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.Chapter Director’s Chatter
Oh, my, it’s August already! The Minnesota District Rally in Alexandria was absolutely a blast. The area around Alexandria is really beautiful. It’s always a great to spend time with Gold Wing members from all over. We are grateful that Alexandria was able to pick up the rally.
Thanks also to everyone who helped with the hot dog feed. Whether you brought the hot dogs or buns or served the hot dogs you helped make the event fun. Fun is a part of who we are.
Greg and I feel that each article written needs to be both informative and yet personal. So we have tried over the past two and a half years to give you a little of both.
Chapter Q’s Memorial Loon Run will be August 2. It will begin at 9:30 at our ride point. The ride point is located behind the Conoco Station and Culvers on Bass Lake Road, two blocks east of 494. The proceeds will be donated to the North Memorial Hospice. We hope to see our Chapter Q members out in force. All riders are welcome to help support this worthy cause.
Before we know it summer will begin to slip away. Early fall rides usually are some of the best. Hopefully, you have missed the heat of the summer and are moving into what I like to call prime time riding. Let’s hope the weather this fall is compatible with great riding. Our plan is to keep riding until we can’t.
Just remember to be safe. Enjoy the beauty of our beautiful country and have fun!
By Gus Hageman – Rider Educator
Many times when I am driving in my car I see potential accidents involving motorcycles. Today I saw two, one which I would have been the cause of. I was making a right turn on red onto a four lane road. There was a break in traffic in the right lane so I pulled out into it. I wanted to make a left turn two blocks up so I had to get into the left lane. There were three vehicles in the left lane, a pick-up, a car and a motorcycle and then a space in the traffic. The pick-up and car went by me and I looked in my left side mirror and did not see the bike, I almost pulled over but thought where did the bike go. I looked in the rear view mirror, no bike, I looked in the right mirror thinking maybe he was pulling off to the shoulder but he wasn't there either. Just then he slowly came up even with my left door, he had been in my blind spot for those few seconds. I got a sick feeling as I realized how close I had came to turning into him. I would have had to tell the officer "I didn't see the motorcycle".
I always try to stay out of a vehicles blind spot. If you can't see the drivers face when you look into their mirror they can't see you either. You need to pull up a little or drop back so they can see you. The second was a motorcycle coming up too fast on traffic that was stopping. The locked rear brake got them stopped and its a good thing it did. No helmet, gloves or jacket and I am pretty sure no ERC class. Be aware of what is going on around you both on your bike and in your car.
Chapter Director’s Chatter
Many thanks to everyone who participated in Chapter Q’s Memorial Loon Run. As a result of people’s generosity, the North Memorial Hospice will be the lucky ones. We had a great ride and a lot of fun for a good cause.
Many of us had a great time at Chapter R. After leaving Chapter R, several of us went on to Arcadia, Wisconsin. Arcadia is a lovely town with a beautiful memorial. This memorial honors people who fought in wars from the Revolutionary War to the present. There is also an area that honors famous generals. Arcadia is close enough for a day ride. The scenery is magnificent. It would make a colorful fall ride.
Don’t forget that there are still several activities coming up this fall from the Region E Rally at the beginning of the month to our overnight at the end of the month.
The summer has passed much too quickly! I’m not sure I’m ready yet for fall to begin although it is my favorite time of year. Just like you we will ride as much as we can throughout the fall. I’d like to take a trip down 35 from Fredrick, Wisconsin to Siren. Then maybe stop at the cheese store on Highway 70 in Alpha. If you stop in Alpha , they also have great malts and cones. The trees should be beautiful in late September early October.
Enjoy the end of the summer and the beginning of fall from the seat of your GoldWing. Happy Fall!
Rider Education
We all know we should check the tire pressure before each ride but very few of us do. I check mine often and haven't had to add any air, they don't seem to lose any so whats the point? I checked them the day before I was leaving for Sturgis and the front was down one psi, no big deal, probably from the loss of air when checking them. I checked the rear and whoa, whats this, down ten psi!
I knew even before I spun the tire around what was wrong, and there it was, a nail. A nail in my new tire that had less than 2000 miles on it. I pulled out the nail and put a plug in the small hole that was near the center of the tire and thought about making the trip with it. After thinking about all the problems that tire could cause I came to my senses, bit the bullet and replaced the tire. During the trip I kept thinking how foolish it would have been to keep that tire. If we check the tires before every ride we will know if we picked up a nail or got a puncture on the last ride and I like finding the problems at home instead of on the road miles away from any motorcycle shop. That is the point of checking the tires before each ride.
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Dee Rasmussen has her eye on YOU.
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9/3/2008 |
Weekly Ride-Champlin Culvers |
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9/6/2008 |
Breakfast at Dehn's |
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9/10/2008 |
Chapter Social-Angeno's |
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9/13/2008 |
Cabella's Show |
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9/13/2008 |
Bonfire-Don &Rita's |
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9/17/2008 |
Weekly Ride-Rogers Culvers |
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9/20/2008 |
Breakfast at Dehn's |
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9/24/2008 |
Weekly Ride-Plymouth Culvers Peony Lane |
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9/27-28/2008 |
Fall Color Ride-Viroqua, WI |
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9/27/2008 |
Dinner-Granite City |
The Minnesota Department of Transportation has several motorcycle safety tips which are available at their web site. If you interested in any course offered by the Minnesota Motorcycle Safety Center you can reach them by phone number at (800) 407-6677 or at their web site.
By Ian Gibbs
To join the new Yahoo!Group (and the associated email distribution list), please visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GWRRA-MN-Q/ . In the upper right corner, you should see a link labeled something like “Join this group”. Click that link and follow the instructions. Once you “request to join”, a note is sent to the group’s moderators for approval. Once that’s done, you’ll get emails based on the preferences you set up while joining. (You can either get email messages immediately as they are posted, in a “daily digest”, or you can opt not to get emails at all. For a group of our size, we suggest the first option to start with. “Daily digests” are generally useful in very large groups in which many email messages are generated daily; this mechanism “collects” several messages together and sends them all to you as one email, usually on a daily basis. If you choose not to receive emails at all, you can still visit the Yahoo Group website to view/respond to/send messages.)
Once you are a member of the Yahoo! Group, you can send a note to other members by dropping an email to GWRRA-MN-Q@yahoogroups.com . Note that if you have multiple email addresses, you can only send a note to the group using the email address that you used to set up your membership in the Yahoo! Group.
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