Post by Blue Tyke on Apr 7, 2009 13:00:10 GMT -5
Tyke meets the D.C. Generals – aka Ride for D.C.-C.O.P.S. and Washington Hospital Center Burn Unit
(I took over 400 pictures. I posted them all up on my Photobucket. Not all are posted here [yeah yeah, your welcome], you can access just the pictures here – (1 – 250) s147.photobucket.com/albums/r290/BlueLilTyke/09-04-04%20DC%20Generals%202/?start=0 (251 – end) s147.photobucket.com/albums/r290/BlueLilTyke/09-04-04%20DC%20Generals%201/ )
So I heard the weather was supposed to be fantastic this weekend. Beautiful skies with little or no cloud cover. I am thinking, perfect! I need to get more miles on Tyke so I can get her moving at our normal paces! This break-in-period stuff really sucks for that.
I nosed around on the Internet looking for something to do. Trying to plan ahead so I can get to sleep on time. I come across this fundraiser ride about 45 minutes from my house. I think that’s pretty good so why not go to that? I put the call out on other forums that I am on to see if others can join me. They have other plans or perhaps they are smarter than I am. That should have given me a clue… Either way though Tyke and I are ready to go!
The D.C. Generals information dcgeneralsfootball.org/index.htm
The faithful day arrives and I spring Tyke at 7:45a.m. So far everything is going perfectly! I have my layers on, Phil was at the storage unit to help me get her out of the complex (for he is riding his bike to work today), Tyke starts right up, oil levels and everything else are fine. All good signs! So I get out of the complex and the first thing starts. I forgot my sunglasses in the unit. Blast! Phil has to get to work so I figure I’ll just pick up a cheap pair and be on my way. I wave to Phil and he goes right I go left.
It’s a quick stop at the gas station pick up some new lenses and be on my way. I decided not to get gas now as she has practically a full tank and I would need to fill up before the ride anyway. I can make it. We do.
I didn’t take any pictures on the way down because it was pretty much all freeways. So nothing of visible interest there. The most exciting part was… I figured out why it probably wasn’t a good day to ride. (No worries nothing bad happened).
Wind. Wind is not my friend. It is not my enemy of course but it is seriously, not my best friend. Tyke is not a big bike. She is by no means heavy. Aka she is a plastic bag on a windy day. Every time that wind blew, with any force, I was on the other side of the lane. Granted I wasn’t going very fast because I am still handling her with kid gloves, but that was just nervy! I tried to gage which direction the wind was blowing and would be in the lane closest to the corresponding shoulder so should I be ‘nudged’ a bit further than I compensate for I would go into the shoulder instead of an on coming car. Needless to say some folks behind me probably thought I was insane and didn’t know how to ride my motorcycle. Of course they were in their shiny enclosed vehicles. Anyway!
Tyke and I get to the meet spot with no mishaps. One small stop for gas and the Green Turtle came into view. This is a nice little sports bar. The staff was very friendly. I didn’t get to try any of their food or the bar (duh) but the atmosphere was awesome!
Some pictures from the parking lot…
They even have a mascot for the bar – you guessed it… a green turtle. He went around checking out some of the bikes…
I made some new friends on the ride. One of which is Dale, he is a newly licensed rider. He rides a Yammi.. And Dino and his Lady Nicci. We had a good time while waiting for the ride to start.
While getting underway I pulled out my point and shoot to get it ready for the ride and discovered that I wasn’t going to be taking any pictures with it. The battery had died and my back up was in my other bag! Good place for it you think? Sooo I am sorry but there are no pictures on the journey from the Green Turtle to Old Glory Harley Davidson.
I don’t know the total amount of bikes that showed up but I would place a good bet to be about 40 – 50 bikes.
The ride over there was hair rising to say the least. We did get a police escort, which was rather neat. We also had bike escorts (a group of bikes what would race up and down the lines to keep traffic from breaking the group up. Instead of taking some back roads we went onto freeways and routes. The first freeway we got onto some of the bike escorts jumped over and started slowing the traffic down. I was thinking this whole time that this…this is a very bad method. I merged in and went on with the group. While I was thinking this was very scary for those bikes behind us… I see this plume of blueish smoke rise up from behind, where the bike escorts were! I was thinking OMG someone slammed into a bike! This was very bad. Very very bad bad bad!
(pause story - rant)
I have been on many group rides in my riding life, a lot of them out in California. And I hope not to offend anyone but… I am leaning towards NOT doing “group rides” (mainly these are the rides put together for a fundraiser) out in Maryland. EVER! This is the third group ride I have been on where the bikers themselves have stopped traffic. This is dangerous! Yes you stopped traffic to keep us together but in the mean time endangered us. These groups are WWAAAYYY To big! 40 – 50 bikes in one group is simply to big! It would be safer, and saner to break them up into 4-5 more manageable groups. Yeah you have to have more leads and sweeps but if they know the route and where your going it is a calmer environment. You can also at this point (as they usually did in the group rides I went on in Cali) divide the groups into groups for more spirited riders on down to mellow (just about/under speed limit). This seems smarter to me, this way people are more inclined to feel they are riding their own ride. (Despite everyone saying “ride your own ride” it is hard to feel comfortable when another more ‘spirited’ rider is riding your back side. It also gives the rider a better feeling of being in control. They can decide where about they feel comfortable. You can always switch groups later. Breaking up the groups this way no traffic is blocked, no bikers put their lives in danger to make sure some stupid putz in a suburban stops. If a group gets separated by a light the lead pulls over and waits the cycle out and the people caught catch back up. Simple. Effective. Without pissing off the local drivers.
(/rant - /pause)
Luckily I found out later that no one was hurt in the pluming of smoke but I bet that driver peed him/herself. I was worried from then on after every change of, OMG are they going to get hit…
Thankfully it wasn’t that long of a ride to get from the Green Turtle to Old Glory and we made it there safe and sound. Which, despite the rant, is the best thing ever.
They were still setting up things, there were a few vendors there and a moon bounce house. The Laurel Volunteer Rescue Squad joined us to give us a demo of what they can do…
Some pictures from Old Glory,
Dale and his Yammi
Always a pleasing sight
A row of bikes
Old Glory
Dino and Nicci
A really neat addition to a motorcycle – Doggy cage?
So they brought out this old car and started offering up a swing at it with a sledge hammer for a buck. All proceeds to go to the fundraiser. A few people took some good swings at it *in the Photobucket you can see the sequence shots for these. I will refrain from posting them * after the people took their swings the ))) stepped in and took care of the rest…
It took them about ten minutes to go from the smashed car to this… No frame work above the seats, no doors…
Dale chillin on the Squad truck.
Dino won the 50/50 raffle. He said he was normally lucky like that so I vowed then never to play poker with him. Not that I am any good at playing poker anyway. After that though he and his Lady left to go visit someone else. Dale was busy with his crew so I wandered around taking pictures…
This bike is ridden by Lady G, who happens to be in the background.
I had bought raffle tickets, it was for a good cause, not expecting to win anything but it turns out Luck was in my favor too because I won a gift certificate for Famous Dave’s BBQ. Never been there, I don’t even know if there is one near me. We will see.
After that things were dying down, including the wind. So I took that as a good sign that Tyke and I needed to get are behinds home!
The journey back was much like the journey to. Boring roads, nothing really exciting except the playful winds.
Making it back safe and sound I decided that I had to show my new shirt in action and took a few pictures of me with Tyke…
Ending travel: 77 miles
How far into break in:
(I took over 400 pictures. I posted them all up on my Photobucket. Not all are posted here [yeah yeah, your welcome], you can access just the pictures here – (1 – 250) s147.photobucket.com/albums/r290/BlueLilTyke/09-04-04%20DC%20Generals%202/?start=0 (251 – end) s147.photobucket.com/albums/r290/BlueLilTyke/09-04-04%20DC%20Generals%201/ )
So I heard the weather was supposed to be fantastic this weekend. Beautiful skies with little or no cloud cover. I am thinking, perfect! I need to get more miles on Tyke so I can get her moving at our normal paces! This break-in-period stuff really sucks for that.
I nosed around on the Internet looking for something to do. Trying to plan ahead so I can get to sleep on time. I come across this fundraiser ride about 45 minutes from my house. I think that’s pretty good so why not go to that? I put the call out on other forums that I am on to see if others can join me. They have other plans or perhaps they are smarter than I am. That should have given me a clue… Either way though Tyke and I are ready to go!
The D.C. Generals information dcgeneralsfootball.org/index.htm
The faithful day arrives and I spring Tyke at 7:45a.m. So far everything is going perfectly! I have my layers on, Phil was at the storage unit to help me get her out of the complex (for he is riding his bike to work today), Tyke starts right up, oil levels and everything else are fine. All good signs! So I get out of the complex and the first thing starts. I forgot my sunglasses in the unit. Blast! Phil has to get to work so I figure I’ll just pick up a cheap pair and be on my way. I wave to Phil and he goes right I go left.
It’s a quick stop at the gas station pick up some new lenses and be on my way. I decided not to get gas now as she has practically a full tank and I would need to fill up before the ride anyway. I can make it. We do.
I didn’t take any pictures on the way down because it was pretty much all freeways. So nothing of visible interest there. The most exciting part was… I figured out why it probably wasn’t a good day to ride. (No worries nothing bad happened).
Wind. Wind is not my friend. It is not my enemy of course but it is seriously, not my best friend. Tyke is not a big bike. She is by no means heavy. Aka she is a plastic bag on a windy day. Every time that wind blew, with any force, I was on the other side of the lane. Granted I wasn’t going very fast because I am still handling her with kid gloves, but that was just nervy! I tried to gage which direction the wind was blowing and would be in the lane closest to the corresponding shoulder so should I be ‘nudged’ a bit further than I compensate for I would go into the shoulder instead of an on coming car. Needless to say some folks behind me probably thought I was insane and didn’t know how to ride my motorcycle. Of course they were in their shiny enclosed vehicles. Anyway!
Tyke and I get to the meet spot with no mishaps. One small stop for gas and the Green Turtle came into view. This is a nice little sports bar. The staff was very friendly. I didn’t get to try any of their food or the bar (duh) but the atmosphere was awesome!
Some pictures from the parking lot…
They even have a mascot for the bar – you guessed it… a green turtle. He went around checking out some of the bikes…
I made some new friends on the ride. One of which is Dale, he is a newly licensed rider. He rides a Yammi.. And Dino and his Lady Nicci. We had a good time while waiting for the ride to start.
While getting underway I pulled out my point and shoot to get it ready for the ride and discovered that I wasn’t going to be taking any pictures with it. The battery had died and my back up was in my other bag! Good place for it you think? Sooo I am sorry but there are no pictures on the journey from the Green Turtle to Old Glory Harley Davidson.
I don’t know the total amount of bikes that showed up but I would place a good bet to be about 40 – 50 bikes.
The ride over there was hair rising to say the least. We did get a police escort, which was rather neat. We also had bike escorts (a group of bikes what would race up and down the lines to keep traffic from breaking the group up. Instead of taking some back roads we went onto freeways and routes. The first freeway we got onto some of the bike escorts jumped over and started slowing the traffic down. I was thinking this whole time that this…this is a very bad method. I merged in and went on with the group. While I was thinking this was very scary for those bikes behind us… I see this plume of blueish smoke rise up from behind, where the bike escorts were! I was thinking OMG someone slammed into a bike! This was very bad. Very very bad bad bad!
(pause story - rant)
I have been on many group rides in my riding life, a lot of them out in California. And I hope not to offend anyone but… I am leaning towards NOT doing “group rides” (mainly these are the rides put together for a fundraiser) out in Maryland. EVER! This is the third group ride I have been on where the bikers themselves have stopped traffic. This is dangerous! Yes you stopped traffic to keep us together but in the mean time endangered us. These groups are WWAAAYYY To big! 40 – 50 bikes in one group is simply to big! It would be safer, and saner to break them up into 4-5 more manageable groups. Yeah you have to have more leads and sweeps but if they know the route and where your going it is a calmer environment. You can also at this point (as they usually did in the group rides I went on in Cali) divide the groups into groups for more spirited riders on down to mellow (just about/under speed limit). This seems smarter to me, this way people are more inclined to feel they are riding their own ride. (Despite everyone saying “ride your own ride” it is hard to feel comfortable when another more ‘spirited’ rider is riding your back side. It also gives the rider a better feeling of being in control. They can decide where about they feel comfortable. You can always switch groups later. Breaking up the groups this way no traffic is blocked, no bikers put their lives in danger to make sure some stupid putz in a suburban stops. If a group gets separated by a light the lead pulls over and waits the cycle out and the people caught catch back up. Simple. Effective. Without pissing off the local drivers.
(/rant - /pause)
Luckily I found out later that no one was hurt in the pluming of smoke but I bet that driver peed him/herself. I was worried from then on after every change of, OMG are they going to get hit…
Thankfully it wasn’t that long of a ride to get from the Green Turtle to Old Glory and we made it there safe and sound. Which, despite the rant, is the best thing ever.
They were still setting up things, there were a few vendors there and a moon bounce house. The Laurel Volunteer Rescue Squad joined us to give us a demo of what they can do…
Some pictures from Old Glory,
Dale and his Yammi
Always a pleasing sight
A row of bikes
Old Glory
Dino and Nicci
A really neat addition to a motorcycle – Doggy cage?
So they brought out this old car and started offering up a swing at it with a sledge hammer for a buck. All proceeds to go to the fundraiser. A few people took some good swings at it *in the Photobucket you can see the sequence shots for these. I will refrain from posting them * after the people took their swings the ))) stepped in and took care of the rest…
It took them about ten minutes to go from the smashed car to this… No frame work above the seats, no doors…
Dale chillin on the Squad truck.
Dino won the 50/50 raffle. He said he was normally lucky like that so I vowed then never to play poker with him. Not that I am any good at playing poker anyway. After that though he and his Lady left to go visit someone else. Dale was busy with his crew so I wandered around taking pictures…
This bike is ridden by Lady G, who happens to be in the background.
I had bought raffle tickets, it was for a good cause, not expecting to win anything but it turns out Luck was in my favor too because I won a gift certificate for Famous Dave’s BBQ. Never been there, I don’t even know if there is one near me. We will see.
After that things were dying down, including the wind. So I took that as a good sign that Tyke and I needed to get are behinds home!
The journey back was much like the journey to. Boring roads, nothing really exciting except the playful winds.
Making it back safe and sound I decided that I had to show my new shirt in action and took a few pictures of me with Tyke…
Ending travel: 77 miles
How far into break in: