Valentine’s Weekend Ride

Ok so, it’s been a while since I’ve posted a nice long trip, so here it goes. This past weekend was a long one with Valentines on Saturday and President’s Day on Monday. My wife & I who had originally planned on having a nice romantic dinner decided to skip the norm and head out on the road. (You gotta love a woman who prefers riding over flowers & chocolates..)

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.

Winter Rides

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.

Around the Town

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.

First Group Ride

July 26, 2008

This weekend my wife finally had an opportunity to do our first group ride. Unfortunately it wasn’t for a pleasant, fun occasion, but rather for the burial of an Army veteran that passed away last week from a skydiving accident. SFC Pablo Castro had done 3 tours of duty in Iraq and was a master parachutist. He was on leave here in Miami and went skydiving for fun. Unfortunately 50 feet from the ground he collided with another jumper and past away from his injuries a few days later.

Sergeant Castro was a advent rider, so his brother Major Beire Castro asked the Patriot Guard to stand for his brother. If you’ve never heard of the Patriot Guard, they are a group of riders from across the nation who an unwavering respect for those who serve our country to protect us. The Patriot Guard will show up at the funeral service with American flags and ride with the funeral convoy to the cemetery where a military burial complete with gun salute is performed.

Hello world!

Hi Folks,

I decided to start this blog to keep a semi-journal of my riding experiences. At the writing of this post I can say I having a whopping 50 miles accumulated on a motorcycle. That definitely qualifies me as a “newbie”.

The purpose of this blog is to share my experiences (good and bad) so that others who are interested in motorcycle riding can learn from it. Feel free to add your comments and links to your own blogs, but please no soliciting.

Thanks,

Gus