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New COG Full Member living in Hesperia CA (from Chincoteague, VA)

ursharkfuel

God got one thing wrong: Stupid should be PAINFUL!
Member
Hello all,

What a great place and a great group. I have been around a few weeks and just got around to posting an introduction.

I'm back on a street bike after more than 10 years away because I can once again enjoy a commute to work without using a California freeway. :great: To be honest, in 2008 I realized I was pushing my luck riding everyday on a road were everyone acts like they are the only vehicle on the road. Have you ever been "tapped" from behind by a car on a bike?!? I have, and that level of disregard for someone else was a real eye opener at 75 MPH! 

April 2020 I found a Silver 2011 Connie 1400 with 19K on it, and just about every functional bell an whistle in the book installed on it. It seemed too good to believe because except for the add-ons, it honestly looked like it just came out of the shipping crate at the dealership, not a single mark on it and it runs like a dream. I ride 96 miles round trip daily. Across the high desert (3500 ft), up the mountain to work in Big Bear Lake, Ca (7000 ft), and then back down the mountain and back across the desert home. The ride is beautiful, but is too cold for winter commuting due to snow, and I'm sure I may need to take the car on the hand full of days the forecast says it will pass 110 this summer. I could handle it when I was in my 20s and 30s, but just this side of 60 I don't plan to tempt fate. 

A little background on me:
I have been riding since I was big enough to hold up a bike. I got my motorcycle, car, and pilots licenses in 1977. While in the USAF in 82, I purchased one of the first 100 Honda Apencades ever built and Honda was very good to us first 100 owners - I still have a place in my heart for that bike. I bought it after a very bad run with several new and used Harleys, and after finally flipping out over my prized 76 Triumph Bonneville leaking brake fluid constantly and seeming to require more wrenching than riding. The Triumph went to a good friend on a fire sale - I was pretty ticked off at it and the assorted other bikes that had let me down. Anyway, I was 135 lbs soaking wet on a more than 800lb bike - but I loved it! I took my first MSF Experienced Riders Course on that bike, and did not have a great deal of sympathy years later for bigger guys riding large machines and making endless excuses for their lack of control after I became an MSF instructor in 1988.

I mention the Aspencade because it led to me getting a shot at riding a drag bike for a local Kawasaki dealer for a year. The dealership owner was blown away by the sight of my skinny frame on that massive Gold Wing and was sure I could control a new bike they were building for the strip that his mechanics were afraid of, so I got a shot! That was a wonderful Adrenalin filled year until the USAF made me quit racing - they considered it too hazardous - imagine that! Anyway, they did reward me with 4 years in Germany where I bought and rode an FJ1100 and a CB750 from departing service members. You have not lived as a bike rider until you experience the Autobaun and Nurburgring on a liter sports bike. The Ring was 12 and 15 miles around, and there were 2 configurations while I was there 83-86, with one configuration had 154 turns! It was open to the public when there were no races, and as I recall it was 3 German Marks a lap which came to about a dollar a lap in those days. We would ride 60 miles to the track in the morning on good tires, do two or three laps between breaks and lunch, and then limp home on well worn and cupped tires. It was completely crazy the kind of bikes and cars you would see on that track at any given moment. I even saw VW vans and Mercedes trucks!! I guess everyone wanted to "run what they brung!" And there were some silly, silly wrecks due to more nerve than skill.

I am a USAF vet that did 10 years 1980-1989. I guess I lost interest, so I made the choice to call it a career with an HONORABLE discharge in 89 to do something completely different. After the Air Force career I turned my hobby - computers - into a full time job and spent the next 10 years working in every area of computer technology and did look back. And for the past 20 years I have been involved in technology management for large and small organizations. Currently I am the IT Director for a small hospital in a great town, full of wonderful people that I enjoy serving everyday. I don't miss the bigger chairs - not one bit!  :great:

I have been fortunate to ride some incredible bikes in some priceless settings, but I can honestly say my (new to me) Connie 14 is one of the best bikes I have ever ridden! This may be the last bike I ever need or want!  :)

Enjoy the ride,

Jon

 
Hi Jon, I just sent you a message on Rick 67's introduction! Anyway I am the AD in the Southwest and a big welcome to you! We have many riders in the area that love to ride the roads in the Big Bear area as well as Angeles Crest Highway going the other way! Jeff Hamilton our AAD for SoCal lives nearby in Adelanto and loves motorcycling! He is a great resource for anything Concours related as well as other bikes and cars. I am retired and currently have an 2008 bike that I ride all the time though now in the repair shop. Hope to have it back later in the week so I hope soon we will meet. We do have plans for some rallies in Arizona and Death Valley later in the year. Not sure you go on Facebook but we have a Southern California Concours group along with the official site Concours Owners Group and for the uncensored Ultimate Concours Group. Keep in touch and see you soon on the road. Stay safe!

:motonoises:    :motonoises:  :great:
 
Thanks Rusty!

I will be on the lookout for Rick and Jeff lives just a stone's throw away.

I hope your Connie feels better after her doctor's visit.

Take care,
Jon
 
Welcome Jon… Where were you stationed?
I was lucky enough to make a trip with Rusty to ride Europe. It is beautiful over there...
We rode the Autobaun a bit on our trip, but mostly stayed off it and rode as many back roads as possible.
    Had to experience the Autobaun though. Was on my bucket list...
Some of us got to see {but not ride} Nürburgring.
  Still all kinds of cars and motorcycles on it.
      Some of those people are really fast, some are definitely nuts...
We all loved riding in the Alps, and hope to do so again someday..

Being off bikes for a period and then getting back in is what many of us have done.
Also, many, {Including me} are retired Military.
Bottom line; You'll fit right in.

Ride safe, Ted
 
connie_rider said:
Where were you stationed?

I was USAF so I got started at Lackland like all the other airmen. I did my technical training at Chanute and my first assignment was Seymour-Johnson. I then went to Bitburg AB and I finished up at George AFB here in Southern Cal.

It was a great career, but I burned so fast in my first 10 years, that my next 10 would have been nothing but burn out.

I am happy to hear you made it to Europe and got a chance to check off some bucket list items.

One of my favorite things about Germany was the machines they rode and the gear they wore. I laughed at them in my ignorance until it was explained to me and then I felt bad about it. I 'm not so sure it is the same now, but back then my Yamaha FJ 1100 (until I parked it with 2nd gear issues) and later my Honda CB 750 would attract quite a crowd every time I parked them in public. They would ask me questions, and wanted to hear stories about how fast I had gone and where I had ridden. I made many a German's day by letting them mount up, start it, and twist the throttle a few times in the parking lot  :) and sometimes I would even take them for a short ride. More than once they would tear up when I offered because it really meant something to them!  :'( It was my understanding that at the time the German government frowned on folks riding what we would call a motorcycle because they were considered too dangerous. But instead of outlawing them, they made ownership far too costly by driving up their registration fees and insurance to astronomical levels on anything above 100 cc. So it was not uncommon to see scooters and mopeds seriously ridden my people dressed in top shelf gear! I mean 20 - 40 year olds with their girlfriends dressed from head to toe in some high quality and expensive riding gear worth 3 to 5 times as much as the machine they rode at under 30 MPH everywhere. And they had modified them every way possible to max out their performance. They were serious riders to their core, but they were forced to ride bikes no stronger than the starter on my Connie and it was truly sad. Most were excellent riders and so were the German drivers for that matter. Did you see this too?

You may not know this, but most Germans never own a car or get a license. When I was there 83-86 there was a two year wait to get into a driving school, and you went to driving school no matter how old you were! 18 or 80 it didn't matter. And the school was more like our pilots training here. As I recall you needed 40 to 50 hours before you could graduate. They take driving VERY seriously. I recall a concert trip I took with couple German friends. Heinz almost jumped out of the car when I opened and started drinking a soda I brought with me and drank it while driving.  :-\ He said, you just don't do that. Eating or drinking is not done when driving, someone else should drive if I was hungry. I laughed it off, but he was actually afraid until I finished that Coke. 

I agree, great group and I hope I fit in.

Enjoy the ride,
Jon
 
Yes, we definitely saw that the German/European drivers were good.
Also noticed that the bikers were good/aggressive, and the vehicle drivers accepted that aggressiveness more than in the USA.
And, all the bikes I saw were in excellent condition.

All my European friends are drivers/riders, so I wasn't aware that not all German's drive.
They had told me about the driver training, but I knew little.

Someday, I hope to make another trip, but (at 68) {and with the current travel restrictions caused by the virus}, it's getting less likely.

Ride safe, Ted
 
connie_rider said:
Someday, I hope to make another trip, but (at 68) {and with the current travel restrictions caused by the virus}, it's getting less likely.

70 is the new 40, you'll make it. Don't let something silly like a number stop you.  :beerchug:

Take care,
Jon
 
It's not the years.  :-[
        It's the miles...  :rotflmao:
              And, {after 3 trips} the Boss has to agree...

I plan to try again.
Right now waiting for the Virus scare to end...

Ride safe, Ted
 
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