Dendrochronology

- tree-ring dating is the scientific method of dating based on the analysis of patterns of tree rings, also known as growth rings. (via Wikipedia.org)

I like things that last. They become a sign of dependability, and involuntarily, become a living chronicle of one's ownership of them.

Take for example my car above - my 1998 Mazda 626 I've long dubbed Champagne for its color, which was inherently more appealing than the color's official name (driftwood). It was not my first car, and it isn't the last or latest of vehicles I've owned, but it is the one that I've held the longest ownership of. I didn't even purchase or pick it out myself; as with a lot of things in my youth, the car was a hand-me-down from my brother who used to own it, up until he finished his Naval service and bought himself his dream car (2000 Honda Prelude Type SH). But I did make it my own, and even through burning out its first transmission and replacing it, the car has yet to leave me stranded on the side of the road. Ever.

Over 200,000 miles of my life are proudly displayed in its odometer. And still counting.

If memory serves me correctly, the two photos above of the same car were taken around a decade apart. That means I'm barely out of my teens and into my 20's in the photo on top, and now out of my 20's and into my 30's in the photo on the bottom.

A lot can be surmised just by looking at my car's growth rings between the two photos. The car has looked its best, and every year only serves to add some more wear and tear. But each and every one of them is simply a growth ring - it's tree-ring - to remind me time and time again of what we've gone through.

I'm not a car guy by any means, and truth be told, all the modifications I did to my car early on in my ownership of it were more "foibles of my youth" rather than a testament to being a car-afficionado. But how can you not appreciate an otherwise inanimate object that has literally AND figuratively carried you and your family for most of your life?

Champagne has more than paid for herself, and if the day were to come that I can no longer drive her, I will be heartbroken but understandably proud of how far she has carried me through. However, if she treks on for perhaps another decade, perhaps another quarter of a million miles, long enough for me to perhaps teach my daughter how to drive for the very first time...

...I would truly be at a loss for words then of how grateful I'll be of this car's dependability and perpetual service.

Speaking of California...

Between Saturday and Sunday this past weekend:

Hike the Central Coast one afternoon, snowboard the Sierras twenty four hours later. I'm not a California-snob by any means, but I do love California. :)

America the Beautiful, California the Breath-Taking

Europe gets a number of motorcycles that America will never see, and they also have roads that as a motorcyclist, can make you feel like you're winding through heaven on Earth. However, you are subject to the fickle European weather, marked by copious amounts of rain and cold throughout the year. A bit of generalization? Maybe, but not too far off I would imagine. Couple that with their tiered licensing system that has you work your way up to the motorcycle of your desires, and it comes to light how good we have it in this side of the planet.

Not every motorcyclist can find paradise like this for their backyard.

As a motorcyclist, I really firmly believe that if you reside in Northern California, then you're home. Virtually year-round of riding available through some of the most gorgeous sceneries in varieties of landscapes; from the ethereal Pacific coastline, through dense Redwood forests, and into the rolling hills of the valleys. And as ill-advised we may have of a licensing system, and the fact that any kid can go into a motorcycle dealer and buy the best and fastest motorcycle available for road use, there is no limit to how and when we can live the life that a motorcyclist only dreams of.

That we can have a choice between toys like these without restriction...
the rest of the world can only be so lucky.

When you're living any motorcyclist's dream life, you never really dream of living anywhere else. :)

First Time, First Place

"Hey! Let's do kart racing!"

Said Trung to me and the rest of our group on our way home back from a day of snowboarding about a couple of weeks ago, and so I was tasked to set up the shindig.



The venue turned out to be K1 Speed over in Santa Clara for their Grand Prix option, which included a Practice Session, Qualifying Session, then the Final Race. Practice and Qualifying were useful to us, since all but one of us (Rob) had never done kart racing before, let alone the track. There were supposed to be eight of us, but the 8th one had to drop off at the last minute, and so the roster was myself, Trung, Rob, Jairo, Lili, Sean, and Jeanette. Since K1 Speed required a minimum 8 drivers for the group package, we all split the cost of the 8th driver among us, which all went to a gift card for future use anyway. K1 Speed provided trophies to the Top Three finishers, and so we decided that whoever won would also get the $60 gift card we all pooled into. It was the perfect plan.

Practice and Qualifying went. I didn't know about everybody, but I was having a horrid time in retrospect. Before Practice, one of the grid crews gave me some advice; "Don't use your brakes, just let off the accelerator to slow down and go through the turns then gas it out. If you use your brakes, you'll spin out." Cool, I thanked him. Went out and tried what he said, but my kart would just understeer through and out of the corners if I was on the throttle. And on two of the tightest turns in the track, it would be impossible to get through them without touching the brakes, unless I wanted to cruise into the corners well before. Not having the latter, since I learned that the race winner is determined by whoever consistently posts fast laps, resulting in the fastest average of lap times. This was regardless of your position out in the track. I finished Practice 4th out of seven.

Qualifying came and I made sure to try and incorporated the brakes, especially at the two hairpins. Lap analysis of my Qualifying session reflected this; my lap graph would spike up practically every other lap as I would spin out trying to use the brakes, losing a lot of time. For all intents and purposes, the Qualifying went way worse than Practice, though somehow I finished 3rd out of seven. Went a step up, but I thought I resigned to the fact that it wasn't going to be my day.

Jairo had topped both Practice and Qualifying, posting the best single lap in each of them as well as one of the top average lap times. We were all fairly certain he had it in the bag.

Then the Final Race.

Somehow the brakes clicked for me, and realized that for the tightest corners in the track, I could steer the cart with the rear by applying the brakes, and somehow I was making the brakes work. I wasn't breaking any lap records so it clearly wasn't the fastest way around the track, but it was fast enough for yesterday's race with my group, and I was able to consistently post the same fast lap times to come out with the fastest average lap time!

Won when it mattered. :)

 I ended up giving the $60 gift card to Jairo anyway; he had paid for Rob's admission that day for some favors Rob did for him, and since he was clearly crestfallen thinking he was "finally going to beat (me) at something," it was the best I can do for the kid.

Hey. There's always next time.

Tentative

Tentative next project on the bike. We may or may not about to get crazy up in here...


Out of all the Honda motorcycles I've seen in person and pictures, only one bike has ever got me excited.

The 2007 Honda RC212V:

Strictly speaking aesthetically, the style and profile of the bike remains to be my most favorite in a motorcycle to date. It's just a badass looking motorcycle, and I think I've narrowed it to its three styling deviations why it's so badass. The first and most obvious one should be the tail, which really is uncommonly short length-wise that it really creates the illusion of a raked-up profile. That tail effectively tips right where the rear axle is, when most bikes conventionally tips further out.

To complement the lack of real estate in the tail though, the second thing that stands out and really lends itself well to the minimalistic tail is the extended rear hugger, only this one is extended far more than most extended huggers extend to (catch that?). Notice how the tip of the hugger angles up? That's to complement the raked up tail fairing. The larger hugger also allows for an extension of the bike's paint scheme well past the upper, mid, lower, and tail fairings.

Last but not least, the swingarm. I mean, just look at the damn thing. Well before Honda slowly switched to the now-common-on-racebikes underbraced swingarm, they ran one of the beefiest and best looking brushed-aluminum-finished swingarm. Just look at that chamfer at the topside - gorgeous!

What does this have to do with my bike?

Well, I'm never going to be able to make it look like that '07 RC212V, but I've always thought that I should be able to take those three things I've noted about the RC212V, and somehow implement it on my bike. I mean, I've effectively beefed up how my swingarm looks by having it gusseted, and having it finished in polished aluminum is a throwback to works swingarms.

So why not fit an oversized/extended rear hugger on it?
Why not swap the tail and subframe out for one with a smaller profile?

I'm already well on my way with the rear hugger.

For awhile there I've gone back and forth over getting a Magical Racing Extended rear hugger:

It's made to fit my bike, and I've seen it on other 02-03 R1's before. Not to mention that my front fender is already a Magical Racing unit. Stylistically though, despite being an extended hugger it always seemed simple to me, and ultimately, not really lending itself well with the lines of the bike, so I have yet to actually pull the trigger on one.


Instead I pulled the trigger on this:

The swingarm pictured is a Harris Performance Superbike swingarm made for my bike (about $4k made and shipped to me!), and the hugger fitted is also a Harris Performance extended hugger made specifically to fit that swingarm. Well I found that hugger being sold by another R1 owner who bought it to use, but never really did and just decided to unload it. At the price that he sold it to me for, I had no problem going for it to see if I can make it work on my OEM swingarm. See, while the HP Superbike swingarm is made to bolt-on to my bike and the OEM wheels, the actual dimensions and profile of the swingarm is substantially different from the OEM swingarm; the bolt hole locations alone are already different on this hugger than my OEM hugger, so some creativity might be needed in trying to make it work. We'll see...


Now, about that short, raked-up tail...

Well, here's a quick sketch of my bike's lines and profile:

AAAaannnd here's a quick sketch of the same, only with the HP superbike hugger and an alternate tail, like say from an Aprilia RSV4:

If I do this, the swapped tail may have to be raked up a bit more depending on how aggressive I want it to look, but I don't think there's any question it can be done. Subframe and tail swaps are not uncommon, and if subframes won't work as a straight-swap or modified swap, who's to say you can't make your own subframe? It's just a matter of cutting and welding (repeated ad nauseum, maybe) by someone who knows what they're doing. Of course that won't be all there is to it; there's the matter of making an undertray work as well as a cover for it, not to mention cutting the taillight wiring to swap as needed as well. Still, like I said, it wouldn't be anything never been done before.

So.

This is what's been milling in my head a lot recently. I've already talked to Rob about the possibility of the tail swap...

More to come. Maybe?

Definitely tentatively.

How 2012 Rocked

What is going to be rocking for many years.

Continually trying to make the best out of a shortcoming.

My American Dream.

Just too much fun!

Yamaha, Laguna Seca, TAAF.

Finding out the true measure
of my friends.

A new workbike.

Working.

She is me. She is on me.

Let's see how 2013 will roll.

How to Hit Three Birds with One Stone

1. Get a tattoo of a name on your hand just like your dear older brother.
2. Make it your daughter's name.
3. Make it your daughter's name as handwritten by your wife.

Collect brownie points for life!