Back in the Saddle - 2/4

Part 2: Shopping & The Testing Process

Now that I have made the decision to get a bike and become a fair weather local rider, I have to go about the task of getting my riding gear and my license.

I started by going to my local bike dealer for a mooch about.  We don't have that many bike dealers in town but my local dealer is a Kawasaki dealer with a good selection.  I walked out of there with an appreciation for Kawasaki adventure bikes, and I managed to get a helmet and gloves

The local bike shop (Elite Powersports of Longmont) pointed me in the direction of a local motorcycle school called ChainReaction.  After a brief email conversation I booked myself in for a two day training course.

As part of the training and because the training is put together by the MSF, I had to take the MSF online course, all 5 hours of it.  

I also paid a visit to the local Cycle Gear store for a jacket and some boots.

This is my gear list:

• Shoei RF1400 Helmet
• Read Tasker Waterproof Boots
• Alpinestars C-1 V2 Windstopper Gloves
• Street & Steel Mission Moto Shirt

I consider this the bare minimum and as the year goes on I will add a better jacket, maybe another pair of boots and more gloves. I may even get another helmet as it never hurts to have a spare helmet.

Back in the Saddle - 1/4

Part 1: Where do I start?

This is my journey to get me riding a bike again.

I love bikes and the time I spent on a bike is one of my favorite memories. It is very hard to ignore the passion and desire for a bike. I could wax lyrical about the feeling of freedom etc, but that is not what this series of posts is about.  Rather this series of posts is about mental health and friendship. Riding a bike again might also have mental health benefits, as I miss the camaraderie and community associated with group activities like riding, bike meets, and other group events.

I last rode over 20 years ago and I know my strength and reflexes are not what they used to be. I used to ride sports bikes but I think now I should ride something a little more sedate. My days of doing 100+mph are definitely best left in the past. 

Here I am sometime in the mid 90s

When I moved from the UK to the US to live, I had to take a driving test in order to get a US drivers license.  What I didn't do, was also take my bike test, (I should have done that) so I do need to take my test.  Many people have told me I can purchase a bike without a license but what you can't do it take a test ride without one!

So what do I need to do in order to get back on a bike?

• buy my riding gear; helmet, boots, gloves and a jacket
• take my bike test
• chose and purchase a bike.

So what are my requirements for a bike?

I do not want to spend too much money, but at the same time I don't want a piece of junk, and as previously mentioned, not a sport bike. A good compromise for me would be a dual sport or adventure bike, probably with a mid size motor as I don't plan on riding long distance, this is more for running about town and short trips.

So the first thing I need to do is arrange my motorcycle training and testing, and to accomplish this I have opted to go with a two day rider training course.

Full Back Tattoo - 6/6

It's been a few weeks since the last tattoo session and the tattoo has healed up.

... and here it is

The color has settled in nicely and it just looks great.  The way Josh put the different depths of black in this makes the ship pop nicely.  And that is it, the process is complete and I have the back tattoo I always wanted!

Full Back Tattoo - 5/6

This weekend saw the final session to complete the tattoo.  This session consisted of adding some color and some additions to deepen the black.  Total session time was 4 hours so that puts us at about 30 hours total tattooing time. For a piece this size this is actually quite quick and is a testament to Joshua's speed and accuracy in his art. 

All it needs now is to heal

The color additions were subtle. Joshua used reds to add depth to the blacks, and a little blue around the bottom of the tattoo where the shoreline is. 

All that is left to do now is to let the tattoo heal and then take some final pics.  The final session (6/6) will be just the photo session I think.

Green is never quite green

One of the things that I learned when sewing was to be very careful with color.  Because I spent a lot of time making military types of equipment, color and color matching was very important.  Take green for example; even if we limit ourselves to four greens you can see they vary considerably. 

This means you can't just mix them, you need to pay attention to which green you are using.  Different military and police branches use different greens. The Army tends to use Olive Drab, the border patrol uses Ranger green etc.  Camp green is a bullshit color used by no one except some cheaply made stuff.

It's even worse with camo patterns as there are so many!  Using the wrong fabric color on a piece can can cause problems.

Nitize

Nitize make some interesting pocket and keychain tools, and I have a fascination with some of these small things, finding them to be very useful for the odd little job here and there.  I recently picked up the Niteize DooHickey to go with my other Doohickey and the Skullkey

Clipkey, KMT-01-R3 & Skull key

I actually don’t carry keychain tools as much as I used to, rather I favor carrying a multi tool or SAK, but I still like to collect them on occasions. 

DoohicKey ClipKey

This little tool has a belt loop or keyring clip, a bottle opener, screwdriver tip, and box cutter/scoring edge and a serrated cutting edge.

I can see limited usage for this too but I don't think it is a tool I would carry frequently

DoohicKey KMT-01-R3

This one, much like the previous tool, has a clip for a belt loop or key ring. The end of the tool is a large flat head screwdriver or small pry perhaps with a bottle opener, small ruler, Box Cutter, and Wrench (1/4", 5/16", and 3/8"). 

The screwdriver could be very useful for opening battery compartments and of course as a screwdriver. As an IT guy I often open battery compartments and sometimes they need a little leverage to get them open.

DoohicKey Skull Key

The skull key has a basic bottle opener, serrated cutting edge and a flat screwdriver/scoring point. It’s a handy device to have on a key chain and can open blister packs, Amazon boxes and could cut various cord types. 

Skull Key

All of these tools are essentially the same, performing limited functions based on form with no real moving parts. They have their uses, and if I did not carry the CRKT KERT I would carry one of these. 

Full back Tattoo - 4/6

Some time has passed, my back healed up and so it's time to go under the needle again. Josh and I worked out a date, and off I went to get the next stage of the tattoo completed.  This comprised of adding the moon, more cloud and finishing the edges of the sides.  There were also some spot touch ups in places.

Makes me look very broad!

This time we did not need to spend so much time tattooing; about 4-5 hours in total. This means we are at about ~26 hours of work so far.  I am very impressed with the results but we still have some work to do. The next session will be to complete the rest of the black as there is some that will need darkening for contrast, and then adding some color.  The color will be subtle, muted and limited; used more for highlighting again to provide contrast. 

Once the next session is complete, I think the tattoo will be completed, so the final session will be once the next session heals and will be to do touch ups if needed.  I must admit this has been quite the experience so far, but I look forward to its completion.  

Gerber Zippers

I have three of these now. I have no idea how that happened, but here they are (see below). The idea is that these can be added to a zip pull as an easy way of carrying a backup blade, driver or light. So how do they hold up?

Light, Drive and Blade

Gerber Zip Blade

I actually really like this little blade. it’s pretty small but it is sharp out of the box and it even locks, which is a nice safety feature. I have no issue with cutting paper, matchsticks etc with it and it can open a blister pack or Amazon box so it works.  As a survival knife its too small but better than using your teeth, and its not too ungainly that it can’t be attached to a zipper pull.

Gerber Zip Driver

The driver on the other hand is not something I would use as a zipper pull. I like the idea of it but it is ungainly and I would not want to put this on a zip pull.  It has a tendency to poke you at all the wrong times, however the driver does work. Like the blade, it is very functional and can be used, but there are other formats of driver that I think make more sense, 

Gerber Zip Light

The light is I think the best of the three in terms of utility. The light is just a press to operate LED light, but it also has a bottle opener and that is what makes this useful. Having this on a jacket zipper pull means you always have a light and can open a beer when sat around the camp fire. perfect.

Conclusion.

I doubt I am going to use these that much, and I doubt I will use the driver at all. However I can say that all three are well made; the light and the blade are well thought out, just not so much where the driver is concerned so as Meatloaf once said; “two out of three ain’t bad”.

With the new year comes a new SAK

As you know I have this ongoing love affair with Victorinox Swiss Army Knives. I recently decided I needed a larger SAK in my EDC pool. Currently I have a Jetsetter, Classic SD and Hunter Pro; there is a lot of difference in size between the Classic SD and the hunter Pro!

It’s so big!

One of the SAKs I relay like is the Compact. It is as the name implies, a compact Swiss Army Knife, having a single blade, and a host of other tools in a compact arrangement.

In all its glory

The knife has the usual SAK tools that you would expect; the bottle opener/screwdriver, scissors and knife. It also has the parcel hook, corkscrew and the scale tools; the tweezers and toothpick. It also sports a pin and an ink pen.

The pin is very useful for resetting routers and other electrical equipment.  This picture also shows the addition of a small screwdriver that fits into the corkscrew. I have several of these and they are good for small repairs to glasses.

I have also added a paracord lanyard to the knife, as the SAKs don’t have pocket clips. I like to use the lanyard to secure the knife to my belt.

And that’s about it for this knife. It will be used for most of the tasks I have been doing with the Classic SD, but the larger knife will feel a little more solid when opening larger boxes and so on. And I am sure I will open a few bottles with that bottle opener which is something you just can’t do with the Classic, 

New Computer Setup

Just recently we moved to a new house and I now have a much larger office. I am always looking for new ways of using the stuff that I have so I decided to make a desk set up using my iPad mini just to see how usable it is and as it turns out, it works quite well.

… and here it is

What we have here is an iPad mini, a small bluetooth keyboard, a phone stand and series 1 Apple pencil.  In the background there is a Polk sound bar that it will connect with via Bluetooth and under the desk is the Polk bass box that goes with the sound bar.  

So it looks cute but is it usable?  

I wondered if a set up like this (minus the sound bar) would work for travel and the answer is absolutely yes.  In fact I am typing this post on this set up with no problems what so ever. I am using the default font size, but if I wanted to I guess I could make the font bigger. 

I like to use the pen like you might use a mouse and I make good use of keyboard shortcuts which helps but frankly I see little difference between using this and my iPad Pro.

I normally run this with the power connected but I don’t have to. I can get a days worth of work out this without power. I wondered if putting the iPad into low power mode would increase the battery life and I am sure it would but I did find that the Bluetooth suffers if you do that. Keyboard and pencil are ok, but audio is unusable.

I should add that I am not a gamer. I use the reminders and notes applications, along with web surfing, and a few apps but nothing that is going to tax the hardware too much. 

Conclusion

I wondered if a set up like this might work for travel and yes it would, obviously without the sound bar! I have a nice Sennheiser headset that will work if I need to make calls, and listen to music, as well as some Apple earbuds. The whole thing packs down pretty small and it only requires one cable, which makes things simple. I hate carrying a ton of cable.  The ipad charge cable will also charge the ear buds and the power brick is nice and small.  I will need to test more, but at the moment I don’t see any reason not to use this especially for travel.