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When Karen became the Activities Officer for First State HOG last fall, she had several goals.  The one she voiced most frequently was for our chapter to win a “Best Represented Chapter” award at a local poker run.  She had noticed that our chapter wall at Mike’s Famous Harley-Davidson was lacking awards.  We have got to do something about that!  Besides the plaque, Karen wanted to increase participation in our chapter rides and events.  She loved to plan picnics, dinner rides, and other events…and the bigger the better!  I don’t think there was anything she loved more than to be a part of a huge group of riders in formation, heading out to have some fun.

Back in March, without thinking much about it, our chapter quietly took the award for most participation in the Motorcycle Accident Victims Foundation Saint Patrick’s Day Poker Run.  Then only a couple of weeks later we took nearly 40 people to the Delmarva HOG Poker Run in Seaford, Delaware.  Karen’s husband Ed was the road captain for this trip, and Karen was so tickled every time another bike pulled into the lot that morning at our pickup spot.  She jumped up and down like a school girl when they announced that our chapter had taken the prize.

Karen got her wish - not once, but twice!  And the riding season had barely begun!  Unfortunately Karen’s season was about to come to an end, permanently.  She was killed on April 24th while riding on a chapter trip. First State HOG members were devastated by the incident, but we have come back even stronger.  We will not let Karen’s dream die.

On Saturday, June 13th, we took a group of riders down into Maryland for the Baltimore Metro HOG Chapter “Panty Poker Run.”  This trip was great fun, and somehow we managed to win “Best Represented” again.  Our neighbors in Baltimore had been very supportive after the accident.  Several of them rode the hour-long trip in the pouring rain for Karen’s viewing and funeral.  When they learned that we were dedicating our award to Karen, they decided to get it engraved “In Memory of Karen” and will make the trip up to our next general meeting to make the presentation.  We got caught in some rain on the ride back that day, a rainbow appeared as we got closer to home… we knew it was Karen smiling down on us.

On Sunday, June 21st, we took a group of riders up into Pennsylvania for Tri-State HOG’s Father’s Day Poker Run…and AGAIN won the award for best represented chapter.  FOUR awards to hang on our wall at the dealership!  They’re going to have to get us a bigger wall soon!

But wait, there’s more!

On Saturday, June 27th, several of us headed to the All-American HOG chapter’s “Brain Freeze” Poker Run.  Given our chapter’s propensity to ride for ice cream, we figured a poker run with ice cream joints at every stop was just the ticket!  With 20 on 14 we did not have enough people to beat out some of the more local chapters.  But given that we rode 125 miles to get there, we did ride away with the plaque for “Longest Distance Traveled”! Chalk up award number FIVE!

Karen’s spirit is alive and well in First State HOG.  We love you and miss you girl!

Tags: HOG, Mrs Road Captain by Diana Green
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Today I pre-rode next week’s “Yuengling Factory Tour & Ride” with First State HOG’s Head Road Captain.  I was up at the crack of dawn (and I thought I was supposed to be on summer vacation?) to head out for this 200-mile all-day affair.  The weather was perfect (it has finally stopped raining) - low 80’s, partly cloudy, and not too humid.  I can’t think of a much better way to spend a summer day.

The route our HRC planned is challenging and will be great fun!  We ride through the sights, sounds, and smells of Amish farm country for quite aways up in Pennsylvania - dodging buggies and road apples of course!  There was actually one point today where there was practically a horse-and-buggy traffic jam!

There are twists, turns, and switchbacks galore.  Inclined starts and steep declined stops.  There is this one long sweeping 20-mph blind curve that just keeps on going until you swear you must’ve done a full 360.  Even the twisties have twisties!

At one point I pulled up alongside the HRC at a stop sign.  He asked me (as he had all day) how I was doing, and I replied “That section requires VIDEO!!!”  (Hopefully I will have figured out how to work the video feature on my handlebar camera by next week.  It should be awesome to watch!)

I got lots of chances to cruise along trying out my new engine-guard-mounted highway pegs.  (More on those later too)

The ride challenged me to confront some of my riding weaknesses, and build my confidence in those areas.  There was also opportunity to add a few more miles of experience riding the superslab.  Now I just have to conquer “The Bay Bridge” and I will no longer consider myself a novice rider!  Altogether it was a great day! I enjoyed the route and the supportive company of our Head Road Captain. I feel as though I improved my skills quite a bit, not to mention I hit the 5,000 mile mark on my new Dyna Super Glide. Now I need to get an oil change!

I can’t wait to do this ride again for real next week!  Maybe HRC will let me ride wing…

Tags: Mrs Road Captain by Diana Green
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Sometimes when the day’s original ride is over you just aren’t ready to put the kickstand down for the night.  Such was the case the weekend before last. We had a nice ride out to Broom’s Bloom Dairy in Belair, Maryland for farm fresh ice cream. When we got back to Bear, Delaware most of the riders went on their merry way after saying “goodbye” at our final stop. Six riders were not quite ready to call it a day: Jay, Rich, Dana, Gladys, Paula & myself.  Yes, you read that right…TWICE as many women riders as men!

Dana had to get back to north Wilmington, but she wasn’t really sure how to get there from where she was, so Jay led the way from Bear through Newark and over towards Rt 141.  Along the way we dropped off Gladys at the Christiana Hospital to visit a friend; and the women still outnumbered the men 3 to 2.  Eventually Rich and Dana peeled out of the group to head to their homes, so we were down to 2 women and 1 man.

Since we were near the beginning of the covered bridge tour from the previous week… Paula, Jay, & I rode most of that route back around through woods, parks, and twisty roads towards Newark.  On the way we bumped into another women rider, Marty,  from our HOG chapter who pulled up to us at a Stop sign to say “Hi.”

Now that Jay had ridden the Covered Bridge Tour near a half-dozen times, he had all of the turns memorized so he didn’t have to creep along looking for the next turn.  And since there weren’t 20 bikes following along behind us, the three of us cruised at a pretty good clip.

When we got back to downtown Newark we stopped at the Deer Park Tavern for nachos and a Yuengling. We had tons of fun, and it was just what we needed to cap off a great day of riding. We covered over 130 miles, and the best part of all was THE WOMEN ROCKED!

Stay tuned as we visit the Yuengling Brewery for a private tour the first week of July. This should be a great ride!

Tags: Mrs Road Captain by Diana Green
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A few weeks ago I got a new toy: the Go Pro Helmet Hero camera.  Not wanting to look like a total dork with a camera sticking off the top of my head, I attached it to my handlebars with a special attachment purchased separately.  The perfect opportunity to experiment with my new toy arose when First State HOG chapter went on their local Covered Bridge Tour.

It’s a long story, but the route got passed through several pairs of hands before it landed in Jay’s lap.  The two of us pre-rode the trip several times over Memorial Day weekend making changes to suit our needs and adding two more bridges to the original six.  With the help of a couple of our chapter’s veteran Road Captains, we made the necessary adjustments for taking a large group of bikes along this challenging route.  The tour passes through 8 covered bridges in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.  Along the way you ride through woods, rolling hillsides, and country farms.  Many of the roads are narrow with no shoulder or guardrail.  There are blind curves, steep grades, and inclined stops just to keep it interesting.

The weather was gorgeous for our pre-rides as well as the following weekend when 20+ bikes joined us for a hugely successful trip.  Despite the fact that several of our gentlemen were riding solo that day, we still had a total of 30 people to wrap up the ride with dinner at Wesley’s Seafood Restaurant in Fair Hill, Maryland.

I had the Go Pro Helmet Hero set to take pictures 2 seconds during the pre-ride and every 5 seconds during the official chapter dinner ride. In total the camera took 4000 pictures. I edited them down to 88 and posted them to Flickr. Click here to see the complete set of photos (taken mostly by my Helmet Hero camera) on Flickr.

I have never seen so many people request a copy of the route after a ride.  Everyone had lots of fun.  The route is fabulous!  Last weekend a couple of us re-ran a good portion of the route on our own.  With only 3 bikes, and no longer having to follow directions step-by-step since Jay now has the route memorized, we were able to fly through some of the twisties at a brisker pace than with such a large group as we had done before.  It is even more enjoyable that way - not only great scenery, but fun to ride too!  As Lem would say “It’ll really make your ass pucker!”

A full product review of the Helmet Hero camera is coming soon…

Tags: Mrs Road Captain by Diana Green
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Once upon a time a handsomely inked prince went on a date with this girl who said “I don’t understand.  Why do people do that to themselves?”  The prince patiently described the story behind each of his five tattoos.  The girl watched a few episodes of Miami Ink and found a documentary on the History Channel about the history of tattooing.  Then she began to understand…

A few years later, the girl decided to honor the memory of her mother who had been killed in a tragic car accident long ago by having an anklet of daisies tattooed around her ankle.  Daisies were her mother’s favorite flowers.

That summer the girl married the prince in the grandest wedding ever!  People came from California, Florida, Massachusetts, and Maine to a quaint little town on the C&D Canal called Chesapeake City, Maryland, to witness the event.  She truly felt like a princess that day, and when she looked at the daisies around her ankle she knew that her mom was there with her to celebrate the occasion.

So the prince and the princess lived happily ever after, riding their Harleys off into the sunset.

But the story doesn’t end there.  You see, the happy couple made lots of great friends while riding their Harleys.  Together with these terrific people, they rode to far away villages like the mountains of West Virginia, the Little Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, Skyline Drive in Virginia, a fall foliage trip to Connecticut and Massachusetts, and to the beaches of the Outer Banks North Carolina.  The princess loved riding her Harley-Davidson Dyna Super Glide alongside her handsome prince on his Dyna Low Rider. 

The princess was so in love with the prince, and she thanked God every day for this amazingly wonderful new life that she had begun.  She decided to commemorate the special day that started it all by getting another tattoo.  It took her six months to create the design of her wedding flowers, and finally on her birthday she went to make an appointment to get inked again.

Terry Manning at Wildcard Studios in Marshallton, DE is widely known as one of the best tattoo artists in the state of Delaware.  He generally books appointments a year in advance.  But as luck would have it, he had a cancellation for Memorial Day weekend.  So the princess sat under the needle for nearly 4 hours while the master worked his magic.

The result is a fabulous work of art with stunning detail.  It includes a stargazer lily, red roses, daisies (of course), and the late addition of a hummingbird.  The bird remembers a fellow woman rider and true friend who was lost just last month while riding her Softail Deluxe.  Karen always had my back, so I can’t think of a better place for her to live on forever.

Now the prince says that his princess looks “like a real biker chick.”  What he doesn’t realize is that the smile on her face is there because she couldn’t be happier now that she lives the fairy tale every day with him.

Tags: Mrs Road Captain by Diana Green
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So Jay found a pair of “Sliders” Kevlar reinforced abrasion resistant cargo pants on sale in one of his catalogs… I didn’t even know such a thing existed!  What a great idea I thought, then went to find some for myself.  Herein lies the problem – Sliders pants are only made for men.  Now I could get away with wearing a unisex tee-shirt, but pants? No way!

Jay always says “If it exists, Diana can find it online,” and that I did.  I actually found 3-4 different companies that make Kevlar riding pants for women in all different styles from sexy low-rise jeans to hot pink camo pants.  I’m not sure what is “camo” about hot pink, and the pants ranged in price from $175-250 a pair.  Ouch!

Solution:  Brosh.

Brosh Tech Ltd. was established in 1990 by Chaim Sokonik, and is a leader in the field of motorcycle clothing and accessories in Israel.  Israel?  Hmm, do Israelis know anything about riding motorcycles?  Well, apparently they do… and living in the desert, they definitely have an edge on keeping cool while riding!

One of the innovative products in Brosh’s line is a pair of Women’s Cargo Pants with Kevlar and Cool Max.  They retail for only $78.  Way less expensive than anything else I had found, and with the added benefit of Cool Max panels to help me beat the heat! 

I had never worn Kevlar reinforced pants before (just weeks before I had never even heard of them!), but from my research I found that many people complain of them being really hot.  These pants are not.  I have worn them in 80+ degree temps so far, and they fare much better than my husband’s Sliders.   On the other hand, I found a product review of one of Brosh’s Cool Max jackets where the author claimed it was actually too cool in temps below 70.  Well, I wore my Women’s Cargos to work the other morning.  It was 39 degrees when I left at 6:15 am.  I can’t say that it was a toasty ride, but truthfully the only thing that was cold enough to bother me was my fingers.  The pants were great.

I think the best part of all is that these pants are stylin’ enough that I can wear them to work.  We have a “business casual” dress code, and are only permitted to wear jeans on Fridays.  So I can wear these pants for my commute, and I don’t have to bring another set of clothes to change into when I get to work.

Alright, you want some details…  Brosh Tech Women’s Cargo Pants have a Kevlar lining in the knee areas that also serves as a pocket for optional ventilated knee armor (an additional $22).  There are also removable panels for each hip that wrap pretty much all the way around your rear end as well.  These panels come out for easy laundering, and reattach with Velcro strips.  I strongly suggest making sure you have a shirt tucked into the waistband because the Velcro can be scratchy against your bare skin.  I hope I don’t ever personally have the opportunity to give the Kevlar a true test of its strength and durability, but I have seen numerous tests done dragging people and crash dummies for several yards along the asphalt.  The jeans get torn through in a matter of seconds, but the Kevlar stays intact.  In my book that will go a long way to preventing some serious road rash.  Besides, I figure if it can stop a bullet then it needs no further testing.

The pants are made of a 35/65 poly/cotton blend with cool Max fabric planted behind the knees.  This material is super-ventilated, wicks away moisture, and dries very quickly.  I believe they come in black, grey, and olive green (but you might want to email the company to verify what is available).  I only wish the Cool Max panels came in a coordinating color.  My green pants have black panels, and although no one has ever commented about it I am a little self-conscious about the color contrast when I am walking around in a non-motorcycle environment like the grocery store.

My favorite feature of these pants is the cargo pockets.  Besides the standard front hip pockets (which I have always found to be uncomfortable to put anything in), these pants have not one but two cargo pockets on the outside of each leg.  They are great to put my cell phone, cash, keys, feminine supplies, etc in a nice convenient place.  I don’t have to pack these things in bags on my bike and then go rummaging for them at every rest stop.  I can just hop off my bike and run in to the convenience store for a beverage or to use the rest room.  Velcro flaps on the pockets assure that everything stays secure while riding.

Finally, the fit.  Brosh suggests that if you are between sizes you should order a size larger because these pants are slim-fitting.  Also, the Kevlar panels take up a little room inside the pants as well.  They are not kidding!  I actually had to return my original pair and get 2 sizes larger in order to fit over my hips.  They measure in European sizes, so I was pretty much at a loss as far as what size to order (I really don’t get the measuring flat across the front of your waistband thing).  Customer service was friendly and efficient in dealing with the exchange.  Now that I got the right size, they do fit great.  My pants are very comfortable, and just the right length.  They have a slightly wide-leg cut so there is a little extra material around your calves when trying to tuck it all inside rain pants or chaps.

I definitely have to give this product a positive rating.  As soon as I recover financially from buying my son’s graduation present, I plan to get another pair…or two!  At these prices, you can’t go wrong.  Safety, style, comfort – a quality product at half the price of the competition.

Brosh Tech also carries a wide range of Cool K jackets, Men’s Cargo Pants, Power Jeans, and much more!  They will even affix Kevlar panels into your own jeans for a very reasonable price.

Tags: Mrs Road Captain, Product Reviews by Diana Green
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