Wet and Wild

I had this strange feeling when I stepped out of my car at the grocery store. It was about 65 degrees out and raining pretty steadily. But unlike the kind of rain that makes me want to curl up on the couch with a bad movie and a strong drink, this made me think about riding. Weird huh? Not just any kind of riding, but the kind where I put on my waterproof textiles, mount my hard bags, and disappear for a few days to somewhere else.

Of course I badly need new tires for the Interceptor to pull that off. I'm pleased to say that my Pilot Road 4 rear is at 7 thousand miles and has just reached "bald" in the center. The front is kind of chewed up too and reached the wear bars. I've been agonizing (like I do) about what to put on next, but when I looked at the mileage today and realized how far the PR4 had gone, that kind of made up my mind. Now I just get to agonize about whether I take it to a shop to mount or do it myself (which was a frustrating pain in the ass last time I did it but is marginally cheaper).

If only I could bargain with the weather. Oh dear weather, please rain all you want now and don't rain during the September OMRRA race weekend.

Speaking of racing, I got some help from OMRRA racer #404 rebuilding my forks. As we thought, the shop had overfilled the hell out of the forks and they were locking up. Now they move like they should and I have a better understanding of the inner workings of BPF forks. I also added more paint to give the ZX6R a more even rattle can look.

Looks good in proper lighting from the right angle huh?

We found some rain during a group ride this weekend. The coastal range was properly wet, but we ripped the highways anyways.

When I got home I traded ballistic textiles for cutoffs and sandals. There'a certain visceral pleasure to washing a motorcycle clad only in cutoff shorts while drinking cold adult beverages and getting rained on by a warm summer rain.