Motorcycle Nation Podcast

…terrible time of the year. The terrible time that I speak of is that time leading up to Indiana’s historically worst months for snowfall, January and February. With the snowfall comes the realization that the motorcycle will probably not be coming out of the garage for the next sixty days as the snow remains on the ground and the possibility of black ice forming on the road is great. I have never truly been a big fan of the snow anyway but when my true passion for motorcycling materialized I found an even stronger hatred for it. The cold does not bother me. If you own the right gear riding can be enjoyed nearly year round, except those months that road conditions may prohibit it.

So, I have to find things to fill my days during the winter. I do quite a few things to keep motorcycling in front of me. Most of you know that I teach motorcycle safety and we have things going on throughout the off season that keep us at our best. I also subscribe to a couple of print magazines that I spend time reading over the winter. During the summer, with my normal job, teaching, and my kid’s sports practices and games I don’t get the opportunity to read those mags on a regular basis. The cold winter months give me plenty of free time to study what I missed all summer. I spend time doing this blog and the podcast and I listen to other motorcycle podcasts. And, of course, I spend alot of time on the internet reading all the motorcycle related sights. Thank goodness for the net.

So, as the East coast is getting hammered this weekend, I ask you…what do you do in the winter to fuel your need for two wheels? Leave us a comment and tell your friends to listen to Episode 15 to take them away to paradise on two wheels.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Steve

2009 brought us the sixteenth annual Miracle Ride for Riley Hospital. This is a two day event held towards the end of May or early June and is one of the largest fundraisers for the hospital and, I believe, the largest motorcycle ride in the State of Indiana in both number of participants and money raised. A walk through the sea of chrome would give away the fact that people ride in from many states to participate in this event.

Saturday begins the Miracle Ride with six Poker runs that leave various dealers across the state. The final stop for each poker run is a location somewhere in Indianapolis. If the riders from the farthest Poker Run origin point were to go straight to Indy without hitting the stops to pick up their cards it could take them 2-1/2 to 3 hours. So, some of these people put in some serious hours on the way to the capitol. The Poker Runs are a large part of the fundraiser and this year was no exception. The preliminary figure that were announced Sunday morning during staging for the organized ride was $220,000 just for the Poker Runs. For the eleventh year, Harley Davidson of Bloomington won the award for the most money raised on the run. They set a new record in ‘09 with $75,000 raised. Congratulations Owners Jeff and Carol Stevens and General Manager Jim Markham.

Sunday brings all the Poker Run participants along with those who just want to do the Sunday police escorted ride to the registration point which changed this year to Lucas Oil Stadium. During registration and staging there are some festivities going on such as Bob and Tom from the nationally syndicated radio program, The Bob & Tom Show, usually get up and get people laughing. The Indianapolis Colts offensive line usually gets up on stage too to tell people why they enjoy leading this ride. By the way, they left their bikes at home this year and Victory motorcycles brought out some of their models and let the guys ride those. And we also get a show from the Indianapolis Metro Police Motorcycle Drill Team.

Most people come to this ride for one reason. To help the kids. The ride kicks off and leaves the registration point and always makes its way over to Riley Hospital where some of the children line the sidewalk and watch all the bikes go by. From past experience it is very moving and tough to go through with dry eyes. From there, it continues through the streets of near downtown Indy to the world famous 16th Street, the same street that holds the Yard of Bricks. For those who wore a helmet there is a lap around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway track. Some people come for this. It is fun and you don’t realize how much banking there really is on that track. After leaving the track they reach the end of the ride where there is entertainment, food, raffles, silent auctions, and four or five motorcycle giveaways. Yes, four or five.

Early figures for 2009 indicate that the ride raised around $375,000 for the kids. If you ever thought about traveling and hitting a charity ride, come on over to the Hoosier State and join us on the Miracle Ride. Tell them the Motorcycle Nation Podcast sent you. You won’t be sorry.

Ride safe and ride with a purpose.

You all remember that my buddy Dennis bought a new Ultra Classic on our recent trip to Michigan. If you have not read about that one scroll down a couple posts and read about the road trip. What I did not share with you is that another friend also has a new bike that was purchased about two weeks ago. Now that is not a very amazing story but let me add this ironic twist. The other friend just so happens to be Dennis’ wife Kim.

I stopped by the ABATE of Indiana state office yesterday where Kim works as the HFIC, that would be Head FEMALE In Charge, of the Motorcycle Safety Division. Kim schedules all the classes for the safety program at the sixteen safety sites in the state. I stepped off my Softail and was checking out her bike when she came out the front door with the keys in hand. She told me to take the bike for a ride and I told her that I would take it around the block and would be right back.

Remember that I am riding a 1999 Softail Custom as my daily ride. We are talking the 80 cubic inch Evolution engine, which was still solid mounted to the frame during that production year, and a five speed tranny. This was my first experience on the Harley Davidsons with the 96″ engine and the six speed transmissions. I have to say that I was impressed with Kim’s Street Bob.

Kim with her new Street Bob outside the ABATE of Indiana offices.

Really good power through the gears, even in sixth when I cranked the throttle from sixty-five mph and held on to one hundred before I decided I did not want a ticket that day. I like the shift points with the six speed tranny but really can’t think of any use for that gear other than being on the interstate hammering out the miles. Shifting was very smooth and was a little confusing without that trademark “clunk” during each shift. The handling was very nice although my route did not allow me to give a good test of the lean angles of the bike as any roads with any curves are 20 miles farther to the South. Overall I loved the ride.

Speaking of curves, I have to share a story from a friend from a few years ago. I got an email from him one evening and I read the email and noticed that he had placed a new sentence into his ending signature. We have all heard of Deal’s Gap with their 318 curves in 11 miles. Well my friend lives in Kansas and he signed off on his email by saying, “Kansas, 11 curves in 318 miles.” And now you have the rest of the story.

Back to new bikes. So, for the past 10 months I have been surrounded by new bikes. I have had the opportunity to ride a few of them and came away impressed with all. All but one have been from the Motor Company and that was a BMW f800GS. That is an amazing motorcycle as well and it is on my list of bikes that I would like to have. A little adventure would be fun. Put some miles on and go to a place where you could enjoy the attributes of the Beemer’s off road side would be pure pleasure. I have the New Bike Fever bad, all this is missing is the Big Bank Account to go with it. If you have purchased a new motorcycle lately, let us know about it. I can live through you.

Ride Safe

I recently wrote about the release of the two gentlemen that managed the motorcycle safety program for the State of Indiana through the Department of Education. The state said they were “downsizing” due to the economy and felt that someone else within the administration could oversee the program. This allowed them to cut two salaries from the payroll.

The Executive Director of ABATE of Indiana, Jay Jackson, met with Superintendent Dr. Tony Bennett last week. Dr. Bennett assured him that the state was proud of the program and Jay came out of the meeting feeling confident that the existence of the program is solid. That is good to hear for the thousands of motorcyclists that wish to take a safety course.

I still have a problem with the way this is being handled. My problem is that the state has potentially placed an important program, one that saves lives, into the hands of a non motorcyclist. There was also no thought given as to much of the behind the scenes requirements. The biggest one is the red tape involved with receiving the motorcycle safety and awareness grant money that is available from the federal government. How does this person that is responsible for the program now know the who and how to apply? Do they even care as a non motorcyclist?

I am going to get off my soapbox. I am disappointed that two men that were dedicated to motorcycle safety have been downsized. I am sure that there were plenty of areas in procurement where money could have been saved. Why is it people that had to go? I am still unsure if this is over but only time will tell. Until then, we will continue on as normal teaching the people of Indiana the safe aspects of operating a motorcycle.

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We are led into this episode by the Eclipse Band, an Indiana biker band that plays some good old Southern Rock. We give some quick info on a tire recall and a recall on some Buell motorcycles.

After that it is straight in to Part 2 of our discussion with Paul where we discuss charity rides and the dilution of the available dollar due to the amount of rides out there now. After that we wrap up that conversation with a discussion on rider responsibility. That is the responsibility to our fellow motorcyclists by not doing stupid things to make us all look bad.

The show finishes up with the full version of our lead in song from the Eclipse Band. As always, thanks for listening. Look me up on Twitter at the username @harleymac1 and come check out a free for all motorcycle chat with my cohost Jeff Kirby from Fred Motor Company over on Talkshoe Sunday April 12th at 8 PM EST.

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I really don’t think that I have to tell anyone that. The economy is clearly in turmoil and has been for quite some time. As discussed in earlier posts and throughout the motorcycling media community, the motorcycle industry is not immune. I have researched and read of the state of the industry in many places over the past months about the slump in motorcycle sales which impacts accessories and clothing sales as well. Many companies have been slammed by this.

Fortunately, the slump has been nonexistent in my little world…until yesterday. Two close friends, very dedicated and professional men, were “downsized” due to the ecomony. I realize that this is happening all over the nation but these men held very important positions. I am not going to mention their names to maintain their privacy but many of you that read this will know who they are. These men worked for the Indiana Department of Education and one of their main responsibilities was the motorcycle safety education program for the state.

These men have dedicated well over 25 years each in the motorcycle safety arena. They have served as administrators of a state program, motorcycle safety instructors, and instructor trainers. They are involved with the State Motorcycle Safety Administrators (SMSA) and one has held a board position with the organization. Their names are well known all over the nation in the safety community and both are very well respected. Their leadership will be missed. I wish them luck.

Their surprise departure, told around mid morning that they were being let go without notice, leaves a void in the Indiana safety program. We have not been given any feedback as to who our contact will be with the state. You see, these two men were Indiana motorcycle safety. They wrote the contracts to the subs like ABATE. They managed the money that was used to run the program. Now they are gone.

So, as we feel sorrow for the loss of employment for these two men we face another question. What is the state of motorcycle safety in Indiana? Was this a political move disguised as “downsizing”? We just swore in a new Superintendent of the Department of Education earlier this year. Or, is the state truly in that large of a financial crisis? Only time will tell where this leads but two good men are now out of the work that they love. What a tragedy.

Well, at least the Indiana version did. This weekend marked the first class of the season and it went off without the normal challenges. Years past have brought us major problems getting the bikes started but we only had issues with three this weekend. Not bad out of a fleet of 28 motorcycles. Since the site that I am co- coordinator at is a double range, we have to have 24 running motorcycles to start a class. Luckily the three with issues were easily fixed by a quick charge on the trusty battery charger. We had one casualty there though as one of our three chargers started smoking when I plugged it in.

The weekend was actually quite nice for an early April weekend. Friday night, which is four hours of classroom, was warm and brought in nice weather for Saturday. Saturday started out cold, about 35 degrees, so the ride in was chilly but by the time noon time rolled around we were down to t-shirts while teaching on the range. It was in the low 60’s and sunny and I managed to get my first raccoon face of the season and a pretty tender noggin. I felt that very well on Sunday morning when I pulled the razor across my head.

So, back to the class. Twenty-four people showed up to take the class. Some had experience and others did not. I had one person on my range pop the clutch and and hit the ground. Other than that it was a perfect training day. We even went to our last minute that we are allowed to train so that we could attempt to beat the weather that was predicted for Sunday.

Sunday morning was another awesome training day. We had two people decide that motorcycling was not for them and decided to stay home so they automatically failed. We also had one crash during training. If you have taken the course you all remember swerving around the bus I am sure. Yep, you guessed it. A handful of front brake during a swerve will introduce you to Mr. Asphalt. That was on the other range. Funny how the sound of a motorcycle sliding down range gets your attention.

The final crash of the weekend happened on my range and actually happened during the riding evaluation. Now, I would really like to see comments about this question. The curriculum allows for people to have two chances on the riding eval. I find this to be ludicrous. I totally do not agree with this and want to know what you think. Who will be the first to comment? Anyway, we had a gentleman score 28 on his first attempt on the eval. Again, you grads know that 21 or over is a failing score. So, on his second attempt he approaches the stopping area, which he was told to hold steady at 15 mph, at about 30.

My fellow instructor and I are cringing already knowing what is to come next. Yep, the front tire crosses the timing line and it is a fistful of front brake. Ouch. Automatic failure. So, 21 out of 24 make it through the first Indy Downtown class of the season. Congrats to them. Hope they continue to practice. Good class, the weather was dodged, and this one hits the books. Oh, yeah, a not so happy ending for me. After the paperwork was done and we, the instructors, were getting ready to leave the rain came down so fast and furious that the range flooded. We got to ride home in that. But, we got to ride which is all that matters.

Ride Safe

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It is done! We have moved here to our new home and I am excited! This short episode talks about our exciting weekend moving the site and attending ABATE of Indiana Motorcycle Safety Division site meetings and Awards Banquet. Come listen to what I won. We also discuss two awesome events coming up so don’t miss a thing!

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This post will take us back to mid September 2008. I was going to write this then but I was still frustrated over my inability to navigate the roads that lead to podcast creation and I just did not get the job done. I have wanted all along to cover this event and share it with you and even though there is alot to do with the blog and podcast move I have some idle time on my hands today as I am sitting in the hospital while my mother has back surgery. She won’t be out for the next 3 to 4 hours so I will take this opportunity to bring this post to you.

September 14-16 brought the world renowned MotoGP motorcycle race to the historical Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This was the inaugural race and with the history of the Speedway and the fact that this would serve as only the second venue in the United States to witness MotoGP racing, there were high expectations of huge crowds. I was pretty excited about the opportunity to go to the race and see what it was all about. What did I know about GP racing prior to this time? Three things. High cost bikes. Rossi. Hayden. That’s it.

Fortunately for me, I am active in ABATE of Indiana and I am close to the leaders and staff. The relationship that I have built with them over the years allowed me to be included on a list of people asked to actually work during the race. Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) officials were calling out their usual safety crews, mostly firefighters and medical personnel, that they use for any other race. In addition, they wanted “experts” on motorcycles as not all of the normal crew had experience with motorcycles. IMS called upon ABATE of Indiana and requested one person for each turn to work on the recovery teams. Our job, get the motorcycle off the track, shake it out if it hit the gravel traps, and either return it to the rider or take it behind the barriers for pickup if the rider was unable to return to competition.

Sixteen members of ABATE, one for each turn, were lucky enough to work this race. We had to go to training where we had to prove the fact that we could physically do the job. We started off watching information videos as to how to handle the riders (DON’T) and what the flags meant. Then we used four man teams to load a bike into the back of a pickup truck. After we passed that test, we went to the gravel trap and used a strap through the front and rear rims to lift the bike and remove it from the traps. Once the bike cleared the trap we lifted the rear and shook rocks out of the lower fairing and repeated the task lifting the front. We started out trying to roll it through but found it was faster to lift the entire bike up and carry it. Our last test was to push start a motorcycle. We all passed and we were ready to go.

Part 2 of this post will discuss the practice days and the race days. Thinking about this again is making me ready for the 2009 version. Come back and let me tell you about the wild weekend. Part 2 coming soon.

Stay Safe
Bullitt

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In episode 3 I tell you about my latest geek tech toy the Zoom H2 recorder. This is a short podcast to work out all the details of recording and downloading with this toy. Please feel free to comment. Episode 4 will be out early to mid week next week complete with an interview. The release date is dependent on being able to hook up with the mechanic that we are going to interview. I will keep you posted.

Websites mentioned on the show:
International Motorcycle Shows http://motorcycleshows.com
Indiana Motorcycle Expo http://indianamotorcycleexpo.com
ABATE of Indiana http://abateonline.org

Ride Safe

Bullitt

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