360bikers.com

Ian, one of our most respected members, sent me this link so I could determine if I was a real biker.  I took the short survey, almost holding my breath as I tried to figure out what the hell some of those questions had to do with reality.  I finished it and waited for the verdict.  Damn, what if it turned out I was something less? What if it labeled me a noob or a Poser?  What if it… well, it was fast and the results were favorable.  I have no idea if any thought really went into the survey, but you’ll have fun with it.  Just click HERE and enjoy.

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.

The obstacles of creating a charitable foundation are many.  Still, I seem to continue on this endeavor to create something that benefits our fellow bikers in a time of need.  One focus of this project is the 360Bikers USA Grand Tour and the six regional tours that work with it.  There will also be many local tours supporting the regional tours.

First, I should briefly explain these rides.  The Grand Tour is a 10,600-mile ride around the United States in 29 days.  Inside this monster circle are six regional rides from about 2,000 miles to 3,000 miles that each take about a week.  These rides will coincide with the Grand Tour for part of the region.  The local rides are managed by local dealers and ride part of a single day with the regional ride.  These obviously connect with the Grand Tour at some points, too.

So, aside from the charitable efforts of these rides, what would one expect to see?  Well, that’s part of the beauty of this event.  It covers a lot of ground and riders will see different things depending on the level of participation.  I’ll use the Grand Tour to emphasize some of the highlights.

Starting in Key West, Florida the ride begins with a stretch through the islands and across 7-Mile Bridge.  Riding the east coast of Florida, we stop for lunch in Daytona Beach, home to Biketoberfest and Bike Week.  The second day culminates at Arlington Cemetery in Washington, D.C. to pay respect to our veterans of all wars.  A planned stop on the third day includes Rockefeller Center with an appearance on a morning show.  If possible, we’ll have lunch with the guys from OCC, but that hasn’t been arranged at this time.  The fourth day takes us into Boston, Massachusetts for a little while, but by the end of the day we leave the country as we enter Canada for part of the ride.  Day five tags the second point of the USA Four Corners Ride (another sanctioned ride you can participate in as you do the 360Bikers Grand Tour) and then rides back into Canada as we move through Quebec and back into New York at Plattsburgh.  Day 6 is a scenic ride through Adirondack State Park, a forest ride that exits to the Finger Lakes region and on to Buffalo.  The first week ends with a ride to Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and then on to Dearborn, Michigan.

Our second week takes us to Chicago on the first day and gives the second day off to enjoy the area.  The week continues on the tenth day as we ride into Harley-Davidson country in Wisconsin on our way to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  The eleventh day visits Mt. Rushmore and stops in famous Sturgis for dinner.  Day twelve rides across Wyoming to Yellowstone National Park.  Day thirteen begins with a leisurely ride on one of two routes through this great park and then into Montana for some exciting rides in the mountains.  Day fourteen concludes the second week with incredible scenery as we pass through the spectacular mountains of Washington on our way to Seattle.

Recognizing you might be tired or want to enjoy this great part of the country, day fifteen is a day off for riders.  Day sixteen hits the third corner of the 4 Corners USA ride and then doubles back along the Pacific Northwest into Oregon.  The seventeenth day enters Redwood National Park and ends at Ft. Bragg, California at the top of the infamous Pacific Coast Highway.  The eighteenth day rides along the Pacific Ocean to San Francisco where I’m working on a special reception.  The nineteenth day continues along the ocean route through the country of movie stars and ends at Ventura.  Excitement builds as we wind through Greater Los Angeles and end at San Ysidro, California, the southwestern most point in the USA.  If you did the 4-Corners USA sanctioned ride at the same time, you just finished it!  Our 21^st day begins our ride across the desert scenery as we aim towards Tucson, Arizona.  That three weeks of riding and seeing a lot of America.

Week four has many great events as we ride across southern USA.  It begins quietly riding across Texas in areas where you won’t see a major city.  This is the old west with a concrete ribbon to ride on.  The twenty-third day we ride to San Antonio and take the twenty-fourth day off to rest and enjoy local riding opportunities.  The twenty-fifth day rides into Louisiana and visits the French Quarter of New Orleans before riding to Mobile, Alabama.  The twenty-seventh day runs back into Florida as we ride along the coast to Tampa.  Exiting Tampa on the twenty-eighth day as we move across the famous Skyline Bridge and down to Coconut Grove in Miami.  From here, it’s just a leisurely ride back along the Florida Keys as we return to Key West on our twenty-ninth day in preparation for the end-of-ride banquet.

This ride promises to be a fantastic view of the United States and sets the standard for future rides with 360Bikers.  I hope some of you can join us for this great ride or at least one of the regional rides.  You can be assured I’ll write more about this in the future.   

It’s a bit obvious that I’m catching up on back-writing.  It’s just been very busy and the rides have been fantastic.  Take last night for instance.  Our group took our first ride to Iron Eagle’s Bike Night.  Each month Jeff, the owner, personally takes charge of an event in his parking lot that benefits the Make a Wish Foundation.  We aren’t just talking about a run-of-the-mill parking lot get together.  There’s room for 500 bikes, a live band, a DJ, hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, beer, soda, a guy sewing patches for us, and great people to talk to.  It’s one of the nicest events our group has attended like this and you can bet we’ll be back next month.  It occurs the first Tuesday of each month.

Iron Eagle specializes in re-titled Harley-Davidson motorcycles and customs.  Definitely worth stopping to take a look.  They were one of the stops on our Dealer Ride last month.  This is one you want to attend when we do it again.

I really have been neglectful in writing about one of the best rides I will ever experience.  The Memorial Ride for Sgt. Chris Reyka, BSO and one of my neighbors, was incredibly well attended and exceptionally well organized.  A ten-mile procession of motorcycles through Pompano Beach and up the Florida Turnpike to Lake Worth was executed flawlessly thanks to top-notch planning from Brian Donnelly, fellow deputy with Chris and close friend of Chris’s family.  After the service and lunch, the escorted ride continued to Ft. Pierce where the escort dropped off.  The ride continued to Titusville at the Police Hall of Fame.  The cookout that followed was an excellent close to a day dedicated to a great officer.

Look for photos and videos to be added here later.  I’m sure Brian will put something together for us, too.

This week is busy with rides, but that makes it nice after work.  While a lot of people have today off (Good Friday) there are those of us that have to work.  I’m not complaining.  I like my work and the rides afterwards have been nice.  Tuesday was a short ride to the Tiki Bar in West Palm Beach.  It was a nice little ride of just under 70 miles when all was done.  I appreciated that two of our friends from the Stuart area rode all the way down to join us.  Will and Steve made it, too.  Yesterday I rode over to the Sgt. Reyka Meet and Greet and saw Ian there.  The shirts for that ride are great.  I’m looking forward to that.  After that, I rode over to meet the group for JJ Muggs and Bike Night at Abacoa.  Well, no one showed.  I rode up and Steve came after reconsidering several times.  He lives 5 minutes away.

Tonight we have the Full Moon Run, which is being emulated by other groups already.  I’ll be a nice ride if anyone else shows up.  Sunday has the Port Mayaca Short Run, a nice leisurely short ride for relaxation.

It seems the interest is waning lately.

This was a nice ride and went more or less as planned. Four of us ate at John G’s and Ian joined us later. The bikes rode along the ocean to Hobe Sound where we cut over to US1 to make up some time. We joined the Stuart group and set out along the ocean and A1A.

Now, the ocean rides in Broward are a bit boring due to the endless building of condos. Riding in Palm Beach County is better, but very slow. Most speeds are 30 or 35 and if it’s hot out the ride becomes painful. I had never been on A1A in St. Lucie County and it was a pleasure to learn about. The speeds are generally 45 or higher. While you aren’t up against the ocean very often, you have a lot of natural scenery. It was a great ride most of the way to Cocoa Beach with only a few slow spots. The only down side was that you were not riding along the water as you often due in Palm Beach.

I managed to have a bug fly down the back of my shirt which made for an interesting 30 minutes of the ride. It was either a beetle or a bee and was biting along my belt line where it finally settle on my back. That took a lot of the pleasure out of that part of the ride. We stopped for gas on the north side of Cocoa Beach and I shook out my shirt.

We doubled back through 520 and found a nice little restaurant on the water. Vic had to breathe that salt air and Ian thought it was medicinal for his cold. After they figured out how to put 11 chairs at two adjacent tables (Vic had to help them) we finally got seated and ate. This was a good group. The pictures are on the meetup.

The ride back was something I really looked forward to. Vic and Ian had family commitments and peeled off at I-95. They missed the best part of the ride. We took 520 to CR528. Naturally I missed the turn which was clearly marked as St. Cloud. We would have ended up in Orlando if it hadn’t been for the group pulling me over. We took 528 for awhile and almost missed CR419, a tiny little road that isn’t marked until you are right up on it. Both of these roads were incredible. There were nice curves and some areas were wooded. If the wind hadn’t been so high I would have done it again.

We rode to US192 west and connected to the every popular US441 to Okeechobee. The rest of the way home was very familiar since we come up that way often. The sun went down and the unbearable heat turned to cool air. I left the house at 6:45 AM and returned at 7:20 PM. It was a nice day of riding and gave me more ideas. It is unfortunate that the battery on the cam died as I was taping our fly-by and I didn’t get any of that footage. We have a special event coming up that we’ll have lots of highlights from our group.

While the video wasn’t what I had wanted it to be, I created one anyway and published it.

I just got an email from Brian, the officer managing the Sgt. Chris Reyka Memorial Ride later this month.  It’s quite impressive and there’s room to grow.  There have been 665 people that have given their support to this project and 533 of them are riding in the event.  What impresses me most is that 240 of these are not police affiliates.  They are under the heading of citizens.  It really shows a strong support from the community.

There are several levels of support that you can offer.  Just getting a T-Shirt is the beginning.  As part of that, you can sign up to be part of the ride.  The first part is from Pompano to Lake Worth.  This will be a ride that is a higher end class 1.  While there is distance involved, we will be in a very large group with police escort.  To this date 222 people have signed to do that part of the ride only.  Their participation is greatly appreciated.  The second part of the ride will go to Titusville for Chris’s induction into the Hall of Fame.  Right now 311 are signed for that ride with more everyday.

It’s not too late to sign up and I would really like to see everyone I know participating if they can.  If you need more information, Click here.

Two important dates, March 20th for the Meet & Greet of supporters that have managed to get their checks in and then March 29th for the ride.  Details can be found at http://motorcycle.meetup.com/210/, on our meet up site.

Try to make this one.

Sgt. Reyka was a neighbor of mine.