SgtMarty Tech Day April 6, 2008

The day went very well. Biggest turnout so far. 30 people signed the board, but I think a few did not. Everyone who came to wrench, and everyone who came to help, and everyone who came to just hang out got plenty of what they came for. Glad to finally see some '08 bikes get worked on.

Special thanks to those who helped others out. Scott, Zach, Nelson, Damon, Phil, Kelly, Don, Mountain and others were all part of the KLR community.

Thanks to Garry for the brats and elk burgers, and to everyone who brought snacks. Extra thanks to Justin and others for the beers, and to those who brought ice. My foot still hurts bad enough that alcohol therapy was called for at about 10am.

All day Saturday at Mountain's ADV tech day, and all day Sunday at mine, and my foot feels like it went through a wood chipper. I'm going to lay naked and drunk on the floor for a day or two...

I envy Mountain; his tech day had plenty of women who came and worked on their bikes. Me, I get a bunch of bears.

Thanks, too, to LaurieD for being in charge of feeding the bears.

Laurie also took some pics.

Justin got to work right away, first one in.

Quite a few '08 KLRs

Had 6 bikes going at once in the three garage bays. Four in the double bay...

Two more in the side bay.

Zach had a doohickey three-way going at once in a triangle. mmmmm.... three-way....

Gil's old '90 KLR always needs something.

SRA helped lube Gil up.

Justin spooned on new shoes and tweaked a few other things. Nelson helped several folks, and only worked on his bike afterwards.

I gotta be honest with everyone. I loved seeing all the bikes lined up in the driveway. It showed such a great camaraderie and reflects well on the local KLR community.

There's a reason why I caution everyone about the deer in the area. Phil is now the latest expert on suicidal forest rat behavior.

I learned that the carb is harder to get to on the '08 bikes. The choke cable is now integrated into the control housing and can't be disconnected as easily. There's a bracket (holding what looks like a relay) on the left side of the carb, so rotating it was trickier, too.

It was a wonderful day. It was cool to start with, and the hot cocoa and other beverages felt good. It warmed up well, though, and there was no wind so some bikes got opened up outside.

Gotta improve the sign-in board for next time. Still, I always take this photo as a memento of the day.

We worked on a few bikes until nearly sunset, and chatted with Garry about his just-completed ride to New Zealand. It was getting chilly again when we were finally done. Thanks, too, to those who helped clean things up a bit. I'll deal with the rest of it in a few days when I sober up and find my clothes.

Cheers, all.

Plan for the next one in late Summer.