February, 2005

Meet the New Guy February’s Rider      
by T.J. Pugliese

Manomet Mystery Writers My name is T. J. Pugliese, my wife's name is Wendy and my children are Chelsi-17, Justin-14, and Amanda-11. We live in Pembroke and own Café Eleganza, an Italian café and take-out shoppe also in Pembroke. We are both accountants that decided that between driving into Boston and a dream of owning our own business it was time for a change. In 1987-88 we moved from Marlboro to Marshfield, got married, bought a house, opened Café Eleganza, and had a baby. So change we got!! As a result, in 1987 I had some black hair, by 1988 it was all white!

I have been riding for 33 years and my first bike was a Honda 350 quickly replaced by a Honda 550 which I ventured to do a trip on across America with 10 other people, 100 years ago, in 1974. I chose Honda because back then Harley was owned by AMF (a bowling alley company) which produced unreliable bikes. I then went to a Honda 750 and then to a Suzuki 1000 which I traveled to Nova Scotia on. In 2002, I bought a Yamaha Maxim 700 that looked like a toy Harley. By now, my riding consisted of about 200 miles per year! My son would not ride on it because his friend said "that's not a bike!" In July 2004, I rode a Fat Boy and that was it, I went out and finally bought a real bike which I currently own, a 2000 Harley Lo-rider that has become a 20 year dream come true.

Other hobbies include playing baseball, racquetball, pistol shooting, and working out. My favorite hobby is going to watch my kids participate in sports such as soccer and baseball and to spend time together as a family. Although the restaurant business is demanding, it has provided us with the time flexibility to have this opportunity and to have been able to coach all 3 in their younger developmental years. In my current situation with busy kids and a restaurant, my free time is limited but I hope to be able to make a few rides with the MMR. By the way, I enjoyed the meeting and it seemed to be a fun group of people.

Let’s all welcome T.J. and all new members to the MMR. Recently, I had the fortunate pleasure of dining at Café Eleganza and highly recommend fellow members to make a trip to Pembroke for this fine culinary cuisine. T.J. has a great enthusiasm for riding and told us a few more of his biking adventures not mentioned here. - Paula   

Message from the President           
by Hawk H. Hickman

Greetings to all. The purpose of this message is to clarify some of the issues that were discussed at our January meeting. There seemed to be a certain amount of confusion and apprehension about some of the new ideas and initiatives that we presented.

What we are trying to do, and get as many members as possible to join in on, is to take all the good traditions and activities that have been incorporated into the group over the first five years, and build on them. One thing we have been very successful in is attracting new members. This is a tribute to the word-of-mouth and openness with which the group has embraced new, prospective, members.

However, as we built the membership, we did not always see a commensurate increase in ride attendance. We also began to notice more and more close calls on accidents, and some actual accidents. Hence the new initiatives on being more aware of safety, and asking Road Captains and their assistants to discuss safety and riding rules before each ride.

Some of the other ideas and initiatives are simply aimed at adding some additional fun activities. We can add them, or not, as the group shows interest.

We will continue to push all of the traditional activities including the Cabin Fever party, Halloween party, Summer cookout, Christmas Yankee Swap party and gift giving to deserving charities as suggested and voted on by the membership.

Moving forward, we will attempt, at each meeting, to present things in a clear and concise manner in order to alleviate any confusion or misunderstanding. We are looking forward to a bigger, safer and better year and ask each one of you to pitch in and help.   

Paulatics – My Book Report             
by Paula McCallum

Since this was written 10 years ago, many have already enjoyed this book. But for those of you in search of something to cuddle up with on a cold, snowy, “bikeless”, February day, I’d highly recommend “Hog Fever” by Richard La Plante. For new riders, it’s a must read. Richard describes many of the same follies, frustrations and excitement that you’ve experienced when you bought your first bike and then had to learn how to ride it. You’ll swear he’s written this thing about you!

Laugh out loud at this self abasing middle-aged man who’s all about image, clothes, sportin’ a new tat and absorbing every motorcycle magazine he can get his hands on. He’s terrible with directions (as most men are) and as far as his mechanical skills are concerned, the only thing Richard can do himself is put one mad polish on his chrome.

He learns that there’s more to “personalizing” your ride than just attaching little gold eagles. He is transformed along with his bike as his obsession and Hog Fever grows. Richard finds many ways to ring up his credit card debt customizing his Springer to the point where one chapter is entitled “Hey Bro, It Ain’t a Harley Anymore.”

Experienced riders will cringe at his mishaps while traveling the Globe. Journey along the village roads of Europe to Marbella, Spain or from New York to Las Vegas with Mr. La Plante. You’ll feel as if you’re traveling with him, sitting bitch in his saddle. Getting stuck in bad weather while being ill-prepared for a long trip because he opted to look the part rather than packing some dry clothes in a cumbersome saddlebag. You’ll recognize some of the characters he meets along the way and the buddies he hooks up with to go cross-country. Always in search of, and sometimes finding, his Zen like experience of being “in the wind”.   

Dear Measles, Mumps & Rubella

Dear Ruby:
My husband is ALWAYS staring at his bike. How can I get him to stare at me and not his bike? Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Dear Who’s the Fairest of them All?:
I’m sorry, but there still is no cure for Hog Fever (see book report next door) which is obviously what your hubby suffers from. I can only advise to stand behind your man, NO, literally! That way at least you’ll be reflected in the chrome.

Dear Ruby:
I have more toys than most of the men I date, what do I do? (A Harley Sportster, a sports car and a tiny plane too) 2 Many Toys in Taunton

Dear Toy Hog:
When do you find the time for men behind the wheel of all those fast engines? I’m sure if you slow down long enough, honey, some nice single guy will be able to hop on for a ride.

Dear Ruby:
I had this awesome boyfriend, I thought he was my soul mate. I loved him more than words could ever describe. We enjoyed everything together except my bike. I had the heartbreaking decision: him or my  bike. After months of agonizing over this we broke up. A year later and I still can't get him out of my mind or heart. What should I do? Dude Dilemma in Duxbury

Dear Dilemma:
No one should ever make you chose between one passion for another. Why can’t you have both? If he can’t accept you AND your bike, then he’s not the dude for you. There are plenty of biker-friendly men in Manomet to chose from so I’d leave that saddle baggage behind you.

Thanks to all the MMR women who responded to the e-mail asking for relationship questions for this column, if you would like to see this continued in coming months... ask away! We’ll open the floor to the men of MMR as well. See if you can stump our Dear Ruby (who shall also remain anonymous).

Thank You MMR

Recently, I lost my mother after which I was overwhelmed by what followed. Because of her illness I've not been active in the group this past season. I was taken aback by the many members who traveled to Bridgewater for her wake and the beautiful flowers! What a group.

My mother being married to an ex-pow of Stalag 17b was always very active in veterans issues. She was the first woman commander of a POW-MIA chapter in this State. She held that title for two terms and was also an associate member of my Viet Nam 1st Squadron 1st Cavalry Association. Three summers ago she suggested to me that I mention a ceremony to be held in Bourne at the National Cemetery to the MMR's as a possible run. This was a dedication of the POW-MIA eternal flame that she and my father helped implement.

Well didn't Debbie Johansson do just that! The very small group of Pow's and guests were shocked to see more than 40 bikes roar up to ceremony outnumbering their entire group.

A meaningful time was had by all as our members listened to the solemn program and were afterward greeted by the elderly warriors. It was a time my mother would recount time and again with pride that we thought enough of them to be there that night in September. Again I thank you all!

In the wind, Ken Krushas 

Group Riding                              
by Lee Corwin

Paula was kind enough to ask me to write an article about myself. Although that is an endlessly fascinating subject I thought given recent discussions among ourselves it would be worthwhile to review some realities of group riding. What follows draws upon many sources including the wisdom of iron butts I know (Cheryl's dad - an old Tumbleweed), Clement Salvatore, David Hough, the Hurt Report (a collection of Motorcycle Accident reports generated by the government), articles in Motorcycle Consumer News and other rags that sit by the throne.

Group riding is technically more difficult than riding alone. Options to apex your turns and thereby carry greater speed through a turn, trail braking or changing your line in a turn are lost in a closely spaced group. Let me explain. Intuitively, most of us when riding alone will drift to the outside of a turn before we enter a turn. To the right of our lane if making a left turn and left if turning right. This makes the turn have a greater radius hence less need for lean with need for less traction and greater safety. When going fast we know to brake before the turn. We also use the engine breaking effect of downshifting. The limiting factor for single-track vehicles (a motorcycle) is traction. Braking uses up traction. Turning uses up traction. When possible we do them one at a time leaving ourselves a safety margin while retaining the ability to go fast. But if we want to go faster yet and continue to apply our rear brake only releasing the front brake while entering a turn then accelerate as we pass the apex, we work our suspensions to increase play thereby increasing the available lean angle while "kicking" the rear-end around. This is trail braking. This is fastest but commits you to a limited line through a turn. You're greatly limited in your ability to make mid-turn corrections. Hence, these techniques which work great on track days or riding fast by yourself can't be safely used group riding where you're stuck riding the "cage" line around turns.

If we're sloppy, when by our self, and carry too much speed into a turn it not a big deal. We just change the line. If we are daydreaming slowing up to catch a sight then speeding up again it's no big deal. However, in a group you're committed to a line and committed to a fairly fixed speed.

Therefore, given the greater skills required no one in their right mind would group ride until they have fully mastered the basics of riding alone. It is not an activity for "newbies". From the Hurt Report and subsequent studies for most of us this means about 10,000 miles of riding in the last couple of years. (Re-entry riders may get away with less but not much less).

So now we have a group of reasonable skilled riders, how fast should we go? It turns out this is not determined so much by the skill of the riders but rather by other realities. If I'm riding in a small group (less than six) and we are riding Indian file (retaining the ability to apex) and it's dry good pavement (with excellent traction) and we all know the roads and where we're going we can really burn. All I'm thinking about is the ride. If it's a small group with a few "newbies” it is safest to put them in the middle (the "rocking chair"). Then the "newbie" doesn't have to worry about picking the line nor the traffic behind them. Neither will they get stressed out about being left behind. Of course then the leader will keep it down and not flirt with the speed limits. If I'm riding with a larger group in a staggered formation (limited ability to apex), not certain where I'm going, on uneven roads, needing to keep a safe buffer between bikes I have to go slower. I'm thinking about a lot of other stuff than just going with the flow through the ride. Still, we must go as fast as prevailing traffic and fast enough to keep the groups' head in the ride. This means we will be going the speed limit plus or minus 10%. There is no "fast” group or "slow" group. Either option is unsafe on public roads with a large group. If I'm riding in a parade formation (rows and columns) and need to hold a rigid position I'm going to have to ride even slower. Other than with my best friends or in an actual parade I won't ride this way. Now factor in weather, sunlight, and the "cages".

What does this mean to the MMR? In my mind it means we need to review and come to a consensus as to how we are going to ride. Hawk's right, we need to be concerned about safety. I would suggest the road captains all get together over the winter and set up a tentative program for how we will ride. Present it to our officers and print it in the newsletter. Then open it to the membership for comments and revision. Then incorporate it in our bylaws. We do need some structure but not so much we lose the freedom and joy we get from riding. When that's gone most of us will be gone as well. Riding is like sex. Most fun when done when you're feeling good, you're in the mood and among consenting adults. But like sex it's hard to have a bad time doing it.