Continuing Education

          The angry anvil-topped plume of smoke rose into an otherwise crystal blue sky ten miles south as I rode west along California State Route 60 on the section known as the Moreno Valley Highway. I could see that the fire had started toward the end of my extended afternoon service-call to my friend Brad Parrack’s; the smoke had just risen to the altitude where a southerly wind flattened out the top of the plume to give it the appearance of a mesa towering above Corona. The ashy particulates hadn’t begun to spread around the atmosphere at the time; when I heeled over onto SR 71, formerly known as the Corona Expressway, it put the smoky mesa clearly in my review mirror. The “Objects in mirror are closer then they appear” warning did little to sooth my anxiety though I was glad to have the fire so firmly in the mirror and heading away from it. The memories of my own evacuation and feelings that my home was certainly lost during the Station Fire in 2009 are still fresh enough for us to keep our treasures close at hand and easy to throw in the car and split on a moment’s notice. I’m thankful that the fire was stopped at the end of our street at Goss Canyon.

          I pulled my eyes from the plume of smoke and back to the road to let my thoughts run through the afternoon with Brad. A few days earlier I had posted a query on the Southern California Victory Riders Facebook page about my cupped rear tire. Within minutes this excellent group of riders, or even, this group of excellent riders responded with comments and suggestions. Brad requested photos and offered that he had the perfect tire for me in stock. Upon closer inspection I decided that a tire change was definitely required in face of the upcoming Death Valley Ride that will put around a 1000 miles on the rubber. By the time I came back to FB Jspriders Svc had also offered the same tire but I continued with Brad’s offer since we’d already been talking about it. I appreciate the number of honest and considerate replies and offers.

My VCC on Brad's very cool
Motorcycle floor jack

Brad’s garage is exquisite, especially for me with my garage that would make a hoarder happy. His parts and materials are all stowed neatly away in cabinets to the side with his array of tools stored along the back wall in drawers and a bench seat along the open side, all leaving open floor space for the motorcycle lift and parking for his bikes. The whole process reminded me of days spent with my best of friends, Jim, handing him tools and holding parts steady for work on his VWs. They were wonderful days and I reveled in them this past Saturday as more memories were made in Brad’s garage performing similar tasks for him.

Brad installing the rear wheel

Chaparral Motorsports'
Tire Department

I learned my lesson about keeping proper air pressure in my tires as we estimated that I wasted about 7000 miles on the pair we ended up changing out. The rear was cupped badly; the front worn toward the all-important edges. The two of us struggled mightily with the rear tire to finally get the stubborn chunk of rubber onto the rim. We removed the front wheel and took it over to Chaparral Motorsports to have them mount the new one since this was a last minute add to the day’s workload. (Chaparral might be worthy of a blog post of its own; their tire warehouse is bigger than most other service departments) The struggle with the tire and Brad’s concern over my safety combined to imprint the need for correct air pressure and Sunday I ordered a good gauge from Competition Accessories after having stopped at Cycle Gear and two auto parts stores who only carried what I felt were inferior gauges. Now I will set up my air compressor for easy access to the bike in my challenging garage.

          We, meaning Brad, changed the oil and filter as well and I now feel completely ready for the late spring and early summer rides coming up. Brad pulled out his can of Plexus, a fantastic Plexiglas cleaner, and proceeded to work out some old masking tape marks in my windscreen while we continued to talk as I got suited up for the ride home. (prolly would have helped if I’d worked on the right side of the screen for those tape marks) It is hard to compare the value of the work Brad did, the upgraded condition of my bike, and the camaraderie that we shared. We talked about an array of things while keeping the common ground of biking nearby.

Lessons learned in my continuing education:

• ·       The rider community I’m in is grade A1, «««««
• ·     Brad is an excellent bike mechanic and I hope he gets his dream shop. I’ll go there for sure
• ·       You cannot overvalue keeping your bike in shape
• ·       Vigilance in keeping your bike road-worthy is as critical as being vigilant while on the road
• Fires can happen any time, keep your preparations in order 

Y’all keep the iron side up and the tire pressure in the zone!