For my birthday, some friends gave me a used Wilderness Systems Pungo 140 kayak to compliment my older sit-on-top Bic Bilboa. This Memorial Day I put it to the test on an all-day river excursion and it performed admirably.

Saturday, May 23, 2009, I'm proud to say I got to witness my nephew graduate with a degree in Civil Engineering. Great commencement and achievement Covelle!

The California International Marathon has posted a little spot regarding my logo design. Very nice.

Well the craziness of design is nonstop. I finalized the Running of the Bullipedes logo back on May 13, but the client wanted just a bit more "Western" added after the fact. A FreeFrog's work is never done. So, with a few more silly elements added – cowboy hat and boots to be precise – it's mighty cute (see below). Given the fun nature of the venue, it's perfect. ;-)

Well, I'm just getting over a nasty chest cold and all that lovely stuff that coughs up with it. It started on a hectic Friday, but felt better the next morning, so having tickets to the AMA Kawasaki Superbike Showdown at Infineon Raceway for Saturday, I ignored the warning signs of impeding sickness and rode down for a great day at the races. Once there, I took the obligatory walk around to see the people, booths and bikes (see the Duc above), but since they were just running qualifying laps, I decided to go on a few demo rides. Free rides without sales pitches on new motos is hard to turn down.



The topper for the day was riding a bike I've been lusting after for a few years, the KTM 990 SuperDuke -- sadly, they didn't have the 990R to ride, but no complaints. License down, waivers signed and away I rode on a 20+ mile demo course with the hooligan bike from hell. Ironically, aside from monster brakes and rather abrupt throttle response, the thing was more manageable than I expected. Of course, had we be given more room to open things up I'm sure the beast is lurking. Nice bike, but it's not going to get my $15k just yet. All geared up from the KTM ride, I jumped in line to hopefully ride a Kawasaki ZX-14 or ZX-10R, but they were all spoken for, so I rode the bike my wife's been thinking about switching to. I hopped aboard the attractive, but unassuming Ninja 650R. Sadly, I wasn't impressed with the engine. It made my V-Strom 650 feel like 750, plus the Ninja's brakes and suspension were abysmal. Not a bike I'd ever own, but hey, that's what demo rides are for. Hopefully Laguna Seca in July will have some demos from Triumph, Guzzi, Aprilia or Honda.



Sadly, the day was hot and my cold kicked back in with a vengence, so I took a rest and watched the races while loopy from DayQuil and too much sun. Saturday's Superbike races was a treat...Mladin didn't win for a change. I ran into a fellow rider from Sacto and we rode back together. I paid the price for my day in the sun and my nasty cold kept me couch-bound for the next 2 days, but some chicken soup and dreaming of Super Dukes passed the time. Better now...mostly.

Well it looks like I'm on a roll with logo contests locally. The Sacramento Running Association – the parent organization of the California International Marathon (CIM) – has chosen one of my logo submissions (as in the logo above) for their upcoming Running of the Bullipedes event.

Details are still sketchy, but according to CIM's Facebook page it's a short "fun run" to kick off the 2009 Folsom Rodeo happening July 2, 2009 in Folsom, CA. It sounds like a hoot!

By the gods, I've been wanting a new helmet after using the same Scorpion EXO-700 Raider since 2005! That's a long time with one helmet -- as good and as it is. Fortunately, several visors and liners later, baby's got a new toy.

I just got a Shoei X-11 with the Kagayama 2 paint scheme in exchange for some design work I did for a motorcycle client. The X-11 is one of the finest helmets on the market and it sure is purty, but that means nothing -- there are A LOT of cheap helmets out there that look great -- I want to know the features and safety are there. I had my choice of Arai, Shark, etc., but I've always been fond of Shoei, so this'll be my third one.



The proof's in the puddin'. A good long and fast ride confirmed that Shoei remains my fav. It's the best venting, lightest helmet I've owned and after grabbing a light smoke visor it's now perfect. Safety? Well, if it's good enough for Kagayama riding in World Superbike, it's good enough for little old me. Plus, I've had a serious crash in a Shoei many years back and it definitely saved my head, so I have serious trust in Shoei's. I'll probably keep an Scorpion EXO as a my backup and for passengers -- they're great helmets for the price -- but I'm glad to be riding with an X-11.