Last week we released episode 50 or The Road Show Motorcycle Podcast  

Which means, amazingly, we have been "on-the-air" for almost a year.

At the same time my new album is almost done.  It sort of harkens back to the late great '70's in that it is a concept album chronicling the journey I have been on these last few months.   The songs are modern, but the concept of string a number of disparate elements together to tell a long form story has not been with us for some time.



This is not the album cover but it is a general concept of the feeling of the album.

I have also included an mp3 file of a tune called "Under Stars" which is on of the very different things on this collection.

Most importantly, however is we would like to invite you to the double birthday party, we just don't know when or where yet.....sooo will keep you posted.

Enjoy.

Cameron
www.highslab.com

I know a couple of you have been following along with the progress of the Beemer rebuild.  I have just about completed her brain surgery:  (Rewiring the front panel) and got to put the front fairing on for the first time today.  Just for laughs I threw on a side panel halfway to see what the color scheme would look like...

 

Not too bad....but I think what is really important are the practical spiritual lessons I a learning along the way.

Lesson number 1:  Keep your attention focus on what CAN be done at any given moment.  I can't tell you how many times over the last few days I have been focused on one particular task or area of the bike, only to be thwarted by missing pieces, misfits, etc..

My habitual pattern under such circumstances is to become agitated and start frantically looking for things amid making mistakes and just generally making things worse.   What I am learning is that a more effective way to deal with such problems is to just move  to the things I Can do.   Once I have done that , the missing bolt or the needed insight will appear at precisely the right time.

Now if I could only apply the same principles to my life overall!

I know this doesn't look like much progress but it is a turning point.  The new steering heaed is on an the new front subframe.   As you can see instruments and new parts and being added to the front again and now they are at the proper angle not all pushed out.

The profane part is now I have to transfer BMW's unholy wiring system over...and I do mean unholy..yeee haaa....


As Neil Peart would say, "One little Victory/"

I know this is probably only interesting to me, but it helps me to write about it.

Thanks to Random;s advice I strapped on my metaphorical light saber and went back to work on my giant, two wheeled jigsaw puzzle with a renewed attitiude.   The first task at hand was to remove the front steering apparatus-forks, wheel, handlebars, etc..

In removing the front wheel I found, not really much to my surprise, the front axle was bent.
However Random, I used the force and did not become disheartened. 

This morning I got to break out the the serious metal cutter,  just one short step away from being as cool as blowing something up, and finally got the old steering head out.  Which is really the guts of the issue.

If you notice the two red circle parts  the one on the left is intact...the one on the right is not.  That is a stout piece of metal and that's what i broke flying over the front of the bike.

Be glad to get rid of it.

BMWeerman ...out

I just finished reading Sage Fever's post on Hope and rather than hijacking that post here are my thoughts.

Last week I had the privilege of interviewing Dave Barr at his home.  Barr is a double amputee who holds to Guinness World records for motorcycling...with two prosthetic limbs mind you!  As I was leaving, he pulled me aside and gave me some strong advice "cripple to cripple" as he put it which I could not have heard from anyone else,  Much like one friend of Bill talking to another.  And, it gave me some of my mojo back.

"God"  however you want to frame that concept, puts the things you need in your path when you need them but that assumes you are putting one foot in front of the other in "faith"

(Please excuse the use of the words God and faith as I use them in the same sense as the Big Book of AA..."A God of your own understanding."

To wax even more metaphysical....and hang in there with me for a second I give you the following quote.

In astrophysics and cosmology, dark matter is hypothetical matter of unknown composition that does not emit or reflect enough electromagnetic radiation to be observed directly, but whose presence can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter. According to present observations of structures larger than galaxy-sized as well as Big Bang cosmology, dark matter accounts for the vast majority of mass in the observable universe.

From Wikipedia

I have a friend who believes that dark matter is the energy of God flowing through the universe....hey who am I to argue with that.

What this is all leading up to though is, of course, my motorcycle.  The patient as of today looks like this....





Although I consider myself a somewhat advanced motorcycle mechanic I have never rebuilt a beemer from the sub-frame up and it is a daunting task.  I almost lost hope today, but as Steve said, "To try is to have hope,  so I will keep plugging away.

Thanks Sage and Steve!

BMWeerman....out   (to the garage that is)

These are very early attempts at creating fantasy photgraphs, but I wanted to show them off anyway.



Stratoguitar



Ghostriders

 I know everybody is probably sick about hearing about my motorcycle accident by now. However, the part that gets left out is that the four day ride leading up to that event were great.  I am experimenting with an alternative way of telling the story.  Sort of a semi-comic book form. 

Here is a sample page.  At the bottome of this post is the link to some more pages.  I will be adding them regularly so keep checking back. 

 

Enjoy.

BMWeerman

 

 

 

http://weckerleys.smugmug.c...

 

I got to go on a little adventure today...finally.   I sold a motorcycle magazine the idea of doing a feature on our little known local hero and legend Dave Barr.

Barr is a double amputee having lost both of his legs to a landmine in Angola in 1981.

A lifelong motorcyclist it was not until after losing his legs that Barrs motorcycling adventures really began.  He holds the worlds record for being the only person to ride a Harley Davidson motorcycle around the world.  An 83,000 ,mile trek chronicled in his book, "Riding the Edge."

This is just one of his many accomplishments.   

Yesterday we had the pleasure of driving up to Bodfish and spending a delightfula afternoon with Barr and his family chatting it up and life, the universe, and everything, and drinking South African Tea.

Next week he will be our featured guest on Road Show, but in the meantime here is a short video interview.

 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=586439440842833973