MAY MUFFIN RIDE

The Muffin Ride on Saturday May 23 was only attended by three Nobody members and the new inductees. Dirty Deeds (center) also affectionately known as Bird Bird is pictured with our two newest members. Gutts (left) and Jawa the Putts (right).

This is Jawa the Putts on his ride a 1982 Honda Nighthawk 450. Jawa lives near Ely Mn. amongst the trees and wildlife. His hermit life style has prepared him well to be a Nobody.

Our new inductee Gutts (left) is pictured with Smelty (right). Smelty took a liking to Gutts at the start of the ride and made sure he was seated next to her at the Vanilla Bean. I see wedding bells in the near future.

It was a cool, windy afternoon driving along the Northshore. We did not take our traditional newbie pictures by Lake Superior.

NOBODY'S PERFECT RIDE

On Saturday May 17, we held our skills practice ride at the Heritage Sports Center parking lot. We set up several skill stations for our club members to hone their cycle skills. The above picture is a turning drill. I'm not sure if the rider in the foreground is Thunder Boy Loud or Thunder Boy Louder. Young people all look alike to me.

This is Thunder Boy Louder (formerly known and still called Impress) in the foreground with Pretzel in the background. This was our final event. We had three Nobodies and one possible Nobody canidate doing a 50 mile race on a .1668 mile oval track. I never found out who won, as I left after about an hour.

This is Dave a possible Nobody candidate. He participated in the final 50 mile race. Dave has a lot to give up if he becomes a Nobody and very little to gain. I hope in time we can wear him down to embrace the Nobody Life Style (NLS).

Smelty (right) with one of our newest Nobodies who has yet to be named. "The One Who Is Yet To Be Named" just got her permit this spring.

The Honorable Vice President Pretzel (center) is explaining how to drop a bike at 50 mph and walk away with only bruises to Thunder Boy Louder (left) and Thunder Boy Loud (right). He was oh so close to getting them to try.

We actually had 12 people participate in the ride, but many requested to not be photographed. That seems strange to me............being anonymously associated with the Nobodies.

NOBODY PATCHES FOR SALE

FRONT EMBROIDERED CREST

PATCH

It is time for all the Nobodies to order their patch or patches. We will be making an order next Wednesday May 21st. So if you want to get one of these fine patches contact me or Smelty. The patch measures just over 13 inches long and is intended to be sewn on the back of a jacket or vest or I guess any thing (bathrobe?). The backing of these patches is black and the stitching is gray. That's our motorcycle club colors. The cost is $12.75. You can also choose to have this logo embroidered on some item of clothing. You can bring in your shirt, pullover whatever and have it embroidered for $8.90 (lost my price listing but this is within 10 -20 cents) or you can select an item of clothing at On The Limit then the cost is around $6.80. Another option is to get a shirt with a NMC crest. Whether you bring in your own shirt or purchase one from On The Limit the cost will be around $3.90.

If you are a new member, your first year membership payment of $20.00 includes our patch.

All proceeding years your dues are $10.00 a year. If you have never heard this before don't feel bad because this is a very recent idea. I voted on it and it passed.

We will be making other orders in the coming months so you will have other opportunities.

RANDOM THOUGHTS from the president

One thing that caught my attention, when I began to ride a scoot, was the wave bikers gave each other. I got into flashing the low two rather quickly and felt a connection with all other bikers. To me we had a common bond in the joy of cycling. I felt that "the sign" communicated some thing like; "hey isn't it great to be on the road, feeling free, enjoying our bike......have a great ride !" I did understand that maybe the seasoned, Harley, biker with multiple tattoos would use different words maybe some thing more like: " ###*****~~~~~~~~~#*^^--****#*##***#**``~~~!" But the message would be one of the shared joy of riding. As I racked up the miles and waves, I started to notice some patterns. Since I wear a helmet, other riders wearing helmets will wave 98% of the time. Bikers who do not wear helmets will wave at about a 89% rate. What I perceive as Heavy duty Harley riders (ie. live to ride, ride to live) are a little less likely to wave and come in at about a 84% rate. If the Harley has ape hangers there is only a 50% chance they will wave. Some riders are cc's sensitive, so when I am riding my wife's (Dirty Deeds) 250 Yamaha with its cool fiberglass trunk my wave response goes down to an all time low of 77% for all bikers and a mere 44% for Harley riders.

I went through a phase for awhile where I waited for the other biker to initiate the wave, as I feared rejection. I did this more often with the big biker duds thinking they would be annoyed by my presumption that we were biker brothers. I got over this hesitation to wave by deciding that I wanted to greet my fellow bikers and share my joy of cycling regardless of how they would respond. I also had a short lived internal battle regarding cc bias. Should I wave to scooter and moped riders? I must, because as a Nobody I am accepting of all bikers regardless of cc's!

I have also gone through an evolution of my personal wave. I started out with the low two, but through time I started to feel it really was not my persona. I am usually wearing Darien Ridewear (made by aerostich http://www.aerostich.com/ ) so the low two seemed out of character for me. So I dabbled in the low five, mid two (about hip level), mid five, above handle bar five and the above handle bar wave. It has not been an easy road finding myself in this matter. At present I am most comfortable with the mid five. When I am wearing my leather jacket, I give myself permission to use the low two.

So do you believe there is a brotherhood/sisterhood of bikers? Take a few minutes and participate in the Nobody Survey on this topic. You will find it on the side bar next to this article.

REMEMBER WE'RE THE NOBODIES AND WE DO NOT DISCRIMINATE REGARDING CC'S

A LESSON IN COMMITTMENT

I am troubled by the onslaught of fair weather riders. Please understand that I am not insisting that all motorcycle riders be hard core and ride in all types of weather, but I do feel that there needs to be a strong contingency of such riders.

To me fair weather riders are those cyclists who ride only when the conditions are suitable. They have a very specific set of criteria which include; temperature, wind, cloud cover, precipitation etc. Being able to ride in comfort without bundling up or wearing rain gear fits their idea of the joys of cycling. Fair weather riders are not necessary weak willed softies or unskilled riders that wear shorts, tee shirts and fip flops, but I do wish they would dabble a little into the "riding despite the weather" realm.

I am proud to say that a large percentage of the Nobodies are willing to ride in a variety of conditions. Dress to Impress is a fair weather rider, when it comes to commuting to work, but he will do all our club rides regardless of the weather. This fact encourages me and gives me confidence that our
younger riders are learning the value riding in inclement weather. I am proud to report that 60% of our membership are all weather riders regarding our club rides. We also have around 40% of our membership that commute regularly to work regardless of weather conditions. The epitome of hardcore biking was Mitch The Machine (pictured above). Mitch was a charter member of the Nobodies and embodied the spirit of our club. He won our first Continuous Commute Contest in 2006. Machine rode to work into mid November. He left the club a couple of years ago and moved to Minneapolis.

As we now start our club rides and incentives, allow yourself to try riding in less than ideal weather. I find it adventurous to brave all types of weather. There is a special camaraderie that occurs when we ride in difficult weather. It is not just a bond shared by riders that are stupid and shivering together, but the enjoyment of seeing the reactions from other people.

Remember we are the Nobodies, we're from Duluth and we're stupid.

NOBODY'S RIDING BUSINESS

The Nobody Motorcycle Club announced during a news conference today the 2008 Riding Rewards and Incentives.

COMMITTED COMMUTER PROGRAM
To encourage it's members to ride to work on a consistent basis the following certificates will be awarded.

The Bronze Certificate will be awarded to those riders who commute to work an average of two times per week from May through September.

The Silver Certificate will be awarded to those riders who commute to work an average of three times per week from May through September.

The Gold Certificate will be awarded to those riders who commute to work an average of four times per week from May through September.


RIDER AWARDS

• The Aluminum Butt Award: riders who log 1,000 miles this season
  
• The Lead Butt Award: riders who log 2,000 miles this season
  
• The Pig Iron Butt Award: riders who log 3,000 miles this season
  
• The Steel Butt Award: riders who log 4,000 miles this season
  
• The Titanium Butt Award: riders who log 5,000 miles this season

Please contact Smelty with your mileage as of May 1st. These awards will be given out at our End Of the Road Ride and Banquet.

MUFFIN RIDE FROZE OUT

The morning of the Muffin Ride this is what my yard looked like. Pelican Falls Minnesota received 18 inches of snow from this storm. We just received 2" in the morning along with steady winds of 15 - 20 miles per hour.

We could have done the ride, but I was not in my typical stupid mood and also had a late afternoon commitment. There were only two other riders planing on the ride. The sole man was called to work and Pretzel also was not in a stupid mood.

We have not done a Muffin Ride yet this year. Will the May weather allow us to get back on track? As I am writing this blog, it is 38 degrees with steady winds of 30 miles per hour. I am certain the next scheduled Muffin Ride will happen, because I and the other Nobodies will be stupid on that day!