Mariners Riders

By yours truly, Cowboyjj (secretary) Jamison

Most of us gathered for the 8:3O am service before the lO:3O am departure. I thought it was a great service.

We had a fantastic turn out for a winter ride. About l7 bikes. We had our drivers meeting and group prayer.   One thing that was said, we can learn from. “No stops from the church to the destination.” That was about an 85-mile stretch. I suggest all future ride leaders re-think that. Two empty tanks and one full bladder proved that we couldn’t do it.

Most bikes can go about 110 miles. The smallest cc bike in the group is a 65O and she had to halt the precession at 80 miles.   But then the fastest bike in the group is a gas guzzler and he could have only gone 6 more miles than the 65Occ so it doesn’t matter, if you got one extreme or the other riding, then a stop at 75 miles is good. Not to mention it isn’t always being empty that halts us either. Being too full is another reason. Ha!

The ride started well with one personal objection. My bike has a stereo and communications in the helmets. That is a benefit over other types of bikes. The problem I had is that I cannot adjust the “sensitivity” on the radio when it thinks I am talking and tells the music to stop and the frigging rumble of you overly loud Harleys.   We ride staggered. I found that not even a noisy Harley, staggered by a quiet bike with me being two bikes back kept the radio from cutting in and out. It took the noisy Harley, followed by Rick and Joyce’s normal sound, followed by a crotch rocket, with me being the fourth bike back, leaving more room than I was instructed to leave, to get my stereo to stay on. Then when going up hill, and you guys pouring the coals to them, it still cut out my radio.   So either I have to lead all rides, hang back on all rides, or you guys will have to pay $l,5OO each to have the sound you so dearly love altered.   Guess you know where I will be riding from now on. Ha. That is ok, I don’t mind doing 90 mph to catch up being in the back, because my Yamaha doesn’t realize it is moving until about 90 mph anyway.

The weather going was balmy and warm.

One of the fun parts of the ride was entering the parking structure at Pala and revving up those dang Harleys and setting off all the car alarms. Boys will be boys huh?

The casino was very nice and the buffet was to die for. I have almost always had something critical to say about our restaurant choices, but the service at that place was fantastic. And the choice of the food was as comprehensive as I have ever seen. It was a feast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then one of our members who’s name escapes me was certainly not gambling, but somehow a coin fell out of his pocket and it landed in a slot machine paying out $270.

Now you talk about a generous man, he took all us to the gas station upon departure and bought all of us a tank of gas out of his winnings. Praise the Lord for gentleman like that.

The ride home took on a little more of a chill, but still nice for end of Feb. We headed North on the l5 and took the road heading around lake Elsinore. At the bottom of the hill heading up to Ortega Hwy, my rider’s communication cord became unhooked and I had to pull over. It may have been “jarred” loose from the noise of some of the Harleys, but I can’t prove that. Ha. Anyway, it gave me a chance to take the first two miles and most fun part of Ortega Hwy at “my” pace, rather that the group’s pace. We had no problem catching up. Sorry to leave you in the dust Paul, but thanks for stopping to see if we were ok. That is the job of the bike ridding “drag”.

The ride on 74 is always great. My gal/pal friend Jan had never done Ortega before and she loved it. Then when we all came out on 5 we kind of split off and all went out separate ways.

It was just another great ride to be entered in the photo album. We did take some snap shots for the website or a book.   See you all next time.   And for the next ride, I will be running a DB test, issuing baffles and assigning formation rankings based on the sound of your machine. Yeah right!!!!!!!!!!!! After all I have said, I think I will hang back for safety reasons.

CowboyJJ