Well, now, do I have a story to tell. First, a few days ago Windows 7 decided that it had a dangerous trojan horse around the time the Windows partition started running very low on disk space (55gb partition). MS's own security system all of the sudden started doing something. Acted like it was going to take care of everything all by itself; supposedly quarantined the thing. Acted all peachy, but when I tried to get rid of it, it would just start the same thing all over again. I restarted the machine to find that it did not help, and then the OneDrive started giving errors repeatedly. The creepy thing is that I have had the file that is being blamed for months, and this is supposedly the kind of program that can hide in the background and track you   Back to OpenSUSE for me. Since I'm out of school, I don't really need MS Office anymore, so I can't really think of a reason to use Windows anymore, except maybe to try that free Win 10 thing again--maybe--maybe not I just didn't want too fool with Windows to repair it; I just started using Linux instead. I decided not to login or make any posts until I got the thing updated. Unfortunately my old 12.3 was unsupported, so I had to download and install over 2000 packages to make the upgrade to 13.1. I still had to go through a lot of trouble, Windows or not . There is still one security update that cannot install due to dependency problems, but I gather that is a bug. For the record, to make myself feel better, I changed my password for this forum.


Aaaanyway...   The really crazy story to tell is of the night I just had. Going against my parents wishes/advice (That happens often these days), I took my bike to work today, amongst other things. The crazy part is what happened as I came home. I wanted to do some exploring-- try some alternate routes home instead of doing the same old trip down the four lane. Well, the first thing to mention is that it was wet and dark. Secondly my face shield was continually a little foggy, so I kept it raised, making the wind noise mildly annoying. I stopped to put in my earplugs, and a sheriff stopped by and asked if I was okay. I asked him for directions while he was there, and he let me know that I was going the really really long way back home. So I turned around and took another route. As I headed back, I almost ran out of the road in a curve. It was a weird curve on a fairly fast road, if you know what I mean. I noticed it as I came through the first time, but I let it get me as I came back. I then bought gas... It was a good thing I did, for if I had run out of gas at the wrong time, the coming nightmare would have been a trip through the bowels of Hades.

Well, actually, that was not far from the case. It went like this, all was okay until I took a little back road. Well, I didn't really know it was a back road. I thought I might have come out that road at some point. I was almost surely mistaken, but who knows, considering how complex those little roads can get. Regardless, it was a trap set by Satan himself. After a while, I started getting the creeps about that road. It was wet, after dark, and in some places, the fog was mighty thick. There was a fork in the road, with one fork going up, and the other going down. Well, I went down into the bowels of He-double L itself-- no, literally-- the place was called the Devil's bathtub. When I saw a big landmark sign (don't know how to describe it) that said "Devil's Fork", I got a creepy feeling. I came to the beginning of a dirt road, and said to myself, "I ain't foolin' with this," and I turned around.

Well, I didn't really go into the "Devil's Bathtub" itself-- I wasn't that crazy-- but I was on the road. I came to the end of that road and went to the uphill fork. I was faced with a line of deer that crossed in front of me as well as some fog. I went to the end of the hardtop and said, "I ain't foolin' with this." Again, I turned around and drove past that evil fork.

I was on my way out of that crazy place when I crossed a bridge-- a creepy bridge. This bridge was named but had no markings, and it looked big enough for maybe two cars. Something about that bridge was a little creepy. That sure was an enchanted bridge, because, when I came off that bridge, something went dreadfully wrong. That 8 year old Metzler let me down. It broke loose for some mysterious reason. Whether I touched the brake and caused it to lock, or whether it was just spontaneous or environmental is currently unknown. There could have been a mechanical failure. Who knows? Whatever the reason, when I came off that bridge, I believe the rear broke loose; it began to recover, but I lost it, possibly resulting in a minor highsider. I can't say for sure. I don't remember perfectly. The fall strained my knee a little. After I got up, it took me a few seconds to gather the strength to pick the bike up. I was left with a broken foot peg and two broken turn signals. Since it was dark, I will have to look tomorrow in order to tell whatever else is wrong with the thing.

I was in the dark in the middle of nowhere (or the edge of nowhere anyway--could have been much worse) with a sore leg and a broken bike. What was I to do? Call for help (assuming there was even a cell signal)? Sit there and cry? Naaaw, I picked the thing up, cranked it up, rolled around to look at the crash site and gather the broken parts, and I rode home. It worked. However, after the crash, I began to notice that the rear tire felt funny, like it was wanting to slide everywhere and go all over the place. Just felt insecure. Maybe it was all in my head . It made me think that the tire pressure is low. Just to make sure it wasn't totally flat, I pulled over and felt of it. It had some air in it. How much? I don't know. I do know that when I pushed the bike into the garage, the belt squeaked all the way and felt warm when I touched it, so something definitely seems amiss. I also know that the rest of my trip home was kinda slow, creepy, and full of fog.

I can say that my parents will probably get what they want: I probably won't ride in the rain tomorrow. As I was coming home after all that, I felt like I had gotten my fill for a few days . Maybe I will let it rest long enough to put on that Sportster seat I just ordered. Got it for 57 bucks, free shipping . I've got alot of work to do on it, but one doesn't get much chance to do that when he's riding the tar out of it. I've probably put over 1000 miles on the thing since October-- and wrecked twice to boot .

From what my Dad told me, this road goes all the way into High Knob, if anyone is familiar with that area. It is a good thing I wasn't insane enough to go up the dirt roads, for Dad told me that it was so steep that his truck overheated many years ago going up there, that he couldn't even make it with a two wheel drive truck. Just imagine getting stuck halfway up that mountain at its steepest part, in the middle of the woods, on a streetbike, in the middle of the night . Now that's treacherous! My Dad said that it was a wonder I didn't meet Bigfoot . He also told me that the "Devil's Bathtub" is some sort of rock pile or something. I don't know .

Kinda funny that my trip through the pit took me straight to the Devil's bathroom   Maybe it was occupied, if you know what I mean, and he didn't like me disturbing his privacy . Couldn't be his living room, now-- had to be his bathroom. Maybe I'm like Mario and came through the wrong pipe

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y'all REALLY REALLY REALLY need to convert to MAC.

Mac is nice, but VERY expensive.

Compared to Linux, the Mac is just VERY VERY expensive -- both share the -nix resistance to Windows viruses and the reliable -nix file systems.   Both are tiny and light compared to Win Anything Out There Past XP.

Windows just sucks, in so many ways.   But you can play AAA games on it ...... so I have a carefully isolated and controlled Win 7 gaming partition on my Linux Mint machine.

Really, some Linux comments are fine, but did anyone actually read the rest of my story, or did y'all just scan over the first paragraph and decide that it was all just a discussion on operating systems?

Serowbot wrote on 11/29/15 at 07:32:20:


Not far from the truth

The people I work with kinda wondered why I went down there. One of them (who used to ride) told me that the area I visited was even scary during the day. He said that he wouldn't take a bike down there in the day, especially not at night. That's pretty much his exact words, too. I think he said that the roads were too rough or something. Of course, that doesn't mean the road wasn't scary for other reasons, though he didn't seem to think that the place was haunted or anything like that. Who knows?

Quote:


Nope. I wanted to, but I'm skeered of them little yellow faces.

Lol on the smiley faces...
I was beginning to think I was reading a good book..
Myself I am like Steve, I leave my exploring to do in
the clear light of day..
Fog itself is scary especially at night.
How did your bike turn out? Were you able to fix
all the damage yet?
Did you need a new tire or brakes?
I was relieved to read that you make it home and
that all is well by now.
As far as the computer stuff, well I am not able to
give much help there, yet seems you've been given
some advice on that..
Good luck in the future and I do hope you don't give
up riding that you just take better precautions.. Hugs, Kim

kimchris1 wrote on 11/30/15 at 04:02:10:


Thanks for the complement. I'm glad you liked it. I'm not really a writer, but I did have to do the usual research writing for college. I might have embellished a little with colorful language, but it was actually pretty accurate. I didn't panic, but I was kinda nervous during the incident.. I wonder if my nerves didn't have an influence in that wreck. I was pretty stubborn about riding my bike everywhere most of the time, but now I'm ready to take a few days off.
I haven't repaired the bike yet. The belt now squeaks, and I noticed that the belt rests off to one side of the pulley. I don't know whether that was the case before, but I do know that It didn't squeak during low speed maneuvers. The tire pressure was about 30 pounds, or slightly more, according to the gauge I used. Is this low enough to cause funky handling? It doesn't seem very low. I don't really know what's going on, I know that 8 year old rubber is hard, but it has never given me this much trouble.
I don't plan on stopping my riding. I've got to come through on top. In fact, one of these days (I said days, not nights), I'm gonna have to ride back there and conquer that place.

I'm goin' back into the Devil's lair and givin' him a whoopin' for what he did to me. He may have won the battle that night, but I'll win the war-- on my terms .

Can't let fear rule me. That swollen knee sure does make me apprehensive, though. My first crash didn't hurt me; this one did. The circumstances were different, and my perception of being in control during the crash or being okay with the physics of the crash seemed less, if you can understand what I mean. It gives me a nagging sense of insecurity or vulnerability.
I kinda wonder how one can ride hundreds of thousands of miles and not be crippled. I don't want to have to strap up in full body armor like some Power Ranger and ride some crazy high tech bike only on the nicest roads in the best conditions just for the sake of safety. I like a bit of old school. Savages are simple and primitive, no ABS or other stuff to do the work for you. Motorcycling is a sport much like football in that the risk of injury is high. Ironically, we don't really want to get hurt. Apart from wisdom, skill, Providence, and chance, there is hardly a solution.

By the way, I do wear gear: FF helmet, closet-found leather jacket, dirt cheap leather motorcycle gloves, and old logger boots.
(I do wonder if the heavy weight, high heel, and high traction of the boot didn't contribute to my hurt knee.)
Dad (who would be considered a newb) favors leather soled boots over rubber because they slide instead of grip in a crash. He thinks that rubber boots would encourage injury.

I must say that my latest pair of gloves cost me around $40, but I still wear the others in warm weather.

I have found so far that the most common injury so far is not to my head but road rash, particularly to the front of my pant legs and to my left jacket sleeve. The funny thing is that both crashes were on the same side . I'm actually not sure whether my helmet hit the ground during my latest crash or not. Probably not-- I'd probably know if it did.