RIDES THIS WEEK (5/25/25 – 5/31/25) Post 131:
As Usual: Briefings/KSU For 131 Rides will be from the Parking Lot of Post 131 UNLESS NOTIFIED OTHERWISE…Riders Be Aware: If you HAVE NOT posted your PIO to me by the specified date and times, you may not be notified of possible changes. My Cell # is: (520) 240-5605 … my Email is: jflammang@cox.net
Wednesday, 5//28 – TT Run South to Tempe (Post # 2) This Run is NOT for the faint-hearted Rider. We’ll be heading into the “Greater Phoenix Area” as DH likes to put it! It’s about 140 miles EACH WAY. If you have trouble “keeping up” at Interstate speeds I’d recommend you stay home. With our temps, we’ll plan on a couple of water/rest stops. Soooo, the Briefing will be about 0830 with Kick’s Up shortly after. PIO to me by 1400 MONDAY. Details sent when I see the Rider list.
Friday. 5/30/25 – Breakfast Run (Lucky B with 5 or more Riders?). Destination TBD by them that’s goin’. We’ll leave earlyish” (0800ish”) and get back “noonish”. PIO to me by 1600 Thursday, Details out Thursday by 1800.
Saturday – 5/31/25 – Our ALR Meeting (just after the Blind Vet’s Breakfast). If you’re not working or assisting with the Vets that morning, be there for the meeting by 0945.
For The Good of The Group:
Ride “As A Group”, not just “In A Group”. It is so much more FUN and generally SAFER to Ride “As A Group”. When you see your Lead signal for a “Slowing Down” of the Group, how do you know exactly WHEN or HOW MUCH to Slow your Pace? Right now, 90% of you are afraid you’re gonna run up the tailpipe of the guy in front of you … so you Brake harder or faster than required … which puts the fear of God into the Rider BEHIND YOU! For the rest of the Ride, you’ve created uncertainty in those around you. You ARE the weakest link.
IT’S A “CLOCK” NOT AN EXAGGERATION! The high hand and slow rate of lowering/raising the arm by the Lead, is for “Attention” and “Timing”. It takes 3-5 seconds to complete the signal (the same amount of time it takes for EVERYONE to have passed back the signal from Deuce to Sweep, in a small group). When the Lead’s hand reaches the bottom/top of the signal You ALL should be PREPARED to “Slow”/“Speed Up” (there is no change in your pace or gap before that time.) After completion of the signal, the Lead is reaching for the bars and begins to slow or pick up speed. SSH!
Braking generally begins with nothing more than a Roll Off of the Throttle, then brakes applied “lightly”, as needed. It’s a “Slow” reduction of speed. SSH!
THERE IS NO NEED TO CREATE LARGE AND UNEQUAL GAPS BEFORE THE LEAD IS SLOWING OR BY BRAKING AS SOON AS YOU SEE THE SIGNAL! (SSH: If you see your Lead “Quickly” giving the signal to Slow, even once or twice quickly, something is amiss and the “Slow Down” will be faster, be prepared…FASTER.) If you don’t know how to “prepare”, get off your Bike and put it away. You’ll never be able to ride in a Group. (It can save you 100 feet of braking distance?)
The same with speeding UP. The signal will be finished before the Lead even begins to pick up the Pace. Then it’s (MOST OFTEN) a “slow increase” till the Lead is at speed. For those who think those little “hip high” hand motions are cool…they are NOT. Add a passenger, a trunk or make it a trike, and you are not allowing the group behind you to see or get their Attention, nor judge the timing of the maneuver. Often, those small, quick hand gestures cannot even be seen. Does everyone in the ranks going back to the Sweep need the same “High, Attention Getting Gestures”? NO! But be sure your gesture is SEEN. (Although I don’t really advise it, our own DH has his “Fun” embellishments of “signals”, that are, if nothing else, “Noticeable”! ?????
BTW: if you’re leading without large gestures, when do YOUR RIDERS begin to slow? There are no brake lights if you’re just” Rolling Off” your throttle, so it’s a “guess”? If you expect them to begin braking when they see your brake lights, how “hard” are you braking? And how “hard” is everyone behind you braking?
TT Steal Dates in May are: …
Wednesday the 28th Tempe Post #2
(YA GOTTA GO TO WIN!)
“The brave die never, though they sleep in dust: Their courage nerves a thousand living men” – Minot J. Savage