Monday, November 24, 2014

On the Road Again!

I finally had a minute to think about getting Rocket repaired.  There was an exhaust leak coming from around the header pipe.  I checked the gasket and it was in place and the head bolts felt tight.  So I surmised that it must be a cracked header pipe.  I was concerned about removing the head nuts myself as I have heard that it was easy to break the studs, so I decided to have Boris do it.  It was Saturday morning and Sarah and I were going to Gainesville for the football game and to see Kylie.  I ran out of time so I called Boris and asked him to come by the house and pick up Rocket.  He agreed so I left it in the driveway with the key in the glove box.  Luckily, I live in a very nice neighborhood where thievery is minimal.

Upon returning from the game, I called Boris and he said he was just starting to look at it.  Then he took it apart and let me know that the pipe wasn't cracked but the end at the gasket and connection to the large exhaust was out of round.  Certainly, this is because the gasket has been changed at least 15 times with the clamp loosened and tightened more than that.  I am certain the uneven pressure caused it to go out of round.  He did his best to get it round and I went to pick it up.I rode it home and all was good.

We had a ride planned to High Springs on Sunday morning.  Rocket and I were both ready for that trip.  When I cranked it up, the leak had returned.  But, what the hell, we went anyway.

Rocket ran great the entire ride.  The only issue we had this time was the red lens of the new tail light popped off while crossing railroad tracks near Lake City.  Luckily, Shane, riding two riders behind me saw it, stopped and picked it up.  It was fine and we will glue it back on soon.

Also on the ride, Charlie's new-to-him BV 250 kept cutting out on the ride home.  He had forgotten his phone so I rode home with him, speeding along with intermittent slow downs as it was losing power.  Actually, Rocket stumbled a few times too so I am not sure that the gas we bought in High Springs wasn't tainted.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun to get back on the old scooter.


The Great Outdoors in High Springs

Tanya

Charlie

Shane

Rocket with Tanya's Burgman.  Rocket missing the red tail light lens.

There it is, safe and sound.

Shane and Charlie with their bikes.

Monday, November 17, 2014

Nice Weekend in Gainesville

It has been a while since posting.  For the few of you out there, sorry about that.  I have been suffering with a cold/flu/bronchitis for the past month and Rocket has a cracked header pipe so I have not been riding much.

But this past weekend was quite busy and fun.

It started with Sarah and I going to Gainesville Friday afternoon to see Kylie and attend a Gator Basketball game against William and Mary.  We arrived at her apartment complex, parked and went up to her apartment.  Within five minutes we heard a horn sounding, like an alarm was going off.  I paid no attention to it until Kylie said that it sounded like a car being towed.  She ran to her window to see our car being towed away.  We went down, found the phone number of the towing company, drove there, paid $100. ransom and were back at the apartment after being in Gainesville for a total of 20 minutes.  What a total rip-off.  

We then headed to get something to eat, then to the game where the Gator basketball team looked good in their first game of the season.

Kylie, a graphic design student, has been working as a consultant with Swamp Records to do design work for a new band, the Savants of Soul.  They just released their first album, available on iTunes, and Kylie designed the cover and the graphics for the band. They had an album release party downtown so we went there to see them perform.  They were quite good and put on a great show. 

We spent the night at her place, got up and had breakfast downtown. Then Sarah and I went to the football game, sitting in a skybox with Sarah's good friend Candi.  The game was going well until the end when the Gators had two kicks blocked and ended up losing to South Carolina in overtime.  The coach was fired the next day.

We drove home after the game.

I got up and headed back to Gainesville on Sunday morning to go racing in my Miata.  We reserved the road course at Gainesville Raceway, better known for the Gator Nationals, a drag racing event that has been coming to town for probably 50 years now.  They have a small road course out back that we use occasionally.  It is a favorite of mine as the road course feels more like racing than the runways we usually use.  It is quite fast too, especially as set up this time.

I finished 7th out of 90 in the PAX (handicapped system) and was very pleased with two of my five runs that felt perfect.   The day ended with me calling Kylie and having an early dinner with her before driving home.  

What a fun weekend.

Gator Basketball in the friendly confines of the O'Connell Center

Kylie designed the logo.

The Savants of Soul in action

At the beginning of the game.  Skybox view.

Miata getting ready to run

And in action, leading to a nice finishing position.