Archive for the ‘Motorcycle Rides’ Category

NO, FOR REAL…Want to make money while riding a Harley Davidson Motorcycle? (catch, you have to live in Europe).

Posted: February 20, 2015 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle advocacy, Motorcycle news, Motorcycle Rides, motorcycle touring
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iJUSTWANT2RIDE.COM

What an AWESOME contest!  If your selected spend two months with a professional film crew traveling around Europe with food and lodging covered, plus 25,000 Euros, plus a Street Glide….. WOW.

Like I said the catch is you have to live in Europe and have a full motorcycle license to enter the contest. This has been one of the few time I wish I lived in Europe!!!

Click here for the website for the “GREATEST RIDE OF YOUR LIFE” contest.

 COME ON HARLEY.. DO THIS HERE IN THE USA!

Some of the other rules for the contest:

– Closing date for entries is Friday 20 March 2015

– The winning rider must be available to take part in various campaign activities before the ride, during the ride and after the ride over a six-month period between Wednesday 1 April and Wednesday 30 September 2015.

– The winning rider will be required to take part in promotional activity for the entirety of the campaign. This will include participating in media interviews, sharing promotional content from their personal social media profiles, writing a blog and appearing in promotional video content and photography

– The winning rider will be responsible for his/her own tax and national insurance affairs in respect of the fee. This will not be the responsibility of Harley-Davidson

– The winning rider must be fluent in verbal and written forms of the English language.

 

So if you live in Europe…. GET ON IT!!!!!

Modern Day Easy Riders : reBloged from The many thoughts of a Harley Girl

Posted: February 9, 2015 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle Rides, Motorcycle TV
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Not sure how I came across her blog…just the wonders of the web, I guess.  But she had this wonderful video on her site so check out the video above and her blog:

The many thoughts of a Harley Girl

5 Motorcycle “Things” I found interesting this week.

Posted: January 20, 2015 in Motorcycle news, Motorcycle Rides, motorcycle safety, Rally
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Trying to do what Evil Knievel could not do…@ Sturgis’ Buffalo Chip 2015

Riding with a knife in your head???????!!!!!!

Another 200 MPH Club…or More Lessons from the Salt Flats

Motorcycle Taxis in Uganda

HD is the OFFICAL motorcycle of the Sturgis Rally… until 2090!

 

Some 2015 Motorcycle Riding Goals

Posted: January 11, 2015 in C&O Canal, Motorcycle, Motorcycle Rides, motorcycle touring
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What the likelihood of completing these goals…. quite high I hope!  None of these are to terribly difficult, if I chose to make some time.  But, time is always an issue, I either make time to do this or let life get in the way.  Hopefully I will choose right this year.Capture

Ride the Appalachian Waters Scenic Byway –  This is one of the roads on my motorcycle bucket list.  It would be a weekend trip for us if we left early on both Saturday and Sunday and we would have an overnight stay with my Mother.

Take at least 1 long trip with wife – A few years ago we planned a trip that would take us to Niagara Falls, across Canada to the Harley Davidson Museum, south to Kansas to visit our daughter and then home.  Life conspired to prevent that trip, but something like that should be on order for this year.

Iron butt 1000 – I-81 to south of Knoxville ,TN and back in 24 hours or less.

Practice more – work on my slow speed skills, tighten up my left and right circles.

Ride more miles then 2014 – between all the bikes last year we had a bit over 7500 miles.  That should not be too hard to overcome just if I commute on the bikes  a little more often. Oh, and take the long way home in the evenings. The way I keep track of my season mileage is through the “B” trip meter.  Early each year I reset the “B” meter to 0 so I know the total for the year while using the “A” meter for anything else.

Attend a HOG Rally for at least 1 day – Depending on where the rallies for VA/WV/MD/DE/PA are I should be able to make that happen.

C and O Canal – knock out a bunch of those stops this year.  If you have read this blog for a while you noticed I have attempted to document those stops that are accessible via motorcycle.  I did not do that many last year.

I am sure there are other things that I should add to the list but the more I add the more I might regret not completing. 🙂

Year Round Motorcycle Riding: The Rounders

Posted: December 21, 2014 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle news, Motorcycle Rides, motorcycle touring
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RounderLogoSmall

I officially declare that I have ridden a motorcycle at least once during each month of 2014.  This makes me a “Rounder” according to the site yearrounders.com.  While I have ridden like this in the past I did not know there was a name or a group for this type of accomplishment.

I use the world accomplishment very much tongue-in-cheek as I enjoy riding as often as possible and have the gear to ride when I want.  But, if you review their website (yearrounders.com), you will see that the rounders enjoy the same tongue-in-cheek approach.

Riding our Harley Davidson Ultra Limited Debbie and I have put down just over 7000 miles in all kinds of weather.  According to their temperature guide, we have checked off all but three of their categories, and I have no plans to knock the those three off this year. 🙂

  • 100’s+ Red Hot Rounder  (check)
  • 90’s Sweating Rounder   (check)
  • 80’s Half Baked Rounder   (check)
  • 70’s – R&R (Rounder Relaxing)   (check)
  • 60’s -Jr. Rounder (Just Riding)   (check)
  • 50’s – LOTF Rounder (Looking Over The Fence)   (check)
  • 40’s – FOTF Rounder (Fringe of the Fringe)   (check)
  • 30’s – Half Rounder   (check)
  • 20’s – TQ Rounder (Three Quarts)
  • 0-20 – Rounder
  • KHOF Rounder (Kook Hall of Fame)

Whether or not you are or even want to be a year rounder you should check out their website for the fun of it!

 

 

Tail of the Dragon …. Good News!!

Posted: December 6, 2014 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle advocacy, Motorcycle news, Motorcycle Rides, motorcycle touring
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TailoftheDragon

Good news if you are one of the lucky ones to have or are going to ride “The Dragon”.

If you ever watch any of the hundreds of videos of folks riding or driving this stretch of US Route 129 or if you have ridden on the road yourself you know at large trucks are as much as a hazard as anything else on the highway. Often times these truck take up more than both lanes as they try and navigate the 318 turns in 11miles and way to many times have caused terrible accidents.

The good news is that Tennessee is now following the lead of North Carolina in banning truck over 30 feet in length from traveling on the Dragon. While I am sure this will not end accidents on this highway, the ban can only improve the situation.

According to this article “1.4 million vehicles that traversed the Tennessee side of the Dragon between 2010 and 2012, there were total of 204 crashes — with motorcycles making up 82 percent of them.” During that period there were six deaths and one was due to an accident with a tractor trailer.

Signs informing truck drivers of the new restrictions will be installed in early 2015.

Debbie and road the Dragon and the nearby Cherohala Skyway a few years ago with a bunch of our friends. We left Northern Virginia, taking the Blue Ridge Parkway to Deal’s Gap. After riding those two road we went north through Chattanooga to Louisville, KY then to Parkersburg, WV.

 STORM CHASER POWERS ACTIVATE!

The trip from Parkersburg back to Virginia was the hardest part of the entire 1400 mile ride. Hurricane Irene, which was not supposed to make landfall here, turned right into us. We rode through at least three squall lines before pulling into the garage just minutes before the main storm hit us.

STORM CHASER POWERS DEACTIVATE!

 

If you have not ridden the Tail of the Dragon, you need to add it to your bucket list. It is well worth your time.

Motorcycle Movie Review: On Any Sunday, The Next Chapter

Posted: November 22, 2014 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle advocacy, Motorcycle racing, Motorcycle Rides
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On-Any-Sunday-The-Next-Chapter

Recently I and the other hosts from the ”DawgHouse Motorcycle Radio” show watched the motorcycle movie “On Any Sunday, The Next Chapter”. The movie is an updated version of the original “On Any Sunday” which was filmed in 1971 and nominated for an Academy Award in 1972. The new movie was directed by the son of the original film, Dana Brown.

Dana’s “Next Chapter” follows a path similar to his fathers in that he works with the big names in modern motorcycling. People like Travis Pastrana, Robbie Maddison, Marc Marquez, Wayne Rainy, Dani Pedrosa and many others not so famous make up the cast. The movie has a heavy focus on motorcycling racing with MotoGP, Motorcross, Flat Track and other types of racing well represented.

The movie opens with a humorous moment of a dad filming his little daughter (4-5 years old). She is struggling to lift a mini bike but refuses any help, after getting it up and getting on her dad starts to talk to her when she takes off like a bullet. Dad drops the camera and you hear him trying to chase her down… it was much funnier in the movie. Next it moves on to Robbie Maddison riding through an Olympic style Bob Sled track and then jumping from a ski jump ramp. You may have seen this same footage on You Tube but it was SPECTACULAR on the big screen!

The filming of the entire movie was exceedingly well done and, if you can, you need to see it on the big screen. The section on motorcycles in Vietnam motorcycling was awesome but might underwhelm on a small screen. Check the film’s website to find out if it is coming to a theater near you soon unfortunately movies like this don’t spend much time on the big screen.

On the down side, movies like this need sponsorships to be made. Sponsors REALLY want their products portrayed and in this case they were, to the verge of being over the top. Red Bull, KTM and Skull Candy were all over the movie like sticky fingerprints on your face shield, I can’t blame them or the director for this as it is a necessary part of modern film making… but a lighter hand would have went a long way. Also, it would have been nice to get something from the east coast motorcycle scene in the final cut (maybe a scene from a DawgHouse broadcast LOL). These are the reasons I debated 4 or 5 stars, but the high quality won me over.

In addition to the racing the movie discusses how motorcycling families, overcoming disadvantages and just how motorcycles makes your life better.

5 star

 

 

Williamsport Visitor Center/Cushwa Basin: C and O Canal Motorcycle Ride

Posted: November 14, 2014 in C&O Canal, Motorcycle Rides, motorcycle touring
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Ijustwant2ride.com

Williamsport Visitor Center and Cushwa Basin

Location – Williamsport Visitor Center/Cushwa Basin

Mile Marker –99.6

Historical Comments – Built in the 1830s the Cushwa Basin was developed as a major point on the canal for the loading/unloading and turning of barges. The area around the visitors and the canal itself is steeped in history. Some of the historic highlights of the area include:

Williamsport considered for the nation’s capital

Multiple civil war battles fought to capture, sabotage or destroy the aqueduct.

Gen. Lee used pontoon bridges to cross a flooded Potomac after Gettysburg.

In 1920 a boat bumped the aqueduct wall which caused it to collapse taking the wall and the boat into the creek below.

Ride to Site – The visitor center and basin is off main street Williamsport. Good signage easily directs you to the site.

Amenities – Visitors Center, public restrooms, parking, boat launch, bike rental, all normal amenities in the town of Williamsport.

Road Conditions (from main road) – paved

Railway Situation – none

Parking Lot Conditions –Pea gravel but the edge between the pavement and the parking lot is on a slight hill and appears to suffer damage from water runoff, pay close attention to your line of travel.

Main Attraction – This should be one of your main stops even if you do not want to stop at many (or any) other points along the canal route! Williamsport is only stop where you can visit many of the major canal structures in one place. Here you can see, all within a half mile:

The Conocheague Aqueduct

The Cushwa turning basin

A railroad lift bridge

A Bollman Iron Truss Bridge

A lock house (Lock 44)

Visitor center exhibits

Recreation of canal boat rides (during summer)

My Thoughts – As noted above this is a great spot to learn about the canal. It is easy to get to as it only a few miles from from Interstate 81.

Map Ijustwant2ride.com

 

Motorcycle Charity Ride: 2014 Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride Washington DC follow up

Posted: November 3, 2014 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle news, Motorcycle Rides, motorcycle touring, Rally
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ijustwant2ride.com

This past September I rode in the Washington DC DGR ride. I wrote about the event and ride in this post.

A few days ago I received a letter, Air Mailed from Australia; from the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride organization (a motorcycle inspired charity). It was a thank you letter for the donation I made to the organization. It also contained a patch and a couple stickers because of the amount of money I donated. While I was not expecting anything in return it was a nice surprise (I went back to their website and yes if donate more than $100 you do get tokens of appreciation).

I really like the patch and it will make a fine addition to my vest and the stickers will go on my tool chest with all the other motorcycle related stickers. Maybe this winter I will do a post on my tool chest LOL!!

 

Harley Davidson “Creeping Clutch” Recall – 5000 mile Service – Zagat Rated Lunch – and a Motorcycle Ride to nowhere in particular.

Posted: October 14, 2014 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle racing, Motorcycle Rides, motorcycle touring
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Ijustwant2ride.comThe wife and I took the motorcycle (Ultra Limited) out Sunday after sleeping in (long hours required a bit extra sleep (that is my story and I am sticking to it)) for a short ride.  It was a cool day and we put our chaps on for the 1st time since early spring….fall is in the air in Northern Virginia! 

I wanted to stop a Frederick Harley Davidson to schedule some services.  I need to have the 5000 mile service performed (currently setting at about 5700 miles) and I need to have the current recall service performed as well.  This is the hydraulic clutch recall which portrays its symptoms as the bike creeping forward even though the clutch lever is fully engaged.  Our bike does not have the malfunction indications but it needs to be fixed before it does.  In talking with the service rep Frederick HD has already performed hundreds of recall services for this issue but no one had reported that the bike was suffering from creeping clutch. 

After setting up the appointment, we decided to get some lunch.  Even though we both agree we need to eat better…….we went to 5 Guys Burgers!  For those of you that do not live in an area with a 5 Guys restaurant you have no idea what you are missing.  This burger chain is Zagat rated and has won hundreds if not thousands of awards and accolades for their hamburgers.   So even though we may have not eaten better we ate well! 

After lunch we headed to the house via the long way.  We just cruised around for a while going nowhere in particular.  We spent only about four hours on the bike but I think we can both say is was a nice little outing!

 

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