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For Fuzz, Crud and Dizz –
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I know that I’ve been ranting about the coming of spring lately but now I have my evidence that spring really IS here, at least in NYC. My proof? The neighborhood. If the neighborhood thinks it’s spring, then it really is spring as far as I’m concerned. While at work yesterday afternoon, I get a call from my neighbor telling me that my bike and therefore the entire first floor of my building smells like gas. The only thing that it could’ve been was my leaky fuel tank that I keep on repairing. In an effort to stop all the leaking gas, I purchased another fuel tank but I didn’t install it yet because my last repair seemed to be holding up just find up until now. Little did I know… So I leave work early and rush home to swap tanks. If I didn’t swap tanks, then my bike would have to live outside parked out on the mean streets until I made the switch. This being NYC, the thought of leaving my bike unattended overnight IS NOT a happy thought so instead of enjoying a relaxing evening at home, I got to work. How does the neighborhood know that it’s spring? My meager writing skills can’t begin to describe the phenomenon that takes place. It’s something to be seen and experienced rather than trying to write about it. But try I will… You know it’s spring time in NYC when – Nope, there hasn’t been any huge fire sales on car stereo systems lately, it’s the change in weather. It seems like every other car rolls by blaring some type of obnoxious music (even if it’s good). And in my neighborhood in particular? The characters have started to come out of hibernation. Case in point… Not having the luxury of an indoor workspace like those that live outside of the city, most self sufficient motorcycle owners have to work on their bikes out on the sidewalk (I mentioned as much to my friend Stacy). Not only is this a pain in the ass because you have to run back and forth for tools which end up being strewn all over the sidewalk, but you’re exposed to the weather and everyone walking by. You can’t leave to get a drink or go to the bathroom because something will surely be stolen. Such is the life of the urban motorcyclist and last night was no exception. At this point I’m used to all the neighborhood kids coming around whenever I work on my bike. They like to hang out and watch what I’m doing, they like to handle all the shiny tools and ask all sorts of questions, but when adults start bothering me? I get annoyed pretty quick. My first funny interaction was with a group of guys in a slammed and “pimped” Honda Accord. Me being the savvy fellow that I am, realized that they were Latin Kings (the gang, not actual royalty). You can tell they were Kings by all the yellow bandanas flying all over the place – Latin King – “Yo Poppy, you selling that bike?” My next interaction… Nice urban fellow – “Yo, excuse me, is that you? My next interaction, just a few minutes later while out walking my dog (at this point I just finished working on my bike)… Old drunk lady – “What kind of dog is that? I want a big ass dog. You know, a fucking big ass dog. Not no little shitzapoo or chihuahua. A big ass dog. I used to have a big ass dog but my mothers girl adopted it instead. Where’s my scratch off ticket?! I Just had it! But your dog is so nice, that’s cause he’s big. Ain’t you big boy? Me – “…” The old drunk lady went on and on in the same vein and kept saying “Bigass dog” for a few blocks before she wandered into the corner bodega. My final interaction for the night? It wasn’t so much an interaction as it was an example of bad manners. But before I get to it, let me just tell you that I did manage to complete the tank swap despite all the distractions. Let me tell you, if I never have to syphon gas again, if I never have to work with bolts upside down in the dark or wrestle with hoses, it’ll be too soon. Syphoning gas – Things come apart – Nothing I hate more than having to swap fuel pumps. Made worse by doing it in the dark without ruining the gasket. Hateful. Once I had the tanks swapped, I put the bike back together. At this point it was already after midnight and I was pretty tired from the long day. I knew I couldn’t sleep unless I knew that the bike and all my work went okay, so I geared up and went for a test ride. Tooling around wringing the bike, I found everything to be 100% okay. No leaks from the new to me tank, no fueling issues, nothing. YAY!! I gas up and head for the local Dunkin Donuts for a quick coffee before I return home and go to bed cause that’s how I roll. While in the parking lot finishing my crappy coffee and thinking about how much work this bike has forced me to do on it, a truck pulls in and and decides to park right next to me. Strange that they should want to park so close to me since the parking lot was desolate but I guess blocking me in made them feel better. It wasn’t that big a deal since I just spun the bike on the sidestand but I found it funny that of all the trucks to block me in and show zero consideration, it was this one –
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, spring IS HERE. The snowy view from the top of 52 looking down into the valley below… still too much snow! I got out later than I would’ve liked yesterday but I got out nonetheless. From NYC heading to points north and west… the roads are free of snow and ice (at least while the sun is out), but there’s plenty of salt, sand, dirt, gravel, frost heaves, and an infinite amount of new potholes to contend with. There’s also all the snow melt and runoff that always seem to live right at the corner’s apex. The cars have cleaned up the roads slightly though. And by cleaned up, I mean their tires have cut a path for you to follow but you’re riding in double track the whole time. In addition to the crappy road conditions, the driving public isn’t used to seeing bikes out on the road (do they ever see us?), and yesterday was no exception… I lost track of how many times I was cut off and almost cut off. So much for loud pipes saving lives… On a more positive note, people seem happy to see bike out and about. At every stop someone told me to enjoy the rest of my ride – “it’s that time of year.” If we have consistent temps above 40° and at least two weeks worth of rain, the roads should be ready ride in about one month. The Magic Loop, the ‘Skills and everything in between are just going to have to wait. Keep in mind though, all the secondary roads are fine and rideable (but for the most part, boring), I’m referring to all the little back twisted roads that hardly anyone knows about It’s been a long winter and it’s felt especially long since I’ve barely ridden at all these past few months as compared to years past. “The tears are welling up in my eyes again That song was running through my head earlier this afternoon while gearing up to go on a few errands on the bike… you’ve got to love Nick Cave. The promise of spring is here and I’ve broken out my new black suede shoes just for the occasion! I’m walking around in a t-shirt and signs of spring are all over Brooklyn right now… cars rolling by with their windows down bumping Biggie (nothing reminds me more of summer in the city than hearing Brooklyn’s own spit hot fire out of passing cars), people driving way too fast and are literally all over the road – in the span of just a few blocks, I witnessed 1 accident and 3 near accidents, one of the near misses ended up driving down a crowded sidewalk in order to avoid the collision. And one last reminder that spring is around the bend? Hearing popo’s sing song call of “WHOOP WHOOP!!” everywhere I go. As I pull up to my local motorcycle shop this afternoon, I was a bit surprised to find several riders milling about. Apparently they thought it was spring too. I was there to get my bike “inspected” since my sticker is now out of date. I say inspected with quotes because this particular shop isn’t very diligent when it comes to inspecting the bike. As long as your brake and head lights work, you’ll get your sticker. I find this to be very convenient. While waiting for my inspection guy to wrap up the paperwork, my bike drew a small crowd of homeboys wondering exactly what kind of bike my bike was. I guess they didn’t know that Honda once produced a liter sized twin sportbike bike before. As I told them about it, they all jumped backed when I started it because they didn’t expect quite as loud of a bark from the rumbling exhaust. Blown away by the exhaust note (literally and figuratively), they went into the dealer to inquire about buying one. Sorry gents, Honda cut the RC from their line up a few model years ago. You can find them used online but chrome will cost you extra But back to that Nick Cave song “Hallelujah”… as morbid as the lyrics are, I can’t help but think somewhere in my head I found it appropriate because dammit, HALLELUJAH!! SPRING IS HERE!! Due to the snow storm that dumped more than a foot of snow in the tri-state area 24hrs before the start of the event, the RMC had no choice but to cancel this year’s CMR. According to Dick Robert’s the RMC’s road captain, there were several road closures along with multiple down trees. So instead of staying out all night trying to navigate my way through the land of the headless horseman, I stayed home and instead. In honor of the last snow storm of the year (finger crossed), here’s a picutre of the accumulation on my back porch, aka the fire escape outside my bedroom window –
herb garden - And here’s my neighbor’s husky (too cute) – |
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