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October 7-9, 2009.  The Harley-Davidson Motor Company held a 2010 Model Launch Party in New York City.  My husband and I were invited to attend, though due to our work schedules we could only swing an 18-hour jaunt.

We arrived in Manhattan on Thursday evening, and attended the private party held at The Ainsworth in Chelsea.  There were several brand new 2010 models on display at the club (including the CVO™ Street Glide® shown below), DJ, open bar, fabulous hors d’oeuvres, a tattoo artist, and free airbrush tattoos.  It was a splendid evening spent making new friends with members of the press, fellow riders, and some local Harley-Davidson® dealers not to mention Paul James, Director of Communications for Harley-Davidson.

But the best part of the trip was Friday morning.  Amidst a light drizzle we arrived back at The Ainsworth where our choice of eight brand new Harley-Davidson® models awaited.  The models available included the Cross Bones™, XR1200™, Nightster®, all-new Fat Boy® Lo, the newly redesigned Wide Glide®, V-Rod Muscle®, Road Glide® Custom, and the first ever CVO™ Softail® Convertible.  The Convertible comes with easy-detach sissy bar, saddlebags, & windshield so you can convert from a full touring bike to a street cruiser in a matter of seconds!

I had never ridden a bike with floorboards and heel-toe shifter before, and I decided that the streets of New York City were probably not the best place to be trying out something new!  I currently own a Dyna® Super Glide®, so I opted for the Wide Glide® because it was most similar to what I was used to riding.  Jay chose to ride the Fat Boy® Lo.  We got geared up, took a few photos for posterity, and threw our legs over the iron steeds. 

At that point I realized we had a problem…my feet could not comfortably reach the forward controls!  Alright, now we were on to Plan B – I had to ride the Nightster®.  Not that there is anything wrong with a Nightster®, mind you…but I had begun my riding career on a 2001 XLH883 Hugger.  I have since moved up to my big-twin, and was a little disappointed that I had to go back to a Sporty.  Alas, they handed me the keys, and we were off for an amazing ride.

OK, the first block was a single lane, one way, construction zone with beat up pavement – we pretty much duck-walked the bikes up to the corner.  Maneuvering around the next few blocks was even more stressful.  There were pedestrians, taxis galore, traffic lights, and all kinds of distractions…not to mention the fact that I had no idea where we were going!  Construction and road closures made our trip “around the block” quite unnerving.  Then just as I saw a sign for Rt-9A, my husband and I got separated by a red light.  I probably could have made it through, but given that I thought we were going to die that morning when our cabbie tried to play chicken with an oncoming fire truck, I was not going to try.

Once the light finally changed, I found Jay waiting on the Fat Boy® Lo in a median area marked off with diagonal yellow lines.  Our turn was immediately to the right, and there was no way he could make it back across the traffic to make the turn.  So we continued straight and ended up going south on Rt-9A.  For a few moments I felt at ease.  I actually got into third gear and cruised for a few blocks past the Chelsea Pier toward downtown.
Soon we hit traffic and stoplights.  As annoying as this normally would have been, it allowed me to take in some of the sights and sounds in the area.  At one point, Jay turned over his shoulder, pointed, and called out to me “Go left!  Go left!”  So with every ounce of my being I managed to eke out a position in the left lane for us.  After that very stressful move (cutting in front of a taxicab), I became even more stressed that my husband was not moving over even though I had blocked the lane for him.  We were stopped in traffic again, and then he did move over.  But then he said “LOOK left, not GO left!”  He pointed emphatically to the left side of the road and said, “It’s Ground Zero!”  Oh my goodness, we were at Ground Zero!

A few blocks later we reached the U-turn at Battery Park.  Coming back up this section of the road we spent more time with our feet on the ground than the pegs, and the air-cooled engines began to get hot.  We were stopped so much that we were able to pull out the cameras while on the bikes and snap a shot or two as we motored back past Ground Zero.

Now heading north (as was the original plan), we were able to cruise fairly well going past the ship terminal where we had boarded a cruise ship for our honeymoon to Bermuda two summers back.  We continued almost all of the way to the George Washington Bridge as the traffic eased up and it didn’t really seem like we were in the city any more. 

We tried to turn around and found ourselves on Riverside Drive.  The shoulder was closed off to parking at the time (perhaps for street cleaning or something), so there was plenty of room to easily pull over and snap a few pics.  Jay asked me if I wanted to switch bikes and try the Fat Boy® Lo for a bit.  At this point I was feeling pretty comfortable, so I agreed…but not until I got a quick lesson in heel-toe shifters!

This bike really is low!  It was very comfortable, and I could reach all of the controls easily.  I very nervously took off for the first block or two.  It took a bit of getting used to when I needed to reach my foot forward in order to shift, but all in all it was great.  The floorboards were so comfortable that as I approached the first stop sign I almost forgot to put my feet down on the ground!

I rode the Fat Boy® Lo about 5 miles or so down Riverside.  Then we started to get back into some heavier traffic, and I decided to trade back to the Nightster®.  It was good to be on a bike I didn’t have to think about riding while maneuvering through the streets & traffic that needed my undivided attention.  There was one point where two streets were merging.  Jay managed to jump to the left and zip up the street while I was stuck between two cars each trying to push me out of my lane from opposite sides at the same time!

I had a fantastic time.  The rain didn’t even phase me.  At times the traffic stressed me out, but mostly it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had anticipated.  Looking back I still can’t believe that I was riding a brand new 2010 Harley-Davidson® with Wisconsin manufacturer plates on it through the streets of New York City!  The whole 18-hours still seems surreal.  Now I can’t help but feel that if I can ride a bike there, I can ride anywhere!

Tags: Mrs Road Captain, Trips & Places To Go by Diana Green
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As a brand new rider, I was always cautious not to outride my abilities.  I was also careful to keep that same philosophy in mind when I upgraded to a big-twin Harley.  With the Super Glide’s lower center of gravity and greater stability it was easy to forget that I had only been riding for 3 years, not 3 decades.  My confidence grew quickly, and with it my skills developed as well.  I put 10,000 miles on my new bike the first year, and fellow First State HOG chapter members told me often that I was an accomplished rider.  It was even suggested that I enter our Road Captain training program.

My initial response was that I didn’t feel ready yet – I did not have a wide enough range of riding experiences.  I had only ridden on an Interstate once, had ridden in significant rain only once, hadn’t crossed any major bridges, had never gone on an overnight trip on my own bike, and hadn’t really seen any truly challenging twisties.  So I set myself some goals for the summer, and as it happened I accomplished nearly all of them in a single week that I put over 1500 miles on my bike.  It was like a whirlwind of opportunity and accomplishments.  I decided I was ready, but all of that just went to my head.

In mid-August school was about to begin and teachers came in for a week of training and preparation.  I rode my Harley to work every day.  We got out of a meeting a few minutes early and had 90 minutes for lunch one day.  I decided to take my bike for a nice ride around a few of the local back roads then pick up a quick sandwich at Wawa. 

Not being incredibly familiar with the roads, I missed my turn.  So I rode down to the next side street and make a quick u-turn…a little too quick!  My front tire slid off the side of the pavement and dropped into the grass, my handlebars jackknifed, and I just let her go down.  I knew that I was no match for an 800-pound Harley!  Luckily, a young man came driving down the road just then.  He helped me get the bike upright, then dashed back off in his car just as quickly as he had appeared.

“When you get overconfident, that’s when something snaps up and bites you.”

- Neil Armstrong

Then the bike wouldn’t start.  Ouch, I really did it this time.  Not only did I get overconfident and stop paying as close attention as I should, but now I am stranded in the middle of nowhere with no tools, a completely misaligned footpeg, a loose mirror that wouldn’t stay put, and a bike that won’t start!  (I was lucky nothing was actually broken.)  I honestly don’t know what I did, but somehow taking the key out and playing with the clock/odometer display cleared out the error code and I was able to start the motor.

So much for my ride.  So much for my lunch.  I rode quietly back to school with my tail between my legs, bruised ego, and beating myself up for being so careless.  I had always been so careful to ride within my capabilities and to keep a strong mental focus while riding.  Geez, I am an idiot!

As it happened, it was that very evening that our new Head Road Captain called to officially invite me to join the training program.  Then he said something that made me wonder if he was wise beyond even his own awareness.  He said, “You are a good rider, but don’t get ahead of yourself.  Overconfidence will cause anyone, no matter how experienced, to make mistakes.”

“Trust me, I know,” I replied…

Tags: Mrs Road Captain, Rider Skills, Road Captain Stuff by Diana Green
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As a new rider, one of the most daunting ideas was the thought of crossing bridges on a motorcycle.  Many are very narrow, few have any shoulder at all.  There are lots of very high bridges…from which the fall would be quite long.  Often bridges have very little safety barrier along the sides - perhaps just a small railing, nothing that would actually hold a vehicle from going over the edge.  And then there are crosswinds!  Larger bridges are even built to intentionally sway a bit; it is more structurally sound that way than a rigid-built bridge.  Somehow knowing that doesn’t really help very much when weighed against the vulnerability of riding fully exposed to the world like you are on a motorcycle.

For 2-1/2 years I rode an XLH883 - the smallest Harley-Davidson model made, with a high center of gravity.  When riding it often felt like if someone sneezed it would blow me off the road.  But I didn’t let that uneasy feeling trap me in my home town.  Heck, with the Delaware River to the east, C&D Canal to the south, and the Chesapeake Bay & Susquehanna River to the west, I can’t go much of anywhere without crossing a bridge!  But I pretty much kept it to the smaller bridges for quite awhile.

Stepping up to my “big girl bike” last summer changed all of that.  The extra 175 pounds slung low to the ground on my 2008 Harley-Davidson Super Glide gave me an almost instant feeling of security that I never felt before.  I wanted to jump on my ride an tackle the world immediately!  Within a few short weeks I was riding on Interstate highways and begging to ride my own on weekend trips.  I started flying over the Reedy Point & Chesapeake City bridges with comfort and ease.  I even found dodging the potholes, patches, cracks, and loose pavement chunks on the old St George’s bridge to be fun!  (Call me crazy, but it’s like skiing moguls!)  But one accomplishment still eluded me…crossing the Bay Bridge.

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge consists of two spans (a 3-lane span that generally carries westbound traffic and a 2-lane span for eastbound traffic) connecting Annapolis with Kent Island across the Chesapeake Bay.  At 4.3 miles in length, the Bay Bridge was at the time it was built the world’s longest continuous over-water steel structure.  The roadway reaches a height of nearly 200 feet above the water.

On Saturday, June 27, 2009 I went along with two dozen other members of the First State HOG chapter to the All-American HOG “Brain Freeze” Poker Run.  Every stop was an ice cream joint…so yes, we all got our brains well frozen that day!  The trek took us across the Bay Bridge.  Because of construction, there was two-way traffic on the westbound span (as if I needed anything else to make it even more of a challenge!), so we rode in single-file formation.  I welcomed this idea because it gave me more room to maneuver should I need to dodge out of the way of a semi, and it put me a little farther away from the edge where I would have been less than 2 feet away from plummeting 200 feet to my death!

As we began up the long approach and the roadway began to gradually rise, I felt a slight anxiety attack coming on.  My chest tightened.  I reminded myself to breathe.  Breathe in….breathe out….breathe in….breathe out….  and within a minute I was fine.  I did have a bit of a death grip on the handlebars, but this really wasn’t too bad I thought to myself.  All of a sudden thum-thump!  What the hell was that?  OK, I am quite familiar with the zig-zag section joints…but this thing was like long intertwining fingers, with huge gaps where they intertwined.  A bicycle tire would have fallen through!  Good-grief that wasn’t fun.  Oh crap, here comes another one on the other side.  Hold steady, no sudden moves, keep it smooth just like on grooved pavement.  Whew!  Oh yeah, breathe!  Coming down the other side now.  Geez this bridge is long.  What have we been on it for like 10 minutes?  OK, a good 5, but still!  Almost at the end, we’re going back to staggered formation.  Hey, that was actually pretty cool!

After a nice relaxing day eating way too much ice cream, I returned back across the Bay Bridge…this time after going through the toll plaza.  I had to get my EZPass out and hold it up to the sensor for it to register, but then I didn’t have any place to put it.  I quickly shoved it halfway under my waistband as I started across the bridge.  This time I was prepared for those section joints, and more concerned with the EZPass flying out into the Chesapeake Bay than anything else.  No anxiety attacks, I even remembered to breathe!

Two days later, our chapter went on a ride to Solomon’s Island for Million Mile Monday.  We traveled much the same route as we had on Saturday.  By this time (after doing it 4 times in 2 days), crossing the Bay Bridge was a piece of cake!  Another huge accomplishment to check off.  Now I just have to go on that weekend trip…

Here are some of the 200 pictures taken by my GoPro Helmet HERO handlebar mounted camera that was set to take a picture every 5 seconds.

Tags: Mrs Road Captain by Diana Green
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On May 31st, 2009 my alarm went off and I rolled over to discover that Jay was already up and about.  Jay doesn’t generally function before noon, so 6:30 AM is a real shocker!  I stumbled out of bed and opened the blinds, only to see that he had already pulled both of our bikes out.  They were lined up by the curb, ready to go!  Then the aroma of fresh brewing coffee pervaded my senses.  I staggered to the kitchen to find my bagel, pre-sliced, laid out on the counter in front of the toaster oven, waiting for me to be ready to toast it.  Cream cheese, a knife, my vitamins, and a class of OJ were set out on the kitchen table.  And he made himself coffee too!  Good grief, how long has Jay been up???  He was rearing to go that morning, and after a few minutes I was too.

The plan was to meet at the Odessa Sunoco, wheels rolling at 8:00 AM.  Steve (one of our veteran Road Captains in First State HOG) was to lead us along a scenic tour of southern Delaware to the Eastern Shore HOG Summer Splash Poker Run in Ocean City, Maryland.  The forecast was for a bright sunny afternoon, but as I got geared up it became quickly apparent that there was still some lingering rain in the air leftover from last night’s storm.  It began to drizzle, so we decided it best to don the rain gear so as not to start out the day wet and miserable.

Who would’ve thought that after nearly 4 years/thousands of miles of riding - day trips, overnighters, 3-5 day trips - I had never actually ridden in the rain?  OK, I had ridden passenger in the rain, but never on my own bike…until that day.

We knew that it was going to clear up, so we mounted up, headed out, and hoped for the best.  As we rode to the meet-up spot, the rain grew steadier.  I just used the same philosophy I do when driving my car in the snow: no sudden moves, keep it smooth & consistent, gradual breaking & acceleration, and stay a little slower than usual.  By the time we pulled in to the Odessa Sunoco, I had pretty much decided that riding in the rain wasn’t really all that bad.  Apparently there weren’t many people willing to agree with me, because all totalled only 7 people on 5 bikes showed up.

We all stood around in our rain gear laughing our butts off, and hoping that the rain would let up just a little.  Around 8:30 or so our little group did eventually head off into the pouring rain.  It came down steady for maybe another 30-40 minutes, then we rode in so much road spray it was hard to tell the difference for another half hour or so.  By the time we made our first stop near Seaford, DE, I had puddles in both of my boots.

Paula took break time to clean her bike.  I sat down to pull off my boots and wring out my socks.  Jay usually carries a roll of little plastic bags in his pack that we wrap around our feet when our socks get wet, but we must have used them all up.  Being desperate, I stuck a pair of latex gloves over my feet!  Folded over the “fingers” and put my soaking wet socks back on.  We had seen the last of the rain for the day, but it would still be a long battle to get dried out!

We picked up another couple near their beach house, and then another down at Ocean City Harley-Davidson.  We arrived as the last group was heading out to do the poker run, so we decided not to do the run.  We drew our cards and hung around relaxing for awhile - enjoying hot dogs, music, and sunshine. 

It felt so good to let my feet dry as I enjoyed the company of good friends.  I laid my boots and wet socks out in the sun to dry out as much as they could.  The only pair of socks they had in the dealership were little girls fuzzy slipper socks.  I have small feet, so I decided these will have to do! 

It couldn’t be a trip daown-e-oshun without stopping for a Nic-o-boli at Nicola Pizza in Rehoboth Beach…so off we went for fabulous food and a brief walk along the boardwalk.

Altogether it was a great day, and I had gotten my feet wet riding in the rain (literally).  I wish I could say that all was good once the rain had passed, but the rain actually didn’t pass.  We had the coolest month of June recorded in over 20 years, and compiled 50% more rainfall for the month than normal.  At one point I believe that it had rained on 19 of the past 21 days!

The cool wet weather didn’t stop us from getting out and riding though.  Sure we got dumped on a few times, but for the most part we did a lot of RIDING & HAVING FUN!!!  And hey, in just a few short weeks I went from being a virgin to a veteran in wet weather riding.

Tags: HOG, Mrs Road Captain by Diana Green
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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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