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Today's tweets are ( behind the cut )

Here are all the YouTube videos of bikes on PassTime that I could find. Enjoy!

( Vroom )

Today's tweets are ( behind the cut )

I think last time I posted here Id finished my trip around Ladakh and the worlds highest motorable passes. I'm moving south now down to Goa but took a detour to travel around Rajasthan, land of the kings. Just about every town has a fort and a Maha Raja. Jaisalmer is at the outer reaches of the state to the far east nearly in Pakistan. Its also in the desert. Its been a major trading town for nearly a thousand years. The fort is 850 years old and is amazing. heres a little vid of the drive up through the gates inside the fort to my guest house.



I also stopped in Pushkar for the camel fair. thousands of camels congregating in the desert every year for this major fair. the gypsie girls are really enticing.


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I nearly got u-turned into on my way into work in the morning yesterday -- but it was a small deal, I stopped, idiot saw me, I got out of Dodge. No adrenaline, just angry.

And then I got left-turned on my way home from work last night.

I'm fine, I didn't go down, but I did have a bit of an off-road excursion avoiding the dildo in the pickup truck.

He was facing me turning left into a road to my right. He was stopped, and then he was inching, and then he was slowly, slowly completing his turn... and by the time I realized it wasn't inching, it was turning, it was way too late for me to touch the brakes so I grooved VERY far right around his front bumper, had a bit of a close encounter with a pile of leaves and underbrush on the side of the road (ttfl for no trees and a hard shoulder right there) before reentering paved territory. Happily he was turning so slowly and steadily -- you know how your brain makes lightning-fast calculations in situations like this? -- that I knew exactly how much space I'd have in front of him when I got there, swerved to put my tire right on the edge of the pavement so that my saddlebag would not bonk off his headlight, and then went into the weeds for a bit...

You know that noise you make, deep in your throat, when you involuntarily suck in air and it kind of rattles your vocal chords? That one. And then the adrenaline shakes.

Rode home kinda wobbly, gave my bike a big hug and had a nice glass of Ardmore. Haven't had a close call like that in years.

:-/

polyanarch, did you write tonight's episode of South Park?

'Cause I'm gonna be pretty hard to convince otherwise.

It was my birthday yesterday (pause for congratulations), and we skived an afternoon off.

Firstly we called over to the mechanic, where perlmonger had managed to leave the car boot cover after he'd cycled over to collect the car, then squeezed the bike into the boot, which was full of stuff for the tip. Then we went to the tip.

Then we drove over to Bath, ate fabulous sausage baguettes from The Sausage Shop, and had a last wander round the shops, purchasing a small metal pail to hold food compost in the kitchen (helpfully labelled "compost"). We currently use a big plastic bowl for this, because Modo, our compost heap, is right at the end of the garden, but when we move it'll be outside the back door, so a small receptacle is ideal, and will take up less worktop space.

We also picked up a funky purple knife complete with sheath, which will be useful for the picnic bag - we plan to be old badgers up there, and take a flask of tea and so forth when we go coast walking. Oh, and an xmyth ornament of a moose reindeer; we have a tradition of buying one a year. I'm very bah humbug about the commercialism of the festering season, but I do like to relax, eat well, see friends, and decorate the house.

After that we went to collect a wooden loft hatch/ladder combo, which I'd scored from eBay. These are usually frighteningly expensive (well, frightening to *me*), but this was a real bargain at 50 quid. Astonishingly, there is no loft access in the house in Hull, and thus there is no insulation either. That's under organisation, and grants mean you can get it done for £75, but there needs to be access to the loft to do it, and we thought we might as well put in a decent ingress/egress method.

We came home via Ikea - we've been looking at second hand kitchens on eBay, but decided that we need to live in it for a while, and so we need to buy some bits and pieces to make it useable. We don't *think* there are any drawers in the units, so we bought a couple of cutlery holders, and a plastic tray affair for holding utensils, and a silicon tray for making small heart-shaped cakes, and a pack of ten hooks, and a cooker hood. That lot came to £35 - I know Ikea can be a pain, but they're fab for stuff like that, and how can anyone make and distribute a cooker hood for £29? Beats me.

Back home for 7, as someone was coming to collect the lawnmower, which was eBay'd, along with a load of other stuff. Then the guilty pleasure of fish'n'chips, some crap TV, and bed at 9.30. How I wish I could shake off the after effects of this bloody hamthrax ...

On Sunday, I attain the SFnally significant age of 42. But Sunday is a bad day for wageslaves to go drinking, and this Saturday is multiply-booked already, so I am doing it on Friday instead. Come join me!

The venue is Zeitgeist in Vauxhall, the best German-beers bar that I know of in London - and generally fairly quiet, as it's a back-streets place. It's at 49-51 Black Prince Rd, London, SE11 6AB; telling bone 020 7840 0426. Nearest Tube or Rail is - duh - Vauxhall; it's a bit less than 10min walk away. Bring an A-Z or something, as it is not that easy to find.

I plan to kick off about 7pm and will be there until the bitter end. Or the lager end, or the kölsch and rauchbier end, according to preference. They may even do cider, I don't know, but I believe the schnapps selection is quite good.

Open to all - do please circulate this or bring along anyone who you think might enjoy it!

There's a Facebook event here if you are that way inclined. I've basically only invited Londoners on FB, not wanting to spam too unduly, but all are welcome!

There will be more drinking in Croydon on Sunday night, and, I hope, at least one big fireworks display on Saturday - so if you can't make Friday but fancy one of those, email me for info.

Thought this was a really well done commercial for us motorcyclists. I love how the perspective seamlessly jumps from person to person as if we were that little angel (or devil) on their shoulder. Can you spot all the "bad"/dangerous behavior? I'm probably guilty of 1/2 of them on my 2 mile trek to work! :(

Today's tweets are ( behind the cut )

I recently bought a new zoom lens and took it to the track this weekend. While the below picture of one of my buddies is out of focus, my hubby insisted I keep it because of the fantastic face drawn on the tape on another rider's headlight ... Anyhow, I thought, "geez that looks super familiar!" and it dawned on my I think I saw a similar photo here, but it was so long ago I don't even think I want to look for it and now I'm super curious.

So if this is you ...



... here's a blurry picture of you!! Um, but really, I might have a few more in my stack of 600 files from that day, and if you want I'd be more than happy to send them to you if you like.

And if I'm crazy then ... well I'm just crazy.

Today's tweets are ( behind the cut )

Careful on your commute home, everybody.

It's the first ride home in the dark for quite a lot of Brain Dead Cagers. Extra vigilance is warranted.

Oh, and swap out your tinted visor for the clear one!

;-)

Thank you!!!
:)

My first high-side!

Coming out of a turn, going no more than ~30mph, my rear tire hit a rock, which slid the rear end 30-40 degrees out of line with the direction of travel. The rock flew out of the way, the rear tire gained traction, bucked me off, and my bike and I went flying in opposite directions, me going ~6ft up in the air. I only know all this because I was riding with a friend who just happened to be watching his rear view mirror as it happened (I didnt black out or anything, I just couldn’t tell what was happening as it was happening).

ATGATT FTW!! A bruise or two on my left side (hard to tell, from my left shoulder to my left hip is achy), but I’m otherwise unharmed. Though I’m kind of worried about whether I’ve bruised a rib or two. Considering going to the doctor tomorrow just to be safe. Could they even do anything for it?

My bike, however, landed upside down and did not fare as well.

The good news? My helmet cam was recording at the time, though the file seems unreadable. I’ll have to play with it a bit to see if I can recover it.

( pictures! )

Today's tweets are ( behind the cut )

Today's tweets are ( behind the cut )

I rode over to a bunch of friends' houses to show off the mask. Got a lot of honks and smiles. I had to ride super careful because cars would suddenly slow. Cops ignored me.

My goodness the Trick-or-Treaters are early this year!

Anyway, kitten arithmetic for today:
Kittens + wet garden = house full of baby slugs
YUK!!

You really want to know what's going on.
And yet you don't, in case it's not what you're hoping for.
You really want to trust that people will do what they've said they will.
But you doubt that you're worth it to them.
You wish that they would be brave enough to take a risk for you.
Or, if they're not, be brave enough to admit it to you.
You're frightened of the truth, but can't bear the silence.