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This was our first attempt at doing a class to help prepare riders for group riding. I thought it went exceptionally well. I might look at a different place to meet so we can do the oral part a little better, but our materials, examples, and explanations were good. Rich and I tagged back and forth as we went through the list of items on my clipboard and then we did the ride. I almost want to thank the cities of Wellington, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, and Lantana for making such a great course to teach group riding.  I led the group as Rich rode tailgunner.  A relaxing ride down US441 provided our lane change exercises which went exceptionally well. We did our first real turn from US441 to Atlantic changing from a 4-lane highway to a 2-lane road. About a mile later we turned onto Hagan Ranch Rd., which is a suburban 4-lane at that point. Nice little curves and several round-abouts gave us the opportunity to practice the switch from staggered to single and back.  Then, we took a short connect on Lantana Rd.  to Lyons north to pick up Lake Worth and back to US441.  It was a great great ride. Great class. We’ll do it again for sure.

OK, again it has taken me entirely too long to post about this event.  What can I say?  It has been a busy week after a fantastic, relaxing weekend.  As I said before Leesburg Bikefest, this is one event everyone should attend.

The ride up was nice.  Ian and I rode together and stopped at Ft. Pierce for breakfast at the ever popular Waffle House.  Apparently the Denny’s there went out of business, but there’s enough customer base to have two WH’s within a half mile of each other.  From there we rode to Yeehaw Junction where we stopped to split up.  Ian was meeting a friend in Ocala and I was meeting my son north of Haines City.

I took SR60 west on what turned out to be a very nice ride.  Traffic was low and cruising between 65 and 70 was without interruption.   I got to US27 and rode towards Haines City.  In spite of being in town and the construction, the ride wasn’t bad.  The speed limits were 50 or better and the lights were spread far apart.

I pulled into a Walmart to refuel and wait for my son and his friend (following in a dune buggy) to arrive.  That was over 30 minutes, but after they got there we were soon on our way.  It’s only a short hour ride to Leesburg from there unless a biker lays one down.  Naturally, someone laid it down, but there seemed to be no life threatening injuries as we rode past the slightly damaged bike.

As we neared Leesburg bike traffic picked up rapidly.  Where we had been seeing dozens of bikes on the highway we now say only a few dozen cages!  It was bikes everywhere and it sounded great.  Riding US27 with its hills into Leesburg let us know there was good riding around.

We spent the day doing the carnival acts.  We looked at vendors, the Rats Hole for bikes and babes, listened to some really good bands, and just looked at bikes and people.  We met friends and made some, too.  We ate some pretty good road food and had a beer or two.

By 5:00 I was really getting antsy.  It was hot in the parking lots and I wanted to ride to cool off.  Now, David (the dune buggy guy) had to ride bitch with Wes to get over to Main Street.  Wes didn’t like the ride so I humbled to give him a ride back to his buggy.  Then, the three of us road our respective vehicles our through the villages.  It was nice and peaceful riding the back roads and through the golf course developments.  We topped off the tanks and headed back to the hotel.

After dark the old fart (me) decided it had been a long day.  I was up at 5:00 AM and rode 4 hours to meet them before they leisurely came along so I was pretty tired.  The young guys wanted to go downtown to party and I bid them good night.  They came back sometime in the night and had a few good stories, but nothing remarkable.

Sunday was great.  We started after checkout with a gourmet breakfast at the Golden Corral.  Not bad!  Then, riding out we split up as they had to attend a Rotary benefit bowling thing and I had to check out my proposed ride for the way home.  I was the winner on this one.  I rode out through hills and took a few “wrong turns” to see what was there.  I had beautiful curves and fantastic vistas.  Yeah, I said vistas in Florida!  There was one spot high on a hill where I could see for literally 30 to 40 miles.   There was one hill that went up, dipped, went up a little more and then crested to a 45-degree incline straight down about 400 yards to a traffic circle out in the middle of nowhere.  I rode past lakes and homes and was so anxious to take everyone on the route that I hooked back after I hit SR50.

I haven’t finished working on the videos for this trip.  I have an avi file that is over 6 GB that I have to bring home somehow to edit.  The ride home with friends was great even though we compromised to the turnpike to get home before dark.  It was a great weekend and I hope to see more of our riders on it next year.  It’s that good.

This is a very good piece of literature, especially from the biker perspective.

__________________

I saw you, hug your purse closer to you in the grocery store line.

But, you didn’t see me, put an extra $10 in the collection plate last Sunday.

I saw you, pull your child closer as we walked by on the sidewalk.

But, you didn’t see me, playing Santa at the local mall.

I saw you, change your mind about going into the restaurant.

But, you didn’t see me, attending a meeting to raise more money for the hurricane relief.

I saw you, roll up your window & shake your head when I drove by. But, you didn’t see me, driving behind you when you flicked your cigarette butt out the car window.

I saw you, frown at me when I smiled at your children.

But, you didn’t see me, when I took time off from work to run toys to the homeless.

I saw you, stare at my long hair. But, you didn’t see me, and my friends cut ten inches off for Locks of Love.

I saw you, roll your eyes at our leather coats and gloves.

But, you didn’t see me, and my brothers donate our old coats and gloves to those that had none.

I saw you, look in fright at my tattoos.

But, you didn’t see me, cry as my children where born and have their name written over and in my heart.

I saw you, change lanes while rushing off to go somewhere.

But, you didn’t see me, going home to be with my family.

I saw you, complain about how loud and noisy our bikes can be.

But, you didn’t see me, when you were changing the CD and drifted into my lane.

I saw you, yelling at your kids in the car.

But, you didn’t see me, pat my child’s hands, knowing he was safe behind me.

I saw you, reading the newspaper or map as you drove down the road. But, you didn’t see me, squeeze my wife’s leg when she told me to take the next turn.

I saw you, race down the road in the rain.

But, you didn’t see me, get soaked to the skin so my son could have the car to go on his date.

I saw you, run the yellow light just to save a few minutes of time.

But, you didn’t see me, trying to turn right.

I saw you, cut me off because you needed to be in the lane I was in. But, you didn’t see me, leave the road.

I saw you, waiting impatiently for my friends to pass.

But, you didn’t see me. I wasn’t there.

I saw you, go home to your family. But, you didn’t see me.

Because, I died that day you cut me off.

I was just a biker. A person with friends and a family.

But, you didn’t see me.