The Perfect Line

The Perfect Line
A metaphor for how to look at anything.
Well Its getting close to putting the Bike away for the winter so with the possibility of a dry day and
maybe up to 10 Celsius as a high I got the bike out.
Pretty cold first hour or so but breakfast was waiting in a nice warm restaurant  in Perth (Ontario)
with some great company to boot.
The club I belong to "BMW Motorcycle Club of Ottawa" and the "Loonie-Tic BMW Riders of Quinte West"
had planned on a ride around our new Race Track in the area.
www.calabogiemotorsports.com
Also a much loved member of the ManyPause Club, a Past President of the BMW Motorcycle Club
of Ottawa along with his spouse rounded out the group.
The track day was held under the auspices of the BMW Car Club of Ottawa, under the umbrella of
BMW Club Canada.
It was mostly to show people what the track is like up close and a pretty good way to promote track time.
Well we all had two nice laps at a controlled speed by following a club member in his car who is also
a BMW car club member and is connected at the track.
Lap one was nice but by lap two I was seeing how learning about the perfect line would help my
road driving skills.
Then after the track and a lunch break at a favourite location A good friend and I headed home
via a route chosen with some off road sections.

OK who's up first then?

A cloudy but dry day, not bad for track riding.

The picture above and below are my camera but not my finger on the button, if you know you will see I am in them both.If I have to have four wheels, this would be a nice choice
This almost says it all

At the end or beginning of "New Road", another metaphor, who knows?

While on this journey I got to thinking about how a similar an approach was needed to
navigate whatever kind of terrain I was on, back to that perfect line again.
Whether going through a corner at the track or picking my way between some bumpy and
rough conditions it came to the same thing.
And so at the end of "New Road" while taking the last picture here I decided this was
a nice subject to scribe about since again when taking photo's its always about the
perfect line or in this case frame.

You may begin to realize through my blog that photography is another passion of mine,
more about that in later postings.

Four wheels four feet

Well here we are another fun week just flown by.
So much and yet ! what to write this week that will get the minds of readers tingling for another glimpse of "Age not being a barrier"

So its Thanksgiving here in Canada this weekend and I am a day late with my entry this week.
The following pictures will explain why yesterday was occupied.

The Fall colours are well worth another visit and in order to do this my good wife should be included in another of my jaunts into the countryside.
However she does not ride on the back of my motorcycle so the car was dragged into service for this occasion.
The car is not in bad shape and I would like to keep it that way so in order to share a particular location with my wife we left the car at the start of one of my favourite GS rides and walked a fair way down the California Road ( not in California ).

So to the pictures, enjoy !












It was noticeable when walking with my wife just how much I miss even going slowly on my motorcycle.
Ah yes my Camera is a Sony 828 for those who are interested, a great value for money and as I am limited in that department I try to make the most of what I have.

Till the next time then.

This is a Farm !

No surprise today to see so many people having fun in the sun but quite how you might expect.
I went to observe something I used to do when much younger and am looking at getting back into.
As I have never given up motorcycling since my first bike in 1959 I think its doable.
This is about a little known (in North a America) but traditional form of motorcycling."Trial Riding"and is perpetuated by a group of older guys generally on older machines.
Not the modern trials you may see in arenas and sometimes shown in large shopping malls.
Bikes hopping over barrels and up a multitude of over sized Lego type blocks etc.

This style of trial is partaken of in the open countryside and contrary to what you may think is not necessarily noisy to a point of annoyance.

However I do not want to spend this time with a diatribe about the sport just an intro leading to my theme about how age is not a barrier and what is going on in society to show this.

Although a few of the participants today were young and some very young most were over 40 and some over 60.

Now for the pictures taken on what used to be a farm in the good old days!
Enjoy as I did the Fall weather and some serious adrenalin, old style.

A bike similar to the one I rode in the early sixties as an apprentice going to work in London UK.

Looking good so far

OOPS

What a nice day in the country.

One of the youger entries.

Smile for the camera.OK then.Ah so this is next, maybe I should walk through first.

Section 10 and its all over for the day, time for a brew maybe.

All loaded up and ready for the drive home.

Not before one last look at the much cared for old farm house on the hill.

Thanks for the hospitality David.

I hope this gives a little picture of this sport now and maybe want to investigate further just what else "The Recycled Teenager" gets up to when not at home.

Oh yes retirement is not an issue since I retired at birth :-))

Promise it will not be motorcycles next week, OK.

Two Legs and Two Wheels in Two Days

So this weekend turned out to be on my motorcycle (2000 BMW 1150GS).
How did this happen! well I was Kitesurfing a couple of weeks ago and after I got home my left knee started acting up and then became real pain. I think it may have happened when I was unceremoniously lofted by a gust! It is getting better finally hence the bike rides.
So back to this weekend the BMW club I belong to has a mystery ride this time of year and it was supposed to be on Saturday but when we arrived at the start location it had been canceled due to the possibility of rain.
So four of us headed out regardless of that, in fact only a couple spits descended on us all day.
My knee was well supported in a neoprene support brace and was quite comfortable.
We enjoyed the Fall Colours















and the further north we went the more glorious Mother Nature became.
Sunday of course was the postponed mystery ride so having received permission from "She who shall be obeyed" I was able to participate two days in a row.
Our Lunch location is an old favorite so a picture is worth a thousand words, well that works for the ice cream stop later in the afternoon as well.


The Swiss Inn



No not the Swiss Miss but close, our fearless leader Michel with his PINK ice-cream.

I shall say no more till next time.

My First Post

What I want to convey is my reason for blogging.
I have a number of interests outside of my work and people often ask about them.
Rather than another website I thought I would give this a try.

So I will put more in my profile and try to put something here once week if time permits.

I hope you will be surprised and pleased to see what can be done with enthusiasm.

More later when I have got my head around the layout of a blog.