Month: August 2025

September Ride Schedule

I did the newsletter for the Aiken Bicycle Club from 1993 until 1998. I stopped because I created the Club’s first website making the paper version obsolete. I picked September of 1997 here because the dates will match those of September of 2025.

All rides meet and leave from the Odell Weeks Activity Center on Whiskey Road in Aiken unless otherwise noted. The rides are canceled if the roads are wet or if the temperature is below 45° F or above 100° F.
E=Easy, 10-12 mph pace, frequent stops. M=Moderate, 13-16 mph pace, occasional stops. D=Difficult, >16 mph pace, few if any stops.

Sat Sept. 6 @ 7:15 AM
Whiskey Road Race Ride: Brian Bogardus <642-0767> is your contact for your opportunity to get a free T-shirt. All you have to do is ride herd on runners for two races, a 2 miler & a 10k. Your choice, in front at a pretty good clip or in back at a really slow pace. (8.3 miles/E)

Sun Sept. 7 @ 10:00 AM
Neither Snow Nor Rain Ride: 83rd anniversary of the opening of the New York Post Office on Eighth Avenue that bears this famous inscription. This is not the motto of the USPS, in fact they have no motto. It is a free translation from Herodotus and was supplied by the architectural firm that planned the building. Donna Bogardus <642-0767> hopes for neither form of precipitation. (25 miles/M)

Sat Sept. 13 @ 9:00 AM
Star Spangled Banner Ride Famous songwriter Jay Noonkester <648-4599> leads us past the ruins of Fort McHenry where a 183 years ago today Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the poem that was later turned into a hard song to sing. (30 miles/M)

Sun Sept. 14 @ 8:00 AM
Low Key Fall Metric Century Jay Noonkester <648-4599> & Curt Sexton <649-1297> cooked up this loop and thought it might be fun to use it to resurrect our autumnal event. Starts and ends at Odell Weeks. Low traffic roads through SRS, Jackson & the valley. No shirt – no fee – no fuss. Maps will be supplied. Y’all come out and ride all or part of it. (63 miles/E-M-H)

Sat Sept. 20 @ 8:00 AM
Breakfast & Trash Pick-Up Meet at ‘Best Bagels in Town’ in the Publix shopping center. Bagels & coffee/juice are on the club if you are going to help us clean up our adopted bit of highway. Afterwards, those wanting to, will go to Citizens Park & clean the off-road trail. Bring your mountain bike if you want to ride that afterwards. Donna Bogardus <642-0767>. (0 miles/E)

Sun Sept. 21 @ 10:00 AM
Get Out Of Town Today Day Ride For those of you who don’t plan on celebrating Get Out Of Town Today Day by getting out of town for the Augusta Century, Julie Fredrick <641-9450> will be staying in town and she will lead a ride that although it starts here, may get out of town anyway. (20-25 miles/E-M)

Sat Sept. 27 @ 8:30 AM
Crush A Can Day Ride We were going to have a contest and award prizes to the rider who smashed the most cans along the route by running over them on their bicycle, but the legal department felt that this would not be in the Club’s best interests. Cindy DeFrancesco <642-3856> will instead lead us around all the discarded aluminum containers. (30-35 miles/M)

Sun Sept. 28 @ 10:00 AM
Aye Aye Skipper Ride In 1850, the U.S. Navy abolished flogging as a form of punishment. Discipline did not become a problem though, as keel hauling could still be preformed on disobedient bluejackets. Captain Gene Luder <641-1801> is at the helm for today’s voyage. (10-15 miles/E)

I’ll Rip Your Face Off

To change out the headlight, the correct way to get the bad one out is to start by removing the front bumper! I looked, and there were a couple videos showing how easy it is to remove the bumper. Had to watch both, because the first one I watched missed things that needed to be removed to make it happen. And if I had watched the second video first, I still would have had to watch the other one because it too missed fasteners that needed removing.

I removed both the good and bad headlights because I’m going to use a CERAKOTE® Ceramic Headlight Restoration Kit on both so that they match. Then again, if the eBay one matches up real well with the good ten thousand mile one, I’ll just return the Kit.

I Was Bored Today

I’ve been running the NB’s 16″ wheels on the ND for about 6 months and because I had nothing better to do today I put the ND’s 17″ wheels on the NB, just to see. And if you like that type of look, it is not that bad. The downside is that this combination will really mess the with feel and handling of the car. Those OEM 17″ wheels and tires weigh in at 38.4lbs each. This is nearly 10lbs of extra unspring weight per corner compared to the 15″ FM Kogekis and Yokohama ADVAN Flevas at 28.4lbs that I put right back on the NB. Oh the humanity.

Nothing Is Easy With You

Nothing’s Easy With You

Yesterday Buckey got a set of air horns from Moss Motors installed. Today I thought to myself, why didn’t I try them out? So this morning I went out and hit the horn…nothing. Crap! What did I do wrong? The first thing to check is, power? I unplug the hot lead and hook it back up to the regular horn, beep, beep.

Next is to check the ground wire, and as soon as I touch it, the wire drops off. I try to press it back on the terminal, and it just barely engages. I dismount the compressor, and the ground terminal has been pushed up into the body partway. No wonder the wire came off so easily. The connection is so tenuous it would come off after a mile on a bumpy road.

So, I pull everything off, and I put it in the box it came in so I can return the air horns. I might just get a refund, I very rarely use the horn anyway.

While getting the air compressor off the car, I notice a broken piece of plastic. Uh-oh, that is the headlight mounting bracket. And look, the headlight itself is pushed back 1/4 inch. Damn turkey! I turn on the headlights, and the high and low beams come on, but not the turn signal/running light. Can’t go out at night, it is the driver’s side light, and it might be blinding to oncoming cars. These headlights aren’t cheap. For grins I check the price of a new unit from Mazda. Yikes, $669! Off to eBay I go, and for $180 it’ll be here next week.

Kingsley Field Mural

Kingsley Field Mural 3

One of the cooler backdrops for Miata photos in Klamath Falls is in front of this mural on the side wall of the VFW, so naturally I got a shot of Buckey there this past weekend. Below are the previous ones; the Car To Be Named Later’s was taken in April 2020, and the Blue ND’s was taken in the same month 5 years later.

Hi, I’m Brian and I’m A Postalphotoholic.

Klamath Machine & Locomotive Works


 
Yesterday evening I swore to myself that after my Mixed Berry Smoothie Bowl I was going to drive straight home. I shouldn’t swear. Oooh, look, there are three very rural post offices that I could get on my way over to I-5. Then because I really do have a problem, I decided to duck off the Interstate a few more times and snag 4 more. Today seven, total for the 3 days, eighteen.

On OR-227 between Trail and Tiller, I’m barreling along this wonderfully nice twisty road in the middle of nowhere. As I round a sharp curve at speed, there suddenly is a flock of wild turkeys walking across the road. Almost all of them got across before I got to them. The last one tried in vain to fly away, but I caught it right above the front driver-side headlight. It then bounced on the windshield right in front of me and exploded into feathers as it sailed over my head and hit the road behind me. No damage to the car, just a couple of feathers caught between the headlight and hood, but the local buzzards will be having turkey a few months early.

Sdrawkcab Og Ew

Buckey at Brevada

We’ll start with the last one I took. I ostensibly came to Klamath Falls for that Smoothie Bowl from Brevada tomorrow morning, but I also wanted my route to take me through Crater Lake National Park so I could take a picture of their post office. That is the next one in reverse order.

Crater Lake – I was lucky to get this close to the building that houses the park’s post office. The National Park was hopping on a summer Sunday. (8/24/25)

While I was in the park, I stopped at a couple of overlooks and a couple of visitor centers. I bought a couple of postcards and a sticker for Buckey’s trunk lid. At my last stop the morning mist and smoke that had obscured the lake was starting to burn off, but for the first couple of photos you had to imagine that deep blue the lake is famous for.

Before I left to head south, I captured the last post office in Eugene. Then I had breakfast right next door to the last of the three post offices left hanging out there on OR-126 on a ninety-mile out and back.

Sdrawkcab Og Ew is We Go Backwards backwards.