The 2011 season

Where in Wisconsin do you live??

good pic's, looks like a nice ride.

The weather is closing in here. Riding is becoming less fun. It is still ok for short trips but not a lot more.

No great plans for 2011, but I want to get in at least one decent trip. I am thinking of a trip over to France, through Normandy and Brittany, then catching the ferry to Cork, riding around Ireland for a bit, before heading back to the UK. Could be good for a couple of weeks.

Then come September 2011 it looks like I'll be without a bike for a few months.

In a Madison suburb. I ride out of Capital Harley.

I am from Minnesota and I can see how you could lose a road. Roads are named "V" "E", "F" and every letter in the alphabet many times .I have ridden in a big circle in Wisconsin .

Never could fiqure why the state doesn't number their roads like the rest of the country- I have run into Wisconsin many times and always had a problem finding my way to the delivery point. But I did get to see a lot of back country while lookin.

I live in a very unique area that gives me the best of both worlds. I live in suburbia, but I am about six miles from my gym, the pizza guy delivers here, but I am minutes away from farm country. I can be in Waunakee without downshifting if I make one stoplight.

My Dyna (a complete custom called "Black Betty") has been modified in the San Francisco style. If you've been to Madison you know that we have hills, numerous one-way streets, horrible traffic and a gladiator pit we call "The Beltline." I have more money in my suspension than in my engine.

But during my career in this whacky sport I have also had a few Sportsters back when bikes were built of iron for men made of steel. I decided to get a Sportster 48 as a second bike with a rear rack, and I titled it for my business for deliveries.

During the break-in period, I explored all of these smaller highways to our east. I traveled roads I had not seen in decades and had a great time.

Always a weight-lifter, I felt I was a tad bulky when I turned sixty. I talked to our gym's trainer, and he set me up on a program similar to the P90X version of the Weider Muscle Confusion Technique. I have lost over 60 pounds. And boy does that little Sportie fly now!

I have put the Dyna in cold storage at the dealer, but the Sporster and I are still out there. I have just a biscuit short of 6,000 miles on her, and considering I can only go 50 miles before I run low on fuel, that's a lot of riding. I now ride the slab for short periods, but I have also re-connected with our great backwoods roads.

LOL, my experience is similar!

The 39/90/94 on-ramp is four miles from my home. Once on the slab I can go to Sturgis without making a turn!

My first Sturgis experience was not on a bike. My wife agreed to go, but only as part of a larger vacation. The best running cage we had was a two-door Geo Tracker--fortunately with A/C. In 1991 it was a hot, pollen filled summer.

BTW, in the low mountainous area climbing into Custer, we got caught in a thunderous downpour in pitch black darkness.

We were passed--at 90 MPH--by a pack of California Angels who seamlessly maneuvered into single file and went by us as if we were standing still.

Say what you want, but those boys can ride!

Not sure what the 2011 riding season will bring, I was finally released by the Docs from the wreck and I guess it’s time to go back to work. The construction job I was on has ended so I’ve taken an Electrical Construction Engineer position on a project about 150 miles from home. I will wait to make plans till I can get settled in but with paid holidays and 3 week paid vacation I’m sure we’ll venture on a least one or two multi-day rides.

I just got back from my dealer, and it's still early Saturday morning. They had a swap-meet set up, and I don't like people much, and frankly 'dentist bikers' even less. I dropped off the scissors, stole a few cups of coffee and split.

But I did look at the bikes, and I must admit that while I'm still riding, I'm already looking forward to next season. And I'd like to plan a few longer jaunts on the Dyna then. I'd even like to pick up one of those 1200cc Sportster Lows with the bigger tank just in case my mind changes.

Oh, but the one that caught me eye was one of those denim Fat Boys with the matte chrome finishes. I don't even know why, it just looked like something I would ride--or have ridden. But I've never owned a Fat Boy.

Perhaps I should clarify that. I don't mean the occupation of 'dentists.' I mean newbs and RUBs.

In fact, the handle I use, a tourist, was actually an insult among bikers several decades ago. If someone noticed a new guy on a bike, and he wasn't sincere or committed, an old biker might comment, "Oh, he's just a tourist."

Personally, my life changed. I still ride the same bikes and know many of the same guys. I just don't live the lifestyle anymore.

What I refer to as a "dentist biker" is more of a guy who has lived a white-bread suburban life until he was middle-aged. Then he bought a new Harley, got an entire armful of new ink, buys any scrap of leather with a concho in it, and calls everyone "bro." He really owns a Harley, he just hasn't learned how to ride it yet.

I have learned to 'live and let live.' In fact, if you ever come to Capital City Harley, don't bother trying to find me in tattoos or leather. I was too cheap to get ink "back in the day," and I haven't worn leather in about five years.

Look for a fudd in crappy jeans. That's not the janitor, that's me.

As for the 2011 season, you have to understand that I didn't ride today. First time in about three weeks. All of those bikes sitting at the dealership, and I'm in a truck...

I had so much fun this year I can tell it's going to be a long winter for me.

That's one thing I have learned. Old bikers have differing jargon, and even that changes in some regions. I speak pretty much using 1970s midwest jargon. I was born in Milwaukee, my grandfather worked for Harley on the assembly line.

To me, all HD big bikes are "Electra Glides." We used to call them 'wagons' or 'dressers.' Girls are 'quiff' or 'woofies.' I still use the expression "flat shovel" for 1966 big twins.

I have never liked the expression "patched" or "got his patch." To me--then, now and in the future--I have my 'rags.' Never liked the word 'bro.' I lost fourteen of the men I considered were worthy of that title. Everyone else looks like a kid to me wearing his dad's jacket.

With the direction this thread has taken maybe the title should be changed to Wild Hogs verses the Del Fuagos!

Oh, I didn't mean to hijack, I'm the new kid here. But that's what you get when old fudds gather. We start to go down memory lane and the next thing ya' know an hour has passed...

I kind of have my head in the clouds. My big bike is already in storage and the Sportster is not far behind. I'm looking forward to 2011 already, and I have five months of a Wisconsin winter in front of me.