The Underground Man

Off to Maryland & Virginia

I head off to Maryland and Virginia to visit and old friend and spend some time in the Shenandoah Mountains. I'm hoping to catch the fall foliage and have timed the trip to make that possible.

My US Forest Service maps show this as the likely time of year for the fall foliage to start to change so I'm hopeful -- especially at the higher elevations. Unfortunately, it has the prospect of being rainy so I'm not sure how many pictures I'll be able to take.

I'll take the Rolleiflex and the Leica because I should be spending some time in downtown Baltimore's inner harbor area (I hope to visit the USS Constitution there) and there may be the opportunity for some street photography.

I love fall..

Got into work quite early this am 'cause I drove down from my parent's farm (1.5 hrs north). Dawn just happening as I parked. The Microsoft campus has a ton of maple trees on it - very beautiful right now..

They are all shedding their leaves and mounds of them were strewn across the walkways. Reminded me all of a sudden of my childhood in eastern Canada and the joy I felt at the start of the school year.

Lots of interesting things were going to happen and we would make art in class every day..

Where has that enjoyment of every day gone I wonder?

The goodness of a thing..

"The test of the goodness of a thing is its fitness for use. If it fails on this first test, no amount of ornamentation or finish will make it better; it will only become more expensive and more foolish."

- author unknown

Archimedes was right!

I should have gone to MIT for at least a little while. I suppose it's not too late.

I wonder if I could take their courses over the Web.

Fascinating stuff.

One of these..

One of these bikes is in my future.

I had the opportunity to ride the 2003 model the other day while test riding other bikes. I had ridden the ST2, and the Triumph Speed Triple the same day. I just didn't like the inherently-unbalanced motor of the ST2. Tons of torque but I found the vibration too distressing. Perhaps because I've always associated that vibration with a motor about to blow up (I've had a few of those in five years of racing).

But taking the 749 out was just a joy. I didn't find the riding position terribly onerous - though I will probably have to take up yoga soon if I buy one. My only real knocks on the bike were: the mirrors are crap, just need to be thrown away. Couldn't see anything behind me at all other than my elbows. The seat was hardly padded (as one might expect in a race replica) but I found the "heater" built into it a real surprise. Basically, the bikes exhaust curls up under the seat, shedding waste heat into the seat pan and your left calf.

I could easily see putting a heat wrap on the exhaust and maybe some shielding under the seat (though a thicker Sargent seat would probably do a great job as well).

The 748 (it's immediate predecessor which I'm also considering) had some issues with the rocker arms flaking off their coating but the motor seems to have an otherwise enviable reputation for reliability.

Of course, I'll have to learn to adjust the valves myself. No way I'm going to pay the more than $600 fee for the standard service when there is nothing in there I cannot do myself. Apparently there are videos available on how to do this.. so I'll probably have to buy a bunch of shims. Would be nice to walk through it once with a professional mechanic. Hmmm.. wonder if I can bribe the local shop mechanic to spend a few hours with me after hours to do it?