Apr 28, 2006

did it again...

here it is, friday morning and i still need to pack for the weekend... i've gone through the course materials, so i think i'm ready in that regard. i still need to pack - i'm going to be on the phone all morning. at least only my one morning meeting requires me to be on the phone. i guess the other meetings i can listen in and pack at the same time. i really don't like doing this - it makes me feel uneasy... i don't get the confidence that i've packed everything...

i wanted to take the bike, but at this point, i think it would be too crazy trying to pack for the bike. you would think it's easier since there's actually less to pack. the problem is making sure you have everything you need. and with the variation in weather, i feel like i need to pack extra clothes for comfort. well, at this point, i'm not taking it, so it doesn't matter...

i'll report how the weekend goes when i get back...

Apr 24, 2006

one down...

...three more to go...

just completed my first weekend of ridercoach training... whew!! a recap and some of my observations...

well, it started friday... as i think i mentioned in an earlier post, i was totally unprepared - at least packing wise. as far as the course materials, i was pretty much set there. so i was rushing around on friday, juggling work related phone calls, packing and trying to make sure i didn't forget anything. i think i was done packing about the time i needed to load up the cage and take off. yes, i took the cage because of the forecasted weather.

expecting the trip to take anywhere from three and a half to four and a half hours, i left about 12:45pm. i figured worse case that would put me there are 5:15pm leaving me enough time to check into the hotel and get to class for the 6:00pm start.

i pulled into the hotel around 4:30pm. the place reminded me of a motel you'd see along a not so traveled road. not to say the building wasn't in good shape and didn't look nice, it did - for whatever reason, it just wasn't what i was expecting. so i check in, unload my stuff into the room and hang out until it time to leave for the class. as i'm transferring stuff to the room, a guy pulls up on his ultra classic. we eventually pass each other, so i ask him if he's taking the class - kind of a no-brainer as we're all staying at the same hotel and he's riding a motorcycle. he is indeed taking the class - introduces himself as skip. he tells me he rides the bike everywhere, he doesn't own a cage. his wife does and the only time he uses the cage is when it's snowy or there's ice on the road - can't say i blame him. i forget how long skip says he's had the bike, four or five years, and it's got 88,000 mile on it. now that's some riding.

so i head back to the room to kill some time... before long my roommate, wally, shows up. now wally can hold a conversation - we talked about all sorts of things. turns out wally writes for southern motorcycle times, won a 2005 883 sporty and is a warranty administrator for rockwell automation. we chat for a bit and then head to the community college for class...

we arrive at the college and realize there weren't any clear directions/instructions of where the class would be help. wally seemed to know the building we were supposed to be in. we walk in the building and start poking around the rooms. with the amount of heavy equipment and machines in the classrooms, they definitely teach mechanics around here. now i'm thinking to myself, i need to take some classes to learn to weld so that when i decide to build my own bike, i can do some welding on it. well, that's another day and most likely far, far away. right now i'm here for a motorcycle instructor class.

we finally find the classroom - of course it's the last one on the hall. a couple people we already in the room and it looked like the instructors were scrambling around to get things ready. after the rest of the students arrived, they started class. the instructors seemed a little unorganized, like they were winging it. i don't know if they wanted to come off that way or not, but they did. it seemed to start when they couldn't decide if they were supposed to have twelve or thirteen students in the class. this was a discussion they would hold on and off through the first night and into the next morning.

the rest of the night was spent as it would have been for a "normal" class, with the instructors adding advice on how you would teach the course. while there was some structure to what they were presenting, they seemed to be referring to the manual a lot. it just wasn't as polished as i would expect it to be. i don't know if it was intended or not. anyway, friday night was spent doing the first three lessons of the book.

saturday started with the range exercises. actually, it started with us having to get the bikes from storage to the range. not necessarily a big deal, but everyone wants certain bikes. and of course no one wants the bikes at the front. which makes it hard to get the rest of the bikes out. it's amazing to watch the amount of effort people will put into maneuvering a bike around another one in a confined space as opposed to just taking the other one!! so we get the bikes out of the storage area and start firing them up to take them to the range. let me just say they weren't the best bikes around. i don't think any of them have been spared from dropping. so we get them on the range, ride around a bit and then park them in the staging area.

the instructors start talking about how to teach the range exercises, stressing, obviously, safety and coordination between the two coaches on the range. then they tell us to set up the cones for exercise one. it must have looked like a comedy of errors watching us try to figure out which were the right markings and where to put the cones. only being somewhat familiar with the range set up, it took us a while to get them all set up correctly. this would be repeated for almost every range exercise on saturday. but as the day went on, we got better at figuring out where the cones should go.

we start the first exercise, covering the controls on a bike and the differences between the bikes. something that is probably very important to know when you're actually teaching the class. we go all the way through exercise one and two. through the rest of the day, we would partially complete other exercises. we always performed the demo portion of the exercise and sometimes the actual exercise itself. of course we all know we can do the riding portion of the class, otherwise we wouldn't be here. however, when you have to perform the actual demo, it's a lot harder than it seems. i guess because you are showing how to perform an exercise, you want it to be the best it can, so you concentrate a lot harder, which actually makes it hard to perform the demo.

rain really only affected us once on saturday. it rained right after we broke for lunch, but since we were done, that wasn't much of a problem. in the afternoon, it rained again and we ended up leaving the range. i think if this had been a real class, we would have stayed on the range. but we went inside and finished all the book work. in the afternoon, we took turns teaching portions of the course. needless to say, we were unprepared so we did a lot hemming and hawing presenting the materials...

sunday was pretty much spent on the range with the exercises... we wrapped up in the classroom where they gave us assignments for the following week. this should be a lot of fun - now i have to try to find time to get the studying done...

okay - some of my observations from the weekend. the instructors seem very disorganized. they do seem to know their material, but it seems like they are just throwing it at us as they remember it or as questions are asked. as they are presenting the material, they jump and skip around a lot, so it makes it very hard to find continuity in what they are presenting. it would have been nice for them to provide a little more hands on guidance instead of letting us fumble around so much. i believe their thinking is we'll learn more by doing - which is true. but we're making so many mistakes and wasting too much time correcting the mistakes. if they would provide more guidance, we could learn a lot faster.

i can see some people already rising to the top and some sinking. i'm probably floating somewhere near the middle, closer to the top. i can't figure out why some of these people are in the class - money, ego?? i don't know, but they just don't seem to fit. and there are just some natural leaders in the class who will make good instructors. now we'll wait to the end and see how dead wrong i was about the observations i've made about the people.

seems i had some other stuff to add, but i guess this is long enough for now, huh??

ride on...

Apr 21, 2006

instructor training...

well, my motorcycle instructor training starts today... while i think i'm prepared for the class as far as reading the materials and completing the assignments, i'm totally unprepared as far as packing!!! i haven't even started to pack, and my morning is full of meetings. guess i'll have to hang on the phone and run around packing. i really don't like to be unprepared like this, but i did it to myself...

also wanted to ride the bike to class. but they're expecting severe thunderstorms this weekend. not sure it's worth trying to ride in the thunderstorms. while i'm bummed about it, there will be other weekends to ride out there. i think my wife will be relieved that i'm caging it instead of riding.

guess my next post(s) will report back on how the training is progressing... good luck to me...

Apr 20, 2006

doh!!!

long story short: my neighbor is (planning on) riding to sturgis with us... he is also planning on going to myrtle beach this spring. i'm not going to myrtle but my brother and his crew are. i figured since my neighbor and brother are both going to be in sturgis, the two groups could hook up and meet each other in sturgis...

at the beginning of this week, i sent an introduction e-mail to my brother and frank telling them to add my neighbor to the e-mail list of anything regarding sturgis. i also explained everyone would be in myrtle and they might try to hook up. my brother sends a nice e-mail response welcoming my neighbor. frank does the same, including his contact number as well. then frank sends an e-mail to the larger biker group telling them my neighbor is now in the mix. well, knowing the biker group as i do and not knowing my neighbor tooooo well, that could be a recipe for disaster. as it was!!! it didn't take long for someone to start slinging the mud. and of course it gets pretty crude...

at first i was a little shocked. but then it started to settle in, this is the way the group normally acts - it's going to get to this point sooner or later... and if people don't like it, they don't have to hang around...

well, i hadn't seen my neighbor all week and he didn't respond to any of the e-mails... so now i'm thinking he was offended and that will be the end of that...

i was sitting on the front porch tonight when i hear my neighbor call my name... i wave, get up and head over to talk to him... we meet in the street, shake hands and exchange pleasantries... then he brings up the e-mails - i'm waiting for his reaction... he laughs at it and says that he just hasn't had time to respond to them yet. he thought it was funny and is looking forward to meeting them in myrtle next month...

i tell you, these guys may act like assholes sometimes, but you couldn't find a better bunch of guys to be on your side...

Apr 19, 2006

long rides...

my wife and i went for a walk tonight. after our walk, we were in the front yard discussing what we wanted to do with the flower beds. along came one of our neighbors, out on his walk. we exchanged pleasantries and then he says to me i should be out riding the bike. of course it was a beautiful evening, a perfect one for a ride. just with everything going on and me wanting to spend time with the family, i wasn't going out for a ride tonight. then he says that if i don't get out riding, i'll never be in shape or prepared for the ride to sturgis. i took a little, okay, maybe a lot of offense to this. i know it's going to be a long ride and there are going to be some rough days, but he doesn't know anything about me or my riding habits. of course he's been to sturgis and ridden his bike all everywhere else - just ask him, he'll tell you. now i'm sure he's done his share of riding, but he's one of those guys that will ride his bike somewhere. or at least ride it until he gets tried. then he'll pull over and load his bike onto the trailer that his wife's been following him in. or he'll trailer his bike to the edge of some bike rally, unload it and ride in like he owns the place.

now i'm not going to get in big discussion about people trailering their bikes. i understand people do this and they have their reasons - i'm not against people trailering. what i don't like it people trailering their bikes, unloading then at the edge of town and riding in like they've been riding for days. if you're going to trailer - then trailer, fine. but trailer all the way in...

now i know i haven't made any all day, eight, nine, ten hour trips yet. but i think i've been on some longer rides and i don't think i've felt utterly exhausted when i was done. in fact, i can't remember really being too tired after a trip. i enjoy riding - i find it relaxing. i'm looking forward to the sturgis trip. i think the toughest part of the trip is going to be being away from my family.

Apr 18, 2006

how far would you go...

...to buy cheaper gas??

i was out riding the other day, passing gas stations and looking at the rising cost of gas... of course different stations had different prices, which got me to wondering how far people would drive to save money on gas...

now i'm all for saving money on gas. and i'll usually drive a little further to save a couple cents on the gallon. but there is a break point - a point at which it's just too far to drive to justify the savings. and everyone has a break point...

on my way back, i passed a station that was selling gas for $2.839 per gallon. less than a mile away, i passed another station selling gas for $2.819 per gallon - a two cent savings. would you drive the extra mile, possibly out of your way, to save two cents per gallon?? i think i would... about another mile away, two miles from the original station, another station was selling gas for $2.759 per gallon. now, would you drive an extra two miles to save eight cents a gallon?? again, i would. luckily for me, the station selling the cheapest gas is closest to my house...

soooo, how far would someone drive out of their way to save money on gas?? how far would you drive?? i realize it's dependent on a combination of the distance and the savings, but i wonder what the average break point is for people...

Apr 12, 2006

flame thrower...

was cruising around the web and came across roscoe's flame thrower. pretty cool video - the guy turned his pipes into flame throwers. looks like it would be fun to do... i guess i have a fondness for it because it's a road king classic with a leather tour-pak. don't see many of those. at least not as many as the orange screaming eagles, huh frank??

after watching the video, read the comment. it really is a shame that today's society doesn't take more responsibility for their own actions. roscoe's right, if he told someone how to do this and they hurt themselves, who do you think they'd turn to. quicker than roscoe could say "flame on," he'd be in court. probably along with harley davidson and everyone else that made the parts to enable the flame thrower. of course if roscoe hurts himself with it, who do you think he'll blame?? no one. well, maybe himself... it is too bad that as a society we don't take more responsibility for our own actions. we're always looking for a quick out - someone else to blame for our stupidity... come on people, grow up - have some courage to admit when we screw up and not try to blame everyone else in sight...

okay, enough about that - i need to get out on the bike and relax...

enjoy the video...

horny brothers...

got an e-mail the other day titled horny brothers. opened it up and found these two pics... they were taken at myrtle beach last year... we had a lot of fun... i'm sure i'll be getting some e-mails and phone calls from the guys while they're at myrtle beach.


Apr 11, 2006

ride to work day...

kinda hard for me since i work at home!!! i guess i could ride out the driveway, around the cul-de-sac and back up the driveway... if i did that, would i have to drive back at the end of the day??

on the serious side... i was reading through one of the motorcycle rags and saw an ad for ride to work day. i went to the ride to work day web site to find out more. i found out that ride to work day is always the third wednesday in july, which would make it july 19 this year... taken directly from their web site, the purpose is to demonstrate:

  • the number of motorcyclists to the general public and to politicians

  • that motorcyclists are from all occupations and all walks of life

  • that motorcyclists can reduce traffic and parking congestion in large cities

  • motorcycling is a social good


it all sounds good and i'm sure it helps raise awareness, but do we need a day designated to ride our bikes to work?? again, if i didn't work at home, i would ride to work as often as possible - it wouldn't take a purpose like 'ride to work day' to make me ride in. but maybe there are people out there that don't or normally wouldn't ride to work. my first instinct is to say these people aren't real riders, but that's probably not fair. they have their reasons not to ride every day and they're just as valid as my reasons to ride as often as possible. so this obviously is less an effort to get more people to ride to work and more an effort to raise awareness to non-riders and cage drivers.

anyway, i guess when the day gets closer, i'll have to schedule lunch with some buddies so that i can get out and ride. either that or just hop on the bike, ride down the driveway, around the cul-de-sac and back up the driveway. believe me, if it comes to that, i'll go a lot further!!!

ride on...

ride to work...

Apr 6, 2006

another hog meeting...

so i went to the local hog meeting last night. pretty good meeting - i like the events we do to raise money for the local charities...

but tonight, as i was looking around the room, i was noticing the way people dressed. typical harley wear - harley t-shirts, most for the local dealership, jeans, do-rags. that's not to say there weren't some people there that were dressed "nicely," there were. i'm just looking and thinking about the general clothing... then i started to wonder if these people dress this way all the time or do they get dressed up (or maybe down) for the meetings?? me, i pretty much dress the same way all the time - t-shirts or casual button shirts. about the only change in attire i'll make when i ride is to put jeans on instead of shorts. but i don't throw on my harley shirt just because i'm going to a meeting. if i have it on, i have it on. if not, i wear whatever to the meeting...

so now i'm left wondering what these people wear normally, when they're not at the meeting, or riding or hanging out at scooters... i can tell you think much - i won't be loosing any sleep over it!!!

ride on...

Apr 4, 2006

priorities...

i was on the phone with my wife, getting ready for a bike ride. well, not really a full blown ride, just taking my daughter to the doctor... my wife tells me she had talked to said daughter the night before and she didn't want to ride the bike. i thought that was odd as she always seemed to enjoy the ride before. anyway, i decide i'm taking the bike anyway.

as we're leaving the house, i ask her if she doesn't like riding the bike anymore. she said she does - she just didn't want to mess her hair up!!! of course i respond with a smart-ass comment saying "oh yeah, i forgot, we're going to the hair doctor..." she gives me this funny smirk...

we ride to the doctor's office - and what a beautiful day for a ride... as we're checking in, the receptionist asks if i rode and brought daughter on the bike. i say of course. the receptionist says it's a nice day for a ride and she likes motorcycles. i told her i enjoyed the ride in but my daughter didn't because of her hair. looking over to daughter, the receptionist tells her not to worry about her hair - riding a bike is worth having messy hair...

i guess people's priorities are different. i'd take a bike ride over messy hair any day... but i guess there are others that don't feel that way... it's all in your priorities...