NEW MEMBER WELCOME!

We extend a hearty welcome to THREE new members, Dennis Hedrick of Belle Chasse, John Thoms of Baton Rouge and Ted Torres of Houma. Ted rides a BMW R1200GS and a GSXR750. Dennis rides a Honda 919 and a Triumph triple (if I remember correctly) John recently moved up froma Ninja 500r to a new Yamah FZ1. Welcome aboard guys!

Why I ride…

by Tim Smith

While I was in North Carolina, I had the opportunity to explore many of the great roads in the Appalachian mountains. There are hundred of great roads and thousands of miles of beautiful and twisty roads. I am looking forward to going back there in June for STAR, I can't wait to ride some of those roads again. I was looking through some old correspondences from that time, Tony was living in California, and we kept each other up to date on our rides. He would tell me about his rides up Palomar Mt. and to the Rock Store and I would share with him the hillbilly version of treks in the Smokies. I was looking back at one trip in particular when I had the pleasure to introduce mountain sport riding to a friend and coworker.

Dave was new to tiding and had a Nighthawk 650, and I had just finished tweaking my NT650 Hawk with new "racy" bars and a targa faring. It took us a couple of hours to get to the first mountain curves and as we started up the first mountain, I was thrilled to lean the bike and zip through the first good curves. After three or four turns I looked back and Dave was nowhere. So I slowed, and in a moment he caught up. We continued on and the same scene repeated, Dave was not keeping pace, so I pulled over to talk. Dave pulled off his helmet and told me he was scared to death, and he would not be going any faster. I just smiled. WE had a little talk and discussed the concept of counter steering , and told him to just follow me. So I slowed down and rode very deliberate showing him the line and how to move around a little on the bike. He caught on quickly, by afternoon, I was riding as fast as I felt comfortable, and he was right there with me. The smile on his face that afternoon had become permanent. On day two I let him lead and we had a great time.

I am not sure which one us was more proud of his new riding ability, but I had for sure brought a new brother into the fold. Or as my wife says "won over to the dark side". Dave would go on to trade his Nighthawk for a new CBR 600 f2 and we rode on several more trips before he moved away.

This trip was a blast, but we did encounter an extraordinary amount rocks, dirt, and debris on the roads. I later figured out that spring time in the mountains has a lot of run-off of water and the dirt and rocks settle along the road edges. You don't get nearly as much later in the year. But during the ride I was sure it was a grand conspiracy, the only debris was always in the apex of turns, which made for some interesting adjustments and couple of squirrelly slides.

As I was reading some of the old notes I sent Tony, I found one relating to this.

Notice from the North Carolina DOTD:

Announcing the promotion of Narvel Pitts to Road Superintendent for Western NC For exceptional service in the field of debris distribution and Motorcycle deterrence.

Interview with Narvel Pitts.

"Me and dem boys down to the highway barn been noticing that we was findin' pieces of plastic and metal and all sorts of other motersicle sh*t in the ditch and on the side of the road. We saw that most of dem motersicle parts and pieces was around dem curves in the road whar we spread the rocks and dirt. So we got to figgerin that maybe dem rocks had sompin to do wit all that motersicle sh*t we was findin. My cousin Enus even found a whole motersicle in the ditch one day, and the city feller what had been ridin it. Enus said the city feller was mostly just moanin and usin' bad language and talking about dem rocks we had just spread in the curve of the road. Now none of us down to the barn ever rode one of dem motersicles but we figgered we done good. Weuns can't understand why you'd want to ride one of them thangs anyway, they fall over too much."

If you plan on going to STAR and riding in NC, keep an eye out for the rocks in the curves. I am sure Narvel and Enus have been on the job this spring.

Image gallery

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IMGP2642.JPG	Tony's wife Jenny and daughter Olivia were present to lend moral support, as were members (and soon to be track day noobies) Kevin Yeats and Bill Ellis and new member John Thoms. Other distinguished visitors to the HSTA pit were Brian Noble, owner of DualSportRidersofLouisiana.com and his better half, Nicole. Brian, better known as "Juice Monkey" is an excellent photographer and does a great job capturing the on track excitement. Check out his fine work at http://www.trackdayphotography.net/

UPCOMING EVENTS and RIDES

HSTA Events

Local Events

Mark your calendars and look for details soon in your in-box and on our website.

Later this month I hope to publish the May issue with a full report of the Barber AMA weekend and my adventures in TN,NC and GA

That's all for now. Heep riding and smiling....

Bob Chappuis, State Co-Director and Editor chappuis@demco.net