A productive Saturday :=)

NOTE: Read this blog entry if you have insomnia. It is so boring it will put you right to sleep.

I have been feeling a little under the weather the last couple days. Kind of congested, a bit of a cough, etc. So I was not sure if I was going to feel like doing much today.

But I tumbled out of the rack around 5 a.m. today, made some coffee, checked my home and work email and did a little web surfing to get my day going. After several cups of coffee (speaking of which years ago I used to just drink it black but now I like to with the Land O Lakes creamer that is already sweetened with sugar...mmmmm, yummy), I got my day underway with a 75 minute walk around the neighborhoods. We are back on this walking contest at work but our team is not doing as well this time. Anyway...

Then I mowed what passes for a poor excuse for a lawn. This St Augustine grass down here in Florida is like crabgrass back in the midwest..awful stuff.

After that I did some grocery shopping. That was swell as they had Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch on sale 2 for $5 at Winn Dixie. Man I had a big smile on my face after I load that into my cart :=)

When I got home I had a bit to eat for lunch, then went outside and washed both the Griso and the Breva. The neighbor fella (I think he's Australian) has a Harley Davidson V-Rod so he took note of what I was doing and came over to see what in heck kind of bikes I had. He seemed to really like the Guzzis, especially the Breva's 6.2 gallon fuel tank, as his V-Rod has just over a 3 gallon tank.

Later in the afternoon I decided to install a new oil pressure sensor on my Breva. Recently it has been recording some oil pressure faults in the dash diagnostics (these new Guzzis are very modern, with fuel injection, digital displays and built in diagnostics which record faults). So I filed a warranty claim recently for a new oil pressure sensor since I have read that a good number of these have turned out to be faulty and giving incorrect readings.

I cranked on my XM satellite boom box and got some righteous classic rock tunes filling the garage. This is mandatory for setting the mood for working on the Guzzis.

Next, I endeavored to removed the Breva's fuel tank and after that I had access to the airbox (which feeds air to the motor through the air filter) and removed it as well. At that point I could see and access the oil pressure sensor. After disconnecting the electrical lead to the sensor, I unscrewed it with a 22mm open faced wrenched.

Here's a pic of the oil pressure sensor..the copper colored guy there with the black arrow pointing at the black electrical lead on top of it.



With extreme dexterity and alacrity I then threaded the new sensor in finger tight, tightened it down with the aforementioned 22 mm wrench and reconnected the electrical lead.

Then I re-installed the airbox, all the hoses and such and then the fuel tank. This entire procedure took about an hour or maybe a little longer. But it was a lot of fun.

I enjoy working on the bikes. It's nice to be able to work with my hands and with tools, especially when things turn out well. So after everything got reassembled, I fired up the bike and so far no oil pressure sensor errors, so that is good. But prolly now that I wrote this I have jinxed it.

Well, time will tell.

Tonight I plan on watching part of the Indy Racing series race at 8:00 ET. That should be awful keen.

Easter Sunday at Scott and Amor's house

I spent part of Easter Sunday at Scott and Amor's house. Scott's lovely wife Amor fixed a wonderful dinner of ham and mashed potatoes and stuffing and all sorts of great fixings! Plus they gave me a bottle of the very exclusive Barbados hot sauce from near where Amor was born!

I played some putt putt golf and video games with their boys Kurt and Nick...great little rascals (4 and 2 I think). Kurt (4) took to the Guzzi like a fish to water! When I left he even wanted to start it, which he did! He is a natural and I do indeed see him as future Moto Guzzi rider.

Thanks Scott and Amor! (and a special thanks to Scott for filming the video below and adding the Grand Funk musical score!)

Car show in Ocala, Florida

Today I went on a ride on the Guzzi Griso with my friend Andrew (Ducati Monster) to Ocala, Florida to see the antique/hot rod car show. Boy oh boy there were some keen cars there!! Andrew took some swell pics which are posted at his website...

Andrew's pics

Also take a peek at the link below to see the pics I took...

CWPG's pics

Daytona Bike Week....trip reports 'n' pics

A couple of my Guzzi riding friends that came down to go to the Bike Week a few weeks ago wrote trip reports about their adventures....

Gil's Trip Report

Daniel's Trip Report

Malibu, California

Just a little taste of what I'll be seeing in late June (the good Lord willing) as my buddy Stal and I ride our Guzzi Brevas across the good ol' USA to congregate with hundreds of Moto Guzzi riders from around the country and world at the National Rally in Malibu, California. From sea to shining sea...

I finally gave in....

...and got a haircut. I told the lady I wanted it short. I got what I asked for :=)

A day at Sebring International Raceway

Ahhh, where to begin? Last night a few fellas from work and I went to see the Detroit Tigers at the Houston Astros in the Kissimmee area. We got to see exactly one inning before the skies opened and eventually the game was canceled due to rain. So after hanging around the ballpark for a while to let the traffic clear, we all decided to go to BJ's Brewery/Restaurant. We had a couple beers there and left around 10:45.

I got home and to bed around 11:30 and I needed to get up by 5:00 Saturday morning as my friend Andrew scored me a really great ticket to the Sebring International Speedway 12 Hours of Lemans auto race Saturday. This is a race with carious classes of SUPERFAST cars racing in an endurance race from 10 a.m. Saturday to 10 p.m. Saturday. Anyway, I woke up at 3:30 a.m. and have been going on 4 hours of sleep all day.

So I got to Andrew's house at 6 a.m. this morning and we hit the road (me on the Guzzi Breva and Andrew on his Triumph Tiger) toward Sebring, Florida, ~ 115 miles away.

We arrived there at 8 a.m. and loitered around, met our friend Rob and his family there (Rob works for Ford and scored the tickets for Andrew who then gave me one as someone canceled)... :=)

The races started at 10 a.m. and man oh man are these cars FAST and LOUD!!! I quickly had to find some ear plugs to suppress the sounds as it was giving me a headache. Below is a link to some pictures from my day at Sebring :=) Wickedly cool!

SEBRING PICS...CLICK ME!!

Spring training baseball week...UPDATE

Turns out this was a load of fun. Absolutely perfect day for baseball. We also stopped to sightsee the mighty Atlantic Ocean on Vero Beach. After the game we hoofed down Vero Beach for about 3 miles then stopped at a beach bar/grill for dinner before hitting the road home.


Here are some pics on my Kodak album....click me!


Today I have the day off and am traveling with my buddy Scott to Vero Beach to see the Los Angeles Dodgers play the Washington Nationals in a spring training game at Dodgertown.

This is probably my favorite spring training stadium of all the ones I have visited (quite a few). It's a smallish park with great views from every seat. You are very close to the field and the whole park has a great old-time feel to it. Supposed to be a pleasant 78 degree sunny day so it should be a real treat.

Friday night I am heading down to Kissimmee with my friends Mike, Scott and Jim to see the Detroit Tigers play the Houston Astros at Osceola County Stadium. Should be a great bit of fun!

A smattering of thoughts.....

NOTE: As is the case throughout this blog, any picture can be clicked on to enlarge it
I bought a Wahl haircutting package a few weeks ago and have taken to trimming my own hair of late. Just saves me from having to go to a barber so often. Only prollem is I can't really trim the back as I am afraid I will goof up, so I have been just letting that grow a little longer than the rest. I guess one of these days I will have to go back to the barber and get a haircut but for now I will continue to use my keen Wahl clippers.




I saw a spring training baseball game last weekend with my friend Scott and his two boys, Kurt and Nick, while Scott's lovely wife Amor stayed home, had a little time to herself and tended to the household This was their first baseball game and they had a lot of fun.




Monday night I rode up to Daytona to attend the Moto Guzzi gathering at Pantheon Pizza. Lots of Moto Guzzis in town for Bike Week gather here for pizza and chatter each year. I would guess that well over 50 Moto Guzzis were on hand throughout the evening.

Tuesday I took the day off and went to the motorcycle races at Daytona International Speedway. That was a lot of fun, having seen dozens of vintage motorcycles ripping around the racetrack at breakneck speeds.