smoke out vii

planning has started for smoke out vii. looks like the weekend will shape up as it has in the past. the crew from northern virginia will ride down and spend friday night here. saturday we'll head out to salisbury for the smoke out and spend the day out there. sunday we'll return home...

looks like we're going to have quite a crowd spend the night here. my wife isn't real thrilled about it - i can't say that i am either. we're expecting about sixteen people. now if it was just the core group of bikers, it wouldn't be any problem. but there are a lot that are staying that i just don't know - and with a crowd that big, it concerns me some. as long as they don't get too rowdy, everything should be fine...

anyway, i'm looking forward to the smoke out. it's a nice ride out there and we had a lot of fun last year. while the smoke out has been growing over the last several years, it's still small enough to be a lot of fun. people show up to show off their custom choppers - not the high dollar bling-bling kind you're used to seeing on tv and magazine covers, but the kind you'd see build in someone’s garage or basement. real choppers by real people. speaking of high dollar choppers, a couple big bike builders are going to be there: kendall johnson, paul cox and keino, eric gorges, billy lane, warren lane and others.

finally, and definitely not least, the scantily clad females that parade around... or decide to get brave and ride the bull. it was quite entertaining last year and i'm sure this year will not different.

should be a lot of fun... you can count on details, and pictures, when i get back.

durham...

took a ride out to durham this morning to interview and fill out an application for a ridercoach position at durham technical community college. faced the usual stuff with riding to a new location - not sure of what the roads are going to be like, not sure how long it's going to take to get there, not sure if i need to allow extra time to get gas, etc. in trying to prepare, i printed off the directions that were e-mailed as well as plotted the route using google. the main problem i have with using these mapping services is the travel time seems to be off. if it says four hours, i can make it anywhere from three to three and a half hours. today's trip was projected to take an hour. with the roads i was going to be on, curvy two lane, i figured an hour would be the minimum i would want to allow. if i needed gas, add an additional fifteen minutes. and as it turned out, i did need gas. and i left about an hour and fifteen minutes before the meeting - so if timing worked out, i'd be there right on time.

the ride out was great. temps were in the high 60s when i left, so there was a nice breeze. sky was fairly clear. two lane, non-congested, rural roads. this is so much better that four lane, interstate riding. i could ride on roads like this all day long. if i was left to my own devices to plan a route, i don't think i would have planned this one. and this one was so much nicer - keeping me out of some of the seedier sections of durham. it was nice exploring new areas, learning about new roads i can take for future rides.

well, i made it to my destination about five minutes early. which didn't really matter since jim was about ten minutes late. apparently he was on his way to get gas for the class this weekend and forgot that we were supposed to meet this morning. no big deal, though. once he showed up, we talked through the application process, i gave him the necessary information and he copied what he needed to. we decided i'd follow him over to the main building so that he could show me the way as well as show me the bikes and the range. as we were riding over, we went through some of the rougher areas of durham. at one point, we came to a stop light and there were at least four police cars in a parking lot. i'm not sure what the officers were doing, but they were obviously investigating some sort of criminal activity. while i never felt directly threatened, i did think once or twice about a news headline that read something like motorcyclist killed by stray bullet. needless to say, thankfully, that didn't happen...

i checked out the bikes and the range. bikes looked like they were in pretty good shape and the range looked well maintained. apparently the brc program at the community college is really growing. they're in their third year - started the first year with only six classes. now they're up to twenty-eight and will probably have more next year. after chatting with jim a little longer, i headed over to the main building to get my application. pretty much routine. they gave me a packet that i need to fill out and return. i also filled out some other information so they can get my on the payroll sooner.

the ride home was good. after looking at the map in the parking lot, i picked a route that i thought was good. i wasn't exactly sure where i was or what the roads around there were like. i didn't necessarily want to take main roads, so i chose a slightly longer route that put me on two lane roads. it was a bit warmer than the morning ride, but i guess that's expected since it's already the beginning of june.

ridercoach application...

head to durham technical community college tomorrow to interview and fill out an application for a ridercoach position at the college. they have all the brc (basic rider course) classes filled up for the remainder of the year, but they want to get me in the system in case an instructor cancels. hopefully the weather holds out so that i can ride the bike out there.

i also received an application for alamance community college. i have to fill that out and get it back in the mail. same story there, all booked but they want to get me in the system.

i'm looking forward to teaching. this year may be a little rough since it will probably be short notice for me to fill in. i'll do it when i can but i'm not good at last minute stuff - we usually have other plans. even though i'm not teaching, i'm going to try to observe a couple classes. mostly to get to know other instructors and see how the classes are taught at different locations.

10k...

took the bike it for its ten thousand mile service today. that and a new back tire. wow, ten thousand miles. i know, i know, some of you are saying that isn't a lot for a bike that's almost two years old. and i know you're right. and i know that i would have loved to put on a lot more miles. but it's still a lot. and still milestone. at least for me.

so i ride to the dealership this morning - it's a fairly nice day. looking a little overcast, but no rain yet. then i'm wondering if it's going to rain or not. but i'm not really worried about it, i have my rain gear. i get there a little before 0700, so i wait outside, watching the mechanics ride up. another day or work for them... a morning off work for me!!

right before 0700, one of the guys comes out and says he can get me checked in. cool... i haven't seen him before, but he seems very helpful and nice. we get the bike checked in. my inspection is due in june - i ask him if they can do it now and still throw a june sticker on the bike. nope. looks like i'll be back again in june. so after checking over the bike for wear and dings, he tells me i'm all set. i confirm the bike will be ready at noon the next day (friday). he tells me yes - that it might even be ready at the end of today. that would be nice...

i head over to get my loaner/rental bike. after asking around, turns out the rental dood doesn't show up until 0800. although he might be in my 0745. so i kill some time walking around accessories and clothes to figure out what i can spend my money on. i talk to brenda for a bit - she's one of the good ones that work at ray price. i wish there were more like her - but they've gotten rid of all the good people.

finally the rental dood rolls in and i can get the bike. oh, he has to catch up first since he had yesterday off. guess i can't blame him - although he does seem like he's still half asleep. he checks over the inventory and picks out one of the few bikes he still has left. he asks when i'm going to return it. i tell him friday around noon, if my bike is ready. then he gets a concerned look on his face. he calls back to service and confirms with them when my bike will be ready. they tell him saturday. i tell him it doesn't matter to me, although i can't bring the rental back until monday (if they're open) or tuesday. now that's not going to work, because the bike he wants to give me has been rented for the weekend. i tell him that they told me friday, and that's what i was expecting. we head over to service to talk to them.

rental dood tells them he needs to have the bike back by tomorrow (friday). i tell them when i make my appointment, they told me it would be ready the next day. service guy (manager, i'm thinking) asks who i talked to. kevin - who turns out to be the guy who checked me in and is now standing right next to me!!! service guy gives kevin a dirty look and shakes his head. then he says one way or another, they'll have the bike ready. i'm thinking it doesn't matter to me, you guys owe me a rental bike. either someone needs to get my bike services quickly or they need to find another rental bike - don't put me in the middle. and they didn't. i got the rental bike as expected.

and here's the bike they gave me.




i am mixed about the bike. overall, it's a good bike - runs well, it's a little louder than what i would like. but it's free and i get to try out another bike.

i'm not really sure i like the bike. first, while i like having saddlebags, i'm not really a fan of having all those silver thingies all over the bags. some people dig them. and that's fine - they're just not for me. that would be the first thing that turns me off the bike. the second, and probably more important, is the ride. the seating position is, obviously, a little lower than what i'm used to. heck, less than a mile from the dealership, i had already dragged the floor boards twice. but the seating position wasn't comfortable - it was bothering my lower back. i could especially feel it when i took off from a stop. while my lower back never really started aching, it just didn't feel very good. bottom line, i don't think i'd ever get one of these bikes. there are too many others to choose from...

i'll see if i get a chance to ride it around later today...

the ride home...

my ride home from class this past weekend was interesting. as i mentioned earlier, sunday was calling for thunderstorms. the day started beautifully, sunny and clear. but shortly after lunch, we got heavy rain and hail. later in the afternoon, it had cleared up to be a nice afternoon.

now it was 1830 and time for me to head home. the sky was a beautiful blue with puffy white clouds. i called my wife to let her know i was heading home. she told me they've been having thunderstorms all day and we're getting ready to have another one. i was hoping i was behind the latest storm and could make it without getting too much rain.

that worked for a bit... about half way home, the skies got real dark and it started to sprinkle. barely sprinkling, but enough to make me start thinking i should pull over. i knew i would need to stop for gas, so it might be a good time to put on the rain suit as well. by the time i got to an exit and pulled up to a gas station, the sprinkling had stopped. but the sky hadn't cleared. i filled the tank and decided to get something to eat. after eating, i walked back outside and checked the sky - still dark, but still not raining. i decided to throw on the rain suit. if it did start to rain, i wouldn't have to pull over. at least not until the rain got really bad.

i made the rest of the trip home without any rain. i am glad i put the rain suit on as there was a lot of spray from the wet roads. maybe putting the suit on kept the rain away. either way, i'm glad i didn't run into any.

and it wasn't until the next day that i realized how lucky i really was. while i didn't run into any rain, the storms that did hit brought a lot of rain, power outages, and three tornados. one of which touched down less than ten miles from where i live.

anyway, i think i was pretty fortunate that i didn't hit any rain on the way home. and i think i'm thankful that i didn't really know what was going on around me. i may have worried about that too much and not focused as much on riding safely.

finally done...

it's finally over... and i passed... have lots to talk about in this post. i may end up breaking it into several posts... or i may just end up giving a quick recap and be done with it...

typical friday - packing at the last minute. debating whether to take the bike or not. wanted to take it, but wasn't sure about the weather. friday and saturday were supposed to be nice, sunday was supposed to be thunderstorms. in the back of my mind, i kept thinking about last weekend when josh and doug rode home in the rain - cold, miserable rain. wasn't sure i was going to be on board for that... well, i decided to take it, which made packing a little easier. i decided this time i'm only packing the minimum amount of stuff i'd need. and packing it all in plastic zip-lock bags to prevent them from getting soaked. i also had a little pressure to pack since we had to be out there an hour early to set up for the real class.

so i get packed up, load everything on the bike and head out. quickly decided to take the interstate because i didn't want to worry about time. i figured i knew about how long it would take me if i drove the interstate - wasn't so sure if i took the more scenic route. ride out was good - weather was nice and traffic wasn't bad. got there a little early and a couple guys were already there. we chatted before heading over to the college.

this weekend we got to teach a real class. this was it, the real thing. i was a little nervous - always the chance i'm going to screw up... but george and i had been working on the material we needed to cover. i felt i knew our stuff pretty well. we get to the college and start setting up the room. once that was out of the way, we waited for the students to show up. and show up they did. i don't know what i was expecting, but the people walking in sure weren't it. and of course you make your first impressions - certain people are going to do well and others are going to struggle and/or fail. one of the things you have to remember is that you can't rely on first impressions - they will prove you wrong. so i just filed them away, hoping everyone would pass.

first night went smoothly. we all did our little presentations and they went well. we did get into a damn-if-you-do / damn-if-you-don't situations... it was time for class to start and one of the students wasn't there. sheila didn't know whether to start class or not. we could see it now - if she started class, she would get dinged for starting class without everyone present. if she waited, she would get dinged for starting late. she started class on time and one student short. of course that student walked in minutes later - but she got dinged... oh well, it was expected.

while we were teaching friday night, it decided to thunderstorm. it was unexpected and only lasted about ten, maybe fifteen minutes. thankfully we were inside and not out riding. and by the time we finished up class that night, it had cleared up. i was prepared to ride in the rain, but thankful i didn't have to.

finishing class friday night was a relief. not really tough or anything, just thankful to have it started and everything going well. and a lot easier than we originally expected. but, it's good to be over-prepared than under-prepared. after class, we went out to eat. late dinner, but it wasn't a late night. most of us were tired and wanted to get some sleep for class the next day.

saturday - nice, beautiful day. got there early, got the bikes out on the range, warmed the bikes up, and got the range set up. again, things were going smoothly. and things would continue to go smoothly all day. our teaching went well and the students were progressing. some had pervious motorcycle experience and some had none. they progressed at different rates, but they all progressed - and it was neat to see.

george and i had two lessons to teach. the first lesson, lesson three for those of you with programs, went okay. it's amazing that no matter how simple you make the instructions and how many times you repeat it, people just don't listen. we had two parts to our exercise. in the first part, once the cone in front of you was clear, you could ride to that cone. explain, explain, and explain... did people ride to the cones when the one in front of them was clear?? no!!! still had to give them signals to proceed. when they got to me, i would explain it again... still didn't do any good. it was amazing - but i guess they're thinking about other things. same thing happened during part two. this time they were to ride to the end of the line once the last cone was free. and once they stopped at the last cone, they were to clear the cone and head to the other line. did they do that?? no!!! they stopped at the last cone and waited there until the line they wanted to get into was open. which meant the other riders had to wait... again, explain, explain, and explain.

i did have one close call. well, not really a close call, but something that raised my awareness. one person had just started riding in the line and they next guy in line was pretty far from the start point. so i signaled him to come up to the start line. i turned my attention to the other line. then i turn my attention to the riding lanes and there's the guy - halfway down the lane, riding up on the first rider. i couldn't believe it - how did he get there so quickly. at least nothing happened - not even a close call. i was kind of surprised i didn't get dinged for it in the debrief. but i guess i handled it well and there was no dangerous situation present.

so saturday went well. wrapped up saturday evening and headed out for dinner. a couple people were ready to cut loose. four weeks of this stuff, pressure was building and people were ready to have a good time. dinner was a lot of fun. lots of laughs, with each other and at each other. here we were, brought together with the common goal of teaching motorcycle safety. we had all made a new set of friends - some friends closer than other. some of us will stay in touch - other won't. we all have good intentions to stay in touch - some will make it work, others will die out. so after dinner, we look for a bar. and find one. it was a small place. main floor with an upper balcony overlooking the lower floor. we opted for the balcony, got our drinks and shouted at each other over the music. we were all having a good time, except george. it wasn't his type of environment. can't really say it was mine - or is my type of environment any more. but i adapted - it's only one night. george couldn't handle it and just stormed out. didn't say a word to anyone, climbed over a couple people and headed out. we couldn't believe it. sheila, who had driven, went out looking for him to make sure he was okay and offer him a ride back to the hotel. about fifteen minutes later she returned - couldn't find george. i'm thinking great... he's my roommate - what will i do when i get back to the room and he's not there?? i'll face that when i get there and he's not there... we stay around for a an hour or so and decide to head back to the hotel. thank god - i was tired.

i get back to the room and george is there - whew... but he is pissed. i can understand - sort of... i can understand him not being comfortable there, but to act the way he did?? he was angry and took his frustrations out on me. we exchanged a few words, talked about it and i think he was starting to feel better. what a night... i was tired and just wanted to go to sleep.

sunday started out beautifully. weather was nice - although they were calling for thunderstorms in the afternoon. we got the bikes out to the range and started to warm them up. then jim starts barking orders out at us. do this and that. i'm thinking what's all this about?? but i do it. then he stops us at the corners - turn your wheel, turn your head, start and make the turn. now i'm thinking this is nuts. we have other bikes to get out and warm up. after the second round of this, i tell him screw it, we have bikes to get out before the students get there. he tells me no, keep riding, others will get the bikes out. right... i stage the bike and head to the shed to get the other bikes. screw him... i don't know what he was trying to pull...

the morning went well. george and i finished our last assignment before lunch. great - we're done. more importantly, i'm done!!! all except for helping the others. but that was easy. right after lunch, as we got started with an exercise, the sky decided to open up. thunder and lightening. time to get off the range. so we head to the class and decide to give the students the written exam. while we're in there, it decided to hail. and my bike is sitting out there getting pounded. three of us with bikes out there. when it stopped hailing, we head out to check our bikes. i was dreading looking at mine. believe it or not, no damage - just wet. boy was i glad.

after the students finished the written test, the weather had cleared so we decided to get them back out on the range. now we took them out there without letting them know the results of the written test. i think i would have told them. i know it was weighing on their minds. now they have to do the skills test, wonder how they did on the written test. i just thought it might put them at ease. so we run them through the rest of the exercises and get them ready for the skills evaluation. i think i was just as nervous for them as they were to take the test. of course they all passed. and it was rewarding to watch them all pass.

my earlier, preconceived notions were blown to hell. but i knew they would be. some of the people i thought would struggle actually did better than some of the people i thought might breeze through. and that's why we can't make judgments about people. they all did well enough to pass. and it was a good feeling to know that we helped them pass this milestone in their lives.

after the range, it was back inside to present them with their certificates. and after they got theirs, we got ours. before we got ours, they were told that we were in training as well, and that we had all passed. i know some of them were wondering why they had twelve instructors. and now they knew. and they got to watch us get our certificates. it was nice getting the certificates - finally done... or is this just the beginning?? i'm thinking it's just the start...

most people beat feet out of there. i didn't necessarily rush out of there, but i didn't hang around either. i was anxious to get home. and i had the weather to contend with. i'll post about my ride home later... for now, just suffice it to say, i'm glad we all graduated - it was rewarding. but now i'm ready to get home.

on a final note... i touched on it in my first post about the class, and i talked about it here again. preconceived notions... if you go back and read, i mentioned that i couldn't figure out why some people were there, that i couldn't see some of them as instructors, that i thought some would wash out. again, i was wrong. at the end, i could see people's motivation to be there. and most of them were there because they believe it motorcycle safety and want to promote safety. i say most - there was one, maybe two that were there for other reasons - but i won't get into that. some of the ones i thought would (or should) wash out, again, turned out to be surprising - and will turn out to be great instructors. although i will say that the couple that i thought would rise to the top, did. again, when you go into an environment like this and form your opinions - crumple them up and throw them away. they'll only lead to problems. more importantly, you'll overlook someone that may have some great potential. i say it at work all the time - everyone has something to learn and everyone has something to teach. we just have to keep ourselves open to learning - from everyone and anyone.

okay - i'm done with this post. thanks for bearing with me.

oh, one final note. many thanks and happy mother's day to my wife. i should have been with her on sunday. but being the unselfish person she is, and knowing how important this was to me, encouraged me to take the class, and even gave up her special day. not only her special day, but four weekends in a row. she is the best and i appreciate her. thanks boo...

peace...

it figures...

got wrapped up with work a little early today - or i should say i chose to wrap up work a little early. since the kids were still at school and my wife was out shopping, i decided it would be a good time to ride out to the store to get stuff for mother's day (since i won't be here for the majority of mother's day!!!). weather-wise, the whole day was nice. now that i was getting ready to head out, it was starting to get overcast. and the forecast was calling for thunderstorms. i'm checking the weather, looking at the sky, trying to decide if i should take the bike or not. what the hell, i jump on the bike. i'm thinking i can get to the store and back before it rains...

as i ride to target, the sky clouds up, then clears, clouds up, then clears. made it there with no rain. i pick out some cards and checkout. as i'm checking out, i overhear some cashiers talking about how hard it was raining. greeeaaaatttttt.... i look out and it looks like it's letting up. by the time i finish, it looks like it's pretty much stopped raining. until i get outside, then i realize it's just a slow, soft rain. no big deal - i put on my jacket (without the rain liner), wipe off my seat, put on my helmet and ride off to the grocery store.

got a little wet going to the grocery store, not so much because of the rain, but because of the water flying up from the road. again, no big deal... i park at the grocery store, and debate whether i should leave my jacket or wear it. you know how this goes, if i wear it, it won't rain. if i leave it with the bike, it will rain... so i leave it... and i go in and do my shopping. and i come out and it's raining. again, not too hard, but harder than before. and enough to get me a bit wet before i got my jacket on... so i pack the groceries away on the bike, mount up and head back home. i'm not even out of the parking lot when the sky opens up. i'm getting drenched. and i'm learning quickly that my jacket is not< waterproof and it has a liner for a reason. again, no big deal - i'm not that far away from home.

i make it home, being extra careful to watch out for idiot drivers in the rain. luckily there wasn't a problem with that. by the time i got home, i was soaked. now i have to hope everything dries before i have to head to class tomorrow.

well, i don't regret taking the bike... i did keep thinking that i should have had my rain suit with me. which i normally carry, but because i'm in this class, i didn't have it with the bike. on the other hand, i don't know that i would have used the suit because i was so close to home and i would have gotten just as wet if i stopped to put it on... needless to say, if i would have taken the cage, i would have made it to the store and back before it rain. since i was on the bike, i got rain...

okay - have to head out of here to try to pack for tomorrow. for once i'm going to try to get it done early...

done with week three...

well, i made it through another weekend... the highlight of this weekend is this is the first weekend i didn't seriously consider just walking away. i attribute that to the way the class has bonded over the last two weekends and us just not taking the instructors very seriously anymore. we're all of the belief that once we get out of class, it will get better...

okay, the weekend started as usual - me packing at the last minute. and again, i was in a debate whether to take the bike or not. weather was saying rain friday and sunday, but the morning was sunny and nice... decided to take the cage - mostly because i was last minute packing and i just wanted to throw stuff together. i know, i know, lazy on my part...

took the usual drive out... nothing to note except for the accident on 321 just north of the 40 exit. there were merging everyone to the right lane because the left lane was closed. for whatever reason, i stayed in the left lane as long as i could. i usually try not to be one of the assholes that wait to the last minute to jump in, but this time i did. and i think it saved me at least 45 minutes because traffic was backed up so far. anyway, that was about the most news-worthy item on the trip out there. weather on the trip out was fair - it did rain a little, but nothing that should have stopped me from bringing the bike. bummer...

got to the hotel and a few people were already there. after getting my stuff into the room, we all hung outside the rooms talking about how this weekend was going to unfold... some people studied the course material during the week and others didn't. i probably fell on the didn't study side - i did review some of the material, but probably not in the depth i needed to... i'm thinking the multiple guess will be on my side. after hanging out for a bit, we headed towards class.

friday night class was the usual peer teaching, running through the class room lessons. we, as a class, seemed to be more organized and smooth on our presentation - like things are finally starting to fall into place. it seems silly, but in some places i am only responsible for three or four questions. i get up for about ten minutes and then i'm done. i'm wondering how this is going to come across to the students we teach next week. it seems like it could be rather disjointed. i hope they're getting a discount on the class - not so much because i think we'll be doing a terrible job, i just don't think they will be getting the continuity or having only two instructors. oh well, we'll do our best. anyway, friday night went pretty well, with daniel and bob slinging mud at each other whenever they had an opportunity. fun to watch, but unprofessional in my opinion. then again, these doods are definitely leading by the do as i say, not as i do credo.

saturday was going to be spent on the range - a looooooong day on the range. we were going until ten o'clock!!! we got the bikes out to the range and warmed them up. of course we got them warmed up before laurel and hardy got out there, taking away any reason for them to start jumping on our cases. the morning was cool, but i think i'd rather have it cool than hot. can always put on more clothes, kind of hard to get comfortable in jeans and long sleeve shirts on a ninety-five degree day!! anyway, it was cool and overcast - if the day stayed like this, then it would make it a little easier.

the morning was the usual run through of the range exercises. just like the class room, you could tell we were starting to put things together. we had an additional ridercoach that was acting like a student - this gave us a little different perspective on things. overall things ran smoothly. except for daniel having to jump in and take over all the time. bob, on the other hand, would let the instructor speak/demo and provide feedback when they were done. daniel just wants to take over and show how he would do it. what he doesn't realize is this throws off the rhythm of the person trying to speak - and it really doesn't give them a chance to learn. oh well...

my partner george and i discussed our first exercise and decided who was going to talk and who was going to demo. we decided to switch it up from the previous week. we were wrapping up our discussion and george had his helmet on when daniel looked over and said that i was going to demo and george was going to talk. obviously he did this thinking he was going to throw us off, but what he really did was take away our opportunity to reverse roles for the exercise. oh well, we handled it and things went well. as did most of the day. george and i had two more exercises, which we did with little problem.

after the range, we finished up the day in the classroom. we went over some materials and discussed the written (knowledge) test. after going over the sample test, i felt a lot better about it. as the tests are written, if you think about it, the correct answer makes sense. then again, when you have the whole class answering the tests, all the answers seem easy. i figured studying the range cards a little more would really help with the test.

sunday started out overcast and threatening rain. we also decided to start an hour later since we had stayed so late saturday night. we started the day with the knowledge test. i was off to a good start, most of the questions seemed easy. they i got to the range questions... not so easy anymore. and i didn't think some of the questions really pertained to the objective of the particular exercise. but i guess they weren't supposed to... for example, the answer to one of the questions was that the students power walk their bikes between the riding lanes. now to me, this doesn't really pertain to the objective of the exercise. although it is part of how the exercise is conducted. luckily for me, it was one of the exercises i have, so i knew that answer. i don't know that i would have gotten that one if i wasn't familiar with the details of the exercise. of course i did struggle on some of the other exercise questions - and on those i guessed at what i thought was the best answer. overall, i figured there were about five questions i wasn't sure about. worse case, if i missed all of those, i would still pass... and pass i did - with 100%!!! i don't think i can take full credit because, as mentioned above, i did guess at a couple of those...

so now it was out to the range... surprisingly six ridercoaches showed up to be our students, including my friend susan. it was good to have other people there - a change of pace instead of always teaching each other. of course they did things to see what we might catch, and to raise our awareness of some of the things we might need to look out for. i think they had fun with it... we got through the first three exercises and started the fourth when the sky opened up. we didn't get too far into the exercise when they decided to take us inside. after some classroom work, they decided it wasn't going to let up, so they let the ridercoaches go and we got ready to wrap up for the weekend.

before leaving, we had to check out the room we were going to be teaching in next weekend. although we had been in there before, we needed to decide how we were going to set up the classroom and, more importantly, how to operate the dvd player and overhead projector. we fumbled around with the equipment for a while. it got pretty crowded around the equipment when several people thought they had to get in there to help. i just walked away and sat at the other side of the room, figuring once they get it working, they'll show the rest of the class. and they did. so now we were familiar with our lessons, familiar with the room... all that was left was to put it to practice - and that would come next weekend.

oooohhhh... daniel did tell us he was going to make it easy on us and we would use the same assignments next weekend as we did this weekend. i'm not really convinced he did it to make it easier on us - why would he make it easier on us now?? he hasn't done that at any other point in the class... no, i think he did it for the benefit of the students next week. it's only fair to give them the best opportunity for success. and having us as prepared as possible does that. since we were/are most familiar with the exercises we have, it makes sense for us to continue teaching those. i think that's the real reason he did it... at least that's what i would do...

before class broke for the day, we had to put the bikes away. lucky for us, the rain had stopped. a couple of the people that rode this weekend volunteered to take the bikes back since they had to put their gear on anyway... i decided to take one around. because i didn't have my gear on, i decided to push it around. it sounded like we have enough people to put the bikes away - we only had six bikes... as we get the fifth bike in, someone says there's still one bike left on the range. and, it doesn't appear anyone is getting it. i walk around to the front to get it and here comes wally, all geared up. i guess it took him a while to get geared up. then he starts mumbling something, and waffling about getting the bike. i'm thinking to myself, i just want to get out of here for the weekend. i decide to just walk it around - it'll be easier than trying to figure out if wally is really going to do it or not... so i push it around and put it away. after closing up, we gather everything out of the classroom and head home. yeah!!!

the ride home was long and miserable. we'll it wasn't really miserable - it just wasn't fun. i had decided to take a different way home, route 64 instead or interstate 40. my luck would have me getting stuck behind someone going slow on a two lane road with no opportunity to pass. damn... that combined with the rain didn't make it a fun drive. but, i kept thinking it could be worse - i could be on my bike like josh and doug. at this point, i think i was glad i wasn't on my bike. the first time this weekend i didn't regret not bringing my bike...

sooooo, that was the weekend. one more to go... i thought this past weekend was going to be the tough one - after this one, i thought it was all downhill. now i'm thinking this final weekend will be the toughest. just because this time it's for real. and we still have things to consider that we've never been concerned with - like the timing of the exercises. well, i'm sure we'll be okay...

guess that's it for now - been tying long enough...

peace...

week two down...

...and what a rough weekend it was!!! where do i start?? at the beginning i guess...

while i was packing, i made a last minute decision to take the bike. i checked the weather and it looked good, so i decided to take the bike. now i had to pack everything in smaller bags instead of my one big bag. since i'm riding, i also like to pack my clothes in zip lock bags in case it does rain. so there i was, stuffing clothes into zip lock bags and stuffing those into my saddlebag bag. the other "problem" with taking the bike was i needed (wanted) more time for stops. now i needed to leave sooner that i was planning. turned out not to be too bad - i was able to get packed and loaded up in time to hit my earlier ais time... and no time to spare.

the ride out was good. all interstate. okay, maybe not all, but at least 200 mile out of 220 miles... it went quicker than i thought it would - not sure why, but it did. i stopped once to stretch my legs and get a drink. probably only stopped for 15 minutes before hitting the road again. made it to the hotel earlier that i expected. that's a lot better than getting there later!!

i got my stuff into the room, hung out for a bit and then decided to head to class. on my way out to the bike, here comes wally... after exchanging pleasantries, we decide to ride to class together. he's familiar with the area and knows a shorter route. that's good with me!! as we're getting on our bikes, wally tells me he has after-market pipes and they're probably louder than mine. i look at him and just say, "probably." after we get on and start the bikes, i jokingly say, don't go too fast and lose me. he says that if he took off on the twisty roads, i wouldn't be able to keep up with him. again, i look at him and say, "probably."

we finally take off and it becomes obvious quickly that wally doesn't do much, if any, group riding. we get on the interstate and the first thing he does it start switching lanes to pass traffic. of course he's doing this in such a manner that i can't stay with him!!! i make an effort to catch him. at one point, we're jockeying around two cement mixers. finally, wally's in the left lane, the two cement mixers move to the right lane and all i have to do is gun it by the two trucks to catch wally. just as i get to the rear tire of the second cement mixer, i see wally zip into the right lane. he's still got his right turn signal on and now he's giving hand signals (something he hasn't done yet) that he's making a right turn. i scan down the road further and see the exit, which i now presume we're taking... great!!! i don't have time to pass both trucks, and i don't have space to get between them. so now i have to slow down and get behind them. of course i have cage on my butt!! here i am, in the left lane, hitting my brakes trying to get back into the right lane. i'm sure the cage was thinking - asshole biker. and i really can't blame them... well, i manage to get behind the truck just in time to take the exit.

so now we're on back / residential roads the rest of the way. believe it or not, wally was able to lose me three more times. well, maybe only two. the first one, we're riding along about 45 mph. all of a sudden, no signal or anything, he pulls over to the right into a parking lot. not being prepared, i missed the turn. thankfully, there was another turn into the parking lot about 100 yards down the road. so, technically, i guess he didn't lose me that time. we conferred in the parking lot and he told me he missed the earlier turn, so now we have to go back. he pulls out of the parking lot between two cars, not leaving me enough room to follow. damn - separated again. now i was able to catch up to him when he had to wait to make a left turn at a light. but there was a car between us. in true wally fashion, when he gets a chance, he motors out of there, leaving me sitting behind a car, waiting to turn. now i would have expected him to pull over in a parking lot to wait for me - but this is wally... a couple of miles down the road, i see him at an intersection. he had already made his left turn and was waiting for me to make the turn. yeah, i can finally catch up with him... the light turns red, so i can't make my turn yet. as i come to a stop at the intersection, i see wally taking off into the distance. damn, damn, damn... i am finally able to catch up to him at another light - thankfully onto the road that the college is on. so even if he takes off, i know how to get to my destination now. somehow, we manage to pull into the parking lot together. as we dismount, i look at wally and say, "don't do much group riding, do you??"

there would be two more trips between the hotel and college with wally. each one an adventure in itself - wally always looking for the ultimate cut through. it turns out saturday night, when i didn't have to ride with wally, that i found an easier way, which seemed to be quicker. i would have tried to tell wally about it, but since he didn't "discover" it, there would have been something wrong with it... oh well...

so where was i?? oh yeah, class friday night. i got to lead off presenting unit 1, the introduction. i asked if there was anything specific i should know before i got started - nope, just get up there and do it... so i do... and as i'm presenting the material, they have me skip sections. this throws off my presentation because i wasn't expecting it. when i asked earlier, i would have at least expected them to say that they're not going to have me do everything in its entirety. oh well. this was only the beginning. and they did this to everyone. of course the final result was all the presentations looking disjointed, like we weren't prepared and didn't know what we were doing. it's like they had expectations for us, but didn't tell us what those were until we didn't meet them.

so saturday after lunch all hell breaks loose. and i think it was because two guys from the "state" office were observing us friday night and saturday morning. they left shortly after lunch. after they left, we were told how frustrating it was for them to watch us performing so poorly. they may have even said we were the worse class they've ever had. now i can go and get all defensive, but it may just sound like excuses. i have these thoughts - when you're in a class and one or two students are struggling/failing, it's probably the student. when the whole class is failing, it's the instructor. however, our instructors weren't willing to accept any responsibility.

saturday afternoon they pulled us off the range and back into the classroom. one of the instructors wouldn't even return to the classroom. the other one was saying that the reason we weren't learning may have been because when they were trying to teach us out on the range, there were always side conversations going on. this is true. however, what they failed to realize that most of the side conversations were because the instructor not teaching the lesson would start conversations with the students. in addition, the instructors would give the students conflicting instructions. we would ask one instructor how we should present something and he would advise us. after completing it the way we were told, the other instructor would say we shouldn't do it that way. of course neither instructor would stand up and say they told us how to do it.

another example that comes to mind... now the instructors have "preferences" of what color cones to use in certain exercises. bill and i were setting up cones. we had them set up and we were getting ready to walk away when bill suggested we change a set or orange cones to red. i was hesitant. and i told him that if we made them green, they'd tell us they wanted them orange. but if we left them, then they would want them green. bill laughingly agreed. i told him we could switch them if he wanted - but he said we would leave them orange. so we headed back to the staging area. not twenty feet away from the cones, here comes bob. "now this is only a bob thing, but i like to have green cones at the entrance point." i looked at bill, smiled and said "weren't damned if we do, we're damned if we don't." bill just laughed. we couldn't win... no one in class could win...

so i mentioned that one of the instructors wouldn't come back into the classroom. well that was up until about five minutes before class ended. at exactly 6:00 he announces that class is over - we should go home. one of the students asked a question. he said that he's been given a hard time for keeping classes longer than the designated time, it's 6:00, class is over. he wouldn't even answer the student’s question. i can't recall that last time i saw such unprofessional behavior from an instructor.

so saturday night we, the students, went out and bonded over a bitch session. i think we all needed it...

sunday morning didn't start out much better - we picked up pretty much where we left on saturday... we got the bikes out to the range and the instructor tells us to warm ourselves and the bikes up by riding the perimeter and doing weaves on the long side. so we're all out there, riding in circles doing our weaves - round and round we go... we stage after getting the signal and here it comes - the lecture... i expected it to be run this way, you guys weren't doing this, you weren't doing that, blah, blah, blah. as i was sitting on the bike, i started looking over to the parking lot, thinking, i should just walk over to my bike, hop on and ride off without saying a word to them... i honestly don't know what kept me there.

later in the morning and into the afternoon, we ran through all the exercises in order. we broke them down, showing where the bikes would be at the start of each exercise. we talked about the objectives, the instructions, how the demo was to be run, how the simulated exercise was to be run. after that we moved the bikes to the transition point between exercises. then we set up the range for the next exercise. as we were doing this, i kept thinking to myself, here it is, sunday afternoon of the second week and we're doing this. we should have been doing this the saturday of the first week!!! i talked to a couple of the other students and they agreed. i know if i would have said something to the instructors, they would have said that we did do that the first saturday. and i guess in a way, they're probably right - the only problem was it was so choppy and we kept doing in different directions that it never seemed that way!! either way, we know it wasn't the fault of the instructors...

actually, running through the exercises in the manner we did help. i think the instructors were pleased with what they were seeing and it helped boost our spirits. after we were done running through the exercises, it was time for the skills evaluation. by chance, i got to be first. they run all the students through each evaluation, i just got to be the first in line... i didn't do as well as i should have. and i could make up a bunch of excuses, but i'm not going to - i just didn't perform as well as i could have. however, i did pass. everyone passed - so that was great. there wouldn't be any retests!!!

the rest of the afternoon was spent in the classroom, reviewing the pre-course questions and preparing for the knowledge test. i'm a bit nervous about the knowledge test, but i'm figuring at a minimum i can guess my way through the test.

so after class i hopped on the bike and headed home. the ride home was good. i was concerned that after the class i would be tired and the ride home would be long. it didn't turn out that way... the ride home, actually, seemed rather quick. and i enjoyed being on the bike more than in the cage. after one stop, for about twenty minutes, to fuel up and grab something to eat and drink. then back on the road for the rest of the trip. traffic was good, so i didn't have to worry about any idiots... ended up putting over 500 miles on the bike this weekend. after one more trip like that, it'll be time to take it in for its 10k service.

so, weekend was good and bad. or more like bad and good. while the class definitely had it's down moments, overall i think it turned out to be a good weekend. i got to ride the bike - finally. if the weather holds, i'll do that for the remaining weekends. and as a class, we really bonded saturday night. the instructor's behavior gave us a real reason to come together more as a team. and i think we've become stronger. now, as long as the rest of the weekends aren't like that!!!

okay - enough for now... another update to follow...

ride safe

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...

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...

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...

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...

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.

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...

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.

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...

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...

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...

sturgis 2006 - planned route

update 07/10/2006: unfortunately i won't be going to strugis this year. you can read more about the reasons...

this is the route we're planning to take to sturgis this year... for the first leg of my trip, i'll head north to manassas and meet up with the rest of the riders. as plans stand now, my neighbor and some of his buddies will be riding with me... for the last leg of the trip, knoxville - home, i'll break off from the pack and head back into youngsville...

really looking forward to this trip...

i decided to add "polylines" to the map to show a little cohesiveness between the points. it's not exactly what i was hoping to achieve - actual routes between points - but it's not as bad as i thought either...

new link...

you may (or may not) have noticed the frankgrimes.net link to the right... as some background, frank is one of the guys in the group my borther rides with. because of the distance between us, about the only chance i get to ride with them is on the longer, bike week type trips. anyway, frank tends to organize - or at least take over leadership - of the rides these guys go on... i think this is mostly because frank is very outspoken, likes to be heard and, let's face it, it's just easier to ingore him!! frank also likes to stir the pot and create mischief... his web site is the culmination of both these traits - organizing and creating mischief... take a look and you'll see he's starting to put details about the myrtle beach and sturgis trip... but he also likes to instigate trouble - take a look at his asshole biker friends page. luckily i'm not on there yet, but i can only figure it's a matter of time...

anyway, enjoy the site. i'm sure it will become more interesting as the bike trips get closer and take place...

i haven't been riding...

...as much as i want...

i planned to take a trip up to northern virginia last week, but the weather had different plans. or the threat of the weather... the plan was to head up there tuesday night and ride back on wednesday. the weather down here was a little gloomy and overcast. i called my brother to check what the weather was like up there. he said they were calling for cold temps and snow tuesday night. now i don't mind riding in the cold, but when it comes to snow, you can count me parking the bike. so, there went that trip...

as it turned out, the trip up to northern virginia turned out to be the trip from hell, so it's probably good i wasn't on the bike. although if i was on the bike, some of the hellishness wouldn't have happened. it started a little over an hour into the trip when i got a flat tire. oh, let me back up a little bit... one of the reasons i wanted to take the bike up to virginia was because my car has developed wobble, which is extremely noticeable as slower speeds. i've been reserving use of the car for chores around town and have been dreading the day i have to take it on a longer trip - like this one. my confidence in the car hasn't been the greatest - in fact, it's been less than average. i delayed taking it to the shop to figure out what was wrong, because i didn't want to dump a bunch of money into it. anyway, here i am with a blown tire on the shoulder of i-85. in the back of my mind, i'm wondering if the wobble/vibration from the car damaged the tire and caused it to blow.

it was dusk and luckily i had an emergency light i used when changing the tire. when i looked at the tire, one side on it was completely bare, exposing the wire belts that are supposed to be on the inside but were, in this case, on the outside. all i could think of was how lucky i was to not lose control of the car when the tire blew.

so i change the tire and jockey to get back onto the interstate. you know, as you're changing the tire, no one passes... as soon as you want to get back out onto the road, everyone is there. after nervously and quickly pulling out between some cars, i realize the car doesn't seem to be shaking quite like it did before. unfortunately i was too intent on pulling back onto the interstate that i didn't bother to pay attention to how the car handled at the slower speed.

i start to wonder about the durability of the donut i just put on my car. i know it says that you're not supposed to drive over 50mph or over a certain length of time without stopping. now i'm driving 60, which is 10 over the tire's rating and 5 under the posted speed limit. now i'm worried about being a road hazard to other drivers - after all, i have become the driver i always yell at for going slow!! i start a debate with myself about whether i should attempt the rest of the trip to northern virginia on the donut, or attempt to find a place to replace the tire. i know there are truck stops along the way, but i don't want to get ripped off either. about twenty minutes later, i see a shopping center with a sears. figuring they have an auto center, i stop in... thankfully they were able to get me in immediately and replace the tire. after dropping $70 and spending 30 minutes, i was on my way again. as i'm driving away from sears, in the parking lot, at slow speed, i notice there is no wobble!!! damn, it was a bad tire that cause me all problems/worries to begin with. now my confidence in my car is fully restored and i have learned a valuable lesson - it's not just good enough to check the air pressure in your tires, you also need to check the tread. had i done that months ago, i would have saved a lot of worry and inconvenience with replace the tire in the middle of the trip.

now i've got the tire replaced and i'm on my way again. but that wouldn't be the end of my hassles on this trip. north of richmond, before fredericksburg, traffic comes to a near screeching halt. after close to an hour of inching forward but mostly standing still, traffic picks up again. as i finally got to speed, i passed an area with a lot of sand that's used to soak up gas and oil on the road. i'm guessing there was an accident the shut down the lanes.

the final bit of fun was the snow that started just north of fredericksburg. it wasn't bad, but enough to make drivers panic and make the driving stressful. the snow was light and wasn't sticking to the roads. by the time i got to manassas, the snow was starting to stick on the grass and parked cars.

looking back, i guess the trip wasn't so bad after all. i never really let the flat tire, the stopped traffic or the snow bother me. in fact, the blown tire was probably a blessing in disguise - i didn't think a flat tire would be such good news!!! i wasn't on a time schedule, so whenever i got there, i got there. and while i would rather be on my motorcycle, being in a car was probably better for this trip...


while i didn't take the bike on the trip up to virginia, i have been able to ride around town a little. as i mentioned before, not as much riding as i want to be doing, but some. and for now, i'll settle for that...

i've been riding...

...just haven't been posting much... haven't been on any good long rides lately, so that's probably been affecting my post rate. well, that and work. work has been getting busy lately. but this isn't about my work, it's about my escape from work on my bike!!! unless of course i'm riding to some work related activity - like lunch or the dreaded account meetings...

most of my riding lately has just been around town. to/from the grocery store, the dealership, etc. started to take a longer trip last week, into virginia. but compounding events got in the way and ended the trip early... the plan was to ride down to the dealership to collect a rebate for spending too much money on a new jacket. then i was going up to virginia to pay for my in-laws county sticker. it's an easy hour drive, maybe hour and a half from my house to where i needed to get the sticker. the dealership, which is in the complete opposite direction, is about 45 minutes away. now i had to complete all this before 1:00pm because i had meetings for work. yikes, there i go mentioning work again!!!

to start all this off, i didn't get a good night's sleep because i was stressing over these meetings for work. my afternoon was going to be stacked with them - and i was leading several of them. as i'm not sleeping, i'm thinking being out on the bike is going to be real therapeutic - i'm going to need it... so the morning rolls around and starts off by me leaving late. strike one. i wanted to hit the dealership as soon as they opened so that i could get my bizness done and head up to virginia. my other problem was i didn't consider the time - i'd be riding to the dealership in rush hour traffic. strike two. i get to the dealership - longer than expected, but no longer than i should have expected had i been thinking about what i was doing - and get my rebate. no problems there.

now i head north to virginia. i start calculating the time - will i have time to make it there and back. probably so - it'll be tight, but i can probably do it. wouldn't you know it?? an accident!!! blocking the middle lane, so all the traffic has to divert into the other two lanes... first i can't figure out why it's taking so long to get around the accident. i mean i know it's going to take time, but this seemed ridiculously slow. especially considering there were police directing traffic. so i'm waiting to get around the accident, thinking about my time dwindling away. and my ride being cut short... strike three...

after finally getting around the accident, heading north and figuring the time in my head, i decided i didn't have time to make it there and back in time. i was disappointed, but it was probably the right decision. that last thing i need while i'm on my bike is to feel hurried, stressed or frustrated. i mean being out on the bike is a chance to get away from all that... i show up at home and my wife is wondering what i'm doing there. she asks why i didn't go to virginia. after realizing the time, she agreed that i wouldn't have time to make it...

so - the riding day ended sooner than expected. but i am planning a trip up to virginia next week. an overnight trip. maybe that one will go as expected... i'll let you know...

ride on...

msf motorcycle instructor

the reality is setting in... this is going to be a lot of work... the materials for my msf motorcycle instructor course have arrived. it's basically the rider handbook for the basic rider course, the range cards, course outline and teaching guides. we're also required to get a certified copy of our driving record before the course begins and have to get certified in cpr and first aid before we can teach. i have to take time to review all the material before i go to the first class. in addition, the instructors will be giving us pre-course assignments which we have to be prepared to discuss the first weekend. oh, did i mention the class is taught over four consecutive weekends??

yeah, this is going to be a lot of work. but i'm looking forward to it... i better start figuring out what i need to do to get a certified copy of my driving record and start looking for some cpr and first aid classes...

is it any wonder the nra has a bad name??

as i mentioned in an previous post, i was going to tell you about my run-in with the nra. okay, maybe not so much the nra itself, but some dood who's on a power-trip.

now let me start off by saying that i'm not against the nra. to be honest, i'm probably ambivalent about them - and it's probably my ignorance that makes me ambivalent about them. sure, i think people have the right to keep and bear arms. but i also believe a private individual doesn't need some high powered, automatic military weapon capable of wiping out six hundred people stashed under their bed.

now that we have that out of the way, let me explain how i came upon my encounter with ego-trip man. just for clarification, the dulles expo center has (at least) two buildings. this particular day, a bike show was going on in one building while a gun show was going on in the other. while i was at the bike show, i had to hit the atm machine. the atm in the building i was at was out of order. so i headed over to the other building - where the gun show was going on. i get to the other building and see they're selling tickets to get in. instead of just walking up to the entrance doors, i get in line to talk to the ticket guy. as i'm waiting my turn, i read a sign full of rules - no loaded weapons, no this, no that, no cameras. guess what?? i have my camera. it's finally my turn to talk to ticket guy. i explain that i just want to go in to use the atm, i don't plan on attending the show. he says no problem, just tell that to the people guarding the door. then i explain i have my camera and ask if he thinks that will be a problem. he says no, it won't be, just tell the people guarding the door. (btw, guarding the door is my phrase, not his.) so i head for the door. as i walk in, i scan the room for the atm. it's to the right, about 20 yards away. i tell someone that i just want to use the atm, i talked to ticket guy and he said it would be no problem. they say sure, go ahead. i then tell them that i have my camera and just wanted to let them know so that there wasn't any problem. oops... they say i have to talk to one of the other guys guarding the door. you guessed it, i have to talk to ego-trip man. he's busy flexing his power rifling through someone's gun. i'm sure he's making sure it's not loaded, that it meets the necessary requirements to be brought into the building. after he's done with the guy, i approach him, tell him i i'm only there to use the atm, i've talked to ticket guy, junior guard on the other side and was told to talk to him. i finish up by saying i have my camera. mistake. this puts his powers into overdrive. immediately he says i can't bring a camera into the building. i told him i was aware of that, but i just wanted to use the atm, i would be happy to remove the memory chip, the battery, leave the camera with him, whatever. i said i wasn’t there to attend the show, i just wanted to use the atm. like the dolt that he was, he just repeats i can't bring the camera into the building. i said i realized that. he responds by asking why we're having this conversation?? i said that i was thinking he might be reasonable and we might work out a compromise so that i could use the atm. nope, ego-trip man was too busy flexing his power. he tells me he's too busy to watch my camera and that cameras aren't allowed in. well, i wouldn't let it go, i just stood there "discussing" it with him. after a couple minutes, he finally decided it would be okay if i left my camera on the table where he was standing while i used the atm. the only thing i can figure is he realized i wasn't going away and there was probably a line of victims forming behind me. of course before i set my camera down, i removed the memory chip. i don't know why, probably a gesture to show that i was sincere in trying to be honest. i headed over to the atm, took out my money, picked up my camera and was out of there in less than two minutes - once i got past ego-trip man.

as i was walking away, all i could think about was how this incident just reinforces the notion that the nra are just a bunch of gun toting boneheads. here i was trying to be upfront and honest. ego-trip man had a bad attitude and he was only there to enforce the rules. i know, i know, rules are in place for a reason. but i wasn't interested in breaking the rules, i was interested in a compromise so that i could use the atm without breaking the rules. i could have just as easily, no, more easily walked into the building with my camera, not saying anything and gotten away with it. i was tempted to walk back to ego-trip man and tell him that i saw a couple people stuffing cameras in the pockets, trying to sneak them in. i'm sure they would have put the place in lock down. but, i had better things to do; i had a bike show to get back to.

bike show...

well, didn't do any riding this weekend but i did manage to attend the mid-atlantic cycle show at dulles expo center. mainly went to see russell mitchell from exile cycles. we got there early since we had other things to do during the day. it wasn't crowded, but i don't know if it would have gotten packed.

so we get there, wait a couple minutes for the doors to open, get in and head straight for the exile booth. i was planning on wandering around and "stumbling" on the booth, but my wife had another mission - find russell. what the heck, i'm not a hard one to convince... we deciced to start at one end of the building, scanning the aisles until we find him. as we're walking, our son, who loves motorcycles, wants to sit of every bike he sees and doesn't quite understand why he can't... so we're pulling him along heading to the end of the building to start our search...

as luck would have it, exile was in the first row... now the only problem with getting there early is that sometimes the builders aren't there yet - i'm figuring they like to party and stay out late... so we look at the bikes, loiter around and finally ask when russell might get there. they tell us he's on his way in. of course, as we're looking around, our son is desperately trying to climb on the bikes and we're doing what we can to keep him off. finally, one of the ladies working with exile says he can get on a bike. as he's climbing on russell's pure sex bike, a guy working for exile comes over and says he's got a better bike to put him on. he walks him over and helps him get on the trike. he was so thrilled to be on the trike.


well, before we knew it, russell showed up. he was busy getting some music cranked up. i missed the opportunity to see what was on his playlist, but it started with abba's dancing queen. not quite what i would have expected and it made me curious as to what else was on the playlist.

my wife wanted to get a couple exile shirts. i had to hit an atm to get some cash, which took a little longer than expected and was an adventure in itself - which will be the story of another post. anyway, while i was gone, i left her to talk to russell, which might have been a mistake since she thinks he's so hot. no need to worry though, when i (finally) got back, i found she hadn't even talked to him... anyway, we finally purchase some shirts, talk to russell, get some pictures and autographs.

(me doing my best russell impersonation)

here's our son trying to pick some money up. apparently russell thought it would be funny to glue some money to the ground and watch people pick it up. our son couldn't figure out why he couldn't get the money off the floor. russell was chuckling at him. he did manage to pry a penny up, which made him happy he didn't leave empty-handed...


after visiting exile, we checked out the rest of the show. stopped by d.c. cruisers to buy a raffle ticket for a mini bike. it would be really cool to win the mini bike - especially since they're only selling 100 tickets. but i'm not holding my breath... so we walked around the rest of the show. overall it was mediocre. it was smaller than i expected. not as many builders, but more vendors. not crowded, which was nice. after about two hours, we saw all that we were going to see, so we headed out...

here are a couple other pictures from the show...