Oct 10 2008
Back up and Running!
After nearly 2 months of my motorcycle sitting broken in my garage, I have finally gotten it back up and running! I decided to tackle the task of replacing the oil pan myself. I decided long ago that I wanted to do all of the maintenance on my bike as another way to enjoy it. After the parts came in, I set aside a Saturday to do all of the work. It was pretty tough because I had to remove the exhaust pipe to get at the oil pan, and then I had to mate the oil pan to the engine block with liquid gasket. Thankfully, Ashley helped out in the delicate mating process and it took a mere 6 hours to get everything completed. After that I did a full wash and wax and my bike is in the best shape of its life! 
I uploaded some pictures of my work, so if you’re interested they are in the Pics section.
As a victory ride I decided to travel east and see what kind of road I could find. I found CA-130 with Google Maps and it looked pretty interesting. Once I got out there, however, it was TOUGH! The first part of the road was crazy hairpin 180 degree turns with elevation changes… all on the side of a cliff. There was one really cool moment where ahead of me there was literally nothing between the road and the sky. It was a little scary, but I just took it slow. The view at the top of the mountain was incredible. I know, because I stopped several times to take a breather. The combination of not riding in a long time, being really sore from the previous day’s labor, and my unfamiliarity with the roads made it really difficult to get through the entire ride. Towards the end of 130 the roads opened up a bit and made it much more enjoyable. The first half of the road was just like parking lot drills, but on the side of a cliff! Anyway, once I got on the other side of the mountain, I decided to “slab” it back home to get there in time for dinner.
Besides this, I’ve been riding my bike to work every day, which is a lot of fun!