Gophers and Cheese

I've got a good motorcycle trip coming up...  I'll be heading up north to do some riding & fishing with my father.  I'll ride my Sportster and he'll be riding my Road King (I'll let him haul most of the gear). We're going to stay at a place on the Gunflint Trail .  I've never ridden that far north and I haven't fished in over 15 years.  Should be a great time. Bought these stickers from DicE .  At least one will end up somewhere on one of the bikes or my toolbox to commemorate the trip.

I received a request to post this so here you go... More detail on the links below... Thunder Roads Magazine and Guardians of the Children presents Float Rite 's Free Wheelin' Bike Run & Rally August 26 through 28, 2011 Somerset, WI

Just arrived today.  Get yours here .

Here's my last round of pics from "First Thursday" at Dulono's Pizza... Who says you can't tour on a Sportster?  At one point (before I bought my Road King and chopped my Sporty), I had a removable windshield, passenger seat, sissybar, and luggage rack.  It's true!  I know it can be done.  However, I wasn't ever as serious about it as this guy.  Check out what appears to be a homemade hitch setup for pulling a trailer.  This Sportster is set up for serious touring. It would be really funny if he pulls a big twin on the trailer behind him. Here's an interesting bike.  There are a lot of cool details on this aggressive looking bike. It seems like every bike show and bike night I've attended lately I've seen bikes from the guys at Heavy .  This was no exception. This is an interesting shovel.  I don't know whether I like it or not.  I think the paint is what bothers me.  In my opinion, the bike looks much better...

More photos from "First Thursday" at Dulono's Pizza... Here's a nice modern Bonnie. Classic ironhead: I realize the chopped rear fender on my Sporty looks a little odd at certain angles so I don't want to come off as hypocritical but I'm not digging the chopped rear ends on these two bikes.  Your opinion may vary. Here's a really cool Honda Ruckus. There's always a huge sport bike crowd on First Thursday and this over-the-top extended swingarm bike caught my eye.  It had at least 2 video screens among countless other details.  Crazy. I have never seen a bike like this one.  Based on the gas cap, I assume it's a Puch. Something I have seen around town (or at least one that looks just like it) is this covered scooter.  I like the rear window sticker.  You know the owner takes some crap for his/her ride.  It's nice to see him/her giving some attitude back. One more round of bike night pics to come in Part 3...

Last Thursday was First Thursday at Dulono's Pizza in Minneapolis. It's at the corner of Lake and Lyndale in Uptown and I highly recommend checking it out. The weather was great and there was a huge turnout.  These are just a few crowd shots but bikes lined all the nearby streets and alleys. I took the Sportster and found a spot down one of the alleyways. I saw quite a few bikes that I had seen at the Bearded Lady or Full Tilt including this Flying Merkel and rat scooter. Here is a gorgeous Suzuki X-6 Hustler. This bike would not be good for lane splitting: Come back for more pics in Parts 2 & 3...

As promised, here are color versions of the bridge photos I took Thursday night.  Click here for black & whites. I-35W bridge before dark: Intercity Bridge (aka Ford Parkway Bridge): I-35W bridge after dark: The blue lights on the new I-35W bridge look fantastic.

After checking out the bikes at Dulono's last night (pics to come later), I took a ride along the river (on W River Pkwy) and got some nice bridge shots.  I'll post black & whites first, which I really like.  However, the blue lights on the new I-35W bridge are awesome.  I'll post color versions next. Here's the I-35W bridge before it got dark. Further down the road (near Minnehaha Park) is Lock and Dam No.1.  These photos are near the dam looking at Ford Parkway, which crosses the river.  The bridge is called the Intercity Bridge. I followed the road back and got some great photos of the bike in front of the I-35W bridge.  It was nice and dark so the lighting on the bridge really stood out. Check back soon for color versions.  Seriously, the blue light on the I-35W bridge is amazing.