Director Message

April 2003

HOG RAG
Feb - March 2003
Newsletter RAG Director: Bland "Spokes" Burchett

We are now in the onset of the 2003 primary riding season for those "Fair Weather" riders, and for those ol'die hards....we'll just drop the extra 10 lbs of riding gear for a more comfortable ride.

But before I get into some of our rides and naturally...my journeys back home on a sick bike, I would like to bring up a couple items of club business:

First, our club roster has grown to around 48, which I believe is the most our club has had during its 9-year existence. So to all our new members, I send a hardy welcome. It's great to see so many new faces and new bikes.

Second, we will have completed the Club's election for our chosen "Charities" during our April meeting and I hope this year's election process is acceptable to all. If not...you know who to beat....."Dennis":) The results will be posted on the WEB page ASAP and also announced during our May meeting.

As a reminder on our Club's charity activity, we have in the past supported small charity events by "Passing the Hat" and collecting food for our Holliday Season food baskets, which will continue. If any of you have a cause that you would like supported, don't be shy to promote it during the "New Business" portion of our monthly meeting. Or if you would feel more comfortable, bring your cause up to the board members first for a sanity check and/or bring it up for a topic of discussion at our cruise nite gatherings.

I know for me, a "New" just cause is to support our troops fighting in Iraq. I know they would enjoy getting a "Care Package" from home and you'd be surprised how far a box of "Cracker Jacks" or whatever will go to bring the sense of home and show our support to our troops. It is a sad time for the whole world, especially to those who will loose loved ones on all sides and I pray this war is over soon.

Third, and on the topic of charities we have the upcoming "Victory" ride planned for June 22nd. I know several of you have volunteer to actively help plan and work during the event, which I'm sure, will be exhausting and full feeling. If you want to help in some capacity, don't hesitate to call myself or "Denyce, (AV HOG Secretary)" to see where your services could be used. As for me, I'm on the logistics committee and naturally...the solution to all logistics issues is "Add Another Loggie To The Fire" and I'm sure I'll burn well. :)

Ok, now on to some lighter stuff...my perils of getting a sick bike home. In a nutshell, the ol'gal (hey....I'm a guy) is just going thru her mid-life crises and has given me a little challenge on two recent "Out of Town" journeys. The first was on a return trip home from a 3-day trip to downtown LA, then up the Pacific Coast Highway to Ventura using HW-33 out of Ventura thru Ojai to Frazer Park then home thru Lancaster. Well, the trip was going well and Billee was demonstrating that my 7 weeks of keeping her in 1st gear paid off thru the LA and Santa Monica traffic.

As we approached Frazer Park on Sunday around noon, my throttle cable busted. After some discussion with Billee about why I was opposed to using 1 of our 3 emergency towing services (now, realize after my first breakdown experience in Blyth Ca ....I'm figuring you can never be without enough towing coverage, coupled with why my call sign is "Spokes"), she finally realized that no logic would convince me of having MY bike trailer home again until I exhausted all possible logical and ill-logical solutions. And getting towed home again was more than I could irrationally bear, so out of desperation I remembered a conversation with Roger Gowin about how he improvised a situation to get his bike home. Well, with Roger's inspiration...and Billee's logical badgering for me to use a towing service...I figured I could work the throttle mechanism via a "Free Hand" pulley motion using my leg and then dallying the cable around the outside of the throttle. Anyway, seemed logical to me at the time the remaining 133 plus miles we had left to travel was very interesting and exciting. Billee has described my startups and stopping as making the "Gooney Bird" looking elegant. However, once in flight....the sustained constant speed and straight road riding was somewhat a breeze.....and its all relative. :)

The picture below is my proof that being stubborn paid off this time....but in retrospect...I'll use a towing service the next time!

The second incident is nothing really to talk about other than it happened on the next out of town trip. My header came loose resulting from a weld break on the exhaust support beam. It sounded pretty bad with the exhaust blowing by the head seal and the metal banging against the bike frame...but I made it home without any serious problems and was able to have the bike repaired by the next weekend to try my luck once again:)

Well, there is good news as the third consecutive "Out of Town" ride was a charm! This was our annual "Beatty" run which was posing some serious weather concerns as the predicted weather indicated we'd definitely get seriously wet coupled with high gusty winds. Our Friday departure group had nothing to worry about, but our Saturday departure group was in danger and 3 out of the 5 committed bikes opting to stay dry for sure:).

Well, needless to say...the crazy's (Carl, Christina and myself) departed under cloudy, overcast skies with the massive storm just cresting "Walker Pass". Riding under the dark, cloudy skies with the cool breeze passing across my face were absolutely breath taking. The bikes were purring like kittens and we made it to Beatty encountering a head wind (without sand :) ) as he headed to Furnace Creek for lunch and then a few rain drops about 10mile from Beatty on into town. We met up with our Friday group who had just finished their ride to "Scotty's Castle".

After some discussions about the weather and the possible adverse effects to our traditional "Sunset" Wine and Cheese at Rhyolite.....we decided to take the chance and live on the wild side. Well, the risk paid off and we had a great time.... a little colder than normal...but a great time as seen by the pictures below.

-- Bland Burchett, Director

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