I didn’t get around to recording two road bike rides in the last week. The one ride was about 25 miles and the other was about 15 miles. Pace was 15mph on the first and 14mph on the second. Also this week I went into the gym several times to run on the track and lift some weights. Gotta get ready for swimsuit season!
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Tonight I finalized the purchase of my brand new (to me, thanks Ryan S!) 1989 Honda Pacific Coast PC800. It’s the white tupperwear stormtrooper bike of awesomeness! Tomorrow hopefully I’ll have the time to take it out for a quick jaunt around town. Since it was dark when I picked it up I didn’t have the chance to get a photo but soon I’ll post one.
SO MUCH FUN TO DRIVE! Only 6 miles though on the way home. 
Tags: 1989 Honda PC800 Pacific Coast, Emily S, Motorcycle, Ryan S
Yesterday I went out to Lebanon to see a man named Fred (not connected with Fred’s Honda in Corvallis) who is a motorcycle wholesaler. All he deals with is used bikes. He buys low mileage bikes from repo auctions and car lots, and turns around to sell them to motorcycle shops at a profit. The bikes he buys are top quality. He had a whole garage filled with Shadows and VTX bikes not to mention many other cruiser brands. I sat on several including an 07 Shadow 750 Aero.
The bike was dripping with chrome from stem to stern. Whoever owned it before had more money than sense. The bike only had 192 miles on it. Everything was brand new and pristine. And he only wanted a few dollars shy of $5000. If someone were to buy that bike new and trick it out like that, you’d be paying well over $10000.
Another bike that caught my eye was a Yamaha VStar Silverado from 07. It was a 650cc little cruiser fully decked out with everything a bike needs. Saddle bags, windscreen, light bar, floor boards, etc. It had some salt scaling but nothing a good shining up couldn’t fix. He wanted $2800 for it. Oh and it also needed a new back tire. It only had 5300 miles on the odometer.
After looking at all of his bikes I went back to Corvallis having the strange feeling that I just sat on a bunch of big, fat, heavy bikes. I don’t know what the motorcycle companies are thinking! Back in the mid 80s they produced some good-looking wonderfully nimble bikes. You were riding a cruiser but could push it to perform like a sport bike of the day with a little finesse. Todays cruisers just feel fat and uninspired. Much like America.
I next went down to Fred’s Honda in south Corvallis to look at the Honda Shadow Aeros that they have in stock. In the better lighting of the shop I was able to get a good feel for the bike. It didn’t feel quite so massive sitting under me and Emily S fit well on the back but still… So much fake chrome, such a visibly fat bike. And why? It’s not like the thing needs to be so massive. Hopefully they’ll start making some sexy throwback 80’s bikes soon. I should also mention that neither place would let me test ride a bike. The first place doesn’t have insurance and the second place thought it was too dark.
My overall impressions of a Honda Shadow Aero are that it will handle passably but not as well as my old Shadow VT700. It has way way more room than my old bike which is certainly nice. I didn’t feel cramped at all and felt like I would be able to go many miles without problem on it. Being a Honda and with the VT750 power plant, it will literally last forever with proper maintenance. Still… For how much they sell for today, I’d rather buy an older bike such as the Honda Pacific Coast PC800 that Ryan S is selling and save a little money for new riding gear than drop five grand on a chromed out “me, too” bike.
Tags: Emily S, Honda Shadow Aero VT750, Ryan S, test ride, Yamaha VStar Silverado
This year’s Halloween was pretty epic. It got off to a slow start but by the end of the night everyone was having a good time. Here are some photos to prove it.
Emily as a Zombie, Carl as a guy with a severed leg, and Matt as a grad student.
Steve drinking it up.
My costume.
Jenna as Lady Gaga.
Jesus and Lady Gaga: together at last! One night only!
And lo Jesus hath come down from heaven for a can of Hams.
Reanimate the dead: Check!
Sharon, Daniel, and Steve.
Jesus is a ladies man.
Dan came as a fully functional box of Franzia.
This is a FireFox costume. FireFox as in the web browser. So awesome!
Someone dressed up as BookFace from The Office and someone dressed up as Fall?
Our airplane captain friend who likes to get touchy-feely with the ladies when he is drunk.
He got down on his knees and pleased Jesus.
Reanimating the dead with some special Jesus Juice.
Perhaps the scariest costume of the evening.
Amber B not wanting a photo taken.
Lady Gaga’s mid-evening costume change.
Looks like we have an Anchor Man on the right.
Pippy Longstockings and a zombie.
Jacob as Dr Horrible.
Jesus loves his Hams!
A stripper and Stacey playing beer pong.
Tags: Amber B, Avery L, Carl M, Dan D, Daniel H, Emily S, Halloween, Jacob P, Jenna M, Matt S, Sharon H, Steve L
Emily and I went on a hike with Megan to visit Bobby at the Opal Creek Ancient Forest Center where he has been working over the summer. The hike in was a gentle three mile gravel road running alongside Opal Creek. The Ancient Forest Center is the site of a small company mining town. All of the buildings are either vintage or have been faithfully constructed to mimic the style.
Looking down at Opal Creek from the road/trail.
Crossing one of several bridges on the way to Jawbone Flats.
The whole Opal Creek watershed is populated with old growth timber. Even with sawmills operating along the creek they never cut down the trees.
The pools are all so very blue-green. Like opals!
A pretty waterfall along the trail.
Megan and Emily taking in the view.
Coming into Jawbone Flats.
Lots of old cars were abandoned in town.
Old mining equipment.
Bobby’s house. An old miner’s shack that he had all to himself.
Other miners shacks.
Main street.
Battle Axe Creek runs through the middle of town.
The powerhouse for the Ancient Forest Center.
Old mining equipment.
Fire truck.
The boneyard.
An old gravel processing operation.
Crossing over Opal Creek.
Opal Pool. Bobby measured the pool to be about 30 or so feet deep.
The bridge over the creek.
Walking up to the top of the bluff.
From the top of the bluff that overlooks the gravel operation.
Looking down river.
The inside of one of the trucks abandoned in the town. Looks like it last drove sometime in the early 80’s.
Another truck missing its floorboards.
This would be a painful ride.
The cluster of cabins where Bobby lives.
A very old car. Notice the rims.
Walking down through town back to the trail.
A big steam engine for driving sawmill equipment.
More steam-powered sawmill equipment.
The boiler for the old sawmill.
Tags: Bobby, Emily S, Hiking, Megan, Mining, Opal Creek, Opal Creek Ancient Forest Center
Emily and I went on a couple of short hikes on plank trails on the north end of Douglas Island. One has to be careful when walking on plank trails. They get super slippery and dangerous when wet. And when is anything dry in southeast Alaska?
A cute little island that is accessible by foot when the tide is low. These 20 foot swings are incredible!
A pond/swamp thing in the forest.
Woods and water.
On an elevated section of the plank path.
Another small pond.
Looking awesome!
Tags: Alaska, Douglas Island, Emily S, Hiking, Juneau, Plank Trails
Emily learned how to ski and snowboard at the Eaglecrest Ski Area on Douglas Island. She taught for many years as well. We visited the ski area in the off season just to check the place out. They might not get much snow but the pow is supposed to be pretty epic.
Emily’s parents got married here when the resort first opened.
Striking a snowboarder pose.
Tags: Alaska, Douglas Island, Eaglecrest, Emily S, Juneau, Skiing, Snowboarding
While visiting the Treadwell Mine we ran into one of Emily’s relatives. He took us up to his cabin in the woods a few miles from the end of the road. To go to town and come home at the end of the day he has to hike. For where he lives though it looks totally worth the walk.
The trail straight up the mountain. It follows an old water pipeline used in the mines.
The view from the house. He has a driving range right off of his front lawn.
A little camera shy.
The cabin. Everything has to be helicoptered in because there is no road to the site.
An old ditch from the mines with a path along it to the neighbor’s place.
The neighbor’s bar.
The neighbor’s house.
The trail down the hill.
Part of the zip line complex.
Emily grew up just a few blocks away from the Treadwell mine complex. The mines of Douglas Island operated at full speed until a disastrous flooding and collapse all but shut down mining in 1917. Much of the equipment was moved across the channel to the mines around Juneau. However, a fair amount still remains. The cyanide and other contaminants also still remain at the site.
The gravel road/path into the complex.
Some big old hunk of steel.
Pilings sticking out of the sand. The sandy beach was created by mine tailings. It’s the only sand beach in this part of Alaska.
Looking straight up through a hole in a decaying building.
The Glory Hole. It goes way, way into the ground. Lots of gold was pulled out of this hole.
A mine shaft filled with water. Someone threw a bunch of scrap metal into it perhaps to keep people from falling too far into the watery depths.
The old hospital or administration building.
The blowout where the sea swept into the mine.
A big motor in the bushes.
The old gold storage facility.
A blown out safe. Nothing was left inside.
Lots of levers to pull!
Another set of pilings for another long-gone pier.
An area contaminated with cyanide. The signs warning people of the risks were taken down when a zip line was built for tourists directly over this contaminated site. I wonder if the cruise ship passengers realize exactly what they are suspended over. The air on the site smelled of cyanide and other nasty chemicals. While the ground might be green, it doesn’t mean it’s save.
A big pipe running through the woods.
Tags: Alaska, Douglas Island, Emily S, Glory Hole, Juneau, Treadwell Mine
On our way back to town after our cabin adventure we stopped at the Shrine of St. Therese. Here are a few photos from around the shrine.
Tags: Alaska, Emily S, Juneau, Shrine of St. Therese
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