Category: Motorcycles

09 Seattle International Motorcycle Show

With a few hours to spare this morning, I put aside studying for tax law and joined some friends for a trip to the annual motorcycle show. We spent some time drooling on the new Ducatis and BMWs, researched communication systems, and Michelle and I had some custom earplugs made. (It never occurred to me before, but the ear plugs will be great for studying in the library!) All-in-all a good time, even if the show was small compared to past years.

Click on the image above to see the slide show.

“You must have great software”

I realize I run the risk of being labeled the magician who gave away her secrets, but this is so amazing that I can’t not blog about it. (Sorry Mrs. Tennis. That double negative just slipped out.) My dad’s been using a program called Photomatix for a while and has been able to create some amazing pictures using it. I never fully realized just how magical this program was until I tried it on two images I took in Banff.

Now before you get all critical of my photography I purposely “underexposed” the pictures to preserve the sky, figuring it was easier to pull details out of dark than light. And boy was I right. Look what this little program can do:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

(Apologies for the watermark in the “after” pictures. I haven’t bought the program yet and this is the author’s trial version concession.) The clouds aren’t quite right, but I’m sure they’ll get better with a bit more practice.

The big tease

We’re back from our whirlwind tour of British Columbia. We visited many popular destinations and even more not-so-popular destinations. I’m sorting through pictures and cajoling Nick to write the travelogue. In the mean time, I’ll tease you with the postcard picture of the Chateau Lake Louise.

A haiku for those living the bummer life

Five days in leather
Assuming the position!
Ducatis on tour.
-Nick B Brown

Our first group ride

Man there’s a lot of blogging to catch up on after finals!

In April, the usual suspects (minus the three who don’t have motorcycles) plus my dad and Steve met up for our first group ride. We joined forces in Renton and headed south to Black Diamond. It was too early in the ride to stop at the bakery, so we headed north on the twisty Ravensdale Road to Tiger Mountain Road. At this point my dad was salivating for a trip up to Snoqualmie Falls, so we took off for Preston and the twisties up there.

By this time, we’d settled into a perfect riding order - more experienced riders in front, followed by the newer riders. Chris played sweep. Steve had the ride of his life on the way up to the Falls. He was unfamiliar with the road, but managed to stick with me up to the top. Many confessed that they hadn’t been to the falls in over a decade, so stopping to look at them was a treat.

And finally, here is the route we took, should you need a reference for a repeat.