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April 13, 2008
Surf City Tech Day
Slightly groggy from the cognac the night before I woke up this morning and velcroed my boots over the stitches on my shin and gritted my teeth. I mounted the GS and rode through the Santa Cruz mountains over to Darryl Richman's house where he was holding the 8th annual Surf City Tech Day. It was the first hottest day of spring and the sun was shining. As I rode up his steep winding driveway I looked to the right and saw the southern end Monterrey Bay in the distance and on the left a bunch of old guys standing around talking and looking at old motorcycles. Some were even taking them apart and fixing them. I saw some old friends and and I made some new ones and have never seen so many valve adjustments in a row in my life.
Dude, there's an old bike. Dude, it's Darryl's R52!
I walked into the garage and there was Greg Hutchinson rebuilding the front calipers on his GS. Who do these people think they are working on there own bikes? It's crazy! Crazy I tell ya!!
No, this man is not in the middle of a severe hernia. He's syncing the carbs on this Airhead by ear. With his own ears! I'm starting to get frightened. Very frightened.
Inside my head, I asked this man, "Are you doing a valve adjustment all by yourself?" He replied, inside my head, "No, not really there will be a handful of guys that will stand behind me and tell me how to do it correctly and give me secret tips." I hope he just doesn't void his warranty!
And then an odd looking bike showed up with a large tank and a small seat.
There were toaster tanks with no toast in them.
His name is Joachim Groeger. He's 86 years old and still rides. He owns a machine shop in Redwood City and works on vintage BMWs. 'Nuff said.
David Brick smiles as Sophie waits in the background for Greg to show her how to adjust her valves.
MOA Ambassador, Darryl Richman is the Cliff Claven of vintage BMWs and that's a good thing. He is a repository of information regarding the restoration and history of these old machines. The best thing he does with all that information he acquires is that he shares it.
Then I met this guy from France named Jean. He's been hiding out in Napa Valley for ten years making wine at Opus One. At $183 a bottle I'm going to make friends with this guy and see what he brings to the next party I invite him to.
The king of Castle Drive perches on one of his non-porcelain thrones enjoying a day well done. Thank you Darryl.
After a few hours of absorbing the testosterone from the motorcyles and tools in the little paradise above the clouds I invited my two new friends from France to join me in a quest to the Corralitos Market for apple wood smoked honey glazed bacon! Yes, a Bacon Run! En francais, Course de Lard! Could the day end any better?
If you want to see the rest of the photos you will have to click on the link below.
All the photos here.
Posted by stephen at 12:06 AM | Comments (0)
April 11, 2008
Hardware Removed
After laying on the couch for seven days watching movies and Anthony Bourdain reruns I'm experiencing a little bit of cabin fever. Last Thursday, I had the plate and the thirteen screws removed from my left tibia that I fractured spirally last June in an off road motorcycling adventure. The past week is a blur and I don't remember much as I was sedated with the bung you up drug, Vicodin. I can't wait to be regular again. I have line of stitches split in two down my shin and a two-stitcher hole to one side where I presume the doctor went in to remove a screw. Currently I'm only in pain when I stand up for more than five minutes and all the blood rushes down to my leg. My circulation will get better and I have lost most of the feeling on the top of my foot above my big toe, just like the first time they went in and cut up the nerves. It will take about a year to get most of the feeling back. They say 99 percent of broken leg victims with hardware leave the hardware in. The past rainy winter in the Santa Cruz mountains reeked havoc on my hardware just above my ankle. I also figured out that the doctor who installed it used too long of screws and they protruded out the back of the bone and rubbed against the tendons on the inside of my ankle. When I moved my foot up and down and squeezed the skin behind my ankle I could feel a crunchiness. This aggravated my tendons and it felt like I had a permanently sprained ankle. I had a very noticeable limp. After the removal of the plate and screws the crunchiness is gone. From my limited walking around the house this past week I can already feel a huge difference in my leg and there is no more stiffness above my ankle. I'm quite confident that my limp will disappear. In the next seven weeks my bone will grow and refill the holes that the screws were in and my leg will be back to normal. It has been a week since I have ridden my motorcycle and I'm going a little crazy. Perhaps on Saturday I will go on a test ride to see if I'm up for the full commute to work on Monday.
Posted by stephen at 12:54 AM | Comments (0)