Trip Reports |
||
| Home |
Introduction The year 2004 saw me start Blue Wing Tours and Training as the first step of fulfilling a dream that I have had for several years. The impetus was the need to have at minimum a sole proprietorship to receive motorcycle instructor payments from the companies that I teach MSF RiderCourses. It could have just been my name, but friends that I rode so many miles with back in Virginia would constantly say they didn’t care where they were going, they were just following the blue bike…. Well, the blue bike is still traveling "rubber side down" and these are the adventures, the routine, the places, and events. Enjoy the rides from the monitor. Garry October 2005: Judi Purcell Memorial Ride June 2005: CMA State Rally in Ridgeway, CO Jun 2005: June, but Still Springtime in the Rockies May 2005: God’s Road Warriors’ Run for the Son Aug 2004: MSF Training at Ft. Collins July 2004: Wing Ding at the Gaylord Texan Resort 2004 Trip ReportsAug 2004: MSF Training at Ft. CollinsThe rest of the year was pretty uneventful as far as trips went. I did get to spend a great weekend in the Ft. Collins area of Colorado, including lunch at Estes Park. I was staying with the friends that I taught with over a weekend. It is really nice when other instructors invite you up to their training location, pay you to work the weekend, but also put you up. Thanks Marsha and Joe, I appreciate it. July 2004: Wing Ding at the Gaylord Texan ResortI got to hook up with a former riding buddy from VA here in Colorado Springs. I had not seen Tom for about 4 years except for a few hours the previous year. He was headed back to his retirement home in the Hill Country of Texas via Wing Ding and a friend and I decided to make the trip together. It was not a luxury tour by any means, but then again, we didn’t stick to the main highways either. We settled for the night in a small hotel in the lower panhandle of Texas and then rode on to Stephenville for a quick stop at my Brother’s house. After catching up and having a sandwich, it was off to the Gaylord to register, look for old friends, and introduce my new Gold Wing owning friend to what a Wing Ding is all about. I had not been inside the hotel 5 minutes until I started seeing VA friends. The Gaylord Texan Resort (http://www.gaylordhotels.com/gaylordtexan/) was a great venue for this Wing Ding as the vendors, parking, food, lodging, etc, was all indoors except what should be outside like demo rides. Plus, it was a nice ride every day back and forth from my Brother’s place. We did attempt to hit a steak house out by Weatherford, but the place was only open on weekends. Very disappointing, but we didn’t go hungry!! The trip home was just a one day, push it hard, need to be home trip. Sometimes you just have to be home to get back to work. As usual for any of my Wing Ding trips, I found things to buy for me and Blue!!! May 2004: Red River RallyI didn’t come up with this idea until late in 2004, so I will just do a recap and add a few photos of the year’s trips. The first trip was to Red River, NM, as a participant of our Christian Motorcyclist Association (CMA) chapter, God’s Road Warriors. It was my first time at a real “biker” rally and what a scene. Although I certainly didn’t go looking for trouble, and I don’t want to imply that trouble was everywhere to be found, but I just had the feeling that if you wanted it, it was there for the taking. It was great to just walk up and down Main Street and look at the bikes. The best was the one that looked wet, no really, the paint job was incredible and it was water droplets. The droplets were even concentrated where they should have been as if the guy had just ridden in the rain. And the Rally has something for everyone including the non Harley rider like me. I didn’t spend as much as I did at Wing Ding, the national GWRRA rally, but I still supported the vendors.
The best part of the trip though was riding with the CMA chapter to lunch at Rancho de Chimayo (http://www.ranchochimayo.com). Wow does not even begin to describe it. Make sure you bring your appetite because this is traditional New Mexican fair which means an extra large platter of what ever you order. If you don’t like the super hot, make sure you ask about the flavor of the chili you order or you may be in trouble. I left the Rally early Sunday morning to head home, well, Mom’s home. I had not seen mom for a few months and this was an opportunity to spend a few days over in Northwest Arkansas where she, sis, and brother-in-law live. It is always fun to go home and over the next few years, you will see more on my web site about Arkansas motorcycle touring. If you have never been, well, I can’t even begin to describe how gorgeous the Ozark Mountains are on a bike!! RiderCoach TrainingI guess the first report ought to be about RiderCoach training. What a couple of weeks that was with Erik and Ben. Erik, owner of Iron Buffalo, and Ben, head administrator for ABATE, take their job seriously. They want the best possible RiderCoaches they can develop. It wasn't quite boot camp, but if they really thought they could get away with it, it might have been a bit closer. I guess one good thing for us "students" was that we paid for the class. Still, well, I don't want to scare off any potential RiderCoaches.
RiderCoach Class of May 2004 It was a fun couple of weeks and I have made some lasting friendships out of the class. We all came together as a team as well which will serve us in the future. I successfully passed, which is obvious from the front of this web. But I sure didn't feel prepared entering my first class. Strange, the classroom portion seemed to bother most of the folks. Due to my day-job, that was the easiest for me to get the handle on except for talking too much. Me, talk too much??? That is another story. But the range exercises, coaching, being positive, and encouraging, well, that is tough while keeping in mind the objective: allowing the motorcycle to train the new rider and getting those points across that will allow that rider to become more proficient and understand what it takes to be a motorcyclist. My career is started, I hope I can do the MSF and ABATE of Colorado justice as well as making Ben and Erik satisfied with their decision to take me on as a RiderCoach. |
