Motorcycle saddle bag update

Well as I mention a post or two back one of the bolts had backed out of my left hand side bag.

Due to my bad luck lately I have not got around to fixing it. Until today that is…truth is I have been so sick either with the leg or now this cold stuff I now have, I have not been out of the house much. My idea was this would be a simple fix and would let me get a little fresh air. Simple fix YES, almost killed me YES, ok let me explain…my lack of movement for the last week has weaken me beyond belief. I not kidding, it took me all of fifteen minutes to do, but found myself soaked in sweat. I got to get back outside starting tomorrow, my fever is gone but congestion is still hanging on.

Ok enough about that…I thought I would snap a few photos as I went along on the process of tighten the one bolt. Turns out to get to the bolt you have to remove the saddle bag
The saddle bag is held to the mount with four star head screws,

easy to get to…

Once removed the bag comes right off, I was amazed at how heavy duty the saddle bag mount was,

it looks like it could hold an elephant. Look close and you can see the bolt that had backed out,

I also noticed it was one of two bolts that hold the left side of the back rest on also…I’m sure the wife will be happy to hear that, since she loves to lean back on the backrest during rides. Ha-ha.

A few quick turns of the socket wrench and the bolt was back in place

and yea I checked the other ones while I was there. Then I put everything back together in reverse…DONE!!!

A few people have asked me what do you carry around in the bags, so I thought I would take this time to tell them. I use the left side for my cold weather gear…tour master gloves, skull mask, neck warmer (very warm) two bungee cords (you never know when you will need them) and my sunglasses kit (I have three different lens) Right side bag not in photo, my rain suit.

Just a quick look at the saddle bag mounting system of a Yamaha V-Star 1100, seems like a little over kill to me, but at least I feel sure the bags will stay on now.

More to come
Big Al

A run of bad luck

Hmmm where to start, I guess it started with the motorcycle accident

you may remember from my last post…well good news, my leg seems to be doing better I’m off my crutch’s now with just a small limp. I think in another few days I’ll be back to normal.

Then I was off Monday on vacation but started getting bad headache, a few aspirins later and it was gone. Went to work Tuesday headache came back along with some congestion. That night I felt very sick and in bed by 7:00 pm up and down all night with a runny nose.

Got up Wednesday morning feeling very bad…here is where one of those dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t moments. Being the holiday week I knew there would be only one other person working, my buddy and co-worker Ann. Well Ann is kind of a germ fob, hates it’s when people come in to work with fever…well you guessed it I had fever. Well it turned out ok we kept our distance and got the job done.

Then the next big decision to take the 3 hour long car ride with the wife and kids

to the Gosserand’s (wife sisters)

house for thanksgiving, well it was voted for me to stay behind and drive up Thursday if I felt better. Woke up this morning still with fever…looks like thanksgiving is a no-go this year. Tomorrow is a new day, hope everything is back to normal.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

More later
Big AL

Motorcycle accident anyone???

Friday…Wow…not your average Friday. Got up early Friday morning somewhere around 4:00am and drank a couple of cups of coffee

(little did I know this would be the only normal part of the day) as I was getting ready for work I started feeling a little sick to my stomach. Went on to work, but after sitting for awhile I started too feel more ill. I decided to send my boss Randy an email stating I needed to go home for a few hours until I started feeling better…once home, I did start to feel better and around 10:00 am got on my bike and headed back to work.

Then things got crazy

real fast…about one block from my driveway there is a four way intersection with two yield signs…I had the right of way, just as I started to make the turn I looked up and a lady in a cage (car) was in my lane heading right at me. OH NO!!!! I have to admit I never saw her…well here is where things went bad, I hit my brakes (harder than normal) remember I was in a turn already with a car closing in on me at a fast pace. Then it happen…my back tire broke lose and I went into a severe fish tail, as the bike was going down (just out of reflex) I threw my mighty left leg out, to stop the fall…well my friends let me put it to you this way…I might have a mighty left leg, but let me assure you that at 20 miles and hour on a 800 pound bike…well you get the point. Ha-ha.

I did manage to save the bike from a fall…hmmm but at what cost? Well once I got the bike back under control I could see the lady looking at me in amazement, I’m sure it was a site to see, I waved her on her way. Right after that while still in motion I went to put my left foot back on the foot board to shift gears. Hmmm not working (the leg) I was finely able to get my foot up but found I could not shift gears. Something was wrong…I had to limp the bike down the road until I could find a place to turn around, and ride back home in first gear. As I went to step off the bike I learned real quickly the leg would not hold my weight. This meant I had to step off the bike to the right side…try it sometime, not easy.

Well as luck will have it my dad was walking out to his car to go play golf and I told him the story as I limped inside…well dad did what any man would do….FOUR!!!! He left to go play golf.

(It a guy thing you ladies would not understand. Ha-ha.) But before he left he did call in the Calvary…

MOM!! Seconds later mom was in my house babying her son like any good mother should. Ha-ha.

It was soon decided that a hospital visit was needed…sounds good but how to get to the car…I came up with the great idea of using a mop for a crutch…

to my surprise it worked. Once at the hospital

the waiting game begins. After 30 minutes I hear them call my name…this is just to psych you out, they just bring you in a room get your information and ban you like an animal,

then they send you back to the waiting room. 3 hours later I get the call to see the doctor. Then a quick trip to x-ray proved I do have a mighty left leg, no broke bones. The doctors thinking is I may have pulled some ligaments some loritabs were prescribed along with crutches and a monster knee brace.

I also found out that hospital beds were not meant for guys like me, my feet were hanging off at least six inches…ha-ha.

Ok here is the moral to the story…first I have no ill feelings for my neighbor (unlike my wife who want to get a lynch mob together and track her down. Ha-ha)

who ran the yield sign and almost killed me. Why you ask, first it was an accident and second it’s my belief as motorcyclist we need to take extra steps to prevent things like from happing. Truth is I have driven this road so many times I became very lacks in scanning the road ahead of me. I should have seen the car and planned my escape long before this happen. Lesson well learned. I also learned that my very first thought after I realized my leg was hurt…honest truth…DAM…How long will it be until I can ride again?… I realized that day... I am a true biker.
Until next time
Big Al

Day eleven plus motorcycle maintenance

Woke up this morning to a body weight of 290lb, truth is I did not have time to workout yesterday. My baby girl was in a beauty pageant last night and I did not get home till late

(more photos to come soon) diet went great, I’m back on track.

As I mention in my last post I’ve been helping a co-worker David gets his motorcycle license. While we were taking breaks between his practices rides we were looking over my bike and saw a few issues. One of the two bolts that hold my saddle bag on had backed all the way out

plus my rear tire is starting to look bald in the center.

I can’t believe I had not noticed the tire before, but in my defense on a v-star classic bike the rear fender does hang low making the rear tire hard to see unless you’re looking. I got to admit I’ve been slack on giving my bike a good walk around before my rides…I need to make this a weekly routine, daily would not hurt. For you long time riders out there approximately how many miles can you put on a rear tire before its time to replace it??? I got around 7000 miles on mine. Does that sound about right? Let me know.
Big Al

NOTE: I’m going to start adding this note to each of my blog post until the 56 DAY FITNESS COUNTDOWN is over…I’m doing this incase some new readers come on and wonder what the heck is going on…if your lost look to the top left hand corner of the blog page and click on “THE START” under the 56 DAY FITNESS COUNTDOWN (LINKS)…it will explain what’s going or just use it to look at a post you might have missed…oh yea my weight loss will be posted daily just above that…hope this helps.

Day ten Flirting with Disaster

What a title…Ha-ha. I came up with it for two reasons; Reason One, I’ve been pretty bad on my diet the last two days. You know how it is once you go off its really hard to get back on…woke up to a body weight of 291LB. Monday will be a better day, as I am still highly motivated. I’m also considering adding another test to my experiment; I think I need another goal. I was thinking of maybe trying to get my arms back up to size, I have not measured them in quite awhile. At my best I was over 20 inches but never made it to a 21 inch arm. I think a 21 inch arm goal is still possible even at my age…I’d like to give it one more shot…Hmmm I think I’ll measured up in the morning to see where I stand.

Reason two; today I started training a co-worker Big David on how to ride a motorcycle.

Last week we started by printing out the driver license study guide, so this week sometime David can go get his learners permit. We met at the mall today around 2:00pm to let him get in a little practice. David started a little slow,

Yep, only one car in the whole parking lot and David is heading right at it....NOOO!!!!

but it was not long before he was zooming all around the parking lot in first gear.

After awhile we worked on shifting into second and then downshifting again. I got to admit he did great. We also did a lot of starting and stopping along with how to keep the turns tight when turning out into traffic.

Once he gets his permit we will be able to hit the open streets for more training. Incase you are wondering why I think this is flirting with disaster…Well he is learning ON MY BIKE…scary. Oh yea in case your also wondering why David is NOT wearing a helmet…well one was offered to him and he denied it…that’s his first mistake…and it could be a painful one…Ouch!!!

Ride on David!!

Until next time
Big Al

NOTE: I’m going to start adding this note to each of my blog post until the 56 DAY FITNESS COUNTDOWN is over…I’m doing this incase some new readers come on and wonder what the heck is going on…if your lost look to the top left hand corner of the blog page and click on “THE START” under the 56 DAY FITNESS COUNTDOWN (LINKS)…it will explain what’s going or just use it to look at a post you might have missed…oh yea my weight loss will be posted daily just above that…hope this helps.

Day eight & nine kitchen remodel

Sorry for the no post yesterday as I mention in my last post my new microwave came it and it was time to do the dirty and install it. First let’s get to day 8 & 9.

Day eight I weighed in at 288 lb, but I’m sad to say I ate pizza

that night and woke up on day nine still at 288lb…yea I know I was bad…but it happens…back on track this morning getting ready to go to the gym.

Now to the kitchen remodel, it’s been awhile since my last post on it…you may want to refresh yourself of the start of the remodel. I know I had to (just click on the link)

http://bigalscompound.blogspot.com/2009/09/ride-is-no-gosorry.html
Getting the cabinets down over the bar turned out to be a bigger job than I was thinking, heavy, very heavy…I also had to make a run to ACE

to get a baby pry bar

to get the molding lose without breaking it as I would need to reuse it later. The wife and I were the only ones around that day so I had to use my giant brain and come up with a plan to lower the cabinet. Quick search of the Man Cave and out came one of my really big balls (yes I have very big balls...Ha-ha) worked great,

the wife and I got the cabinet down without breaking anything.

Next came the remount,

I had to cut away one of the cabinets to make it fit in its new location…

worked out great. I was by myself by this time so I had to use a ladder and some books as my helper this time.

Then I re-hung the doors to make sure they fit (they did)

I then worked on the soon to be wine rack, and much needed book shelf. Then came replacing all the trim molding.

Now time for the microwave, I had to first remove the existing exhaust fan

over the stove, and then I had to remove the two cabinets above in order to shorten them

so the microwave would fit above the stove. Yea I got it in; I still have to modify the doors to make them fit the new smaller cabinet opening. Next I called in the electrician (hmmm looks a lot like my dad)

yea that right it’s my pop to the rescue…he also help me lift the microwave into its new home. Job well done…we celebrated with a bag of microwave pop-corn.

Oh yea and the stove is next to go…stainless steel stove coming soon.

Till next time
Big Al

NOTE: I’m going to start adding this note to each of my blog post until the 56 DAY FITNESS COUNTDOWN is over…I’m doing this incase some new readers come on and wonder what the heck is going on…if your lost look to the top left hand corner of the blog page and click on “THE START” under the 56 DAY FITNESS COUNTDOWN (LINKS)…it will explain what’s going or just use it to look at a post you might have missed…oh yea my weight loss will be posted daily just above that…hope this helps.

Day seven

Woke up this morning 289lb…AGAIN!!! That’s three days in a row…even after my post yesterday; I got to admit it still bugs me. Ha-ha.

Here’s what I think happen, around 4 or 5 days ago I worked-out my back and shoulders

(large body part, that hold a lot of water) Wednesday I worked legs for the first time in years (sore today, very sore) I think the legs is what is causing me not to lose today. I’m going to the gym tonight and work chest, I hope by Saturday most of the soreness will be over….we’ll see.

To change the subject, as you may remember from a few post back I’m in the middle of a kitchen remodel. Well I’ve been waiting on my new microwave…its here…

Yea, I think? It’s the over the stove type so I think I am going to have to cut my cabinet to make it fit…may be a tough job. Post coming soon.
More later
Big Al

NOTE: I’m going to start adding this note to each of my blog post until the 56 DAY FITNESS COUNTDOWN is over…I’m doing this incase some new readers come on and wonder what the heck is going on…if your lost look to the top left hand corner of the blog page and click on “THE START” under the 56 DAY FITNESS COUNTDOWN (LINKS)…it will explain what’s going or just use it to look at a post you might have missed…oh yea my weight loss will be posted daily just above that…hope this helps.