Valkyrie Ran Off With Grandson

After renewing my tags and insurance for another year, I found I still wasn't riding the 'ol Valk.  To reiterate some of my comments from earlier posts, congestion here in central Maryland takes all the fun out of riding a motorcycle for an old fart like myself.

My grandson had expressed an interest in the ol' Valk since he's been without his crotch rocket for almost a year now.  He rode the Valk with me quite a few times when he was younger on day trips and had fond memories of the experiences.

He indicated he'd like to try more of a cruiser type bike as a change.  If you've read my earlier posts under my "Valk Stuff" blog post label, you know that I've been a little derelict in making a decision on what to do with the Valk. 

In this case I decided it made more sense for grandson to take ownership and find out if he really enjoys riding it.  He showed up this morning, we installed his tag, he took a reasonable test ride and after saying a few goodbyes he headed up the road back to his home in Pennsylvania.

He sent a note later that ride home went well with no problems.  I sure hope he can put a few more miles on the ol' Valk than I have recently.

JD, here in the BToS hoping the Valk has a lot of miles left in 'er.

Valk Registration Renewed

The odometer on the Ol'Valk ('01 Honda Valkyrie) shows 14319.5 miles in this foto that was taken at the completion of my last autumnal bike tour with my son in October '07. This blog post describes the Ol'Valk turning over 15000 miles in November 2009. I looked at the odometer earlier this week when I had it out for a short ride and it read 15179 miles.

By my calculations, I rode around 680 miles in the two years from October '07 to November '09. Then over the next two years from November '09 until this week, I rode approximately 179 miles.

Any one can see that I'm just not giving the Ol'Valk her due attention. The last couple of times I had her out she was a bit irritable which cleared up pretty much with the Sta-Bil fuel additive I've been using, but she's still not running really clean. I think it'll take a couple of tanks of gas to come close to cleaning the fuel system out, including all 6 carburetors.

You're probably thinking, "Why doesn't this fool sell that thing while it still runs instead of letting it languish in the garage." Well, I asked myself the same question in September after receiving the 2-year license tag renewal form from the Maryland MVA. I decided I'd spend a little time on her and make a decision whether to sell before the tags expire or to renew the tags.

I finally took action this morning after checking my email. I noticed the tag renewal form on the shelf above the monitor. Maryland MVA has a neat website where you can perform renewals online with a credit card. So I provided the necessary credit card info and the new sticker for the tags should soon be in the mail to keep the Ol'Valk on the road past the October 31 tag expiration date.

The long-term question is; "Will I renew my interest in riding this wonderful 10-year old road warrior?"

Finally made a decision here in The BToS,

JD

PS - Central Maryland is a beautiful area and a fine location with all things good in close proximity. The problem with that is that everybody wants to live and work here; thus increasing tremendously the traffic volume and congestion. Motorcycle riding here in central Maryland has become extremely dangerous and being an old fart of 70, my skills definitely aren't what they were 10 years ago. I'm gonna give it another shot tho and hopefully when the next renewal comes up in two years, I can report the Ol'Valk odometer having a few thousand more miles on her.

PPS - The typical autumnal tour that my son and I used to take was a week and usually was 1500 to 2000 miles. He married in spring 2008 and hasn't been available for tours since and now has a child and a new house that keep him and his wife very busy. The great thing is all the time we spent together on those autumnal bike tours.

Karma, the Valk and the Law

Karma urged me to exercise today, a wonderfully sunny, mid 70s day here in the BToSavage. I thot about it for a while, then decided that Karma really meant for me to get outside and enjoy the sun and exercise the 'feel good' portion of my brain.

It dawned on me that the ol' Valk hadn't been ridden for about a month now. She gets kind of temperamental and runs ragged when she doesn't get out for too long. I was sure the 4 days of cloudy, rainy weather had dulled her senses, probably almost as much as it had dulled my senses.

I walked out on the deck, stood in the sun, then checked the thermometer which read 75 in the shade...I was luvin' it. I had my brownish, red checkered flannel shirt on, so I reset the buttons on my sleeves to the tightest position, snugging them down, tucked my Eddie Bauer T-shirt into my jeans and headed out to the garage.

I thot sure the battery might be a bit low from sitting a while without the Battery Tender connected. But, it fired right up. I rooted thru my saddle bag and swapped my eye glasses for my prescription, eye protecting shades, donned my helmet and headed up the road out of the BToS.

Was gonna top off the gas, but the BP station I use for the bike was closed for pump replacement. Bummer, it's on the right and I can get to it without any left turns. So I headed down the road figuring I had enough fuel to make about 20 miles before switching to reserve, and turned on to Rt 32 east toward 9800 Savage Road, good ol' NSA.

As I was passing in front of the NSA complex pondering my 44 years there, it dawned on me that I was riding on a license tag with an outdated year sticker. The stickers expired 31 Oct 09...bummer, I'm about 5 miles from home and immediately start looking for the LAW. New sticker and registration was laying on top of the fridge in the kitchen. Aaaaagh, bummer.

Made a circle at the 198 exit and headed west on Rt 32 back toward the BToS with my eye on both mirrors checking for the LAW. Traffic was fairly heavy on this road so I hid between a couple of Honda Accords, ain't they wunnerful, until I exited on to Rt 1 south and turned into the BToS at Howard Street. A minute later I was getting off the bike and heading in to get the new sticker.

After affixing the new sticker and putting the new registration in my wallet, I took my gas can and put a couple of gallons into the tank of the ol' Valk which would be able to go about 70 miles on that bit of fuel.

Headed out and put another 35 miles or so on the ol' Valk and Karma was one happy rascal. I could tell because just before I got home I looked down at the odometer and it rolled over showing 15000 miles. That's not a whole lot of miles for an '01 Valk, but they've all been a whole lot of fun altho not quite as exciting as those 7 miles I traveled after realizing I was riding illegally and on the lookout for the LAW. :-)

JD