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Rocket City Wings
Huntsville, Alabama -- Chapter B, Region A
Friends for Fun, Safety & Knowledge
January 2004
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MOST ACTIVE CHAPTER 2003
Welcome to 2004. We had a great ride to the new Cracker Barrel in Decatur. We had 29 bikes and 44 people trying to sit at the same time and we almost did it. With the help of the manager they put us in the same area. If this is any example of how the year will go, we will have a bunch of folks on rides.
We have new Ride Coordinators. Russ and Betty Werman have volunteered to take up where Paul and Susan Neely left off. Please provide some rides you would like to make to Russ and Betty. Their first Ride Meeting will be 6 Jan at Paul and Susan’s new house. Please come and join us.
We had a wonderful time at the Christmas Party and sure hope everyone else did. The dirty Santa and friends raised over $240 to buy much needed items for a needy family and the presents everyone brought were great. As usual, thanks to all for their time and support in putting up and taking down the decorations. I would also like to thank the clean up crew. Joe, Russ, and Mickey run a mean vacuum cleaner and it only took about 30 minutes to do a through clean up.
We are putting together a Chapter Shirt order and should have all the information at the January meeting. We will also take orders for Railroad Hats from all who are interested.
We are supposed to get guidance at the Snowball Run on what we need to do to get ready for the Rally in Madison. I really appreciate the input from folks already volunteering to help, please hold that thought for a while. I will put out all the information I get to all of you at the meeting.
Have a very Happy and Prosperous New Year.
Please Ride Safe and Often,
Roy & Anita
January 13, 2004. MEET AT RYAN'S ON S. PARKWAY. 630 to eat, 7 to meet. Hope to see you there.
Thanks to Rex Holder for creating and maintaining the Chapter B web page. For the latest news consult the web page at http://www.geocities.com/scipvteye/alb.html
We are trying to collect some pictures of chapter members, places we have been, bikes, trikes, etc. We want to post them to the web page and be available for all our members to see. If you have any digital pictures, please e-mail them to Mickey Polka at "jul ipol ka*a ol:com".
We didn't have a meeting in December, but we had a great Christmas party. Hope to see everybody at the January meeting.
If you buy 50/25/25 tickets you will receive 1 extra ticket for each if you wear shirt and/or vest with Chapter logo and/or ride your bike to the meeting.
Also Alice has the country store if anyone needs items for vest or hats.
I was unsure about a topic for my first newsletter input as your new Rider Educator. But a couple of you got together and solved the problem for me, and I truly appreciate your effort, especially since no one was seriously hurt or any Wing damaged. Sunday, December 28, 2003, following our breakfast routine at Mullins, five Wings bearing six adults decided that a brief ride, perhaps a couple of hours, was called for since the weather for a December day was great.
After some discussion we settled on US 231 North to Murfreesboro, TN 840 West to I-65 and South to Ardmore to AL 53 and then splitting up to go our separate ways home. It was a nice ride, a little windy at times but nice nonetheless. After turning toward Huntsville on AL 53 we began talking trying to determine where to best turn West for those of us headed in that direction. Old Railroad Bed Road was identified as the intersection we sought, but as we approached it, Wall Triana Highway was pointed out by yours truly as the place to turn and the leader turned right. Unfortunately, it was a last minute decision and Walter Gersch, riding in the number two position had to take extraordinary measures to avoid the leader. In so doing, Walter went down, pretty hard from where I rode at the back of the pack. Before I go any further let me point out that I am now firmly convinced that Walter is quite possibly the luckiest man in our Chapter, or at the very least, the luckiest of the five men on this ride. Ask to see his helmet or his jacket. My first indication of trouble was when I saw Walter sliding on his head with his feet in the air and apparently being drug by his Wing. Walter freed himself while still in motion and his Wing continued another 30-40 feet, upright, and between the Stop sign and a telephone trunk, or cable, upright. You know, one of those square green aluminum posts that stand up about four feet. His Wing went into the ditch and sank at least a foot into the mud then fell over. After ensuring that Walter was not injured we attended his Wing, fearing the worst but with the help of a Good Samaritan with some rope and a truck we salvaged the Wing from the mud and muck. As luck would have it, the adjacent gas station was pressure washing their drive and allowed Walter to wash his Wing; nothing, not even a scratch, see what I mean about Walter being lucky?
LESSONS LEARNED:
I cannot speak for any of the others on this ride but for myself, I feel that I learned a great deal about group rides during the 30 seconds or so that got MY adrenalin going. I will not soon forget the aforementioned lessons learned, nor, I’m sure, will Walter. I know you have all heard the expression, “it all happened so fast” well it did. It happened far faster than it takes to tell and oddly enough, I had the conscious thought that I was wondering when it would stop.
For those of you who think speed was a factor, you’re right. But not what you think. We were doing less than the posted limit of 55 but going too fast to negotiate the “last minute turn.” Had we been going slower, the turn would not have been a problem or had we been doing the speed limit, we would have been forced to continue to the next intersection.
Bottom line? Judgment, split second and continuous. A mandatory part of motorcycle riding.
Please make an opportunity to congratulate Walter on his luck and perhaps take him along the next time you go to Tunica.
Paul Neely AL-B Rider Educator
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