easyriders rodeo

decided to head to the easyriders rodeo today...


the rodeo was taking place in wilson, nc which is only forty-five minutes away. i was figuring that would be a good ride - especially for the ride back home after being out all day.

i got there on the early side which was okay since i had to leave early. my nephew is staying with us and i wanted to be back at the house to visit with him. since he wasn't sure exactly where he was going, i lead him out to where he needed. after that, i headed straight for the rodeo.

the ride out was nice. still a little cool, which i was already enjoying because i knew it was going to get into the nineties today. the ride was also peaceful - not many people out this early. i got to enjoy a mixture of two lane roads, four lane roads and interstate. i don't really care for riding on the interstate. but in this case, i wasn't on it too long, so it didn't really matter. on the ride out, i was debating whether i really wanted to go to the rodeo. i mean i knew i wanted to go, but i also knew i would have to leave early. i also knew i was going to be hot. i was thinking i could just ride around for a couple hours and then head back home. i'd be fine with that...

i got into wilson and started looking for the fairgrounds. i knew it wasn't too far from where i got onto 301, i just didn't know how far up. i saw bikers riding in the opposite direction, looking for coffee and breakfast. of course there were those that were also picking up beer to start the day. i was kind of surprised i saw as many bikes out, it was only 0900 and i figured a lot of them would still be sleeping.

i keep riding north, looking for either the fairgrounds or signs for the fairgrounds. as far as i knew, it was on the left directly off 301. i ride for about five miles. i know now i've gone too far. well, i don't know that, but it had to be closer than this. i turn around and go back - i had to pass it and didn't realize it.

on the way back through, i see, for the first time, fairground parking on the left side of the road. now i'm wondering why they would put parking on the opposite side of the road. i'm guessing it's more or less overflow parking and they don't have enough space at the fairgrounds. just then, i see the fairgrounds. on the left side of the road - the opposite side i thought it would be one. okay, now i'm thinking i missed it because it was on the opposite side that i was looking for. but them i'm looking at how big it is and seeing all the campers and bike, how did i miss this the first time through??

i pull up to the ticket booth and purchased my day pass. i ask where i should park the bike. the girl tells me to keep going around the fairgrounds. i hop on the bike and go around, which leads me to an entrance at the camping area. the due asks to see my arm band - which is how they can easily tell who's allowed into which areas. i don't have the right arm band for the camping area. i ask him where i can park - he tells me up front, where the ticket booth is. damn - i was just there. why did the dumb blonde tell me to go around back?? why was i dumb enough to listen to her??

the place looks deserted, except for the camping area. but i guess that's expected this early in the morning. some of the vendors are still setting up. i guess they're not really worried about starting this first thing in the morning since it runs into the wee hours... i walk around checking out some booths and bikes.





they had bikes from kendall johnson, randy simpson (milwaukee iron) and paul yaffe. i usually don't care for paul yaffe's designs, but i like the supertrapp bike he built - i think the paint is what caught my attention. kendall johnson's bike was for sale. it was the bike he built during one of the biker build-off shows. nice looking bike.

as the day went on, the crowd started to pick up and more and more bikes were showing up for the bike show.






the preliminary rodeo events started at 1300, with the main events starting at 1700. which was kind of a bummer because i was planning on leaving at 1700. i went over and watched some of the preliminary pulling events as well as the tire pull and bar stool races. i came close to entering the bar stool races - not sure why i didn't. still thinking maybe i should have. oh well, there's always next year!!

i spent the rest of the time wandering around, looking at the sights. it wasn't as crazy as i expected. but it was still early. and i'm sure a lot of the fun picks up in the evening and really gets rolling after dark. i'll have to catch that next year too.

not sure why, but i was kind of surprise to see a trough urnial in the men's room. i guess i didn't think they were still around... but it makes sense - better than all us guys using the sink when we gotta go!! i figured i had to get a picture of it...



i left a little earlier than i expected - pretty much saw what there was to see. besides, it was hot and i was ready to get moving on the bike. overall, i had a good time. was expecting to see a little more craziness like the smoke out. but again, it was probably too early. the ride home was nice - two lanes pretty much the whole time. the wind blowing felt great - it was a warm wind, but it was moving. next time i'll probably ride with the windshield off - that should make it a little cooler.

here are some other pictures from the day...

scotch-brite and other stories...

in a follow-up to my earlier post about trying to make my bike too shiny, i've found that scotch-brite works well to removed the "slickness" from the footboards.

i was going out to lunch yesterday. being the "plan ahead" type of guy i am, i waited until the last possible minute before trying to clean the footboards. i didn't want to chance riding again with the slippery footboards. and i've known about this problem since sunday. so it's not like i haven't had plenty of time to get to this earlier.

i grabbed a scotch-brite pad and started scrubbing. in the back of my mind, i'm already debating whether i'm going to resort to the cage if i can't clean the footboards well enough. needless to say, the scotch-brite worked well. now i'll have to do the same thing to the passenger footboards. i should have enough time for that, right??

speaking of going out to lunch - that was another experience. i left a little later than i wanted. having to scrub the footboards put me a little further behind. as i'm leaving the neighborhood, i notice i'm low on gas. i think i have enough to get me to my destination.

as i come to stops, i check the gauge - the red light comes on. but as i take off, the gauge readjusts and turns amber. so now i'm balancing between low and very low. already being late, i decide to press on. until... i come upon a detour.

now you never really know about the detours around here. sometimes the road is blocked and sometimes it isn't. i haven't figured out the madness behind these detours, but i will one day. in my head i'm debating whether to take the detour or take my chances with the road being open. i don't know how far out of the way the detour will take me. these are back roads and i could be going miles and miles out of the way. or maybe it's just a short jaunt around the "closed" road.

this detour wasn't here the last time i drove this road. again, the way these people work, they'll put up the detour weeks before they actually close the road and start work... i decide to take the road. i go through the barriers, which are open enough to let cage traffic through for the people that live on that stretch of the road. i wind down the road through a couple curves and what do i see?? a couple pieces of heavy equipment moving a pile of gravel that covers both lanes of the road!!! great, i need to turn around and take the detour.

did i mention that i was already running late?? now i really hate to feel rushed when i'm riding the bike. so i decide to just ride easy and i'll get there when i get there. i go around the detour which was surprisingly short. it also showed me a couple more roads that i'll have to ride to see where they lead. nothing like discovering some new roads. i'm back on track - maybe not time-wise, but at least i'm heading in the right direction...

i get to my destination. or at least in the general area. i start riding around parking lots looking for the restaurant. no luck... then i start thinking that i really should have looked over the directions before i left. i probably would have but i didn't have time!!! i decide to call a friend, he could look it up and give me directions. i couldn't call anyone i was having lunch with because i didn't have any of their phone numbers. well - it appears my friend was out to lunch too because he didn't answer. i decide to stop into a grocery store and see if they know where the restaurant is - i'm figuring they probably know the stores/restaurants in the immediate vicinity. i talk to the manager - he doesn't know where it is. so he decides to ask one of the employees. now there are two employees standing close by. he asks the hispanic one - i'm figuring this is because i was looking for a mexican restaurant!!! i was wondering if that was a racist thing or not. anyway, she doesn't know where it is. then she asks if i'm looking for a different mexican restaurant. no, i do manage to know the name of the place, if not the location!!! then she remembers where it is. down another roar - about two miles away. cool - i'll only be about thirty minutes late. guess i'll order a drink and some chips and salsa. i am getting hungry.

jump on the bike and head out. only to find the restaurant she directed me to was the wrong one!!! damn!! at this point, i decide to just head home - starved. i start riding out and then think about another location the restaurant might be. i do remember seeing a mexican restaurant - but was it the same one?? can't hurt to try at this point. i head over only to discover, yet again, that it's not the right place. now i head home for good - no more searching.

when i get home, i find out that i was on the wrong street, of course. now if i would have only taken the time to look over the directions before i decided to head out. lesson learned.

while i didn't really plan to ride around on the bike, it did turn out to be a fairly nice ride. a little hot and disappointing since i couldn't find the place. but it was a lot better being on the bike instead of a cage!!! like i say - any reason to ride...

so that it, my unexpected ride.

washing...

seems my bike washing episode has farther reaching cleaning effects that i initially realized...

after washing my bike, i absentmindedly left the key in my pocket. naturally, the shorts ended up going through the wash. which means the key got washed also!!

on the surface, this doesn't seem so bad. the problem comes in because the key is attached to a fob - the fob for the security system. so now, not only did i wash my bike and slick up my controls and footboards, i washed my key and fob. and, even though the fob is advertised as waterproof, it isn't. so now i have a useless piece of plastics and electronics hanging around with my key.

my first, lazy instinct is to just buy a new fob. but being the cheap person that i am (and in a money stricken state), i decide that maybe i only need a battery. i could buy a new battery and test out the fob. of course, i have to learn how to program the fob to work with my bike. i pull out mom* and read up on programming the fob. i learn that i really don't need the fob, i can set the alarm using a sequence of turn signals and the ignition switch known only to myself!! there are two problems with this. one, it would require me to program the bike (work). two, i would have to remember the sequence known only to myself. i revert back to using the useless fob.

after reading the programming instructions, i decide to remove the battery - after all, i am going to have to replace it. instead of just taking in the battery type, i like to take the battery so that i'm sure i pick up the right one. when i open the waterproof fob, what do i find?? water!!! not surprising, i didn't really expect it to be waterproof. i do the natural thing - start taking it apart and drying it off.

i don't know why, but i'm surprised the fob is made of only six parts - the key ring, the top and bottom outer shells, a circuit board, a rubber button piece that protects the circuit board and the battery. i take it all apart, drying each piece. figuring the fob was rendered useless when it went through its own wash cycle, i dry the circuit board using my t-shirt - not the brightest thing to do... i get it all dry and put back together.

now i have a finally dry fob sitting on my desk. what the hell, might as well go out and see if i can program it. following the instructions in mom, i attempt to program the fob. now the results of the different steps don't exactly follow the guide. but i don't panic - i follow all the steps. and when i'm done, it seems to be programmed.

i decided to set the security system. press and hold - bike alarms. cool!!! press twice (quickly) to deactivate - nothing. hmmm... press twice again - nothing. now a little panic starts to set in. i have it alarmed - the fuel injection is shut off - i can't ride the bike anywhere. not only that, i remember reading in mom that the whole security model needs to be replaced if the fob stops working while the bike is alarmed. damn, damn, damn... press twice again - still nothing. desperate, i start pressing the button many times is quick succession - it deactivates!!! schweeeeet... press and hold - bike alarms. press twice - nothing. press many times - deactivates. okay - so maybe i have to press more than twice - at least it works.

i walk in from the garage, proud of my accomplishment - especially since i don't have to spend any money to correct a stupid mistake of mine. excellent!!!

* motorcycle owners manual

sturgis or bust...

with the trip to sturgis less than a month away, it's BUST!!!

unfortunately a few unexpected, and some expected, expenses have hit. all around the same time... which puts this trip off for this year. i'm pretty bummed about the whole thing - but there's not much i can do about it.

when i first committed to the trip, i was fairly confident i'd be able to make it. and i put off the myrtle beach trip to have time for sturgis. earlier this year, we had to spend some money unexpectedly... and now, we just seem to be hit with a lot of money going out and not a lot coming in. makes it very hard to justify a trip to sturgis for two weeks...

there are two primary reasons i'm bummed about not making this trip. the first is missing the chance to ride with my brother on a trip like this - i was really looking forward to it. we've been on other rides and spent a week at myrtle last year. but this trip was going to be different - traveling for two weeks across our country. and that's the other reason i'm bummed. i wasn't so much in this trip for sturgis as much as i was for the riding to and from sturgis. two weeks riding across the states - that's what i was looking forward to.

well, maybe one day in the future i will be able to make a trip like this. and maybe my brother will be able to ride with me. and maybe missing this now will make me appreciate that trip even more...

until then, enjoy whatever ride you're on...

too much of a good thing...

went out for my usual sunday, pick up the newspaper and breakfast for my wonderful wife ride this morning... except is wasn't as usual this morning!!

you might remember my ramblings of washing the bike... i think i forgot to mention that i decided to use some "engine brightener" this time. it's basically stuff that's supposed to keep the black parts on an engine black instead of turning a dull gray. i've used it once before. i can't really say how well it works because my bike really doesn't seem to need it. either it's not quite old enough yet, i don't ride it enough, or the stuff does work...

so i start spraying it on the engine - trying to be careful not to overspray onto the clean bike. this stuff does sorta seem to work - the black areas are looking a deeper black. but who knows, maybe it's just because it's still wet. as i spray more and more, i'm really liking how black it's turning everything... as my father-in-law says, if a little is good, a lot is more better. hmmmm, what if i spray it on the foot rests?? and the brake pedal and shifter. and grips?? man, this stuff is really making the bike look nice. the chrome is really shining and the black is popping with its rich blackness...

after surveying the bike and deciding there really isn't much else i can spray, i read the label on the can. more specifically, the warning on the can... uh, yeah, avoid spraying on controls, grips, food pegs, rests, etc. damn!!! so now i can either go back and try to clean those areas or just leave it and see what happens. guess what i do?? leave it...

i found out this morning why they tell you not to spray that stuff on those parts. can you say slippery?? as i took off up the road this morning, i could feel the foot rests and brake pedal were noticeably slick. hell, any sliding would have been noticeable as i can't normally slide my feet when they're on the rests. before i get to the end of the street, i decide i can handle this to the store and back - i just can't rely on my feet not sliding on the rest when i go to apply the back brake.

no big deal, i get to the store, get my stuff, get on the bike and leave. as i'm pulling out onto the major road, some bonehead cage starts switching lanes. in caution, i decide to stop, let him go by and then pull out. as i stop, i put the brakes on and put one of my feet down. remember, my foot is already slippery on the brake. as my right foot hits the ground to hold the bike up, it slips a little. oh no - the slipperiness has transferred from the foot rest onto my boot - making my boot slippery!!! luckily i wasn't going fast enough for anything serious happen, like dumping the bike. now i proceed home with extra caution.

i do finally make safely - being aware that my boots aren't providing as much traction as i've come accustom to... now my challenge is to figure out how to clean this crap off my foot rests and brake pedal. and maybe my hand grips - i didn't notice anything slippery about those. yet.

i'm thinking maybe i should put the scotch-brite pads to a test. then i'm also thinking i have some "rebate" money saved up on my card. i haven't figured out what to spend that on. maybe i could just buy some new foot boards - take the lazy way out.

so, kids, the lesson here is to follow the manufacturer’s directions. especially when it says to avoid spraying crap on important items like brake pedals, foot pegs/boards, grips...

peace...

washing the bike...

if i had the choice of only riding my bike or only washing my bike, i would, of course, choose riding it. with that said, i do like having a clean bike... and i finally got around to washing my bike today...

now i didn't have any help like this while i was washing my bike, which was probably a good thing because i don't know if i would have gotten it as clean. hmmmm, maybe i can talk my wife into helping... the bike would never get cleaned!!!



help or no help, it was nice to finally clean the bike. it's been a long time since it's been cleaned and it really needed it. one thing for sure, i'm going to try not to let it go this long without cleaning again.

it took me about four hours from rolling it out of the garage to rolling it back in. but that was putzing along, too... started by putting it up on the jack and stripping off the saddlebags, tour-pak, windshield and other accessories. then taking a break!! i started with the tires. which are laced and whitewall. wide whitewall!!! i really like the look of the wide whitewalls on a bike. i hate cleaning them. but i like the looks more than i hate cleaning them, so i've decided to keep them. the longest part of cleaning the bike, other than waxing the whole bike, it cleaning the tires. i start by cleaning the whitewalls, with a brillo pad. not sure if that's good for them or not, but i haven't noticed or had any problems. i almost tried a scotch-brite pad this time, but opted not to. i guess it's because i didn't want to find out they don't work. maybe next time. after cleaning the whitewalls, i move on to the spokes. i admit it's not the best job i could possibly do, but it's good enough for me.

once the tires are done, i move on to washing the whole bike. that's pretty easy - the key being to make sure i rinse the wash off the bike thoroughly. if i don't, it leaves streaks, which i either have to go back and wash again, or work extra hard to wax out. i go fifty-fifty on going back to wash or just waiting until i wax.

after washing, it's time to dry the bike. i use my shop-vac and blow the bike dry. this takes longer than i think it should. it seems you should just be able to dry/blow the water off the bike and be done. but no, the water likes to hide in all the nook and crannies, waiting to drip onto some other surface you've already dried. either that or i spend ten minutes trying to get all the water out of a single area. it just seems like this should go a lot smoother. and quicker...

then it's on to waxing the bike. i probably spend the most time and care waxing my bike. this is when i really get it clean. and the waxing probably gives me the most satisfaction. it's also when i notice all the new dings and scratches on the bike. i've noticed i'm becoming less and less anal about those... it used to bother me because i wanted to keep the bike pristine. but in order to do that, i really can't take it out of the garage. and how much fun would a bike be if you never rode it?? so i'm resolving myself to the fact that it's going to happen... a case in point is my ambivalence towards the crappy chrome on one of my exhaust tips. the chrome on top of one of the tips had started to flake. i've been debating with myself about what to do... should i say something to the dealership and see if they replace it?? i could just as simply buy a new one - although i really don't want to spend the money. i could also turn it over so the flaking is on the bottom and not noticeable. and what have i done?? nothing. so i guess i'm accepting that crap is going to happen and i can't get wrapped up about it.

once the bike is waxed, it's time to do the leathers. which, i haven't done yet. i can do those some other time - maybe later today or tomorrow. oh, and the windshield. i have to clean the windshield. and put everything back on the bike. i'll need to do that before i go riding... but that doesn't take long...

so there it is, cleaning my bike. i really like riding a clean bike. not that i wouldn't ride a dirty bike. there's just something about riding a clean bike. maybe it's pride. after all the work of cleaning the bike, i take a lot of pride in the way it looks.

usual sunday...

it was the usual sunday... woke up not so early on sunday - guess the weekend was catching up with me.

headed out on the bike to get the customary newspaper and some breakfast. but the morning's mission was a little different... i was on the hunt for a plain ol' sugar covered donut. my wife was having a craving for a sugar donut for breakfast. now that might sound pretty simple, but do you know how hard it is to find a plain, sugar covered donut?? our local donut shop, daylight donuts, doesn't have/make them. my big hope was on wal-mart... plus their donuts are a little bigger - it'd be great if they had them. but no, they don't have them either...

i call my wife from wal-mart asking if there might be anything else she would want for breakfast - she usually like the cheese filled danishes. but not this morning - she really wanted the sugar donut. she asks me to check out a new bread bakery that just opened - they might have them. so i ride over there, and pull up in front of their big glass windows. i can tell from the outside that i wasn't going to have any luck there. but if i just ride off, they'd probably have the prized donut!! so, i jump off the bike and stroll in... inside i find mostly bread, some cakes and bagels. and, believe it or not, some donuts!!! but all fancy donuts, nothing plain and simple like a sugar covered donut.

i head out of there... as i strap on my helmet, i notice how hot it's starting to get outside. at least how hot it's getting with a full face helmet and jacket. although the jacket is mesh, it still gets hot when you're not moving. now it's on to daylight donuts. i know they don't have the donut i want, but something is better than nothing, right?? i get over there - which was pretty much across the street from where i was... jump off the bike and head in to get my donuts. now the tough part - what would my wife want?? no sugar covered donuts, so i have to find something she'd like. figuring that if i get one of just about everything, there would be something in there she likes. maybe not something he wants, but something she likes...

i pack up my donuts and head home... of course, being disappointed i couldn't find the donut i wanted, my mind keeps searching, wondering where i can find this mythical donut. i know i've seen them before, but where?? i'm riding home and, as a last ditch effort, i pull into lowes grocery store. maybe, just maybe... i head over to the donut cabinet... and... nada, nothing, zilch, zippo... at least for the sugar covered donut. they had plenty of other selection, but not the sugar covered donut. disappointed, i headed home with a selection of assorted donuts that didn't contain a sugar cover donut... bummer...

i guess this week's mission will be to find a place that sells the rare sugar covered donut. if anyone in the wake forest area knows of an establishment that sells sugar covered donuts, please let me know...

other than that, it was a good ride. a little warmer that i would have liked, but i guess that's because of all the stops i made. plus the jacket. which makes me question my decision to always wear long sleeve protective gear. to this point, i haven't been able to not wear the jacket. but we also haven't gotten to the hottest part of the summer... we'll see if i hold to it or not...

ride on...

smoke out vii rally...

what a weekend!!! here's a not so quick recap of the weekend including some pictures.

it started out friday with the crew finally arriving. i was expecting them around 5:00pm, including the scheduled stops they had to make. around 1600, the skies opened up for about an hour and dumped so much water. i was afraid they were caught in it. by bro called at 1700 saying they were about an hour away - and hadn't run into any rain. cool!!! at that point, i was expecting them at 1800. but they didn't show up until 1900. little did i realize when my bro called, they had just stopped for gas and beverages. not only that, they did in fact run into rain the last part of the trip, slowing them down slightly. anyway, it was good sight to have them show up...

we managed to cram all eight bikes, plus mine, into my garage, as evidenced below. although we didn't need to, we could have probably gotten one more in if they would have parked a little closer together...




after they unpacked, changed out of their wet clothes, it was time to dig into the bbq and beer, sit back, relax and give each other a hard time. good food, good friends, good times...



my neighbor, stanley, - the one who's planning on traveling out to sturgis with us - finally got a chance to meet the "gang." this would be the determining factor whether he would actually go on the trip with them or with his own riders. as most guys do - they'll start to give each other crap about whatever... but frank's comments usually go over the top - he usually goes for shock value. not to worry, stanley fit in with the guys. we all laughed, joked and feed each other crap...

the next morning arrived and it was time to head to the smoke out in salisbury. we weren't sure about the weather - they were calling for thunderstorms throughout the day... but that doesn't stop us!! as usual, this crowd will sit around, talking, drinking, and kibitzing all morning long. but you better be ready to leave in thirty seconds. once someone gives the word, these guys jump on their bikes and are out of there quick... finally at 1100 the word goes out and we're outta here. sometimes i wish i could be a bystander and hear the racket that goes on as we leave - i'm sure there was one. but, i wouldn't trade that for actually being on the ride...

in all, we had eleven bikes. and i got to lead them all as i was most familiar with where we were heading... it was a good experience leading a group that large. i don't mind doing it as long as i know each of the riders in the group. i wouldn't want to lead a large group like that if i didn't know everyone - too much to worry about. so we headed off on some back roads until we got to interstate 85. it was a nice ride through the two lane twisty roads. it wasn't necessarily a cool morning, but it was cooler than expected. then we hit interstate 85. interstates aren't the fun to drive along and the only real reason i like to take them is if i have to get somewhere quickly. this was obviously a reason to take the interstate this time.

other than a couple of bozo cage drivers, the ride on 85 was okay. twice, a cage almost wiped out a couple of us. you would think with a group this large, it would be hard to miss us. but i guess some cagers have their heads so far up their asses they don't notice anything. a couple times we'd come up on a slower driving cage. as usual, we'd pull into the left lane to pass. then the cage would speed up, not letting us pass. we could have been asses ourselves and just throttled past them, but no, we'll just putt along at our speed. this happened a couple times and made me start wondering why... why do people do that?? they're content to go slow until someone tries to pass them. oh well - i wasn't going to let it get under my skin and ruin a perfectly good day...

so we get to salisbury and make the requisite beer and gas stop before heading into the smoke out. everyone loads as much beer and ice into their saddle bags as they can fit. we also pick up a few snacks and consume a beverage or two at the gas station. once we're satisfied, we head into the smoke out.

now the smoke out is what i like to think of as a grass roots rally. you won't see many high dollar choppers that you're used to seeing on tv - unless of course builders like kendall johnson, billy lane and paul cox bring theirs along. which they did. no, at this rally, you'll see a lot of true choppers - the kind that have been built in garages, from left over parts of other bikes. and that's what i like to see. although some of the bikes looked like they might not run at all.

the smoke out is also about buying and swapping parts - lots of used parts. enough parts that you could build a whole new bike using parts from all the different vendors.

and of course the smoke out is about see all the scantily clad hotties walking around. and watching all the redneck guys, who act like this is their first time out, shouting for the women to get naked on the mechanical bull.

the day was spent walking around the rally looking at bikes, parts, people, bands, whatever there was to see. we lucked out with the rain, as it didn't. it was hot, though. just stepping into the shade seemed to drop the temp ten degrees. every once in a while, a breeze would blow by.

during the smoke out, some dood was riding his bike through a field and dumped it. i'm not exactly sure what he was doing, but apparently his bike flipped end over end a few times. he spent some time in the ambulance - luckily he got out of there with only a bandaged arm. his bike wasn't so lucky. i saw him riding around later (unfortunately i didn't get a picture). he looked okay but his bike was torn up. from fairing was missing the headlight and scraped up on one half. both saddlebags were torn up. he'll probably be hating life when he sobers up.

so we walked, and walked, and walked around for hours. didn't sit as much as i wanted. it seemed every time i got back to the bikes, someone would come by and offer to walk another loop around the rally. of course, fearing i might miss something, i couldn't just sit there...

about 2300 we all had enough and decided it was time to head to the hotel. we get our gear on, get everyone gathered and head out. the hotel we stayed at was about 20 miles from the rally. on the way there, we have to pull over for clarifications on the directions. wayne and frank are looking over the directions trying figure out where they are. i head over to offer some assistance. the confusing part was we have to get on interstate 85 business. which we were on, until we pulled over to clarify the directions. it was confusing because the directions, as most mapping services will do, adds another line item each time the road changes - even though you may actually still be on the same road. our directions had interstate 85 bp, bl and br. in reality, these are the same road. they were confused over this. i told them it was all part of the same road - we just need to stay on 85 bypass until nc8. off we head...

we go riding along... however, to stay on 85 bypass, we actually had to take an exit. i wasn't sure if frank knew this or not - he was just looking for nc8. it wasn't actually an exit, it was more of a split. as we get closer and closer, i'm not sure frank realizes he needs to exit. i'm about fifth in line. i break out of the line on the right and race to the front. i'm trying to motion to frank to follow me. as i'm doing this, i'm starting to take the split. i'm looking in my mirrors and some of the bikes are following, but frank it heading straight on the other road. bummer...

here we are - separated and not really knowing where we're going... and now i'm leading... i stayed on 85 bypass until we got to nc8. once we pulled off there, i didn't know the rest of the directions, so we pulled over. this was also a good time to figure out if we lost anyone else. we did - jamie decided to follow frank. jamie, when will you learn?? we decided to head on to the hotel and frank and jamie could catch up to us there. unfortunately, getting to the hotel wouldn't be that easy - the directions were crap. we ended up calling the hotel and getting good directions. we finally made it to the hotel. while we were checking in, frank and jamie called the hotel and were getting directions. they weren't too far away.

by the time we pulled our bikes around the back of the hotel, frank and jamie were pulling up. of course, getting split up and lost became a lot funnier when we were all back at the hotel.

the next morning it was time to head back home. the skies looked a little overcast and they were calling for thunderstorms. would we be as lucky as the day before, or would the skies finally open up on us?? stanley, donnie and i decided to take a different route home - rt64. which would be a nicer, non-interstate ride for us. they rest of the crew too the interstate.

the ride home was awesome. we did manage to get a few sprinkles, but not enough to make us pull over and don our rain suits. we were in and out of sunny and cloudy skies about half the ride. then the skies cleared up and we had sun - making for a great ride. we got home about 1100. luckily, because about an hour later, the skies opened up and it rained the rest of the day. unfortunately for my brother, they hit rain most of the way back. and what would have normally been a six hour trip took them nearly ten hours. but, they made it safely home.

the smoke out was fun - as usual. but it didn't seem as good as last year. didn't seem like as many people, and the vendors seemed to pack up a little early. but it was still a good time. riding with my brother and friends - how can you not have a good time??

here are some pics of the rally.

again - a special thanks to my wonderful wife. she does the majority of the work in getting the house cleaned, all the food together and making sure everyone is comfortable when they're here. not only that, once we all leave for the rally, she gets stuck with the mess to clean - including all the wet towels. thanks boo... you're the greatest...

the day has arrived...

today is the day the bikers show up - my bro and his crew... usual tradition is they ride down here on friday. eat, drink, tell stories, curse and sleep. tomorrow we head to the smoke out.

lots of preparations going on around here. we usually smoke out a pork butt (or as my wife likes to say, a pig's butt) for some tasty bbq. right now, my wonderful wife is preparing the potato salad, deviled eggs, cole slaw and all the other side dishes. she's so amazing with everything she does to make everyone feel welcome.

we had a dilemma earlier with the number of people staying with us, but we have that resolved now. we originally thought between sixteen and eighteen people we staying - a bit more than we could handle. my wife and i agree we could handle ten. so i passed that along to my bro. he calls a couple days later and asks if we might be able to handle twelve to fourteen - no pressure, no problems if we can't. wife and i talk and agree that we could do it if everyone brought their own towels for showers and sleeping bags. the final number seemed to be twelve. although from the e-mails i seen going around, it might be a more like ten. i guess we'll finally know when they arrive!!

well, i better go get the smoker set up and ready so i can start the bbq. should be a fun weekend.

finally, for my wife... if you ever read this, thank you very much for everything you do to make this a great weekend. (well, not just this weekend, but for everything you always do.) i know there's a lot of work involved in getting stuff ready for friday and we leave you quite a mess on saturday when we take off. you take care of everything with no complaints - okay, maybe a little. ;-) thanks - you are the love of my life - a dream to me...

inspection...

took the bike in for its inspection this morning. got there early enough so they were able to get me in quickly. i figured it would be quick, so i didn't bother to walk around the dealership - just decided to stay in the service area and read a couple motorcycle rags...

while i was there, so dood was having his bike serviced. not sure exactly what he was having done, but he wasn't real pleased. mentioned something about his previous service experiences - tire put on backwards, steering bearings tightened too tightly, wasn't sure spark plugs were changed during the last service. i think he was in there just having his bike checked out as he mentioned he was leaving tomorrow for a 7k trip.

after getting his bike checked in, he came over and we started talking. he's heading to california with his cousin - a trip/dream they had talked about as kids. pretty cool to live out a dream like that. then he tells me that within four days of buying his bike he "killed" it. apparently he dumped his bike. jokingly he says, "who knew it took more than four days to learn to ride a bike?" in the back of my mind i'm thinking we teach people to ride a bike in a weekend - with really only two days on the bike. but of course that's just an introduction - there's still a lot of practice that needs to happen. anyway, i responded to him that i don't think you ever stop learning to ride a bike. to which the service dood agreed.

so the dood tells me about how he "killed" his bike on the fourth day. after not being able to handle a turn in the road, he tells me he was run over and dragged by a car. he wasn't injured. i told him he was very lucky. they he proceeds to tell me about other near misses he's had. i'm thinking to myself that i wouldn't want to ride with him. seems to attract trouble and, worse yet, seems proud of it. changes are low that i'll see him again. and even lower that we'll ride together.

oh, while we're waiting for our bikes to be serviced, they're running bikes in and out of the service area, as they usually do. i can't figure it out, sometimes they wheel the bikes in and out and other times they fire 'em up and ride them. anyway, they fire up and ride this road king out... i say, "man, that's one nice lookin' road king." accident dood agrees. then i laugh and tell him it's mine!!! he chuckled. although i'm wondering if he wanted to check it out some more. when i was getting my gear on, he came out to take a look at it. admired the color...

besides all that, the ride was nice. wasn't as hot as i expected, but that's probably because it was still early. it'll be hotter later today. and traffic was good - i was expecting worse. but maybe it was light because schools out for summer. whatever the reason, the ride was good this morning...

all for now... ride safe...

it's true...

...my bike needs an inspection this month... guess i'll be taking it down to the dealership for the inspection tomorrow morning. gives me a good reason to go for a ride and start work a little later than normal. they said it will take about an hour - which will give me time to walk around the dealership and see if there's anything to spend money on. the fortunate part is that there really isn't anything i want right now. or at least nothing that i want that isn't expensive. so i probably won't be spending any money except the cost of the inspection...

to clean or not??

it's been a while since i've really cleaned my bike - not that you really care... although i do like a clean bike, i wouldn't say i'm fanatical about keeping it clean. i may have mentioned this before, but if i had to choose between cleaning my bike and missing a ride or riding a dirty bike, i'll take the ride any day...

i'd like to clean my bike... mostly for two reasons - one, it hasn't been cleaned in a while. two, i want to strip it down - right now it's loaded up with the tour-pak and passenger seat. i want to take those off and ride it as a solo rider this weekend. which i another reason not to worry about washing the bike right now - the ride to the smoke out this weekend. i'll most likely end up cleaning it next week/weekend anyway.

maybe i'll just give it a quick once over, removing the bugs and other splatter. i won't worry about a deep cleaning until after the ride this weekend. or until the next ride comes along and i decide not to clean it...

speaking of cleaning... i think my inspection is due this month. i better check that out...

peace...

one more...

okay, after searching the new york dmv site, i finally found the other commercial that i mentioned in my previous post... there are only two commercials, a 15 second spot and a 30 second spot... i thought they might be different, but they're not - ones just a shorter version of the other...

enjoy...

not to beat a dead horse...

...and continue on the safety bandwagon, but i'm going to... planning a ride to the smoke out this weekend which i talked about earlier, so maybe after this post, the content will get more exciting!!!

according to a new york dmv press release, they are stepping up their public safety campaign to make motorist more aware of motorcyclists... a friend e-mailed me a link to one of the commercials that's supposed to be airing... startling at first, but i think it gets the message across.

i searched around their web site looking for other commercials but have been unsuccessful so far. i'll keep looking and if/when i find them, i'll post them...

until then, ride safe...

ben and helmet use...

from the latest news it looks like ben is going to make a quick, and hopefully full, recovery. it sounds like it will be a couple weeks before they really know if there will be any long term effects.

i wonder if ben will start wearing a helmet... regarding helmet use, there was a report on the kdka web site about helmet use, or as they put it, "expert opinions vary whether a helmet would have helped ben." the "expert," dr. guy catone, says that the helmet could have changed the mechanical forces in the accident, possibly making it worse. at face value, this is true, it could have made it worse. but there are a lot of other factors, that if thrown into the situation, could have possibly made it worse - weather conditions (what if it was raining), road conditions (what if there was a lot of gravel), speed (what if he was going a lot faster), etc. we could go on forever listing the different possible factors that could have changed the effects of the accident. how about this one?? what if the lady driving the car would have checked for oncoming traffic and waited to make the left hand turn in front of the motorcycle??

but i digress - back to the use of helmets... it's a fact that helmet use does help protect the rider in cases of accidents. sure, there are probably instances where it does attribute to additional injury. but the protection provided by a helmet outweighs the additional risk of injury or wearing the helmet and far exceeds not using a helmet at all.

with that said, it should also be noted that helmet use alone is not enough to prevent injury or save a rider's life. riders should employ a strategy of defensive riding techniques to prevent getting in an accident in the first place...

i guess that's enough about that (for now). i'll get off my soapbox...

ride safe...

serious, but stable condision...

that's the latest on ben roethlisberger, quarterback for the pittsburgh steelers.

ben was in a motorcycle accident this morning that apparently left him in fairly bad shape. it's still early after the accident, so a lot of the details are still being figured out. according to the police report it seems ben was a victim of the dreaded left turn in front of the motorcycle. unfortunately, it also seems ben was not wearing a helmet!!!

best wishes, thoughts and prayers to ben for a speedy and full recovery...

smiles...

one of the biggest enjoyments i get out of riding is seeing kids... the awe in their eyes as you ride by or the smiles on their faces as you wave back to them. it's funny when their parents are trying to nonchalantly get them to look away from the biker and you keep smiling and waving back at the kids.

whenever i get a chance, i smile, wave back or talk to the kids. last night, i had parked in a spot and was putting my helmet and gloves in my tour-pak when a car pulled up in the spot next to me. the dad was driving and mom and little boy were in the back seat. the boy must have been about two - i should know these things because i have a toddler, but i am absolutely terrible at telling ages. so we'll just agree he was in the two year old range. from the time he saw the bike, the little kid couldn't take his eyes off the bike. dad gets out and i give a friendly, hi, how are you, greeting. he says something back. after mom and dad get kid out of the car, the come walking by the bike so kid can get a closer look. about this time i'm starting to walk away. i can see the kid's excitement as he's looking at the bike. so i ask dad if he thinks kid would like to touch the bike. i had thought about offering to sit on the bike, but with the hot pipes and lawsuit happy people in this world, i figured it would be better not to offer the sit. so kid touches the bike and gets a huge smile on his face. then i ask him if he's going to own a bike on days - he shakes his head yes....

okay - so it might be goofy, but seeing the look on a kids face when you smile or wave at them is a really good feeling... and i guess i do it for myself as much as for them.

you know it's bad...

...when you're offering to do errands just to ride your bike...

haven't been riding much - guess i haven't really taken too much opportunity to ride. i could sit here and make up several excuses about why i haven’t ridden, but i won't. suffice it to say, i just haven't ridden.

so i found myself offering to run errands tonight - most likely a subconscious action to get me on the bike. i say this because not only did i run the errands, but i also went out of my way to get milk. i can justify it by saying i might have saved a couple pennies on the gallon. but let's face it, i just wanted to ride... and a good ride it was...

btw, for future note, i can probably get up to six or eight gallons of milk in my tour-pak... not that i'd need that much, but it can probably be done...

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...