ARE YOU EXPERIENCING MOTORCYCLE WITHDRAWAL

Since I have not ridden a motorcycle any significant distance since December 4, I am experiencing motorcycle withdrawal.

Kickstand was diagnosed with MUTTS on December 16

ARE YOU EXPERIENCING MOTORCYCLE WITHDRAWAL?

Simply answer the following questions. This is the Motorcycle Alluvial Diagnostic Attachment Tool Linking Intuitive Formations Equally. It is also know affectionately as M.A.D. A.T. L.I.F.E. If you answer yes to three or more of the questions you need to seek immediate psychological help. If you answer yes to six or more quickly lie down and call 911.

1. I get dizzy when I am riding in a car

2. I push on my steering wheel to turn

23. I have tried to find the kickstand on the side of my car.

4. I had a kickstand welded on the side of my car.

5. I find myself putting stuff on my head

6. I sit on my motorcycle several times a week

7. I asked my spouse if they loved me.

8. I have a set of match box motorcycles in my night stand drawer.

9. I have ridden my bike recently in cold or snowy weather.

10. I have night fear related to forgetting how to ride a motorcycle.

The actual disorder as identified in the DSM-IV http://allpsych.com/disorders/dsm.html

is MUTTS (Motorcycle Underuse Transition Trauma Syndrome). It is not life threatening, but can create behaviors that are socially unacceptable and in severe cases may result in loss of ones job or divorce.

COMMUTING: THE JOY OF MOTORCYCLING

I am excited to announce that my most recent book TWO WHEELS TO WORK is now available at your local bookstore. Commuting has been my passion, since I began riding motorcycles. The book addresses practical issues from ride wear, routes, routines, rational, risk assessment and railing riders just to name a few of the R's.



If you have done some commuting or are considering the option, this book will help you prepare yourself mentally and aide you in avoiding some of the common pitfall (or as I call them cycle snares) that await potential committed commuters. It is 281 pages long, has 32 photos and 28 diagrams and charts.

KEYS TO RIDING IN THE RAIN

Are you comfortable riding in the rain? If you have not done much riding on wet roads, may be it is time to include a rainy weather skill set in your 2010 riding goals. My keys to riding in the rain will be a good start.

• Good Tires: Make sure your tires have good tread
• Rain Gear: Have good rain gear http://www.aerostich.com/aerostich-suits
• Dry Hands: Have good hand gear. I like aerostich triple digit glove covers
• Dry Feet: Have boots that keep you dry. I use Redwing Leather Conditioner for waterproofing boots.
• Slippery Roads: Remember the roadways will be particularly slippery for the first 10 minutes after the start of the rain, as oils, gas and other chemicals on the roadway have not been wash away.
• Short Rides: Take short trips when it is raining to get comfortable. Much is psychological, as I have found the roadways to be just fine. It is more a matter of gaining confidence.
• Take It Easy: No need to be in a rush.
• Slippery Surfaces: Be wary of painted surfaces on the roadway and sewer covers etc. as I have been told these surfaces can be slick. Personally I have never experienced slipping on them.
• Nice And Easy: No need to rush on corners and turns. As you learn how your bike responds, you can increase your speed.
• Keep Your Distance: Make sure to have greater spacing behind cars and your riding buddies to allow for greater stoping distance.
• Be Adventurous: Ride in some really nasty weather for fun.
• Be Aware: You vision will be reduced along with other drivers. So will your visibility.
• Have Fun: Enjoy learning to ride in the rain. You are on your way to becoming an Every Day Biker (EDB)

Warning Kickstand in not a motorcycling expert and is actually rather stupid too! Please take my advice and check it with credible sources.

JAY COOKE STATE PARK RIDE

Northern Minnesota has hundreds of miles of scenic roads to ride. I suppose there are many other areas in the United States that offer just as many great roads, but I think we have the best. One of my favorite rides is along the Northshore of Lake Superior. http://www.northshorevisitor.com/

Another great ride is on Highway 23, which is also called Veteran's Evergreen Memorial Drive
http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/11184/stories/53858 This highway starts very near my home and goes diagonally across the state from Duluth to the southwestern corner of our state. The 50 mile section from Duluth to just past Askov is a great ride.

I want to introduce you to a fantastic eight mile section of road that goes through Jay Cooke State Park. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/jay_cooke/index.html


On the outskirts of Duluth in a community call Fond Du Lac highway 210 follows the St. Louis River into Jay Cooke State Park.

The roadway is in good conditions and winds through a forrest of white birch, poplar, maple, white pines, red pines and cedar. It is late fall in Duluth, but the temperature was near 50 when I took this ride on November 11. Our average high for this time of year is about 38 degrees, so we consider this weather rather balmy!

The St. Louis River is in the background. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/watertrails/stlouisriver/index.html

After traveling 2 miles on 210 the road enters the state park.

After leaving the state park, the road brings you to the city of Thompson population 153.

Leaving Thompson the 210 crosses the St. Louis River.

About a mile past the bridge 210 enters the city of Carlton population around 330.

From Carlton there are many county roads that offer great motorcycling.

WHEN FOOLISH WAS FASHIONABLE

I've been on this earth long enough to remember when foolish was fashionable. I long for those days again. It was a time when people were a bit more light hearted and did not seem to dwell as much on the ills of this world.


I have never been willing to let go of those days. So in the eyes of many, I don't act my age. Maybe I am a little too goofy at times and people have just cause in being annoyed by me. But if that is the price I need to pay for a light hearted, and some what silly slant on life, it is worth it!

To be a true Nobody one needs to be willing to be involved in some Tom foolery and not take oneself too seriously. Try some foolishness on for size and let me know how it goes.

THE LAST RIDE

Our last ride of the year is the Sturgeon Bike Week Ride. We go down Highway 23 then take some back roads over to Highway 61 to Sturgeon Lake and continue on 61 back to Duluth. This year the ride was on Saturday Oct. 17. It was in the low 40's and sunny.

Dirty Deeds, Kickstand and Pretzel

Left to right: Smelty, Thunder Brother,Dirty Deeds, Kickstand and Pretzel

We made a stop at the Nobody Museum where the curator Flash showed us around

Smelty and Pretzel are happy to be riding together. Smelty had cycle problems for a good part of the summer so he was not on many rides.

Dirty Deeds and Flash at the club house before the club headed down the road

Thunder Brother is getting better at riding in less than ideal conditions. By the time he is the age of Kickstand he will be riding in the snow and loving it.

I messed up and put the photos in the wrong order, so I am not including photos of the museum. But don't fret, I will do an article on that in a few days. We ended up riding down to Askov and eating lunch then heading back to Duluth as time became a factor. It was a 95 - 120 mile ride depending on where one called home. We are going to have more rides this late fall and winter, but they will be limited to the real stupid Nobodies.

As I am finishing this blog entry, Pretzel, Kickstand, Jawa and Smelty are still riding.

BAD WEATHER BIKING

Yes, I enjoy riding in lousy weather. There are some advantages. You don't have to wave very often to other motorcyclists, drivers notice you "What's that nut doing on his bike" and people will stop you and give you coffee, food and money.
I realized that I don't have many pictures of riding in bad weather. This is mainly due to the fact that I am riding alone. I commute to work every day, so that is usually when I encounter the poor weather.

I've ridden in rain as pictured above. My aerostich Darren Suit keeps me dry. If you want to be a bad weather rider, you really need good ride wear or really be into suffering. I am a big fan of aerostich as it is a local company.........but they make great gear. http://www.aerostich.com/

The one type of weather that I have not mastered is snow and ice. In Duluth we get plenty of snow and it gets cold. I have ridden in the 20 degree fahrenheit range and that is nasty. Snow is some thing I have only played in on my duel sport. But I keep saying, I am going to commute in the winter. Maybe this will be the year.

I want to encourage you to try riding in the rain. If you have avoided rainy weather, you need to give it a try. My first few times, I was nervous cornering and stopping, but for the most part it only requires a little more caution. I have never had any scary wet weather incidents. I get a great deal of satisfaction from riding in lousy weather, as it is an adventure. Not an adventure in risk taking, but one of facing the elements, keeping warm and dry and realizing it can be done in a fun and safe manner. http://www.lazymotorbike.eu/tips/weather/

NO MADELINE IS AN ISLAND RIDE

How man relates to man is complicated and diverse. The picture below is indeed worth a thousand words. Man communicates through the T-Shirts he wears. Smelty with his V Twin Amsoil shirt is saying " I love my motorcycles and provide them with the best of synthetic oils!" Jawa The Puttz declaims" I love my motorcycle and use the finest craftsmanship in building all needed accessories; like my sissy bar luggage rack made painstakingly out of clear Northern White Cedar."


But beneath the t-shirt slogans and the projects, a struggle is occurring in the psychic of man. It is a battle between man's pride and the reality of the ages. The desire of man to be completely self sufficient moves in his inner being "Oh to be capable of handling all life's problems alone!" Yet man is repetitively brought to his knees by the reality that their are problems he cannot solve on his own. This reality, this age old truth cannot be denied for " No man is an Island".

To wrestle with this truth the Nobody Motorcycle Club applied for a grant from the Collaborative Motorcycle Council Of Intellectual Thought. Our proposal, which was accepted, outlined a motorcycle trip to Madeline Island to explore the island mentality of man. We invited all the Nobodies to participate. Four including one of our female members took the challenge.

Along with me (Kickstand), Smelty, Jawa The Putz and Gutts (left to right) headed over to Wisconsin along county highway 13 to Madeline Island. Madeline Island is a 14 mile long island in Lake Superior. http://www.madelineisland.com/index.shtml

Forty miles into the trip, Smelty and Gutts felt a great heaviness, which they attributed to the purpose of the trip. They decided to turn back. I just wondered if they were getting tired of Jawa's and my company.

Fifty miles into the one hundred mile trip the highway started paralleling the shore of Lake Superior.

The weather was spectacular with temperatures in the low 70's.

Both Jawa and I still have some boy humor in us. This is an artesian well.

A sailboat leaving the marina in Cornucopia.

To get to Madeline Island one needs to take a ferry from Bayfield Wisconsin. http://www.superiortrails.com/bayfield.html

The ferry ride takes about 25 minutes as the Island is only 1 1/2 to 2 miles from Bayfield

Bayfield has a marina too.

Before heading over to the island we had supper and looked around this quaint town. This must be a Norwegian gnome. A possible mascot for the Nobodies.

Bayfield is a nice place.

Jawa on the ferry. This picture was taken just as we were departing Bayfield.

As we departed, I realized that this trip was going to require me to think. I started to feel anxious, as thinking gives me a headache.

That is Bayfield in the background.

Another shot of Bayfield and its Marina.

That is Madeline Island in the background.

Another view of Bayfield

We are approaching the island

We camped at the state park. The next day we discovered the town campground which was fine and a lot cheaper.

The advantage of staying at the state campground was the fantastic boardwalk that paralleled the beach. It had interpretive stations that identified flora and dealt with the formation of the sand spit and the lagoon.

Lake Superior

Jawa and I initiated our dialog about man's desire to be self-sufficient while on our evening hike.

As the sun set, we felt we were living out a metaphor about man's struggle to be an island. We stopped talking and allowed nature to teach us.

The evening sky, calm lake and the sounds of the forest resurrected in us the spirit of man as the hunter. We crouched behind bushes and silently crawled until we could not see any more.

The next morning we felt that the wind had spoken to us. That made us both very hungry so we had a man breakfast of oatmeal and potato chips.

After Jawa had a cup of coffee, he spoke the song that he had heard during the night. "No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by Lake Superior, Bayfield is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of your Nobody friends or of your family; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the motorcycle rumbles; it rumbles for thee. "

Whoa! That song hit me like a ton of bricks! So even if I think I am an island; yet am I bound to mankind. Ok, so we have come to the truth. Good, now we don't have to think any more. Let's just ride around this island. I prefer to be mindless.

The road out of the state park

Madeline Island has some fine roads.

Some streatches parallel Lake Superior and have beautiful views.

I liked this tree.

Map of the island on a sign in town.

Jawa and I enjoyed a coffee and muffin in town.

There is an ancient indian cemetary on the island. Here is a site for more information : http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=88286

We took the 11:00 am ferry back to Bayfield on Sunday.

Leaving Madeline Island

Waterfront Restuarant on the island

Jawa the Puttz was so hungry that he decided to eat a ferry!

We passed this ferry, which was heading to Madeline Island.

Approaching the harbor at Bayfield.

The end of our ferry ride. Back on the mainland in Bayfield.

We stoped for a late lunch in Cornucopia. Fish Lips had good food. It was a fantastic day in the mid 70's.

This is our last leg of the ride. It is along a county road just southwest of Duluth. I love taking pictures of roads, because motorcycling is all about the roads traveled.

The Puttz had a great time on his first Nobody Motorcycle Tour. " The planning by Nobody Inc. was like nothing I have ever experienced. I believe every motorcyclist needs to go on at least one Nobody Tour. It changed my out look on life. Now I know no man is an island unto himself", exclaimed The Puttz. We are going to make this an annual Nobody Tour. Next year we hope that other Nobodies will join us for this great overnight trip.