The Dude Abides

Bling!

2011-01-07T12:48:00.004-07:00

The new rim stickers installed. Thanks Jen!

Extreme Makeover: Motorcycle Edition

2010-11-18T17:12:00.003-07:00

A few pictures of the mostly white KTM.

It's been a pretty busy few days off; went running, did yoga, raked the front yard, organized the shed and garage a little, looked @ new phones, cleaned the house, grocery shopping, waxed two snowboards, and folded laundry. Guitar lesson tonight, then brewing beer tomorrow.

Kingston Peak

2010-07-31T17:26:00.002-06:00

Kingston Peak from Jeremy Smith on Vimeo.

A few minutes of video from a ride today. The contrast is bad in a few places but it was a fun, rocky trail.

Filling up the garage.

2010-06-12T16:09:00.003-06:00

A big brother to keep the little bike company.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
Manufacturer (Make) Yamaha
Model Name FJ 1200
Year 1990
Category(class) Sport-touring

Engine
Engine Capacity (Displacement) 1188 ccm (72.5 cubic inches)
Engine Type inline, 4 cylinders
Bore x Stroke Ø77.0 mm x 63.8 mm (Ø3.03 inches x 2.51 inches)
Bore/Stroke Ratio 1.21
Stroke 4
Valves per Cylinder 4
Timing System DOHC
Cooling System Air

Powertrain
Gearbox 5 speed

Chassis/Suspension/Brakes
Front Brakes Dual disc
Rear Brakes Single disc
Front Tire 120/80-16
Rear Tire 150/80-16

Dimensions
Curb Weight 259 kg (571 lb)
Fuel Capacity 22 litres (5.81 gallons)

Performance
Max Power 130.00 HP (94.9 kW) at 9000 RPM
Torque 70.1 ft/lb at 7000 RPM
Power/Weight Ratio 0.5 Hp/Kg
Top Speed 150 MPH
Acceleration time
0-60 mph 3.5 seconds

...and now it's raining.

The Big Dig- Colorado Style

2010-06-06T07:53:00.004-06:00

My friend Charlie texted me at work last week saying he needed a "laborer" to help with some "demolition work". A typically understated way for him to ask for help removing the concrete floor in his basement along with ten inches of dirt. The "demo" portion consisted of him hiring a couple guys to come saw the slab into 4'x4' sections which we then broke up further with a sledgehammer. The "labor" involved us hauling the concrete out in chunks and the dirt in five gallon buckets. Here are the results.

I have a greater appreciation for the work done by the miners here in Colorado during the Gold Rush days. I spent the better part of two and a half days carrying buckets up and down stairs to and from the basement. The scope of the work that they did is enormous compared to what we did and our working conditions were pretty decent, too.

Charlie owes me huge now....

The New Chair.

2010-04-29T06:53:00.004-06:00

Since I've been playing guitar more lately I've decided that I need something better than a ten year old imitation leather office chair to sit on. I drove around town a bit, but this is what I ended up with.

One Man and a Trailer...

2010-04-01T21:55:00.005-06:00

...or, How to get a couch in the house by yourself in three easy steps!

Step One: Remove patio door.

Step Two: Grunt!

Step Three: Relax.

Extreme Makeover: Bathroom Edition

2010-02-24T11:41:00.002-07:00

The big reveal!

I still have a couple little things to touch up but this installment of the bathroom makeover is pretty much wrapped up.

Great Gray Grout

2010-02-03T11:22:00.002-07:00

Got the grouting done this morning, pretty happy with it. On my computer the grout is a bit lighter in color than in real life.

As with much of this project, grouting started out slowly until I remembered/figured out what I was doing. It's been 7 years since my last tile project. Typing that just made me feel really old. Of course, so did crawling around on the floor for four days. Time for some stretching.

Yesterday on my while my tile was setting up and I wasn't working in the bathroom I went mountain biking and hit the climbing gym. Actually thought I was coming down with a cold when I got home last night. Maybe I overdid it. Feeling just a bit of crud in my chest today so I'm taking it easy the rest of the day.

The Great Belated Bathroom Remodel...

2010-02-02T07:12:00.004-07:00

...only three years in the making!

What started as a week off from work and "just a little painting" in the bathroom, has evolved into a new tile floor and no painting.

I started out taping joints and patching some drywall in the corner:

That was taking a while to dry so I looked around at what else I could fix/demolish, and my gaze fell upon the floor. Marvel at the layers of ugly:

Found some water damage:

Time to shift gears and go full bore at the flooring. New plywood and cement board:

Four or five trips to Home Depot later:

Grouting tomorrow.

Got snow?

2009-10-29T08:26:00.005-06:00

Um, yeah.

Time to go look for the shovel.

Still a little bit of summer left...

2009-09-26T21:04:00.002-06:00

The rain and gray skies (and snow) finally left Colorado, and I made good on my goal of getting the big kayak in the water at least once this year. I've wanted to check out Gross Reservoir for a couple of years and I finally made it!

The freshly snow-covered peaks of the continental divide were visible in the background, but I didn't get them in any pictures.

Paddling today reminded me that I want to take a multi-day trip in the boat some time. The camping gear that I picked up for the motorcycle should be pretty adaptable to the boat. I might have to do something about the kayak seat though...

Riding Caribou.

2009-09-11T14:27:00.004-06:00

No. Not that caribou. Caribou Rd., northwest of Nederland, Co. Here's a vid.
Check out the water crossing at 3:10. I was so focused on the water I didn't see the rocks on the other side until I was across. I didn't do any editing or anything, this is about 18 minutes worth, which is about a third of the whole thing.

Caribou Rd. Pt. 1 from Jeremy Smith on Vimeo.

I also dropped the bike for the first time yesterday, actually more like laid it gently on the ground. I was poking around on a side trail of the Switzerland Trail when I ran out of momentum on a steep loose uphill. I stopped off-balance and just couldn't keep the rubber on the road. Oops!

I went and saw 9 last night. Visually it's excellent, but the story is terrible. Roger Ebert recommended seeing it in the theatre to experience the full visual impact, even that wasn't enough to keep me interested. Blah.

August Update

2009-08-31T08:00:00.005-06:00

Last weekend I got a little motivated (might have something to do with being awake at 4am for no reason)and painted the garage. I didn't want to miss out on any of the garage-painting fun other people were having...

I also got around to getting my trailer registered and plated, so now I can actually use it if I want. I've got a couple things in mind.

I'm planning on hiking Grays and Torreys Peaks this week with some people from work, and had a crazy idea to get the big kayak in the water, too.

(More) Gas for the Baby

2009-07-24T16:49:00.003-06:00

I got a larger gas tank from UPS today, been waiting a while for it. Just in time for the trip. Mounted up pretty easily and looks good so far.

RIP MJ

2009-06-26T14:05:00.001-06:00

Dakan Rd., Rampart Range Colorado

2009-06-25T16:51:00.003-06:00

062509 Dakan Rd, Rampart Range from Jeremy Smith on Vimeo.

Here's a vid of some riding I did today. No editing or music, sorry I'm lazy...

It's hard to see in the vid, but this is almost all uphill in this direction. There is a gigantic boulder on the left side of the trail @ 5:43, I got my KLR stuck in the snow there last October.

Camping in Colorado.

2009-06-25T15:47:00.003-06:00

A few pics from camping last weekend.

The boys checking out the horseshoe setup.
Any leftovers around the campfire?
The campsite.

There were six humans and 4 canines, a good ratio. Burgers, banana boats, and beer. A nice way to spend a Friday night. We'll have to do it again soon.

Fabrication Project

2009-06-12T14:05:00.006-06:00

A little something I'm working on to fix the problem created by making my bike taller with the new wheels.

Introducing: The Adjustable Sidestand.

I scoured a couple local hardware stores for the correct diameter pipe to fit over the exsisting sidestand. I ended up grinding off just a bit more than the paint all the way around my stand to make it fit. I may have to grind or sand a hair more off to allow me to repaint it.

A couple of cuts and a few holes and it's off to OG for some welding.

The bike is temporarily resting on a custom made block of wood, drilled and painted for a stock look.

The finished product will have two settings, low and high, to accomodate both of my sets of wheels.

Wednesday, June 10

2009-06-10T10:16:00.005-06:00

It's been raining here a lot lately, but that 's been good for my new clover. Also good for the weeds in the yard, it's looking much greener than usual.

I finally got my dirt wheels on the WRX. I've been able to take it around town a little bit, but have yet to take it off-road due to work and weather. Hopefully soon.

I also need to find a day with good weather to work on the painting on the garage.

Everybody's painting...

2009-05-23T14:17:00.006-06:00

I'm finally getting around to painting the garage in response to putting the new garage door in, and finishing the shed, which got partially painted a few months ago but never finished. I've primered the trim on both buildings but now it's looking a little like it might rain so I'm waiting for the opportune moment to do the real deal on the trim. I'm also thinking I might tackle painting the two sides of the garage that are in my yard. I've got enough left over paint from the shed to do the garage the same color. The side that faces the alley gets graffiti'ed occasionally and repainted some neutral color by the city, so I'm not going to bother with it, and the side in the neighbors yard is already some sand/yellow color that i just don't care about. I'm not totally sold on the tan color for the shed, but I have the paint and the time, and it will be interesting to have both buildings match!

The boys helping.

Everybody loves a squeaky ball with (dirty!) feet!

Volunteering hurts.

2009-05-22T07:07:00.006-06:00

I spent the day yesterday working in somebody else's yard with Habitat for Humanity. We were doing the landscaping on a duplex they are just finishing in a suburb of Denver called Commerce City. It appears that Commerce City is serious about keeping things green as the plan called for somewhere in the neighborhood of 9 trees and 100 plants and shrubs on the lot for this duplex. Maybe our landscape architect is getting a kickback from the nusery? The Habitat staff were totally boggled by the amount of plants. Good thing an irrigation system was mandatory, otherwise the homeowners would have a full time job moving sprinklers around. It looked really nice when we were finished, and the sod was supposed to arrive today. After 7 hours of using this:
this:

and this:

my arms were about ready to fall off. But, I did meet some cool people and we didn't get rained on like we were supposed to.

Hooligan update

2009-05-07T18:55:00.003-06:00

O.G. wanted some more pics of the new baby... Here you go. I've already had it apart and done a bunch o' wrenching on it. Airbox mod, AIS removal, added a skid plate.

I also mostly finished laying the stones for the walkway in the yard, maybe a little fine tuning. I've got some little sprouts in the yard from the clover I planted, come on little guys! Gotta go water.

Say hello to.....

2009-05-02T21:36:00.004-06:00

My little friend.Not the best picture, but you get the idea. I sold the KLR today and picked up an '08 Yamaha WR250X from a guy here in town. I got to ride it home in the rain. Now I need to work on getting some off-road wheels for it.

Bike Video

2009-04-18T11:25:00.002-06:00

The video quality seems a little off on this one. I did some editing and perhaps I need to figure out the settings in the editing program I'm using. I couldn't embed the video from Vimeo so I used YouTube.

More shoveling!

2009-04-11T18:48:00.004-06:00

No, it didn't snow here, just me moving more dirt around. I built a ramp for loading motorcycles (or whatever), using some rocks I had for part of the base, and using up two of my three piles of dirt. I've watered it down to compact the dirt, and I'll remove the wood forms in a couple days when it's dry and see if it needs any finishing work. Compare the picture of the yard today with the one from a couple days ago and you will notice a lack of dirt piled up. Shoveling is good exercise too...

P.S. I also realized I was loading my pictures in the "medium" size instead of "large".

Yard work

2009-04-09T20:38:00.004-06:00

It's move-stuff-around-the-yard season here in Denver. In the past I have moved rocks or mulch from one place to another in the yard, this year it's..... Rocks and dirt!!!! Since my yard is hopeless and I don't want to spend much $ on it I rearrange what I have, hoping somehow to make it better, or at least different.

I rerouted the stone path out to the garage to include a path to the shed, but I haven't placed them in the ground, just on the ground for the time being.

I've had a small dirt mound in the yard since I moved in, but the construction of the shed last summer resulted in a second dirt pile. I moved some of the original pile to a new location today, which means it is the third dirt pile in the yard, but it may be home to all of my dirt in the future, or I may fashion a new ramp-like dirt structure to assist in the loading and unloading of motorcycles.

I'm also going to attempt to grow something green in my yard this year. Ha, good one. No, really, I ordered some White Clover, which may grow better than grass in my yard. Spring, and even winter, can be really muddy in my dirt yard, and the dogs come in caked in mud. We'll see what happens....

2009-04-04T18:01:00.003-06:00

Here's a video I put together quickly to check out my new camera. The barrio looks great.

Thank you REI

2009-04-04T10:35:00.003-06:00

I finally got around to using my REI dividend and 20% off coupon for some goodies. I picked up the GoPro HERO Wide digital camera/video camera to record motorcycling and other fun stuff. It records an hour of video to a 2GB SD card that costs about $5, and records for three hours on 2 AAA lithium batteries. I decided on it after seeing it here.

Too bad it's snowing!

The Dude's drive across the plains.

2009-04-04T10:02:00.004-06:00

I took a few pics on the way out to visit the family last week. I took two days to make the drive this time, I'm not sure this was any better than just driving straight through.

My traveling companions and I.

That looks like fun.
Lunch.
Rest stop in Nebraska.
The boys approve of the hotel. Nothing but the finest for them.

Steamboat Pt. II

2009-01-14T15:42:00.006-07:00

Old Guy and I spent a few days this past summer riding our KLR's around Steamboat, Colorado. Here's a trip report about our Buffalo Pass ride.

We headed up a smooth gravel road on the West side of the pass, with hardly any other traffic. As we came to the top there were a few dirtbikes, ATV's, and cars, and some rockier, rutted sections on the road.

O.G. looks awfully suspicious here, don't you think?
The East side of the pass was getting some new gravel in sections, which I wasn't terribly excited about. I was still pretty new to the motorcycle, and loose gravel worried me more than dirt, rocks, water crossings, and mud combined. I guess sand would be bad too.
O.G.taking a self portrait on the East side of the pass.
Taking a break before turning around and heading back over the pass. "What the heck is in this stuff anyway?"
O.G.'s KLR in front of the Buffalo Pass Ranch.

Steamboat Dual Sport

2009-01-10T19:08:00.005-07:00

These pics are from July 29th, 2008 with O.G. up in Steamboat, our final day of riding.

Getting gas in the morning.

Lots of sheep as we headed South and West out of Steamboat.

This is a road we dead-ended on out in the middle of nowhere.

Miles and miles of this.

This is where we turned around and called it a day.

Dunckley Pass.

Almost there

2009-01-09T13:31:00.002-07:00

I took the National Registry exam for my EMT Certification yesterday. I didn't feel too great about it after I finished, but this morning I got an email letting me know I passed. I'm glad that's over.

Summer in January...

2009-01-08T12:17:00.002-07:00

Just another day in Denver in January. Happy New Year to everyone freezing in the Midwest.

Happy New Year Dr. Howard

2009-01-05T20:52:00.003-07:00

Here's to making sure my Vet, Dr. Howard has a Happy New Year. Jake tore his toenail off at the dog park the other day, so we took a trip to the vet to make sure all was ok. The toenail checked out fine, but the vet was concerned that Jake was losing weight. So, one blood test, a chest x-ray, an abdominal ultrasound, (and a few $$$) later, we found nothing wrong with Jakie. My theory is that Maggie's frequent dog park workouts have trimmed him down, and we just need to pump up his diet. Check out the nifty partial haircut.

Crash.......bars

2008-12-26T16:29:00.001-07:00

A little extra protection for the BMW, courtesy of Santa.

Merry Christmas / The house update

2008-12-25T10:12:00.003-07:00

Here are a couple pictures of our decorating and redecorating...

The guest house

2008-12-03T15:03:00.003-07:00

I'm finally getting around to updating the blog with pictures of the shed going up in the back yard. We got it finished just in time, it snowed 3 hours after we finished.

Beer

2008-09-24T21:14:00.003-06:00

Here are a few photos from my ongoing beermaking experiment with Charlie. We are just about to start work on our 4th batch, a Pumpkin Porter just in time for Fall.

2008-09-24T20:39:00.003-06:00

I finally got around to doing the doohicky upgrade on the KLR the other day. The boys were there for support.

Georgia Pass

2008-09-18T20:37:00.005-06:00