31 December 2011 - Medevac helicopter at the Red Rock Canyon overlook

 I had hoped to ride through the scenic loop before going to the overlook on the main road, but when I arrived at the entrance plaza I was informed that the loop was closed due to an accident.  I headed on up to the overlook to wait before seeing if the loop would re-open and found quite the scene.  It turns out that the accident involved a rock climber and all the emergency responders decided to use the overlook as a base of operations.

31 December 2011 - Motorcycles at the Overlook

31 December 2011 - Motorcycles at the Overlook

31 December 2011 - Motorcycles at the Overlook

31 December 2011 - Motorcycles at the Overlook

31 December 2011 - Motorcycles at the Overlook

 I don’t know if everyone wanted to see a helicopter take off, but it seemed like every motorcyclist within a 10+ mile range had converged on the overlook.  Cruisers, touring bikes, sport bikes, standards, dual sports and a bit later even a scooter all showed up

31 December 2011 - Medevac helicopter leaving the area

 The helicopter eventually took off and just about everyone else left as well.  Here’s wishing the injured climber all the best and a speedy recovery!

31 December 2011 - My new watch and just about 7,000 miles since I started riding

 I’m not leaving my new watch on the handlebars – I just wanted to make sure a watch would work there   That watch is one of my Christmas presents   It’s a Casio G-Shock GWM850-1 and it wasn’t cheap   For the money, you do get some really great features.  This watch is solar powered and will charge from even relatively dim light sources like fluorescent lights.  It also sets itself daily using the radio signal from the atomic clocks around the world so you know it will always be accurate

The idea of strapping a watch to the GPS mounting bracket worked perfectly, so I went to Wal-Mart and picked up a very inexpensive Casio that’s not a G-Shock but is still waterproof and has an electroluminescent back light that’s easy to activate even with gloves on.  Finally, I have a clock in easy view on the bike

You might also notice the odometer reading – I’ve now officially traveled 7,000 miles on my V-Star!  The odometer read 8436.5 when I first rode it and it was up to 15461.8 when I took this picture.  Remember that my daily commute to work is only about four miles round trip and you can get an idea of just how much I love to ride this fine machine

31 December 2011 - The last evening of 2011 in Red Rock Canyon

 It’s always a treat to have good lighting like this when you have a camera handy

31 December 2011 - Heading south in Red Rock Canyon

31 December 2011 - Panorama - The sun has set on 2011

I couldn’t believe how gorgeous the sunset turned out tonight   These pictures really don’t do it justice, especially when you’ve seen it from the saddle of a motorcycle.  Still, I don’t think they turned out half bad at all

Actually, after watching a few James Bond movies (especially the ones with Sean Connery), going for a good motorcycle ride that produced some pretty decent photos, and chatting with friends on the phone, I’d say today was pretty darn good

That’s all for this post, but I’ll have another one published soon.  Have a great day everyone

Seriously, I don’t know why I get so many confused looks when I say this, but it’s true for me.  I like riding when it’s raining or drizzling.  We get so much dry sunshine and clear skies here in Vegas that a wet day is a nice change

12 December 2011 - The bike had been sitting in a light rain all day

 Coming out to a wet bike after work isn’t too bad, but I would like to look into some way to keep the seat dry.  Of course, I’ll probably just keep a towel or rag in one of the saddle bags if I can remember to put it in there in the first place.  It’s always a bit amusing to see the looks on my co-workers’ faces as they walk out to their cars.  They seem to think there’s something strange or wrong with wanting to be outside in anything but warm sunshine 

12 December 2011 - Time to get some gas and reflect on newly learned lessons

 12 December wasn’t really rainy in the accepted sense of rain.  It was more like an hours-long continual drizzle.  Now, that’s great for lawns and other green things, but it’s not so great for the road.  You see, oil tends to build up on the roads over time if there’s no rain to wash it off.  It’s not too much of a problem when it’s dry because it pretty much seeps into the ground and leaves the surface with plenty of traction.  The first rain after a long dry spell can be a bit of an issue, though.  The oil floats up to the surface and the next thing you know the road is slicker than a politician at election time and you’re trying to navigate a motor vehicle across an ice rink   Normally, this is only a problem during the first fifteen minutes to hour of the first rain as the continual rain will wash the oil away.

The continual light rain and drizzle was just enough to float all that oil up without actually washing it away.  I was acquainted with this fact that I hadn’t thought about when I pulled into the left turn lane to get into the driveway of the gas station.  Cars waiting in that left turn lane had dropped plenty of oil on the road and it had all been brought up to the surface for my skating motorcycling pleasure   As I straightened up and got back on the brakes (always straighten up before braking ), the rear tire decided to lock up and the bike started to fishtail…  I ended up saving the possibly bad situation by slowly letting off the rear brake and allowing the back end to come back in line with the rest of the bike.  It wasn’t a high speed situation or difficult to recover from – Just stay calm and DON’T PANIC

13 December 2011 - ROK Straps came in handy while shopping at Wal-Mart

 the next night was cold, but dry and clear.  I’d picked up my set of ROK Straps down at the BMW dealer a couple of days before and this was my first opportunity to put them to work properly.  The poor clerk down at Wal-Mart looked at me with a rather perplexed look as he eyed my purchases and the helmet in my shopping basket and asked, “How in the heck are you going to fit all that on the bike?!”  I told him most was going into the saddle bags and the soda would be strapped down to the passenger seat   It worked fairly well, but could probably use another strap – that ain’t a light load back there and it kinda wanted to shift around a bit

Well, that’s all for now but keep on havin’ fun and I’ll be back again soon

3 December 2011 - My V-Star with my brother's Accord

 My brother came up to visit on my birthday and it was nice to see him   He was also kind enough to bring up my birthday and Christmas presents.  Birthday presents like the tool kit he gave me and the wind deflectors for my hands on the motorcycle from Mom & Dad

6 December 2011 - Sunset as seen from work as I left for the day

6 December 2011 - Sunset as seen from work as I left for the day

Once again, it was getting rather dark when I left work, but I thought the sunset was nice enough to warrant a couple of pictures   And that palm tree is for you, Kath

Stay tuned for more soon

19 November 2011 - Ferrari 458 Italia at the overlook in Red Rock Canyon

19 November 2011 - Ferrari 430 at the overlook in Red Rock Canyon

You really never know what you’ll see out in Red Rock Canyon

These Ferraris are part of a rental program where people can see what it’s like to drive one without having a mortgage payment for a California mansion.  It looks like fun, but I don’t think I’ll spend $300+ for a few hours in them :wink;

15 November 2011 - Winter desert sunset as I left work

 This is what it’s looked like lately when I leave work at 1630 hours.  I remember back in July when the shadows of the mountains in Red Rock Canyon would finally cross the road sometime around 1930 hours and it would be fairly light until around 2030 hours.  I miss those long days even if I did have to was my helmet liner once or twice a week

15 November 2011 - 14500 miles already?

 Even with the cold weather and the early darkness, I’ve continued to rack up the miles on the bike

Have fun and stay safe, everyone