New Chain for a Whole New Machine

On Saturday I had a new chain and sprockets put on the Triumph. All I can say is it's incredible how much a bad chain will decrease your riding enjoyment. Suddenly the Speed Four is a whole hell of a lot more fun.

Partly to celebrate the joy of a smoothly operating machine, and partly because I realized I haven't gone out riding for fun in a really, really long time, I decided Sunday would be an awesome day to ride out to Tortilla Flat. I forgot that it was Father's Day, and every dad in the world would have permission to take his boat to Canyon Lake. Oops.

So, kind of a slow ride behind a lot of boats. I'd been hoping to reduce the width of my chicken strips a bit, but no such luck. Between slowbies ahead of me, and trucks crossing the center line coming towards me, I was focused on not having a high-energy meeting with a couple tons of steel more than getting my knee down.

Of course, it was still fun because the road to Tortilla flat is spectacular, and a quick 70 mile ride will always put a smile on my face. Even more so with a nearly silent, smooth new chain on the bike. I have to admit, I may have ridden a little faster than I needed to here and there...

Gone Flyin'

So through an interesting set of circumstances (but not so interesting that I'm going to explain) I won a ride in a Piper Cub. Today I went flying with a retired airline captain.

It was one of the cooler things I've done, and I do a lot of cool shit.

One of the cool things about the Piper Cub is that the plane can happily fly with the doors wide open. So, it was a lot like being on the Triumph, only at 500 - 1000 feet off the ground. Low and slow is awesome.

Although he promised to let me take the controls, he forgot until after we'd landed. To be honest, I didn't mind. It'd be too much like riding some other guy's prized motorcycle.

Riding to the Cactus Fly In

Saturday morning was chilly, cloudy and grey. Perfect conditions for a ride along the back roads to Casa Grande for the 2010 Cactus Fly In.

The Cactus Fly In is an annual event at the Casa Grande Municipal Airport. All kinds of planes show up, but the event is focussed on antique airplanes. I heard about it through a strange series of events that will get their own post at a later time. Anyway, going to look at old planes seemed like a worthy reason to get out of bed on Saturday and go riding.

I wanted to do a pizza review, but Casa Grande doesn't have much in the way of local pizza. A disappointment.

But enough about that. On to the pictures!

That is one sparkly clean motor.

I just really like this photo

Pinstripes: Not just for hotrods.

Check the pirate flag flying over the Albatross.

"What are you guys up to today?"
"Sitting in these chairs we brought, maybe drinking some coffee."
"Lucky bastards."

Heavy Metal Makes the World a Better Place

Last night my fearsome crew and I loaded into our dragonboat and set sail for metal.

It has always been my opinion that metal is best when it comes with a wink. There was a long period of time where metal got kinda, well, serious. And it was good music but, to paraphrase David Lee Roth, eventually it's got to be Miller Time.

And in honor of Miller Time, we went to see Korpiklaani - beer-loving folk metal from Finland.

If that doesn't sound like fun to you, I probably don't want to know you.

Anyhow, we were in for a real treat, because playing with Korpiklaani were a host of other, equally awesome bands. Like Swashbuckle. Did you know there is such a thing as Pirate Metal? Because I didn't. If you did know, and didn't tell me, might I suggest you keep that to yourself?

Check it:

And then, it got better! Because TYR came on. And if there's one thing I like more than Pirate Metal, it's Viking metal. Which leads me into a brief tangent: when Irondad came to Phoenix, he mentioned that when he'd described me as a Viking, he'd meant it with the utmost respect. And I wondered to myself, is there any other way I could have taken it?

Where was I? Oh, right, TYR. TYR is AWESOME:

Moving on, Korpiklaani finally went on around 10:30, and they were absolutely awesome! I wanted to give all of those crazy Finns a big Viking hug, and the rest of the crowd seemed to feel the same way.

This was possibly the coolest concert I've been to in Phoenix, just because the level of positive energy was so high all night. Even the pit was good-natured - the one fight that broke out was broken up lickety-split and everyone got along again. The guys fighting didn't even get thrown out!

So, Korpiklaani:

After all that awesome metal, we staggered back to the dragonboat, bloodied, bruised and ready for their next visit!

Today, I am one sore Viking. Good thing for vacation time.

Causing a Ruckus With Irondad

Whether you're coming from Colorado, Oregon, California, Minnesota or, say, Wales, if you visit me, I will do my best to make you eat pizza.

I will also try to make you eat pizza when I come to visit you, but that's a different story.

Depending on the day and amount of time to spare, there are a few contenders for where I will take you here in Phoenix. If there's a whole lot of time, I might take you to Pizzeria Bianco. I have to admit, the chances of going there are pretty slim, but it does come up for consideration. I might take you to Pizza Heaven (I don't think I've reviewed them yet), if it's a week night. On Friday nights and weekends, they have live music and, frankly, I prefer talking to the people I'm with over listening to a piano cover of Mustang Sally.

Or, I might take you to Red Devil. Red Devil opened for business back in the 1960's, which in Phoenix time means they're a traditional local eatery. They're darn good.

On Sunday afternoon, Irondad from Musings of an Intrepid Commuter came to Phoenix for a Monday morning meeting. I was mildly surprised to find he'd flown into Phoenix instead of riding, because I always imagined he was permanently attached to his bike. Apparently, he does stop riding now and then.

If you haven't met him, Irondad is good people. An amiable scholar and gentleman, and further proof of my theory that We Are Everywhere. Also, he's heck of a good sport about taking the, erm, scenic route to pizza.

Phoenix is laid out fairly logically, at least compared to St. Paul. This is good and bad. It's good because navigation is mostly simple. Except for the cases where it isn't, which I never expect because Phoenix is laid out logically. Right? So, of course, I found an exception to the logic after picking up Irondad.

Somehow, we wound up in the colorful part of town where establishments such as Kit Kat's One on One Club flourish. Whoops. Better still was ending up, oddly, in downtown Tempe.

I'm still not sure how we ended up there, but I expect a wormhole was involved. As it was, it took a little longer than planned to get to Red Devil.

The pizza was great, and there was good company, so that was a lot of fun. On the way out, Irondad got to meet one of the charming locals who was looking for a McDonald's, because he only had a dollar. Oh, and could we spare a couple of bucks?

No. No, sir, we could not.

So, I think Irondad got a good feel for what Phoenix is really like on this trip.

Unfortunately, he had to work in the morning, so we weren't able to start really causing trouble. Next time.


Anyway, Irondad, you're welcome to visit any time