Before I get into where I’ve been….

The podcast has been doing great…. now in our 8th year and up to 355 episodes as of this writing. I’ve had some great interviews and I’ve had the opportunity to get some more attention for the show. In fact….

I’m excited announce that the Motorcycle Men Podcast, Ride with Ted YouTube Channel and this blog are happy to be working with Viking Bags to try out their products!

I will come up with a review post once the product testing is done so keep an eye out for these updates.

Check them out here:
https://www.vikingbags.com/motorcycle-luggage.htm
https://www.vikingbags.com/motorcycle-sissy-bars

Viking bags makes great stuff and I’m not just saying that. My brother has one of their swingarm bags and he loves it, but I’ll have a product review coming up soon.

I’ve been busy. Bottom line, that’s it. I’ve been busy….. and maybe a little lazy. But the biggest thing I have done since my last blog (in February!!) is…..

I’ve retired from the workforce. Despite that,

That’s right, I am voluntarily unemployed…. sort of. I know work for my wife. I even got a t-shirt to the point that out. So yes… she’s been keeping me busy. Does this mean that I have not been out on two-wheels? No, I have been and I have been doing quite a bit, but not nearly as much as I want.

I’ve been building and creating here around the house and doing my best to stay out of trouble. I’m not so sure it’s working, but either way things are getting done around here and I am getting miles in.

I’ve finally gotten out on the bicycle and have been doing some miles there as well. It was a little difficult in the beginning since I was still in recovery from my knee surgery in May 2022. The surgeon did tell me it would take up to a year for it to feel normal and life would return to normal-ish. But I did get out a few times when the weather permitted and to be honest, I did have a hard time in the beginning. My strength just wasn’t there and my endurance sucked. Where I used to get out for a 25 to 35 mile ride and occasionally doing a 50 or 60 mile ride, I had difficulty doing 15 miles.

I’ve been spending a lot of time working on the YouTube Channel as well and that, if you don’t know, is a lot of work. Editing can take hours and in worst case, days. But the channel is growing, not enough for me to earn any money off of but it is growing.

I went to some of the events at Myrtle Beach Bike week and had fun torturing myself on bikes that I couldn’t afford to get, my favorite being the Harley Davidson Pan America. I also had to endure some horrendous traffic, high humidity and an excessive amount of stupid people… but that is to be expected at large events like this.

I also took part in a relaxed version of the Motorcycle Podcasters Challenge. This annual (?) motorcycle event was started by the Loud Pipes Podcast 7 years ago but we missed two years for various reasons. There wasn’t any official scoring this year as there was no indication from the “organizers/admins” that there was going to be a challenge this year at all. Then out of nowhere one of the participants in the event just suggested we did it for fun this year and we did. The admins picked the letters and we had to get Names of Restaurants, Streets and Towns. It was fun and I got a tremendous amount of riding in.

Oh, I also got run over twice, once by this asshat who passed between me and the car next to me.

But I’ve been having fun most of all…. I think. I got a drone for Christmas and needless to say I’ve been out getting some air time and that has been fun.

Finally, I will be heading out to the Sturgis motorcycle rally for the first time this year and planning is well under way. The route is settled going out and the plans are in place for the riding while I’m out there. It’s going to be one hell of a ride and I’ll be sharing the events daily on My YouTube Channel, on the podcast and of course here.

Let the games begin…