Ferret's slowing down.

[GoldOxide_imp]

Noooo! not can am. This!!!

Incredibly interesting. Nice engine too!

[Dover_MA_imp]

Rocky I really hope you make 90 in good health. That is so awesome.

Thanks LR.

Yea I don't know Bheezy, I wonder too sometimes, then again I see golfers and joggers out the in the rain and cold and know they have the same mental issues I have lol.

Sad news about Sparky (and you too birds). BTW went bird watching at 2 wildlife refuges on the trip and saw lots of cool birds. The one in Dover Mass was fantastic.

Suhawk, getting older takes it's toll. No doubt about that, and many CB 1100 owners are in or approaching the same age category where these issues creep up. Hope you get to ride many days more.

Cormanus...yes it does and I intend to do exactly that.

Bazbro..so sad to read that, but it's sounds like it has been a fantastic ride for you as well. We have to be thankful for the time/miles and rides we did have.

Got in a nice ride today, only 38 miles but about 160 curves lol. The arthritis makes it hard to grip the throttle and then even harder to un-grip and grab the front brake lever. Also makes it hard to hold my thermos, open a jar of pickles, grip a steering wheel (so the Miata won't work.. and I doubt a Can Am would be in my future either lol) etc. My hand was stiff and painful driving the car to the east coast. This is the hand I smashed in a motorcycle wreck in 1968. it's apparently come back to haunt me. If it was the other hand I could pick up a DCT bike. As it is, it makes it kind of hard to ride. Been playing with one of those palm gizmos and that helps some (but makes it hard to get off the gas in some situations)

Talked to the Gastroenterologist this afternoon. He is going to try me on a different medication for 30 days and see if there is any improvement in that area. Also have an appt with the Ortho Doc next week about my knees. LOL

Hey there Ferret - you were in my home town! What are the chances of that? Where'd you go, Noanet Woods? I'm still learning my way around my cb1100ex, bought it new in November and now with 400 miles on her I just did the first oil/filter change. Last ten years I've been riding a '71 BSA 650 Firebird Scrambler. The cb1100 feels more than 50 years newer, that's for sure. My first bike with electric start (yay!), and I'm finally getting used to having the rear brake on the right (wrong) side.

Good luck with your travels, man.

[the Ferret]

Hey we stayed at the Comfort Inn there in Dover, and ate at the steak place there on the main drag. The Wildlife refuge was the Bombay Hook Natl Wildlife Refuge not far from the race track. Traffic rolls pretty fast in that town it seemed, so be careful out there.

Lol I remember learning to shift left and brake right. I rode a 59 sporty and a BSA Rocket 3 750, both of which were backwards shifters. It was going smoothly until someone pulled out in front of me, then it's jam down on the shifter trying to stop lol.

[Bazbro_imp]

"Backwards shifters"?? Sorry Ferret... Dover's got it correct - "...rear brake on the right (wrong) side"!! It's the rest of the world that's "backwards"!!

[Nortoon_imp]

Your BSAs had brakes? Good thing mine Lightnings had a torquey motor to slow them by down shifting. A habit that sticks with me still despite the CBs good brakes. The only time I use the rear brake is downhill on a sandy or gravel roads.

Never had problems with the British placement of the shift lever and rear brake. But my 66 Lightning ended up having a unique shifting pattern. After converting it to a Dunstall styled café racer, I found the rear set shifter I bought to be a piece of junk. So I just mounted the BSA shift lever backwards and used the passenger foot peg. The result was a 1 up and 3 down shifting pattern. Great for drag racing, but a little awkward for emergency stops in a racing crouch.

I often wonder how my motorcycle buddies and I made it through our 20s. "The decade of decadence" as my close friend use to say.

[bflint]

Mr Ferret ... your only 69 ! There is still hope as long as nothing has fallen off. There are a whole bunch of forum friends who are relying on you to stay healthy. So ... see the doctor, eat some veggies and yogurt, and do light stretching/strengthening excercises each day (per a sports rehab clinic) ... and post some more Johnny Cash songs or Bob Dylan if you like.

[LongRanger_imp]

I stopped for breakfast in Granby, CO, on my ride today. A well-dressed elderly gentleman approached as I parked the F800GT. I think he was on his way home from church.

"What a beautiful cycle. Can I ask how much you paid for it?"

"Um, about 14."

"Wow, that's really something. I'm 74 now and stopped riding cycles in 1970."

(I did the math in my head and concluded he quit riding when he was about 25).

"Well, things have really changed since then."

"I'll say. What's that?" he asked, pointing to the enclosed CO2 cartridge bulging from my Helite Turtle airbag vest.

I explained to him what it was and he has dumbstruck. "Heck, in my day, we wore helmets. And blue jeans. That was it."

I got a huge chuckle out of that. I was trying to envision this gentleman as a 20-something astride his Triumph Bonneville, or his CB450, or his Sportster. I couldn't stereotype him, but then again, I think there were fewer stereotypes back then. But I wondered what led him to give up riding at such a young age. Did he lose a buddy? Did he scare himself silly? Did he settle down and have a family? I then thought of Ferret and the pain he's going through of having to possibly curtail his lifestyle, or at least reduce it. It was a stark reminder that life is short and that we need to get out and go do the things we enjoy NOW. Don't wait. Tomorrow is not guaranteed to anyone.

This photo was taken today on CO9 between Kremmling and Silverthorne, CO. That's the 13,500' Gore Range in the background. Vail is on the other side of those peaks.

[suhawk305]

Ditto with that observation and suggestion LR. I am glad I didn’t wait any longer to buy my CB1100. Otherwise, it probably wouldn’t have ever happened.

[Rocky_imp]

Nice post LR

[offroadfx4_imp]

I agree LR!

I think this every time I get on.

Me and another loaded K bike were coming home from the Lebanon, TN rally and while stopped at a busy gas station an elderly man came up and asked, 'I've always admired you guys and I just wondered where you're going to, are you just out riding around?'
We told him we were returning to Indiana from the rally.
He said, ''Well, I just wanted to ask. It's looks like something I always wanted to do but just never did.' Made me sad for him.

Tomorrow, I'm getting up at 5 a.m.to ride 2 hours in what looks like 100% rain to get my 12,000 mi service and new tires so I can leave Saturday in my Canadian Rocky 17 day, 5400 mi trip with 3 other guys....I figure I can rest when I'm dead ;-)