Just got my copy of Ride Texas magazine today (March 2006) with its annual “10 Best” selections.
I you don’t have it yet, get it. It is chocked full of great places to ride, great places to eat, yada, yada, yada. AND, I’ve managed to have already done at least parts of a great many of them.
The weather is great… strap on your helmet and RIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, we got sidetracked toward the end of last year and are working to get caught up with all of the photography commitments from the holidays. We are definitely planning to have a new podcast segment out this week — and we intend to be regular in the creation of new segments.
I appreciate the email, voice mail and direct conversation asking me when the next segment wiill be avialalbe -- I do hear you and it's coming soon!!!
Many things drove us toward oblique tangents last year, but we intend to be refocused on biking and photography again for 2006 — and straddling the intersection of those two is even better.
We are changing color labs to get a more robust offering to you for prints and are still working to move our e-commerce photography site to a system that will make it much easier for you to order and receive your prints. Stay tuned on that one.
In February we will reopen our offering to capture action biker shots — so polish up the scoot, wash the duds and get ready for another opportunity to be immortalised through the lens.
See our photography at Byron Sands Photography.
BTW, any of you who wish to fire up your own blog or podcast and would like to hear about the pitfalls, etc that I have waded through in the process, drop me a line.
Again, for my blog I use:
Movable Type for my blog hosting software
BlogJet and Movable Type for blog creation
EV1 Servers for my Internet server backbone connection
Sixapart (Movable Type) is located in San Francisco, CA; BlogJet is located in Moscow, Russia; EV1 Servers is located in Houston, TX.
The podcasting equipment and software is much more involved, but let me know if you have an interest and I will describe it all to you.
Here we go on beginning of another adventure — 2006, and we started it with a motorcycle ride. What other way is there to start?
We got up around 7:30 am and started puttering around to get ready for the ride: make coffee, feed the cats, jump in the shower, etc. Around 8:30 we head out toward Texan Harley Davidson, with a pit stop for fuel — pull in about 9:10 and sign in. The ride is plotted for around 100 miles from Conroe, TX over to Carlos, TX through the countryside on a meandering route. On a straight line it’s only 48 miles, but who rides a motorcycle on a straight when its 83 degrees for the high on a great New Years Day.
So we get to the staging area and find it void of coordination. We sign in and get assigned to a group led by Road Captain A (we’re leaving out names here because they are all volunteers and frankly, who cares). We wander over to the McDonald’s next door and grab a bite, come back ask RC “A”, “When are we heading out?”. RC “A” 
says, “I got re-assigned to ride sweep for a different group instead, so I don’t know.” So I go back to sign-in and ask who is leading the group now. Turns out that RC “B” was assigned to lead the group instead, so I start looking around for RC “B” to find out when we are leaving — but I can’t find him around there anywhere. After about 15 minutes of searching, I go back to sign-in ask where I can locate RC “B” and when the group is leaving. The sign-in RC “C”, looks around and finally decides that RC “B” must have left with some group other than the one assigned to him, “damn, we have to get this straightened out”. Things are getting more out of control.
So we get now assigned to Smitty and within about 15 minutes Smitty has a group of 7 bikes lined up to head out. So after standing around for an hour wasting good riding weather we are finally on the road… as an aside, Cut-N-Shoot HOG changes volunteer leaders at the start of the year so it probably takes a ride or two to get coordinated.
AND it was a great 100 mile ride past farms and ranches to Yankee’s Tavern and Grill. Reneé was staggered just to Smitty’s right and I was directly behind, with the other 4 bikes following… Bill was riding sweep. Just staggered behind me was Greg with Gracie (aka “Sweaty Buns”) holding on behind him. I wanted to ask how she got that handle but couldn’t bring myself to do it — maybe she’ll just send me an email when she reads this — you can reach her on the Harley Boards of Texas and ask for yourself.
Smitty led a great ride… Reneé and I only stayed at Yankee’s long enough to hit the restroom and then headed back out. Only rode about 200 miles today, but what better way to launch a new year? The odometer on the JustaScoot II was setting at just over 16,000 when I got up this morning. Let's see what it is at this year end.
And to our biker brethren in the frigid north — the weather today was fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, its now only hours until we have another year in the bag. This year my scoot has felt my butt in the saddle less than any other in a long time. Just too much going on — we won’t be saying that again at the end of the coming year.
While we did get any IBA certified Iron Butt ride in back in June, we weren’t able to get in any long tours this year. Seems like I was sitting in an airplane seat all year rather than a saddle.
So, I think that we will start the new year off right by joining the Hangover Ride tomorrow morning with the great folks up at Cut-N-Shoot HOG. Not a particularly long ride, just runs from Texan Harley Davidson in Conroe, TX over to Yankee’s Tavern and Grill in Carlos over by College Station — but just getting out will be nice. Flew back in to town yesterday and now I’m ready to ride.
We’ll update you after the ride tomorrow.
The 2006 Honda Gold Wing that will be available in the Spring will have a first for motorcyclists -- an airbag to help slow the force of the rider in a crash. See this article in Motorcyclist magazine. Honda has had this in development for a number of years now and is apparently ready to put it in production.
This top tourer also has a comfort package available which includes an 80 watt sound system with 6 CD changer, Honda satellite-linked navigation, heated seat and grips and ABS. It lists in the neighborhood of $21,000 with all the stuff, but word has it that it can be had from some dealers for several thousand under that.
Check it out... I rode a Gold Wing for the better part of a decade a while back and am often tempted to have another go at it.
I attended the Memorial Service for an incredible guy last Friday, Dan McJunkin. I am including his obituary at the end.
I wish I had had a chance to get to know Dan. I attended his memorial because he was a fellow biker and recent member of the HOG chapter with which I associate.
I found out a lot about Dan at a wonderful celebration of his life last week. Friends were in from all over from childhood, high school, college and military days.
From those many stories that were shared it was evident that Dan was a very special person. Son, husband, father, friend, military hero (who flew helicopter extraction missions in Viet Nam).
At 61, Dan left way too soon, but obviously touched and enhanced the lives of many people.
To Dan, I learned alot about you last Friday from many of your life long friends. Rest in peace.
Dan's obituary from the Houston chronicle follows:
An MRO is a motorcyclist rights organization and MRF (Motorcycle Rider's Foundation) is the leading national voice in Washington, D.C. working to protect the rights of bikers.
MRF's Mission: To continue developing an aggressive, independent national advocate for the advancement of motorcycling and its associated lifestyle which is financially stable and exceeds the needs of motorcycling enthusiasts.
MRF's Goals:
- Maintain and improve our ability to act as an advocate before national, state, and local legislative, executive, and judicial bodies and with private or public entities regarding issues affecting motorcycles, motorcyclists, or motorcycling.
- Maintain and improve our financial base and ensure financial stability.
- Maintain and improve our capability to meet and exceed the needs of our membership base and all state motorcyclists' rights organizations.
- Maintain and improve our capability to be the national information center for motorcyclists' rights information.
- Enhance training of national, state, and local motorcyclists' rights activists.
More and more, we face legislators at the national level who feel compelled for various reasons to move toward impeding the rights of bikers. A main focus of MRF is less federal government -- leave the right of legistation to the state and local governments without the threat of federal intervention.
If you only align with one motorcycle related organization, make it MRF. I am proud to say that I support MRF as a sustaining member. Don't sit idly by and expect others to preserve your rights. Engage. Become of part of preserving your rights for yourself and for your motorcycling brothers and sisters yet to come.
For only $25 a year you can make a difference -- and you get a patch, a pin, a newsletter, email alerts -- AND the pride of knowing that you are helping to make a difference. Click here to Join today!!! -- tell them that you are here to help and that JustaBiker set you over.
