Chapter Directors Brian & Barbara Downing (410)

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1 Chapter Directors Brian & Barbara Downing Assistant Chapter Directors Mike Mangum & Kathrynn Valdez Chapter Treasurer Terry Gardner MD District & Chapter Educators Mickey & Nancy Ross Chapter Webmaster Neci Morales Chapter Ride Coordinators Vacant If you are interested please see our Chapter Directors Chapter Couple Mike & Neci Morales Chapter Newsletter Editor Terry Gardner District Gatherings MD-A: 1 st Sunday am Golden Corral Arundel Mills Hanover CD: Bob & Dorothy Richards MD-B: 3 rd Monday 7:30pm Seat Pleasant Recreation Center CD: Ken Trass MD-C: 2 nd Sunday am Old Country Buffet Glen Burnie CD: Butch Harvey & Debbie Wyatt MD-D: 2 nd Sunday 9am Hagenbuch s Route 2 Wiley Ford WV CD: Robert & Shirley Hansrote MD-F: 3 rd Sunday 9am Richardson s Restaurant Dual Hwy Hagerstown CD: Ron & Pat Leisinger MD-H: th Sunday am Golden Corral Aberdeen MD-I: CD: Peter & Alice Surette st Sunday am Old Country Buffet Waldorf CD: Ray & Cheryl Hartman MD-J: 3 rd Sunday 9am Old Country Buffet Annapolis CD: Brian & Barbara Downing MD-K: 3 rd Saturday pm Bullock s Airport Inn Westminster CD: John & Kim Athman 10 - MD-L: 2 nd Sunday am Denny s Easton CD: Bob & Debbie Lehmann Other Northeast Region B Chapter Gatherings DE-B: 1 st Sunday :30am Golden Corral Seaford CD: Shorty & Ruth Ratledge PA-C: th Sunday 2pm Mason Dixon Restaurant CD: Peppy & Joyce Hykes Other Region Chapter Gatherings VA-E: 3 rd Wednesday 7:30pm Morrison s Cafeteria Fredericksburg CD: Mike & Keri Nelson VA-F: 2 nd Sunday pm Western Steer Near Stephens City CD: Mike & Shawn Johnson WV-A: 1 st Sunday 9am Keller s Restaurant Hedgesville CD: Robert & Terry Edwards

2 Chapter Directors Brian & Barbara Downing S o this is the November newsletter time to break out the turkey and the cranberry sauce. Naturally our now scattered Downing Family extends best wishes to all our Gold Wing friends and we give thanks for the comradeship friendship hospitality and patience you have given us this year we hope we have returned these in full. I had planned and desperately wanted to be on the Leaf ride on the 23 rd of October. Unfortunately the trip to Korea which was scheduled for October 10 th was postponed for a week which led to a two-fold problem. One I was jet lagged and didn t think I could ride safely the morning after a 1 hour flight crossing the International Date Line and an 11 hour time change. Two was the fact that Barbara and I were celebrating our 3 th Wedding Anniversary on the 23 rd. I was aware of the fact that I rode on our LAST anniversary and Barbara stayed home so this year I decided to stay home with her and didn t set the alarm. Barbara on the other hand was aware that she hadn t ridden with me last year on our anniversary and had decided that this year she WOULD ride with me. Hence she was surprised that I didn t set the alarm! By the time I woke up it was way too late to go and we stayed home TOGETHER for a change! So for those who went and wanted my route instructions for the ride through the Michaux Forest in PA I apologize. For staying home with my sweetheart I offer no apology she deserves the best and when she married me that is what she got and so did I. Most people are aware of my growing interest in old BMW s over the last couple of years and it is interesting to compare the two groups. Both groups love motorcycles twisty roads good restaurants and good company. Gold Wingers tend towards group rides. BMW riders tend towards solo rides or two s and three s to a bigger event Gold Wingers tend towards large rallies around hotels BMW riders tend towards smaller camping oriented rallies Gold Wingers spend on chrome lights socially oriented clothing BMW riders are Frugal and spend their money on top quality riding clothing I love both groups but Gold Wingers are the Salt of the Earth as far as I m concerned and to ride long distances on the Gold Wing is a delight. On a fast twisty mountain road however Enough jet lagged rambling! Don t forget to consult the calendar; we have some important events coming up. At this months Gathering we are asking everyone to bring donations for our Thanksgiving Food Drive. All donations will go to the Anne Arundel County Food Bank again for distribution to the needy. Our Planning Meeting is coming up in December so start writing down some favorite restaurants and rides and places you d like to ride to. If you can t make the planning meeting then the list to me or call me and I ll make sure your ideas get presented at the planning meeting. Everyone is invited to attend the planning meeting and the events we put in the calendar are picked by everyone in attendance. If you don t attend then your voice won t be heard unless you contact me. Also in December is our Christmas Party which will be at Adams Rib followed by Gwen s house remember I mentioned generosity and hospitality earlier!. Times are on the calendar. We ll be doing the gift exchange again so start looking for good stuff now! Finally we will be supporting the Family Sharing program again this year and asking for donations to support two families within

3 the county. Details when I receive them from the county. So have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving. Best Wishes The Downing Family Assistant Chapter Directors Mike Mangum & Kathrynn Valdez Mike and Kathrynn will return to our newsletter next month. Maryland District and Chapter Educators Mickey and Nancy Ross THE FALL A ccording to the calendar summer is officially over. However in a large portion of the USA Motorcycle riding is entering into some of the nicest riding weather of the year. Leaf rides will be springing up as the leaves turn color getting ready for their annual decent to earth. The nights are cooler and for the early morning rider this can mean a bit of brisk weather. Many of us are using our motorcycles for daily commutes to our places of employment in the wee hours of the morning. It may mean more warm weather gear in the morning and light riding gear for the afternoon return trip. The occasional rider may want to wait until the sun is up and melts away the morning chill. Whatever the category you and your co rider if there is one fall into there are some things in common that can help make your ride more enjoyable. First of all you will want to dress appropriately. The early morning temperatures can be quite chilly. Hypothermia can set in with temperatures as high as 60 degrees. Even if you officially don t go into hypothermia your feeling cold and uncomfortable can be distracting and it is a distraction you don t need on a motorcycle. So dress in layers. The warm riding gear you need in the morning may just be too much for the afternoon. A great feature of the Gold Wing is the ample luggage space for carrying a change of clothing. If you have a co-rider their comfort is just as important as your own. Plan ahead. Of course with cooler temperatures at hand we all will check our tire pressure won t we? This is critical. Check you pressure first thing in the morning when the tire is cold. Whatever pressure you choose make sure it is up there where it belongs. Even as our bikes may set in the garage for a while the tire pressure can go down. Paul at Honda Motor Sports once told me it is not uncommon for motorcycle tires to loose 3 pounds a month just setting. Add to that the cooler weather and you just might have tires significantly under inflated... A real dangerous situation. I have mentioned it before; I like to carry 1 fronts 3 rears. These pressures are on the tire as the max at max load. It gives me a great tire mileage & great performance. It also gives me a bit of margin to prevent from being under inflated in case I don t check as often as I should. I adjust the shock to compensate for the little bit more hardness. All tires even your car tires have stamped on them the max pressure and the max load. Now with gasoline at about $3.00 per gallon cheap grade tire pressure and gas mileage are things to be reckoned with for both your car and bike. Under inflation is the primary cause for premature tire failure cupping and wear out. Did someone mention leaves falling? Every homeowner with oak trees knows what that means. Every year I wonder why someone doesn t come up with some sociable use for my oak leaves and come around and pay me to rake them up and haul them away.

4 That is not likely to happen. We are not allowed to burn the leaves in our area so it is off to a recycle location for my leaves. At least they are recyclable as compost. However what about those leaves that fall onto the road surfaces? It seems no one rakes them up. They are not much hazard while dry. However get some dew or rain on them and they can be slick as ice. Add a little frost and you have a deadly combination. Another thing to be real careful of is the low sun angles in the morning and evening. If you can t see very well think of the other road users and they must be having trouble seeing too. One problem is that you on your bike are much harder to see under these conditions than other cars. So if the other drivers are not able to see you because of their squinting eyes who is going to watch out for you? While you figure that one out go on to the next point. One last comment especially for the early morning riders some areas of our region are or soon will have the temperatures below freezing overnight. This means any moisture on the road or dew that forms on the road will be in the form of frost or even ice. On those days I take my truck to work or wait until old Sol has done its thing to reduce the ice to water again. Enjoy what we have left of this years riding season. Nancy & Mickey Ross MD District Educators Winter Thing Chapter Decoration Competition Building a Luau Beach Hut For display in the ballroom on Friday & Saturday nights. Rules for competition are: 1 All Beach Huts must be no smaller than ft by ft by 3ft. 2 Beach huts may be self standing or be on poster board displayed on an easel No attaching of luau huts to any existing hotel property. 3 No store bought beach huts - We want your chapter design teams and construction crews to come up with their own ideas. All chapters will remove their luau beach huts after the closing ceremony on Saturday night. The luau huts will be judged on Friday night during the dance and the winner announced. 6 There will be five judges to judge the luau beach huts. 7 The decision of the judges is final. There will be a very nice prize for the winner. 9 Good luck to all chapters. Ride Coordinators If you would to step up and offer your services as the new Ride Coordinators for Chapter J please see our Chapter Directors. In the meanwhile our former Ride Coordinators Jim and Jan Lehr offer this note: RIDE YOUR OWN RIDE T he GWRRA Road Captain s course ends with similar words: Ride Your Own Bike. Implicit in that phrase is the fact that there is no safety in numbers. Riding in a group can give you a false sense of security. You must maintain your own sense of awareness of your surroundings and realize that ultimately you are responsible for the safe operation of your own motorcycle. Just because the lead bike or the bike in front of you can safely negotiate the curve ahead is no assurance that YOU can do the same. The Road Captain s course teaches

5 a two-second interval behind the bike immediately in front of you. In my opinion that needs some qualification: That gap works well in the presence of other traffic and has several advantages such as the prevention of other vehicles entering the convoy minimizing the length of the convoy etc. However let s be clear: One should NOT adhere to that spacing if in doing so; you endanger yourself by riding at a speed beyond your skill level or your bike s capability. One of the most highly regarded publications on motorcycle riding is David Hough s Proficient Motorcycling. It s author perfectly addresses this issue: "When you are out riding with others it is amazingly easy to get stampeded into doing things that you wouldn t do if riding by yourself. Speed is so intertwined with selfworth and motorcycling that most of us will risk an accident rather than risk being seen as a slow unskilled rider. When riding a twisty road with other riders the smart tactic is to back off from the bike ahead until you can t see its taillight. Then you can ignore your position in the group and ride your own ride choosing for yourself what line to follow when to brake when to roll on the gas and what your maximum speed should be entering a blind turn. Mr. Hough then goes on to say {if}you discover that the three or four people you ve been riding with can t accept your riding style maybe you should go back to the motorcyclist store and get some different buddies. Giving all of the above some serious thought has led me to pause and reflect on my own riding style and the recent few years when I have been Ride Coordinator for Chapter J. More and more I find myself enjoying the challenge and yes the risk of riding at speeds near the limits of my ability. I am guilty of NOT leading the group at the speed of the slowest rider but of expecting all to keep up with whatever pace I set. This may very well be wrong and is not in keeping with the teachings of the MSF and the GWRRA Road Captain s Course et al.. I even find myself wondering whether some of the turnover in membership that we experience in Chapter J might be as a result of our penchant for high speed riding. I hope that is not the case but in case it is it would seem to me that we in Chapter J if not the entire District should reflect on all of the above and consider whether we should modify our road rules when doing the prebrief for a Chapter ride. I suggest that we stress that those members who enjoy more spirited speeds should form up near the front of the group and those who prefer to smell the roses as it were should form up near the end. It is sometimes the case that riders have coriders with them who would prefer a slower pace as well. We should then stress that the Group Lead will stop or slow at each major turning intersection or other appropriate spot and allow the group to reform. Similarly if the number of bikes on the ride requires splitting into more than one group the Group Lead should encourage faster riders to join the front groups and those preferring to ride slower should form in the rear group. In all cases the groups will reform at rest stops Dairy Queens grin etc. I would hope that adopting these suggestions would make for a safer ride for the less experienced riders; a more enjoyable ride for those who just enjoy the scenery and the open road; and a more challenging ride for those speedsters who are either to young to know any better or too old to care. No names please. Jim Lehr A Message from Our Own Assistant District Directors I am sorry that I missed sending in an article last month. But I have been very busy at work with all of the MOTHER NATURE problems that have occurred from all of the hurricanes. So this one will be a little bit better then last month but it will be short. Gwen & I would like to THANK the Chapters from Maryland that went to the Virginia District Rally called RALLEY in the

6 VALLEY in Salem Va. and hope you had a good time even in the RAIN. Gwen was real happy because I drove the car that helped a little because I didn t here any whining. PLUS I made her day on Saturday then again on Sunday coming home because I took her to WalMart. Now hopefully Virginia will attend OUR WINTER THING in Jan. on the OK now how about the super ride we had as a chapter on Sunday 23 rd of October. There were 10 bikes and thirteen members THANKS to Jim & Jan. Gwen & I really enjoyed ourselves. Gwen & I also would like to THANK the members that went up to Chapter F s Hobo Stew on Sunday Oct. 16th after our brunch to show our support. I would like to Thank Brian for the ride up [and back]. I know it is early but GWEN & I would like to wish everyone a HAPPY THANKSGIVING and a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR. SEE YOU ALL SOON GWEN & ALLEN

7 J mart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

8 - $ E& F & & > - H A ' & H % & % > & 6. " " # # : = $' %& % Chapter J Patches are available in a smooth looking 6-color design Only $7.00 each! Other items include: Visit-A-Chapter Pin $.00 ea. Visit-A-Chapter Bars $2.00 ea. Iron-On Chapter J logo $1.00 ea. Maryland District Patch $7.00 ea. Circular National Patch $.00 ea.!$! %!!! = ; 3 = & '! " -. '!!-!/ %!%! A %& "!! - '!. = ' $ $" 9" % %%% ' & % 3 < & - I ' & 1 9! % & - - %- - > & E % F "! & I & $ 9" - 9 $A $! / - "! & %/ % & % & E$ F 9 E$$ F" $" > ' &! %-! > $ " # 9 99 & - J 1 $ # $ " # " " > - $ % %& & "!" & & / $$ $ $ $"! %! -!/ ' -!% ' A!!!& & & - > / %7 & K & % $$ " # = - / 2 1 & $ # $ " # "

9 '. ' G C / % 1 = ' $ ' - + = " # If your name appears above and you appear at this month s chapter gathering your individual breakfast will be on the house! C / % 1 ' L = 3 ' L D & - " If you are a member of Chapter J and your names should be on either of these two lists please contact our Chapter Directors. Honda PowerSports of Crofton 7 MD Route 3 Gambrills MD PowerSports of Crofton Thanks to the GWRRA and especially Chapter J for your support and patronage! Buy 2 Tires Get Installation at Half Price We stock Dunlop Bridgestone and Metzler tires for your Gold Wing Valkyrie and VTX. Here are a few examples of installed prices This offer cannot be combined with other discounts. Tire Fits Installed Price Includes sales tax & shop fees Dunlop Elite III GL100 $3.6 Metzler ME0 GL100 $27.9 Dunlop D206 Valkyrie $1.00 ALL IN STOCK ELITE II TIRES ON SALE - 3% OFF MSRP Don t buy tires online when our installed price offer convenience AND a fair deal. We are better than Chrome World in some tires considering the installation discount Audio Sale 2% Off CD Changer $36.17 CB Radio $60.21 CB Antenna $103.6 MUST BE INSTALLED BY HPSC TO GET PARTS DISCOUNT Sale Accessory Sale Sale List Kuryakyn Backrest $2.99 $29.9 Big Bike Parts and Hondaline Kuryakyn Arm Rests $16.99 $209.9 Accessories at similar savings! Why shop online? Come to Crofton and Save! Got Chrome?? We can have your wheels chromed or you can exchange them for our chromed wheels either way with that Ring of Fire the chrome really shines! Chrome Wheels cost $90 all labor to do the swap including storage if necessary $ You may need to replace wheel bearings and seals approximate cost is $100. Chrome GL100 Wheels Now In Stock! Honda PowerSports of Crofton 7 MD Route 3 Gambrills MD Campaigns and Recalls Are you up to date? Just call our Service Department have your VIN handy and we tell you if all applicable campaigns and recall have been done. Also if your bike is still in warranty you may be eligible to purchase an extended warranty from Honda. Please ask for details.

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