I'm not Irish but I was LUCKY last Saturday June 18, 2011.And this was my last post about riding..for now.

Gear and luck saved me last Saturday. I think God might've had something to do with it as well.

On a mountain recreational road that is about 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 lanes wide TOTAL (vs 2 lanes wide, so this width wasn't enough for 2 cars & a VERY close fit for a bike and a car), no dividing yellow line. I was riding with a group of 6, was number 5 and tailgunning. I had a nice lean going (cruiser lean, not sportbike lean) and was about 2-3 feet max from the side of the mountain (which was on my right), so I'm coming around a curve about 20 mph (as per the rider of the bike behind me said) & Iwas surprised & shocked to see a car coming out from the shoulder on the other side of the road towards the middle of the road. He wasn't in the middle YET, just kinda aiming for it. His wife later explained that they thought all the bikes had gone by (he had pulled over to let the other 4 in front of me go by) so he pulled back out into the road. Shocked me out of my lean, and you KNOW that bikes go where you look!

Yup, I went right into his side. The side of my bike went into the side of HIS car. I guess the engine guard's highway peg bracket (the hwy pegs were folded in) caught the poor guy's car door and did a can-opener type thing to his car and spun my bike around me.

I remember seeing myself going towards his car, I remember hitting, I remember yelping, and the next thing I remember is ending up in the middle of the road, just SITTING in the middle of the road. No road rash, no sliding on any body part, just... quietly....sitting. And a bit of bleeding from my mouth.

I had on my chaps, jacket with kevlar elbows and shoulders, EMT steel-toed over-the-ankle boots, & full face helmet which fit well (I had on a kerchief wrapped around my forehead like I wrap it for aerobics because I knew I'd be sweating & it made the helmet fit snug-snug If I shook my head, the helmet didn't move).

The bike's engine guard is what really REALLY saved my leg from being crushed and me being airlifted out.

The bike's left hwy peg was ripped off (AGAIN, it was NOT extended, it was folded in, I rarely use 'em), engine guard sides scraped, tank scraped, pipes scraped, L turn signal a little off-kilter', not sure about the right hand one, both mirrors off-kilter, front tire slashed in 2 places, engine guard kinda came in and pushed my floorboard in and up so I couldn't shift with my foot, so the guys took the engine guard off. It seemed fine when I got on it, I checked all the turn signals and brake lights, they were good, so I rode it down about 5-6 miles down to Mt. Baldy village & the lunch site, where AAA took over and took my bike to the local bike hospital. When I rode it down to the lunch site, the bike was kinda aiming for the right, pulling a tad and the handlebars were kind of off-kilter a tad as well, going towards the right.

My injuries were a cut on the gum below my bottom teeth (HOW did that happen? Anyone? Anyone? Something came up between the shell and the padding on the inside and caught my gums. WEIRD.), two lip cuts, and a tiny bruise on the inside of my left calf. Ok, plus some soreness on Sunday, which felt like the muscle soreness you get when you go to the gym and do some serious upper body weight training. Maybe the fact I teach aerobics and DO do weight training had something to do with my body and how it's reacting to the accident.

The bike probably has about a $ grand of work goin' on, after talking to one of the guys here at work.

I SO feel sorry for the guy's car, because even though it was 5 years old, he kept that car PRISTINE. You could TELL.

What else can I say? I'm ONE LUCKY RIDING LADY.
(photos by Sissy Michaud)

04-02-11 Impromptu 422 Ride to the Rock Store

This was thought of on Thursday or so by Stephen and Dan, and since it'd been, oh, about 36 YEARS since I was there on my 125 Honda, I thought this'd be a nice little trip, kinda like a pre-pre ride to August.

The  Rock Store is one of the most famous motorcyclist and biker hangouts in the world. Frequented by moto lovers as well as celebrities and nice people of all types, the Rock Store is an amazing place to get away from the city without going too far. Located along famous Mulholland Highway halfway between Malibu and Calabasas, it's the perfect place to come by bike or by car for breakfast or lunch.

SOMEBODY decided to make a smartass comment about 'did they even HAVE motorcycles or engines or gas back in those days?!' (better watch your back, Mr. 214, better WATCH YOUR BACK) Jackie decided to go with us. SMART move!

EVERYBODY'S admiring Stephen and Sissy's fairing!

5 N/405 N/Lincoln=Hwy 90 to our 1st gas stop Marina  Del Rey. Interestingly, half the gas station was 'Full Serve' and the other half 'Self Serve'. Haven't seen THAT since the late '70's. We parked in the DSW Shoe Store/Marriot pkg lot after getting gas ($4.07/gal) and had to go across the street to the Sport Chalet just to go potty. The Tea Leaf didn't have 'public toilets'. Sheesh. Well, they just missed OUR business!

The pic below shows Colin and Dan having some sort of disagreement - looks like pale(r) face speak with forks, er, I mean forked tongue; "Hey nah - hey nah - hey nah - hey nah"

Now THIS has GOT to be a Christmas Card shot!

Colin having a briefing with everyone and warning about the pedestrians and the bicyclists who think they OWN the city. Ok, so maybe they do...

Jax doin' her Facebook and nic thing.

After going down 500 little itty-bitty streets to PCH, we start on Topanga Canyon Hwy. Dan and Colin are in front of me. (one note-we passed Pacific Ocean Parkway, and I reminded Barry about P.O.P. aka Pacific Ocean Park, back in the 50's and 60's)

We were on Mulholland Hwy between 10:30 and 11 AM-the pics I took had the time stamp on them.

Above, Barry is behind me with Jax on the bax.

Above, Colin right in front, Dan in front of him.

We arrive at the Rock Store! Here's a link http://www.rock-store.com/about.htm

Not the greatest park job in the world, but "that'll do pig, that'll do".

Believe it or not, I think that's actually Ed & Vern (the proprietors) at the table below.

You want fries with that?

Are you sure you can see it, Lynne? HERE, let me MAKE SURE YOU CAN SEE IT!

Rock Store menus. Prices aren't bad at all.

View from the outside patio looking towards the street.

Kinda looks almost exactly like Cook's Corners, huh? They have inside 'dining' and a counter service area as well. It's not as noisy and boisterous as Cook's for sure. Today, anyway.

We HAD to get a GROUP SHOT!!!

We leave full and happy. Food wasn't too bad, not bad at all. I had the patty melt with onion rings. Jackie and her Dadu had the fish and chips. One thing, though-the iced tea and water were refilled, but the sodas were in cans, so no refills. Just FYI. $2 each.
We're on the road and the weather actually looks worse than it was. No rain, just clouds.

We're on Las Virgenes Rd. going towards the 101. Oh, JOY, the 101.

Below is Barry and Jackie, Mike V, Red, then her hubs, then Marge, then Stephen and Sissy.

Also below is Barry and Jax. They were behind me.

You can kinda see that it's Barry, and Jax's head was poking up over his helmet.

Colin going by some of the trees in the hills there.

This tree shot was cool-shows how long these trees have been in these hills and growing.

The last stop-gas up on the other side of the freeway from the Getty off the 405. Jackie's butt is SORE.

Dan is di*king around with his GPS thingy.

Jax the tiny, TINY baby girl is SO tired.

It was a neat, NEAT ride. VERY cool.

PARADE OF FLIGHT NAVAL CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION FEB. 12 2010

It's been requested that post some of the bloomin' pictures I've been taking all along! So here's my first official EVENT/ACTIVITY BLOG POST of 2011-the Naval Flight Centennial on Saturday Feb. 12th at the Naval Air Station Coronado. It's going to take a few days to get the pictures in here because it's been a long time since I fiddled around with this sucker.

If I had KNOWN what a BITCH it would've been to get into that place, I seriously might've reconsidered.
It could've competed as being San Diego's SECOND ZOO.
I did end up TOTALLY HONING my lane splitting skills. It was a question of survival, i.e. would I have survived being in bumper to bumper traffic for 2 hours going into to Coronado Island and 3 hours of bumper to bumper traffic LEAVING Coronado Island?

I'll let the pictures come onto to this first, then give a longer blow-by-blow after the pics; that way, the reader can choose to check out the before, during and after planning, any caveats, stuff like that  AFTER they view the photos.

Ok, here's the GOOD video.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_RQ-4_Global_Hawk (GLOBAL HAWK)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_X-47B (UCAS)