GWRRA Chapter WA-V May 2015 Washington District Newsletter
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GWRRA Chapter WA-V May 2015 Washington District Newsletter Chapter V Valley Wings News Meets 1 Thursday 6:00pm Chapter Directors: Meets 1st Thursday 6:00pm Joe & Patti Diambri Trotter’s Restaurant 253-630-8463 825 Harvey Rd, Auburn, From the Chapter Directors: Bit Short on Words Well as we had planned last month we went to the Chapter A meeting with plans on retrieving our mascot. With breakfast starting at 8:00 AM and needing a minimum of 6 chapter members in colors in order to retrieve our Frog we were a bit concerned. With Joe & Patti present along with John Doughty and Dennis Murphy, Jeff and Cindy had said they would be there but where are they? Sitting, eating, and having a nice conversation, we wondered what happened to Jeff and Cindy. Ten minutes goes by, then fifteen and twenty and still no Jeff and Cindy! Lo and behold twenty five minutes past eight, Jeff and Cindy show up, whew we now get our Frog back! Now we look around the room and all we see is mostly Red. No other chapters are showing up so woo hoo we get the Traveling Trophy again! Following Chapter A’s meeting along with Jeff and Cindy we took off for Destination Harley (oops the H word) to ride in The Pillow Case Run benefiting Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital. The weather was just ok, the ride had a nice route, but the noise from the other bikes was a bit annoying! On the 8th of April we had Patti’s Niece, Nephew, and Great Niece from Texas come up to spend some time with us, so on the second Friday of the month we decided that we wanted to go out for some dinner, so off we went to The Krain Restaurant to join Chapter Y for their meeting. All five of us got dinner and we got to attend Chapter Y’s meeting. Now without a restaurant social this month we haven’t had much going on in the chapter, but with the workshop / social coming up there will be some action. We should have some extras at our next meeting due to having Chapter A’s Mascot and the traveling trophy, so plan on being upstairs! We are in hopes of making a trip to visit Chapter Y again soon so that we can get their Mascot the Coyote but will have to wait for them to get it from Chapter A! With things changing around work both of us are having to put in a good amount of overtime which is good for the pocketbook but not for the R & R nor the opportunity to participate in the upcoming Chapter’s events! One last thing on the mind and that is the upcoming Special Olympics. It is the last weekend of May and is a very rewarding experience. These Special Olympics Athletes give it their all every time they race, and win or lose they always have a smile on their face. This will be our 4th year this year and look forward to it every year. Should you be interested in volunteering your time, give John Doughty a call or drop him a note, you’ll be glad you did! Until the Meeting (May 7th) Have a good rest of April. Joe & Patti Diambri Your Chapter V Director ASSISTANT CHAPTER DIRECTORS: Recently I had a change in my work schedule for two weeks. This gave me an excuse to do something I have wanted to do for a while. My regular work schedule has me riding in a Vanpool every day from Renton to Everett and back. This saves me a great deal of money in gas and wear and tear on my vehicles. When I commute to Renton every day I get to ride about 30 miles. If I ride the bike all the way to my work in Everett it is right at 100 miles for the day. If you do some math and figure that the gas for 100 miles is about $10.00 or so, it adds up to $50.00 plus per week. My Vanpool is a lot less than that so it makes sense for me to not ride the bike every day. For two weeks I was able to ride the bike all the way to work every day rain or shine. My main motivation was parking. Motorcycles can park in special designated areas very near the gate to get into the plant. I was able to rack up more than a 1000 safe miles during those two weeks. The weather was good most of those days and was very enjoyable. In the afternoon the traffic gets backed up from Bellevue to Renton. On those heavy traffic days I get off 405 at I-90 and head east to Hwy 18, then home from there. This route adds a few more miles but takes less time as I can keep moving. My bike just turned over 170,000 miles and is running great. I am looking forward to more long rides this summer. Long rides brings up another subject, I want to do an Iron Butt ride sometime. Maybe this summer, if I can, I would like to set aside a weekend to do it. To qualify to be a member of the Iron Butt Association you need to complete one of their rides. The first one to try is the Saddle Sore 1000. With witnesses and the start and finish and keeping a detailed log, ride your bike 1000 miles in less than 24 hours. There is also a Bun Burner 1500 which is 1500 miles in 36 hours. I want to try the 1000 in 24 hours by riding from Kent to Redding CA and back. Who wants to join me? On April 4th, Joe and I made the drive to Prosser for the Multi Chapter Meeting. I wanted to take the bikes but due to cold and uncertain weather over the pass we took Joe’s truck. We got there and found a large number of bikes in the parking lot. The weather there was cool and sunny. The majority of the attendees were from the Yakima and Tri Cities Chapters. Ron and Violet from Chapter E were there along with Reggie and Chuck, our District Directors. There were 3 members of the Redding CA chapter promoting a rally they are holding. We had a good breakfast got to hear from each chapter director on their upcoming events. Door prizes were handed out and a 50/50 was held. Joe snagged one of the door prizes. Jeff & Cindy From the Chapter Educator: From the desk of John Doughty GWRRA Chapter Educator Chapter V May Newsletter – Visibility – The month of May is MOTORCYCLE AWARENESS month BECOME VISIBLE for your survival! According to Allstate Insurance Company’s latest statistics, three motorcyclists die at intersections every day. According to Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, 80% of crashes involve some form of driver inattention within three seconds before the event. Five seconds is the average time a driver’s eyes are off the road while texting and at 55 MPH the vehicle travels the length of a football field while the driver is virtually blindfolded. YIKES! Add a flashing headlight to your arsenal of weapons used to enhance your visibility. A flashing headlight is a small investment if the headlight’s flashing gets the attention of a distracted driver coming at you. If that “other” driver pulls out in front of you from a side roadway or that “other” driver performs the dreadful and deadly left hand turn in front of you, it maybe because they did not SEE you. Modulating headlights are legal in all 50 states by Federal Standard 49 CFR Part 571.108 and Executive Order 12866. Canada, in all of their Provinces, has their own laws regarding modulating headlights similar to the United States Modulating Headlight laws – see Canadian Motor Vehicle Standard # 108. The modulating headlight will get you noticed at the intersection and on the open roadway. If a flashing headlight is not a part of all your defense weapons, ensure that your headlight is on and that you are using your HIGH-BEAM during day-light hours, the running lights are all working, and your accent lights are functional. Add driving lights to your frontend to make a head-on triangle of lighting similar to the lighting of a modern day freight train that will enhance the visibility to the “other” driver. Ensure that your taillights are in working order. Do not forget about using your directional signals and to cancel them out AFTER your turn is complete. In addition, the wearing high visibility vests for both rider and co-rider certainly will add visibility. Reflective or fluorescent gear increases conspicuity by 37%. The newest reflective technology called RETRO-REFLECTIVE materials will make you stand out regardless the weather or as the darkness attempts to hide you. Wear brightly colored clothes and helmets. Choose the color of WHITE for your helmet as it is considered the most visible color according to many safety studies. White helmets are 24% more visible than black helmets. Ever notice what color helmet our motorcycle law enforcement folks wear? Add reflective tape to your helmet and jacket allowing you to be noticed while enjoying those evening rides. Wear bright accent colors for your cloths, gloves, motorcycles, and helmets. All of these suggestions are helpful additions to becoming visible to that other driver by separating you from the motorcycle. Your high visibility effort will “humanize” you and make you identifiable not just as another machine on the road but an actual “human” riding the machine.