Oops, sorry, Rob et al!
That's what I get for being lazy...
Here goes:
Today, I went out for a long motorcycle ride with some friends. I met with the lead drummer of my lion dance club at his place in Kaimuki, then we went to Cycle City near the airport to meet one of his in-laws who was visiting from Seattle. On the way, another of his friends joined us on the freeway.
When we got to Cycle City, we had some time to kill, since the guy from Seattle hadn't arrived yet to pick up his rental.
Ever feel like a minority? When we got to Cycle City, they were just opening up. I managed to snap a couple pics before the place was flooded with Harleys...
I think Suki-chan was the only Suzuki there.
Once the Seattle guy showed up, he got his rental, passed a quick skills test (rode once around Cycle City's parking lot), and we were off to our 10 am brunch reservation at Cinnamon's in Kailua.
It was a really nice day for a ride today. Cool, with enough cloud cover to keep us from roasting. Dry roads, not much traffic. Too bad about the vog, though...
Gratuitous self-pic:
Terrorizing Kailua:
Parking at Cinnamon's (yes, you have to pay even on Sundays:mecry: ):
We had a hearty, if rather unhealthy breakfast at Cinnamon's (you need to try their Guava Chiffon Pancakes if you haven't yet), and left to go gas up at Chevron. While there, we discovered a very good reason not to buy a former rental bike from Cycle City:
^^^ That's after Greg (the guy from Seattle) put in a quart of 20W-50 at the Kailua Chevron. Before that, the stick was
bone-dry. He ended up putting in 2 quarts total, and placed a rather stern phone call to the CC rental department. The bike had only 4800 miles on it. As I understand it, he got reimbursed for the oil when he returned the bike this afternoon.
Off to the North Shore!
Punaluu:
Riding past Kim Taylor Reece's house:
Pitstop at Polynesian Cultural Center:
Suki was feeling a little self-conscious with all these $20,000 bikes next to her, so she breathed a 400cc sigh of relief when one of the guys had to go home... We continued onward:
Entering beautiful downtown Kahuku:
Sunset Beach, with palm-tree-blocking-my-painstakingly-crafted-shot-from-a-moving-motorcycle goodness:
Waimea Bay:
Gratuitous self-pic riding by Waimea Bay:
And finally, the world-famous Matsumoto Shave Ice:
I had Lychee with Azuki & Ice Cream. It was really good, but quite honestly, I think Waiola Store has the edge. Today's shave ice had a hard crust on the outside. Actually, come to think of it, it was pretty hard-packed all the way thru. I dunno, maybe it was the stress of the huge line wrapping around the outside of the store, but I think the guy packed it down a bit too hard. Waiola's is always soft and fluffy. It's okay... it was a most welcome treat at this point in our ride.
This is where my camera ran out of memory, since I inadvertently shot some movie footage while trying to get my camera out by Kualoa Ranch and used up some space on the memory card. To wrap it up, we went to Dillingham Airfield to watch the skydivers land, then through some crazy H-1 traffic by Pearl City, and followed it up with me getting cut off on Ala Moana Boulevard by some inattentive local ditz in a green Isuzu Rodeo with a vanity plate that reads "RYTEN", then cruising thru Waikiki and finishing up at the Diamond Head lookout where we parted ways. Phew.
When you combine good food, good friends, good weather, and MOTORCYCLES, how can you
not have a great day? I just need to get that Sargent seat upgrade, 'cause my ass was hurtin' like a mutha by the end of the day...
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