I work as an electronic engineer for the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. We
operate a 3.6 metre optical and infrared telescope on the 4200 metre
summit of Mauna Kea, on the Big Island of Hawaii. This telescope
consistently obtains the highest resolution optical images available
from earth-bound telescopes. We have an adaptive optics system which
delivers diffraction limited images and guarantees to keep us at the
forefront of optical astronomy for several years to come.
As you may be able to figure from this picture, I am into
motorcycles. I rode for many years, but sold my bike (a Suzuki 380cc,
3 cylinder, two-stroke) when I left Maui in 1978 to move to the
Big Island. I thought it would only be a short while until I got the
next one. In fact, it wasn't until June of 1995 that I came to my
senses and bought a slightly crashed Honda Sabre. That got me on the
right track!
Now, about the Darth Vader object to the left. I bought one of these cute adult toys, and have been riding it since 24 October 1995. If you boink the picture, you can get a better look.
It's a Honda ST1100. This is Honda's best competition to the European sports touring bikes built by BMW, such as their K and R 1100's. Mine looks just like this one, except for the rider of course. This picture is courtesy of the STOC (ST Owners Club). Mine is a '91 model, and it had really low miles (7300) when I bought it. Ten months later (August 1996), I had bumped that number up to 17,300. Currently (October 1997), the miles are a bit over 30,000. Now in October 1998, it's just hitting 42,000. At the same time in 1999, it had only cranked up to 48,000 miles. Not bad for living on an island which is less than 350 miles around.
No more ST. I only have room to keep one bike.
Now it's a KLR 650. I'm just getting into this,
but it's a neat bike. This is the Kaw stock photo from their
page. Next shot will be dressed up like a world tour bike. Too
bad I can only go around an island!
Motorcycle Resource
Page This is a comprehensive set of links and other info to benefit ST1100 and other bikers. It's unfortunately way out of date and abandonned.
Motorcycle Rentals and Tours
Page
This is a set of links to sites providing guided motorcycle tours, bare bike tours, and bike rentals. Not comprehensive, as this is a dynamic field, but it's got some of the best companies.
Motorcycle wise, in addition to this toy, I completed an Edelweiss tour of the Alps in August and September of 1995. That one was on a BMW K-75. What a blast. I have a few pictures scanned up, and you can get to them through the link below. However, don't despair that there aren't more! If you are really into self-flagellation, you can request a personal performance of the Alpen tour slide show.
Edelweiss Alps Tour Pictures
My next bit of crazyness, cycle wise, was to fly off to Atlanta in October of 1996, rent an ST1100, attend a STOC rally (affectionately dubbed WetSTOC), and then ride the Blue Ridge Parkway up to Lynchburg, Virginia. Of course I had to come back, and that was through Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Deal's Gap has to be experienced to be believed. It is real -- do believe the stories. The whole thing resulted in about 1600 miles in 7 days.
EaSTOC Trip Pictures
I had to get back to the fantastic roads in the Alps, so my last trick was a Beach's Oktoberfest tour, which I completed in September of 1997. This was a three week tour on a BMW R1100R. I racked up about 5700 Km or 3500 miles. Pictures and story to come...
Oktoberfest Tour Pictures
Next was (June 1999) a trip to Munich to pick up a new Beemer 323i. I drove it to Norway, and did a Beach's Trail of the Trolls tour. Then I drove to Oslo and Hamburg and turned the car in for shipping. These pages are a quick look at all my pictures, with no story. More to come...
Temporary Norway pictures page June of 2000 saw me "borrowing" an ST1100 and doing a month on the mainland, in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, and North Carolina. This was to attend rallies, ride roller coasters, visit rail museums and ride steam trains. I put 5500 miles on that ST in a month, and still did everything else. No pics posted yet...
July of 2001 was the WeSTOC trip to Kimberley, BC. No pics The latest trip, in January 2002, was a three week Beach tour in New Zealand. I'd doing another quick upload of pictures. Maybe a story later...
Temporary New Zealand pictures page
Thailand / Singapore Trip Pictures
Directory of URL country codes
WWW directories Available html stuff at CFHT
Some of my favorite images.