GRCMMCC Memorial Weekend Blow Out: The Biker Ezine’s Appreciation Party and Legislative Retreat is this weekend all day Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. This is a FREE event. All members of this list are invited. See more details below under item five: "GRCMMCC Memorial Weekend Blow Out!" ~FF
1) FastFred Conquers Nantahala Falls With Two Clean Runs
2) NAACP compares biker rally activities
3) It Ain't Over til the Cat Lady Sings - June 2008
4) BEER GUY: Going to Sylva? Check out Heinzelmännchen Brewery
5) GRCMMCC Memorial Weekend Blow Out
************************************************************************
1) FastFred Conquers Nantahala Falls With Two Clean Runs
************************************************************************
http://fastfreds.com/trips/nantahalafalls/index.htm
FastFred Conquers Nantahala Falls With Two Clean Runs
In addition to riding my motorcycle 700 miles or more a week I have also been paddling a creek boat over the winter. During the weekend of May 16-18, 2008 my friend Rick gave me a ride to Wesser, NC from the cove for a Carolina Canoe Club Clinic. My instructors were Lisa and John Z; I learned a few new tricks in addition to what I had learned at an earlier NOC clinic during March...
Full Story and Photos >> http://fastfreds.com/trips/nantahalafalls/
************************************************************************
2) NAACP compares biker rally activities
************************************************************************
http://www.thestate.com/breaking/story/410471.html
NAACP compares biker rally activities
MYRTLE BEACH — The NAACP will hold a news conference Thursday in Myrtle Beach to help make people aware that Operation: Bike Week Justice is back.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People sent regional and national representatives to the Grand Strand to monitor last week's bike rally and compare it with the one beginning this weekend.
Operation: Bike Week Justice is now in its fourth year after five lawsuits charged businesses and the city of Myrtle Beach with discrimination during previous bike rallies.
Members of the civil rights organization are checking to see how restaurant and hotel patrons are treated and whether rates change because this weekend's Atlantic Beach Bikefest has historically been attended mostly by black bikers, while last week's Harley rally was predominantly white.
The NAACP has a hot line for people to call if they have complaints — 888-362-8683 — and White said his group is working closely with local law enforcement in case there are situations that need immediate attention.
The group settled all the lawsuits, including a federal lawsuit against the city, but will continue to watch for evidence of racism.
The Atlantic Beach Bikefest begins this week, and the Rev. Mickey James, president of the local chapter of the NAACP, said his group is trying to ensure everyone is treated the same during both rallies.
White said a comparative analysis will be prepared when the bike rallies are over.
— The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News
************************************************************************
3) It Ain't Over til the Cat Lady Sings - June 2008
************************************************************************
FF Note: Splatt has many more great articles to read in his "Biker Civics 101 Archive;" I strongly suggest reading the Santa's interview. The Biker Civics 101 Archive can be found here: http://www.bikernation.net/bikercivics.htm
It Ain't Over til the Cat Lady Sings - June 2008
Every town has at least one resident "Cat Lady" - hoarding all the catnip. You know the Cat Lady phenomenon, that unusual foray into dementia where the quirky spinster archetype down the way begins acquiring cats in unhealthy numbers. It starts innocently with just one fuzzy feline, the culturally accepted "norm", until a girlfriend moves away and our Cat-Lady-to-be inherits yet another tabby. Next thing ya know, a stray shows up on the doorstep and pops out a dozen kittens. A few weeks later, our Cat Lady's entire working salary is spent on Little Friskies™ and kitty litter. Come back in a couple years - and the cats have taken over; the house stinks to high heaven and the carpet is ripped to shreds. There are 125 cats running the asylum - and since cat food is cheaper than human food, the Cat Lady now serves up Hamburger Helper™ spiked with Meow Mix™ from the stay-moist-pouch, instead of sirloin. Ugh.
Now, everybody's heard the sordid tales of the classic Cat Lady and her sad plunge into zoophilia, but what most M1 license holders don't realize is that a similar fate belies a fabled few who delve just a little too deep into the world of Motorcycle Rights Organizations. In fact, there are Cat Lady types living in the midst of our own MROs, hoarding a different type of fuzzy problem with teeth; motorcycle rights. The unifying parallel is that you can't herd cats, and you certainly can't herd Bikers. Both are independent-minded free thinkers that rarely go where they're told, needing to be either convinced, or coaxed into compliance. When a cat falls off the back of the couch, he'll cop an indignant attitude - almost as if to say, "I meant to do that." Bikers are much the same, they'll piss away all their rights through shoddy stewardship and irresponsible behavior, and then blow it off by blaming it on somebody else. Ego. Attitude. Stupidity. Apathy. All are acronyms for a s
oon to be - dead sport.
Herein lies the analogy; substitute the word, "cats" with the phrase, "motorcycle rights" - and you'll find yourself stumbling down my personal dementia; caring for the motorcycle "rights" that nobody else in California seems to care for. For a number of years now, folks have been telling me that I have completely wasted away my life. I've become a "Jack of all rights, master of none", I don't have the luxury of selecting any one favorite "right" to sit and pet; I like them all. Unfortunately, it becomes unhealthy after a while, and you lose focus on the things that really matter in life; like paying the bills. I think it was Sun Tzu who said, "We are, afterall, only humans - who happen to ride motorcycles."
I prefer to call it a "sacrifice for the riders of California", but I'm not the first, and I'm certainly not the last person who will wake up one day - pissed off, bitter, broke and wondering why nobody cares. Sure, YOU care, because you're reading this article, but what about the other 1,109,373 M1 license holders in California? The tardy slips are in the mail, you see it every time a motorcyclist is run over from behind and the media buys into the law enforcement PR machine that blames the rider, or worse yet, the helmet, for an inattentive driver crawling up your backside with a 4000 pound bullet at 70 mph.
My affliction started out innocently. I had a moderate interest in riders rights; that helmet thing and maybe lanesplitting. At an ABATE Board of Directors meeting a few years back, Honda Ray announced that he and others throughout California were receiving citations for illegal handlebar height. Suddenly, there's a knock on the door, and I have an apehangers problem looking up at me from my front doorstep, so, I "adopt" the apehangers issue, I bring it in from the cold, do some research on the care and feeding of apehanger laws in the United States - come to the realization that handlebar height limitations (from the 60's) weren't based in science at all, but instead are universally steeped in arbitrary subjectivity by intimidated authorities looking for the power to stop a motorcyclist they didn't like.
Next thing ya know, I end up penning the definitive work on the subject; "Handlebar Height Modernization and Analysis of 50 States; The Monkey Business of Ape Hanger Statutes." I poured my heart and soul into that project and carved out a tiny niche for me and my psyche. I had groomed my first cat.
Unfortunately, it only served to feed the addiction, and I wanted to do more. Next thing ya know, a local newspaper criticized the (not "legal" - but "permissible") practice of lanesplitting. "Lane SHARING" when you talk to the media. I organized a well mannered re-education campaign geared towards the editor and with the help of other like-minded local riders - I made a difference. I wanted more cats.
Motorcycle Awareness Month came next. (NOTE: Motorcycle "Safety" Month is a CHP/DOT/NHTSA/NTSB/M$F "buzzword" which usually means a Government issued "feel good" press release full of bureaucratic CYA/BS which essentially blames YOU – the rider - for the SUV that made you into a hood ornament) Helmet tickets. Red light bills. Ridiculous EPA rulings against performance mods. Smog check for motorcycles. Right of Way violations. Ear plugs. Rallies. Other state's problems. I woke up a couple years later, much worser for the wear, with a couple dozen issues swirling around my head, surrounded by the horrible stench of…poverty.
Sorta like that goofy-assed cat-lady down the street, that spent years taking in all the stray cats that nobody cared about, I tried (and failed) to take care of everybody else's un-wanted motorcycle rights. It's not like the Weekend Warrior, Barbie and Ken or the free motorcycle magazines in California will lift a finger to stamp out an overzealous government, they're too busy having fun. Meanwhile, I'd feed those issues, give them a home and waste all my time and money trying to make a difference, while everybody else in the industry was busy making money. Only a handful of folks helped take care of those rights. In fact, most folks would laugh at me for devoting my life to such a losing cause - just like they laugh at the Cat Lady.
And as it is in real life, when the Cat Lady can't feed the cats anymore, the ASPCA comes in and takes 'em all away. Same thing with me, I'm unleashing all the various causes I've harbored for the last couple years, and now it's going to be up to youse guys and gals to feed and care for your OWN damned "right" to ride. Everybody is expected to adopt at least ONE "right"...and there are a myriad of rights to adopt...but will anybody take the job seriously? We both know the answer to that one. Like children, we sure want that cute cuddly little "right" for a short while when it's still tiny, adorable and manageable. But eventually, we'll stop picking up after it and we won't feed it anymore. Then it's lost. I think we know how hard it is to re-gain a lost freedom when we start getting lazy, and it slips away…or is stolen by the Chinese restaurant down the way.
I've heard that age-old axiom, "It ain't over til the Cat Lady sings." Well, she hasn't started belting out that Quiet Riot tune just yet, but for the riders of California, youse guys and gals need to listen up, because she's taking a deep, deep breath, and something is gonna come outta her mouth, soon. Let's all hope she just hacks up a furr-ball, and we continue to ride for many more years. If YOU and just one friend would help out by getting involved with motorcycle "rights", we'd all live to ride another day. Even if it's just a trip to the grocery store to buy cat food.
Copyright © 2008 Splatt.
Reproduction permitted with attribution - and a dues current membership card from your local MRO
************************************************************************
4) BEER GUY: Going to Sylva? Check out Heinzelmännchen Brewery
************************************************************************
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880520098
BEER GUY: Going to Sylva? Check out Heinzelmännchen Brewery
By Tony Kiss
Time tends to move fast when you’re writing about local beer. It’s been four quick years since brewer Dieter Kuhn and his wife, Sheryl Rudd, opened Heinzelmännchen Brewery in downtown Sylva.
After establishing a strong following down that way, Heinzelmännchen slowly began expanding its distribution area. Today, the company’s brews are on draft in Weaverville, Arden and in several venues in Asheville.
Unlike so many area breweries that have tasting rooms, Heinzelmännchen is a walk-in storefront operation. Customers purchase fancy take-home, refillable growler bottles at the brewery. Yes, you can sample the beer there, but this is not a place to come and sit. Kuhn’s focus continues to be to serve the people of Sylva and the surrounding towns and communities with Old World German-style beers, made in the tradition of his homeland.
Heinzelmännchen makes such beers as Black Forest Stout and Weise Gnome Hefeweizen and its flagship, Ancient Days Honey Blonde Ale. What they share, besides Kuhn’s loving craftsmanship, is a quenching drinkability. Kuhn doesn’t go too heavy on the malt, hops or the alcohol, but instead aims at making beer that is smooth and balanced. And he does a fine job of it, too.
Next time you’re down Sylva way, stop by the brewery to buy a little brew. It’s open 11 a.m.- 6:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, closed Sundays and Mondays.
************************************************************************
5) GRCMMCC Memorial Weekend Blow Out
************************************************************************
GRCMMCC Memorial Weekend Blow Out
The Biker Ezine’s Appreciation Party and Legislative Retreat
YOU ARE INVITED TO ATTEND… This is your personal invitation!
Unlike other appreciation parties this one is free. You deserve a break after working hard all year and helping work important issues and bills like S111 and S605. Come enjoy some fine Carolina hospitality in the mountains. You can just lounge on the riverbank, splash in the river or take part in a couple of planned events; it is just up to you to decide. A few requests for special events have been received so far that include: a hike to Big Bradley Waterfall, Floating the Green River, and a Brews Cruise to Asheville. Please feel free to suggest other adventures you may desire by replying to this message.
If you need help finding GRCMMCC plan to meet FastFred 7:00 PM this Friday, May 23, 2008 at the Flying Saucer in Columbia (931 Senate Street) in the Vista near the Statehouse. We plan to depart from Columbia at 8:00 PM. If you cannot meet us in Columbia then reply requesting directions to GRCMMCC.
Look for this sign as your travel down Green River Cove Road from Saluda:
http://www.bikerezine.com/trips/labordaywnc/pages/DSC01527_JPG.htm
GRCMMCC is located a just a few miles from I-26 exit 59 in North Carolina (just past the SC border).
We have stocked the freezer with meat for the cookout. Come join the fun. We consider helmet usage optional but NC Troopers might ticket you for riding lidless; the fine is only $100 for operators and $10 for passengers if you get a helmet ticket. We also have useful information about fighting NC helmet tickets on hand at GRCMMCC.
Photos of past parties and retreats are available at
http://www.bikerezine.com/trips/grcmmcc/index.htm
http://www.bikerezine.com/trips/labordaywnc/index.htm
http://www.bikerezine.com/trips/ABC2007/index.htm
GRCMMCC stands for the Green River Cove Motorcycle Mansion Camping Complex. We have plenty of shaded nice soft sand soil to pitch tents. Additionally you may stretch out under the cabin out of the weather or visit our screen porch.
For more information contact FastFred (or just reply to this message with the subject as GRCMMCC)
************************************************************************
)
