Last month we rode down to the Keys and on the way back at one of our stops I noticed that the rear tire was pretty worn out. The threads down the middle of the tire were almost all gone, so once we got back home I told my wife “no more riding until we get a new tire”. Unfortunately I had no idea bike tires were so expensive. Also you can’t just jack it up, take a couple bolts out and change it yourself (that much I did know..). So I went online as well as to a couple of local stores to get some quotes. Interesting enough the cheapest rear tire I could find ($145.00). That’s actually what I paid for two tires for my old Honda Civic.

To make matters worse, the bike is over-due for its regular 3500 mile service. So now I find myself having to buy a new tire, get it installed and get the maintenance done. The last time I did the maintenance the mechanic charged me $80.00, and the cheapest quote I got for the installation of the rear tire was $50.00 from Palmetto Motorsports. One of the Yamaha dealers in the area wanted to charge me $250.00 just for the maintenance. Talk about a rip-off.

So now I’m looking at a total cost of $275.00. In any other time of the year this might not seem like much money to spend on getting your bike in top condition, but for my wife and I the first 3 months of the year is usually the time when we are the tightest with money. If it’s not one thing it’s another, but spending $300 on the bike right now is not possible.

The sad part is that the weather here this time of the year is great for riding, and many of our riding friends are taking advantage of that and going on a few nice long rides. We had even thought about going to Daytona for bike week with a few friends and if it were just a matter of oil change I wouldn’t be too worry and gone, but with the rear tire so worn down, I won’t take that risk. As a matter of fact, after taking a closer look at the tire, I wouldn’t want to risk even going around town.

So it looks like for the next month or two we’re going to be cage bound. But I’m not too bummed out about it. I’ve noticed that this year a lot folks that normally go to Daytona have decided to stay home. The main reason of course is the economy. I expect to see a lot more short distance rides and events scheduled, and if we can’t get there by bike, well then we’ll just get there by car. After-all, it’s all about enjoying spending time with folks who have a common interest. Bikes!

The plan was to head down to the Keys with my wife’s family on Friday and stay till Sunday afternoon. While the family rode in the motor home, my wife and I were going to follow on the bike, so Friday night after work we packed our Tourmaster bag and strapped it on to the bike, but just when we were getting ready to leave, my sister-in-law called to say that they weren’t going to leave till Saturday morning. With the bike all ready to go we decided to ride out to The Pit Bar B Que where a friend of us was DJing. Just as we got there my sister-in law called again saying that they had changed their mind and were going to leave that night after-all. By now it was about 8pm and a heavy fog was setting in, so we decided to wait till the next morning to leave. Besides, “The Pit “was jumping and everyone was having a really good time. As it turned out some of our rider friends that were there had made plans to ride down to the Keys the next day, so we decided to head down with them.

Saturday morning 5 of us met at the Turnpike Service Plaza to find a place to have breakfast before heading down to the Keys. We stopped at the Golden Coral, which IMHO has the best breakfast deal going on in town. For $7.99 you get a buffet-styled breakfast of all you can eat. And we’re not just talking eggs and pancakes. These folks have everything available from pastries to omelets made to your own special request. After pigging out we headed down the road to a gas station in Florida City to wait for a few more bikes to show up.

It wasn’t until 11:30am that we finally got everyone together to leave. I was asked to lead the group of about 12 bikes down US1. I had never been a captain of a ride, so it was some-what of a special treat for me, but it also made me nervous. After-all; as group captain you’re partly responsible for the whole group’s safety.

We rode down to the Tiki Bar at Holiday Isle. As I’ve mentioned in other posts, this is a must stop whenever you’re heading down to the Keys. The Tiki bar has some great burgers as well as some delicious seafood. Some of us sat at the bar to drink their famous “Miami Vice” (Rum Runner mixed with Pina Colada). Those who hadn’t eaten breakfast earlier, sat out by the water to eat. After hanging out for about an hour we decided to continue south to our destination at the Safari Lounge in Islamorada.

The Safari Lounge is a nice sport-bar where the view is awesome and the drink prices are more than reasonable. There’s a pool table, air-hockey table and juke-box to help you pass the time enjoyably. There’s also a lot of parking available for both bikes and cages right by the jetty. Perfect spot for pictures.

Parking at the Safari Lounge

After a few round of air hockey and pool, my wife and I decided to continue south to meet up with the rest of the family. So we said our farewell to everyone and got back on the over-seas highway.

Our new destination now was the KOA campsite in Sugarloaf Key, which is about 20 miles north of Key West. If you’ve read some of my earlier post about our rides down to Key West, you’ll know how much we love this place. After stopping for gas and getting a pizza for the family (can’t just show up empty-handed) we arrived at the camp ground at about 4pm. My brother-in-law and step-son were fishing off the nearby bridge, and caught a small hammerhead shark and some grunts. My wife’s 1 year old grandson was happily trying out something he had just recently discovered. Walking!

Later that night my wife and I walked around the camp ground and came across a small wedding that was taking place on the beach. There were tiki lamps lined up along an arch which was wrapped with colorful flowers. The groom and all the male guests wore white Guayaberas and sandals. Then the bride showed up in a white 4X4 in a simple white dress and beach sandals. My wife and I watched the young couple take their vows and hoped that their lives together will feel as complete as ours has

So it’s been a while since I’ve written about one of our long rides. It’s also been awhile since my wife & I have gotten on our bike and just rode out on our own (no poker runs or event rides with groups, just us two). This past weekend we did just that. However, this time instead of heading South to the Keys, we headed west to Ft. Myers Beach.

For some time now I had been telling my wife that I wanted to get away just for the weekend to some place we hadn’t been before, but as it usually happens something always tends to come up. Well last week what came up was “my birthday”. So I logged on the web, picked out some weekend hotel rates and told my wife not to make any plans. We were heading out of town.

Saturday morning, after sleeping in late we packed a few clothes into our Tourmaster bike luggage, fed the dog, gave my mom the spare key to take care of the house for the weekend and took off. Our first stop was Café 27. Lot of bike rides tend to start out from this little outdoor bar/cafe, especially if you’re heading north towards central Florida, or to the Gulf coast. This weekend was no exception. When we arrived we met a few biker friends who were heading up to Clewiston. We sat down and had some breakfast, filled up the tank and headed up towards I-75 westbound which would take us all the way to Naples.

The ride to Naples via I-75 is about 2 hours and very un-eventful. There are a few rest stops and maybe 1 or 2 little towns you can get off to grab some fuel and refreshments, but other than that, it’s a straight 70mph highway with the Everglades on both sides. When we got to the outer fringes of Naples we decided to get off the highway, and look for US 41 which would take us all the way up through downtown Naples and then towards Ft. Myers.

I hadn’t been to Naples in over 6 years, and boy has it changed, especially the downtown area. There are a lot of new condos with a very Mediterranean look that makes the town look fresh and clean. We stopped to have lunch on a little outdoors café in Tin City, which is right on an inlet. My wife had the crab-legs while I had the BBQ wings. Although it’s a little bit pricey (geared mostly to tourist) the view was pretty nice, especially on a day like this where the weather was awesome. After checking the GPS for our location and direction, we headed back onto US 41 towards Ft. Myers Beach.

Riding up to Ft. Myers Beach took a little over 30 minutes. There wasn’t much traffic so the ride was very peaceful. As we rode up along the coast you can see the Gulf of Mexico in between some pretty awesome looking homes. It was sad however to see so many for sale signs. You could tell that the recession was taking a toll even on this affluent community. Sure these are million dollar homes, but still the effects are not without notice. I’d say every 3^rd or 4^th house on either side of the road was either for sale or for rent. A couple of new constructions even looked as though they may have run out of funding and were left temporarily abandoned.

We finally got up to our hotel at the Lani Kai Resort. There are a lot of places to stay at in Ft. Myers Beach, but if you’re looking for some place that has a lot of water sports activity and good live music, dancing and the best “Miami Vice drinks” (Piña Colada & Rum Runner) this side of well..Miami, this is the place to be. Check out some of the pics below:

Lani Kai roof top view

The beaches of Ft.Myers have some of the best sand around. It’s really fine white sand. Unlike on the Atlantic coast, you don’t have too many issues with seaweed that tends to litter the beach during high tide.

I’ve stayed here in the past and it’s not uncommon to see dolphins swimming near the pier early in the mornings.

Dancing on the beach

Now if you’re not young at heart, this place may not be for you. You do see a lot more 20 to 30 year olds in this area than in the southern part of the island. (Naples itself seems to cater to the over 55 crowd). Another great thing about Ft Myers Beach is that they are very “biker friendly”. The host at the registration desk is a rider. One of waiters that took care of us is a biker. The parking attendant is a biker. And speaking of parking, Lani Kai has a parking area exclusive for motorcycles (Big plus).

Around 5:00pm we decided to take a ride around the town of Ft. Myers Beach. The thing is you don’t need to “ride” around to see it. Everything is pretty much in walking distance, so after cruising up and down for 10 minutes we went right back to the hotel and waited for the sunset. And wow, what a sunset that is.

Sunset in Ft Myers Beach

I’ve been to Key West to see the sunset there at the famous Mallory Square, but I gotta tell you, watching the sunset in Ft.Myers Beach is the best. One reason is because you don’t have anything blocking your view, like an island or huge ship.

After sunset the party continues with a little fireworks show on the beach. There is a fire-dancers who entertains the crowd with some nice “in-your face” tricks. And of course there is nothing like a beautiful sunset to trigger a little fireworks in your romance too.

The next morning we woke up around 9:30am. Check out was not until 11am so we decided to take our time packing, had some breakfast in the hotel’s roof-top café and watch as the jet ski and parasail where getting set-up for the day’s events. We checked out, and headed back south towards Naples. We had decided that instead of taking I-75 back to Miami, we would take a longer but more scenic view through US 41, or as we Floridians like to call it Alligator Alley.

The reason it’s called Alligator Alley is obvious when you ride 86 miles down the middle of the Everglades and Miccosukee Indian reservation and see alligators swimming in the lakes and canals just a few feet away from the road. It’s an awesome ride, but you need to make sure you top off on fuel just before leaving Naples. There are very few places to stop also, so relieve your bladder before taking that ride. Also, just my own recommendation; don’t take this route at night. It’s pretty dangerous and there are no street lights.

There is a lot of wildlife out here. While riding down the road a huge Blue Heron swept out of the trees and came only about 2 feet above our heads while trying to create enough lift to cross the road. And you thought riding in the city was bad…

When we arrived at Dade Corners in Miami, our butts were pretty sore, but it was only about 3pm and we really weren’t ready to call it a day yet. Luckily my mother-in –law called us to say they were having a picnic at Black Point Marina. So we got back on the bike and headed south for some great BBQ and cold beer with the family. All in all it was a nice birthday weekend.

]]> http://newbikerjournal.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/go-west-young-man/feed/ 0 guscave view-from-restuarant5 dancing5 fire4 http://newbikerjournal.wordpress.com/2008/12/29/snake-road-ribs/ http://newbikerjournal.wordpress.com/2008/12/29/snake-road-ribs/#comments Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:12:26 +0000 guscave http://newbikerjournal.wordpress.com/?p=55 ]]>

It’s great when you plan out a ride with a few friends then on the day of the ride you wind up with a whole bunch of extra bikers. That’s just what happened this past weekend. One of the groups we hang out with called Motorcycle Riders of South Miami (MRSF) decided to go on a ride up to Immokalee Florida and a little rib joint called Rib City. Seeing that most of their members are also members of the group my wife and I belong to, they invited us along. The initial response was about 20 to 25 bikes, however by the time we had our kickstands up, we had a good 50 bikes joining us.

The ride started out at a local biker hangout in west Broward County called Café 27 at 9am. There my wife & I and another couple we ride with sat down at the outdoor bar and had breakfast. At about 10am bikes started to roll in either in small groups or individually. The plan was to head up US 27 to Big Cypress Indian Reservation then cut across to the town of Immokalee. The ride would be about 86 miles one way.

By 10:30am we had way more bikes show up then anyone expected. Someone counted 48 bikes while someone else counted 50. Before riding into Big Cypress Park we stop at the only gas station around for miles to fill up again and picked up a woman who had been riding around on her Road King and had no particular plans for the day. So we told her to come ride with us.

The road around Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reserve is called “Snake Road”. It has a lot of nice turns and curves, but it also has 3 small Indian towns in which the speed limit is STRICTLY enforced. When they say 15mph, “they mean just that”. Not only can you get a ticket for speeding, but if they choose to, they can also confiscate your bike. This is Seminole Indian land, and “They don’t mess around”. There are also a few speed bumps that you need to watch out for. We learned that last year someone had a nasty fall because they weren’t paying attention and went over the speed bump too fast.

We finally arrived at Immokalee and Rib City just in time for lunch. You should’ve seen the look on the waitress when they saw so many bikes pull up to the parking lot. The place is not big enough to seat so many people but some how or another we managed to get everyone in and gave the waitress a helping hand passing the trays around for them. You can check out a short video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbYcreJ6VH8 .

The food was absolutely awesome. I can’t remember the last time I had baby-back ribs that were so tasty and which the meat would fell off the bone so easily. I mean you barely had enough time to put them in your mouth before they fell back onto your plate. Their prices were also very reasonable. My wife & I will definitely be coming back this way again soon.

After a great lunch we rode south on State Rd 29 to US 41 then back east where we stopped off at Dade Corners. A lot of bikers usually fuel up here before heading towards the west coast of Florida. Dade Corners is a very biker friendly place and you can usually get some pretty good deals on jackets and other bike accessories. They also serve Cuban coffee and snacks so you don’t have to get on your way on an empty stomach.

After hanging out at Dade Corners for a while most of the riders went on home while a few continued to other hang outs. My wife & I decided to ride over to Pit Bar B Q with 6 other riders. Not that we were ready to eat more ribs yet, but this place is also known for their Friday “bike nights” where you can get a pitcher of beer for $5.00. Luckily for us they were still serving the $5 beer pitcher even though it was Saturday.

After spending an hour at the Pit, one of the girls that rode with us earlier that day called us up and invited us to her house for some appetizers. We all hanged out at her house until 11pm talking about what a great day it had turned out to be and how much fun we had. No one expected so many bikes to show up, but I guess when you have such great weather as we had and nothing else planned for the day, you just gotta ride.

So we agreed to do it and surprisingly we received a lot of congratulations from people who were happy we accepted. The reason I found it surprising was because we haven’t been with the group that long, and I thought there were others more experienced to handle the job. But after spending the weekend at a couple of bike events and meeting other groups and clubs I noticed that there are very distinct differences between motorcycle Groups and Clubs, and maybe our lack of seniority wasn’t as important.

Groups tend to be a lot more flexible than Clubs. First of all there’s usually no application or membership fee. If anything they might ask for a donation here & there to help sponsor an event. The requirements for riding with a group is mostly aimed at safety. Some might require that you’ve passed a MSF course or that you have at least enough riding experience where you’re not a danger to others. Although groups don’t have extensive written rules, if you do something they don’t like, they’ll let you know right away. If you continue to do things they don’t like, they’ll ask you not to ride with them anymore.

I know of one rider who has been asked to leave two groups because of their reckless riding. And believe it or not, it’s a small world and word gets around quick if you’re someone that has a reputation for reckless riding. This person usually rides alone or with one other rider because folks have heard about their recklessness and don’t want to take any risks.

Clubs on the other hand are much more organized and therefore have stricter rules to follow. For example; some clubs want you to wear their colors (ie, vest or jacket with their logo) at ALL events, while others require you to wear them only at events they sponsor or support. Most clubs also require you to pay a monthly membership fee as well as an application fee. These fee can range anywhere from $10 per month to almost $100.

Some clubs require everyone who rides with them to be a member or a “probation” rider. Meaning that if you’re a member and you want to take your spouse 2 up to an event, your spouse has to be a member also in order to wear the colors. There are also “men only” clubs as well as “women only” clubs.

So you’re probably asking yourself; why join a Club, if you can do the same thing with Groups for free. Well it really depends on your personality. Some folks like to belong to a Club because they enjoy the structure and discipline that comes with Clubs. There are Clubs that cater to people who have belonged to some kind of community, armed or civil service (i.e. military, emergency or police) and enjoy riding with people of common interest. There is a special camaraderie in Clubs that you don’t always see with Groups.

Clubs are not easy to join, and for some folks that’s something they welcome because it keeps out the unwanted. You usually have to be invited to join a Club by one of the main members (a captain, vice president, or other higher up), but even the Clubs that don’t require an invitation, will hold you to a “probation” rank for up to a year. This means that although you’re not a full member, you still have to pay dues and participate in certain mandatory meetings and events. After your probation period they’ll review your commitment to the Club and if they feel you’re up to par, they’ll ask you to join as a full member.

For folks like my wife and I, a Group works out just fine because there is very little commitment. Like I mentioned before, our schedules are pretty messed up so we can only commit to what we can on our own terms. If we had more time to spare we would probably consider one of the local Clubs, but for now I would want to waste a Club’s time and endorsement when we can’t put much back into it.

However, that being said you shouldn’t think of a Group as an undisciplined, “do as you please” collection of riders. Groups do take pride in getting as many riders to participate in special events and charity.

As new assistant organizers, our first assignment was to get the word out of an upcoming charity event called “Toy Run Miami”. This is an event sponsored by the Florida Highway Patrol to get toys to under-privileged kids for Christmas. The thing is that there is another similar event happening the week before in which almost 30,000 bikes participate. However; that event is 35 miles north in Broward County, and while our group also promotes that event, our job was to get as many bikers to participate in the much smaller Miami the following week.

In general, I believe that there are three main benefits in joining either a Club or a Group.

1) You get to meet and make friends with some very nice folks.

2) You get to participate in doing something good for your community.

3) You have another excuse to go riding….:)

]]> http://newbikerjournal.wordpress.com/2008/12/08/groups-and-clubs/feed/ 0 guscave http://newbikerjournal.wordpress.com/2008/11/24/winter-rides/ http://newbikerjournal.wordpress.com/2008/11/24/winter-rides/#comments Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:55:21 +0000 guscave http://newbikerjournal.wordpress.com/?p=44 ]]> For you riders who don’t have the privilege of living in South Florida, I know that this is the season where most of you have to store your bikes for winter while we here continue with the fun. However it can still feel pretty cold down here in the sunshine state during winter. If you’re used to winter temperatures in the teens you may not think that riding in 50 degree weather is a big deal, but for us it is.

You see our 50 degrees feels more like your 40’s. This is due to all the moisture in the air. (Remember we’re surrounded by water). Add to the fact that when you ride, it feels at least 10 degrees lower. So if you ride in Miami while the temperature is about 60 degrees, it can easily feel like its 40 degrees.

This may still not seem like a big deal to snow-birds, but consider also the fact that most of us aren’t prepared for winter weather since it only lasts sporadically for about 2 months. Our houses aren’t built with a lot of cold weather insulation either (I don’t even own a heater), and we don’t buy much winter clothing, so we’re not use to (or prepared) to ride in the winter.

This weekend the weather ran between 57 degrees in the morning to the mid- 70’s in the afternoon, then coming back down into the lower 60’s at sunset. My wife & I decided to do some riding with friends this weekend and we all found ourselves huddling close to our pipes at each stop. What started out as a few local stops at nearby watering holes became a weekend of over 250 miles of riding.

Friday night my wife & I picked up our bike and rode to her sister’s house for dinner. It had been cold all day long and now the temperature had dropped to the mid-50’s. We both had on leather jackets and gloves, but nothing to cover our faces. I personally don’t like full-face helmets and my wife feels extremely claustrophobic in them. It felt really cold but we managed to travel the 7 miles to and from her sister’s house without suffering too much.

The next morning the weather was about 57 degrees and we rode over to Palmetto Motorsports to check out some bike luggage. Recently I removed my saddle bags ‘cause I didn’t like the way they looked on our bike, and thought that maybe luggage racks would be better. I wound up liking the Tourmaster Sissybar Bags, but I decided to wait a while before buying them.

So we headed down south to meet-up with friends who were going to ride to Deli Lane Café for breakfast. This is a really nice place in trendy Coral Gables. You can either eat inside or out by the side-walk and the food is excellent. I ordered the eggs Benedict with coffee and a Mimosa (Champaign & orange juice) and it was great.

After breakfast six of us rode up to North Miami to the annual Latin American Motorcycle Association (LAMA) street party. The LAMA’s are a much respected bike organization with charters all over the U.S. and are known for their work and contribution in raising funds for children’ charities.  At the party they had tents set up with various vendors, Latin foods, drinks, live band and a Harley Davidson raffle.

We were having a good time but my mind kept thinking about the luggage bags. “Should I get them or not”? I finally decided “what the heck”, I’ll get em’. We were only about 3 miles away from the store, so I told my friends to hang out at the street party while the wife & I went to buy the luggage bag. My wife & I got onto our bike, rode back to the store, picked up the bags, loaded it onto the bike and were back at the street party in less than an hour.

After a while a few of us decided to head down about 33 miles to Gusto’s Bar & Grill in Florida City. Most of the folks from the LAMA street party were planning to go there afterwards, but we wanted to get there before it got too crowded. By this time (around 1:30pm) the weather was really nice. It had gone up to the low- 70’s and most of the ride took us through the turnpike where there was hardly any traffic. At Gusto’s we sat outside had some beer and Buffalo wings and basically sat around shooting the breeze for a few hours.

Someone then decided that we should head on over to Black Point Marina where apparently there were 7 bands playing for some kind of benefit. So we saddled up and headed out. The ride to Black Point is really a lot of fun because it has a lot of curves and not much traffic at all. When we got there, the place was rockin’. We quickly found a table out by the dock and ordered some drinks and a few appetizers. I had an amazing lobster bisk that was to die for.

Little by little more bikers started to get word about the party at Black Point, and before you knew it the place was packed. By night time the weather had dropped down to the low 60’s, which normally ain’t too bad except that we were sitting only 10 yards from the water. The waitress must have noticed how we were all bunched up together trying to stay warm so she brought out one of the patio heaters and put it next to our table.

Although the place was jammin’ by 9:30pm my wife & I were tired. We had been up since 7am and riding all day, so we decided to head home. Two other friends decided to join us on our way out which was a good thing because I didn’t know how to get back onto the main highway. The ride home felt really long for us. It was probably due to the fact that we weren’t use to riding in such cold weather and that we were a good 35 miles away from home. But either way we made it nice and safe.

SUNDAY BRUNCH….

Sunday the wife & I decided to stay in bed a little longer, but at about 9am our friend Jorge called to say that about 12 riders were meeting at La Carreta on Bird Road for breakfast then heading down to Key Largo to watch the Dolphin vs Patriot game at a sports bar. So without wasting anytime we got dressed and headed down south.

By 10:30am nine of us were having a traditional Cuban breakfast of eggs, cafe con leche (Cuban coffee with milk) and buttered Cuban toast.

Breakfast at La Carreta

We then headed south to Florida City where we would again stop at Gusto’s to hook up with a few more friends. So by the time we headed down to Key Largo there were about 20 bikes and the weather was a nice 72 degrees.

We finally arrived at The Big Chill in Key Largo. What a great place. When you first walk up to the patio you see this huge bar facing the ocean. Beyond that, there is a deck that’s been decorated with very comfortable rattan sofas with Tiki lamps all over the place. Inside there is a nice restaurant which also offers outside dining. Further inside there is a sports bar with TV all over the place.

As we sat over-looking the water, another group of friends rolled in and joined us by the deck and bar. There was supposed to be a bikini contest that unfortunately for us guys was canceled, but still, The Big Chill has a great atmosphere.

On the deck of The Big Chill

The Dolphins were doing pretty well by the 2^nd quarter, but most of us were getting anxious to ride some more. That’s when someone decided that we should ride further south to the Tiki Bar in Islamorada. And so we did. About 15 of us rode the extra 20 miles south to the Tiki bar where we celebrated two fellow riders birthday. Yes someone actually brought a cake in their saddle-bags (good thing it was in a box).

Our original group of 9 riders decided to head back home at about 5:00pm. As the sun went down, so did the temperature. Unfortunately I had forgotten to bring along my jacket, but I did have a neoprene face mask that although it made me look like a terrorist, it kept my face from freezing off.

The ride home took about 45 minutes and a good 17 miles of that is through an area that has no stops and my wife needed to use the bathroom badly. By the time we reached Florida City, we all pulled into the first gas station and hauled butt into the rest-rooms. Everyone was freezing, yet it looked like nobody really wanted the night to end. So we all decided to head over to Black Point again.

The ride home

This time however there was only one band playing, but they were incredibly good. (wish I could remember their name). We hanged out for about an hour then we all decided to actually go home. We headed back north on the turnpike and 1 by 1 each bike pulled off to it’s corresponding exits. My wife and I being the ones that live the furthest north, found ourselves alone on the highway by 9:30pm. It was cold and we were tired, but what an incredibly great riding experience we had this weekend.

]]> http://newbikerjournal.wordpress.com/2008/11/24/winter-rides/feed/ 0 guscave La Carreta the-big-chill heading-home http://newbikerjournal.wordpress.com/2008/10/15/around-the-town/ http://newbikerjournal.wordpress.com/2008/10/15/around-the-town/#comments Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:45:34 +0000 guscave http://newbikerjournal.wordpress.com/?p=42 ]]>

Not all bike rides have to be long distances to be enjoyable. Heck just taking the bike around the block is “all good“to me. So this past weekend my wife and I decided to ride a around our own area code.

On Friday we headed down to see my friend DJ Noiz at a local watering hole called Renaissance. The guy can really get a party going, however the club is small and there is a 2 drink minimum with the price not at all very friendly. After spending about an hour listening to some great dance tunes, we headed east to Miami Beach.

It was already about 10pm and we were hungry, but if you’ve ever wandered around South Beach you know that there is never a shortage of places to eat. Instead of cruising down the always too packed Ocean Drive, we headed north on Washington Ave. Here is where all the dance clubs are and where you’ll hook up with Espanola Way where you’ll find some pretty nice outdoor dining.

After finding a safe place to park the bike, we walked a block up Espanola and found Tapas y Tintos. An authentic Spaniard restaurant that specializes in Tapas. If you don’t know what that is, Tapas are sort of like appetizers usually consisting of different types of beefs and cheeses. On weekends the place offers some great traditional Spanish Flamenco music. When we got there we quickly found an outside table next to the window where we could see the band playing.

Tapas y Tintos offers a huge variations of Tapas, so you should take your time and read the whole menu so you don’t miss anything. Their wine selection is pretty nice too, but after riding for a couple of hours, I was in the mood for something more refreshing, so we both settled for a Mojito. Our food was served very quickly considering this is the heart of South Beach where nothing is served quickly. (Although let’s face it; most Tapa dishes don’t take much preparation).

My wife ordered a plate of pinto beans cooked in virgin olive oil with several herbs and spices, while I enjoyed 3 different types of hams served with pita bread soaked in olive oil and black pepper.

After eating we walked down the short Espanola Way to do some window shopping then headed back to our bike and rode back south towards 5^th Street then west towards the city, and home.

On Sunday morning my wife decided that she wanted to take a ride up towards Ft. Lauderdale. (If I had known that on Saturday I wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of storing it). So we drove up to her mom’s house and took the bike out again. This time we headed up the Turnpike up to Hollywood Beach to Bu’s Beach Bar. When we got there, there were about 4 bikes parked outside next to the beach. Inside the place was packed because the Dolphins were playing against Houston. We ordered a beer each and sat on the balcony over-looking the sand and the ocean.

Afterwards we walked down the boardwalk until my friend Jorge from MMR text me asking who wanted to go riding after the game. Of course I answered him back letting him know we were one step ahead of him. Jorge texted me back asking if we could meet-up at La Carreta in South Miami at 5:30pm. It was only 3:30pm so I said “yeah” and we got back on the bike and headed south.

Instead of taking the highway, we rode down A1A to Bal Harbour. There we headed west to I-95 then met up with highway 836 to South Miami. It’s a much longer ride, but “hey” that’s the way we like it…

By the time we stopped for gas and did some site-seeing, we got to La Carreta at about 5pm. We hung out there watching other bikes that come to hang out there. La Carreta has several restaurants in Miami and it is famous for its Cuban cuisine, but for some reason this particular one has become a popular hang out for Latin bikers. As I drank my shot of Cuban coffee, Jorge pulled up on his Victory bike. A couple of minutes later we were joined by 5 other biker friends. We didn’t have any particular ride planned (sometimes those are the best rides), but we quickly voted on heading to Coconut Grove and to have lunch at Scotty’s.

The ride to Scotty’s took us through trendy Coral Gables and into the heart of Coconut Grove. Scotty’s is right on the water in front of the marina which houses some pretty amazing yachts. The place has been around for what seems forever, and if you don’t know the area, it’s pretty difficult to find. They usually always have some live music. Today they had a guitarist playing some late 70’s favorite.

My wife and I shared some baby-back ribs, while some of the others ordered hot wings. Both were absolutely great. We also ordered a big plate of onion rings and a bucket of beer. We hung out at Scotty’s for a pretty long-time because by the time we paid the tab, the sun was already going down. The sky was also threatening with rain, so we all decided to head on home quickly.

As my wife and I rode up 27^th Ave, a large black cloud cam over us and just let it rip. It only took me less than a minute to pull over under a covered parking lot, but we got soaked. And as is usual for South Florida, as soon as we parked the bike, the rain stopped. I told my wife that no matter what next week I’m getting the saddlebag racks put on so we can carry a couple of raincoats.

After storing the bike, we finally made it home at about 9pm. Although a little wet and tired from riding all day long, we were already thinking about our next ride in 2 weeks to Key West for Fantasy Fest.

]]> http://newbikerjournal.wordpress.com/2008/10/15/around-the-town/feed/ 0 guscave http://newbikerjournal.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/my-first-poker-run/ http://newbikerjournal.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/my-first-poker-run/#comments Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:45:34 +0000 guscave http://newbikerjournal.wordpress.com/?p=34 ]]> This past weekend my wife & I participated in our first Key West Poker Run. For those who don’t know what that is. The Poker run to Key West was established over 35 years ago by Phil Peterson’s Harley Davidson, where over 10,000 bikes run from Miami to Key West collecting funds for different charities. The run also is made to boost the slow tourist season in Key West during the month of Sept.

What makes this run so special is the ride itself. There’s nothing quite like riding from one little island to another with the Gulf of Mexico on one side and the Atlantic on the other. I talked about my first ride to Key West on a previous blog and how great it was, well this run doubled the fun and excitement because we were able to do the 160 miles with several other friends as well as several thousand other riders. Eight riders on five bikes met up on Friday morning around 9:am at the Service Plaza on the turnpike and headed out to the first of five different stops along the way.

The first stop is in “Gusto’s Bar & Grill” in Florida City. Although this is a nice place with plenty of parking, I found it a bit of a waste of a stop considering it’s so close to Miami. But I guess for those riding in from further north, it doesn’t feel as such a short distance. It was too early to start drinking so we stopped by to check out the other bikes and to empty out our bladders before heading out again.

Gusto's Bar & Grill

The 2^nd stop was at the infamous Tiki Bar at Holiday Isle in Islamorada. Now if you read my blog about my first ride to Key West, you’ll recall that this was the same place where I got food poising back in July. But I love the Tiki Bar, and I know that food poisoning from seafood can come from any restaurant no matter how cheap or expensive it is. So I don’t blame the Tiki bar at all for my misfortune 2 months ago. As expected the Tiki Bar was packed with bikes. It was already mid afternoon and the Bar b’que was in full swing and so was the bar.

Wife at tiki-bar parking lot

We had a quick bike to eat and a beer while we waited for my sister and her husband to join us on their bike. After about an hour our group took off while my sister and her husband stayed behind waiting for more friends to catch up. We then headed out to our 3^rd stop in Marathon Key where we skipped the food and drinks but instead took advantage of their restrooms.

Our next stop was at mile marker 26 close to the KOA campgrounds in Sugarloaf Key. As it so happens, my wife’s family was coming down here later in the day in their RV to camp out until Sunday. We had a bite to eat and drink and waited a while until my sister and her group arrived, but after waiting more than 30 minutes we decided to head off to our final destination; Key West.

We finally arrived in Key West at about 4:30pm. The 5^th and final stop was at the Conch Republic Seafood Co. As we rode into the parking lot, there was a guy taking pictures of each bike rolling in and then conveniently giving you a business card telling you where you could purchase the photo. Ahh capitalism at it’s finest…

We grabbed a stool at the bar, ordered a few cold ones and talked for a long time while over-looking the marina. We traded cell phone numbers and agreed to hook up either later that night or the next day. Then we all headed out to our individual hotels, except for my wife & I. You see we didn’t have a hotel room. Not exactly.

Our plan was to stay at her cousin’s house, but her cousin was working and was not going to be able to give us the extra set of keys to the house until about 8:30 that night. So we needed to find a way to kill the next 4 hours. Fortunately that’s not too hard to do in Key West. We spent the rest of the day and night wondering from one bar to another and had a great Cuban dinner at El Meson de Pepe.

After dinner we headed for Duval Street where by now it was full with bikes. We walked from one end to the next checking out all the incredible array of bikes (and some charismatic bikers). At about 8:30pm my wife’s cousin found us and gave us the keys to the house. We had planned to take a nap and then head back out to Duval Street later that night, however that nap turned into an all night restful sleep. We didn’t get up again till 8am the next morning.

Duval-street-poker-run

On Saturday we got up and headed back to downtown Key West for breakfast. Afterwards we got back onto US1 and headed north to spend a few hours with my wife’s family at the KOA campground in Sugarloaf Key. The 20 mile ride was incredibly invigorating. The sun was shining on the Gulf and the Atlantic making the water as clear as glass. We spent about 3 hours in Sugarloaf enjoying the beach and the pool. We were going to go into the Jacuzzi but it was too hot, so instead we sat down next to their RV and had a light lunch and talked about the ride down.

With our bellies full we then headed back towards Key West. A couple of friends we rode down with the day before had invited us to a pool party Harley Davidson was putting together at the Southernmost Hotel. By the time we got there, the place was rockin’. The dj was spinning everything from southern rock to hip hop and what started out to be a bikini contest quickly turned into the “best tits” contest. Needless to say that when you mix bikers, alcohol, and bikinis, you get a very lively party! And of course the wife wasn’t too thrilled about that little portion of the day…

So after mooching off some pizza from our friends, we all decided to head back to our individual hotels and get ready to join up later that night which was going to be a bit more somber than the earlier hours. You see one of the things our group had planned for this Poker Run was to celebrate the life of a fellow rider who had passed away a couple of weeks before.

Leo De Pazos was a sales rep for Harley Davidson and one of those people you meet that just makes you feel really good every time you’re in the same room with them. I had ridden with Leo only once but quickly came to like the guy a whole lot. Several riders that had come down to Key West also knew Leo and we all decided to do a toast in his honor at Malory Square while watching the sun go down on the horizon. So at 6:45pm we all gathered together at Malory Square with a few riders from my sister’s group and said a few words and raised our glasses to him while the sky turned to a beautiful mixure of purple and yellow lights just as the sun hid behind the waves.

Later that night we met up with my wife’s family at Fat Tuesdays. My wife’s cousin had picked them up at Sugarloaf and drove them down to Key West to have a few drinks. We walked up and down Duval Street where by now there were twice as many bikes than the day before. In all, it is estimated that Key West had over 15,000 bikes that weekend. At about 1:00am my wife and I were exhausted and headed back to the house.

Sunday morning we woke up, got our stuff packed, said “thanks” and “bye” to my wife’s cousin and began our trek back home. This time we rode through the east side of the island where the road runs parallel to the beach. It was a beautiful site that made me appreciate the fact that I live in Florida. Our friends who rode down with us on Friday decided to stay till later, but there were no shortages of bikes heading back north, so we just hooked up with one group after another.

Key West in the morning

Once we past Key Largo we decided to take Card Sound Road instead of the usual US1. There we found Alabama Jacks and pulled over to have a bite to eat and listen to the live country band. Unfortunately today this place was way too packed and they just didn’t have enough servers so by the time we got our food and our bill, we had spent a good 2 hours there.

We finally got home at about 4:30pm, but my job was not finished. The bike had gotten really dirty on this trip and I wasn’t going to put her away without giving her a good bath. So with my riding gear still on, I went to work on washing then drying her up and then putting on the cover. It was an exhausting 3 days, but it was way worth it.

]]> http://newbikerjournal.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/my-first-poker-run/feed/ 0 guscave Gusto's Bar & Grill tiki-bar parking lot duval-street-poker-run Key West in the morning http://newbikerjournal.wordpress.com/2008/09/03/sport-bike-reputation/ http://newbikerjournal.wordpress.com/2008/09/03/sport-bike-reputation/#comments Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:22:12 +0000 guscave http://newbikerjournal.wordpress.com/?p=31 ]]>

Contrary to how this post might come across, I like sport bikes. I prefer cruisers, but I think there are some really beautiful sport bikes out there and manufacturers are coming out with some awesome bikes lately. I know of a lot of sport bike riders that take motorcycle safety very serious. In fact two of the instructors at my BRC ride sport bikes. Even my boss rides sport bikes. However here in South Florida there has been an increasing dislike by the general public of all bikers primarily due to irresponsible riding by sport bike riders. Riders doing wheelies at 80 mph on major highways and generally riding erratically have increased the amount of accidents (and deaths) in the last few years.

The argument can be made that motorcycle accidents have always been around and there are more bike riders today than ever so it’s not just the fault of sport bike riders. But the fact is that more of these motorcycle accidents which are being reported are from sport bikes, and more of these accidents are caused by the riders than by cages.

The reason for this general dislike for bikers is that to the average person who doesn’t ride; “a motorcycle is a motorcycle” no matter weather it’s a Harley or a Ninja. When you tell someone here that you ride a bike, many will say “Oh you’re crazy. You guys are always riding too fast and showing off, just asking to get killed”. When someone like me who rides a cruiser tries to explain that I don’t ride a crouch rocket, they’ve already basically tuned out and don’t really hear (or care) about the difference in riding style.

The dislike of sport bikes is even shared by some other bike enthusiast as well. Cruisers and even some Standard bike riders have a certain loathing towards sport bike riders because of the bad reputation they are giving bikers in general. You’ll notice how cruisers will usually signal “hello” to each other, while totally ignoring the sports bike rider. And of course the increasing loss of life is creating a sense of uneasiness to the family and friends of all riders.

Several weeks ago a group of sport bike riders left a local bar after a few hours of drinking. They headed out on US 27 which is a very desolate road at 2am at speeds over 125 mph. No one had noticed that they had crashed until another group of riders spotted the bodies scattered across the road. Currently in South Florida there is an average of 1 death per week.

One of the problems might be the ease in which you can buy a sport bike. It’s a lot cheaper to buy a brand new 900cc sports bike than a 5 year old Harley. And cheaper price tags tend to attract younger riders. And too many younger riders don’t take the time to at least take the BRC (basic rider course). But before you start thinking that all these accidents are caused by 17 and 19 year olds, think again. A growing number of men between the ages of 25 and 33 are purchasing sport bikes these days, and just like their younger counter-parts, more are having accidents due to irresponsible riding.

There’s also a sort of rivalry between cruisers and sport bike riders. The young sport bike rider says that too many cruisers don’t wear any protective gear. And the cruisers say that the sport bike riders are too careless with their riding. They’re both right; however the numbers do speak for themselves. Here in South Florida sport bike accidents out number cruiser accident 4 to 1. There are more sport bikes than cruisers, however not enough to validate the 4 to 1 ratio.

Florida is currently looking at a law that would not only ticket bikers caught riding recklessly (i.e.: wheelies on highways, splitting lanes at high speeds) but also confiscate their bikes. Another idea that’s popped up in some biker circles has been to require bike shops to verify that buyer has an MSF endorsement or at least proof that they’ve taken the course before the buyer can take delivery of the bike. Now I’m not a fan of having a lot of laws that stifle our freedom, but if the mentality and irresponsibility that exist now doesn’t change, we may just find ourselves with a whole bunch of new laws that take away our riding pleasure.

As I said before I don’t have anything against sport bikes, and I would love to see more camaraderie between the two genres. After all we all have one thing in common. The love of riding. But safety has to be our number 1 priority.

My worst “wet riding” experience came a few weeks ago when my wife and I decided to ride up to Hollywood Beach. I knew we were going to get wet sometime during the day because the forecast had called for scattered thunder storms. But since we had spent all morning and early afternoon riding without feeling as much as a drop of rain, I decided to keep rolling north up to Las Olas Blvd in Ft. Lauderdale. On our way back home we got hit hard by some serious rain!

We were riding south on US1 and while stopped at a red light I looked back over my shoulder and saw the most menacing black cloud coming straight for us. I don’t think we went more than 4 blocks before the wind seriously started to push the bike to one side. Even on a straight-away, I had to constantly pull my handle bar to the opposite direction to avoid going off the road.

Once we got to Commercial Blvd we began to head west trying to reach Interstate 95. As soon as we did I saw an even more menacing sky blowing down our way, except this storm was heavy with rain. At this time we were dead in the middle of two storms that had joined together. One coming from the north the other from the west.

The rain came down like if someone was throwing buckets of water at us. I couldn’t see more than 5 feet in front of me and my wife was holding on to my ribs for dear life. Not to mention how hard rain hits you at even slow speeds. You would think that a major road like Commercial Blvd which connects major parts of east and west Ft. Lauderdale would have sufficient places a biker could crawl into, but that was not the case for us. We rode in that mess a good 5 to 7 blocks before I came across another bank drive-thru..

We were soaked to the bones as we waited for the little monsoon to roll by. Since I don’t yet have any saddlebags (would like to get them installed this month) we didn’t have any rain coats, so needless to say those wet clothes got cold really quick. I knew that this extensive wetness was not going to go well with my immune system and I’d be paying for it later in the week with a nasty cold (and I did).

After waiting for about a half hour the rain stopped and we climbed back on our bike and continue to head home. As mentioned in the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course, riding right after it rains is very dangerous because oil sweeps up on puddles where you can’t see it. So instead of getting on I-95, we carefully continued west until we reached University Drive which connects Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. The ride had dried us up, but riding 30+ miles with wet clothes is just asking for trouble.

The problem here in South Florida (especially in the summer) is that you can start out your day with the sun shining and not even a cloud in the sky. A few hours later, swoosh! You’ll think you’re in Noah’s flood. A lot of bikers here either don’t venture out when the meteorologist predicts bad weather, or they carry rain gear that will get them to the next over-pass (or bank drive-thru). Last week was a good example of a lessen learned.

We were supposed to head out with a few other bikers to Naples for the day. We had just gone through Tropical storm Fay and most of the week only saw scattered showers. On Saturday morning I looked at the weather report and saw that there was a 70% chance of rain coming in from the West coast. Naples lies west of Miami, meaning we would be riding right into all that rain. So my wife and I decided to bail out of that plan and made new ones.

We spent the rest of the day riding our usual A1A route which consists of Coconut Grove, Miami Beach, Hollywood Beach, Las Olas and Lauderdale by the Sea. The further north we went the better the weather. Before heading back home we called our family to ask how the weather was by their neighborhood. When all was reported cleared, we started to head back keeping an eye out for rouge clouds.

So take it from a newbie who learned the following lesson early on.

1) Before heading out for long rides, check the weather.

2) If you get caught out in the rain while riding, try to find shelter quickly.

3) Wait at least 30 minutes ( or more) after it stops raining before taking off again.

4) Take your rain gear with you all the time. (especially if you ride in South FLA).