CSC Blog

A 007 Secret Mission…and a chilly one at that!

A very cold Rhode Island morning...

Man, it’s cold!  I’m in Rhode Island right now, a week after Hurricane Sandy hit and with an arrival inadvertently timed to coincide with the latest nor ‘easter these poor folks are struggling through.  The above photo was a quick iPhone glance outside my hotel window this morning…just looking at that photo makes me feel cold!

I just got back in from a great dinner at a local Portuguese restaurant here in the littlest state, where I had what is probably one of the best dinners of my life.  It was a chicken parmesan sort of thing with toasted cheese, mushrooms, and grilled onions on top of a very, very tender breaded chicken breast.  Just awesome.  I asked the guy who was tending bar (which is where I always sit for dinner when I’m traveling solo) if it was a Portuguese specialty. He laughed, and told me that it wasn’t Portuguese at all…it was something a customer asked for one night and they just kept it on the menu.  Thank you, Anonymous Customer, whoever you were.  It sure was good.

Anyway, this ultra-cold weather makes me think about the times I’ve been caught out in the cold, especially on my moto adventures.  There’s something about really cold conditions that intensifies the memories, and I’ve got more than a few of them.

One time my good buddy Welker and I were riding into the aftermath of another hurricane…this one was in, as you might guess, my favorite adventure riding place on the planet: Baja.  Old Welker and I had left at 0:Dark:30 that morning and we spent the day riding in the rain.  It was way before I got smart and discovered the joys (and comfort) of real moto rain gear.  On this trip, it was boots, jeans, and a leather jacket (I was on a Harley and I guess I looked the part).   Leather doesn’t do much for stopping the rain, but during the day it was bearable as we continued south through Baja.  By the late afternoon, though, the combination of being soaked to the bone and the wind chill caught up with me.  We checked into a podunky little hotel along Mexico’s Transpeninsular Highway, and by the time I signed the registration log at the front desk (they actually had one of those), I was shaking so bad I could barely sign my name.  I was hypothermic – I just didn’t know it. The shakes didn’t stop until about 4:00 a.m. the next morning. Man, that was cold.

The boys in Mexico 20 years ago, during a brief respite from the rain. Check out the moto rain gear we wore in those days!

Another time, I was in another country…actually, we crossed the border early in the morning going from Montana into Canada. I was on my Triumph Daytona on that one, and an outside thermometer at the border crossing said it was 34 degrees. And then it dipped further. Wowee…that was a rough morning!  The old Daytona 1200 threw a lot of heat up from the fairing, and that helped a bit.  That bike was a rolling sauna in the summer, but I sure appreciated the heat on that cold Canadian morning!

The last time I did my popsicle impersonation routine was on fairly recent trip….it was my ride to Lake Tahoe and back on the KLR.   I left Tahoe early on the ride home and it was a bone-chilling 37 degrees, where it stayed for the next 100 miles.  It was so cold that at one point I remembered the old saying about what to do if you ever get really cold on a motorcycle, and I did it.  I stopped the KLR along the 395 highway, and I got off and pushed the thing for the next 50 yards.  That helped a bit, but when I got back on the bike I got cold again pretty quickly.   It was brutal.  I finally made Bishop, where I stopped at the American Hotel for a very hot (and very  welcome) cup of coffee.    I stayed there for an hour to warm up.  Yowsers!

So…tomorrow morning I’m back on an airplane, headed home to So Cal…where it’s warm.  Warm enough, anyway.  My good buddy Eric told me he was cold because the So Cal temp dropped to 62 today.  I love it!

Later, folks.  Ride safe and stay toasty!

Saw this one on Facebook, posted by my good buddy Hal…

Thanks for posting that one, Hal.

I received an email from my good buddy Chris a couple of weeks ago, and after reading it early this morning, I asked if I could use it on the CSC blog.  Chris said sure, so here it is.  By way of background information, Marty (you’ll meet him in a second) has been one of my riding buddies for the last 10 years or so…we’ve ridden together in three countries now.  But that’s enough from me….let’s get on with the story from Chris!

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Utah Ride, Oct. 2012

A fabulous five-day ride in Utah with great company! The riders – My brother, Martin, who just turned 77, retired two years ago after 37 years as a judge in San Bernardino County…he says he wants to ride to Washingon, DC when he is 100 years old!   Great, I will be 92 then and will probably ride with him!  Gary, turned 72 this last July, who lived four houses away when we were growing up in Downey, retired as Chief of Police for the City of Upland, about 20 years ago after 30 years on the force. Bob, also just turned 77, was a policeman with Gary in Upland and then became an attorney, has been retired for a number of years, who did a great job of organizing this ride. And, myself, 68 now, but only for a couple more months, retired 4 years ago.

Chris, our story teller for this saga

Bob lives in St. George, Utah, so the first day, three of us left Marty’s house in Upland about 5:30 am to meet up with Bob. However, we stopped for a “pit stop” at the Barstow Outlet Center and Gary’s bike would not start, it would not turn over, the security system would not allow access. I must say, Gary was calm and cool about the situation, I guess after 30 years on the police force he has had to deal with much much worse things.

Pondering whether to put the Harley out of its misery...

 After reading the owner’s manual, Gary called the national help line for Harley riders. Twenty minutes later, as he was holding his cell phone and trying to follow their instructions, he dropped his phone. The battery fell out, which disconnected the call. He put it back together, called again and while they were doing the procedure again the security lights turned off and he was able to start it up. Gary said he was ready to go, but, not taking chances, we followed him back to Victorville to a Harley dealer, who just opened up as we got there. Turned out all that was needed was a $2 battery for his security key fob, and we were back on the road in five minutes.

We had dinner with Bob and Gail Reever in St. George, Utah, that night. If you look at the photos, note the size of my beer. Only 3.2 alcohol, was not enough to even feel it. The next night we stayed in Blanding, no beer available, Mormon country you know!

A great dinner...that's Marty on the right

 On our way to Blanding, first we went through Zion Nat’l Park (see photo of us waiting to ride through the Zion tunnel), after which we dipped down into Arizona crossing the Colorado River at the bottom end of Lake Powell and then rode up through Monument Valley in the late afternoon with the sun to our backs.

Waiting to get into Zion

Quite breath taking, especially looking back at the shadow side with all the stone outcroppings being black silhouettes against the sun. Dinner (or, is it supper?) in Blanding was the “special,” an open face turkey sandwich and mashed potatoes, which was good. The hot homemade biscuits and raspberry jam were to die for, but, no end of day beer!

Breakfast in Blanding and we were to come back to Blanding that afternoon after riding over to Telluride, Colorado. Telluride is an expensive winter ski resort high up in the Rockies and it got down to 39 degrees as we rode over a 10,222 ft. pass to get there. Hot chocolate and apple pie for me in Telluride, but, we kept our jackets on (see photo). Before we left Colorado, Gary bought and carried in his Harley trunk a six-pack for our “end of day” beer. Very important!

Hot chocolate and apple pie in Telluride

In the high altitudes, the Aspen tree leaves had already turned color and fallen off. But, in the lower altitudes, the Cottonwood tree leaves had turned a bright yellow, providing a feast for our eyes. The yellow Cottonwoods gave a dramatic contrast to the dark green pines. Even in the comparative lower altitudes, along creeks and stream beds, the yellow leaves may have given us a somewhat limited color palette, but, extremely pleasing against the pure azure blue sky and the red sandstone cliffs and plateaus.

Before leaving Colorado on our way back to Blanding, we stopped for a map check and noted that we should buy our beer right there. We had parked parallel to a curb, where the crown of the road was the steepest. A nonmoving fall! Marty was at the back of his bike, folding up his map, as it fell over, putting an unforgiving crack in the right side hardbag luggage, popped off a side mirror and put some scratches in the fairing paint.

Usually a motorcycle fall involves some sort hurt and skin abrasions, but, in this case only pride was hurt. Marty’s bike, with over 130,000 miles on it and looking like it just came off the showroom floor, had never been down! A little duct-tape, along with not finding any functional problems, Marty’s pride rebounded with the statement, “When I get back home, I’ll have the shop make it new again!”

Marty's cracked pannier

 Leaving Blanding the next morning, we traveled west by northwest on Highway 95 through Fry Canyon and White Canyon. For me, watching the red cliffs and outcroppings move by, this highway is magical. At times while riding, it is as if I am stationery and it is the landscape that is moving. One red butte seems to move pass you while it exposes a more distant red butte in the background and then a closer butte rushes into view to obscure the distant one. The scenery is fluid and constantly changing! I have stopped along this road before to take pictures, but, they never could show the magic. Next time, I should take a video camera to do it justice.

We crossed the Colorado River again, only this time at the very northern end of Lake Powell. I say the northern end, but, the lake water is so low you only see the river and silt mud flats and marshes. Still a beautiful view. Marty made a comment that it is expected that in 50 to 100 years the lake will be filled with silt. Humm … might make good farmland!

A good lunch at the Capitol Reef Cafe, at the very west end of Torrey. It now is Thursday and we are making our way back to St. George before going home on Friday. The four of us ride four very different motorcycles and get four different levels of gas milage. But, we were always in synch when stopping to fuel up, not going more than 150 miles. The last stop we made only had regular gas and Gary’s bike only takes premium. I think he was sweating bullets before we got to the edge of Cedar City with his reserve warning light on and over 200 miles on this tank. He figured he had maybe 4/10ths of a gallon left, which was plenty. As Gary said, “I could have made it to the other side of town!”

Bob’s wife, Gail, tried to reserve us rooms in St. George, but, the Senior Olympics were in town and no rooms available. You know … sometimes all those old retired people just get in the way! So, we said our adieu and thanks to Bob and motored on to Mesquite, NV for the night.

Below St. George, Interstate 15 drops down through a gorge into the desert. On the map, the highway is dotted as scenic and it is. However, at this time of day we are usually settled in at a motel. As we came out of the shadows of the gorge, we were facing directly into the low western sun. Gary was in front and it was all I could do to track his tail lights and he later said it was all he could do but to track the tail lights of a car in front of him. We went right past the first off ramp for Mesquite because we could not see that it was the one we wanted.

Planning to stay at one of the two casinos, we found parking a ways from the entry of one, went in and got in line for rooms. Fortunately, Gary stepped out of line and asked if rooms were available. Nope, both casinos were full. The economy can’t be too bad if both were fully booked on a Thursday night! But, they suggested the Best Western across the freeway.

As we walked back to the bikes, both Gary and I noticed a truck pull up next to them, a passenger get out and when he saw us approaching, he got right back in and drove away. We were pretty confident that with two more minutes waiting in that line we would have at least lost our seat bags, Gary’s jacket that was strapped down and maybe our locked helmets that had our gloves in them. Who knows, thieves are quick, he might have gotten one of the bikes. Probably Gary’s Harley!

Might have been interesting if we were just a few seconds later … both a retired Police Chief and a Judge who are licensed to carry firearms. I am not saying they were packing, I am just saying … 😉

Friday morning we satisfied our hunger needs with the continental breakfast the motel offered. We packed up our stuff and were ready to roll when … errr err —- … my bike would not start, tried again … err … nothing, waited a few moments and then … hummm! We were just going a block to fill up our tanks, Marty said don’t turn it off. Well, I didn’t have a choice, I needed the key to open up the tank and of course it would not start again.

Marty and Gary tried pushing me, which works with a bike that has a carburetor but not on a fuel injected one. Wound up in the parking lot next to the gas station, which was an auto parts store that was already open … and they had motorcycle batteries! Marty reminded me that my battery was about five years old and I probably needed a new one. After some help from the store clerk, it started right up and we were ready to go.

The bikes, somewhere out there...

At the last fuel stop in Barstow, we said our goodbyes and rode on home. About 1,900 miles for me (I had a little further to go than Gary and Marty). No problems for Bob, a $2 battery for Gary, an $87 one for me and for Marty … well let’s not talk about that cost. A great ride with great company! Old guys rule!

Chris
October, 2012

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Chris, that’s a great ride report, and thanks for allowing me to share it with our readers here on the CSC blog.  And I agree…old guys do rule!

Joe

I stopped by the plant this morning and grabbed this early a.m. shot…

That’s Steve’s Sarge in front, with the 250cc P-51 right behind it.

Here’s another cool shot from a few years ago…another self-portrait (I know…I’m such a ham).  We get quite a few wildfires here in southern California, and on a ride through one of our many forests, one of my buddies and yours truly almost got caught in one.   I took this picture without realizing just how close the fire was…it’s why everything looks brown (that was the smoke obscuring the sun)…

And speaking of natural disasters, for all of our buddies on the East Coast, our thoughts are with you.  Stay warm and stay safe.

One more day of campaigning and we’ll know who will be President for the next four years.  I’ll be glad when it’s over.  I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of people forcing their political views on me. I vote for who I think will do the best job, and no amount of intrusive phone calls, political badgering, people knocking on my door, or silly Facebook posting is going to change that. Like I said, I’ll be glad when it’s over. I’ll be even more glad when I know who won.   I can’t remember a more polarizing election.  There’s been a lot in the news lately that one of the things that’s characterized this election is that folks who favor one candidate can’t begin to fathom why anyone would support the other guy.   I feel that way, too, way more so than I have ever felt before.  I won’t tell you who I favor, but I will tell you that I hope we can come together again after the election.

Anyway, I think the best take on all of this is Malcolm Smith’s video…and I think that’s the answer to a lot of our issues…let’s just get out and ride!

And while I’m at it…this other video of Malcolm cavorting in Baja popped up…so I thought I would include it here…

…is what I was today.  The weather was nice, so I grabbed my Nikon, I hopped on the Baja Blaster, and I shot a few photos in my hometown of Upland, California…

Upland is smack dab in the center of what used to be California’s citrus region, so that’s why you see the artwork above.  Upland is a cool place to live and the citrus influence is still strong (just about everybody has an orange, lemon, tangerine, or grapefruit tree growing in their yard). We have a tangerine tree, and they are sure good!

As you know from watching me scribble on the blog, we’ve got some great riding around here, too. I’ll capture some more of that for you in the near future.

Later, boys and girls…and ride safe!

Our good buddy Howard is concluding his epic CSC adventure, and I recently received these two emails from him…

Joe,

I made a big jump from the Black Hills of SD to the small town of Koskkonong, MO, to visit my sister, brother in law and an assortment of relatives.

I am sending a picture of me at the historic Koshkonong Jail, with my sister and brother in law, Betty and LeRoy.  And one with my niece, Heather, and my sister.

Joe,

This will probably be my last stop on my trip, since I am headed home.  I just wanted to make one last side trip to the Grand Canyon.

This one is in front of the Park Headquarters on the South Rim.

Awesome photos, Howard, and an awesome trip.  Thanks for sharing your photos and your adventure with us and with the CSC community!

How you’re doing, that is, if you’re on the East Coast of the United States.   I’ve been talking to family and friends back there in NJ and watching the news, and it sounds like Sandy is the real deal.  Our thoughts and prayers are with you…stay dry and stay safe!  And if you get a chance, drop us an email and let us know how you’re doing.

New York City this evening...

On a lighter note, our good buddy Avery Frail from Ontario, Canada read the Bianchi motorcycle blog I posted a few days ago, and he sent a note to us regarding my comment about “MSDS” in the Bianchi motorcycle name.   Here’s what Avery told us…MSDS stands for moto sportiva derivata di serie, and that’s Italian for sports bike derived series.  Avery rides a 2012 CSC Greaser, and we sure appreciate his taking the time to write to us about that Bianchi.   Thanks, Avery!

That’s it for now, folks.   Ride safe, and if you’re in Sandy’s path, stay safe and dry!

Celeste green, that is.  You’ve read about my addiction to Bianchi bicycles, and I mentioned in an earlier blog that Bianchi used to make motorcycles.  I promised to show you a photo of a Bianchi motorcycle if I could find it, and that’s what I did.   First, though, I’ve got to show you another shot of my classic 1986 Bianchi bicycle…partly to get you into the right frame of mind (a Celeste green frame of mind), and partly because, well, I like showing off!

I sure am having fun on that old bicycle.  I bought it a few weeks ago for what turned out to be a great price, and I’ve been racking up the miles on it.  It needed a few things tweaked to be perfect, my local bike shop did the tweaking in an exemplary manner, and I am sure having fun.

I was out climbing some hills in the neighborhood earlier today, and I don’t mind telling you that the hills finally won.   I need to drop maybe another 20 lbs and put another thousand or so miles on the bicycle before I get to where I want to be.

Anyway, back to the Bianchi motorcycles…I don’t know too much about them, but I knew enough to grab the photo I’ve included below when my good buddy Dave and I visited Santa Paula about three years ago.

Dave and I go way back.  We both ride motorcycles, we’ve both put a lot of miles on our motorcycles (and I do mean a lot of miles…in three countries!), we’re both photography nuts, and we both use the same barber (just kidding about that last one…but you get the idea).  I had lunch with Dave today at the Derby (a well-known spot in So Cal with a well-deserved reputation for fine food).   We had a good time and talked about bikes, books, cameras, and other good stuff.  We talked about our next trip, too.   Good times.

Anyway, back to Bianchi motorcycles.  The museum in Santa Paula is a pretty cool place, and they were hosting a collection of vintage Italian motos when we visited.   I never knew Bianchi made motorcycles, so when I saw this puppy, you can bet the old Nikon was popping…

It’s a 1954 175cc MSDS (whatever that is) Tonale race bike.   It’s awesome, and it’s in Bianchi’s signature color – Celeste green.   Here’s a better look at the Tonale’s fuel tank and engine…

The Tonale.  The translation for “tonale” on Google is tonal.   I can only guess that this Bianchi motorcycle with its straight pipe sounds awesome.  With a name like Tonale, how could it not?

The Italians sure have a sense of style, and the colors on this motorcycle are awesome.  I’ve probably already told you about the stories surrounding Bianchi’s Celeste color.   One version is that after the war, they had a bunch of OD green paint left and they mixed it with other colors to get Celeste green.   Another version of the Bianchi legend is that Mr. Bianchi’s girlfriend had green eyes and he mixed the paint to match her eyes.  Yet another story is that her name was Celeste.  Who knows?

Hey, here’s another idea…how about a California Scooter in Celeste green?   I’ll bet that would be awesome!

Anyway, when I was climbing the hills above my house today I thought about the Bianchi motorcycle, I remembered I promised to post a photo, and here it is!

More good stuff, folks….our bikes are moving out sharply and we’ve brought another shipment of the Genuine scooters onto the showroom floor.

That pistachio green Buddy 125 is looking good…you gotta love that color.  Genuine calls this color sea foam green, but every time I look at that bike I feel like having a bowl of pistachio ice cream.

The weather is good out here in southern California.  It’s not too hot and not too cold.  That’s going to change in bit, especially when the time changes next month.   But right now it’s perfect riding weather, both for motorcycles and for bicycles.   I cranked out a quick 27 miles on my mid-1980s classic green Bianchi bicycle over the weekend, and I may do the same tomorrow afternoon.   Bianchi is the oldest bicycle company in the world, and as it turns out, for a while they were also making motorcycles.  I have a picture of one I saw in a museum a few years ago, and if I think of it, I’ll post it for you later.  It’s the same classy color as their Celeste green bicycles, and that color is pretty close to the Genuine pistachio green you see above.

I had my iPhone with me today when I stopped by the factory (I left my Nikon at home today), and I grabbed a couple of other fun shots…check out this one with a couple of our Military Series bikes, Steve’s personal P-51, and bunch of Genuine Buddies and Blurs in the background…

The guy across the way from us who rented the new hangar looks like he has an interesting business…he’s been having a bunch of wrecked airplanes coming in and today he took delivery on a wrecked helicopter…

There’s got to be a story behind each one of those wrecks; I’ll bet it would be interesting to hear each of them.

Speaking of wrecks, one of my Cal Poly students showed me his severely abraded riding jacket an hour or so ago…his Suzuki DR400 went into a severe tank slapper and down he went on the 91 Freeway in traffic.   He was tooling along about 75 miles per hour when it happened, and he walked away from it completely unhurt.  Lucky guy, but his gear played a major role.   There’s a message there, folks.   The acronym is ATGATT (all the gear, all the time).  It’s the only way I ride.

Here’s one more photo I grabbed with my iPhone last night.  I think this is a Chevy (if I’m wrong, let me know).   If I owned this truck I’d leave it just like it is.  It’s classy and cool.

I’m sure glad the election is almost here.  I am getting so tired of the political phone calls that interrupt our evenings.  I keep telling whoever calls me that I was going to vote for their guy, but with their annoying phone calls they made me change my mind and now I’m voting for the other guy.  It makes me feel good, but it hasn’t slowed down the phone calls at all.  I think the important thing this time (as is the case every time) is to vote.   If you don’t, it’s a vote for the other guy.

That’s all for now, folks.   Talk to you later.

Just a few today, folks…

First, take a look at Rosalie’s new custom 250 P-51, all decked out in our Greaser motif with lots of options (including a slick billet front wheel)…

And here’s another cool one…our good buddy Bruce is selling one of his two 150cc CSC motorcycles so that he can buy a new 250cc P-51.   We have it on consignment for him, and Bruce put a lot of love into this one.  It’s our former Rock Star bike (if you search on that term you’ll see it pop up here on the blog).  Bruce bought about a year ago and had it custom painted with a really cool metalflake and pin-stripe theme…

The Rock Star is one of the fastest 150cc bikes we’ve ever done…it really moves out.   And it’s here, for sale.   Aluminum wheels, spotlights, and lots of chrome.  It’s a heck of a deal.

Lots of people are moving motorcycles to make room for new additions.   Steve’s Pro-One operation sells pre-owned bikes, and even TK is getting into the act.   TK has his Kawi ZX-14 on the floor, and it’s awesome…

Here’s another cool shot…my buddy John was changing the tire on a Kawi in the shop today, and we got into an interesting discussion about whether it was a 600 or a 650.   When we read the manufacturer’s sticker, it turned out to be a 250!

And here are two or three fun photos…we went to a pizza party at our neighbor’s place (Martha and Ed’s) Sunday night, and I thought I’d show some of the cool stuff there…

That’s it for now…it’s another beautiful southern California day, and I’m getting out on my California Scooter for a ride this afternoon!