Are Poker Runs Illegal?

Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott recently stated that he feels that poker runs are a form of illegal gambling. Poker runs are very popular in Texas, as they are in many states. They are a fun way to raise money for a cause and add some character to a ride around town. Even many police groups in Texas regularly hold poker runs for fundraising purposes. Abbott's opinion stated that the poker run "would violate state gambling laws". Now many groups in Texas will have to eliminate the cards at each stop of their rides.

I wonder what impact this may have on other states. Other Attorney Generals may take note of this ruling and consider the fate of poker runs in their areas. Eliminating poker runs would be unfortunate in any state as they are great opportunities for fundraising.

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Too Much Harley Stuff for Christmas

Not sure why, but I ended up with something like three Harley t-shirts for Christmas. I don't even ride a Harley!

My wife bought me one of them even. The others came from nieces and nephews. In fact, my wife bought a Harley t-shirt for herself too. I'm not sure what she was thinking.

I do own some other Harley-branded stuff, such as a denim vest. I bought the vest because I really liked the feel, the look, and the quality. The vest does NOT have the big Harley logo on back, so it doesn't look funny when I'm riding on my Road Star.

However, the t-shirts have large, very easily recognizable Harley logos on back. I'll probably give them away as raffle items at the next bike-night, or something.

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Reflective Black Tape

The folks at StreetGlo have announced they're now selling a new product called, "Invisible Reflective Black Tape".

It's black tape you affix to a black motorcycle frame, which blends into the frame and becomes invisible. Yet at night, when a light shines on it, it turns to a glowing white light.

You can get one roll, containing 112 inches, for $8.95.

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U.S. Federally Recognized Biker Rally Weekend

A biker chick who goes by the name "Crazy Crissy" wants Congress to declare the 2nd weekend in June as our nation's official biker rally weekend.

And she's plans to go to Washington D.C. and speak to Congress about it.

What she envisions is a weekend where bikers from all walks of life, all makes and models, organize rallies and rides in their towns and raise money for charity, any charity they'd like. There will be a "national headquarters" that will monitor the fund raising efforts and report on the total collections.

Actually, I'm not sure why the federal government needs to be involved. Seems like she ought to just start her own biker rally instead. That's kinda how the Love Ride got started, and how Run for the Wall got started.

Instead of people responding to government decree, it'd be more meaningful if they responded on their own good will instead. But hey, if she can pull it off, then more power to her. However, "Crazy Crissy for Kids" does have a nice ring to it.

I can see the ride pins already.

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Doing the "Easy Rider" Thing

I'd venture to say that every die-hard biker has wanted to hook up with a buddy and spend a month or two riding motorcycles across the country.

In my college days, my friend Greg and I often talked about doing that. We were going to ride our bikes, my 400cc Kawasaki, and his 450cc Kawasaki, across the USA and back. Looking back, those bikes were probably too small, and too uncomfortable to do such a ride. But we didn't care, we just wanted to leave everything behind and let our instincts take over.

There's a certain romanticism about doing that. Perhaps it harkens back to the days of the frontiersmen, like Lewis and Clark exploring the West, and going whereever the river takes them. It's an equalizer that takes a college graduate and a high-school dropout and makes them equal men by reducing their existence down to mere travellers who have little more than each other's company.

Not too long ago, my neighbor and I talked about the same thing. We were going to go on a really long run for a burger and beer, leaving home here in So Cal, and going up into Canada, and over to the northern-most tip of Maine. He was going to be Wyatt, and I was going to be Billy. But his wife ended up slapping him with divorce papers, and I haven't seen him in months.

Today, one of my riding buddies mentioned buying into one of those motorcycle tour packages, where they fly you out to Canada, or Europe, and you tour the countryside on BMWs. And then, another buddy mentioned riding up the Pacific Coast and back.

Last August, me and a few other riding pals left So Cal to go to the Four Corners Rally in Colorado. We spent six days of riding. On the way back, we met two other guys who were on their 23th day of riding. They came from Kentucky, and they were just putting around the countryside, seeing the sights, living free, and basically rolling the dice to see which town they'll ride to next.

As I'm getting older, I realize I'm not getting any younger. Everyone has to have a moment when they shove their foot up their boss' ass, and spend the next month living like nomads on motorcycles. Of course, I'm self-employed, and it probably won't work that way in my case. But I'm thinking that time is passing by, and I'm wondering if that moment is calling my name.

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Virginia Bill Expands Use of Lights on Motorcycles

Delegate L. Preston Bryant, Jr. (R) of Virginia introduced new legislation that allows the use of auxillary lights on motorcycles.

HB26 adds the following text to the State's existing law on motorcycle lights...

Motorcycles may be equipped with low-voltage, low-intensity, steady-burning lights no larger than one-half inch in diameter, provided such lights may be of any color except red or blue.

I'm not quite sure what to make of this. The law already allows motorcycles to have up to two passing lamps on the front, so, this new text doesn't address that. The best I can tell is there may be an issue with bikers running their fog lights continously throughout the day.

Or, it could be that bikers are running engine LEDs colored in blue and red, and causing confusion with other motorists thinking they're being followed by a cop.

Thoughts anyone?

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New Police Motorcycle Generates More City Revenue

The City of Tigard, Oregon bought a new motorcycle for one of its policemen, Rod Morse. It's a Honda ST1300, a sport touring model.

A reporter for The Oregonian newspaper reported that folks are totally unaware that it's a police motorcycle, and as a result continue on speeding and running red lights.

Commuters speed, run red lights and drive recklessly in front of Morse more often now than when he rode the Kawasaki, he said. One driver trying to figure out whether the Honda was a police motorcycle was so focused on his rearview mirror that he drove through a stop sign. The resulting ticket became proof that, yes, an officer was riding that sleek bike.

It sounds like the city can save a lot more money buying cheaper sport touring models, and actually generate more city revenue by fooling people into breaking laws.

Where I live, many of the police bikes are already of the sport-touring models, I'm not sure which make (Kawasaki Concours?). There are still some officers riding police edition Harleys, however.

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2005 Motorcycle of the Year Award

Motorcyclist magazine announced its 2005 Motorcycle of the Year award, as BMW's K1200R.

It boasts an 1157cc inline-four engine with 150 horsepower. Motorcyclist magazine gave this bike its award because it gives a motorcycle rider everything...

Buyers who want everything—power, comfort, technology and attitude—in one package. No concessions. No apologies. No kidding.

It certainly is a nicer looking bike than what BMW has put out in previous years. In the past, BMW seemed to have focused on performance without regard to looks, and this particular model is definitely an escape from that tradition with its sleek lines, reminiscent of crotch rockets made by the Japanese manufacturers.

Personally, I prefer the cruisers, taking power and comfort over speed and thrills. But I won't take anything away from BMW. It was interesting that they could make such nice looking cars, but yet their motorcycles had always looked weird. Perhaps they finally learned something about the American motorcycle rider.

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Victory Vision 800

Polaris Industries unveiled a new concept motorcycle at the Long Beach International Motorcycle Show under its Victory brand, the Victory Vision 800.

It's a shaft-driven bike with an 800cc engine, and a fully automatic transmission.

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Mississippi Assesses Unfair Taxes on Motorcycles

An opinion published in The Clarion-Ledger describes how unfair Mississippi's system of taxation is on motorcycles.

For as long as I can remember, the state taxed motorcycles from value schedules based on the displacement of the engine. On Sept. 1, the Tax Commission began using a computer program purchased from R.L. Polk & Co. to calculate the assessed value of each motorcycle.

Taxes on motorcycle sales are 7%, compared to 5% for cars.

The author noted having to pay $732.94 in taxes and fees for one year on his motorcycle.

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Camoflauge Dirt Bike

DSC00804.JPG
Originally uploaded by mrneutron.

"Camo tires and custom color tires are apparently the big new thing for people with no sense of taste."

Check out the camoflauge tires!

This is from the International Motorcycle Show in Long Beach, CA. More photos here.

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Death Valley Ride

A bunch of us from Temecula Motorcycle Riders decided to get away from civilization for a short while and spent the night in Death Valley.

At this time of the year, Death Valley is quite cool, or perhaps "cold" is a better word. At Death Valley, you either burn to death, or freeze to death. It's death either way. The ride up from Temecula, CA was pretty cold too.

Most of us rode our motorcycles, though a few of us drove trucks carrying all of our camping gear. We left at 6:45am, and headed north on Interstate 215, and then on to Interstate 15. When we got into Victorville, it got even colder. I thought my lower-lip was going to fall off.

We headed up US 395, and stopped in at Kramer Junction for breakfast. This was probably our first chance to warm up.

By the time we rolled into Trona along Highway 178, the temperature finally got warm enough that I didn't need to wear any face protection. It was still pretty chilly though, and the time was about 11:30am.

We finally entered Death Valley around 12:30pm, and pulled into the Wildrose Canyon campground. We pitched our tents, got settled in, and then took off to Ballarat.

Ballarat is located outside of Death Valley, basically backtracking the route we came in on. It's a ghost town, though at least one person still lives there, a guy named Rock, who I'm told has just one eye, though I certainly couldn't tell. From Ballarat, one of the guys with us, unhitched his Jeep, and he took off into the mountains.

We followed him in a pickup truck driven by another one of our guys. We were in search of Charles Manson's hideout. Manson and his band of followers had a cabin up in the Panamint Mountains, overlooking Ballarat. He supposedly had something like 30 young women, and a few other guys, and they just spent their time engaged in orgies. Eventually the FBI swarmed in, and busted him.

We headed up Goller Wash, and came up to a waterfall. There was no water falling off it, but it was clearly an area where water fell. The problem was that the waterfall was in the wash were driving in, and there was no way around it due to the sheer high mountain cliffs surrounding us.

Ted tried to get his Jeep up and over the waterfall, but he couldn't do it. He ended up killing his battery and got stuck in the sand. So, we jump started him, and pulled him out, and headed back to Ballarat.

Back at Ballarat, we poked around the abandoned artifacts, took photos, and chatted with Rock. As the sun started setting, we headed back to camp.

By the time we got back there, the few folks we left there had a fire started, as well as some homemade chili. We sat down for food, and just started partying.

There was more beer there than we could possibly drink, whiskey, liqueur, vodka, and the usual assortment of sodas and water too. A couple of us also brought large volumes of fireworks, purchased out-of-state. We lit them off in the night sky over the next 5 or 6 hours, until we just too tired, and hit the tents.

It got pretty cold over night. Everyone else had butane heaters, but me. It turned out I didn't need it. The sleeping bag and blanket kept me pretty warm. It was my face that got cold. I had to sleep with the blanket over my head. Even then, I couldn't really sleep because I wasn't used to sleeping in a tent.

The next morning, I got up, and walked out of the tent. Everyone else was still inside, though I knew some of them had gotten out, and then got back in. I brushed my teeth, and found the water and cold morning air to be SO COLD, that I thought for sure my fingers were going to be frostbitten. But all is well.

After everyone else got out, we all had bloody marys and scrambled eggs for breakfast. Dave lit off a bunch of bottle rockets. Then he grabbed a bunch more, and tossed them into the firepit. Everyone yelled, "Shit!", and scattered like cockroaches. They started shooting off in every direction, popping all around us.

We packed up, and headed back out. We took the loop over Emigrant Pass, and up to Panamint Springs. Then took the road back to Highway 178, and back to US 395.

We got lunch in Randsburg, and from there headed back home.

It was really good to get out and get my mind off of work for a while!

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Lesbians Trademark "Dykes on Bikes"

Reuters reports that a group of lesbians in San Francisco managed to trademark the phrase "Dykes on Bikes".

Apparently, lesbian groups have been trying to trademark this phrase for a long time, but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied previous applications on grounds that the work "dyke" was derogatory.

But the National Centre for Lesbian Rights and the Brooke Oliver Law Group said the word "dyke" is no longer viewed as derogatory.

"Within the lesbian community that term has been reclaimed as a very positive term that denotes strength and pride and empowerment," said Shannon Minter, a lawyer for the National Centre for Lesbian Rights.

Gee, I didn't know that. I guess I'll use "dyke" more often.

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A Real Horny Couple

I'm clueless
Originally uploaded by SeanMcNeil.

"your classic biketoberfest crazy's, nice people though."

This is from Daytona Beach Bike Week

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