getting ready...

for rolling thunder...

on the road again...

riding again...

I love my country...

helmet legislation for nc motorcyclists…

if you live in north carolina and you to choose whether or not you wear a helmet, now is the time to take action…

house bill 392, permitting motorcyclists and passengers 18 and older to decide if they want to wear a helmet, was introduced march 17 and referred to the house transportation committee. the crossover date for the bill is may 12.

in an effort to help this happen, if you’re a north carolina resident, you should contact the committee chairs as well as your representative.

from the american motorcyclist association web site (linked above):

What is needed?

In order to advance, HB-392 must be called for consideration and passed out of the House Transportation Committee before the crossover deadline of May 12.

What can I do?

Contact the committee chairs to request HB-392 be taken up for consideration and voted favorably out of the House Transportation Committee.

How do I contact the committee chairs?

Rep. Frank Iler: 919-301-1450; email: Frank.Iler@ncleg.net

Rep. Grey Mills: 919-733-5741; email: Grey.Mills@ncleg.net

What should my message be?

Consider using the following talking points:

• 30 states already allow adult motorcycle operators and passengers to make their own decision with regard to motorcycle helmet use
• Motorcycle rider education and motorist awareness are the keys to reducing crashes involving motorcycles
• As a responsible adult, I’m already making adult decisions regarding my personal protective equipment needs
• Add any other personal reasons why motorcycling is important to you and why you feel that you, not the government, should make the decision regarding helmet use          

Remember, May 12 is the deadline for advancing HB-392 to the full House for consideration.  Take a few minutes NOW to make your voice heard on voluntary helmet use in North Carolina.

As a follow up, contact your representative to make your position known on voluntary motorcycle helmet use.  If your representative is already signed on to HB-392 as a primary or co-sponsor, say “thank you.”  If not, respectfully request he or she consider doing so.  Mention that as a constituent and registered voter, why this is an important issue to you.

Don’t know who your representative is?  Click here and enter your Zip code in the box under “Find Your Officials” to learn more.

get out and do your part…

this just ain't right...

amendment to end ban on youth motorcycles…

senator amy klobuchar recently introduced legislation, senate amendment 264, co-sponsored by senator jon tester, that would exempt youth off-highway vehicles from the consumer product safety improvement act (cpsia) of 2008.

call your senators and let them know you support sa 264. of course the american motorcyclist association is going to make this extremely easy for you. go to this form, enter your phone number and they’ll let you know who your senators are, how to contact them and some talking points.

the vote is supposed to take place this coming week so don’t waste any time contacting your senators.

mark your calendars…

on the heels of my last post and according to a rome news-tribune article, it looks like georgia is serious about setting up the motorcycle-only checkpoints. according to the article they have the budget to run six one-day checkpoints. about the only piece of good news to come out of this is the announcements of the date, times and locations for the first checkpoint:

• wednesday, march 9, 8am-5pm; interstate 75, southbound commercial vehicle inspection station in monroe county
• wednesday, march 9, 8am-5pm; interstate 95, southbound commercial vehicle inspection station in chatham county north of savannah

yesterday representative jim sensenbrenner (r-wi) introduced legislation to prohibit the secretary of transportation funding the motorcycle-only checkpoints. of course if you want to do something about it, head over to the ama web site, fill out the form and let your representative know how you feel…

daytona bike week…

with the daytona 500 behind us, we can start the countdown to bike week starting next weekend. are you planning on riding down there?? for once, the better option may be to trailer your bike!! that or detour around georgia through alabama to get there. why?? because georgia is planning to use some federal funds to set up motorcycle-only checkpoints during bike week.

according to this action alert from the ama, georgia might be taking new york’s lead in setting up motorcycle-only checkpoints. and as if that isn’t bad enough, they want to set them up during daytona bike week to target as many bikers as they can.

what can you do?? besides trailering your bike – which of course was only mentioned in jest. i, for one, would never suggest someone trailer their bike over riding. the best option is to follow the ama’s suggestion to contact governor deal. you can send him a prewritten letter. once you follow the link, click on the contact tab –> click on ‘web form’ (contact governor nathan deal via web form) –> select ‘please suspend grant to conduct motorcycle-only checkpoints’ and click next step. fill out your contact information and send it on its way.

the other option is to contact him directly from his web site. fill in the contact information, select ‘transportation’ for the category, and the message section. the ama suggests the text below for the message section. i also suggest leaving the ‘i just want governor deal to know my opinion so it will be counted’ unchecked. i know i want to get a response from him.

As a motorcyclist, I understand the Georgia Department of Public Safety was awarded a grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to conduct a series of motorcycle-only checkpoints (MOCs). The NHTSA Motorcycle Law Enforcement Demonstrations grant is in the amount of $70,000 and Georgia is the only state to receive this grant for Fiscal Year 2010. I request that Georgia suspend the motorcycle-only checkpoint program until questions raised by the motorcycling community have been addressed.

Specifically, how do MOCs increase the safety of motorcyclists? Where does Georgia draw their authority to conduct MOCs? Will "probable cause" be required to stop a motorcycle under the terms of this grant program? If so, what will constitute "probable cause?" What types of infractions will be recorded by law enforcement officials at these traffic stops? What criteria will be used to measure the success of the MOCs? And, do states have the jurisdiction to inspect vehicles registered in another state?

Again, please suspend this program until questions raised by the motorcycling community have been addressed.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

hopefully with enough response no one will get hassled in georgia on their way to daytona… unless, of course, they deserve it!!

what a nice surprise....

sat down for dinner tonight (heart-shaped burgers handmade by my wonderful wife) to personalized place cards made by my daughter. yes, i shoulda been onna ride today... maybe tomorrow.

day late…

ever wonder where the time is going?? time just seems to be flying lately. i realized it’s already february when i went to pay some bills this morning. which reminded me i needed to flip my waffle house and bike calendars over to february.

this month the waffle house calendar is giving me a free sausage biscuit. i ran out of time to use the free coupon for bert’s chili last month. i’ll be sure not to make the same mistake this month. i also have a coupon for a free waffle and i think they’re giving away something for valentine’s day. if i play it right, i can probably feed the whole family for free!!

my bike calendar is a free calendar i got from an attorney pushing his business. the calendar is supposed to be one of these bikes and babes calendars. the only problem is the models aren’t really babes. i’m wondering where they found these models. out of twelve of them only one is halfway decent. i seriously considered just leaving my calendar on that month for the whole year.

the calendar got me to thinking that either bikers will settle or my standards are a bit higher. i was talking to my wife about the quality, or lack thereof, of the models in the calendar. i don’t even know that many people but i could probably put a better calendar together…

it could be worse…

that’s the phrase my father-in-law responds with when someone is complaining about something. when he first said it to me i figured it was his polite way of telling me to stop whining. but knowing my father-in-law, he’d just tell you to stop whining.

what he is really doing is reminding us that we should be appreciative. now i resist the urge to immediately complain about something and i look at the positives in a situation. i’ve heard him use it enough that i’ve adopted the phrase as well. it helps keep things in perspective.

and that perspective really helped when i was riding on sunday. i remember several rides at the beginning of last year that were cold. temps for those rides were probably in the twenties and thirties. maybe forties.

sunday’s ride was in the upper thirties. but i actually felt warm. so warm that i removed my electric vest and switched out my electric gloves for my winter gloves. it felt great to be out riding, i was enjoying it so much.

perspective… perspective made the ride feel so good. and the reminder that it could be worse. and it was worse that morning when i met up with a fellow rider to head out to thomasville - in thirteen degree temps!! now that was cold…

2011 rides...

first ride…

took the first ride of the year today. not the usual beginning-of-the-year lake loop that i’ve traditionally taken. today’s was just a short ride.

today’s ride had several purposes. first, and most importantly, was just to get out and ride again. the sun was finally shining and the temps were in the 40s – perfect for a nice january ride.

second reason for today’s ride was to test the new nolan helmet. i was a little concerned with the weight of the helmet. turns out it wasn’t a problem – i didn’t notice the weight at all. a quick note about new helmets, figure out where the vent adjustments are *before* you head out.

the best reason for today’s ride was to check out the contour gps video camera my wife gave me for christmas. i couldn’t wait to get home to see the results. and i was pleasantly surprised. the quality of the video is excellent. being able to watch the video, the speed and route is quite impressive. once i get the video edited and posted, i’ll share a link.

41073

starting a new year with 41073 miles on the bike… although i didn’t put as many miles on the bike towards the end of the year it was still a good year of riding. in addition to the usual trips around the lake and to the smoke out, i got in a trip to milwaukee as well as another saddle sore 1000.

this year i’m looking forward to the normal rides as well as spending a couple days at myrtle beach, at wilmington and hopefully another iron butt ride – maybe a butt burner 1500 this time. and some rides with my wife – i really enjoy the trips we were able to take last year.

if all goes well i’ll have some video footage of some of my rides – my awesome wife got me a portable video camera for the motorcycle. i attempted to test it out today but by the time i got my lazy butt around to securing the camera to the bike it started to rain. i bagged the ride today in favor of better weather (and a day off work) monday.

here’s looking to another great year of riding – see ya out there…

motorcyclist of the year…

the latest issue of american motorcyclist (the magazine of the ama), with the motorcyclist of the year on the cover, arrived this past weekend. when i initially saw the cover my instinct was to cancel my subscription/membership to the ama.

the ama states the motorcyclist of the year is “designed to highlight the person (or people) who has had the most profound impact on the world of motorcycling – for better or worse – in the previous 12 months.” this year the ama has decided that the most profound impact on motorcycling is for the worse.

what’s really bothersome is that of all the pro-motorcycling causes the ama supports, of all the people that put their time and effort forth to support motorcycling, the ama couldn’t find one person or group that had enough of a positive impact to outweigh the negative…

so who was chosen?? california governor schwarzenegger, who is supposedly pro-motorcycling. why was he chosen?? for signing senate bill 435. in a nutshell, sb435 requires all motorcycles built on or after january 1, 2013 to carry an epa stamp that certifies the exhaust meets sound requirements.

i know us motorcyclist have an issue with excessive noise. if the idea is to help control noise, sb435 is not the way to go about it. the motorcycle industry council worked hard with the society of automobile engineers to develop j2825 which gives a simple, straightforward way to measure and identify motorcycles with excessive noise.

instead governor schwarzenegger thought putting stamps on exhaust systems was the way to enforce noise limits. there are plenty of exhaust exhaust systems and manufactures that make exhaust systems that aren’t noisy but can’t afford to go through the process to get approval to put the stamp on  their exhausts. not only that, the stamp doesn’t prevent the owner from drilling out the baffles and making the exhaust excessively noisy.

i could sit back and be thankful i don’t live in california. and after seeing what a “pro-motorcyling” governor can do, i am thankful. but we’ve all seen other states follow california. unfortunately this would not be a good path to go down. instead i’ll do what i can to make sure a bill like this doesn’t get passed in my state.

i’m still fuming at governor schwarzenegger getting selected. and if the ama wasn’t so important in protecting the rights of motorcyclists i’d cancel my membership. so, i’m also going to do everything i can to ensure all future motorcyclist of the year are selected for making a positive impact on motorcycling, leaving governor schwarzenegger as the only black mark.

it’s time…

to start getting more involved…

bikefest coming alive...

ray price capital city bikefest today….

the ray price capital city bikefest starts today!!

trip prep…

getting ready to take a trip on the blue ridge parkway with my father-in-law at the end of the month. we’ve been talking about riding the parkway for a while and now it’s time to make it happen…

the past week or so i’ve been trying to figure out the details – when we’re going , how far we’ll travel each day, where we’ll stop overnight and other rides we might be able to fit in during our journey. the original plan was to make travel the parkway in two days. knowing we’d want to ride the snake as well as the tail of the dragon. to help plan the trip i ordered the latest version of the blue ridge parkway maps from america rides maps.

the maps arrived today and i was pleasantly surprised. from the start i’ve been impressed with the maps. i also know the maps have expanded and upgraded. but i didn’t realize how much until i got the latest versions of the map.

the new maps contain more routes as well as more detail. detail in both the crispness of the maps themselves and the number of amenities like gas stations, restaurants and lodging along the suggested routes. the routes are well marked on the map with descriptions on the back of the map. the maps, seven in total, are well labeled to indicated how all seven maps fit together. making it easy to pick up a road or route on an adjacent map.

i know wayne put a lot of time and effort towards creating these maps. his effort is definitely paid off with these maps.

well, i better get to finalizing the details of the trip. with the help of these maps it shouldn’t be too tough.

sunday ride…

my neighbor called yesterday wondering if my wife wanted to go shopping with his wife. my wife loved the idea. i thanked my neighbor by asking him if he wanted to go on a motorcycle ride with my son and me…

i’ve talked to my neighbor about the property my in-laws have up at the lake and he’s taken his boat into their cove. but this was an opportunity to show him my in-laws property. but the ride was less about showing my neighbor some property and more about taking my son for a longer ride.

i’ve taken my son on shorter rides around town and he’s done really well. he’s been asking to go on longer rides. i figured this was a good opportunity. the heat has subsided a bit making riding more comfortable. an important factor to consider since i want to instill safety first with my son and emphasize wearing all our gear when we go out riding.

the ride was going to be to the lake and back. i figured that would give my son a good amount of time in the saddle without pushing it too much.

we headed north up route one, jumped off on one fifty eight, through middleburg to the lake. a nice leisurely ride giving a mix of some speed and some twisty roads.

we got to the lake and i showed off the trailer. we headed down to the water where my son could feed the fish with the bread my thoughtful wife packed for him. it was fun watching him try to catch the fish with his hands as he was baiting them with bread. unfortunately he wasn’t as fast as the fish.

after a little more time at the trailer we decided to head home. but not without stopping for lunch first. my son was doing good on the bike and enjoying the ride so we decided to head to clarksville and stop at uppy’s. after topping off our bellies with lunch and ice cream for desert we headed home through oxford via virgilina.

it was a beautiful day for a ride and my son did awesome. my biggest concern, him getting sleepy, never happened. which made me more confident that he’s up for longer rides. he rode over one hundred thirty miles and seemed to enjoy every mile. i think he was in awe of being part of the environment as your traveling instead of just viewing it through the window of a cage.

i look forward to many more rides with him. and maybe one day taking him on an overnight camping trip…

check out the 2010 ride map, this one in light blue.