360Bikers Foundation

Share on Facebook

Ian, Trudy and Lee (left to right) cooking dogs over the bonfire at Terri's.

I have to thank Terri for holding this part of the anniversary party off. The bonfire was great, but the getting together with friends was unmatched. Terri coordinated a great event and the food was fantastic.

We had lots of food including hotdogs, chili, brownies and even the making for smores.  We enjoyed a full wolf moon and moderate temperatures that made the fire even more inviting as the night wore on. Van even brough Bo in the side car and entertained with his striped snake.

I hope this can become a regular event as everyone had fun and lots of riders attended.  Click the link to look at the rides and events calendar for the 360Bikers in Sout

Share on Facebook

This is too good to leave off a site.  Everyone should post this one.

Share on Facebook

Motorcyclist really are a social group. Rides are a nice mix of solitude and socializing that gives you the opportunity to be alone and with a group. The support you get from fellow bikers is unmatched and I know of no other group that takes care of each other as much.

After six months of riding together and growing as a group, 360Bikers had a celebration that Will has been waiting to do for a long time. More than twenty of us descended on his house bringing food and beverages to get us through the night. From 7:00 till dark we ate and socialized, meeting new members, their girlfriends and wives, and generally just having a great time. After the sun was down we watched “Wild Hogs” on an outside theater with hi-def and surround sound, courtesy of Rich. Will’s wife even let me do some grilling while she met with people and took care of other behind the scenes needs.

Vic had gone out earlier in the week and shot a small wild boar. Yes, to go along with our “Wild Hogs” movie we actually ate some wild hog. Will’s crowning moment was when he unveiled the bleached skull of the pig as the center piece of the party. Steve (“Slick”) gave some musical parodies and earned a few part recognitions in the movie. Somehow, it’ll never be the same watching that movie again.

It was a great evening with really great friends. Those that missed it should make plans for the next one.

Share on Facebook

I had to attend a workshop today in Melbourne.  The weather was nice, so I packed appropriate clothing for the meeting and put on the jeans for a quick 130-mile each way ride.  The workshop started at 8:30 so I left the house around 6:15 AM.  Going up was nice, cool, and with relatively low traffic volume.  It was a nice ride.  The workshop produced a lot of good notes and by 3:00 I was on the road home again.  The temperature had risen considerably and traffic was very heavy… as anticipated.  Still, it was a nice ride.  Personally, I’d rather ride with our group on those distances.  We might not make good time, but it’s a lot more fun on a Class 2 with friends from 360Bikers.

Lee Keller

Share on Facebook

Well, I’ve always sorta looked at it that way, but now more than ever I can prove that buying a nice, small commuter bike is like getting it for free.  Now, I admit, I’m using my own numbers here to prove the point.  You can substitute your own and you may find you could get a bike for free even faster than me.

First, how far do I drive and how many days do I work a year.  My round-trip to work is 34 miles and I work about 240 days per year.  That comes to 8,160 miles per year.  I have a Chevy Avalanche, not exactly on the dean’s list of fuel economy.  I get about 16 MPG.  That means in 1 year just going to work it takes about 510 gallons of gas.  Now, we’re not quite there yet but at $4.50 per gallon that costs me $2,295 to go to work in gas money.

Now, I just checked Ebay and it seems you can get a Kawasaki Ninja 250 or a Honda Rebel 250 for about $2,000, plus or minus $500.  You see where this is going already, don’t you.  Yeah, these bikes get 65 to 75 MPG CITY!!!!  Now, you still have to buy gas so at 65 MPG this will cost you less than $600 for the entire year.  That’s a savings of about $1,700 per year.  By 18 months your little commuter bike is like riding for free.

Now, not everyone can do this to the extent we have available in South Florida where riding is almost year-round.  But every little bit helps and a little bike like this could save you enough money to fuel that Harley-Davidson Ultra, Honda Gold Wing or VTX, or countless other bikes that struggle to stay in the 30 to 40 MPG range.  Either way, the numbers above save me $7.21 every day I ride a little commuter bike over the Avalanche.  If I ride just 100 days a year that means I save over $700 in gas.  I can live with it.  Even at that rate, the bike is free in just 3 years.

Share on Facebook

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.

Share on Facebook

I just got back from the Florida Educational Technology Conference in Orlando. Of course, I took the Harley because it was supposed to be good weather most of the time. It turned out that most of the time was pretty nice. I hit a 20 second misty type shower on the way up and that was it. The ride was great with a partly overcast sky and a lot of open highway. While the Florida Turnpike isn’t my favorite road to ride, it was good Wednesday morning. I made it to Orlando in nice time, checked into the hotel and went to the convention center.

Wednesday night I went to dinner provided by Adobe for the Adobe Education Leaders, of which I am a member. It was perfect outside, so I rode the bike to the restaurant. Adobe is a great company that does a lot for education in general, but really puts a lot out through the network of AELs. After eating I rode back to the hotel, but had trouble stopping. It was nice outside, a little cool, and just too great a nice to turn in that early. So, I took a quick run down International Drive in light traffic. I had an early meeting and thought I’d get into bed after the ride, but friends of mine stopped by and … well… we ended up at Bob Marley’s with the group from CompuTrack. Then I ended up with getting to sleep well after 2:00 AM. It made the next day tough to start.

After doing the usual convention stuff and being on my feet all day, we went to the Rosen Center for the Lexmark reception. This is another group that has been involved in the printing end of education for quite a while. We saw many friends there and stayed for almost two hours. From there we went to dinner with Scholastic, a company that provides several reading programs for our district. They took us to Jerry’s, a really nice restaurant that had Bulliet, my favorite bourbon. We got out of there too late to do the Casino Night at the Wyndham and ended up back at the hotel by 11:00. Well, I hadn’t been on the bike yet Thursday and needed to get gas for the return trip Friday. I had my excuse and went for a short ride to refuel. I only passed a half dozen gas stations before forcing myself to stop. The fuel light offered its encouragement, too.

Friday was the last day of the conference and it started early. It was mixed with vendor visits, video taping vendors interviews with companies like BrainPop (featuring Moby the robot), and interviewing other people from our district. I did a little tech support with one of our upper-level administrators and called it a day. My daughter’s birthday was the next day and I called her to meet in Wildwood, about halfway between Orlando and Gainesville where she does graduate studies. So, I drove an hour north to have dinner with her and her boyfriend at a truck stop I like there. I know… classy father… but the food was good and it was about the only thing I knew of in the area.

While eating, the temperatures continued to drop as a cold front moved into the state. Not that it gets that cold in Florida, but the temperature was hitting the high 50’s when I left. I hadn’t brought my heavy jacket and until I lose some significant weight, I can’t even consider the leather overpants. It was going to be a cold ride. I put on as much as I could for my torso: undershirt, long sleeve shirt, leather vest, long sleeve pullover, and a lightly insulated jacket. I also had my gauntlet gloves, which were a little warmer than the light weights I had worn up. My legs just had jeans on them and I felt the cold wind on my knees and thighs.

Having traveled north an extra hour meant I had increased my trip home, too. With temperatures dropping I rode back down the Florida Turnpike with just one stop at Canoe Creek for fuel. I had a hot cup of coffee and tried to get some circulation back in my well-chilled legs. That wasn’t working so I got back on the road. I was surprised at how busy the turnpike was at that time of the night, but I guess a lot of people had weekend destinations. I was in busy traffic the entire ride down, which is about 250 miles. Other than freezing, it was a typical ride with cold, wind, and compound semi’s blasting along the highway. I got in a little after 11:00 PM and got into a hot shower to restore some feeling to my body. It made for a good weekend overall. Sunday, we have our picnic ride. That will be relaxing by comparison and more fun with other bikers. It will be good to meet our friends from the Treasure Coast, too.

Share on Facebook