Indianola Bike Night and Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad Ride, June 2005

Had a great weekend here, it was extra-long – I had taken three days off from work with my DD going away to summer camp on Sunday, and told the DH: we are goin’ ridin’!! Friday night we all went down to a “bike night” in a small-town just south of here; we rode with our friends Garry and Shirley… well over 700 bikes “on the square” in Indianola!! Beautiful evening, great ride both directions. On Monday with Stef at camp we set out to ride from Des Moines to approximately Unionville, MO – actually a tiny town called Livonia – where Steve’s folks live. It is a lovely ride mostly down Highway 5, and we know it well because we’ve done it so many times in the cage. So the landmarks seem to fly by pretty quickly – it’s about 100 miles door-to-door, but we had to gas up and also took a lunch break along the way so it took us about 3 hours to do what’s normally a 2-hour car trip. It was a nice ride down, but we were hot and tired when we got there; we visited a bit with the folks and they encouraged us to take a short nap, which we did, so we felt a whole lot better after that!

My MIL gave me the garden tour of their little converted one-room schoolhouse home, then they took us for a late-afternoon snack up the road at an antique-and-general-store place. After that we headed home and rode it straight through – just as we pulled off the interstate, with about 3 miles to go to home, the wind picked up and the temp dropped about 15 degrees. It was gonna rain, and raid HARD!! We pushed through to home with nary a drop, BUT with 40- and 50-mph wind gusts!! Boy my poor little Sporty was drifting all over the road – even Steve said his Heritage Softail was getting whipped around!! Made it home in the nick of time.

Tuesday was a bust for riding because Steve wanted me to go to the auto auction with him (he’s a car dealer), so we did that – it was an eye-opener, that’s for sure, but man is it tiring! (Who’d think that standing on concrete for four hours, with FIVE auctioneers blaring across five lanes of cars rolling through the sale… would tucker me out! LOL)

On Wednesday I had planned for us to visit either the Wilton Candy Kitchen in Wilton, Iowa (original 1920’s soda fountain and candy store) or the Boone and Scenic Valley Railroad in Boone, Iowa. We chose Boone because it’s closer, and Steve was still a little sunburned from Monday. (Everyone at the auction commented on his WHITE forehead and RED face… we explained to everyone that his do-rag was the cause of the mid-forehead “split.”) Had a nice but hot ride to Boone about 45 miles north of here… hung around the Railroad museum and took a ride on the “Fraser Line” – a daily passenger/sight-seeing excursion that travels along the Des Moines River and goes over a 150-foot-high trestle bridge… it was beautiful and we decided that we’d have to come back at some point to take Stef on the train, and then come back yet again to ride the Dinner or Dessert train in the evening. It was an uneventful and easy ride home. <p>

I was glad for the opportunity to take a couple of “destination” rides (as opposed to the generic “riding around” I normally do on weekends), and I’m all the more determined now to do some sort of longer bike trip yet this season… I need saddlebags and a backrest though for sure! <p>

Why Harley-Davidson

In one of the Harley discussion forums I visit, someone asked whether there was anyone in the group who had ever said they would “never” own a Harley, and then found themselves owning one anyway. I thought it was an interesting question – certainly there are people who are obsessively devoted to the brand, and then at the opposite end of the spectrum there are folks who claim that HD has “brainwashed” people with their pervasive merchandising.

I worked this question over in my mind a bit, and realized I had gone through a process to get to the point of Harley ownership. When I first started riding I wasn’t concerned a bit about what I rode. I learned and tested on an old Yamaha 250, and as soon as I had my endorsement I suddenly decided that the “learner bike” wasn’t good enough anymore. So the next spring I bought a new Honda shadow 750 – we had looked at an ’03 Sportster Anniversary edition (with the “Gold Key” package – DON’T get me started on that!) but it would have maxed out our available financing options, PLUS I would’ve had to spend another grand just to lower it and get the bars set back enough to fit me. I couldn’t justify that cost even a little bit! The Honda was a gorgeous bike, though not the one I originally wanted… Still, it grew on me and I was just not itching for an HD.

In late ’04, we bought my husband an ’05 Heritage Softail Classic, and joined the local HOG chapter. He is actually the one who seemed insecure about the fact that I was an associate HOG member and yet rode a Honda, and he kept telling me how much “better” it was to own a Harley, how much more “part of the group” I would feel if I rode a Harley. I didn’t really agree, or necessarily care, but it was the second time in two years he had tried to buy me a Sportster, so I said what the heck, might as well let him! :)

And now? Well, my Sportster is my favorite of all the bikes I’ve owned. It just “feels” different, like it has more motorcycle history behind it or something..?? Maybe it’s the residue of the “bad-ass” image… I don’t know, can’t really explain it, but I feel different on my Harley than I did on my Honda. I know that a lot of people have a big issue (or claim that they do) about Harley logos being on everything, but the end result of all that merchandising is that Harley has built tremendous brand loyalty – and therefore, a community of owners. Frankly, the metric bike companies don’t even come close – and as a former Honda owner, I found it very disappointing that I couldn’t walk into the dealership and buy a cool t-shirt, or even get greeted by my salesman, let alone find out about the next Honda Riders Club event. (Contrast that to my local HD dealer, who contacts me at least monthly by email with an owner’s newsletter and who built a huge new building and included a HOG chapter meeting room in his plans just so his customers would have a gathering spot.)

SO – while I never said never, and while I can’t explain very well why being an HD owner is a great experience, and while I certainly owe my entire “biker beginnings” to the metric bikes, I will be a Harley owner for the foreseeable future. I love my Sporty, and I have to admit, I really like the company behind it too!

Memorial Day rides, 2005

Boy, the weather here has been strange! It had really been pretty chilly up til the last couple of weeks; we had a late-season frost/freeze in mid-May and because it had been damp and cold prior to that, I am way behind on my garden for the year. Trying to balance gardening with riding the bike… neither one getting much attention! It has finally warmed up in the past couple weeks; we went on a large-group memorial ride on May 21; about 400 bikes took a short jaunt across town to the memorial gardens at our state capitol. Very nice event, perfect weather, no bad luck to report (yay – I’m keeping the shiny side up!)… Very much like the Toy Run last fall, and a nice memorial program. One of the “visiting dignitaries” was the guy who paints an annual memorial mural on a large rock situated on one of our Iowa highways, Ray “Bubba” Sorensen. I work for our Chamber of Commerce so I’d actually researched this a little before, but heard lots of comments from the bikers that somehow they thought Ray was an older guy – he’s actually a young adult just out of college. Here’s his website and a preview of the rock: http://bubbazartwork.com/.  

Took another nice ride on Memorial Day itself – the DH, DD and I set out with no particular destination in mind except “lunch,” and we ended up in the town of Boone about 50 miles from here. Took a scenic way up, had lunch there, and took a scenic route home through a lovely state park called The Ledges. Whoever said Iowa is flat hasn’t seen this place.

Quick rides, April 2005

Been buzzing around a little, mostly down to visit Garry and Shirley… Garry’s been converting his HD Night Train into a Heritage Softail, and he’s building a Yamaha chopper; and, Shirley is learning to ride and just bought a used Yamaha 250 Virago – it’s a great-looking bike and lightweight; she hasn’t ridden her own for maybe 40 years, so she’s starting from scratch to learn to ride. Another short hop is over to Porky’s BBQ for Thursday “bike night” and Saturday or Sunday morning breakfast. No big adventures on the bike yet this year, although I did have a flat tire in the garage the other day (grrr – $$)… I think we need to plan a day- or weekend-trip. As far as mods, I tried an easy-clutch-type product and it didn’t fit very well on my bike, have decided I don’t need it anyway as I’ve gotten used to the clutch tension already. Buckhorn bars arrived andgot installed a few weeks ago – they are AWESOME! This was an HD kit that came with the cables and all… changed the look of the bike and boy do they fit me a lot better!

2005 miscellaneous posts

April 5 – No More Honda
A sniffle and a tear watching the Honda 750 roll out the driveway; sorry to see it go, but… I got what I wanted for it so, as they say, “onward and upward.” Buckhorn bars successfully installed on the Sporty – WOW did that improve the riding position considerably! Trying to install a device to make the clutch easier to pull in, but it’s not fitting exactly right and I may just forego it altogether – Steve lubed the clutch when he was putting on the new bars and now it’s not as bad as it was anyway. Still to come for the Sporty: various chromey bits, shorter kickstand, better saddle bags, better windshield, Kuryakyn ISO Grips… hmmm I think that’s about it.

Quick ride notes, March 2005

March 6 – First Ride of 2005!
What a gift of a day! FINALLY able to ride, we took a ride down to visit friends about 10 miles south… minor incident for Steve trying to get on the interstate.

March 19-20
First rides on the Sportster! Parking lot practice on Saturday (temps in low 40’s, only out half an hour)… and a short road ride on Sunday (temps in high 40’s – only about 10 miles’ worth). Awesome bike, DAMN it’s neat to be a chick on a bike! 

March 27
Took another ten miler Saturday, very short but still pretty cold – only 45 degrees!! Much better on Sunday – in the 50’s, we rode back to our friends’ place just south of here (Carlisle, Iowa) to show off the Sporty and to do a “hole saw mod” on its exhaust. It’s good and loud now, for 3 minutes’ work and NO cost! WOOHOO, my first mod! Need some riding position adjustment as my windshield is cutting my line of sight in half… Clutch cable was lubed so it’s easier to pull in now, but still needs an EZ-Clutch as it’s really hard to hold it in at stoplights. Buckhorn bars have been ordered – more mods to come!

New bike! I bought a 2000 Sportster 883

We brought home my new bike on Friday the 18th – it’s a 2000 Harley Sportster 883! The weather hasn’t been terrific – it was only 40-some degrees all weekend – so it was a cold ride home, and then a cold parking lot practice session, and then a cold ten-mile ride on Sunday just for the heck of it… but what a great bike! I was very concerned that I would not like riding it – the Sportster has a higher center of gravity than what I am used to and I’d heard them called “top heavy” – but this bike has already been lowered and as it turned out the different center of gravity didn’t give me any problems except for a very short “getting used to it” period. 

We brought the bike home on Friday night (Steve rode it home for me in 40-degree post-rain dark!), and on Saturday I took it up to the high school for some even colder parking lot practice. On Sunday it was just a tad warmer (upper 40’s), so I took it out for a 10-mile trial ride which left me absolutely grinning from ear to ear! It’s quick off the start, and at 60 mph it doesn’t feel like it needs a 6th gear, which was a problem with the Honda. A couple of problems we’ll deal with in time: the clutch is very hard to pull in, and it needs different handlebars to bring them back closer to me. These things are easily fixed, and we’ll have them taken care of by the time the riding season sets in for good. For now, it was an awesome preview of a fun summer ahead!

Assholes abound, even on a beautiful Spring Sunday

First ride of the year, March 6! It’s been almost four months to the day since I last rode my bike, and even though it was windy, yesterday was too good to pass up. We took a short ride down to visit friends about 15 miles away, then took a long way home. Very nice ride, very nice to be back on the bike again!

We did have a slight adventure, which leads me to want to rant a little. WHAT IS IT with cars and trucks who will not take their foot off the freakin’ gas pedal for even one second to allow you onto the interstate?? What exactly is that about? Is it so important to be FIRST that you would purposely risk another human being’s life? I was leading as we entered the Interstate. My husband was a few seconds behind me. I had plenty of room to merge, but there was a complete me-first asshole coming up who a). would not change to the left lane or let up off the gas to give Steve room to merge and b). in fact accelerated so hard  behind Steve that you could see smoke billowing out behind the vehicle so he could… what? Force Steve off the road?

I’m curious – if this guy was so angry at the thought that a motorcycle might end up in front of him on the interstate, why didn’t he just change lanes and zoom around us, even flip us off?  And – if he had in fact succeeded in forcing Steve off the road and into the ditch, would he have stopped to help? Or would he have happily continued on, knowing that he had successfully put himself first once again and believing that the guy deserved to die because he was on a motorcycle?

I know I am preaching to the choir here, but I’ll say it anyway: SHARE THE ROAD. If you can safely change lanes to allow another vehicle to merge from the on-ramp into traffic, please do so. If you have to lift your foot off the gas for a second to give the merging vehicle a little breathing room, please do so. And DON’T gas up to prevent another vehicle from merging ahead of you. And, when you’re on your bike, look outfor the jerks who don’t practice common safety and courtesy. In your car or on your bike, it’s more important that everyone make it home alive than it is to always be first.

The entire 2004 archive (original BCN posts)

August 23 – “Bikers in the City”
WOW cool event! A local group that markets events in downtown Des Moines, the Downtown Community Alliance, sponsored a great biker event this past weekend called “Bikers in the City.” I’m not a very good judge of crowds or numbers, but I’d guess there were maybe 800 bikes. They closed off several streets in the downtown restaurant district and the idea was that bikers would “ride in”, park in columns on the streets, and enjoy live music, beer, and the area’s several trendy restaurants. We spent the day Saturday riding with our friends Garry & Shirley, and “rode in” to BITC at the end of our ride. Beautiful day, beautiful evening, LOTS of bikes, great supper at Spaghetti Works, just an awesome biker day!

September 24 – Another Season “First”: Bike Night at Porky’s
Took me all summer to overcome a mental block I had about riding my own over to Bike Night at Porky’s; finally accomplished that last Thursday and – it was kind of anti-climactic. My problem had been that 1). Porky’s is notorious for having HUNDREDS of bikes there on Bike Night – a potentially huge crowd for me to potentially fall down in front of; and 2). They had a really goofy/dangerous entry/exit where cars frequently bottom-out – I was convinced that doing this entry/exit at a slow speed would cause me to fall down if only from trying to avoid hitting someone in the crowd. Learned two important things: the driveway had been fixed (probably long ago and I just wasn’t paying attention) and a bowling alley down the street that started a rival Bike Night on the same night has taken a LOT of Porky’s crowd away. What can I say, I’m an idiot – but I’ve now got “Bike Night attendance” under my belt in addition to all the other “firsts” from this awesome riding season!

September 27 – Leather Jacket Search update
I’ve been looking all year for a good leather riding jacket… wanted something a little unique, but I am so hard to fit. Narrow shoulders, broad in the bust, and no waistline. Typical “apple”-shaped female body, which the Fashionistas usually choose to cover only with loose-fitting styles. Discovered I am really kidding myself – can’t even find the “traditional” biker-jacket styles in a size that fits, let alone something a little different. I knew womens’ leathers usually run small, so normally being a 2x or 3x depending on the style I ordered a 5x in a black-and-purple fringed style from a woman on eBay. Due to shipping problems from her overseas vendor, it ended up taking SEVEN WEEKS for me to receive the coat – only to find out it didn’t even come close to fitting. The refund is in the works, but I’m very disappointed. Going to have to settle for a boring bomber-style if I want to ride this fall.

October 1 – Leather Jacket Search Ends
I finally gave in and went up to Walgreens (yes, the dime store), where for the last several years in the fall they have had a growing selection of fleece pullovers, denim shirts, and other fall clothing… and this year, purchased a leather jacket. The price was right ($59.99), the jacket fits well with a little room for outstretched arms and a sweatshirt underneath, and I finally have some leather. The downside is, it’s very plain. Guess I will have to customize it.

October 12 – What is ABATE?
With the 2004 Toy Run now behind us, it seems a good time to take a moment and consider the organization which sponsored the ride, ABATE of Iowa. Who is ABATE? ABATE is a non-profit organization dedicated to lobbying for “biker’s rights” and advocating biker safety. ABATE’s most “visible” position is probably their stance on helmet laws: they encourage all bikers to wear helmets, but they oppose helmet laws – believing instead that bikers should be permitted to choose for themselves. If you look around over at the ABATE website, you’ll find some good reading on their various legislative activities, safe-rider education efforts, and of course the annual Freedom Rally now to be held each year in Algona, Iowa. Check it out, maybe even become a member!

October 24 – Beautiful Day!
Wow, today was awesome! Bright, clear blue sky, about 75 degrees, light wind, autumn colors at their peak. We got a 70-mile ride in up around Saylorville Lake, Polk City, Sheldahl and Madrid. Then a quick stop at the car wash to hose off the bugs – LOL. It was just a beautiful day, LOTS of bikes out… one of those days where you can take a moment here and there to really appreciate the colors of the season. Beautiful day, great ride!

October 29 – Final ride of season?
Took the day off work today (Friday)… the sky turned blue (first time all week) and the streets dried up some, so I went for a short (30 mile) ride and hit my 1,800 mile mark for the season. Boy it sure was windy… I cut the highway part of the ride short cuz I kept getting pushed over to the left, but it was still a nice ride. Ran out of gas and had to pull over and stop to switch to reserve, but I was close to Casey’s so it was no big deal. Nice ride, glad I got one more shorty in before it gets too cold.

November 6 – Short ‘n Sweet!
Another short 40-miler today, not as windy but cooler. Lots of bikes out, folks just don’t want to give up.

November 21 – Still seein’ bikers out
Been in the 40’s and low 50’s lately, still seeing the hardcore bikers out. I want to ride, but somehow seein’ them only makes me think, “DANG they must be cold!”

Q & A: What’s the best way to learn to carry a passenger?

Have a question for the Biker Chick? Just send me an email!

I’m a biker chick but neither my husband nor my son rides. I’d like to learn to take a passenger, but I don’t know how to do it. Does the passenger get on first? Where do they hold on? Can a 10-year-old be a passenger on a bike? Help!

It’s important for me to start by saying that I have never taken a passenger on my bike. Inexperience aside, there are a few things that I believe I have “learned” by listening to others and thinking through what they’ve said, and by being a passenger for many years on my husband’s bike.

The first thing is, you should not take your child as your first passenger, especially if that child is not an experienced passenger or some reason cannot physically get on the bike (too small to reach the pegs, etc.). It simply is not fair to ask them to be the “guinea pig” while you are getting used to the extra weight – for one thing, they could get hurt if you do happen to tip over, and as a parent you probably don’t want that on your conscience. And for another, it could scare them away from bikes for a long time if they have a bad first experience. (It’s also my opinion that a child should absolutely wear a helmet and protective gear – at the very least a leather jacket and long pants – every time they are on the bike. If you don’t have that equipment for your 10 year old, I would not recommend putting him on the bike.)

Second thing is to instruct your passenger in the safety measures associated with being a good passenger. This means: do not get on or off the bike until I tell you I am ready. Do not wiggle around, stand on the pegs, or make sudden movements while riding. And, do not try to lean *away* from the direction of a curve. More on each of these:

I believe the best way for a passenger to mount the bike is to wait until you have mounted and have the bike pulled upright and properly balanced. You should have both feet on the ground and the handlebars straight. Then tell them it’s okay to climb on: put one foot on the left side peg and hold onto your shoulder, then push themselves up and swing their leg over the back of the bike. Get seated and make sure they find both foot pegs. If the bike has been running, be sure they don’t touch the hot pipes. They should, of course, be wearing long pants, socks and sturdy shoes. In dismounting, you should have the bike at a complete stop, balanced in an upright position or possibly with the kickstand down, whichever feels safest to you and your passenger.

They need to remember that sudden movements will throw off the bike’s balance and could result in you losing control. They should always hang on to you, especially if there is no backrest. It’s preferable that they ride with their arms around your waist if there is no backrest. The other option is to hook their fingers through your belt loops, assuming you have any – but certainly this won’t give them as good a “grip”. They could also reach around behind and hold onto the sissy bar if you have one. In my opinion, a backrest for the passenger is really a must – especially for a child. I used to get really nervous about my daughter riding with my husband on his old bike which had no backrest, because it just looked to me like she could fall off very easily, especially when taking off from a stop, and especially because he is a big guy and she could not even come close to getting her arms around him.

Regarding handling curves: it will be natural for the passenger at first to try to “help keep the bike upright” when you go into a curve by leaning away from the direction of the curve, because they subconsciously feel the bike is going to tip over. But, by leaning away from the curve they are making it more difficult for you to complete the turn because they are “fighting” the lean of the bike. Tell your passenger not to try to actually *lean* one way or the other – just turn their head so they are looking over the driver’s shoulder in the direction of the turn, and that will redistribute their weight sufficiently to help the bike around the turn.

Finally, carrying a passenger really DOES change the feel of the bike, so you need to practice in a parking lot with a willing adult before you hit the streets. That way you’ll get used to the additional weight without encountering other traffic.

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