Skyline Drive or Last Place?

Today was the River City Open. I could drive down and play a morning round from the Dorey long tees and the afternoon round at The Village. Scoring a cornucopia of bogeys, double bogeys & triple bogeys.

Or....

I could take a ride up to Skyline drive on perfect day for a road trip.

I chose the latter and I'm pretty sure I made the right choice.

I didn't leave The 'Burg til 11am and took off toward Waugh's in Orange to take a break and check out the latest stuff.

Then it was off to Skyline. It had been almost a year since my last ride up there. The skies were clear and blue the air was warm but not hot and the Sporty was running great. As I head west on 33 and getting closer to the mountains a dark rain cloud was parked directly in front of me. But I kept on going.

When I got up to the entrance the temp had dropped at least 10 degrees and was actually pretty cold. I had to put on my jacket after buying my season pass. I headed north on Skyline in spite of possible rain.

By the time I got a few miles the skies began to clear and the light traffic made the drive sweet. The park was still very green from all the rain this summer. The wildlife was out and about too. Many deer and their fawns and even a black bear with her cub ran across the road in front of me.

The only bummer of the day was that The Stable is now the Family Restaurant and wasn't open. So I had to settle for an Italian BMT from subway.

A Full Day Saturday

Had a great day today....

I met up with Jeff & Austin for a morning round at Loriella. Before we started there were some dark clouds on the horizon so I check my iPhone radar app and there was a good patch of rain off to the East. It was either going to miss us or get us really good. We decided to go ahead and start.

 I started off pretty good but #3 gave me a few problems. I did end up getting a few birdies.

I was holding up pretty good until 9 and the wheels fell off a little but I was able to hit a good tunnel shot and birdie 13. On 13 a drop of rain was falling every now & then and by the time we reached 14 tee it was coming down pretty good. It was a refreshing cold rain too so we decided to keep on playing. By looking at the scorecard the rain didn't do much to improve our scores. It was the first time in a long time I had played in that heavy a rain before. I now have a new appreciation of being able to actually see where I'm throwing a disc. I'll have to keep some Rain-X in my truck for m glasses.

Jeff, me & Austin (kind of) on 15 tee pad...

Four birdies and I still end up 9 over. But it was a fun round. Austin and I were comparing complaint/gripe count. Austin was at about 10 for the round and I was at about 10 per hole.

Went home and fixed me some lunch and the skies cleared. So I decided to take the Sporty out for a test ride. 

The ride went great. I ended up riding to a place to get it inspected and now I'm ready to get some riding done before Summer is over. Hit Skyline this Fall for a colors ride.

Two weeks ago I found the damaged rear pulley. Since then a new chrome rear fork & pulley adjusters, replacement rear wheel, replaced the rear belt pulley & new front 30t front pulley, new drive belt, new chrome belt shields, new tires, new brake pads, cleaned out the brake lines with new fluids, fresh Bel-Ray 10w fork oil, fresh oil and filter and fresh primary oil. I also had to repair the primary drain plug threads.

Almost There...

I just about got the Sporty back together. Today I got the 30t front belt pulley installed.

This will lower my high end cruising RPM's which will get me to 60 MPG and will be less wear & tear on the motor.

The rear fork swingarm, wheel and belt guards are on. Everything is fitting exactly as it should.

All that's left to do is put the exhaust pipes back on, fill the primary and put the new oil filter on and fill the oil tank.

Getting it Back Together...

While I was waiting on the last few parts to come in I went ahead and put new brake pads on the front with fresh fluid and changed the front fork oil. I went down from 15w to some Bel-Ray 10w. I'll see how much that softens up the front end. At least it wasn't as fouled as much as the last time I changed it.

 

I picked up the last parts this morning. The rear fork from the local machine shop. What was supposed to be a simple bearing & races pressed in to the swingarm the retaining clip didn't fit and had to me machined which ended up doubling the cost. On top of that the outer bearing covers were not on leaving the bearings exposed. I know for a fact they were there when I dropped it all off. (I checked the replacement kit to make sure he had everything)

All I got was... "They weren't in the bag with the other part"

Oh well, what can you do. Just pay the bill and get out of there. Luckily I had the covers from the original swingarm to replace them and they fit fine.

So begins the process of putting this all back together....

I get the swingarm mounted after having to take some sand paper to the inside of spacer bushing so it would slide better. It mounts on fine and seems to fit just like it's supposed too.

I get the rear wheel on and the new axle nut adjusters to align the rear wheel are too tight for the axle. I have to take them out to the shed. Clamp them in a vise and burr it out so it will fit. With that little detail done the rear wheel goes on.

Next step  will be putting the new front drive pulley on....

Some days are Just Better...

Sunday was a beautiful day for some disc golf. I pick up Austin and met up with Bob & Jeff for a fun round at Loriella. Jeff is still recovering from knee replacement but he managed to get through all 18.

It had been months since Bob and I had a chance to play again and I really impressed him with my improved play. All the exercising, losing weight, putting and open field practice is paying off.

I had one of my best round in a long time. Even though I missed a few birdies and had some bogeys. Nome of my bad shots were that bad.

I was able to par #4 with a great tee shot & open field drive that left me pin high for a short putt. Usually I'm 40' short of the basket and that's twice in the week I was able to make a short putt for par.

On 18 Jeff & I were tied and he throws this straight up the hill drive and end up getting par to my bogey and beats me by one stroke. The weather is starting to cool down for some perfect DG weather.

Feelin' Lucky? Punk!....

The Virginia Lottery has a $1 Frisbee Sctatcher game going on this summer and any ticket that doesn't pay off there is a second chance drawing.

If you second chance ticket is selected you win a Frisbee brand disc golf target & $100 Visa gift card. So far there have been 4 second chance drawings and I have won in two of them.

The first one showed up on my front porch the other day and the second one today...

They are comparable to the In-step brand portable target. Not as heavy duty as the Innova Discatcher sport but not bad for backyard practice.

I bought some red plastic chain to hang down as inner chain to help the targets catch the discs better. The targets also came with Frisbee brand PDGA approved discs.

Two mid-range approach discs and 4 putters in each box. They are perfect DX plastic discs for beginners to learn on. I'll keep a few for my collection and give the rest away to new players.

This gives me a total of 4 practice baskets now. Now all I have to do is get all motivated and stuff to go out and practice more.