Yahama Midnight Warrior

Someday I will upgrade to a larger motorcycle. It may be a year or 20 years, I don't know. It will depend on when I save enough money and when I find the right deal on the right bike. Until then, I can dream!

So I am going to start posting some bikes that I think are really cool and why. I know ten times more about motorcycles now than I did a few months ago, but I still am clueless regarding specs and general technical good/bad about a bike. Therefore I am posting these based solely on "cool".

Today's highlight is the Yamaha Midnight Warrior, pictured below.




Man this is a hot bike. I love the belt-driven look and the general prowling feel to the bike. I like cruisers but I am not a fan of the Harley look. The problem is so many bikes, even Japanese bikes, look similar to Harleys. My quest for cruiser coolness is satisfied with the 1670cc Warrior, which has a modern look of it's own.

I got to see this beauty up close a few weeks ago. When Stephen and I returned from our first ride to Toquerville, we found that our older brother Mark was in town and had stopped by Stephen's house. He saw our bikes and then called his buddy over who owns a Warrior. It was sleek! My only beef about it was the wide gas tank. I'm just not into the fat-wide look, but you can't really tell that from the profile pictures.

Still, if I found a good deal on a Warrior, you can bet I'd buy it. :)

Ride 2 (Drizzly) - Zion National Park, UT - 6/13/09

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We got to do our Zion ride after all! Stephen got off work earlier than expected, so we met around noon and took off for Zion National Park. We took the same route to Hurricane as before (always avoiding freeways) and then headed up on Route 9 through Virgin, Rockville, Springdale, and finally Zion.

Such beautiful towns to pass through, it was a treat. However, the day was drizzly and those tiny drops STING at 60+ mph. Luckily my helmet has a little drop-down visor that covers the upper portion of my face. Stephen had to resort to tying his headscarf around his face like a bandit. Very imposing, haha. We were glad to see the weather clear up later.

I was very angry at myself because I forgot my camera again. Stephen fortunately had brought his hand-held video camera that can take still shots too, so we were good. He got the idea that he should fasten the camera to his handlebars so he could video the trip through the canyon. We stopped at a convenient store and he bought some duct tape. Here is a picture of Stephen's first attempt at engineering genius (taken with my cell phone).



Notice how it's pointed too low. He later revised his design and angled it higher. We realized after filming that it was angled too high to catch the road, but that actually worked out great for Zion as we were surrounded by towering cliffs. Who wants to watch the road when you have the mountains to film? The video below is just the first 10 minutes of the park, but I'm starting it at the 6 minute mark where it gets more interesting. For those who don't like "black metal" music, I recommend muting the volume (no offense, Stephen...). You can see my helmet in some of the shots and the whole bike during the steeper turns. Later Stephen passed in front so he could get an unobstructed view of the canyon. I loved riding through the mile-long tunnel on a motorcycle! *beep beep*



On our way back home, I had to stop in Virgin for the obligatory photo. Who doesn't do this? How can you not? These two older little Japanese men saw us taking this picture and pulled over because they thought it was so funny they had to take one as well. Comedy is universal.



We again stopped in Toquerville like last week and took a picture of the Victorian house our parents built. They built it when I was an early teen, and I lived in it all through high school. Stephen was just a little tyke at the time.



We took a different route home from Toquerville than last week. We took a northern road that passes by Leeds and Harrisburg. I had no idea those tiny towns had been so developed. Still tiny, but surprising. Then we cut past Quail Creek Lake, pictured below with the bikes. Stephen was amazed at how high the water was... higher than he ever remembered it (probably due to all the rains up north and in the mountains recently). I haven't been to the lake much, so I had no reference point. It was a beautiful scene. The water was a gorgeous turquoise blue and the breeze felt delicious.



Finally to end the ride, we rode to the new Brazilian rodizio restaurant on Sunset. Delicious, but so much meat! Oof, I am feeling the effects today. All in all, this was a perfect ride. Nice weather variations, great sites, beatiful lake. I realized first hand that motorcyclists generally take a lot of stops. Your butt just gets too numb to ride as long as you can drive a car uninterrupted. But that's the beauty of riding... the relaxed trip is the goal, not the destination.

Zion Ride Postponed

Bleh. I was supposed to ride to Zion this weekend with my brother Stephen, but apparently he has to work. Maybe next weekend...

The First Ride! - Toquerville, UT - 6/6/09

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I obtained a Utah "unlimited 650cc+" motorcycle license last Thursday, June 4th, 2009. To kick off my new hobby as a cruiser, I went on my first official ride with my brother Stephen. Stephen had previously let me use his 1400cc Suzuki Boulevard to pass the 650cc+ rider test.

We had planned to go to Zion National Park, but Stephen woke up Saturday morning with some bad cold symptoms. We were going to cancel completely, but as he felt better later in the day we decided to take a short jaunt to our old stomping grounds of Hurricane and Toquerville, UT.

We started the journey by giving my bike an oil change (only has 2200 miles on it, but it's a decade old...). Then we headed out with him in the lead. We took the back way to Hurricane along Telegraph Road in Washington to avoid the freeway. Along the way we wanted to stop at Biker's World in Hurricane but unfortunately it was closed temporarily for construction. So we went on to Toquerville and had a fantastic trip down memory lane. What a beautiful little town. So much has changed yet so much as remained the same. I am hitting myself for not bringing a camera. I won't make that mistake again. Future posts will include photos.

One cool thing about this blog is the use of the maps. I will have a map of the trip in each post and the header of the blog will be the next trip planned. The maps are courtesy of Google.