfast at Zet's

When Lynn and I arrived at Zet's, Dan and Dave Hes had already sequestered a sitting area.
  • Darek and Edyta showed up from Waterdown and were looking for 2 wheel Fred.


Sunday, October 23, 2011

Last Kick at the Can

Woke up early this morning to a temp of 2*C...Yikes!
After a brief livery, at Barney Danson's  funeral, the temps rose dramatically
By the time I got home, around noon, it was 14*C and Lynn was out taking a walk. As I was changing my clothes she returned with an exclamation, "Boy is it warm out there, let's ride!"

Fall Ride

We too decided today to fire up the engines and take advantage of this incredibe fall weather.

Saddled up sometime after noon-ish to take in some of the north of the GTA scenery via the backroads between the sprawling metropolitan Mississauga and the more subdued streets of Alliston...

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Let's Ride - Mystery Ride



Woke up this morning to a temp of 8*C....brrrrrrrrrr!
By the time I got dressed, putting on my flannel jean pants and an extra T-shirt, the temps rose to 14*C....alright!  Lynn and I got  to Timmy's but Darek and his SO (significant other-Edita) already had a coffee in hand

Adrian bundled up  for the chilly ride, he also was surprised of how quickly the temps warmed up
Lucky I had my sunglasses on, Mort rode in with an Olympia High Viz jacket...you couldn't miss him!

Angelo came for a short ride...he had commitments at Casino Rama later in the afternoon. Dan Hill appeared from Newmarket and Steve Morris...what a surprise!


Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Pennsylvania Labour Day Long Weekend - 2011 - Video

Despite the fact we have encountered rain free, sun filled weekend jaunts to scenic Pennsylvania, this past trip, for some reason, will be the most memorable.




The Weekend highlights were:

Rest Stop - Clarion River
 At our staging area Saturday morning, a Timmy's in NOTL, Darek rode in from Waterdown to bid us a warm Bon Voyage...what a delightful surprise!
- in the past Mark Taylor has joined us for the mind numbing QEW ride to NOTL
- at each stop Donna constantly adjusted her luggage straps and Kim affectionately referred it to her "strap-on" throughout the weekend
-  our crossing at Peace Bridge Fort Erie, Saturday morning, was a piece of cake...only 3 cars in line...WOW!...we were expecting a huge delay
- the weekend temps were unseasonably hot/warm & extremely humid with the temps hovering 29c Sat 28c Sun and 19c Mon...awesome!
- I remember in the past having to endure an early Mon morning start ride of a chilly 10c...teeth chattering riders couldn't wait to warm up their core body temperature at the first breakfast pit stop - Burger King

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Civic Long Weekend

Hey all,
For those of you who couldn't attend the Civic long weekend, we missed you. Unfortunately you missed an amazing ride. It was chocked full of everything the bike gods could throw at us.
We had the rain god start our trip out with a torrential down pour.
We had the border guard god take Hercey in for what we can only assume was the rubber glove treatment
While we waiting for Hercey and Peter, where we were told to wait, we had another border guard who thought he was god tell us to move on. This split up the group for the first day.
We had the bike god strike at Freds bike for the first time while we stopped for gas and a cold drink. No power to the ignition.
At the same place, we had the drink god smile on us when Heather and Kim saw a person leaving the store, put a container of chocolate milk and a bottle of ice tea on the back of their truck than drive off with the obvious results occurring. In the time it would take a beam of light to travel across the parking lot, Kim had come up with a purpose for the ice tea. It happened so fast I didn't quite catch it, something about mix and vodka. We couldn't really use the chocolate milk, so I was volunteered to give it to some kids. Not wanting to be labeled a pedophile, I declined and suggested that one of the women undertake that task. It soon became apparent that giving away an unopened completely sealed container of chocolate milk was going to be more difficult than expected. Ah but when all seems lost, the typical small town back woods inbreeder came along and problem solved.
It would appear I could write a book about this ride, so I'm going to have to cut it short and to say that the ride was excellent! We had such a great time. From eating at the Country Farm House to playing with our alarm systems, it was a fabulous weekend. We really didn't have much luck when it came to finding places to eat. I'm sure that wouldn't have been a problem had Al and Lynn attended.  
My hats off to Fred. His research really paid off especially on 125. That was an unbelievable road. There weren't many straights on that road. Fred said, and I agree, "you don't get much better than that".
Heather and I almost collided with a vehicle while negotiating a left bend on 125. I was close to the center line when coming the other way a car approached and he was over the center line. Fortunately I saw him on time and made an evasive maneuver to the right, then had to swerve to the back to the left to avoid hitting the guard rail. I leaned so far to the left, it caused my foot boards to drag on the ground giving off a light show that  Hercey enjoyed. That gave us both a fright, but we are ok. I told Heather we have to just put it behind us and keep going. It's the very first time we had even come close to having an accident.
We had an excellent weekend. Thanks to Fred for all of his hard work. Thanks to Lynn who booked the rooms for us. It was really great to meet Dan and Loretta, great to see Peter and Hercey again. Hercey, I'm looking forward to your next bottoms up challenge.
I am so happy I'm back on the road again and I'm looking forward to the next ride. Labour Day weekend perhaps?

Don Stoodley

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Americade 2011

 Americade 2011 was once again a fun event to attend.
Temps cruised into the high eighties and nineties.

Despite the great weather there seemed to be fewer numbers as demonstrated by the absence of long wait times at the Sierra electronics booth at Tour Expo.

Later, speaking to one of the Americade administrators, he told us the numbers were down by single digits for a second year in a row..
I'm of the opinion, the thinner crowds were a reflection of the continuing sagging American economy...
Strangely enough Warrensburg, a town six miles away, seemed busier than ever with even more vendors ("cling-on's").

The move from Roaring Brook Ranch to Fort William Henry downtown Lake George was generally accepted as a good move. The hotel was a classy setting with fantastic vistas of Lake George.

Our group was lucky this year winning several prizes...
Kim won a Tourmaster jacket at the Thurs night Tourmaster dinner, this after having bought two Olympia jackets earlier in the week. Don Stoodley won a riding jacket which Heather quickly redeemed at TourExpo. One member of our group, Dave Holden, actually won one of the grand prizes, a Bushtec motorcycle trailer of his choice!!!

He left Sat without knowing so I called him on the phone while enroute home but he refused to believe me, "You're shitting me!" were his exact words, until he got home and retrieved the winning
notification message on his phone!!

Early Fri morning - 7am to be exact -  met up with Andy Delivron, an Americade photographer who frequents the Americade message boards. Believe it or not this was arranged by Bill Dutcher - the head honcho of Americade - the night before. We had introduced ourselves at the Tourmaster presentation and Bill said it was long overdue to have pictures of campers at Americade and promptly arranged to have a photographer take pictures of our group at Battleground State Park.

Pick a puppy
Got to speaking with an affable Andy and before I knew it he offered to escort us to Crown Pt crossing on our way to Vermont. The ride was great and I made sure to log the route to secure several great roads incl a breathtaking overlook.


Never had any intention of buying much stuff this year but did purchase his and hers Olympia Air Glide 3 jackets (love em), EC ground block, Canadian flag, 2 new JM headsets, gloves and Signal Dynamics
Wig Wag brake modulator for the Wing


Can't wait to give my new purchases a thorough workout for the 2011 riding season

Fred (aka Derf)



Sunday, May 29, 2011

Battery Gauge

Earlier this month, Frankie demonstrated to me his new toy on his HD...a digital battery gauge
He ordered it on line and was delivered a few days later...and he installed it immediately
Cost with shipping...was around $50
WOW! I thought for that price it was a pretty COOL gizmo