Girlie Motorcycle Blog

I won’t divulge their name so as not to embarrass them, but Secret Motorcycle Santa was incredibly generous and kind to me this year. On Thursday night before dashing out to my office holiday party the UPS man met me at the door with a box. Inside were 2 thoughtful Christmas presents.

A Pair of Aerostich Triple Digit Rain Covers:
My battle with the rain is ongoing. I guess everyone in my little universe knows this. Now I can have dry hands, squeegee my visor and give a shout out to my man, Mr. Spock. That pretty much covers my “To-Do” list.

Aerostich Triple Digit Raincovers

When Wanderers Cease to Roam: A Traveler’s Journal of Staying Put by Vivian Swift

My mind has wanderlust. My heart and my chosen life keep me home. 80 pages in, I’ve already found some inspiration for learning to see the beauty of the simple things in your own backyard.

When Wanderers Cease to Roam - Vivian Swift

Thank You

I’m humbled. I guess what is really most touching is that people think of you, consider you and go out of their way to do something nice when they absolutely do not have to. Thank you, Secret Santa. I really appreciate it.

Back in July, Novos took the time to share his plans for a week long trip from Southern California to Montana on his Aprilia RSV. Now that the trip is in the books, he is sharing his ride as a series of posts as a guest blogger on my partner site Watermelon18.com. The photos are just awesome!

Day 1 is up and ready to roll:

• California to Montana on an Aprilia RSV – Day 1

Novos' RSV outside of Bodie, California

Read the Original Post:

• Heading off into the sunrise, Southern California to Montana on an Aprilia RSV

Sometimes you stumble across a blog and just connect with it. Maybe you like the writer’s sense of humor, admire their spirit or appreciate their writing voice. Maybe it’s something as simple as they post terrific pictures. I tend to like the motorcycle blogs that tell a personal story, be it big or small. The motorcycle community has been good to me. I always appreciate it when someone links to fuzzygalore.com, so I want to return the favor or maybe pay it forward.

Here are 3 motorcycle blogs I’d like to show a little link love:

• Citybikerblog
  An collection of posts covering a wide range of motorcycle topics. Everything from the technical- like suspension settings to lifestyle issues.
• DudeExMachina
  Good friend and frequent commenter on the ole Girlie Motorcycle Blog. He’s just getting his blog off the ground with a series on a recent trip around California. Be sure to stop in and say hello
• Orson’s Travel Blog
  A lust-worthy collection of trip reports and beautiful photos. Reading Orson’s blog will make you green with envy.

This past Sunday, Kenny and I joined the guys over at SuspectsUnlimited.com for their forum’s first anniversary ride. Soth of SteadyOntheHumble put out an APB that this ride would be going down and encouraged members to come along.  These days, I seem to have some issues with group riding. I’m not very good at it. I have become far too skittish, too controlling to surrender to the ebb and flow of the other souls around me. Though excited, I would be lying if I said that I approached this ride without reservations. As the list of names of people who would be participating grew, so did my nervousness.

As riders started to filter in to the morning’s meet point I finally had the chance to put some faces to the names on the forum. Everyone was welcoming and warm. It can be difficult to elbow your way into a group of people that already know each other. These guys transitioned Kenny and me in easily.  Handshakes, coffee and stories exchanged we got underway heading to points northeast.

Managing a group of 14 bikes took a team effort. Soth at the helm, GLantern with a mid-pack lead and Cru Jones for the sweep allowed the riders to naturally segregate themselves into comfortable groupings. There was no issue of egos jockeying for position. What a relief! We’ve all been there. The ride leader says “ride at your own pace,” and it falls on deaf ears. There was none of that here. Once I came to understand that this wouldn’t be like some of the clusterf*cks I’ve been on before, I was able to settle down and just enjoy the day. And enjoy it I did.

The route that Soth put together was excellent. It took us over hill and dale of the Catskill Mountains. He led us through sweeping curves, tight uphill decreasing radius turns and scenic byways. Our wheels hummed under a beautiful canopy of the peak colors of autumn in New York. There was a little something for everyone. It was obvious that he put a lot of care into route planning to give us a safe, scenic and enjoyable day out. As I rode caboose on the Soth train I got to watch an articulated centipede crawl its way through the landscape. It was one person at a time falling in line and into a turn. I had the best seat in the house. Sometimes watching a line of bikes cut along the roadway is like poetry.

The backroad riding for the day came to a close at the Roscoe Diner. How some of the guys managed to ride home with bellies full of deep fried French toast is beyond me. Apparently it can be done without falling asleep on the bike though. Given the fading daylight we opted to depart for home via Route 17. From the vantage of mid-pack the group shuffled down the road like a deck of cards. One lane of the column moving left, the second column filtering in as you do when you bridge the cards. On it went, eating up the last 100 hundred miles before we split off to head our respective ways home. It was an excellent day out on the bike. I’m so glad to have tagged along.

A Big Thank You To Suspects Unlimited:
Tom, Cru Jones, Dizzle, Suspect74, Bones, soth, GLantern, He-Man, Mookie, ArcDeDucati, Univox, and RCPete. You put together a really enjoyable ride. Great roads, great riding and great company. The Riding Trifecta!

What Did I Learn:

• I need to relax and not be such a Nervous Nelly. Give people a chance, sheesh!
• Soth plans a great route.
• Each one of the guys I got a chance to speak with had something interesting or funny to say.
• I’d be happy to go on another Suspect ride. It was big fun.
• There will always be one weirdo in a gas station. If you can’t spot them, it is probably you.

See No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil	First Stop of the Day	So then I tweeted... ;o)
ArcDeDucati	ArcDeDucati - the Novos doppelganger	Autumn in the Catskills
GLantern	Wassuuup He-man?	Scenic Overlook

Sort of.

We communicate with each other on a frequent basis here, albeit kind of anonymously. I like to think of us as you know – a little community. No blog can exist without its cast of supporting characters to keep things interesting. The life of a post doesn’t stop when it’s published.  It’s you the readers who breathe life into topics with your wit, quips and anecdotes. This is just a little shout out to some of my motorcycle friends and the frequent commenters here on FG.

The Supporting Cast

• Crudmop: Former beer guzzling frat boy turned impatient motorcyclist. Blondie here is too pretty for his own good. Has a vicious hate of fender breaking disc locks and squids in white sneakers. Thinks everyone is a douchebag.
• Novos: Conspiracy theorist who is convinced that the utility company is watching him through his thermostat. Able to take photos, knit a sweater and do long division on an abacus all while riding his motorcycle.
• OG: Currently building a margarine powered full scale working model of a lunar lander in his basement. Might have a touch of the “Charlie Brown” but that’s part of his charm.
• Duc748: Deep thinker. Could write a 35 page dissertation on the weight savings benefits of riding your motorcycle sans undergarments. An accomplished mime and comes with his own leather thong!
• Pimmie: The Dutch Menace. Former captain of his high school’s downhill clog-sledding team. He can make fun of you in 5 languages after he stuffs you in a corner. Don’t ask him about the “oven”.
• Soth: The best thing outta Brooklyn since the BK Broiler. He’s probably ridden his RC to Saskatchewan and back for a grilled cheese before you even had your first mocha-choca-latte of the day.

Without Further Ado

It’s always nice to put a face or in this case helmet to those internet nicknames we become familiar with. As motorcyclists with our faces covered all of the time our helmets become our calling cards. They become the face that we show to the world and how we most often see each other. Here are a few motorcycle faces I’ve met so far. I’m looking forward to meeting some more of you and getting a few more helmet shots. See you on the road!

Crudmop!	Duc748!	Novos!
OG!	Pimmie!	Soth!

Gravatars

Oh and hey! While we’re putting faces to names – If you haven’t already, why not mosey on over to gravatar.com and get one of those fancy little comment avatars of your own?

Every time that I read the word gravatar I immediately think of Grover. Grovertar.  Everyone using the many faces of Grover. Definitely a better idea, right? No? Fine.