It’s the first
Saturday morning in March 2012 and I get going early and have plenty of time
for everything including a bowl of instant maple flavored oatmeal that takes
nearly two minutes to heat the water and add some raisins. Got my cold weather lined jeans as we were
told it will be chilly in Oak Glen, plus the Tourmaster Sabre Jacket and my
heavy gloves, I am ready for the cold weather, which it is at 7 AM. As I park in the Best Buy parking lot the
group starts arriving and eventually about 33 motorcycles join us for a STAR
Chapter 230 ride to Oak Glen for lunch. A
small problem is starting to become apparent in that it is warming up very
nicely prior to departure and I really don’t need all the heavy gear.
During the morning meeting all the birthday people- me, Larry and Terry get serenaded with a seriously off tune rendition of “Happy birthday,” we pay no royalties for the use of the song and considering the vocals we owe the writers estate nothing.
Among the group we have
a contingent of riders from STAR Chapter 415 Los Angeles, as well as a new
trike rider and his wife from Brea. He
has had the Harley trike for all of two weeks, plus a couple of other riders
here for the first time. I still am
terrible with names so as I get updates will add names to the info. If you really want your name in here just tip
the blog writer in order to get an elaborate mention.
The route is
similar to one that Johney and I did with my new Stratoliner over a week ago,
except for dropping Idyllwild from the route as the recent new snow and road cinders would
be a little too much for this type of group. I’m in group 3 and we take off down
the 5 Fwy to Ortega Hwy, over to the 215 up to Ramona Expressway, east to Hwy
79 north where we head into Beaumont and hit some substantial wind bursts. We go straight through Beaumont right on up
to Oak Glen where we park for lunch at Apple Annie’s.
It is pleasantly warm up here in Oak Glen, I remove the
liner and get ready for a warm ride home through Carbon Canyon.
The restaurant was told of a big group coming in for
lunch but it still took quite a while for all to get through the meal. I ordered a senior turkey dinner plate and
really could barely finish it. Waiting
for lunch, Chapter President Ed came over and visited for a few minutes and I
find that very impressive that he would take the time to check on me, Luis and
minita plus likely stopping by other tables as well.
Barry and daughter Jackie.
Dining Al Fresco at Apple Annie's the 415 group.
Getting ready to ride, Patty back on the V-Star 950 and Carolyn finally figured out which way was down hill.
Now how did I do
on the Stratoliner and am I adjusting to the new ride? I got a lot of questions in that regard. I can report it definitely is getting better
and handling it through the mountain roads certainly is gratifying to feel how
well it was taking the curves. It still
is bigger as well as heavy and parking lot maneuvers are a little troublesome plus the ride
is rather bouncy compared to the Road Star.
Over all I am getting used to it and it may just be a matter of more
seat time and miles traveled to warm up to the behemoth. Otherwise there are no significant outstanding
issues other than attaching an air horn, Brakeaway throttle lock and the new
GPS Navigation. With the wider stock
handle bars the throttle lock will come in handy. Did I mention it is bigger than the Road Star? My friend John (Cuyo) asked about the lower windshields that were added and it's a case of out of sight, out of mind. The wind and buffeting were gone so it was no longer an issue and I forgot all about it.
Yamaha is missing a bet with so many of us older riders buying motorcycles, think of the merchandise tie-ins. Not just a membership in STAR for buying a new motorcycle, but how about adding AARP, plus send out a packet of coupons for things like all-day-rider Depends (keep riding no matter what), oxygen tank holders for your motorcycle, in chrome of course, and a combo battery charger and cardiac resuscitation device, just in case. With a gadget like that, either way you should be able to make it home no matter if the battery dies, or the heart goes into Cardiac Arrest. Since this purchase was not a new motorcycle I did not receive any of the above.
Ride wraps up back at El Torito and all arrive safe. Now have over 1,000 miles on the Strat.
The rider on that red flamed Harley was disappointed when I mentioned it looked pretty, he thought for sure I was referring to him.
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