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You couldn’t ask for a better day.  We started out at Starbucks, one of our more popular meeting locations.  It’s not for the coffee, but more for the central convenience of a lot of riders, especially organizers.  We got out of there a little after 7:30 and stopped at a gas station to pick up Connie.  A couple riders had forgotten to top off and did so then.  From here, it was the concrete ribbon (Turnpike) to Snake Road.  On the Sawgrass, one of our new riders lost her Sun Pass.  It just fell out of her pocket and crumbled on the highway.

At Snake Road we stopped at the gas station, refueled those that needed it, picked up drinks and snacks, and socialized while waiting for Yarka and Mark.  After a period of talking with everyone we got underway.  The road was nice and had a more turns than your typical South Florida road.  It led us to the Seminole Reservation called Big Cypress through which we had great respect for the speed.  We zigzagged north through road changes to SR80 and then to Clewiston.

Rich, our birthday boy today, had been telling me about the nachos there.  They lived up to expectations.  The group was in rare form (thanks, Slick) and everyone seemed to have a great time.  Afterall, it doesn’t get much better than beautiful weather, great friends, great riding, and great food.

After filling ourselves we gave the others another fuel stop and then went on to South Bay to ride up to the dike on the rim of the lake.  We took pictures and rode home.  It doesn’t sound like much, but it was one of those nice, relaxing rides with lots of friends.  We had 12 bikes and 15 people on this one.  You can see photos, get screen savers, and learn more by clicking here.

I started this entry thinking about the things we have to do in south Florida to plan a summer ride and realized that it’s not that different anywhere else.  There are several things to do and some have to be done at different points than others.

One of the first things I did was to emphasize the need to check your bike before riding.  While this should be a standard thing to do before a ride, it’s even more important in the summer heat.  Your riding will have more wear and tear on rubber parts and your oil is not as happy in this weather.  If your bike is liquid cooled, check your fluids before leaving.  Oh, and don’t forget a toolkit.  You always need it with you, but summer is just the time to breakdown.

I always carry a rainsuit with me, but sometimes you take it out to let it dry or just because you need the room for a little bit.  Don’t forget to put it back.  That happened to one of our riders recently where he had left it hanging to dry.  Naturally, we encountered a storm and his rain gear wasn’t there when he looked.  You should also carry sunscreen on your bike.  No matter how good the stuff is, it needs to be re-applied every couple hours or you will find yourself crispy.  Never underestimate the power of the sun, even on cloudy days.

Finally, there’s the weather.  It’s unavoidable and somewhat unpredictable.  I’m fanatical about weather, especially when planning group rides where I feel responsible for the overall experience.  I check a few different forecasting sites like weatherbug.com and weather.com.  I’ll look at the forecast a few days in advance and then go to hourly forecasts starting a day or two before.  I’ve come to realize that these lack accuracy, but give you a feel for what might happen.  I also rely on radar.  Technology is great and there are several formats you can use for this.  The two web sites I mentioned will give you an animated or even an interactive radar view.  I also use a couple desktop applications like WeatherBug’s and one from our local television station that is made by  BIA Information Network (BIN).  This app lets you see radar for rain, humidity, temperatures, and wind speed and direction.  It also includes a radar and temperature view for a national look.  You can see the direction of major fronts and make a very good decision on whether the ride should take place or not.

So, there are tools out there to help you decide whether to ride.  There are things to make sure you take with you to make summer riding more enjoyable and safer.  Take care when you ride and plan for a safe return.

[ NOTE TO SELF: US98 makes an unmarked left turn in Okeechobee]

Well, today’s ride was not what was planned. It started out sorta right. We got out of Wellington later than planned, but we were on track and did the zig-zag up to SR710 to Okeechobee. That’s about all that went right. (See note above) I missed a turn somewhere right after crossing Parrot Ave. in Okeechobee. No one else saw the sign either, but there might be one there. It’s just poorly marked where SR70 continues straight west and US98 goes off at an angle. Well, about 10 miles into it I’m suspicious because while the two roads overlapped in Okeechobee for a little while, I’m no longer seeing US98 signs. Well, it was only a 31 mile leg and I thought we couldn’t be too far off. I was wrong.

It is a nice road so we kept going and I kept looking for Arbuckle Road in the mileage vicinity that I expected. It wasn’t there. Now, due to the angle that US98 takes and the lack of angle that SR70 takes, we were now way off course. I had screwed up royally. (See not above) The group being supportive as they are rallied and we rerouted to find a way to Wauchula.

We set out on US27 towards SR66 & SR64 (The Florida Cracker Trail) to connect with the roads that lead to Wauchula. We missed again. It sucked. I felt terrible as nothing was going as planned. Everyone in the group said, “It’s fine! We’re having a good ride!” and I just felt lousy. I like things to goes as planned. I had studied the plan submitted by Sue T., who couldn’t ride due to illness. I missed one turn and it destroyed the plan. Well, other things happened, too.

First, this is the first time we have ever had a ride where every bike was a Harley-Davidson. I thought that was interesting in itself, but it actually paid off big time as we rode aimlessly trying to find a route that would get us back on track. We had three Electra Glides (2 of them Ultra’s with the 6 speed), a Dyna Glide and a Soft Tail Deluxe. Now, the Electra Glides are made for touring and typically get almost 200 miles to a tank of gas with no problem. But I wasn’t sure of the range of the other two bikes. While going across SR66 and SR64 we were approaching the 200 mile mark on our tanks. Ian’s bike had almost 230 miles since he last got fuel. I was really concerned about the other two bikes with Yarka and Mark. Long story short, we pulled into the first gas station we found ( it’s a long, desolate road) at 199 miles. I was very relieved at that success. I’m also impressed at the range that all the Harley-Davidson bikes seem to get. Sure, you can pump them up for more power and less mileage, but as a bike out of the box with just a few modifications, it rides the distance.

Well, things didn’t get much better when we tried to find a place to eat. We headed south back toward SR70 and found a Deli Cafe. Vic was really ready to eat and Ian was right there with him. But… the deli was closing. We rode west looking for the first restaurant we could find that wasn’t associated with a fast food chain. There were none! We got all the way to Arcadia before we found a place to eat. We barely made it there as they locked the doors 10 minutes after we got there. The buffet was good, home-style cooking at Boo-Boo’s. We ate and got back on the road to home. We took fast roads (SR70 to US27 to SR80) and got home with a net loss of about 3 hours. It just wouldn’t have been any fun without friends, though.

Connie is a regular rider with our group. She is an active rider with other groups and assists with organizations. I wanted to get some perspectives from her in an online interview. Here is what we talked about.

Lee: Where are you from?
Connie: Originally from Philadelphia but living here about 20 years !!

Lee: Did you ride motorcycle when you lived there?
Connie: No, I didn’t.

Lee: How long of you been riding?
Connie: Going on year 5 now.

Lee: What is the longest ride you’ve been on? (elaborate)
Connie: I rode up to visit friends In Georgia who live 45 minutes north of Jacksonville. It was quite an adventure…..a bit scary alone…..but an achievement…..Also, rode to Mt. Dora here in Florida, and of course the West coast of Florida.

Lee: What do you like most about riding in South Florida?
Connie: I would say the weather ….. it’s almost perfect all year round; longer rides in the winter, shorter ones in the summer heat.

Lee: What do you like least about riding in South Florida?
Connie: lol…..it’s flat !!! and we do have some crazy “snowbirds” driving down here in the winter.

Lee: What is your favorite kind of ride?
Connie: Humm….. I really enjoy overnighters….to me it’s like a mini-vacation over a weekend….as having my own business… it’s not easy to just take off whenever I feel like it….. I like all types of rides, some with a bit of challenge is good also, and especially enjoy riding through areas like LaBelle here in Florida with the tree-lined roads and also through horse country.

Lee: What are your opinions on the helmet / no-helmet laws?
Connie: Personally, I prefer not wearing one as I love feeling the wind, and the freedom of riding without one…however, it can save you from becoming brain damaged or a spinal injury in the event of am accident if you are wearing one.

Lee: Do you always wear a helmet?
Connie: Sometimes……I do wear one always on 95 or on highways…..If I am taking a shorter ride along the beach say early morning when there are not many people out driving, or on a very unpopulated country road, I prefer not to…..However, they do say most accidents happen close to home !!

Lee: If you were to describe a general common attribute about women motorcycle riders, what would it be?
Connie: They’re hot !!! They are independent and free spirits…….I think they are very careful riders…. I do feel some men are intimidated by women motorcycle riders…. and that’s a shame…..

Lee: If you could say one thing to all the women bikers out there, what would it be?
Connie: Keep on riding !!!! Look and act like a woman … I dislike tattoos and/or hard looking women riding motorcycles….it brings a bad connotation to the rest of us.

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.

Negligence of writing here has been a bad habit of mine lately. Last week we had a great ride and over 60 photos posted on the meetup site. It was relaxing and when I got back I just zoned out. There’s been a lot on the plate lately.

Today, we had a ride that Rich came up with quite awhile ago. It’s about time we actually did the ride and it proved to be everything he said it would be. We started at the Harley-Davidson store in West Palm Beach. It’s a common meeting place for our group because it’s right off I-95 and makes it easy for all our riders to get there in time. We left at 8:30 as scheduled and headed towards Okeechobee, another standard leg that we do on many rides. Once there, we kept on US98 north and started the route we hadn’t done before in our group. After moving north awhile, we hit back roads that took us west to Punta Gorda. It was a nice, relaxing ride on country roads We rode into the Fisherman’s Village area and to the restaurant on the water where we had a nice lunch with friends.

As food went, it wasn’t that great. The key was the location. On the water we watched catamarans and yachts cruise by as we ate, drank, and talked with our friends. We had a superb waitress who dazzled us with her incredible memory (she took no notes with orders for 13 people and never slipped once!) and had a nice lunch in general. This Fisherman’s area has several buildings with shops in it and we walked through it after lunch. Trudy and Mark were taken captive by a store and finally escaped so we could leave.

Keep in mind that we’ve traveled about 150 miles to get there and now have a bit over that to get home. Weather played games with us on the way up and wasn’t done with us for the ride home. Rich led us to the roads he planned for the way back and everyone was very pleased with this part of the trip. It was great. Winding back roads with forests, estates, and great views all the way back. We even saw a gator sitting by the corner at one turn. The roads took us all the way into La Belle. This is a route we’ll work into a ride again. It was just to good to not revisit.

On the way back there was an edginess in the group. I’m not sure why. It could have been the occasional spritz we had or the major rains that surrounded us as we rode the last leg home. After Clewiston we hit some rain in Belle Glade, but all in all, it wasn’t bad at all. It turned out to be a great day for a great ride. If you can’t get wet, you can’t really ride… especially in South Florida.

We had a new rider, Guz, who came on his 1200 Sportster. This was a tough ride to start with our group, especially on the Sporty, but he did a great job. It was great that with 8 bikes we actually had 3 occupied by couples. I think that’s pretty cool and everyone was great. Connie was our only female bike rider as the other girls didn’t make it. It was a great group that rode tighter than our group usually does. Our group is growing and so are our rides. The quality and planning is paying off as we near 80 members.

When we first came up with the idea of doing the ride around the Lake backwards it seemed like a simple idea that wasn’t anything significant.  But that ride was one of the most successful we ever had and it introduced a path through which we can combine day rides with our Treasure Coast friends.  It turned out to be a great idea and became called the Okeechobee Reverse for doing the ride around Lake Okeechobee counterclockwise.

Today we repeated the ride for the first time with great results.  I was pleasantly surprised to see Andre and Dawn riding with us today.  Leaving the Harley-Davidson shop just after 9:00 we headed out to the Beeline Highway (SR710) as a fog dissipated a few hundred feet above us.   The cool air made for an exceptional ride as we entered Martin County with 6 bikes and 8 riders.  We passed a grove and the air was briefly thick with the smell of orange blossoms.  The ride to Okeechobee was perfect except for a short period behind a slow farm vehicle.

We arrived at Pogey’s right on time and I found Yarka had left a message on my cell phone.  Her group had arrived at the Harley shop a bit late and missed us.  They took advantage of the detailed instructions we post for every trip and were on their way.  We were also expecting the Treasure Coast group to meet us there.  We occupied the back wall of the restaurant with two tables and a booth waiting for overflow.  Shortly after we ordered our food John’s group showed up with bikes and riders.  Within minutes, Yarka, Mark and their friends from Europe arrived rounding us to 19 people on 14 bikes for the remainder of our ride.

A group that size is hard to manage sometimes.  The slightest gap and another vehicle splits the group, making it hard to work together.  It happened and we actually rode over 20 miles as two groups separated by a van.  When we finally connected it looked great to see the line of bikes stretch out behind me.  We rode through Moore Haven and on to Clewiston where we stopped for fuel and a refreshing drink.  It was in the high 80’s, but when we were riding it was pleasant.

This ride ended around 2:30 for those in our area as our Treasure Coast friends headed north to beat the occasional thunderstorm as they formed.  The ride couldn’t have been better executed.  I hope you’re on our next ride for the Okeechobee Reverse.  You can see more photos by joining our riding group.  Just click here.