Shellback Artworks group signing August 11, 2012

I had fun with the Mirage Studios crew -- Dan Berger, Mike Dooney, Jim Lawson, Eric Talbot, and Steve Lavigne -- this past weekend. We all travelled up from Massachusetts to do a signing at Steve's store "Shellback Artworks" in Wells, ME.

Here's a sampling of photographs from the event. (Of course, I followed my usual bad habit of not getting the names of most of the people I took photos of. Sorry!)

There was one gentleman who drove a LONG way to come to the signing -- I can't remember which midwest state he was from, but I think he easily took the prize for "most miles driven to get to Shellback Artworks". He brought with him a nifty vintage VW van toy, which we all took turns signing. Mike even did some "Turtleizing" of it, adding some shell texture to certain areas.

I think this next person's name is David, and after talking with us for a while and getting some things signed, we posed for a photo with him. Then he went to the local Wal-Mart and got it printed in a large format, brought it back, and we all signed it. 

Cool idea! I had no clue that you could get prints done like that at Wal-Mart.

Here's Eric signing the photo.

Chris Parlon and his girlfriend Katie, who were also at the grand opening signing, showed up for this one as well.

We signed this dude's yellow shoulder bag…

… and the back of this pizza box (which had previously held some of our lunch).

I have to draw particular attention to the thing Jim Lawson sketched on this box -- something that, in all the years of the TMNT, with all the references to pizza and surfing, has NEVER been done before (as far as I know): a Turtle surfing on a piece of pizza. 

Genius! Jim, you're too much.

Here's Jim in the act of creation -- I was fortunate enough to be sitting next to him at the signing, and thus caught this moment for posterity.

Mike took it upon himself to, um, enhance the image of infant April on the cover of this fan's copy of TMNT Volume 4 #22.

Here's Steve posing with one of his store t-shirts which we all signed. I don't know where the shirt ended up.

It was great to have Eric with us -- I hadn't seen him in months. He brought with him some blank stickers with the die-cut shape of a skull and crossbones (the result of a printing error) and invited us all to draw something on them. Here's a photo of Eric working on one…

… and here are five COMPLETELY different approaches to using that space. Can you guess who did which?

All in all, a fun time! -- PL

More Mirage Moto Mania

I forgot to post these two photos in the "Rune has left the building" post of a few days ago. I took them while riding in Vermont.

Here's Eric putting the Triumph Scrambler 900 through its paces...



... and Steve cruising on the Rune. -- PL



P.S. If you click on each image to view a larger version, and look closely, you can see each of the dudes wearing big grins inside their helmets!

Ride to Worcester

As some of you may be aware, partly from reading about it on this blog, our friend Eric Talbot has gotten into motorcycling in a big way. He's been putting in as many miles as he can on the Honda Big Ruckus, and I would not be surprised if the dude gets his license before the summer is over.

Eric has been doing a lot of research into various brands and models of motorcycles, trying to figure out what bike would be best for him when he's ready to move on from the Ruckus. He's been intrigued by a BMW, the 650GS, and found a dealer out in Worcester -- Wagner Motorsports -- that he thought mught have one he could look at.

So we -- Eric, Jim Lawson, and I -- made a plan to ride out there this morning, leaving from Mirage at 10AM. My friend Rick joined us as well. It couldn't have been a much better day to ride -- sunny, warm, with a slight breeze. We decided to take the scenic route, heading out through Amherst to Route 202, then north to Route 122. That would take us all the way to Worcester (arriving just around the corner, coincidentally, from "That's Entertainment", the comics shop where we have done signings before), where we would pick up Route 9. We'd follow that for about five or six miles and until we got to Plantation Road, and then only a mile or two up that to get to Wagner Motorsports.

The first part of the ride was great -- Route 122 especially is a beautiful road, moging around the north end of Quabbin Reservoir. There are also a number of other, smaller bodies of water along the way... a lot of eye candy. Here's the crew (or 3/4 of it, anyway) at our first rest stop along Route 122, getting ready to get back on the road.



That's Jim in front on his Yamaha FJR 1300 (or "Feejer", as he likes to call it), Eric on the Honda Big Ruckus, and Rick on his Yamaha 1300.

We got to Worcester with no problems, though once there the ride changed dramatically. I don't really care much for riding in cities -- too much traffic, and on warm days you often aren't moving enough to stay comfortably cool. Bt we did make it to Wagner Motorports, after a small digression (a.k.a. getting lost) due to poor signage.

They had lots of bikes, but unfortunately no 650GS. Eric did sit on this Ducati Multistrada, which he kind of liked.



We were also disappointed that this dealership had just decided to stop selling Moto Guzzis and replace them with the new Indian motorcycles (yes, another attempt at revival of the fabled brand... wonder if THIS one will succeed!).

We decided to head back the way we came, and on the way we stopped at the Victory dealer in Barre, MA. They had a bunch of nice bikes, including this Victory 8-Ball which Jim sat on...



... and this big new full-dress Kawasaki touring bike, here with me trying out the saddle.



Rick liked this Victory cruiser (the "Kingpin Tour" model) with a full set of leather-look hard luggage.



After checking out these bikes, we wandered into the center of Barre (a smallish town) and had a nice lunch at the Quabbin Pizza and Seafood restaurant, before heading back home. All in all, about 150 miles of great riding! -- PL

P.S. I forgot to mention the bike I rode today. It's one I just got last week, and this was the longest ride I'd taken on it yet. It's the new Honda Fury. This is Honda's first attempt at a kind of "chopper"-style factory custom. It has the 1300cc motor from the VTX cruiser. It's not my typical style of bike, but I really like it. It's got a great sound, handles well, and its power is -- as Jim put it after trying it out -- "very grunty". (That's a good thing.)

Here's the Fury posing with some lilac bushes. -- PL

Eric's first day

After having to delay the event for several days due to inclement weather and scheduling difficulties. Eric Talbot finally got to take his first road ride on a motorcycle. Eric, Jim Lawson and I gathered at my house at 11AM to plan our ride.



From left to right: Eric with the Honda Big Ruckus, Jim with the Piaggio MP3 500, and me with the Piaggio MP3 250.

We decided to ride out to the Huntington Country Store, where we could take a break, grab a coffee, and discuss how the ride had gone up to that point. This allowed us to stick to mostly back roads, so that Eric could get his feet wet before tackling busier roads and highways. It turned out to be a great day, weather-wise -- about 58° and sunny. Jim took the lead, Eric followed Jim, and I rode behind Eric. That position gave me the opportunity to watch Eric to see how he was riding on his first time out.

And I was impressed! Except for being a little tentative at first, especially in corners, Eric did really well. He rode at his own pace, avoided sand on the road, and in general did everything he needed to do to ride safely. Here's a shot I took while riding to Huntington -- that's Eric on the Ruckus, with Jim further off in the distance.



I look forward to many such rides in the future. Welcome to the club, Eric! -- PL

More motorcycle fun

There were two motorcycle-related "firsts" here in the last twenty-four hours. First, I took delivery of -- and went for my first ride on -- the new Honda DN-01 (seen here posing near a beaver pond).



The DN-01 is Honda's first motorcycle with their new HFT ("Human Friendly Transmission"). Essentially, it is a fully automatic transmission, and from what I could tell from my first ride on it, the system works very well. I could see a future world of clutchless motorcycling.

Second, Eric Talbot got his motorcycle learner's permit! Woohoo!



Schedules permitting, within a few days he should be on the road. Congratulations, Eric! -- PL

Fun with Steve

We were graced this weeked by a visit from Steve Lavigne, who drove down from Maine to hang out and goof around. We were originally planning to wait until Saturday to go for a motorcycle ride, but Friday afternoon's sunny skies and pleasant temperatures convinced us to head out earlier. There is a motorcycle shop up near Keene, NH called "Eddie's Vintage Motorcycles" that Jim and I have been wanting to check out, so we decided that would make a good destination (and close enough so that we would have plenty of time to get back home for Wii bowling, pool and pizza with Mike and Eric and Dan).

Eddie's was a pretty cool place, where the friendly dude in charge (I think his name was Joseph) showed us around. We saw back rooms filled with lots of old motorcycles and pieces of old motorcycles, including one rare Japan-only V4 250cc Honda street bike. In a small barn about fifty feet away from the main shop, there were other vintage bikes, mostly complete and in good condition. Here's Jim standing in front of one of his lust bikes, a Norton 750 Commando.



Just down the line from the Commando was this nifty old Yamaha two-stroke scrambler -- I think it's from the late 1960's or early 1970's.



Eddie's also sells new motorcycles, including Piaggio scooters and Aprilias. In the shop when we visited was this gorgeous green Benelli Tornado, here seen with Jim sitting on it.



After gorging on the sight of all these lovely motorcycles, we headed back to my house. While blasting down Route 91, I snapped these two "action shots" of Jim on his new Moto Guzzi "Griso"...



... and Steve on his favorite bike of mine, the Honda Rune.



We timed getting back just right to meet Eric, who was first to arrive. You may not be aware of this, but Eric is poised to join our brotherhood of road-riding motorcyclists! He's ridden bikes before, but only off-road, so this is a big step for him. He's doing it the sensible way -- starting out small (I'm lending him one of my Honda 250 "Big Ruckus" scooters) to get the feel of road riding before he steps up to a bigger bike. Once he gets his motorcycle learner's permit (probably next week), he'll get started. Here's Eric checking out the bike he'll be riding, while Jim and Steve look on (and offer words of encouragement).



Here are a few photos from our pool game. Mike watches Dan shoot...



... Jim lines up a shot...



... and Mike contemplates a new look.



Saturday, Jim and Steve and I took off on another motorcycle ride -- it was an even nicer day (reaching 72 degrees at one point, by the thermometer on my Victory Vision). Jim had switched bikes for this ride, taking his Yamha FJR1300 instead of the Griso. We headed up to Adams, MA (my Mom's home town) via Route 116, a great riding road (albeit suffering significantly from potholes after the long winter). We stopped along the way for a break near this beautiful, still-icy lake.



Jim wanted to go to this diner in Adams which he had been to years ago, where he had gotten some really good soup. I can't recall the name of the diner right now, but we had some good grub there -- Steve and I each got a "Thanksgiving in a wrap" sandwich (turkey, stuffing, and -- in Steve's sandwich, at least -- cranberry mayo). After a brief stop at another motorcycle shop in Adams (Ronnie's Cycles), we blasted over to Williamstown for a coffee, and enjoyed sitting out in the bright sun in the 70˚ temperatures.

Then it was back on the road, heading home. We took off down Route 7, out to Pittsfield, a quick stop at Barnes and Noble, then off down Route 143 and back home. All in all, two great riding days.

Not so today, unfortunately -- this Sunday is a wet one. It's been raining pretty steadily since I got up. I'm not going to complain, though. It was great having Steve come down to visit, and to go riding with him and Jim, and to hang out with them plus Dan, Mike and Eric. It made the house seem a little less empty (my wife is in England this week with my daughter and her roommate -- not riding motorcycles, but I'm sure they're having a wonderful time!). -- PL