I had a couple good buddies stop by the tattoo shop yesterday for a little motorcycle rap session

My friend Mikey and our friend Rob , a local tattoo practitioner came by after a nice afternoon ride and we got to hang out for an hour or so and shoot the shit . Rob has a bitchin 1969 BSA that he actually found in a barn in Iowa or some shit like that . He's had it for a few years now and just recently decided to knock the dust off the old girl and get her fired up . It's pretty original , not a chopper or bobber , just a really neat old bike . While we were standing there enjoying the drips of oil that slowly began to appear under his motor , some old dude ( who actually had a grey beard ) stopped on his way into the guitar shop and I knew it was on . He had a twinkle in his eye that said he knew something about something .

It was awesome , he didn't even glance at my bike and turned straight for the BSA and went right into his Q&A with Rob .

Rob's no newbie to bikes or shit that goes fast , for what it's worth . His dad is a well known and respected racer and Rob has been going to dry lake meets since he was a slender pup . Apparently our new friend had also spent some quality time at El Mirage & the like , and did lots of crazy racing on old british bikes back in the day . Dirt track , speedway , lots of left turns as well as fast straight line stuff . He also mentioned that he used to sand cast his own big bore cylinders . . . it just kept getting cooler as we talked .

He was full of great stories and information and it's always a trip getting the low down from someone who was in it for the first time around . Old timers like these need to be preserved in a jar somehow , they're an official national treasure . I guess really though , if you take the time to hear their stories and actually listen to the way it was done and how they made the magic happen ( before there was an internet to lay it all out in front of you in a tidy easy to understand package ) , that's their legacy and that will keep them alive . It was super fun getting to know him and hear his tales .

Anyhow , these are some of my friends on some neat old bikes on a really nice day . Middle of winter . . . suck it rest of the world !

Learning how to drive

Large & awkward , heavy & difficult to maneuver , bulky pointy metal edges , possibly dangerous to little fingers & toes . . . this is how you learn to drive when you're 3 and live at my house .

They say adversity builds character and as long as you end up in one piece when you're done , mommy doesn't have a problem and I get to live another day .

What I did on my Christmas break , by David Ketchum

Well my FXR fever has turned in to FXR flu.. I've been gathering parts for a little re-do and got the time last month, I went from this,




to this.. Race Tech-ed out the front end ,440's out back FXRP fairing and bars, ChopperDaves new side covers, new style hand controls fixed/cleaned up some wiring and a little powder coating. It was about 68 here on Christmas day but for me it was a white Christmas. See ya out there...

Beep Boop Beep . . .

Some more of the droids we're looking for !

Hippy Killer Hoedown III

Kutty is having another party , and I think this one is going to be a show stopper . I've been going to these parties since the first one and that one was nuttso . Go back a few pages on here and you can see where I broke my toe flat tracking my bike with my bro Matt Barker . It's all fun & games till you wake up in an ambulance , or in our case in a pile of running motorcycles , lying on top of you , on their sides .

The second one was 95 times bigger and so it had to me moved to it's new location at this crazy western town arena . Tons of great bikes and awesome cars showed up as well as a ton of vendors . This is an event that you kind of have to go to . . . it's a super grass roots down home good time and since he's a good friend of mine I feel like I need to help get the word out for him .

Oooooh Weee , what's up wit dat !

Where is she now ?!?

First day of the new year . 4000 feet / 28 degrees

We stayed up at Warner Springs with Amy's family this weekend and it was cold as fuck . We had a good time but it was seriously chilly up in the mountains . On the way home we decided ( actually Vaughn decided ) that we should go the long way through Julian and up into the Cuyamaca mountains and as the elevation climbed , the temperature dropped , fast . We started noticing frozen puddles & ice on the side of the road and that quickly turned into snow . " I better watch out for black ice " I remember jokingly thinking to myself . . .

Well I actually hit my first black ice and lived to tell about it . That stuff is not to be fucked with . I was going about 30 through a 25 mph corner and as I saw it and called it out , my back wheels broke lose and got sideways for a split second . It was a left hand turn "S" turn with a steep hill on the right and an on coming lane to my left . I got loose coming out of the righty and swung my ass into the left hand lane . There was a car coming around the top of the corner and he was on the inside of his lane , and saw me break lose . Luckily by the time it would have been critical , I was hit dry ground and got right back into my lane and we passed with nothing more than a casual glance . I gleefully shouted " WHOA " and Amy cursing our predicament ( almost under her breath ) " fuck . . . "

She didn't talk to me for a few miles despite my attempts at small talk and levity till we actually made it to the top of the mountain .

We ended up at our cruising altitude and decided to stop into Paso Picacho , which is a nice little camp ground that we like to go to ( when the weather is a little nicer ) and actually got into Vaughn's very first snowy adventure ! It was 28 degrees and there was a lot of lastnight's snow & ice on the ground so it was hard packed but still a little crunchy .

We scraped up some slush and managed to make Vaughn's first snow ball & throw it at mommy , and wander around the frozen wonderland that is 4000 feet above San Diego proper . The nice ladies in the check in booth told me that the morning's temperature was nothing , that it got down to 2 degrees the night before and that this was warm & refreshing . . . uh yeah .

As we worked our way down the mountain at a decidedly slower and more careful pace , the temperature climbed dramatically and soon we were enjoying our sea level day time temp of 61 degrees and relaxing on our couch reflecting on the year past . . .

If the first day of the new year has any indication as to what it holds for us in the future , I'd say were off to a pretty good start .