Road King Blog

On Sunday, 11/8, myself and 4 other students had the pleasure of attending the Ride Like a Pro course in Port Richey, Florida. If you’ve seen the video, you have a good idea of what the general flow of the course is like. If you haven’t seen the video, you really ought to go get it. It’s one of the best investments you will ever make in your riding safety and enjoyment. We had three female and two male students representing a variety of experience levels, riding a mix of cruisers and touring bikes.

Like the video, we began by discussing the proper use of the friction zone, rear brake, and using the head and eyes to direct the path of travel. Then we made some slow, straight “slow race” passes down the parking lot, maintaining a walking pace with the rear brake and the friction zone.

That mastered, we moved on to the slow cone weave. There were two lines of cones set up, the first on 15 foot spacing, and the second at 12 feet. With “Motorman” Palladino offering commentary on the PA and Donna Palladino at the far end of the line pantomiming the rhythmic rocking of the handlebars, we swayed our way through the cone weave one after another. With just five of us in the class, we were pretty continuously moving, and in short order everyone in the class had the weave down.

This brought us to the circle exercise, and the introduction of serious lean angles. Starting with a large circle, we did a few slow passes, and then moved into the 24′ inner circle. Wandering out of the circle elicited commentary from Motorman - “hey, it’s a free country, ride wherever you want”. After a while, everyone in the class was handily orbiting inside the line, and after a break, we moved on to the Offset Cone Weave.

As Motorman says, the Offset Cone Weave builds a quick left-to-right transition and a quick left-to-right transition is exactly what you need on the road when someone violates your right of way. In order to successfully negotiate the Offset Cone Weave, you have to learn to trust the bike and follow the natural preference of the motorcycle to make large ‘S’ shaped turns between the gates. As with the cone weave, we started off with wider spacing, and soon the group was scribing sweeping S turns through the gates.

It is worth noting here that the staff of the course was excellent in offering advice and guidance on all of the exercises, showing where us where we should be looking and helping us get a feel for the proper speed and turn in points. When a student was having problems with an exercise, there was significant individual attention and encouragement, and even at one point Motorman even had a student ride through the exercise as a passenger with him, so the student could get used to the feel of the bike running through the maneuver. I was very impressed with the instructors and the quality of the instruction.
After the Offset Cone Weave gates were moved to the tighter spacing, the exercise became much more challenging, requiring more precision in the positioning of the bike through each gate and consistent, quick left to right transitions. More challenging and more fun, with the exercise being punctuated with the occasional sound of floorboards scraping as a student executed a very tight turn through the gates.

From the Offset Cone Weave, we moved into the Intersection Box, and moved through the Plus shaped box doing a series of U-turns (and even 540 degree turns) and then back out to run the Offset Cone Weave again.

Once Motorman was comfortable with our skills, we started putting multiple bikes into the intersection box. This required a bit more concentration, as the other bikes in the exercise provided another factor to consider. In short order, we were all comfortable with running through the exercise in multiples, and we were having a lot of fun with it.

From the Intersection Box we moved to the Figure 8. Although the turns were the same radius as the Offset Cone weave and the U-turn box, the different appearance required some adjustment (but less than when moving from the circle to the Offset Cone, at least for me). In short order, we were looping through the figure 8 singly and in pairs, with one of the instructors riding with us.

From the figure 8, we moved on to the high-speed weave. Not really high speed, but about 20 miles per hour. The object here was to do the cone weave at countersteering speed as opposed to the handlebar direct steering speeds we had been running all day.

Next, we moved to a braking exercise, entering the box at 20 mph, and stopping firmly and in control. Everyone had this down quickly, and we moved into the next to the last exercise, making a turn from a stop. Starting off with the bars turned is a different sensation, and it definitely takes getting used to. Fortunately for me, this is an exercise I have practiced quite a lot, so when I came up to the line, I cranked the bars over to full lock.

Eventually, everyone in the class was making turns from a stop with the bars turned well over, and we were on to the last riding exercise, a game of “follow the leader”. With Motorman in the lead and Rick running chase (and occasionally yelping his siren), we ran a 6 bike nose-to-tail line around the range, doing circles and figure 8’s and running through the intersection box in both directions.

Over 4 hours, we learned a lot about our bikes and how to negotiate a variety of exercises with them, and we had a lot of fun. Motorman’s instructional style makes the lessons fun as well as educational. Over the span of the day, Donna had taken a great many pictures of the class, and she’ll be sending out picture discs. We picked up the course cones, and got our course certificates.

I’d highly recommend this course to any motorcycle rider who wants to develop and enhance his or her riding skills. An excellent, very worthwhile investment of time and money in the safety and enjoyment of one’s riding. You’ll leave the class with the skills to handle your bike in slow, tight quarters where other riders fear to tread.

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 832-09
October 26, 2009
DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. They died Oct. 23 in Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their vehicle with an improvised explosive device. The soldiers were assigned to the 569th Mobility Augmentation Company, 4th Engineer Battalion, Fort Carson, Colo.

Killed were:

Spc. Eric N. Lembke, 25, of Tampa, Fla.
Pfc. Kimble A. Han, 30, of Lehi, Utah.

And with that somber announcement, the Patriot Guard were once again called to honor a young American Hero who gave his life in the service of our nation. Unfortunately, this mission would be further complicated by the presence of “them”. “Them” refers to the Westboro Baptist Church, a group of vile, loathsome individuals who attend the funeral services of American service members bearing signs that say “Thank God for IED’s” (and even more revolting things). They are a bunch of sick, pathetic, freaks who get off on torturing the families and loved ones of the fallen to advance their moronic cause. This being a PG-rated, family friendly blog, I can’t tell you what I really think of these freaks. I can, however, tell you that we in the PGR won’t abide that garbage. The PGR makes certain that when these uninvited guests sleaze into town to try and torment a servicemember’s family, we show up in large numbers to create a human wall between the protesters and the family to shield them from the vile hatred of these so-called Christians.

And Saturday was no exception.

I left the house in the cool, pre-dawn darkness at about 0530 to meet up with a group of PGR members from the area to make the 80 mile trek from our area down to Plant City to honor Spc. Lembke. We rolled out of staging at 0630, with the fiery hues of dawn beginning to light the landscape and headed down the interstate in formation. As the sun rose further in the sky, the morning chill began to fade, and we made our way down Interstate 4. A flotilla of hot air balloons over Celebration added an element of beauty to the ride, and I reflected that but for the somber nature of the day’s purpose, it was a great day to be riding.

We rolled into Plant City ahead of schedule, and stopped to top up our fuel tanks in preparation for the second ride of the day, when we were to escort Spc. Lembke and his family from the church north to Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, Florida. But that would come later. First, we had to get through the service.

There were about a dozen bikes in the staging area when we arrived, along with a pair of support vehicles. When we arrived and checked in with the Ride Captain, we got some very welcome news. It seems Plant City has an ordinance that states that no person may protest within 300 feet of the property line of a church or funeral home during a funeral service. That was the good news. The great news was that the church where Spc. Lembke’s service was being held happened to own not only the plot they were on, but the plots on all sides of the church. The protesters were issued a permit to hold their protest at the public library some 1/4 mile away from the church. They were never heard or seen by anyone at the church, and their mission to torment Spc. Lembke’s family was a dismal failure.

Meanwhile, the bikes continued to roll in. The final count was 85 bikes at the church, with a couple dozen more waiting for us at Bushnell. We set a flagline that ran nearly all the way around the church, and were joined by some local residents who brought their own flags and signs to honor Spc. Lembke and show their support and love for the family.

It was a great honor to stand the flagline with the PGR at this mission. Just as it is with every mission. The turnout for Spc. Lembke was impressive and humbling, and I was proud to play my small part in it.

Following the completion of the service, we broke down the flagline and prepared for the 60 mile trip to Bushnell for the internment. While we were standing the flagline, the winds began to build, and by the time we left the church for Bushnell, we were contending with 20-30 mile per hour gusting winds.

The sheer size of the procession caused some complications, and the Ride Captain decided that we would send out a large group of bikes ahead of the procession, without escort, to arrive at Bushnell first and set the flagline there to receive the procession. And so off we went. The streets along the route were lined with local residents holding flags and signs, and the fire department had an aerial device up over the road with an enormous American Flag hanging down over the route.

Oh, yes, and the processional also handed the protesters their final plate of fail. The protesters thought that their site was along the route, and that the family would see them as they passed. Wrong - the processional route was changed to leave the church via a different route, and never passed any closer to the protest. It must have been hard on the protesters - all dressed up and no one to torment. Tragic.

The scene at Bushnell was much like the one at the church - a massive group of PGR and other riders holding flags, lining the entire walkway around the committal pavilion, showing the family our respect and sorrow for their loss and our deep respect and gratitude for the service and sacrifice of Spc. Lembke.

Following the internment ceremony, the massed riders broke up into small groups and soloists as we made our way out of the hallowed grounds of the Florida National Cemetery to our respective destinations. Words can’t express the pride I felt leaving the cemetery. Not for my small part in the events of the day, but for the overall effect of the large turnout. I hope with all my heart that our presence there was a comfort to the family, and that they were left knowing that Spc. Lembke’s sacrifice will not be forgotten.