Open Road Biker

Well my bike was supposed to be here from Belgium by this past Monday. As of right now they still have no word on when it will actually arrive all the while I am missing some great riding weather. Let’s just hope it gets here soon, I sure could use a little ride about now.

I am almost settled in at my new house and I only have a few boxes left to unpack. My garage is straight so I guess the important stuff is done. Maybe by the end of this weekend I will be able to work on the website more frequently. Sorry about the time away so far but it just can’t be helped. Thanks to all of those people that still come on the site and support it.

I have a new feature that I want yall to check out and tell me what you think about it. It is Biker or Not and it similar to Hot or Not where you rate bikers. The site is ran by the owners of HD Trader dot com and they have spent a whole lot of effort in getting the whole thing up and they have offered a sub domain to me. So when you click on the link above that is what you will get. If you like what you see then join up, heck it’s free.

Next subject while we are talking about things that are free are the forums. I talk about them a little on here every now and then. They are free to join and participate in but I do need your participation in them. If you run across some news or some article on the net that you think would interest those in the motorcycle world be sure to post it up in the forums. Also if you have any questions or advice put that up there too. I am just trying to build a community site that caters to all of us who love to ride.

Thanks to all of those who support this site by participating in the forums and comments section and also to those who purchase stuff from our advertisers. That is how I am able to pay for the site.

James

Last Wednesday me and my dad took a little ride up to Sand Mountain to look at some cars. Well we started out heading straight there but decided to take a few detours and turned a two hour ride into four hours. We started out heading north on state hwy79 and ran that all the way into US 278 and headed east. Well when we got to state hwy 75 instead of taking it over into Albertville we decided to go to the foot of the mountain on 278 and then take US 431 back up the mountain. Up on top we found a few places that had their share of old cars and trucks (I was looking for some to take pictures of for my new website Cool School Rodz). I guess we spent well over an hour checking out the stuff that they had. I found a ’40’s Lincoln that I would love to have as a project. We also found a guy with a few Harleys for sale but he never did give us any prices. Heck he also had some restored hot rods that he was trying to part with (I will put the contact info up on Cool School Rodz tomorrow). After checking out some cars and stuff we headed on up 431 towards Guntersville and down the other side of the mountain and went to Arab where we picked up US 231 and headed towards the house. I think we managed to get in around 180 miles or so. No big deal but I will tell you this; the whole ride felt like we had a blow dryer blasting in our face. The few stops that we made were mandatory just to rehydrate. I can only imagine what it would be like to ride across the desert in hotter weather if that is what riding in 100 degree weather is like. Just make sure as you are out riding at this time of the year;
1. Make sure you stay hydrated with water! You will start getting headaches and you will become exhausted easier.

2. Eat! You need to eat properly with all of that water you are taking in to replenish the minerals in your body. You can actually get water poisoning from drinking too much water.

3. Wear sun block or keep that skin covered up. A sunburn can not only be painful but it can also cause your body to overheat by not allowing your skin to sweat properly. You also lose moisture through exposed skin faster than if you had sleeves on. Believe it or not you can actually be cooler with sleeves on than if you wear short sleeves.

4. Rest. Make sure you make periodic stops just to take a little break. Heck enjoy the scenery, stop and smell the roses, and all of that other stuff.

Well there you have it, be safe guys and galls and I will see you out there on the road.

P.S.
Just to give you a little update, I have moved in to my new home in Tennessee and I am just waiting on my furniture and stuff to get here. Some of it will get here this Friday but my bike won’t be here until closer to the end of the month. Right now I am without a ride until then. I could have brought my dads old bike (’95 Sporty) but I figured I would just wait on mine. Well now after only a week or so since my last ride I am already jonesing. I guess I just have to deal with it.

While browsing sites around this here thing called the interweb I love to stumble upon pictures (drawings, paintings, photos), sculptures, and writing that reflects the biker culture. That is why I am writing this today. To bring light to a poet who not only does great work but someone who you can tell is a good brother. I guess you can say that he gets it. Heck so many bikers these days don’t get it. They wouldn’t know what “it” is if it bit ‘em in the ass. Well, that is why I am pleased to present to you The Ironhorse Writer; Laurence P Scerri. If I can let me share a little of his work with ya and if you don’t mind leave a comment and tell me what you think about it.

Outlaw (If you don’t know one…Look in da mirror)

He’s of a breed, cut from a cloth
That shall never be denied
Often prone
To stand alone
Finding solace within his ride

Babies and dogs are a weakness
Ladies are ever a vice
Loyal to his brothers
Does not play well with others
Refuses to ‘make nice’

Into the night rides the outlaw
Shadows, long past, astride
Knowing not to where
Nor does he care
Only, that he must abide

The dawn awakes to find him
Peering deep within it’s soul
Being near it
Calms his spirit
As all too soon, he must roll

Atop a steed of lightening
Commanding it’s thunderous wake
The law at his heels
The freedom he feels
A way of life at stake

Into the night rides the outlaw
Shadows, long past, astride
Knowing not to where
Nor does he care
Only, that he must abide

©Copyright2000/2007LaurenceP.Scerri(IronhorseWriter)AllRightsReserved

If you want to see some more of his work head on over to
The Ironhorse Writer’s myspace
or
The Ironhorse Writers web page.
I am sure you will enjoy it.

Sometimes you just know that you are going to bite off more than you can chew but you do it anyways. Why? Hell if I know, I just know one thing; when the urge hits to ride I need to get on and go no matter what the weather man, the sky, or my common sense tells me. Well last week I had one of those nights. The bad part is that I suckered my dad into riding with me. The ride started off well enough. I mean we thought we were going to circle around this nice storm that was brewing and heading our and sure enough we did. The night sky continued to be lit up to our west as we were riding south on an old county road up and over a little hill we have here and then down into a valley. We ended up on AL Hwy 75 going south towards Pinson and then we decided we would head over to Fultondale and get behind the storm. That would put it between us and the house and we thought that just maybe by the time we headed back north the skies would part before us.
Wrong!!
Ohhh how wrong we were. We somehow managed to catch it in the middle of a lull. The storm had sort of slowed way down and was just sitting there waiting on us. To top that off it closed us in and started up behind us as we were headed north. Well it didn’t take long before my dad (who was riding my brothers Deluxe sans windshield with a nice half helmet and his prescription spectacles) couldn’t see. Well here I was with my trusty helmet with a fold down shield riding dad’s Heritage. I had no problems seeing, so when he pulled over I was about to rag him for being a wimp (just kidding, he can still kick my ass!). Now I was riding his bike because my brother had yet to offer his bike for me to ride and you just don’t ask to ride another mans bike. Some may say that it is just as bad, and taboo, as asking to borrow his ol’ lady for the night. So needless to say I kind of had to ride my brothers bike and let dad have his Heritage back. For some reason as soon as we pulled out from under that overpass it decided that it really wanted to rain but I was leading the way and never wanting to be the first to throw in the towel I just rolled on the throttle and blasted on down the interstate. It didn’t take us long and we were at our exit and that meant short coffee break before heading home. Right about then the clouds parted and the moon started shining through allowing us to at least blow dry our selves the rest of the way home. The rest was uneventful and it was a fairly calm and relaxing 20 miles the rest of the way. Am I looking forward to the next time the urge hits? You damn right I am!! Did I learn my lesson? Never!!

I have spent the last couple of weeks here in Alabama just relaxing. Sometimes I will take off and do a little fishing, sometimes a little riding. Well since the site is about motorcycles, riding, and all things related then I guess we will talk about riding.

I haven’t done a whole lot since being here. I set off alone one evening on a little ride and was able to get about 130 miles in. When I started off it looked a little like it was going to rain but hey I spent 3 years in Belgium dealing with rain, why would I let a little cloud stop me here. I spent the first 20 miles on county and state roads with a few little twisties involved but mainly easy riding two lane roads. (For those that want to know I started off in Locust Fork Alabama on county highway 13 and went out to state highway 160). Around Warrior I hit the interstate (I 65) and headed north at a pretty fair clip with the rain looming ahead a little more severe looking than I first thought. I stopped just outside of Cullman and got a little gas and headed back up the interstate when the rain finally started. It wasn’t real bad to start with that’s why it surprised me to see a few riders under an overpass on the southbound lane. I just waved and rolled on by then the rain picked up and pelted me fairly hard. Almost to the point of starting to think about pulling into a gas station but I twisted the wick and rolled on a little harder. No sooner though than it had started, it stopped. It was one of those nice quick showers that just cool off those hot Alabama nights and make them somewhat bearable. About five minutes after the rain had stopped a guy on a sporty come by me weaving like he was trying to get my attention so I sped up and got beside him to see what was up but I guess he was just acting up (children don’t try this at home). He didn’t even look over. He continued to wobble his bike and then turned on his signal and headed off on an exit ramp. The next 20 or so miles were fairly boring but in a good way. It was beginning to be a nice night and my exit was coming up. I got off on the state highway 67 exit and headed back through the country towards home. It is one of those roads that doesn’t seem to such a whole lot of traffic at night and that was just perfect for me. I rolled on the throttle and kept it somewhere around 60 for most of the ride. There aren’t many curves on the road, as a matter of fact it is mostly straight but it is very hilly. That being said you can imagine that the night air and those valleys mixed might have been described as a little bit chilly. Highway 67 comes to a t intersection where it runs into highway 231 and that is where I headed south. Not too far up the road though was where I just had to stop and get a little snack and some Barber’s sweet tea. If you know anything about southerners then you know we love our sweet tea. Well there are only two brands of premade tea that I will drink, Barber’s and Milo’s. Barber’s is a company that mainly does dairy products and Milo’s is a hamburger stand that also has some fairly good tea. If you are ever in central Alabama look for them and tell me what you think.

Now back to the ride (I know I got a little side tracked there, and no that wasn’t an advertisement).
Highway 231 runs up through Blountsville where a county car pulled in behind me and decided to follow me for a little bit. Now I know I wasn’t doing anything wrong but you just can’t help but be kind of leary when those guys follow you. He probably ran my plates and checked me out before he decided to pull off about 10 minutes later but for that little bit of time I tried to just ride like he wasn’t there, a few miles over the speed limit and all that stuff. The rest of the ride wasn’t too far. About 7 miles outside of Blountsville Hwy 231 splits from state hwy 79 in a little town called Cleveland and I took hwy 79 south for another 7 miles or so to Locust Fork and parked the bike covered in bugs.

There is nothing like a good ride to relax you and help you get to sleep (other than sex or am I the only one who falls asleep right after?) so as soon as I was through with the ride it was bedtime. Man I love being off from work! Well I guess I will write about my other rides later on. The next story involved some even stormier weather and my dad rode this time. Stay tuned until next time keep the shiny side up.

Do you want to talk about some of your rides? Share them with us over in the biker forums.