EDITORIAL - For me the year 2017 was a year off the motorcycle while I was dealing with issues of vertigo and dizziness. In October of 2016 on my way home from Reno’s Street Vibration I popped a hole in my left eardrum while coming across the pass into Lake Tahoe from Carson City.
I had my wireless headphones on in my helmet and it was blasting out my music at a much higher volume than it should have been. A fifty-one year old head banger that always yells at his kids to turn down that damn music, didn’t follow his own advice.
After a couple months of being bounced around from my primary doctor at Kaiser Permanente to a host of specialists, my eardrum healed up with a pocket of fluid behind it. That is the sort of thing that makes hearing a problem but over time it got better and my hearing was restored. But there was still that little problem of balance and bumping into walls.
Funny thing about bumping into a wall or falling down, your wife seems to frown on you going out with the boys on your motorcycle. You know its true love when your wife doesn’t want you on your motorcycle even though she knows she is the beneficiary of your million dollar life insurance policy.
Well I rode during both homecoming parades in October and didn’t have any issues. I was too busy in November and December or I would have gone out, then came January 1st of this new year and my father-in-law’s motorcycle ministry, One Nation Under God, was taking a short ride up to Raymond. I said “Yes sir! I want to go”.
So for the last week I’ve been getting the bike ready. Getting my leathers all cleaned up and found out that I need to have the belt of my chaps shortened because apparently I’ve lost another fifty pounds in the last year. Once I figured out the right air pressure for my front and rear tires, I took the bike out for a short ride and it felt so good that I decided it would be my mode of travel for New Years Eve.
The next day I was up and ready to ride at the crack of noon. After arriving at my father- in-law’s friends’ house and eating a hardy breakfast, we mounted the bikes and the stands were up for the short ride to the Raymond General Store. It was a really nice ride up and on the ride back down I was a little more cautious, I don’t know why. A year off the bike just means I need to spend a lot more time getting ready for this year’s riding season.
This new section on Big Valley News is going to be a place to write about my ride times. I need to write more and I want to write about motorcycles. I own the website so I guess I can write whatever I want. It won’t take away from the other stuff on the site. And riding is the one thing that really clears my head.
My wife has no desire to jump on the back of the bike, so I don’t have a passenger seat or pegs. If it can’t be my wife, I couldn’t imagine wanting anyone else on the back of my bike. There is nothing like riding by yourself, but I also enjoy hanging with the guys in a group of like-minded motorcycle riders.
This year I have a few rides planned with friends. We are of course heading up to Hollister for the Independence Rally and Reno for Street Vibrations which will have hundreds of photos on our BVN Facebook page with a full story on the website. We are also planning a ride through the California Delta and a few rides up the mountains and down Highway 49.
We will put a list of rides together on this site if anyone wants to join us. Just so you know, I am not a speed demon on a motorcycle. I ride a Lazy Boy, a laid back cruiser. If that sounds like something you would like to do, let me know.
Well until next time, I will see you on the road.
