Prior to picking up Adventure Riding as a hobby, my favorite extracurricular activity was fishing. Growing up I fished almost every day at a pond near my house and more remotely with friends and family almost every weekend. Moving out to Idaho from Indiana when I was 17 really expanded my fishing horizons, opening up several new methods of fishing and a whole new array of fish to catch, but the distances involved made it tougher for me to get out.
I love putting on my leathers. I love hanging out in leathers, but only if I have a bike nearby. I love girls who ride.. .in leathers. I love attending roadracing events. I love the sound of a bike taken to redline in every single gear. I love the thrill, the look, the art, the feel, the smell, the taste, the sensual adventure of motorcycles.
Launched on April 3, 1860, the Pony Express connected California in the far West with the Eastern United States with the fastest means of communication up to that Mme – approximately ten days of hard, fast riding between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. Though the Pony Express lasted only eighteen months, it became a lasting and endearing legend of the American West. It ceased its operaMons on October 26, 1861, just two days after completion of the transcontinental telegraph that made it obsolete. The last delivery of Pony Express mail arrived in San Francisco
There is cold, and there is cold on a motorcycle. Cold on a motorcycle is like being beaten with cold hammers while being kicked with cold boots, a bone bruising cold. The wind’s big hands squeeze the heat out of my body and whisk it away; caught in a cold October rain, the drops don’t even feel like water. They feel like shards of bone fallen from the skies of Hell to pock my face. I expect to arrive with my cheeks and forehead streaked with blood, but that’s just an illusion, just the misery of nerves not designed for highway speeds.
My second bike was a 1975 HondaCB750. I too was a looker, and for $2,000 it actually ran sometimes. I spent another $100 on a Biltwell open face, $150 on a jacket on Craigslist, and $60 on some Doc
Martens at the flea market. At the time I was still teaching and knew I loved riding around Orange County, but I didn’t have much money and I loved lots of other things too. Unfortunately, its unreliable nature kept me from any long rides or road trips.
Almost without fail, every club member responding mentioned that they routinely use either the website of one or more of our sponsors and then pick up the item in which they are interested at the physical address of the sponsor. Happy Trails Products was number one on this list followed by Carl’s Cycles and Big Twin.
Since the reorganization of our club officers in January 2015, we have had a few changes in the leadership of IAMC as you will see in the following summaries. This is your chance to get to know your officers beYer. The May 2015 issue of the IAMC Newsletter fills in the biography on those officers who have not changed.
While this article is written primarily with the senior (age 40 and older) motorcyclist in mind, our younger and more vigorous cohorts should still pay close attention because, like it or not, we are your future and you can still learn a thing or two from us. Have you noticed that the average age of motorcyclists is advancing? I do, perhaps because I am one…an older motorcyclist that is. This is particularly reflected in the composition of our club, the Idaho Adventure Motorcycle Club.