Rounder Round Up In Niagara (RUIN)

Another annual Rounder Rally is in the books. It was an excellent weekend with good weather and better company.

Friday Gail and I were kickstand up at 7:30 in the morning. It was a little chilly in the high 40s. Our plan was to go to the Peterboro Diner for breakfast than meet a couple of Rounders (Leftlane and Xaque) at Bickfords in Brattleboro VT for the rest of the ride to Niagara Falls Ontario.
Pretty much everything was going without a hitch until Gail let me know I had no headlight. In Brattleboro I tried changing a blown fuse only to find the new fuse immediately blew. Change of plans. Brunswick Harley Davidson was on the way so we decided we would stop and see what they could do for me. They were awesome. I was back on the road in an hour and a half with a repaired shorted wire in my left hand control. Their service was impressive. The rest of the trip went uneventful with the exception of a near miss on acquiring a performance award for passing on a double yellow and speeding. I guess the officer didn’t want to put down his newspaper. We rolled into Niagara around 7PM. The beers were cold, the pizza hot and the smiles from all the Rounders warm and friendly.
Saturday Gail and I did the tourist thing after securing dinner arrangements for the group.



We walked around Niagara Falls taking in the local flavor.
Dinner was good at the Hard Rock Café, swag was passed out and many laughs were had by all. Sunday dawned sunny DPRyan on his new old K75RT and Xaque joined us for the trip home. We had great weather all the way to Mass then we caught up with the clouds and the last two hours were raw and cool. All in all it was a great trip. I can definitely feel the stiffness of my first big ride of the year.

The Fickleness of Mother Nature

This time of the year is always an adventure in New England. I am in a constant struggle to have the right gear on at the right time. Saturday Gail and I went for a ride. Originally we were planning on hanging out and doing our own thing. My plan was to get some bike maintenance done and hers was to take a quick ride in the lousy conditions to get her bike registered for the BMWMOA mileage contest. The forecast was for a total washout. Around noon the sun suddenly broke out and the temperature soared to 70F. Wahoo! Let's ride!. So what did Gail and I do? We rode to the coast to find bad weather. We had to have lost 20+ degrees and we found fog. I was under dressed, I was cold and I whined to myself in my helmet like a kid in the checkout line at the supermarket. It was ugly. There might have even been some swearing involved. Ok, there was a lot of swearing involved. Anyways, we pulled over where I expressed my feelings on the matter and we promptly headed inland. On the way I noticed many riders like ourselves under dressed heading right where we came from. I'm thinking "good luck with that". Some were in shirt sleeves. At least I had a jacket and helmet on. A little distance inland the temps soared back up in shining sun. It was so nice we decided to stop for an ice cream. The warm weather season is finally here! Just not at the coast.

I left for work at 5:50AM this morning. This is what I had on from the ground up;
Tourmaster boots
Gerbing Electric socks
Jeans
Gerbings Union Ridge electric pants
turtle neck
sweatshirt
Warmnsafe electric jacket liner
First Gear Killimanjaro jacket
Gerbing Electric gloves.
Scorpion Helmet
It was about 30F and I ride about an hour (50 miles) to work. When I went to the gym for lunch, it was 55F and I rode down the street with just my jeans, helmet and sweatshirt on. It wasn't very far. In an hour I'll be heading home from work and I have no clue what I need to wear. I'll probably just over dress and hope I don't get stuck in traffic. Oh well, Mother nature always wins anyways. We are just pawns for her amusement.

Weekend Events 4/5-4/6

If only the weather could cooperate

There are two good events going on today for those interested.
Manchester Harley Davidson is having a spring open house today from 9AM to 4PM. Drop by for a hot lunch and a nice 15% off sale. There will be venders there and I'll be there with my girls Kendra and Hannah. They like going and helping out.

Another worthwhile event is the MotoMarket Spring Open House from 10AM - 3PM. There is usually Pizza and a lot of different riders on different bikes hanging out.

08 Fatboy Test Ride in NZ

This is a cool video of an 08 Fatboy test ride I pulled off adventure rider. Man I would love to go "down under", ride and SCUBA!