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| Message from the Editor StuBow
Newsletter Editor/Webmaster Hi All,
Happy Trails
and keep the rubber side down.
Message from the President
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of the
summer, as far as camping is concerned but I feel we need to git involved
a little more often than once a month, we have a place here in Fresno that
is as good as the mercer caverns, it's an underground garden this guy dug
out quite a few years ago and it is well worth coming down to see and maybe
spend the night here and possably go see a semi pro ball game (Fresno Grizzleys)
or something entertaining.
And if any of you members or none members for that matter have any special places or things you would like to do, give John Adkins a call on the telley or e-mail him and talk it over, I'm sure he will be very open for any suggestions you might have. I want to remind everyone that we are still collecting the dues for 2001, you have untill the 31st of March, if we haven't received your dues by than, all we can do is assume that you no longer wish to be a member of this fine up standing organization and we will remove your name from our membership list, It really pains me to think that anyone would want to bail out on us just when we are getting started, plus we have the AVA rally coming up in July and I was very much in hopes of taking the largest chapter present trophy away from the ( I think Keystone Voyagers) they have won it two or three times and now it's Californias time, so please send in your dues,I'm quite sure $10.00 isn't going to break you, after all it's only three beers in a bar and a 12 pack at the store. That's it for now, hope to see a lot of you at the March meeting.Cheers. Uncle Ray. President INSIDE THIS ISSUE Board Member
Editorials
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| Doris Brubaker
Secretary
Don Brubaker Tail Gunner/Referee Lee House Treasurer
Lee House, Treasurer. Clarence Greer VP
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River at
a real neat campground. From there we can go into Kings Canyon National
Park Wishon Lake, Huntington Lake, Shaver Lake, We can go into Cedar
Grove, and if you have never been to Cedar Grove the view is absolutly
awsome, It is at the bottom of the Kings Canyon and you go from about 7000ft
to 2250ft down into the canyon all good road. Sheer straight up cliffs
and a Roaring river running into this canyon deep in the mountains. I am
sure all would injoy it and I will camp out also even if the campground
is 20 miles from my house. I would appreciate it if you put this in the
news letter and we can ask the tour director about doing it. Thanks
C.G. Vice Pres. Norcal Voyagers. John Adkins Tour
Director
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| CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Vacaville
Poker Run
HOLLISTER
INDEPENDENCE RALLY
Red
River MOTORCYCLE RALLY
Other Important News Membership
dues for 2001 were due in January. If you haven’t done so yet please
submit your dues to Lee House via Snail mail at
Logo Ballot
cast your vote before 3/10/01
Member Editorial Classifieds:
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Classifieds
Cont.
Stock Voyager rear air shocks with oil seperator. I just put on Progressive air shocks and don't need these any more. $75.00 or best offer plus shipping. Under 4000 miles but in excellent shape. bobwebb2000@juno.com MURPHYS MEETING/MERCER CAVERNS
StuBow
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| Safety Tip
Contributed By Uncle Ray The Fast
Guy
THE FAST
GUY. Everyone knows him, or has at least heard of him. Almost everyone,
anyway. For those few who may not have made his acquaintance, here's
a brief introduction (insert the location of your choice for local color):
"You know so-and-so, right?" "No, never heard of him." "He's the fastest
guy on the mountain. He's been riding up here forever. Knows
the road like the back of his hand. He's the smoothest rider I've
ever seen. Rides a such-and-such brand bike, bone-stock. No
one's ever been able to keep up with him. One time, I had him in
sight for a couple of turns, but then he just disappeared..."The Fast Guy
is legendary no matter where one hears of him. Many riders believe
he possesses such a high level of skill it would be quite impossible for
him to crash, no matter what the road conditions might be. I queried
one middle-aged sportbike pilot about this phenomenon. He explained that
if a rider could turn such - and - such a lap time at a certain race track,
said rider would then have proven sufficient skill to run at a blistering
pace on the street and never crash. I found this perspective rather
peculiar, as I had turned similar times at that self-same track, and didn't
feel myself especially immune to crashing. Other riders—the sort who never
see the Fast Guy until he's finished his third cigarette while waiting
for them to catch up—seem to think being smooth is the key. The Fast
Guy's ethereal fluency is lauded ad nauseam, until the listener becomes
so disheartened with his own riding he very nearly pushes his bike off
the nearest cliff. But is it really a seamless and facile style,
or the ability to turn a certain lap time, that gives the Fast Guy his
amazing speed and status?
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Rather,
the Fast Guy's main trick is to memorize the road from years and years
of riding it, and behave as if nothing will ever happen. Yes, there
is a modicum of skill involved, but nowhere near that demonstrated by even
midpack club racers. On the rare occasions when fast guys sign up
for a
school, they are invariably bested by moderately skilled club racers on machines much older and smaller than their own. No, it's not skill, it's denial—and luck. Luck notwithstanding, Fast Guys are frequently involved in tragic circumstances, even if the crash is not their own. The Fast Guy is often at the head of a pack where a rider or two crashed trying to keep up. Or maybe he's chopped off another rider to show him who's best, angering one or more of the group with his irresponsible actions. Either way, he's generally mixed up in the kind of mischief that leads to accidents, citations, lawsuits, and tragedy. But every Fast Guy's luck runs out one day. It may take decades, but all Fast Guys eventually encounter a set of circumstances well beyond any rider's ability to manage, regardless of the lap times they can turn. I can think of five "Fast Guys" right now, and for each there was a different way to die. For one, it was a locked snow gate, impacted at 90 mph. For another, it was a 30 mph turn taken at 130. For a third, it was a stalled bus in the apex of a blind turn. There was the hidden layer of fine sand for a fourth, and a vicious high-speed tank-slapper for the fifth. All dead, and all because they had doubled or tripled the speed limit. There was no time to react and no room to maneuver at the speeds these riders were traveling. Fast Guys may enjoy local notoriety, and attention from slower riders that approaches deification. But in thegrand scheme of things, they've earned nothing. They endanger the lives of others, scoff at common sense and the basic speed law, and generally believe they are above and beyond the rules that apply to ordinary people. But they are not. The odds always catch up with them one way or another. What the Fast Guy has done for us is to show us what not to do, and where not to do it. High speed belongs on the racetrack, not the street. There is a long list of corpses that, if they could speak from the grave, would likely agree. © 2000 by H. Minowara. All rights reserved. |