CSC Blog

A very good read, indeed…my buddy Marty loaned the latest Stephen Hunter novel, Sniper’s Honor, to me a few days ago, and I couldn’t put it down.   Read the entire thing in about a day and a half.  It was that good.

You’ve seen the posts on Mosin-Nagant rifles I’ve written here on the blog, and this novel is square in the middle of that.  The Russian snipers used Mosin-Nagants to great effect during the Siege of Stalingrad and elsewhere.   Sniper’s Honor is the fictionalized account of a female sniper during World War II.  It’s a novel, but the premise is not…Russia relied heavily on snipers (including female snipers) to help defeat the Nazis during World War II, and they used the 91/30 Mosin-Nagant rifle.

The significance of that 91/30 nomenclature is that these rifles were originally adopted by the Imperial Russian Army in 1891, updated slightly in 1930, and then used continuously thereafter.   They are inexpensive, they are accurate, and they are an affordable bit of shootable history.

Knowing a bit about the Mosin-Nagant rifle made Sniper’s Honor even more interesting.   Hunter did his homework…the descriptions were technically accurate and the idea of a knockout, drop-dead gorgeous Russian female sniper is not far from the truth.   If you think I’m making this up, I’m not…take a look at this beauty, Roza Shanina, who actually was a Soviet sniper back in the day…

As I read Sniper’s Honor, ol’ Roza was the woman I visualized as the female sniper.   I had to wonder if Hunter somehow saw that photo above and it planted the seed in his mind for this great read.   I’m sure he did…the female protagonist in the Hunter novel had 59 confirmed kills, the same as the real world Roza Shanina!

So, if you want a good read, a real cliff-hanging thriller that is technically accurate, Sniper’s Honor is one you might want to pick up.   The novel switches back and forth from 1944 to the present, and the real hero is a guy named Bob Lee Swagger (located in the present) who is 68 years old.   Great story, great rifles, a beautiful woman, and the protagonist is a fellow geezer.   It just doesn’t get much better than that!

Wow, another beauty!

Check this out, folks…one of our latest CSC motorcycles…

That beauty above is going to Clovis Lance, right here in the Golden State!  It’s a real beauty, and folks, if you want one, you might want to get your oar in the water now.    Our next production batch is a ways out, and there’s only a few more coming off the line now.

While I was at the plant last week, this very cool antique fire truck from the City of Arcadia rolled by right when I had my Nikon with me.   Take a peek…

Definitely cool stuff.   You just never know what’s going to pop up, and that’s one of the reasons I usually have that old D-200 Nikon with me.

That’s it for now, folks, except to mention that I just finished reading a novel my buddy Marty lent to me, and it was a real page turner.   I’ll tell you more about it later.   Gotta run for now!

Our good buddy and trusted advisor Jimbo copied me on an email exchange that included a YouTube showing the Russian Taurus 2×2 bike along with a photo of a US Army Rokon in development testing from way back.

First, the testing that Jimbo was involved with at Fort Eustis (the US Army’s Transportation Center)…

And here’s the YouTube video showing the Russian bike…

Cool stuff, folks.

After 26 hours of traveling yesterday, I finally walked in the front door of my home last night at midnight.  I love travel, adventure, and meeting new people (and this secret mission was exceptional in all three areas), and I always love coming home.    Last night was no exception.

International travel and big time changes can be challenging, and it’s always more of a challenge traveling east.   When I’m off to China or Thailand, I travel west and I’m fine with the time change the next day.   The same thing is true returning home from the UK; that’s westward travel and after catching 7 hours of sleep last night, I’m back on California time.

Going the opposite direction is tough, though.   Eastward travel just takes forever when big time changes are part of the adventure.   When I come home from Asia, it takes a good week for me to get on California time.   Going to Europe is the same…it’s eastward travel.   When I went to Scotland two weeks ago, it was a solid week before my internal clocks adjusted.   I think the next time I have to travel overseas, I’ll travel three-quarters of the way around the world if I have to on both the inbound and outbound portions so I will always travel in a westward direction.

When I travel internationally, I’ll always wear my Citizen Blue Angels watch.  I’ve showed it to you before…

What’s great about that watch is it shows two time zones simultaneously….the big white hands show the time where you are, and the digital display shows the time in any other part of the world you want.   If you press a button, the two times switch (what was on the digital display is displayed on the hands, and vice versa).   It makes it real easy to prevent calling someone at the wrong time.   I’ve owned that watch for 20 years and it’s still a favorite.

Okay, enough time travel stuff.   As you know from last two or three blogs, the destination this time was Scotland.   Folks, it was awesome.   I felt like I was in a movie the entire time I was over there.   The scenery, the culture, and the people were most impressive.   I made many new friends and I had a tonne of fun (that’s the UK spelling, actually).

We had great weather, and my Scottish hosts thought I brought it with me from California.  It rained a lot (compared to what we see here in our irrigated So Cal desert), but my friends over there told me it was very little rainfall compared to what they normally experience.   They thought it was due to me…and hey, I’ll take the credit for it.

One of the things that surprised me was how very few motorcycles and scooters I saw.   The bikes tended to be big street bikes (including a Pro-One V-twin, which really surprised me).  I only saw two step-through scooters the entire time I was there.   I grabbed a couple of moto photos…including a cool shot of a modern Triumph Bonneville in Edinburgh…

That first shot is not as crisp as I would like (I grabbed it on the fly in low light level conditions), but hey…what could be cooler than riding a Triumph Bonneville in Edinburgh?   Wait…I know the answer to that…and it’s spelled CSC!

The reason for the low bike concentration, I think, is the weather.   From what my Scottish friends tell me, the winters are brutal, and in the summer, it rains essentially every day.  Still, the Scottish countryside is amazing…narrow, twisty roads, incredible scenery…you get the picture.   Perfect CSC country, in my opinion.

The guys over there were keenly interested in our CSC adventures, especially the Baja ride.   And when I showed them this photo of my CSC motorcycle, well, trust me on this folks, they loved it.   Try to imagine lots of “oohs” and “ahs” with a Scottish accent….

Something else that was interesting…I saw lots of cool cars in Scotland, many of which are not available in the US.   I’d spot the odd Bentley, Rolls, and Aston Martin, but the ones that stood out were the Alfas and the A-class Mercedes…

There was something about seeing a small Mercedes sports sedan in Subaru rally blue that just seemed to work, and the front end on those Alfas was mesmerizing….

They say the Alfas will be in the US in another year or two.  Maybe Mercedes will bring that little blue sports sedan over, too.   I hope they both make it to the US.

While I was in Scotland, I stayed in an old hotel in Bothwell.  Bothwell is a famous town.   There was a battle of Bothwell Bridge when England and Scotland were at war in the 1600s.   Bothwell Bridge spans the River Clyde…it’s been rebuilt, and here’s the bridge that stands there now…

The Scots erected a monument to the Battle of Bothwell Bridge, and that was most interesting, too…

The town of Bothwell was something right out of a Harry Potter novel.   A beautiful Church of Scotland structure dominates the town, and I took several photos of it and the adjacent cemetery.   Here are a just a few…

You might remember from my blog a few days ago that I learned about Scotch (the whisky), and I mentioned that I wanted to learn about Scottish beer, too.   The Douglas Arms is a pub across the street from the hotel (it’s right next to the church), so I stopped in one evening.

Folks, here’s the secret password:  John Smith beer.   It’s awesome.   If you ever have an opportunity to try John Smith, don’t let it get away from you.  Trust me on this…

On Friday night my Scottish friend Gary took me into Edinburgh for dinner and sightseeing.

Folks, Edinburgh is amazing, including the ride over the Forth bridge to get there.   It’s not the fourth bridge; it’s the Forth bridge.

Ever hear of the Firth of Forth?   Well, that’s what the Forth bridge spans…

You can get an idea of the weather from the cloud cover you see in the photo above.  Even when it was not raining, the sky looked like that much of the time.   I liked it.

Edinburgh (they pronounce it “Edinburra”) was a high point for me.   So was making new friends in Scotland.   And, of course, I enjoyed grabbing lots of cool photos everywhere I went.

So, regarding Edinburgh…here we go…

Scotland was grand fun, and as secret missions go, it just doesn’t get much better than this.  But now I’m back in the US, and you can probably guess what’s coming next.

Yep, you got it…time to fire up the Baja Blaster and get out for a ride!

Later, my friends.

That’s how quick this new ruby red P-51 will turn heads, folks…it’s stunning!

The ruby red beauty you see above is headed to our good buddy Syracuse Lance in the Empire State, and this bike sure has a sweet accessories selection…spot lights, a windshield, our heel-and-toe shifter, chrome foot controls, LED billet turn signals, a custom fuel tank logo, gangster whitewall tires, wire wheels, and more.

Take a look at Lance’s new ride…

This is an awesome bike!    Lance, you probably know this already….when your new motorcycle arrives, Syracuse will never be the same.

And speaking of places starting with an S, I’m having a blast in Scotland.   These folks speak English, but it’s not the English you and I know.   I have to really concentrate to understand things…so much so that I asked my new Scottish friends if they had the same difficulty understanding me as I did understanding them.  The answer is no, but I’ll bet you’ll never guess why.   They tell me it’s because they get our US television shows and they all grew up watching American movies.   That’s pretty interesting.

The emails I’ve been getting from you are asking for more photos of Scotland, so here we go…

Yesterday was the first day I wasn’t doing secret mission stuff, so I had a chance to get out and about.   The first thing I guess I should mention is that everybody is friendly over here.   My new good buddy John (and I’ve got lots of Scottish new buddies) offered to drive me around for a bit, and the first place we hit was the village of Stirling and its castle…

The castle and surrounding areas were pretty cool, as were the people, including these two military guards.  I asked if I could photograph them, and they sure didn’t mind posing (especially when I told them they might make the CSC blog)…

Our next stop was the Wallace National Monument.   You may think you’ve never heard of William Wallace, but I’ll bet you have.   William Wallace is what the Mel Gibson movie Braveheart was all about.   That was an awesome movie about a real hero, and here’s the monument to him high up on a Scottish hill…

We had to walk up a steep hill to get to it, but the trek was worth it.   Very cool stuff, indeed.

After huffing and puffing all the way up that hill, it was a quick run in John’s Audi to downtown Glasgow, and that was great fun, too, but getting there was a little scary.   It’s unnerving for me being around folks who drive on the left…I’m in the passenger seat, which would be the driver’s seat in our part of the world, and every time we enter an intersection I’m reaching for the wheel (that isn’t there) or the brake pedal (which also isn’t there).   John told me that when he goes someplace like the US he has no problem switching over to our system of driving on the right.  I don’t know if I could do that trying to drive over here.

More photos, folks, this time of downtown Glasgow…

I had a great lunch at a Spanish restaurant just off of George Square, and then I was just kind of hanging out watching Glasgow go by.   I found a comfortable park bench and was taking it all in when I noticed this young Asian woman on the next bench.   She was trying to prop up her point-and-shoot camera with the lens cap.   I’ve done that same thing.    When I saw her fiddling around trying to position the camera, I knew she wanted a selfie with Glasgow in the background.   She looked like a Chinese tourist, I thought, having spent a lot of time in China.   Ah, an opportunity for SuperPhotoMan (that would be me) to aid a damsel in distress.   In Scotland.   The stuff of legends…

“You…want…me…take…picture?” I said, speaking slowly and pointing to her camera so she would understand me.

“Why, yes,” she answered perfectly, with no accent whatsoever…followed by “Do you speak English?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess I do,” I answered, feeling pretty stupid.

I took a picture of my new friend Susie (not my Susie, but this nice young woman also named Susie) with her camera, and then I asked her if I could take one with my camera…

So that was about it yesterday, except for a nice Skype conversation with my Susie and my daughter Erica later in the day when I returned to the hotel…

After talking to my girls back in California, I thought about everything I had done in just one day and how much fun I had.   Then I realized I hadn’t accomplished one of my secret mission objectives.   And that objective, my friends, was to enjoy a fine Scotch in Scotland.

So….I drifted downstairs to the hotel bar, and I was beyond dazzled by the selection of Scotch whisky I saw in front of me.   I asked Darren (my new bartending buddy) to teach me about Scotch.   I sort of vaguely remember him telling me that not all Scotch is made in Scotland, but if it is made in Scotland, it will say “Whisky” rather than “Whiskey” on the bottle (there’s no “e” on the real deal).   Hmmm, whaddaya know.   Darren was most impressive…he was a walking, talking, Scotch-serving encyclopedia.  To tell you the truth, though, after a couple of genuine Balvenie Scotch double malt drinks last night (spelled with no “e”), I really don’t remember too much.

It’s Sunday afternoon over here, folks, there’s a pub right across the street, and I think I need to continue my education.  Today’s lesson will be on Scottish beer, methinks…

Later, boys and girls…

Remember that yellow P-51 I showed you guys a little while ago?   Well, she’s complete now, and wowee!

That is one beautiful bike, and if you guessed it was heading to Texas, you’d be right! Odessa, actually, and that gorgeous motorcycle is going to our good buddy Don (hence the name: Odessa Don).

Odessa Don.   I like it.   And if you like cool names, check this out, boys and girls…

Built in the 1200s (yep, 800 years ago) what you’re looking at is Bothwell Castle, right in the town where I’m staying this week.  And the owner of this old castle back then?   Well, he sounds like he was an interesting character.  I guess all those old Scots had cool names…the owner of this fixer-upper carried the moniker of Archibald the Grim.   Now that, my friends, is quite a name…and we can only guess at the circumstances leading to its creation.  It makes me wonder what names we would stick on ourselves if we used the ancient Scottish naming practices….Joe the Joker?   Steve the Steadfast?  Lupe the Lovely?   TK the Terrible?   Aye, we could have a lot of fun with this…

Later, me friends!

Aye!   What a place!   The sun is out and shining brightly at 4:00 a.m., and it doesn’t set until well after 10:00 p.m.   None of which is helping me get adjusted to the time difference…I was up at 3:00 a.m. today and I started playing on the computer because I was wide awake.  My guess is I’ll sleep pretty well tonight!

The trip over here was long…a 3-hour plane trip to Seattle, a 6-hour layover there, a 9 1/2-hour flight to London, a 1-hour flight to Edinburgh, and then a 1-hour car trip to Glasgow.  I’m staying in a wonderful old hotel with actual keys for the doors (I sure haven’t seen that in a long time), no elevator, and floors that creak when you walk around.  That photo above is the view from my hotel window.  Cool stuff.

Lots of rain here, folks, and I guess we’re pretty far north.   It’s cool out here even in June, and these long days are interesting.   With all that driving, I’ve seen only one motorcycle so far, so I would have to say these folks don’t know what they’re missing.   The roads are awesome and the scenery and greenery are stunning…just the kind of place for a putt on a CSC motorcycle.

Of course, this business of driving on the wrong side of the road is a bit scary for an Americano like me.   I’ve sat up front on the passenger side in what would be the driver’s seat in my car, and every time we go into an intersection I’m moving my right foot to a brake pedal that doesn’t exist.

Fun times, friends.   I may just try to rent a motorbike while I am over here.  Or not.   I’ve got to think a bit more about this driving on the left business…

That’s it for now…ride safe and we’ll be back with more for you later!

Sorry, folks. It was too good; had to share it!

Folks, sometimes I just can’t find the right words…

Oh, the captions that could go with that video…

You guys remember J…he’s my northern Nevada buddy who drove the chase wagon (aka the Power Wagon) on our trip through Baja a while back…

J is writing the blog for Freedom Cycles in Reno, and he just posted an awesome description of the riding along 395. I’d invite you to take a read, and you can do so here.

J’s become what I would describe as a very serious rider…and if you follow his posts on Facebook and now the Freedom Cycle blog, you’ll see a lot of good stuff.   A good man, my buddy J is.

That’s it for now, guys.   Lots of good stuff happening in the next couple of days, so stay tuned and keep an eye on the blog!