Mic's Adventure

The Motorcycle Adventures and Projects of Mic

Posts Tagged xt225

Weekend Wrap-Up: Speed Edition

May 13

Posted by Mic in The Breeze | No Comments

Although work has been getting the best of me lately, this weekend was another WMRRA round at Pacific Raceways.

I took on managing the PNW Riders Racing Team this year to help them around the pits, critique them, as well as work at getting better exposure for them.

I love going to the track, and I miss being out on it even more.  It is a feeling I can never really describe, except for 10 to 20 minutes of heart pumping adrenaline infused ecstasy.

The reason I stepped up from just doing Track Day’s, to racing is for one thing, and one thing only. That moment when the light goes out, and all hell breaks loose as a flock of bikes scream into turn 1 as fast as they can go.

I race for the starts.  It is by far, one of the most fun aspects of racing, and to this day I never grow tired of it.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , ,

Weekend Wrap-Up: The “It’s May” Edition

May 5

Posted by Mic in The Breeze | 1 Comment

Exhaust Side Valve Assembly on an XT225

Exhaust Side Valve Assembly on an XT225

May kinda sneaked up while April passed us by.

I’m short a few articles that I meant to write for April. I have about half a dozen articles started, all in various stages that I have yet to finish due to an ongoing chain of events starting at the beginning of the mouth, through the end. As I start writing this wrap-up (It is currently Monday Afternoon, I will most likely finish it up tomorrow night), I realize how I’ve been doing this wrap-ups, without really realizing it.  I just decided to start posting them up to fill in the “blanks” on my weekends, kind of give an idea of what I’ve been working on (if anything), and give you a quick look into what articles you can expect in the future along with my other methods of updating you with Facebook and Twitter.

So without too much more blah blah blah, here is my weekend wrap-up for the start of May!

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , ,

Border Hopping: Destination – Another Weekend in the Columbia River Gorge

Mar 24

Posted by Mic in Border Hopping | 5 Comments

Mt. St. Helens pokes up just above the Cascade Range

Mt. St. Helens pokes up just above the Cascade Range

It probably is not any surprise now that I spend a lot of time in Oregon. More specifically in Hood River.

It is where my parents live, where I work on my bikes due to my dad’s large, well stocked shop, and where I currently keep the majority of my tools.

So when I’m given the opportunity for a long weekend, due to working off my 40 hours earlier in the week, I typically pack up some clothes, and head south of the border (Washington Border that is!) and spend my time in Oregon.

The great thing about the Columbia River Gorge, is that it has a little bit of everything to offer to any individual.  From the towering Cascades to the majestic rivers and streams, the area is ripe with life, beauty, and an endless amount of activities.

Having taken the time to head down to Oregon on Thursday Evening, I was able to get a rather early start Friday morning after a wholesome breakfast of Bacon, Eggs and Coffee.

I hadn’t really planned a route. In fact, my main goal was just to try and get my bearings straight in the area. I figure the more times I cross by the same intersection of 2 dirt service roads, eventually I will recognize it when I do further adventures in the area.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Border Hopping: Destination – Sod Busters Cafe

Mar 16

Posted by Mic in Border Hopping | No Comments

Sometimes, when picking a destination to go, it is not always a landmark, a park, or some landscape view that takes your breath away. No, sometimes when picking a destination, it ends up being for food.

That is exactly how March 6th played out.

Saturday morning I awoke originally planning a few things. First off, I needed to give the XT a run down. Oil, Air Filter, Check other important bolts, lube and adjust chain, etc.

I also wanted to finally get some time to build the rear rack for the XT.

So I got out of bed, and Mom had started making Pancakes and Bacon.  What a wonderful way to start a Saturday morning.

I ate, grabbed my keys and headed into town to pick up some oil at the Wal-Mart.

While there, I picked up some other odds and ends, and made my way home.

As I was heading back to the shop, I took in the morning’s blue sky’s. It was absolutely beautiful out.  A bit on the chilly side, but that is to be expected in early March.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Weekend Wrap-up: High’s, Low’s, and Somewhere In Between

Feb 22

Posted by Mic in The Breeze | 3 Comments

As February gets closer to its end, mother nature decided to throw us a curve ball. Instead of the typical rainy weeks of misery we tend to get around here this time of year, she gave us one beautiful week, and an absolutely gorgeous weekend.

Mid 50 temperatures, clear, cloudless skies, and beautiful snow capped mountains surrounding us. It really has been a wonderful time so far this year with our weather.

My weekend started early, due to putting in my 40 hours earlier in the week, and getting Friday off because of this.

Friday ended up being a great day.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , ,

A Productive Weekend (Well, kind of)

Feb 8

Posted by Mic in The Breeze | No Comments

New Oversized Footpegs

What a weekend!

The Weekend started on an up beat when I got home from work on Friday and my oversized footpegs were in the mail waiting for me.

The XT225 does not have a huge amount of aftermarket support, and one of the area’s that it really shows is in the footpegs.

A gentleman in Arizona makes these oversized pegs, and while I am ecstatic that I got them, I’m a bit sad that this is one of the final sets he will manufacture.

As you can see from the picture to the left, they are much larger than the stock pegs. Also, the stock pegs have rounded serrations on them, where as the new ones are pointed, given them much better bite into the sole of your boot.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , ,

No Time to Waste

Feb 4

Posted by Mic in Adventure | 4 Comments

It is now just over 4 months until my departure from Seattle Washington up to Inuvik, Northwest Territories and I can’t help but look at the last couple months and how fast they really have gone.

It seems only a couple weeks ago I had finalized my route, spoke with Gus about it, and he agreed to come along.  So with that date coming closer, I have also realized I still do not really have the bike I would like to do this trip.

Before I purchase a new bike, I really need to get rid of one of my other bikes. Regardless if it is the Track bike, or my R6 Street bike, I need to get rid of them. I don’t have the room, nor the resources to just go out and purchase a new bike (oddly enough, I cringed when doing tax returns and realized my pay cut I took last year would have bought me a new BMW R1200GSA in full. Youch).

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , ,

Changes to Life’s a Breeze

Jan 24

Posted by Mic in The Breeze | No Comments

Today I went ahead and executed some changes with Life’s a Breeze.

As of today, the old URL of http://mic.phrozen-phaze.com has been retired. All of the old links however, will still continue to automatically return to the original articles that they had previously went to.

Phrozen-Phaze is an old Domain I’ve owned for several years, that has taken on many shapes.

For a lot of years, it was my own personal blog.

But this website became so much more in the last several months. I had originally put it together to mainly write about my motorcycle projects. Then I decided to expand it to cover the planning stages of my trip, and then I started to post my ramblings of my research and my reviews, and rides, and it just continued to grow content wise, and I realized I was enjoying it.

What started out as a website to share my projects, slowly turned into a website sharing my adventure, and so with that I decided to change it to a new URL. http://micsadventure.com

The XT225 Resource Page gets a good amount of traffic, becoming one of the top searches for XT related information. This section will be revamped soon with an entirely new format. Easier to navigate, easier to find the info you are in search of. How-To’s, Part’s Diagrams, Part Information, etc. I plan on building this section out, in hopes that it will continue to offer those who are in need of information can easily find it.

Other sections will get revamped and changed as well. I have already started to add more navigation in them, but I plan on changing the overall look and feel.

And last of all, I will be retiring my blog title of “Life’s a Breeze”. Don’t get me wrong, as the title is everything I believe in about this site, but although Life is a Breeze, it is the Adventure that we must face as it whips us around life, and this site is about mine, in hopes that it will entertain, educate, and assist with those who are in search of knowledge and adventure of their own.

With that said,

Welcome to My Adventure,

Mic

Tags: , , , , ,

My Old Friend and other little weekend ramblings

Jan 24

Posted by Mic in The Breeze | 2 Comments

So here it is Sunday morning as I start to write my weekend summary, even though the weekend isn’t completely finished yet.

My original plans this weekend, was to do some more exploring of the Forest Road I had explored a little of last weekend, but my weekends plans were cut short when on Thursday night I broke a rear spoke on the way to meet up a buddy of mine for Super Bike Night at Paddy Coynes in Seattle.

So instead of spending Friday out and about, it was spent running to Eastside Motosports and ordering myself a set of rear spokes.

Hopefully they come in this week, as this coming weekend looks like it will be clear and warm all weekend.  This should provide a couple of really good days to go do some riding.

I should eventually purchase a set for the front as well, considering if this happens again with the front I’ll be going through this whole waiting game again.  But for the time being, I’ll just order the rear set.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , ,

My Old Friend: Part 10 – An XT Reborn

Dec 30

Posted by Mic in My Old Friend: The Rebirth of an XT | 2 Comments

Part 10: Published 12-30-2009

In the final days of December, I strap down, and finish a project I’ve worked over a year on. What started out as a tribute, became a long emotional path as I raced to completely rebuild a part of my past.  Now, as this journey comes to an end, I set my sights for many more adventures with My Old Friend.

I realize, as I write this, that this will be the last entry I write in this Project Journal.

Over the last couple weeks, I have watched what was once an old neglected motorcycle, transform into the bike it is today.

I have also, over the last couple weeks, kept you all updated with video updates here and there. So this last journal entry will be a combination of the video’s I have already posted, some pictures, and some other video’s I did not post.

So without any other delay, lets take a step back, 2 weeks ago, and begin.

Tags: , , ,