WILLIAMSPORT HOGPEN Volume 15 Issue 2

Transcription

1 29 WILLIAMSPORT HOGPEN Volume 15 Issue 2 Williamsport HOGPEN March 2018 Williamsport MD Chapter ANNIVERSARY STREET GLIDE SPECIAL IN THIS ISSUE From the Webmaster by Brian Baker Change For some it s a scary word, for others it presents a chance to undertake new challenges and confront the future head on. So it is the same in the world of technology. As older web technology expands into new social media applications, we too must look at how we present our chapter presence to our current members and those who may be looking for the benefits a HOG chapter may offer. In the past, a normal web page would be used to project a company, organization or individual s presence to the world. Today, the move to social media and the way we obtain our information is different from days gone by. Now we use the social media giants: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others to share and communicate all aspects of our lives. Whether you are for or against the use of social media, we must admit it s here and that it is the preferred method for those who want to stay connected. Now that we understand the need for change, we need to embrace this new technology. The Williamsport HOG chapter will be utilizing Facebook for the majority of information originally linked to our normal web page. This will allow our members to use the social media tools currently available and allow others who may want to join our chapter a real-time look at who we are and what we do. We will still maintain a structured web presence ( for our organizational image though. We will just be scaling the site back a bit. It will still allow others to search for us, see who we are and what we do at the organizational level. The members page will still be maintained in order to share ride and event info such as hotel rooms for multi-day rides, forms and reports required by HOG and our ride and event schedule will be maintained as well. If you haven t yet visited the Facebook page for our chapter, please do so. If you have any questions, contact any officer of this chapter and we can help you get started. Safety Tips for March This month s article is entitled Why We Crash. Bob Glass gives us the details. Page th Anniversary Ride Details for the MDAMRA joint ride out to the 115th Anniversary National Rally in Milwaukee. Page 7

2 WILLIAMSPORT HOGPEN Issue 2 2 From the Director by Mike Pearson I want to thank the officers and road captains for putting together another full schedule of rides and events for Take a look at the calendar and you will see some of your favorite rides, some new ones and a couple that got dropped from last year. As always we go into a new year asking what do we need to do to get our members participating in all these rides and events. And of course we realize every member can't make every ride and/or event, but we feel our mission is put together a calendar where you can find something you will like to do. One of the issues we discussed this planning session, is how to get our own members to participate in our fundraiser events. It was brought up that some members may be apprehensive about showing up at an event, thinking they will asked to volunteer or they may be feel guilty about going on rides while other members are staffing the event. When we plan our events, we decide the fewest number on volunteers we will need to staff the event. We get volunteers to cover those spots and the rest of the chapter is more than welcome to come and participate. We only have a few fundraisers, out of necessity, and the more people who come and play a poker hand, the less the pressure will be to have more. Not to mention the fact that the more chapter members that play, the greater the chance our members will win. It is a necessary evil when we put a chapter member in a chair, behind a table, in the parking lot, in front of the dealership, instead of on the seat of their Harley running down the road. But that doesn't mean you can't come down, spend a few bucks, go on a ride, eat a hamburger or hot dog, jump on your Harley and have a great day on the road. There isn't a greater feeling as a volunteer, to have staffed an event that was a huge success. It makes your day! Mike Assistant Director by Don Goglio The rides and events are planned and the Chapter calendars are out, so pick up your copy at the next meeting or at H-D of Williamsport and start planning your riding and fun for the year. It all kicks off with the annual chili cook-off on March 10, with a bike blessing before and an Easter Bunny visit after. If you miss this blessing, there will be another opportunity at our annual blessing ride to Saint Andrews on May 20. Before you head out on any ride, be sure to send me your odometer readings to start tracking the total miles we ride for the mileage challenge with Frederick HOG. We came close last year at almost 295,000 miles so, with a few more participants, I think we can come out victorious in Throughout the year there are a number of overnight trips, from 3 to 9 days long, starting in May with Bikes to the Beach and Myrtle Beach Bike Week. In June, ride the 555 to Wright-Patterson AFB Museum and, in July, ride to Hillbilly Hotdog for the weekend or tour Tennessee and the Smokies for 9 days. August brings in the grand event to the H-D and HOG anniversary rally in Milwaukee with HOG members from across Maryland and Delaware. Delmarva Bike Week and HOGs at the Beach are in September and, in October, there is a Chapter trip to Smokehole Caverns, WV and, possibly, a pick-up ride to Thunder Beach in Florida. Watch for ride and hotel information in the newsletters and on the website or contact an officer or the Road Captain for the trip. The Williamsport HOG membership incentive program is underway and several members have participated already. Our goal is to build our Chapter back to 100 members. Each current member that brings in a new member during 2018 will receive a one-year Chapter renewal free of charge. I won't get to write again until the next issue in May and we ll run down the MDAMRA events at that point. Until then, watch for updates on social media and at the Chapter meetings. Sign up for RainedOut by texting whd1544 to to get text alerts for ride cancellations. If you use Sprint, you may need to allow short codes to receive this service. Now, let's go riding! Don Welcome New Members Dan Plotner William Hunter Mike Stauffer WILLIAMSPORT HOG MEMBERS 91

3 WILLIAMSPORT HOGPEN Issue 2 3 Treasurer Tidbits by Kevin Stouffer I can t believe its March already. It seems like winter just started six months ago. Now finally riding season is just around the corner. I m looking forward to our ride to HOT 2018 in Atlanta in mid-april. But before that we have our Chili Cook Off on March 10 th. That event is always a great time, so cook up your best pot of chili and bring it on out. There s always a lot of good friendly competition. It s just $5 to enter your chili or if you don t cook but you like to eat chili, come on out and help pick a winner. The fee for tasting is also just $5. Don t forget to tell your friends. Everyone is welcome. This year the chapter subsidized the holiday party for over $1,600. Because of that our treasury surplus is down so we re going to have to come up with some alternative fundraising ideas. This year we are going to be raffling off a set of custom made Harley Davidson Corn Hole boards to benefit the chapter. If each member would sell just 5 or 10 chances for the boards this fundraiser will be a big success. We will also have a Fifty- Fifty at the Chili Cook Off. Kevin Senior Road Captain by Michelle Stouffer I'm going to put my Merchandise hat on this month (with a little Road Captain at the end)... We finally got enough orders for the long sleeve chapter t-shirts to meet the minimum. I have placed the order and hope to have them in time for the March chapter meeting. I will have a tracking sheet at the dealer for anyone who wants to pay for theirs at HDW. Otherwise, for anyone who hasn't already paid, you can pay at the March chapter meeting. If you weren't at the February meeting, the chapter calendars are also in and are a hot item! There are some calendars at the dealer if you want to pick one up there. The cost is the same as last year, $10. We will also have the calendars available at the March meeting. For any new members or those who haven't had the opportunity to participate in many rides and events with us, just take a look at everything we have scheduled for the upcoming year and check out all the pictures from last year. I think the pictures speak to the awesome travel, experiences and all the fun we have. Every I time look at the pictures, it just makes me smile. So many good memories, good friends and good times. Join us, you won't regret it! Michelle

4 WILLIAMSPORT HOGPEN Issue 2 4 Safety Tips by Bob Glass Why We Crash In 2015 Virginia Tech conducted a study to learn about how and why we crash our motorcycles. They picked 100 riders, put five video cameras and data-logging equipment on their motorcycles and recorded them for 30,844 trips totaling 366,667 miles. The study was done for the Motorcycle Safety Foundation by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI). The study pointed out several things, some of which we probably already knew, some that may be surprising. Intersections are dangerous. We either need to pay better attention or work on our braking techniques, because we crash into the back of other vehicles way too often. We re not good enough at cornering, especially right turns. And we drop our bikes a lot (probably more often than any of us imagined or were willing to admit). The most commonly cited U.S. study of motorcycle crashes is the one known as the Hurt report. Researchers at the University of Southern California, led by Harry Hurt, went to motorcycle crash scenes to determine the causes. Unfortunately, that report came out in 1981, when a powerful motorcycle made 90 horsepower. Plus, all the crashes studied were only in Southern California. So even though the Hurt report was the best we had, it was short of perfect. How Virginia Tech studied motorcycle crashes The VTTI researchers recruited 100 riders from age 21 to 79 in California, Arizona, Florida and Virginia. They outfitted their motorcycles with video cameras showing the rider s face and forward, rear, left and right views. GPS and data loggers captured other information, such as brake pressure, acceleration, and other performance factors. This high-tech approach addressed another weakness of the Hurt report, since they were limited to gathering information from crash scene clues and witnesses, including the riders themselves, when possible. In many cases, they found no evidence that riders took any action at all to avoid a crash, though riders often reported they did. The VTTI cameras and data loggers eliminate the possibility of a rider changing their story after the fact. Conclusions The VTTI study, although covering 366,667 miles, still isn t a truly comprehensive national study During study there were only 30 crashes and 122 near-crash events There are far more than 30 ways to crash a motorcycle, so the inclusion of near-crashes helps the accuracy of the conclusions. Where we crash Intersections, no surprise right? An uncontrolled intersection presents nearly 41 times the risk of no intersection. A parking lot or driveway intersection is more than 8 times as risky and an intersection with a signal is almost 3 times as risky. A downhill grade increased the risk by a factor of 4 while an uphill grade doubled it. Riders were 9 times as likely to crash or have a near-crash incident on gravel or dirt roads than on paved roads. And riders were twice as likely to have an incident in a right-hand turn than on a straight section of road (crossing the center line is considered a nearcrash scenario, even if nothing else bad happens). How we crash We complain all the time about other drivers on the road trying to hurt us, especially cars pulling into our paths. The VTTI study partially backs that up. Of the 99 crashes and near-crashes involving another vehicle, 19 involved other vehicles crossing the rider s path. Ready for the surprise? The most common crash scenario involved riders hitting (or nearly hitting) another vehicle from behind. There were 35 of those incidents. This means we are almost twice as likely to plow into a stopped car in front of us as to have someone pull into our path. The researchers break down rider behavior in crashes and near-crash incidents into 2 categories: Aggressive riding or rider inattention Lack of skills The cameras and other data helped determine if the rider ran the red light because of inattention or aggressive riding. The study found that aggressive riding increased risk by a factor of 18 while inattention or lack of skill increased it by a factor of 9. Combine the two, and odds of an incident increased by 30. Now here's one of the less dramatic findings, it seems we drop our bikes a lot, or at least the riders in the study did. More than half the crashes were incidents some riders wouldn't define as a crash, not a dramatic collision but an incident defined as a case where the "vehicle falls coincident with low or no speed" not caused by another outside factor. Rider inattention or poor execution are to blame. The study finds "These low-speed 'crashes' appear to be relatively typical among everyday riding," but they are incidents that would never be included in a different kind of study of motorcycle crashes. The cameras, however, capture it all, even our minor but embarrassing moments. What we can learn The practical reason the MSF funded this study was to find ways to improve its curriculum for teaching new riders and the study ends with some suggestions. For all of us, however, anything that gets us thinking about where we can be better (and therefore safer) riders is worth a little of our time and thought.

5 WILLIAMSPORT HOGPEN Issue 2 5 We need to look further ahead. One of the other risk factors the VTTI researchers found that I haven t mentioned yet is that maneuvering to avoid an object, whether a pedestrian, an animal or something lying in the road, increases the risk factor by 12. Combine that with the high number of riders hitting another vehicle from behind and it becomes clear we re not paying close enough attention. We re not keeping our eyes up and looking far down the road, to see the developing situation that is going to cause the driver in front of us to slam on his or her brakes, or to spot the hunk of exploded truck tire lying in our lane. Those are things that will take us by surprise and apparently we re not giving ourselves enough time to react. We ve talked about using the Search, Evaluate, Execute (SEE) method to look 2, 4 and 12 seconds in front of us to identify and avoid hazards and potential hazards. The study reinforces that doing so will slow down the action by giving you have more time to react to what you see if you re looking further ahead. If you re looking at what s right in front of you, you re looking at the past, not the future. It s already too late for you to do anything about what s 20 feet ahead of your front tire. The VTTI study provides a lot of useful information but it doesn t identify all of the possible causes of a crash or a near crash, but we can learn from it. The more we know, the more capable we are to control our own destiny and ensure a safe ride.

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10 29 WILLIAMSPORT HOGPEN Volume 15 Issue 2 CHAPTER OFFICERS Director - Mike Pearson director@williamsporthog.org Asst. Director - Don Goglio assistantdirector@williamsporthog.org Secretary - Susan Brown secretary@williamsporthog.org Treasurer Kevin Stouffer K.Stouffer@myactv.net Membership Susan Glass membership@williamsporthog.org Sr. Road Captain - Michelle Stouffer roadcaptain@williamsporthog.org Webmaster Brian Baker webmaster@williamsporthog.org Safety Bob Glass safety@williamsporthog.org Merchandise - Michelle Stouffer merchandise@williamsporthog.org Upcoming Rides and Events Saturday, March 10 th 11AM Chili Cook-off, Blessing of the Bikes Saturday, March 17 th 10:30AM Sardi s Lunch Ride Monday, March 19 th 7PM Chapter Meeting Saturday, March 24 th 12PM Road Captain Appreciation Lunch Thursday, April 5 th 6:30PM Il Forno Pizza Ride Saturday, April 7 th 11AM The Pike Lunch Ride Monday, April 16 th 7PM Chapter Meeting Wednesday, April 18 th 6:30PM LOH Hempin Hill Saturday, April 21 10AM Lake Marburg, PA Saturday, April 28 th 11AM Casa Rico Lunch Ride January Meeting Gift Card Winners John Reynolds, Paul Allen, Bob Benjamin, Bob Barkdoll Ride Ticket Winner Rick Coulter 50/50 Winner Angel Pearson February Meeting Gift Card Winners Kurt Brown, Jim Chambers, Roy Tressler, Bob Glass 50/50 Winner Nancy McManus Historian Kurt Brown historian@williamsporthog.org Chaplain - Steve McCarty chaplain@williamsporthog.org Editor - Bob Corley editor@williamsporthog.org Activities James Kisner jkisner@myactv.net LOH Brittany Harpel pip304@yahoo.com Photographer Brittany Harpel pip304@yahoo.com General Information: Info@williamsporthog.org All rides leave from the rear of the dealership February & March Birthdays Diane Timpano 02/05 Kevin Stouffer 02/09 Mark Henicle 02/13 Bob Corley 02/19 Susan Glass 02/20 Karla Gilbert 02/23 John Ahalt 02/28 Jerry Lenga 02/28 Kurt Mogard 01/20 Robert Frick 01/30 Brittany Harpel 03/09 Ricky Kennedy 03/20 Mary Jane Koontz 03/22 John Reynolds 03/31

11 WILLIAMSPORT HOGPEN Issue 2 11 Support Our Members Businesses DID YOU KNOW? Members advertise for free in the HOGPEN Classifieds

12 WILLIAMSPORT HOGPEN Issue 2 12 For Sale 20" Upper Recurve windshield from clearviewshields.com (orig $170). Used a few years, in good shape. Fits '86-later FLSTC, '90 and later FLSTF, '06 FLST and '93-'96 FLSTN models with auxiliary lights. (Does not fit FLSTS or FLSTSC models) No brackets. Upper Recurve creates a larger, quieter pocket and pushes the airflow 1.5" - 2" higher. I loved it and could really tell a difference from the stock windshield. $80 Contact Michelle or Kevin