rolling thunder xxii…

finally changed up the routine of watching everyone head out for rolling thunder by actually participating this year…

it was a moving and amazing event. the masses of people, the number of motorcycles, the sites and sounds are unforgettable. unfortunately it doesn’t seem the same can be said of the pow/mia’s from the viet nam war.

the events recapped in pictures:

pre-ride festivities

gathering at a friend’s house before heading out… as always, thanks to wayne and theresa for their hospitality…

the ride out…

lining up…

…and riding to dc…

the “protest”

hanging our before the parade begins…

a hitch-hiker found it’s way to the rally – although i don’t think it fared too well…

our view of the parade…

 

miscellaneous stuff…

michelle smith sighting…

post rolling thunder party

and finally back at wayne and theresa’s for the after-party… not too much to report from the party other than this funny story. at least it was funny at the time. and probably funnier when you know the characters involved… with that, a quick introduction to jamie…

jamie’s not your normal homo-phobe… he likes to instigate trouble but doesn’t do so well when the tables are turned. for instance, he wanted to buy a helmet sicker to place on someone’s helmet. he wouldn’t even buy the sticker, sending me to do the dirty work. not only that, he had to be clear of the vendor’s tent when i made the purchase. now, if that sticker was placed on his helmet, he would most likely end up burning the helmet and getting a new one…

during a recent gathering, the guys were commenting and admiring the view on a well endowed female. jamie was jumping up and down in order to get a glimpse of sites. eventually the guys picked jamie up by his elbows to partake in the view.

to help jamie out in the long term, they devised a solution…

you can check out the 2009 ride map to see the route - this one in green...

patriot h-d…

catching up on some old stuff – i can’t believe i let this one go so long…

rode up to the washington area towards the end of may to attend my first rolling thunder, subject of my next post. patriot h-d holds their open house the day before…

a quick recap of the event in pictures…

barstools...

if it's barstool races, it's got to be the easyriders rodeo. fresh from wilson, nc...

remnants…

left over from last nights’ ride

it gives a new meaning to bug eyes!!!

put in a few miles…

the way the day was shaping up, it was looking more and more like i was going to have to make a late night run in order to rack up any miles for million mile monday. and sure enough, the sun was setting as i was starting my journey.

i didn’t really have a route in mind. and since it was much later than i expected, i made it a shorter ride. and to make things a little more interesting, i wanted to take a route i’d never taken before… note to self: in the future, unless there’s no other choice, don’t plan to ride two lane, country roads for the first time in the dark…

some reflections from the trip:

• the bugs and moths sure do love dusk. i thought it was getting dark awful quick until i realized that my glasses were getting covered in bugs. decided against stopping to clean them.
• it’s really cool having fireflies go buzzing by your head – kinda like little led lights flying through the air
• got to see a deer. not really a novelty, but when i first spotted it, it was crossing the road about a hundred yards in front of me. when it got to the tree line on the other side of the road, it stopped and watched me, almost like it wanted to be sure i kept going.
• i passed through a town i’d never been in before. it had one of those main streets with the big, old houses on either side of the street. need to go back in the daylight to see if it’s as impressive during the daylight.
• for the end of june, it sure was colder than i thought it would be.

i guess that’s about it. i did manage to squeeze in seventy five miles. when i added my miles to the hog site, there was only a shade over two million miles. guess we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see if the numbers come through… somehow i think they will…

million mile monday…

million mile monday is finally here. today, hog members worldwide will try to rack up five million miles. i had planned on doing my part by getting out early and racking up a few miles… unfortunately, the day has already started to spin out of control. although an evening ride may be the ticket…

‘nother ride…

seems as soon as son got up this morning, he was talking/asking about going for a ride. unfortunately i was booked all day with meetings and couldn’t slip away - even for a little bit. so he had be patient all day – an almost impossible task for a six year-old who’s just been exposed to the joys of riding…

after work, the wife and i are sitting on the front porch, sharing the events of our day. as son walks up, wife comments on how badly he and i need a hairscut. son, of course, is only concerned with squeezing a ride out of me. but not just any ride… seems he’s already progressed beyond the short rides around the ‘hood – he wants to hit the streets!!!

much to my surprise, wife mentions us going to get hairscuts on the bike. this was quite an offer from wife considering she was seriously not ready for him to start riding. so from being reluctant about him even riding the streets in our ‘hood yesterday, to offering to get him out on the roads today was quite a step for her. (thanks honey – you’re the best.)

of course son had no interest in the hairscut part – he just wanted to ride, out of the ‘hood and into the world. plus he knows the barber shop is only about a ten minute ride. i tell him we’ll get our hairscut and then we’ll head out for a longer ride… he agrees, knowing it was pretty much the only way he was getting a ride tonight. and let’s face it, even if the ride was only ten minutes, it’s still better than no ride!!

i think the short ride to the barber was also comforting to me. this would be the first time we really got any speed over twenty-five. i didn’t know how he would react. or how i would feel about it. only riding to the barber shop would give either of us an out – we could decide to head home and not have to admit we weren’t totally comfortable.

in hindsight, there was little chance of that happening!!! the ride to the barber only solidified his passion for riding.

after the barber, with son declaring how hungry he was, we decided to grab a bite to eat. me, not quite being ready to take him out on a major road, decided to take the back roads to the eatery. the added benefit being the longer ride. and the even longer ride back home after eating.

looking back on the evening, and yesterday, i’m thrilled i get to share the experience of his first ride with him. i’m sure he’ll be asking to go on a ride every day. unfortunately he’s got to share riding time with others in the family. i’m not looking forward to the disappointment, the look in his eyes, when he has to watch someone else riding off with me and he’s left behind.

i haven’t broke the news to him yet that wife/mom has first right-of-refusal on all rides. maybe that’s something i’ll let him discover on his own… for now, i’ll enjoy his excitement…

first ride…

took the little one on his first ride today. i’m not sure who was more excited, me or him. i do know his mom was a wreck, she definitely wasn’t ready for it…

since it was his first ride, i didn’t want to go too far, and definitely not in traffic. so we took a quick spin around the ‘hood. when we got back, i shut the bike off and all he could say was, “dad, i’ve been trying to tell you i want to keep riding.” not wanting to disappoint, i fired the bike up and off we went again.

he was thrilled and can’t wait for his next ride - tomorrow according to his wishes!!

in response . . .

. . . to john q public’s comment on my earlier post… i would have just responded in the comments, but i think this deserves more than being obscured in post comments…

from facts and figures page on for car drivers site (emphasis added):

Cell Phones

A University of Utah study, "A Comparison of the Cell Phone Driver and the Drunk Driver, found that "…the impairments associated with using a cell phone while driving can be as profound as those associated with driving while drunk." Furthermore, the impairment levels were similar whether the cell phones were used in handheld or hands-free mode.

yikes!!!

‘nuff said…

ride to work…

 

 

even though i work from home, i rode to work today… normally i would take the bike around the block in the spirit of the day. but this morning, i picked up my bike from the dealership, so i really did get to ride to work…

hang up, pay attention and drive…

was downtown yesterday, heading home, in the far left of three lanes of traffic. cruising thirty-five, the speed limit. i’m even with the rear tire of an suv in the center lane when the knucklehead (i don’t think i was that kind at the time) decides he needs to make a left turn. yes, a left turn from the center.

i quickly hit the brakes and move as far to the left as i can. i would have gotten up on the sidewalk if the curb wasn’t there. once i was out of harm’s way, i laid on the horn. looking directly at me through the driver’s side mirror, i see a surprised look on a guy with a cell phone jammed in his ear.

of course he finishes his left turn and keeps going. had i not been wrapped up in being thankful for not making any contact with said knucklehead, i probably would have followed him and given him an earful. of course i would have had to wait until he removed the cell phone from his ear.

the only thing i can hope is that he’s learned to take the cell phone out of his ear and pay attention to the primary task at hand – driving.

a couple things to consider:

• if you drive a cage, please pay attention to the environment around you – including motorcycles!!
• if you can afford a car, a cell phone and a cell phone plan, can’t you invest a few more dollars for a bluetooth headset?? based on this post…
• if you ride a motorcycle, practice your quick stops – you can never be too good at quick stops.
• if you’re on a different bike (as i happened to be in this particular instance), take some time getting used to it…

sorry – don’t mean to be preachy, but…

ironically, as i was starting my journey home, i was following a mass transit bus. the bus number happened to be seven. as you may recall, seven is my lucky number. so i’m thinking about what may be in store for me. i think about playing the lottery, especially since i missed out earlier. but since i only have one number, i can’t really do that. i figure whatever it is, it will happen naturally. in hindsight, i think it was my butt not being wiped out!!

my future’s so bright…

…or maybe it’s my past since we’re talking brake and tail lights!!

my father-in-law and i took a trip over to custom dynamics to talk to them about led replacement options for the brake and turn signals. the folks at custom dynamics told us know what we needed then proceeded to work up an awesome deal. next thing i know, we’re walking out with a new set of lights – thanks gramps…

installation of the turn signals, both front and rear were as easy as removing the lens cover and bulb, replacing them with the led fixture and replacing the lens. the brake light wasn’t quite as simple as it required disassembling the lens housing and gluing the led array in place.

on advice from the folks at custom dynamics, we used the plumbing version of amazing goop to glue the led array to housing… the thing to know about this stuff is it’s runny and it’s sticky. use in small quantities and wait for it to set before adding more. i know from experience on this one… also, don’t use alcohol to clean the silver fixture inside the lens housing – it won’t stay silver very long…

waiting for the assembled lens housing, containing the led array and goop, to dry before reattaching to the bike.

a big key to installing the led fixture in the lens housing it to make sure you have it oriented correctly. one edge of the led array contains white leds to light up the license plate. you want to make sure the leds are facing up to actually light the plate.

the results…

not something i’m necessarily going to notice while riding. but it’s not about me noticing, it’s about getting others to notice me!!! and from a couple of trusted sources, they work extremely well.

6 – 8 – 6 – 6 – 9 - 9

…was the winning number in the 50/50 at the hog meeting tonight… there was anticipation as everyone checked their tickets, waiting for someone to claim the prize. i quickly scan my tickets for the last three numbers – no luck… i’m out another ten bucks.

soon no one is claiming the booty… the number is read again – still no winner. some genius in the crowd wonders out loud if the number being read is upside down. the new number, 6 – 6 – 9 – 9 – 8 – 9, is read. bingo!! i’m one hundred sixty some odd dollars richer (minus the wife’s share).

drinks are on me tonight…

picture mail...

just wondering if this will work...

pre-rolling thunder...

the masses gathering at the mall...

smoke out ten...

first impressions from the smoke out in rockingham...

posting from my phone...

well, let's see if i can figure this thing out...

time with the wife…

had a nice ride with the wife last week. recall the earlier post when daughter lost wife’s glove. well, the gloves finally came in and we decided to go pick them up.

being the knucklehead i am, i start heading out the door with car keys in hand. okay, it was early and i was still mentally asleep. mostly due to the fact that i was faced with another day of work and it would be easier to sleep through it!!

we get out to the garage and wife says she thought we were taking the bike. like a deer in headlights, i freeze. hmmmm, bike… it is a pretty day outside, what better way to spend it that riding around with the wife!!! why didn’t i think of that?? suddenly awake, i head inside and change into more appropriate riding attire…

we hop on the bike and head to ray price. but not without a stop at waffle house first. i think that’s going to be a recurring theme here – what’s better than riding and toppin’ off the tummy with some scattered hash browns all the way?? the waitress didn’t think i was serious and was surprised i finished off the whole plate.

with full tummies, we made our way to ray price. when ms. brenda presented the gloves daughter ordered for her, wife wasn’t real keen on them. no surprise there. so i encouraged wife to pick out another pair. ironically, the pair she ended up choosing is one pair we looked at and thought she wouldn’t like. go figure!!! not only that, wife ended up picking up another pair of lighter gloves for summer riding. in the end, wife ended up with two pairs of gloves and daughter got the pair we originally ordered for wife.

after staying at ray price much longer than i expected, we decided to head home. the weather was awesome and i could have spent the whole day riding around with my wife… unfortunately work was calling and i had to get back… with that, i faced the bike north and started riding off…

the thought of work must have put me back to sleep… as we’re approaching a split in the road, i’m in the lane for the most direct route home. wife leans forward and suggested the longer, scenic route home. nice idea… i do a quick head-check and jump over a couple lanes to take the other fork…

once the road slimmed down to two lanes, i rolled off the throttle a little and took my time getting home – enjoying the beautiful scenery and sharing the ride with my wife… it got me thinking about a few years down the road – when the kids are grown (out of the house) and we can spend more time together. just heading out at the spur of the moment. much like we used to do when we were dating. i miss those days. and i look forward to them again…