Getting Ready For Laughlin

One Day To Go!

The weather on the route looks good so far.

There is a possibility of strong winds tomorrow but it should taper off by Thursday morning.

The temperatures shown are predicated on a 7:00 AM departure from Jeff's house in La Mirada.

At the weekend I was practicing for the the time in Laughlin.

I think that we will have a great time.
We have a good group going along for the ride.

Jeff Lidwin, Girvan Nicholl, Frank ?, (Jeff's Buddy and a great guy)
The girls are riding part way and then getting into the car with Kellie.

We will miss Barb and Leon as they cannot make it this year.

Tonight I gassed up the bike, only $4.50 a gallon! Choke!

The tool kit is prepared and packed. The security stuff, lock and cable etc is packed.

The camera and GPS are mounted to the bike.

Tomorrow night it is just last minute checks, oil, tire pressures, billfold etc.

Thursday morning Girvan and Fiona meet up with Anne and me at 6:30 AM ready to rock.

Well as ready as a 65 year old can be ready to rock.

But hey! Mick Jagger is even older that me and he can still rock.

Of course he's not as good looking!

More soon.

Norm

The Next Day

With the broken pieces of the shifter lever, I visited my friend, the world famous welder J.B.

So as a temporary fix the shifter is back


in one piece .

I tell you that guy J.B. knows his stuff.
We are off to Laughlin this weekend so the next beach trip will have to wait until we return.

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Location:HB

Nellie

It Always Ends In Tears!

I started up Nellie on Saturday and decided that Sunday we would go for a spin to the beach.

Just the two of us, me and Nellie.

We got our buckets and spades and put them in a bag with a bottle of water and some cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off. Nothing but the best for Nellie and me.

So after a bit of a spit shine she was ready to go.

I decided that discretion being the better part of valor we would go round the block before setting off to the beach.

No problems, she was running like a top.

So off to the beach we headed. As we made the turn from Springdale to Slater I went to make the upshift and felt that there was something terribly wrong.

No shifter lever could be found!

Knowing that I had shifted up into 2nd as we came down Springdale, I figured that's where it had to be.

We turned around in 2nd gear and headed back to to look for the missing part.

The wayward part was soon spotted in the middle of the street.

I turned off Nellie and was walking to the part as a car was approaching. I waited with bated breath! Now as any of you who have driven on Springdale know, it is wider that most freeways in Europe.

However, this numb-skull managed to hit the lever!

I retrieved the two pieces and walked back to Nellie.

Having turned off the motor with 2nd gear selected there was no way to restart.

Unlike most modern bikes you cannot kickstart with the clutch pulled in.

So with the broken end of the lever I got her back into neutral and fired her up.

With the clutch in, I got first gear by hand with the broken end.

Then with the broken lever in my pocket, we limped home in 1st gear.

All was well and Madame helped push Nellie back up into the yard.

No problem I thought, I'll just go to Draganfly and order a new part.

When the error message "Part Not Found" was returned my heart sank.

Now I have to wait until Tuesday for a response from Draganfly.

Because as you know those Europeans have another day off on Monday.

Happy Easter, Ill keep you posted on the progress.

Ciao Bella, from Norm & Nellie

Seal Beach Run / Walk

Getting Better With Age!

Norman Cain

Huntington Beach, CA
Bib #: 1717 | 65M

Time: 51:46:00
Pace: 16:36/M
Division: 5K Walk

Overall Place: 285/755 | 37.7%
Age Group: M 65-69
Age Group Place: 4/9 | 44.4%

My best time so far.

The goal for next year is to get below 50 minutes, not exactly the four minute mile but still a challenge. 

I would have done better this year except I got behind this cute chick and could not go past her.







As you can see there was a great turn out, in fact every event was sold out. When I picked up the shirts and bibs they were not accepting any sign ups.