6.30.14

Last day of June and another beautiful night.  Amanda and I got some yard work done and as a reward to myself I had to take a cool down cruise.  I thought I was just going to take a quick spin but the F6B just eats up the miles with ease so I ended up going through Excelsior via Smithtown, south to Chaska, looped up through Chanhassen and then met up 101 at 5 and headed home.  I've been reading up on some of the suspension set ups and I think once I get some time later this week I'm going to try and dial that in.  Night started rolling in as I was heading home so I didn't stop and take any shots on the road but this is what the spaceship looks like lit up at night...

6.29.14

Back in the saddle again.  The weather has been uncooperative lately and that coupled with my work schedule and wedding yesterday has really been putting a damper on my motorbiking.  Fortunately the weather was absolutely perfect today so Amanda and I took our "usual" spin around the Lake Minnetonka area.  I started off on 5 heading west out towards Victoria and then headed north to St. Boni.  I backtracked through Minnetrista and then we spun around the lake.  I'm just about to clock 1k miles on the year so I'm a little behind where I thought I would be for this time of the year but that will change with our July 4th day trip and the other small trips we have planned.  

6.21.2014

Today I took the dirty bird to a few local shops.  I've been keeping my eyes peeled for a new set of mitts but I just haven't found a nice pair that suit my needs.  Unfortunately after bouncing from shop to shop this morning I came up empty handed...pun intended.  For lunch I stopped for a bite to eat at my favorite roast beef joint - Wally's.  Wally's is a local favorite located in my hometown of Bloomington.  While I was scootin' through town I noticed that there were still road closures because of the rain storms from two nights ago.  The picture below is of France Ave. between 98th and 90th.  I also grabbed some gas at Bobby and Steve's before I headed home [also pictured below].  I'm just under 1000 miles on the year and counting.

6.20.2014

I was going to ride in to work today but when I saw the roads were still wet from the monsoon we got yesterday and the sun still wasn't shining I didn't feel enthusiastic about the forecast.  Missed opportunity.  The sun came out mid morning and cleared everything up.  Lesson learned.  I made up for it by meeting my brother tonight at JC's in Maple Grove.  It is a little bar on the north side of the metro and is about halfway between me and him.  I left the house a little early to get more seat time and ended up at the Cabela's in Rogers [pictured below].  If you are an outdoor enthusiast this is a store that you need to see.  This was also my first legit night ride on the way home.  I was really impressed with the fog lights, they made plenty of extra light.  I am thinking about a few mods/updates to the bike and one would be an HID upgrade...but for now I'll stick with stock.

6.16.2014

I officially participated in the annual International Motorcycle & Scooter Ride to Work Day.  The weather was great this morning but things started looking ugly at about 2PM.  I hot tailed it out of there and was able to make it home before the downpour began.  Two bikes that I haven't ridden before that I'd like to just happened to be parked next to me.  A new BMW R1200R and a Ducati Diavel Carbon.  Both bikes looked great but the Diavel looked downright mean just parked there.  Hopefully there will be a demo event sometime, or, if someone wants to swap bikes for a day maybe I'll have a shot at one.  I'm still diggin' the F6B, it is definitely the ultimate bagger.  I'm somewhere around 750 miles and counting so far this year.

6.15.2014

Happy Father's Day.  The day started off wet and the weather wasn't looking good by mid morning.  Luckily by about noon that all changed so you better believe I got some time in on the two wheeler.  I just putted around some of the south metro suburbs.  I also jetted around some of the freeways and looped through downtown.  I took a quick pic of the bike outside of Target Field - home of the Minnesota Twins and host of the 2014 All Star game [pictured below].

6.13.2014

Happy Friday the 13th!.  The weather was beautiful and I was able to get out of work a little early so since I planned ahead and rode in [pictured below] I decided to take the long way home.  From downtown I took 394 west to 494 south, met highway 7 and headed west to 44 in Minnetrista.  I took 44 north to 110 then headed west on 110 to 92.  From there I headed north until that met up with 15 and headed east through Mound, Spring Park, and then eventually through Excelsior since I met up with 19 to 7.  There were some cool picture opportunities with some cows and some old buildings out west but I was moving along at a good clip so I didn't want break my momentum.  Wind noise was especially apparent on my ride today so at one point before I really got going I put some ear plugs in.  I use the disposable orange 3M plugs that expand once you've inserted them in your ear.  They are a great way to cut down on the wind noise but I wish that I didn't have to wear them.  I also scraped a peg for the first time today.  I was turning right off of a highway to the frontage road and it was a nice tight turn so I thought I'd test my lean angle and lets just say I found my "scraping point." =)  On the way home I noticed a very yellow C7 [sort of pictured below] by a service station parking lot so I decided to stop for a look.  Just as I was pulling up the guy walked out of the storefront, jumped in and before I could really say, "hey, I dig your car" he was out of there.  But I was able to snap a quick pic as he was backing out.  If there is one thing that I like almost as much as motorcycles its Corvettes.  I know that the newest generation has got some purists up in arms but it is hard to deny that they are really a stunning car.  I hope that someone I know ends up getting one and that I would be lucky enough to drive it.  So if anyone out there internetland can hook me up that would be great.  Weatherman is calling for scattered t-storms all weekend so this might be it for the next 2 days...until then, keep it between the ditches!

UPDATE:

When Amanda got home the we decided that it was too nice of a night not to take a cruise.  We headed out west and spun around Excelsior and made are way up the "normal" 'round the lake route.

6.10.2014

Back on the two wheeler after a short lived hiatus.  A combination of weather, bad timing, and a weekend in Baltimore for my friend Adam's wedding...let's just say tonight was long overdue!  I took the bike for a little spin after mowing the lawn, a "cool" down cruise if you will.  I headed out east on 7 and looped around the south side of Lake Calhoun.  I stopped off for a quick pic on the turnaround just down the road from Thomas Beach.  Afterwards I jetted due east to Lyndale Avenue and headed south to meet up with 62.  From there I set sail towards the homestead but made a quick stop at the gas station to fuel up and grab a lottery ticket.  I mean with the jackpot north of $250M its worth a shot!