What did you do with your XS today?

My Niece and Nephew in law bought a house about an hour north of me. The weather was perfect for a nice cruise up to see their new place. Took the backroads all the way up and just enjoyed the ride. Bike ran perfect and I'm loving how well it performs now with the new throttle shaft seals! I really wished I did them sooner!
 
This last winter I read the book Boys in the Boat about the 1936 US Olympic mens 8-man crew team. And now with the 2024 Olympics in progress I realized there is one place I can ride to where both of these events intersect:
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Here's Trusty Rusty at the Princeton University boathouse on Lake Carnegie. This is where the 1936 crew team rowed their qualifying regatta to represent the US in the Olympics in Berlin. It is also the training site for the current US Olympic rowers at the Paris games. Even though the boathouse has been added on to, this is the same facade that would have greeted the 1936 team.

Princeton is in a fairly congested area, but I found a route through some farmland and neighborhoods which resulted in a very nice ride. Also something I found interesting was that when I passed other riders in the Princeton area, they were all on e-bikes. And they seemed shocked that I waved at them.
 
I just finished some recent rides to visit what might be termed "roadside Americana." In the 1800's Louis Renault took his grape vines from France, immigrated to the U.S. and established a winery in New Jersey. In the 1920s or 30s, the Renault winery built some roadside advertising in the form of large Champagne bottles made of concrete along the main routes between New York and Atlantic City as well as Philadelphia and Atlantic City. I had come across two of them over the years, but decided searching them all out would make for some fun riding. So here they are:

Bayville, NJ:
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New Gretna, NJ:
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Hammonton, NJ:
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Egg Harbor Township, NJ:
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The winery still a going concern, so I had to get Trusty Rusty there as well:
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Made plans to create a gear indicator. Ordered a sacrificial spare neutral position sensor--I'll be drilling the middle part out, casting clear resin in the hole, and using that window to see where the indicator pin falls to identify the gear positions. Once I've got a template from that, I'll drill and tap out holes at the right places on the "real" one, pop in some brass fasteners, wire it up. I got the idea from Tggraff, but I don't have anywhere near the same equipment access, so we're gonna get creative.

I'm not new to fixing bikes but I am pretty new to riding, so it's just a bit of an emotional support farkle until I learn to shift intuitively. If it works, I'm happy to share plans. If not, forget I said anything 😜
 
I had a pretty advanced plan for a gear indicator on the Bandit, using a few colored led's in patterns so they'd be obvious in peripheral vision. But I wrecked that bike before starting on it. The current ride has a gear display... its fine, but not as useful as it seems, I guess because I got in the habit of knowing the gear based on the speed and feel of the bike which persists on the current ride.

+1 for developing gear shift skills :)
 
Meanwhile in the present, I took it easy today--adjusted the clutch, and gave my leather tail-bag a nice proper waterproofing treatment. Classic horsehair brush, saddle soap, and mink-oil routine I use on all my leather goods. In the process, got a moment to fall in love with the changing seasons: light breeze, 80* F (26* C). A welcome change from the sunny 105* F I've done most of the work in!
 

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