Ride Three is on holiday break until January 2009. All the best to you and yours!

It occurs to me that running a website is a bit like owning a Ural. There’s the time where you first get it, and everything needs to be broken in. You need to get used to one another. Over time, you do, and then once you do, it’s time to move on to making things better.

And that’s what’s up right now. Over time, I’m working on making some various improvements around Ride Three. One of the big ones got put in place last week — the new header up at the top of the site.

I wanted to take a moment and give some well-deserved props to the graphic designer who made it happen: Bonnie Donaghy at bd rose (site coming soon) did a great job taking my initial concepts and making them real. She specializes in print design and marketing, and if you would like to drop her a line about a graphic design project, you can reach Bonnie via email at design at bdrose dot net.

There are some other things I’m gradually working on; some will just be put in place; some, like this, I’ll drop a note about. More to come.

Did you see KVAL TV’s recent news story about sidecar motorcycles in Eugene, Oregon? Welcome to Ride Three. Here’s some introductory info to help you find your way around. Read the rest of this entry »

Ah, time off. Ride Three and I are on vacation for the next 2-ish weeks, returning Sept. 10. In the meantime, here are some old posts you might be interested in…

• Ural Patrol Update: It’s here, or, when you take delivery of your Ural
• SF Gate.com Reviews the 2007 Ural Gear-Up
• Ural Sidecar Motorcycle Message Boards
• New Ural CEO Rick Clark profiled in Tacoma News Tribune
• Ural Improvements 2006, 2007, 2008
• Thinking of getting a Ural? You’re probably nuts… but you’ll have fun
• Bottled Patrol Porter Just Needs a Ural
• From Siberia to Eugene: Getting a Ural motorcycle from Russia to Oregon
• How to understand your Ural VIN

Enjoy! See you in a couple of weeks.

New Email Address Too

Have you tried to send me an email within the past 2 weeks? Wondering why you haven’t heard back from me? The answer: My email provider has been having some issues the past couple of weeks.

If you’ve emailed me since August 5, please drop me another line. And please accept my apologies for the email-dropping nonsense. My provider’s lost a fair few emails — at this point, I don’t know how many.

Tandem to that, I also have a new email address for Ride Three. You can email me anytime at anthony at ridethree dot com

Looking forward to hearing from you!

The famous Ural hack monkey of Eugene

This… is just cool.

A little while back, Ella, Svetlana and I were in a photo shoot. With photography by Eugene’s Jon Christopher Meyers, our own homegrown, homebrewers-turned pros Chris and Jeff Althouse were getting pictures for a big rebranding campaign. Changing their brewery’s name from Willamette Brewery to Oakshire Brewing, they just unveiled the new brand — and the new marketing campaign to go with it.

Keep an eye out for ads and posters like the one above; you’ll see people playing frisbee golf, riding bikes, rafting, and, of course, riding sidecar motorcycles. People who enjoy life. Who enjoy the Northwest. And who, of course, enjoy a good beer.

Raise your glass

It was great to help out these folks. The Althouses (well, nowadays more their head brewer, Todd) brew excellent beer, ranging from a Hefeweizen to an IPA to an espresso stout that contains one shot of espresso per pint. They’re a homegrown company, with a big focus on quality and on sourcing everything for the beer and the business as close to home as they can. You can find Oakshire beers on tap from Eugene to Portland — and if you don’t see it on tap at your favorite watering hole, be sure to ask if they can get a keg in.

We had a great time helping out Jon and the Althouses. And now, Ella and the Ural seem to be becoming, if not famous, then certainly notorious around Eugene. That’s my hack monkey — always stealing the show!

Happy Independence Day to my Three Readers. May you have much fun, smooth Uraling and good nosh.

As for me, Jodie, and Ella, we are going to be out and about this holiday weekend. Posts on Ride Three will crank back up on Monday, July 7.

Happy grilling and safe riding!

Seen a Ural in Eugene? Have questions about sidecar bikes? Here are some answers

Spotted an anachronistic sidecar motorcycle buzzing around Eugene? Did some investigative web surfing and wound up here? Here’s some skinny on sidecar motorcycles, particularly Urals, in Eugene, Oregon. Read the rest of this entry »

Got some riding to do and some projects ’round the house to work on. Got a few things to do with the bike too, such as turning wrenches (just crossed the 1,000 km mark last night!) and deciding on a name for my Patrol.

So I’m going to take a couple of days off from the blog. Posts will resume by Monday, June 9, at the latest.

Ride Three launched in December 2007, and I haven’t done a whole whole lot to the template and layout since then. Did make a few minor changes this evening though, based on just time as well as some feedback, including…

• Nixed some cute yet pointless buttons in the sidebar
• Moved all the non-site-navigation links from the sidebar to their own, dedicated page – Ural Resources (located in the top navigation bar). This area is a running list of links and resources including…
  • About Ural Sidecar Motorcycles
  • Available Ural Models
  • Ural Discussion Boards, Rallies & Communities
  • Ural Repairs & Maintenance
  • Sidecar/Motorcycle Training
  • More Sidecar Resources

This is a living, growing section, so if you know a Ural or sidecar resource that should be listed in the Ural Resources area, please contact me.

Please keep suggestions for the site and for future posts coming. Thank you for being part of Ride Three!