Appeal to moderators for understanding.

[Run&Gun]

I performed my postmortem on the deceased. Thank you, moderators, for leaving evidence. When I read the last page, what went through my mind was what OldCorpse said:



Even if I had not known the thread was locked, I could practically see the key turning.

But wait a minute. Turn back a few pages, and there are politics. The stimulus package. Even OldCorpse goes into a post or two about how we can't trust the CDC anymore, because of the flip-flop on the face masks. Is OldCorpse a hypocrite? In fact am I being a hypocrite? A month ago I started a thread with a very similar title, pleading for more leeway in discussing "politics."

But it did not cross my mind that he was being political. It did not cross my mind that a moderator might be hovering a hand over the Lock button. I think it's because it was not partisan. Both Democrats and Republicans are in favor (this time) of a stimulus package, and neither Democrats nor Republicans are going to publicly defend lying to the American people about face masks. On the other hand, the posts at the end of the thread were about Fox News and Trump and government-funded healthcare. Opinions on those things fall along party lines. Related, some posts seem to criticize whole countries. So that is also partisan: Team A vs. Team B.

Anyway, that's my take. If you want to touch on politics and the coronavirus, it had better be on a non-partisan issue. Even then, there's no guarantee.

Now see, this is where my mind normally goes... I tend to think of "talking politics" in the bad sense, when it is overtly partisan and I'm generally fine if someone brings up "non-partisan" discussions and it's just covering facts and details and isn't getting into the hard left and right, which is generally philosophical and that's where the trouble usually starts.

 

[Barry_Green]

Would a 9,100 mile ride, the circumference of Australia in 14 days qualfy as an Iron Butt ride? Did it ' 71 when 80% of Highway #1 was a dirt road and where 60% of the ride was in over 100 degrees Fahrenheit temps. 750 Honda K1.

Definitely sounds hardcore, but to qualify for the Iron Butt Association it requires a certain number of miles in a certain time period. It also requires documentation in the form of witnesses at the start and stop, and gas station receipts.

What you did sounds a lot tougher than a simple "1,600 km in 24 hours" run!

 

[groveChuck]

I saw the thread train hurtling toward eminent political derailment, and yelled in vain, "Noooo!!!".

Sometimes I'm burned out on the topic, sometimes I want connection with my brothers behind the viewfinder, and I got that on the dearly departed thread. May it rest in peace...

 

[cyvideo]

Definitely sounds hardcore

Back then there was an annual round Aussie competition, I failed, never won. The guy I knew who won and held the record did it in 10 days on an 1100 Yamaha. A run we used to do every year was Sydney to Adelaide for the F1 Grand Prix before it moved to Melbourne. 876 miles Clubhouse to track in just under 10 hours. Across the Hay plains sitting on anywhere between 100-110 mph. Some of us did testing for NGK spark plugs so that they could work out the heat ranges of the plugs they were developing. NGK said there were very few places in the world where engines could be kept virtually WFO in 100 degree temps for so long without changing throttle openings much. No speed limits in those days. Now the max is 70 mph This country blew my mind for motorcycle riding when I first came here. Fantastic weather, sweeping coast roads, snowy mountains to desert. Much like the US but with far less population spread over a similar sized country. Just great cruisin' country. Do these names mean anything to you? Wayne Rainey, Kevin 'lanky' Schwantz, Eddie Lawson and Randy Mamola. When they were out here for the Aussie GP's we used to have Canyon ride days with them (more like race days). If you are a rider you would love this place if for nothing other than riding. In fact there used to be an outfit from the States that used to run club tours. Thirty, forty riders from the States would arrive with their bikes and fully equipped support vehicles. We used to warn them that they had better be ready to pull off the road when they saw a road train coming. Overtaking them was something else Thanks for waking up some great two wheel memories.

Chris Young

 

[patrickbaldwin]

In 1984 I rode from San Benedetto del Tronto in Italy non stop to Manchester in the UK. 27 hours, 1400 miles, 51 mph average but that included waiting for 3 hours for the ferry across the channel. I put £100 in the tank in one day! 28 to the gallon on a Honda VT500. 35 miles from home I stopped at the services to fill up and got asked to fill in a survey by somebody on the forecourt:

How far do you have to go: 35 miles.
Where have you come from: San Benedetto del Tronto
How long is your journey in total: 1400 miles
How long have you been riding: 26 hours.
That is when they looked up from their clipboard. Survey stats completely screwed....

Bike never missed a beat.

Girl friend was very surprised to see me two days early!

I am missing riding my bike now. R1200RT sitting in my mates garage:-(

 

[Paul F]

Holy smokes. You guys are animals. If I tried any of that on my bike, I'd be ... well, I don't know. The longest I've gone without stepping off the bike is 3 hours. At the end of that, I was pretty much locked up on the bike and could hardly move my hands or legs. The old V-twins were never made for long rides. I think they designed them to shake you to pieces so that you go about an hour and then go to a bar.

The longest I've gone is San Francisco area to Durango Colorado (1100 miles) in a nice leisurely 2 days. The scariest part was riding on highway 50 (called the loneliest road in America) in the desert. The desert was solid brown with grasshoppers and so was the road. For 100 miles there was a migration of grasshoppers. The road was solid brown from crushed grasshoppers. I was wondering if I was going to go down from all the slick guts on the road. Crunch, crunch, crunch for 100 miles.

 

[cpreston]

Do your goats lean left or right and is any of them named Tom Brady?

As a current resident of MA, I'm pretty sure that any talk about Tom Brady right now would get me banned from this site for two weeks.

Anyway, here is a clip of me almost getting one of my goats killed while testing out a Black Satin 2 filter on my C500II.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: No media files are hosted on these forums. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website. We can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. If the video does not play, wait a minute or try again later.

I AGREE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRaaU1KVkAc

 

[DLD]

That's so cool. These days, it's a concrete jungle for many of us. But, back in mid-60's, my parents decided to spend our vacation in a farm village, based off a major central European river. We rented a room and had fresh morning eggs and a warm evening milk. The only drawback was that I got chased by chickens, who were vicious and mean. Unlike goats, who are cute and cuddly.

PS. I did not have my C500 MKII with me. Or I'd record my dad throwing up from too much moonshine, that was consumed a country wedding.

 

[cpreston]

That's so cool. These days, it's a concrete jungle for many of us. But, back in mid-60's, my parents decided to spend our vacation in a farm village, based off a major central European river. We rented a room and had fresh morning eggs and a warm evening milk. The only drawback was that I got chased by chickens, who were vicious and mean. Unlike goats, who are cute and cuddly.

PS. I did not have my C500 MKII with me. Or I'd record my dad throwing up from too much moonshine, that was consumed a country wedding.

I just moved out of one of the most densely populated townie suburbs of Boston this past summer. I am grateful every day that I am not stuck in my old triple decker and dealing with the enhanced stay at home orders. As much as I wish I could still be working, I realize that i have it much better than many other people right now. My main concern has always been whether the towns like where I used to live will be able to bounce back from this without some major upheaval.

 

[alaskacameradude]

That's so cool. These days, it's a concrete jungle for many of us.

Recently I was looking up population density stats.
Reading of all the city dwellers fleeing to rural 2nd/vacation
homes to get away from virus ‘hotspots.
California had 250 people per square mile. Texas 150.
Montana and Wyoming (#3 and #2) had 7 and 6 people
per square mile. Alaska? We had almost 1. Not
surprised that we have the fewest cases. Alaska.
Doing social distancing on a regular since it became
a state.

 

[DLD]

Once again, harking back to my youth, my grandparents built a 600 ft sq (anything larger was prohibited) summer cabin in a special subdivision about 15 miles from the capitol. It was in an outer row and, when you walked out through the back gate, you were in a forest. I spent most of my summers there and it's pretty much the only place without a negative afterthought. (I did suffer burns in an unfortunate accident at the age of five) No farm animals were allowed but we did have a micro-sized vegetable and fruit farm on premises that my grandpa planted. It was very much a respite from a very densely packed city.

Where they're indeed having major problems now.