Category Archives: SV 650s
Sunday Funday – Motorcycle Addition
Since my motorcycle was finally fixed and ready to go, Colin, myself and our buddy Pete took off for a day of riding!
Before we met up with Pete at 11, we kept an eye on the radar. There was a large rain band moving our way, so wanted to see the chances of us getting wet. I’m not a huge fan of riding in the rain, but living in Florida it is something that I need to get over cause it rains everyday here in the Summer.
I will say…it was a great ride!!
Kind of strange in a way though. During one stretch it was like a beautiful Fall day. The trees were a mix of brown and green, and the leaves fell through the air as we rode. Then we hit another stretch that resembled a crisp Spring day. The trees were as bright green as you can imagine and the temp seemed to drop briefly through that area.
After all that though, you realize, “Wait a second, it is February so technically it is still Winter”. Of course, the final thought is, “It’s Winter, looks like Spring and Fall but it feels like Summer because it is 80 something degrees outside”.
Florida loves messes with your mind!
Enough about the weather, for now.
We rode down to Arcadia hoping to have lunch at our favorite little restaurant there. Sadly, it was closed. Such a shame because we don’t make it down there nearly enough to eat at this place.
Not pictured Pete’s Ducati, he parked on the other side of the SUV you see.
So instead we went to another place to grab lunch. No where as good. Not even close. Not even a little bit. However, it fueled us for where ever the rest of the day would take us.
We knew that the next leg back home would not involve taking 70 back. It is boring and straight. No thank you!
We had two options and we left our next move up to the flip of a coin. Heads: We head back the way we came with a few different roads here and there. Tails: We head west over to the beach and take US 41 back up to Tampa.
Tails won, so we headed west over to Sarasota area. As we arrived in Sarasota, a strange fog filled the area. It’s the type of fog that you wake up to in the morning. Mind you it was 3 in the afternoon. On the plus side, it did drop the temperature a good 10 degrees. Which was great timing because it was getting quite toasty.
It was around this time that my wrist started hurting on my clutch hand. Not riding for 2 months and my wrist reverted back to a dainty little thing.
But I manned up and kept on trucking. The ride home ended up being about 3 hours and we made one stop along the way to rest my wrist and grab some water.
After a day of riding, a shower and the couch never felt so good!!
Hope you all had a great weekend as well 
//
See Ya Later 2012
As 2012 draws to a close, I start to reflect on the year that has been. All the crazy stories and adventures that have come out of it. Motorcycle trips, mountain biking, mountain hiking, wake boarding, 5k’s, sailing, kayaking, white water kayaking, canoeing, camping, indoor rock climbing, and many more. See the 2012 review in pictures below!
Before we look at 2012, here is a flash back to 2011.
Soooo drum roll please….2012 you sexy beast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sailing, did A LOT of sailing, both racing and play sails:
Sailed on a catamaran (for the first time):
Indoor rock climbing:
Climbed over some real rocks at Rock City in Chattanooga, TN:
Motorcycle trip from FL to GA to TN to NC and back to FL:
Motorcycle camping trip to south Florida:
Ice Skating in a tent in FL:
Wrestled an alligator:
The Color Run – The Happiest 5k on the planet:
Climbed to the top of a sailboat mast:
Visited Fontana Dam, NC:
//
Interstate Love Song
The original title was supposed to be “Motorcycles and BBQ” however, due to unfortunate events, it was just “Motorcycles”.
The plan was to take the bikes and cruise up to Land O’ Lakes to a great BBQ place called Hungry Harry’s. Seriously, how can you go wrong with a BBQ place with that name?!?!
However, shortly after ride started, the ride ended. One of the bikes decided to go all Italian and broke down on the side of the interstate. After a bit of trying to diagnose the problem, it was time to throw in the white flag and call AAA. For all you readers that are riders, if you don’t have the AAA super-duper coverage plus motorcycle with unlimited mileage for towing, you need to get it asap! Just saying that coverage comes in handy.
Chillin’ on an interstate
2 wheels and a tank of gas. Nothing but the open road and a dream
As we waited for AAA to come, a storm cell started to come in. Since I am not a fan of riding in the rain, I took off prior to the tow truck arriving to skirt around the rain cell. I know no rider left behind but I really don’t like riding in rain, light sprinkle is nice as it cools you off on a nice summer day but heavy rain no thank you!
And my plan to skirt around the rain cell…FAILED horribly. Right as I left I got hit with rain. As I exited the interstate, I got hit with rain. As I drove home I got hit with rain. It wasn’t a heavy rain, more like in between a rain and a sprinkle.
After I got home, dinner was still needed. Since the BBQ place next to my house was closed on Monday, I made the choice for TACO BUS!!!
There are tacos IN A BUS!!
Mmm, Taco Bus!! Sometimes in life you just need a burrito
Well Hello There!
I fell off the grid for the past week, life has been hectic!
Spent the weekend in the Keys for a wedding, working on that post as we speak.. I’ll have that up tomorrow-ish
I made it back Sunday just in time to catch the tail end of the Sunday race. I was hoping I make dock time and get to race but I knew time wise it wasn’t going to happen. So got to the club, had a rum drink and watched the photo finish of the race!
Tonight was a wonderful night ride on the motorcycle. It’s been about 2 or more weeks since I have taken her out for a spin. The temp was about 70 so there was a nice chill in the air. Perfect night for a cruise over the Gandy Bridge!!!
Sorry for the short post, its been a long day and it is about time for this girl to call it a night!
It’s All About Your Outlook
Happy Monday!!!
Happy and Monday, two words that most people feel don’t go together. I think every day is Happy…follow with day of the week. The day is what you make it.
Words for thought
(Source)
My day started with sleeping in an extra hour, so much for that morning run I was supposed to do. Oops! Double Oops because my first 5k is Saturday morning and I haven’t run in over a week. CRAP!!! Saturday morning shall be very interesting All that matters is I cross the finish line.
My extra hour of sleep was followed a 10 hour day of work. Some would say, “That sucks” to having to work late but I look at it as an opportunity to earn some extra $$ and get all my work caught up so tomorrow will better and hopefully less busy.
After work, there was no way I felt like cooking so I stopped and picked up some delicious Honey Seared Chicken from Pei Wei. Seriously, licked my fingers after I was done. Granted that is because by the time I got my food, I was starving and ate it as I was driving the rest of the way home. When you are hungry, you are hungry and this girl likes to eat!
I was hoping to find a picture in my photo library of me chowing down on a burger but the only picture I could find of me stuffing my face was with an apple
Then to round out the day I had a choice to make, do I be good and go run seeing as my 5k is this weekend OR do I be better and take my motorcycle out for a sunset ride?!?!
Decisions, decisions.
In the end, the winner was:
A girl couldn’t ask for a better date than her motorcycle!
Motorcycle, Pool, Beer and Rain
This weekend was low-key so to speak
Friday night was dinner and drinks with some friends. That dinner lead to the discovery of a Strawberry Mojito. One word: DELICIOUS!!!!
Saturday morning was the baby shower of one of my dearest friends. The theme was ready to “POP” so everything was pop related. Pop-tarts. Blow Pops, Ring Pops, Pop Rocks, etc.
I have never been a fan of baby showers but with so many of my friends having babies, I decided to get over it and start being present at the people close to me happy events! Not to mention, there were Pop Rocks and this resulted in me getting into a Pop Rock eating contest with a 13-year-old girl. I WON!!!
Watermelon artwork by one of the hostesses!
Saturday I decided to take off for a bit, this was the view while driving:
There is a storm coming!
An update on the storm is good news for Tampa, for now. With hurricanes, you never know what can happen. Hurricane Charley in 2004 was on one path, then at the last-minute made a sharp right and hit Florida hard.
So everyone is keeping an eye on it but for now we are just expecting lots of rain. For us Floridians, it is just a normal summer storm. Stayed tuned for Isaac updates!
Current Path For Isaac
(Source)
Sunday was, well I’ll show you in pictures:
Me and My girl took a nice ride
Went and bought her a new gift, Rear Padlock Stand
Met up with some friends for a couple of these and…
…some pool
Beginnings
Everyone has different views on new beginnings. Some people find them scary, some people find them exciting. I guess it really depends on the events that get you to that new beginning.
I am of the latter, beginnings excite me. Change excites me.
The past few weeks have been quite hectic around here. Tuesday I moved into my new place in the best part of Tampa surrounded by amazing friends!
“Sometimes the unexpected is the best thing that could ever happened!” If you ever find yourself in a tough situation, just remember that!
With the move, I have slacked on my blogging but here is the sailing recap from the past week:
Last Thursday we raced our hearts out and came in first place (proof below)! Can I get WOOT WOOT!!!!!
Straight from the website: 1 Time Bandit
So this Thursday we had to beat one of the other boats in our class so that we could get ahead the series. Sadly, we did not, we came in third. DAMN and BLAST!!! But the rum was good and the company excellent!
Post race some of the crew and I wandered down to our local Mexican restaurant for some grub and Margarita’s!!
Where’s my salt?!!?
This weekend shows no signs of slowing down either. Kayaking, Wazoo, Mountain Biking and whatever else comes along. Hope you all have a stellar weekend as well
Two Wheel L-I-V-I-N’
There are many loves that I have when it comes to hobbies. Some I like more than others. However, there are three things that rank higher than anything else.
Amy’s Top 3 Favorite Things:
1. Riding my motorcycle
2. Mountain Biking
3. Sailing
This past weekend involve 2 of the three.
Due to the lazy Saturday morning which lead to not going to Cocoa Beach, we spent Saturday doing random errands and whatnot. For dinner though, instead of driving to the local Chili’s we opted for taking the motorcycles about an hour east of us and finding some random, never been to restaurant for dinner.
Huge fan of trying new places. I do have my favorite spots but I love to venture out and see what else is out there. Most of the time the place is a hit. I have a couple of new fav places added to my list that are in towns no where you could consider “right down the street”.
Other times the place fails or is just “OK”. This place was just “OK” although I really did dig their tater tots After pigging out on more food than we should have ordered, we somehow managed to get our fat butts on our bikes. I swear I should have adjusted my suspension before riding. I was feeling quite plump!
The ride home was amazing. By the time we hit the road after dinner the sun was quickly setting. Night riding is so nice.
What isn’t nice is the stop and go traffic. The bikes were no liking that at all so hopped on the interstate to cruise home. First time taking the good ol SV on the interstate, she did great.
Funny how scared I use to be of interstate riding and now, I love it! So nice to just cruise…and NO STOP LIGHTS!!!!
Sunday was ambitious. Decided to hope on the other form of two wheels the bicycles. We cycled from our house to a quaint little island for some lunch. Round trip it was about 22 miles. Solid workout…sweated, A LOT. Florida summers,what is there not to love!
The day wrapped up with an awesome storm that rolled in. We sat out on the back porch and enjoyed it. I sipped on wine and read a book while Colin smoked a cigar and played with his phone (geekiness right there, pure geekiness).
Perfect end to the weekend
In my future there is sailing…and lots of it! Thursday race, Saturday play sail and Sunday another race!
Tough life 
Hope you all have a great week!!!
The Day After….
The day after the 4th of July should involve the following things:
1. Sun
2. Sand
3. Water of some sorts
4. Rum (of your preference of alcohol)
Things the day after the 4th should NOT involve:
1. Work
2. Work
3. Work
Think you see the trend there! I bet you can also guess what I was doing yesterday 
Luckily, yesterday was Thursday and you know what that means…SAILING!!!!!!!!!!! It was great out there! After storming all day, the sun came out and so did the wind! We ended up in 2nd place for the night. Not to shabby.
Had an awesome pic from my phone to post but when we got back to the dock realized it didn’t take.
The 4th was fun and involved two wheels and started at 6pm on Tuesday!
We did a really quick pack up Tuesday. The packing consisted of bathing suits, shorts and a bottle of wine. Thank you motorcycles for having saddle bags!
The trip was down to Sarasota taking Highway 41 all the way down. It equals out to about an hour or so, close enough but far away enough. As we arrived in Sarasota, we headed to Hillview Dr.
Hillview is a cute little road that has lots of restaurants and shops. We came across a corner restaurant that looked low-key and had outdoor seating. Since it was later in the day, it was perfect temperature outside to fully enjoy it!
Colin sunk his teeth into a bison burger while I enjoyed the orgasm inducing Ahi Tuna Nachos! THEY WERE BEYOND AMAZING and I still managed to share two of them with Colin, guess I love the guy
While at dinner we pulled up our Expedia Apps to find a nearby hotel for a low price. The reviews for this one hotel said that it is easier to call and talk to someone because there is no front desk, they leave the keys in the room for you. So I made a call to the hotel and $62 later, we had a room booked and it was only about 10 minutes away from us.
When we arrived at the hotel, it was super adorable. Great deal for the $62 buck-a-roos!
We made it to the hotel!!
As we were unpacking the saddle bags and getting ready to hit the beach, we had the TV on for background noise. Independence Day was planning and it was on my favorite part!!!
The beach leads up to a place called Saint Armand’s Circle. Lots of overpriced shops and restaurants. So walked around there for a bit before making our way back to the beach and to the room where we enjoyed some vino and listened to our loud neighbors sitting outside playing drinking games.
Morning arrived too early! We ventured down to St Armand for some breakfast, then hopped on the motorcycles home. We had a cookout to go to and wanted to have so kick back and relax time before we had to go there.
Once we got to our friends house, the sky opened up and it stormed! I mean, topical storm style weather!!! We decided it was perfect for going to hang out in the pool. Yep, sometimes don’t always make the smartest decisions but they are fun at the time. Also, us Floridians aren’t always the most brilliant of people sometimes.
Colin and our buddy just hanging out in the middle of a huge storm
Once we were nice and pruned up, we headed back to the house to meet up with everyone else and grilled up more food than humanly possible. When we were nice and stuffed we went back to the pool and got a stellar 360 degree view of the entire neighborhood setting off fireworks. Good thing the rain stopped.
Aww, cuteness in the pool
Motorcycles, A Castle and Some Racing!!
Weekend, weekend oh where did you go?!?!?!
Seriously, the weekends fly by way to fast and the weekdays just drag beyond what is acceptable in my opinion. Fortunately, this is a four day workweek so no complaints, well not that anyone would listen to them anyways
This past weekend was GOOOOOOD! The stuff legends are made of kind of good!
Colin was able to Afro Engineer my bike so we could ride, we ended up taking a late night ride out to BFE to a Steak n’ Shake. I had a delicious milk shake while he ordered the largest, and I’m assuming very healthy sandwich complete with fries.
Saturday morning started with the Moto GP race in Assen. For those of you that follow Moto GP, how about that start?!?!!? I’m not a Lorenzo fan but it does suck that he was taken out the way he was. And of course my other Colin, Mr. Colin Edwards had to retire due to his electronics on the bike. I miss seeing the days of ol with Edwards kicking serious out on the track. Not sure how I feel about this whole CRT thing.
After the race, we took the motorcycles to brunch to meet up with some friends from out of town. When brunch was over and we were in full on rolly polly mode, Colin and I sat outside the restaurant trying to figure out something to do where we could ride the bikes and then enjoy AC. It was hot as a mother*&*#$*#*& outside, the kind of heat where your so sweaty your jeans stick to you and it is fully unpleasant.
There was a castle that we had passed about a month ago on our last motorcycle weekend trip. It was about an hour or so away from us and all back roads so it was a good.
SOOOOO HOT!! Damn you summer and your heat. With all the gear on, helmet, boots, gloves, motorcycle jacket and jeans, it was toasty. I felt like an Amy-kabob!
We made it to Solomon’s Castle in what felt like no time!
And the princess stumbles upon a castle in the middle of nowhere!
I was jonsing for some serious AC but not in this castle. There was light-hearted AC and fans blowing everywhere. The inside wasn’t exactly what I was expecting but there is no denying Solomon is a very talented man. The tour is very short and guides you through his gallery/house.
It is equal to going to a house party at a friend of a friends house and they want to give you a tour of every room and talk to you about every picture on the wall. Even though the pictures are interesting, you are still walking through this strangers house staring at everything. It is kind of awkward at times, especially standing in his living room while the tour guide is explaining everything and anything in the room.
As we exited the house, the tour guide lead us over to the moat. Now this was cool. There was a “pond-ish” looking body of water with a HUGE boat in the middle, which the boat is the restaurant. There is a little dirt road you are allowed to roam down to check out his work shop and whatever else you find along the way.
There was a really cool trail that lead around the property, however due to the heavy rains of Topical Storm Debby, the paths were underwater. We were able to walk to this adorable bridge. Beyond the bridge I needed floaties and since we were on the motorcycles, I wasn’t able to bring it along.
From here, we hopped back on the sweat mobiles and headed back home. Home = The Best Damn AC you can have!!!!
Sunday was Sailing and we had more than 4 people for the race this time. The last Sunday race (on Father’s Day) we only had 4 of us; Myself, Colin, a guy that has only been sailing for a couple of months and a girl that has never sailed. It was actually a lot of fun!! We race in the spinnaker A division but we didn’t put up a spinnaker due to the lack of crew but we still kicked some serious sailing booty!
During that race one of the other boats had his rudder snap in half prior to the race. Yep, that will end you race very quickly! There was another boat during that race who’s spinnaker sail tore in half on one of the legs. Ekkkk! So there was carnage all around!!!
Yesterday’s race was awesome. Got some glorious sun, had some tasty rum and awesome wind! And this prize gem, on our boat, you just hope you don’t go overboard
Pop Quiz:
When you set foot on a sail boat and you notice this as the rescue device, which of the following do you do?
A) drink more rum!
B) um…is there really another option after A!?!?!?!
C) if I have to even type an answer here, you and I wouldn’t make good friends
We also put together a play sail crew for next weekend (the 14th!!!). Racing is fun but there is always a time and a need for play sails!!!
