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This is my blog and all opinions expressed here are mine. They are not facts, just opinions. With that said here are some thoughts from The Jay Green on what makes a great HOG Chapter.

It’s all about creating a special place that differs from “real life”. We have fun, we have spontaneity, we have camaraderie, we have adventure, we have passion and we live our dream. With the exception of placing a top priority on safety, it’s one big alcohol and drug free party. Out there in the “real world” you feel like a cog in the machine. You feel like “the man” has you under his thumb. Out there people don’t connect. They don’t know your name. They don’t know your passion. They don’t touch. They don’t dream. When you show up to a HOG Chapter event you should feel special from the minute you walk in the door. I don’t care if it’s your first meeting, in this time and place you are family! You will be greeted with a handshake, a hug or a pat on the back. There are no newbies, no rubs, and no wannabes. We are all equal because we are all Harley-Davidson owners and we all belong to the same chapter. For a brief time you put aside your woes and share your passion for Harley-Davidson motorcycles with like minded individuals. There should be few rules. Everyone should understand this is not serious business, this is about riding and having fun safely. Ride and have fun, that’s the motto. That doesn’t mean do whatever you want to do. Our members represent the chapter and our sponsor and should always present a positive image and act responsibly. We are sponsored by the local Harley-Davidson dealer and are law abiding citizens.

If one of our members makes a mistake we do not shun him or her. We support our friends. We help them pick themselves up, dust themselves off and get them back on the road. If one of our members suffers a tragedy, we all feel their pain and are there for moral support. We do what we can. If one of our members isn’t pulling his weight or contributing, so what? He pays to be a member of this chapter and has the right to take from it what he wants. Everyone gets out of it exactly what they put into it. We focus on the positive and ride past the negative.

If you succeed at creating this atmosphere, you and your members will belong to something special. With that will come chapter pride. What could be better than belonging to a special group and being proud of it? There is nothing wrong with pronouncing your chapter as being the best or being number one! Sports fans do it all the time. The big difference between us and passionate sports fans is that we are not spectators. We wear our one piece patch and roar down the highway of adventure arm in arm with our fellow HOG members!

After a HOG trip, activity or meeting we go home, take off the leathers and return to the grind. We may not be hard core. We may not live “the lifestyle”. But we get it, we understand it and we respect it! We are 99%ers. We go back to work on Monday morning to our jobs and yearn for the next chance to feel the freedom of the open road. We also yearn for that special feeling we get when we walk in the door at a HOG Chapter Social. We yearn for the camaraderie, brotherhood and sisterhood we only know when we are at a chapter event. We yearn for that handshake, hug or pat on the back.

I feel sorry for riders and citizens who don’t know this camaraderie. I look on with awe at the members of motorcycle clubs who live the lifestyle 24/7/365. HOG is just the right mix of biker lifestyle and responsible living for me and many others who want to enjoy motorcycling as a recreational pastime. 

I also feel sorry for members of HOG chapters who have not created this special atmosphere. From what I read on the Internet you would think a HOG Chapter like ours doesn’t exist. Some HOG chapters and some Harley-Davidson dealers just don’t get it. I’m thankful I get it, our sponsor gets it and our members get it.

The real world sucks! Being a member of a great HOG Chapter makes it all good!

Tags: Deep Biker Thoughts, HOG by Jay Green
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It has been a year since the tragic accident on April 24, 2009 that took the life of our close friend Karen Fortner. We will never forget our friend, she was one in a million. A true original who touched many hearts. She is dearly missed.

Karen, we still love you!

Tags: Deep Biker Thoughts by Jay Green
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When winter fades away I break out the fair weather gloves for cool weather riding. In the spring and fall I wear a pair of Olympia full finger thin leather gloves with a thin layer of padding in the palm. These were the first motorcycle gloves I bought when I got into riding Harleys. I worry that if I go down the pavement will shred through the thin layer of leather and padding. In the summer I have been wearing Olympia fingerless gloves with a healthy amount of padding in the palm. I worry if I go down the exposed parts of my fingers will get shredded. I know I’m a spaz and I worry too much, but I have been wanting to get a pair of full finger gloves that provide cooling air flow in the summer and a healthy amount of padding in the palm. Our sponsoring dealer is currently offering 15% off of in stock gloves to members of our HOG chapter so I went up to Mike’s Famous Harley-Davidson in New Castle, Delaware (in Tax Free Delaware). If the staff didn’t know me they would have thought I was a crazy man taking half an hour to pick out a pair of gloves at closing time. Well they probably do think I’m crazy even if they do know me.

I kept going back and forth trying out gloves and asking myself questions. Do I like the fit? Is there enough padding to take the edge off a crash if I go down hands first? Will I be able to get them on quickly if everone is ready to hit the road when I get out of the mens room last? Can I get them off quickly so I’m not last in line for the men’s room. Finally I decided on the Men’s Air Flow Gloves 98183-99VM. The Large were a tad too big but were comfortable and easy to get on and off. Ijust wish they were a tiny bit smaller. The medium fit like a glove on my hands but too tight in the wrist causing the velcro to feel scratchy. I took the large. These gloves are actually a bargain at $35 and with my 15% off they were $29.75 and with a $25 gift certificate redeemed from my Friends and Family points I only spent $4.75! 

They have a thick lightweight fabric topside and pigskin leather bottomside with a fair amount of padding. I can see myself cutting the velcro tabs off to make them easy access. I hope we have a long and mutully beneficial relationship. Anyway, I wrote this article to illustrate all the nutty little conversations I have with myself when making a simple decision about a pair of gloves. I hope that you don’t think that I am completely nuts and that you agree that we spend many many hours in the saddle and choosing the right gloves is an important decision… similar to choosing a mate. You’re gonna spend a lot of time together, you have to trust your gloves to have your back if things get dicey and they have to be a good fit. Too bad you can’t just date a few different gloves before choosing the right ones.

Tags: Deep Biker Thoughts by Jay Green
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It rubs me the wrong way to read about motorcyclists referring to others as Wanna Be’s. Who is born with a motorcycle? We all had to have that Wanna Be desire at some point before we made the leap. And then when someone makes the leap and buys a motorcycle they have to be ridiculed and mocked as a wanna be… unless of course it is someone you know. In that case they are more politely referred to as a Newbie. Eventually they get enough miles under their belt to become a full fledged biker and then they probably follow suit and start mocking others who they don’t consider real bikers. Personally, I miss the desire and passion I had before my dream of owning a Harley became a reality. I also miss the excitement that came with being a new rider once my dream was realized. Now I’m just another jaded Harley owner.

There was a period in my life when I was obsessed with muscle cars. At one point I had several hundred dollars invested in a 1/10th scale radio control ‘69 Mustang GT350. Even as an accomplished Harley rider I was a Wanna Be. I never thought I would realize the dream of owning an American icon on four wheels. I told myself “cars are for transportation and a muscle car is not practical.” I tried to settle my desire by convincing myself “my motorcycle is my passion.” My wife Diana is much like me and we decided to decorate our kitchen in homage to the Shelby Mustang GT350. So we have this kitchen that is a Mustang shrine and I think that alone officially made us under cover secret Mustang Wanna Be’s who happened to own Harleys. Knowing that Diana’s car was on it’s last legs I asked her in January wether we should be practical and buy a mini SUV or if we should buy our dream car. She voted practical and said she wanted a Saturn Vue. Sadly, Saturn is no more and a good Vue is hard to find.

Another cherry has been popped! Diana had a change of heart. As of this morning Diana and I took another leap of faith and purchased the dream car of our budget. Now a cherry 2005 Mustang GT Convertable sits in the driveway. Actually Diana took it to a Pink Garage Party… so it’s not really in the driveway; my Toyota Corolla is. Now that we have two Harleys, a Mustang, a house and each other… what is left to yearn for? I know! An all inclusive dream vaction package to a Caribbean Island! Yeah! I’m a Wanna Be again! Dream’n bout rum punch drinks from the poolside swim up bar.

You only live once so “Go for the Gusto!”

Tags: Deep Biker Thoughts by Jay Green
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I currently do not have a communication device on my motorcycle but believe that bike to bike communication is way under valued. It is my belief that in the near future bike to bike communication using compact wireless helmet mounted bluetooth technology will become the norm and we will wonder how he got along without it. Something as simple as pulling over because you got some dust in your eye could be easily communicated to your buddy or group. Instead we usually tough it out and do the best we can until the irritation goes away, unless of course you ride by yourself. In that case you do whatever you please whenever you please.

I once went on an ice cream ride with my HOG Chapter where a member from another chapter joined us. He rode without putting any eyewear on. This is illegal and dangerous. I couldn’t tell if this was the way he liked to ride or not. I kept telling myself that it was not my problem, that if he wanted to pull over and put his eyewear on, then it was up to him. There were plenty of opportunities for him to do so but because he was new to the group he didn’t speak up. If I had a CB I could have called up to the lead Road Captain on his Ultra Classic and notified him of the situation to get his oppinion. After we got to the ice cream stop it became known that it was a mistake and he should have let us know he needed to pull over. If we could all communicate I think the experience of riding with a friend or a group of friends would be a hundred times safer and ten times more fun.

Here is a post on Motorcycle Philosophy about the impact of having to take a rest stop while riding with people who don’t take rest stops. Click here to check it out and think how different it would be if these riders could communicate.

Even though I think newer technologies will become the norm, the CB Radio will be more common for quite awhile among cruisers since most touring bikes are already outfitted with them. The sportbike crowd might adapt to FRS Radio and new technologies sooner because they are all on a level playing field. For those of us in the Harley crowd, many of our friends are already outfitted with CB on their Ultra Classics. My wife has done alot of research on the Internet and has only found one handlebar mounted CB Radio specifically for motorcycle use. It is the J&M model and can be ordered as a complete system from www.CycleAccessoryStore.com in North Carolina. Diana ordered a $600 J&M CB Radio system from them for my 2008 Christmas present but; I stupidly exchanged it for two Chatterbox FRS units. The Chatterbox system was half the price of the J&M and was supposed to be voice activiated. I thought that the hands free VOX system would be better than PTT (Push to Talk). Although the FRS radios wouldn’t allow us to communicate with our friends on CB I thought it was more important that Diana and I be able to communicate. The Chatterbox units we received didn’t work well at all and I returned them directly to Chatterbox for a full refund under warranty assuming this is not the way they are supposed to function (defective). I didn’t believe that replacements would work much better. I was tempted to buy the bluetooth Scala Rider system from www.CycleAccesoryStore.com (they have great customer service). At the moment this system is limited to communication between two bikes only. It is the most compact lightweight unit I have seen. It is a little egg shaped device you clip on your helmet. “Look Ma, No wires!”

It is winter time again and I find myself surfing the Net for an affordable compact CB capable of being rigged up to a motorcycle. The J&M is considered the top of the line but it is expensive, unattractive and might not be compatable with my split view mirrors. I came across the Midland 75-822 which appears to be the second most most compact CB radio on the market. It is a complete 40 channel CB radio system in a small handheld unit. It will accept a variety of accessory headsets. The Cobra 75 WX ST is smaller but I do not know if you can attach an accesory headset to it.

The Midland 75-822 can be used as a portable (like a walkie talkie) or changes to a mobile unit. It has a belt clip, two battery attachments, a detachable antenna and the mobile attachment. The normal battery attachment holds 6 standard AA batteries. The rechargeable battery attachment holds 8 NiCad rechargeable AA batteries and comes with a plug to charge them up. It also comes with a short flexable detachable walkie talkie size antenna. The mobile attachment has connections for a base mount antenna and cigarette lighter plug. The idea is you can us this CB as a mobile unit in your car, jeep or truck and then take it with you as a portable outside the vehicle. Imagine using it to go on a camping trip. You can use it in the vehicle and then stay in touch with other users and listen to NOAA weather reports from your tent. You can use my 12 Volt Power Port to connect the cigarette lighter plug to your battery tender quick connect on a motorcycle. That means you just gotta figure out how to mount the base antenna and where to keep the radio. You might just want to clip it on your belt. It would be really cool if the little antenna worked well and you didn’t need the base antenna… but I doubt it. We’ll find out when it gets a little warmer. You can find this radio on eBay and Amazon.com for less than $90.

A company called www.HiTechWireless.com sells a motorcycle headset that is compatable with the Midland 75-822. It is called RiderComm and is made by RocketScience. You need to order it with the S1 connector. It is currently on sale for $89.95 and includes the headset with boom microphone, weatherproof PTT button and connecting cables. They told me the only customer complaint they hear is the length of the cables isn’t as long as some people would like and there are no extensions available. I bought the unit from HiTech Wireless and it arrived the next day via Federal Express. I was impressed considering there was no shipping or handling charge.

I bought the Midland CB with a Cobra 300 watt magnetic base antenna from Amazon for $101.72 with Free Super Saver Shipping and received the merchandise in about three days. Click here for more details on the Midland 75-822 CB radio at my Amazon store.

Now I am off to surf the Net for a magnetic tank bag to stash the radio in. “Hang Loose!”

Tags: Deep Biker Thoughts, Road Captain Stuff, Technical Stuff by Jay Green
13 Comments »

Only two more days left in 2009. This year will be etched in my mind forever. It was marked by numerous accomplishments and one horrific loss.

I began the year by taking on a leadership role that was a daunting but welcome challenge. The Director of my HOG Chapter resigned to start a new MC. It was agreat opportunity for her, unfortunately for me she took several of our key officers with her. I had been the Assistant Director for only a few months when I was asked to step up to Director. Not only was I a fairly new member taking the healm of a twenty year old HOG Chapter, but I had to put together a leadership team to pick up the pieces and keep moving forward. Luckily an enthusiastic Ed and Karen Fortner came to my side and joined forces in the task. Ed became the Assistant Director and Karen was already the Activities Officer. Together with my wife Diana we spent many January and February weekend nights discussing how to increase particaption in our chapter and planning a spring trip to Outer Banks North Carolina.

The four of us went to North Carolina on Valentines Day weekend to nail down the details of the trip. We got along in a way that I can’t explain very well. I guess it is hard  enough to find a guy friend you see eye to eye with, but to find a couple that have the same likes and dislikes as you and your spouse… well that’s probably twice as hard to find and twice as valuable. We had a blast that weekend and over the next couple months we got to be closer and closer as friends.

Springtime came and we hit the ground running. The new leadership team created a fun atmasphere that made eveyone feel welcome at our HOG chapter events. We focused on the HOG mantra to Ride and Have Fun. Particpation shot up immediately in March and we ran straight into April. We had record turnouts for our first dinner rides and poker runs taking home the most particpation awards at the first two regional poker runs we attended. Then the four of us went to HOG Primary Officer Training with our Secretary and Head Road Captain. The six of us had a great time and got a glimpse of how impressive the HOG organization is. We got home from POT just in time to host our one big fundraiser of the year: our annual First State HOG Spring Poker Run. It was a huge success thanks to all the officers and volunteers… and the weather was pretty good to us.

We gathered on April 24th for the spring trip that Karen and Ed had planned so well. It was a beautiful day! Ed took the lead Road Captain Position with his proud wife and Activites Officer riding wing. Their son Justin and two of his friends followed directly behind them. Diana and I were at the rear, me in the Sweep position wearing a flouresecent safety vest.

We were riding about twenty bikes strong with smiles pasted on our faces as we headed to North Carolina. Four hours into the trip we found ourselves in Cheriton, VA approaching the Chespaeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel. In a flash lives changed forever! A deranged women in a Ford Taurus sped out from a driveway and plowed through our pack of motorcycles killing our dear beloved friend Karen! It was a horrible thing and there hasn’t been a day since then that I haven’t thought about it.

The motorcycle community gathered around the Fortner family and offered their support as best they could. Our HOG Chapter became closer. We didn’t want to let Karen down, so we valiently continued on through the year succeeding at everything we set out to do. We won 10 awards and doubled chapter participation over the previous year!

Becoming Director and succeeding has been one of the best experiences of my life. It is a huge accomplishment and an honor to have people follow me voluntarily. It’s nothing like my job where my staff do what I ask them to because I’m their Supervisor. Being Director of First State will probably be the closest thing to fatherhood that I will experience. When our chapter succeeds at putting on an event or wins an award I feel like a proud parent. Our chapter has flourished this year and for that I am proud. My blog and online store have also done extremely well. My mail order business is a success, we have exceeded 6,000 hits per month and I am seeing some advertising income. I even started getting paid to write for other online publications. Diana and I have been recognized by Harley-Davidson and received a special invitation to come test ride their motorcycles in NYC and write about it on RC USA. The accomplishments have been many!

The numerous victories of the year however are overshadowed by the loss of a dear friend. The vivid memories of the carnage on Route 13 will be with me forever. April 24th, 2009 was the worst day of my life. If Karen were still here to relish in what we accomplished… then perhaps it would have been one of the greatest years of my life. But she is not here, the accident really did happen and it is difficult to savor the victories without her.

2009 was a bitter sweet year.

Tags: Deep Biker Thoughts, HOG by Jay Green
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