Travis and Eric a late people. So am I. My theory is that the 10% of the population that likes to get up early, are making sure the other 90% get up too early, with the obvious results: School shootings, the war in the former Yugoslavia, Justin Bieber, to mention but three.
Tim, who welded small washers to my exhaust manifold the other day, is - thankfully - also a late person, so we don't drive over there until after 10 am. He welds the exhaust system nicely, we take it home, Eric sands it and paints it black, as to hide all the welds and miscolouring it has been subjected to.
One of the many vehicles parked on Tim's property is this International Harvester bus, that the place's previous owner lived in. The interior matches the wooden parts seen here, and there's no reason it could not be made road- and live-in-worthy again.
Seeing that the exhaust system is good, next point of interest is the electronic ignition, which (implausibly) may have gone out of its proper setting. We therefore take it to Jay Wright, a former motorcycle racer, who is still active with working on fast motorcycles. I think I'll ride it the mere 35 miles to Jay in Woodland Park, but my hosts think otherwise, which I'm grateful for 15 minutes later, when rain and friggin' sleet hit the windshield of the van. As Travis said a few days ago: "If you don't like the Colorado weather, then just wait ten minutes".
Jay's place has a bunch of offroad bikes parked outside, as well as two modified 650cc Honda Supermotards - large offroad bikes with street tyres. Low weight, good handling and lots of horsepower make such bikes perfect hooligan tools, particularly on mountain roads like these. On the lift it goes, Jay checks the ignition, which is fine, and then turns his attention to the carburetor. Another friend in Motocross gear road tests the changes, and eventually we settle for a larger main jet.
Jay has a number of race championships under his belt ("back then we were the team to beat", he says), and goes offroading with friends every so often. He is also part of the safety crew at the Pike's Peak hillclimb, and has probably ridden up and down there more than any other racer has. Years ago his team had wins on the mountain 11 years in a row....
Jay's friend Dennis (background, in blue offroad gear) - had been out trail riding with a bunch of other guys, and had just dropped by when we came by.
Good to have him test the MZ....
Driving home Travis point out the snow that has returned on Pike's Peak, but then the weather report already made me decide to postpone my departure. I tell him about the 'Servas' organisation, he tells me about The Tea Party and why they changed the name from 'The Teabaggers' - look it up here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teabagging. Tim drops by with some antelope meat and venison (they're all hunters here), and mentions again he'd like to climb the peak with us if we do it Monday.
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