Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! For everyone lucky enough to ride today...be safe! It would be horrible to lose anyone today.

Christmas comes early

I'm in the Florida Keys right now. Since I left before Christmas I was given my gifts early...lots of stuff for the bike. Cup holder ( a much needed acc. for hot weather), trickle charger (overdue for this cold weather), throttle boss (give the wrist a rest), battery monitor (no more dead batteries), highway bars (just in case and a place to put some pegs) and a clock ( i like to know what time it is).

Halloween Ride - a chilly trip to Cape May

Today was one of those beautiful fall days. It was crisp and clear with a stiff breeze blowing the falling leaves all over. As we rode along the backroads of South Jersey our eight bikes made the leaves swirl around in sweeping patterns.

Today's ride was from Lumberton NJ to Cape May NJ. As far as the regular riding season goes this was the last ride of the year. This also marked the beginning of the 'Polar Bear' season, with registration taking place in Cape May. I didn't know this was part of the reason for today's ride so when we arrived in Cape May and turned the corner downtown I was suprised to see hundreds of bikes. They were all in Cape May to sign up for the winter Polar Bear Ride season. I have no intention of participating in winter riding, especially with the investment in heated riding clothes required to survive.

We ate lunch on the benches by the beach, watching the surfers and talking to all the walkers going by.

The ride home was as beautiful as the ride down, with the air feeling cooler as the winds picked up.

I'm going to miss the regular riding season but I'll be ready to go if we get any of those unseasonably warm fall and winter days.

Toys For Tots Run

Barbara and I received an invatation on Facebook to participate in this run. With Sunday free and the weather being perfect we decided to go on the run. The registration fee was one toy and $10 per person. There was plenty of breakfast food at the registration point; maybe too much. The run started in Bayville, at the 'dinosaur'. It was a great run; about 20 bikes. We had police blocking most of the intersections along the way which helped the group stay together. Of course one asshole in a car had to cut into the group right in front of us. The run ended at the White Pearl Hotel in Seaside. At the hotel there was a buffet, DJ and a 'Chinese Auction' for door prizes. Overall, it was a great run. We met a few great folks and we raised about $400 for Toys For Tots as well as a pile of toys.

Labor Day Weekend Ride

I joined the NJ Road Riders for a Sunday ride on Labor Day weekend to the Hawk Mountain area. It was a beautiful day; temperature, blue sky, a little breeze. We were headed out for the usual treat, ice cream. It seems all rides involve stopping for ice cream; not a bad tradition. We went through Allentown, Quakertown up to and through Hawk Mountain to Hesilers Cloverleaf Dairy. Check out the pictures at http://njroadriders2009.shutterfly.com/2010/1264 . We returned to the Burlington Bristol Bridge through Bucks County without incident. We didn't even have to do any u-turns; another Road Riders tradition.

You can't avoid...

You can't avoid alot of things while on a motorcycle...
The smell of a garbage truck on a summer afternoon. Yeeeeech!
Assholes in cars talking, texting, playing with cell phones while driving. This is becoming epidemic and there's nothing that can be done. This is just stupid. Everytime I have had a close call the driver of the cage has been on the phone. Put down the phone and drive.
Tailgaters. If the light is red ahead why are you in such a hurry to get to it?
Loose dogs. Owners don't care. Dogs are stupid, their owners are stupid.
Garbage on the road. People are pigs. How is it an option to throw trash out of a car window?
Highbeams. Motorcycle headlights are naturally bright. Don't flash your highbeams at me when I can't turn mine down...like those new 'white' headlights on cars.
Bugs...say no more.

...and so it begins

Before my son and I got our bikes my wife, Barbara, wasn't exactly warm about bikes. As time passed, first with my son riding then after I got my bike, she started to warm up to them; especially after taking rides with me. She spent enough time on the back of my bike that she's tired of sitting on that little seat. The solution was to get a bike of her own.

We went to look at a used Suzuki 250. It is the perfect bike for her to start on (the one many classes use for inital bike training) because of size, weight and power. We're going to get it today or tomorrow....and so it begins.
Much like teaching my son to ride a bike I now have to teach Barbara how to ride. It should go well as she has spent alot of time on the back of my bike and already knows how to drive a stick. The big hurdle will be getting her to coordinate both hands and feet.
Wish us luck!

Evening Ride - LBI

We have taken a few rides down to LBI. It's a nice ride and there's alot to do there. You have beaches, great clam chowder, seafood restaurants and the lighthouse, 'Old Barney'.

We took a ride down there last night, for the ride, dinner and hoping to meet up with an old friend of mine. Unfortunately there are lots and lots of traffic lights and pedestrian crossings.

The ride was uneventful except for the usual assholes. I was cut off by a pickup, people stop everywhere and doors open unexpectedly. It's amazing how many people no longer use turn signals.

JAMBO

I'm attending the Boy Scout National Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill Virginia for two weeks. It's only been two days and I miss the bike already.

Evening Cruise to LBI

Long Beach Island (LBI) is a barrier island on the New Jersey Coast that is covered with homes, amusements, restaurants and nice beaches. It is marked by a 165' lighthouse on the North end known as 'Old Barney'.
One of our favorite things to do is to go to the island for Clam Chowder at a little restaurant that only makes Clam Chowder.
The other night we decided to take a cruise down to the island for some Clam Chowder. Barb and I, and Chris on his bike took the ride. The ride is along a fairly straight stretch of highway, Rt. 72, (about 30 miles to the island) that passes mostly through the Jersey Pinelands. The ride was uneventful with the exception of cars passing us at 70+ mph, in a endless hurry to get to the island.
It was a beautiful evening even thought it was hot (what a suprise these days). The chowder was goood (as always).
The ride home was into the West and was marked by a beautiful sunset and very little traffic going our direction.

Bike Night at Rita's Water Ice

Rita's Water Ice is a chain of stores that sell flavored Water Ice and Soft Ice Cream. When you combine the two you get great, cold goodies like Gelatis.
The local Rita's is owned by an man (Fred) that is a biker. Every other Tuesday night is bike night, where water ice is free and everything else is 'buy two get one free'.
Barb and I as well as Heather and her boyfriend decided to go to bike night last week. There were alot of bikes there (mostly Harleys). The atmosphere was fun and the Gelatis were good.
I guess we'll have to go more often.

Another Hot Day; 9/11 Memorial, Bowmans Tower, Peddler's Village

Today's ride was another hot one. After a slow start at the diner we headed out. Our first stop was the 9/11 monument in Lower Makefield Township...but not before having to do a u-turn to get to it. Next we headed up to Washington's Crossing State Park to climb the hill up to Bowman's Tower. It's a high stone tower on top of a hill overlooking the Delaware River and the valley surrounding it. You used to be able to climb the stairs inside to the top but now they've installed an elevator. Next we went to Peddler's Village. We tried several very crowded places for lunch before settling on Earles, which was almost empty. What a great burger! We walked around Peddler's Village a bit before getting on the bikes and heading for our last stop...ice cream at Tanners Market. This place is always crowded and has the best ice cream and serves the largest cones. We ended the day by returning to the base of the Burlington Bristol Bridge.

Fourth of July Weekend

This was another weekend of very hot weather. As long as you keep moving the heavy safety jacket is not too bad. The air moving through it helps keep you cooler.
I made two round trips up to the Princeton Area this weekend. This ride includes a few miles on 295 (70 mph). At that speed I tense up more for some reason, resulting in sore muscles the next day.
There wasn't much traffic which is fine with me. Less trffic equals less idiots not paying attention, talking and texting on their phones and just plain driving badly. Turn signals are very helpful.

A Loooooooooooong Hot Ride

Yesterday, Sunday June 27th, we took our first looooooooong road trip with the NJ Road Riders motorcycle club. The route took us up along the PA side of the Deleware, across to New York where we went through Port Jervis, up a winding road to a high overlook called Eagles Nest. We could see the High Point Monument in NJ through very hazy air. The return trip took us through High Point, south through NJ, to home.
It was a hot, hot day. Because we opt to wear heavy safety gear we sweated to excess all day long. Safety can have a price. Although we had plenty of water on board you can't drink unless you are stopped.
I feel like the 'hobo' rider because we bungee the cooler to our luggage rack (the saddlebags are supposed to come today).
I am always amazed how the smell of a badly rotting carcase of a dead deer will get through to you as you pass by. It's actually quite awful. It seems to linger longer than the stench of a skunk and on a bike there's no avoiding it, no escaping it.

Father's Day Covered Bridge Ride

On Father's Day, June 20th we joined the group at Mt. Holly Powersports for a covered bridge ride through Bucks County PA. This was our second group ride; which had about 30 bikes. The briefing was brief. We started our ride up Rt 206 and it was immediately apparent that this group was kind of loose, switching lanes and weaving around cars.
We took our first break at NJ Washington's Crossing Park. Here we decided to break away from the group with three other bikes. We weren't comfortable riding with this large group and thought we would enjoy the ride more on our own.
Our leader programmed six covered bridge locations into his GPS and off we went. We visited six bridges, stopping at each for a short break. It was nice.
We stopped for lunch at Dillys (?) then headed home through NJ, stopping in New Egypt for Ice Cream.
I need more practice on uphill starts!

First Group Ride - Ice Cream

Before I took the Motorcycle Safety Coure I went on my first group ride on June 13th. Although I was driving on my permit I was with licensed riders. I went with the NJ Road Riders Club; a great bunch of folks. My wife, Barbara went along, riding on the back of our bike.
It started with a rather thorough briefing, emphasizing safety. The ride started at a diner in Bristol PA and went through Bucks County to Tanners Farm Market near Richboro PA. The Ice Cream cones were cheap and LARGE.
We stopped at a covered bridge then made our way back to the Burlington Bristol Bridge.
There were thunderstorms in the area which we were hoping to avoid by heading straight home and navigating around, relying on Justin's GPS, weather map.
It didn't work. A few miles from home we were on Rt. 70 and ended up in a downpour. This ended up being the first time I rode in the rain.
We got soaked. There was standing water in my boots!
I guess we need to invest in good rainsuits.

Motorcycle Safety Course

Everyone I know that rides suggested that I take this course...for beginning riders. It took place over two days, June 14th & 15th. It was hot, hot, hot.
I learned alot and enjoyed the course. Especially driving the 250cc bikes around. I would have liked alot more time to practice the slow turns and a hill for practicing uphill starts would have been nice.
Overall I did quite well except for the wide turn where I went too slow..."ready for south Florida".
When it was over I had qualified for my NJ motorcycle license.
I would suggest it for any new riders.

Practice, Practice, Practice

It's been a long time since I've been on a bike, especially one this heavy. The slow, tight turns have been the hardest. I've been taking rides around the neighborhood, making lots of turns and emergency stops. The neighbors must think I'm crazy or really, really bad at riding.
I also go out onto Rt 70 to get up to speed and practice tight, faster turns around the traffic circle. It's amazing how many people, especially the ones returning from the shore, don't know how a traffic circle works. Either that or they are really, really bad drivers. It would also help if they would put down their damn phones. That goes for everyone. Especially the idiots that text while driving, Stupid!

Bringing It Home

Now that I purchased the bike I had to get it home. Since I only had a permit I couldn't ride it home myself so I was going to have Chris ride it home for me. There was a forecast for thundershowers so we took the trailer to the dealer with us, just in case. No rain so Chris was going to ride it home. I rode his bike first so it was only fair that he was the first to ride my bike.
The ride home was without incident, although I was nervouse the whole way.
Once we were home I immediately hopped on the bike and started riding around the neighborhood.

The Next Step

Now that my son had a bike my wife and I decided it might be nice if we had a bike too. Yeah, my wife had alot to do with it. There was a used bike, just like Chris's but silver, at the dealer. I had to return to Florida for another few weeks so I figured it would give me time to think it over and if the bike was still there maybe we would see about buying it.
When I returned from Florida the bike was gone; sold three days earlier. Fate? Since I had finially decided to get a bike too I started searching dealers for another used V-Star 650.
While at a dealer in PA I found a bike that was close to what I wanted but then they showed me a used Honda 750 Shadow. As soon as I sat on it I knew this was the bike I wanted. Next the salesman showed me some 2009 leftover Shadow's that were reduced in price to move. There it was...a two tone Honda 750 Shadow Aero.
I discussed it with my wife and we decided that a new bike wasn't that much more and with a new bike you know how it was taken care of.
SOLD

How It Started

It wasn't a suprise when I finally bought a motorcycle. I've always wanted a nice bike. I had a little Suzuki TS250 when I lived in Califiornia (although that was hardly a real bike). I've hopped on quite a few different bikes over time but I never owned a 'real' bike.

My son Chris got the bug to get a bike a few months ago, while I was away in Florida. While I was home on a break he had me go to the dealer with him to look at a bike he wanted; a Yamaha V-Star 650 Silverado. He was sure it was what he wanted, it was a great deal and there was a special on extended warranty so with my help he bought it.

Since he only had a permit we brought the bike home on the trailer. As soon as we had it off of the trailer I put my hand out for the keys and off I went. Since Chris had never driven a bike before I had to teach him the basics of how to shift, brakes, etc. which he picked up on very quickly.