4th Annual Dan George Memorial Run

On Sunday morning, the sun came up and brought everyone out on a warm clear day to ride in memory of a friend I had known since Jr High. 

Dan George was a good friend, and rider.  One of those guys that it always seemed to make your day a little better just to have him say "Hi".  Danny died suddenly only a month before he was to be married to his High School sweetheart, and three months after being elected Mayor of the City of Morton.  Dan was the kind of guy that always seemed to heve a mischievious twinkle in his eye.  But I think the happiest I ever saw Dan, was when he was riding, or even talking about riding, his bike.  I find it hard to believe it is just over 4 yrs since he died suddenly at the age of 48.

As we gathered on sunday morning to ride in Danny's memory, Moe & Petra began playing Kid Rocks "Born Free" on their bikes stereo, until the ride leader Dave was ready to get things rolling.  After that, at each stop we made, Moe would play the song again to let everyone know we were getting ready to fire up and get rolling.  The words fit Danny, and fit why we were all there.  So I didn't think twice about using it in the video. 

The clips in the video are from Moe & Petra's camera, and from my own.  The still pics, are from Dave's, Moe & Petra's, and mine. 

I couldn't have asked for a better day to remember Danny.  Dave & Kayla led the ride for most of it, because they both carried some of Danny's ashes with them on their bikes all the time.  We had 21 bikes show up for the ride which took nearly four hours of riding time to complete as we looped around Mt Rainier in Washington state.  We had a smoke break in Graham, lunch at the Yella Beak in Enumclaw, and then rode up over Cayuse Pass (a bit above 5,000 ft) before dropping down into Packwood to hit the Blue Spruce for cold beverages.  From that point, everyone split off, and we all enjoyed a nice relaxing ride home.

I hope you enjoy the vid, and as always, I am looking forward to next years ride.

See you on the road sometime.

I finished the new exhaust on the bike

Pulled the pipes after a 35 mile run...they were just a bit warm

I got tired of dragging my fishtails everytime I went into a hard tight right turn.  Especially after I ground off about 1/2 inch of one fishtail, and then had a big chuck fall off from metal fatigue.  So over a couple of saturdays we dialed in a new exhaust system from old pipes, and tried it out.  The first time I didnt even make it out of the driveway before I started dragging...back to the drawing boards.

good idea....bad execution

So we cut of the turn-outs and called it a day...It was time to ride.




fisrt attempt...it worked....sort of



But after a week or so, I realized I was STILL dragging the one pipe in tight corners.  Another afternoon in the shop, and a new design for the pipes came about.  This time, the pipes are just above the bottom of the frame, and run around the front of the tranny/kicker and side by side.

No dragging pipes now.  A few days later, I finished the job by spraying high temp black paint.  It looks, and works much better now.  I need to do a little cleaning to just get things to look a bit better.  With the fresh paint on the pipes, it shows off the road grime on the frame.  I am not a big one for shiney chrome and clean paint...I would rather ride than wash and polish.

pipes are done...and they work

High Temp Black....looks and work great

Speaking of which, I need to go get the bike ready for a Memorial Ride for an old friend and fellow rider who died of a stroke at the age of 48.  Making a 4 hour run circling Mt Rainier on sunday...will post pics when I get them.

Catch you all on the road.