I’m trying really hard to concentrate on the work I need to get done today, but it’s not happening.  I’ve got two problems.  First I’m having problems with this blog again.  Nope, it’s not the comments this time, but it is a problem I’m having after upgrading finally (I know I’m slack) to the latest version of Wordpress.

Now whenever I try to login my dashboard is blank, and the only way I can get to the dashboard is to login, see the blank screen, go to my homepage, then click “edit” on one of my posts.  Then I can continue through the sidebar options to add a new post.  I have a few ideas of what might be going on, so I’ll work on that today.

Other than that, I’m just itching to ride today, but I know all work has to be done first.  The awesome 70 and 80 degree weather is gone for now, and it’s dropped back down to 58.  That’s okay with me as long as we can get a ride in before the rain hits since I know tomorrow it’s going to be in the 40s with lots of rain.  Actually it’s supposed to be cold and wet all weekend.

I’m just glad I went ahead and started working on restoring the old metal patio furniture we have around back while the weather was still nice. I’ve got about 10 layers of old nasty baby diaper brown paint to scrape off so I can repaint everything to look nice by summer.

I guess I’m off to work on this blank dashboard issue, then I’m going to try my best to get all my work done so we can go ride!

Listen up all you people who spend each warm weekend hitting US 178.  You need to be a little bit more careful this year because law enforcement is cracking down on wreckless motorcycle riders.  Hubby called me to tell me he bought a newspaper this morning, and I knew there had to be something related to motorcycles in it if he bought it.  Front page of the Greenville News confirms what we’ve all been hearing for awhile.  There are far too many complaints and too many motorcyclists acting stupid.

Personally I chose to stop riding 178 last year because there was a lot of wreckless activity going on, and I was tired of it.  It’s hard to enjoy the ride when you’re worrying about what some idiot is doing passing in a blind curve and stuff like that.  There have been numerous deaths on 178 in the past few years, and most of them have been caused by people just not riding right.

If you want to push the limits of yourself and your bike, go for it, but do it at a trackday where you’re on a closed course.  Remember when you’re out there opening up the throttle and pushing yourself to the limits on a mountain road, you’ve got other innocent drivers and bikers all around you.  Think smart, and think safe.

One thing that irks me about the article is there is definitely a stereotyping going on.

Emily said he has seen some examples of reckless driving during the group’s frequent outings along State 11. “You’ll see some young people” driving recklessly, he said. “But we’re not into that.” Story here

Well guess what? We’re not exactly into that either, and we’re some of those young people. Heck I could take you to 178 on any given Sunday morning and show you a very large group of riders in their 40s and 50s who are up there pushing it harder than any of the “young people” out there. As a note to you journalists out there, stop stereotyping already. Choose your quotes carefully, and don’t make it sound like you’re lumping us all into one group because I promise we’re not all these hooligans you try to make us out to be.

Well bike night last night didn’t turn out too bad. We only stayed a couple hours, but there was a pretty good turnout for the first night. The cruiser crowd was definitely much bigger than the sport bike crowd, but our group was thrown together in a couple hours time. We ended up with a group of about 10 sport bikes.

Since this was the first night there really wasn’t much going on. They just wanted to establish a presence as a place for bikers to go on Tuesday nights. There was an itty bitty sign up on the board saying “bike night Tues night”, but it was so small you couldn’t see it from the road. The sign for the store next door kind of overpowered it.

Next week should be much better. Matt works at a graphics shop, so he offered to make a huge sign to put out near the road. That should bring in a bigger crowd. Starting next week Performance Powersports will also be out there giving away bike related stuff.

Indoors there’s a 72″ projection screen setup for the Wii where you can play various racing games to win prizes. We all agreed it wasn’t a great turnout for the first night, but you’ve got to start somewhere. I had fun no matter how many people showed up. Just having a chance to ride was all I needed, and it felt great!

The food wasn’t too bad either, but it was a little on the expensive side for a pub. The cheapest thing on the menu was about $8 (other than appetizers) not including a drink. Service was also really slow. There were only a handful of people inside when we ordered food, yet it still took almost an hour to get it out to us. Everything on the menu though was Irish cuisine, and the food was great.

Afterwards we all made a lake loop, and to me that’s the best part. The GSXR ran great, and was fun to ride as always. I also got to spend some time checking out Chris’s new 08 GSXR600. I’m not big on white bikes, but this one is gorgeous. I drooled over it a few times in the dealership, but it looks so much better out getting some action.

All in all it was a great night, so if you’re near Seneca, SC next Tuesday night stop by Mullens to hang out and win some free stuff!

Speaking of my Father-in-law, he did finally decide he’s going to do a little Las Vegas travel at the end of the summer. We had talked about going on a Vegas Run later in the year after our bike’s put back together, but he finally decided he’s doing it with or without us. A guy he works with has been wanting to make a cross country trip, so that guy is going with him. You don’t know how bad I want to go! The longest trip I’ve made on a bike? I think to Deal’s Gap, and that’s only about 2 1/2 hours from the house. I really want to make a cross country trip, and I really want to go to the Salt Flats!

I’ve been kind of bummed today about the bike. It’s been super hot all weekend, hitting 101 today, and that just really puts me in a bad mood knowing I probably won’t get to ride all summer. Hubby and I were talking today about what we’re going to do when we finally get the bike put back together. One of our friends has been begging us to take a long road trip. He wants to go to Vegas! Hubby thinks it’s a great idea.

I’m not so sure I can ride that far on a sport bike. I mean, the 600r is extremely comfortable as far as sport bike passenger seats go, but my butt still tends to go numb after a couple hours of riding. Now we’re going to have the r6 seats, so I’m not exactly sure how comfortable that will be. Thank god it’s not the new r6 passenger seat! Those are horrible!

On the other hand, my father in law mentioned that he’d like to go, but my mother in law doesn’t want to make the trip. He really really wants to ride out that way and hit the salt flats. Riding with him on his V-Star would be very comfortable, so if he’ll let me ride with him I’m all for it! I guess I should check out some prices for vegas hotels. The price of traveling that far may not even be worth it right now. With the price of gas going up by the minute who knows what it’ll be like at the end of the summer! I know gassing up the bikes is a lot cheaper than taking a road trip in a car, but I’ve got to consider this from all angles.