Chaparral Riders Club Meeting

May, 2010

Meeting Minutes

Welcome!  

Guests: Bud

Upcoming Events

Chaparral Motorsports Bike Night. First Wednesday of every month starting May 2010

Old Business

Yuma Prison Run: It went well, several club members attended, the bikes we donated were put in the bike show and raised $127.00!

Death Valley Ride:   May 8 – 9.  John Wilson will lead. Approximately 15 people have signed up.  It's Mother’s Day weekend so bring your wives and Moms!  There will be at least one car if you need room for a passenger and to carry cold drinks and food.  Meet at the McDonalds on the 15/138 at 8am.

Chaparral Monster Block Sale (Oct 2, 2010):  Pete and Linda, Ed and Erlene will be out of town and we need new volunteers to organize and run the bake sale.  John Wilson volunteered to head up the committee!

June Safety Day: Doug is a GWRA Educator and has donated his time and expertise to assist us in a safety day.  Thanks to Randy H. for setting this up!  He found us a parking lot to work in; they will set up cones and obstacles.  This is open to bikes, trikes and riders with passengers. Proper safety equipment, long pants, gloves, etc. is required.  A $5.00 donation is requested from all attendees to pay for lunch, ice water and Bud’s gas.

New Business

Teddy Bear Drop:  Since we can no longer take store bought teddy bears to Loma Linda for the kids, and since the donations to the Loma Linda fund are lower than usual, do we want to change it to a wrapped toy run? Consensus is that we will wait and do the toy run at the end of the year.

Run for the Wall: Leaves Victoria Gardens on 19 May on both the 15 and 10 around 7:45-8am.  For those that cannot ride it, you are encouraged to send off the riders by standing on the freeway overpasses and exits and waving flags/banners.  More information on the run can be found at: www.rftw.org

Safety Report: Keep the Shiny Side Up!

Stinky goes to: Jess Siglow passed Stinky to his wonderful wife Cathie Siglow who very gracefully laid down her bright yellow Goldwing in the sandy parking lot at Pioneer Town! 

Club Funds:   General $1,391.00                           Loma Linda $844.00

50/50 Drawing:  $71.00 was raised, $37.00 goes to the club and $17 each went to winners Jess and Ty!

Loma Linda Funds:  $37 was raised; Terry. won 10 tickets!

Ride Captain: Eddy Hooper is leading us down to Borrego Springs, it's 112 miles so there will be at least one gas stop.

Meeting adjourned 8:45am

Stinky

Well, it looks like I have an Aunt and an Uncle who really like to take care of me.  I rode with Jess Siglow last month.  Great ride, but somehow there was a lot of vibration?  Not sure what that was, but now I get to ride on a Big Ole Yellow Bird!!  One of the most talented female riders, Cathy Siglow, just has a hard time in parking lots.  Jess said she wanted to have a matching scratch on her left mirror to match the one on her right mirror from a previous event.  Does that mean that when she fell over in the parking lot at Pioneer Town on the left side, she did the same thing on the right side somewhere else?  Nah, can’t be, can it?  Well, I think she will protect me because really now, Aunt Cathy?

                                                                                        Yippy Ki Ya   

Stinky S Chaparral

Captain Report    May, 2010

There was about 26 Bikes and one Spider three wheeler that Jim & Barbara Iverson, rented for the weekend that went on the ride for

We split up into two groups of 13 bikes each. I led the first group and Randy Swan was my tail gunner and Pete Aker lead the second group with Steven Herrick as Pete’s tail gunner.

We went the freeway to California exit, then to Barton road turned left to San Timoteo canyon rd. Turned right on Redlands Blvd. to Alessandro Blvd., then on to Gilman Springs to ca-79.

When we got to Sanderson Ave. The road was closed to thru traffic so we turned right and went down to Warren Ave., turned left. Here we had a little trouble. My group ended up at the gas station at Florida St. and State St. while Pete’s group ended up at the gas station that was planned for a stop. We regrouped and headed down Sage Rd. then on to Wilson Valley Rd.

When My group got to SR-371 We went left and then realized I should’ve turned right at SR-371 so we had to turn around and go back. Then we got back to the right road Pete’s group was there waiting for us, then we all continued on the rest of our trip.

We then went through Warner Springs on our way to Borrego Springs; we all arrived at Pablitos Mexican Restaurant about 1:30 pm.  The weather was around 60 degrees, until we came down the hill to Borrego Springs then the temperature got up to around 85 to 90 degrees.  Thank everyone that went on the Ride with me, I sure had a lot of fun that day; I hope that you all did too...

I would like to thank Pete and Linda and Earlene for helping plan out this ride, I couldn’t have done it without them.

I’d also like to thank Randy Swan and Steven Herrick for doing a fine job of tail gunning for me and Pete, thanks a lot guy’s

 Until next ride, ride safe and have fun………

                                       Eddie Hopper AKA Curbie!

Safety Article
How to Avoid Running Out of Gas on a Motorcycle

Fuel planning tips you can use on your next ride

By Basem Wasef, About.com Guide

Don't blame the Sportster's tiny fuel tank: in all but the most extreme cases, this type of situation is avoidable.

Photo © Basem Wasef

It's a heck of a lot easier than you think to run out of gas on a motorcycle; believe me, it's happened to me more times than I care to admit. But for all my moments of roadside frustration, I can also say that many of those instances were avoidable—even when I was riding long distances on bikes with small tanks.

Here are a few tips on how to avoid the buzzkill of getting stranded because your motorcycle ran out of gas.

Don’t trust your gauges

As much as onboard technology has improved over the last few years, it's still not quite perfect; during more than one instance of riding a modern bike from a major manufacturer with a sophisticated system that displayed an estimated range, I've had the motorcycle sputter and die just a couple miles before it said it would. Even less accurate than digital "distance to empty" displays are analog gauges—and even more vague than that are warning lights that illuminate when you're running low on fuel. If there's anything to be learned from all this technology, it's that trip computers are there to offer a rough—not precise—guideline of how much we can eke out of each tank.

When in doubt, refuel

Especially when you're riding roads you're unfamiliar with, it's a good rule of thumb to not push your luck with riding range. Gas stations may be found on nearly every corner in a big city, but as you get to the outskirts they become increasingly sparse; even if you've got a half tank of fuel remaining but think you might not encounter another gas station soon, take the extra five minutes to top off your bike.

Use a GPS

Most navigation systems can locate the nearest gas station, and some even have advanced fuel planning capabilities that can sort stations by price and/or distance; if you ride with a GPS, get acquainted with its features and use them to your advantage.

Pack a siphon, or even better, stow your own extra fuel

If you're riding across rural stretches where gas stations are few and far between, you might consider carrying a siphon in case you become stuck and need to draw fuel from another rider.

Lots of long distance motorcyclists go one step further by carrying backup fuel in a jerry can or a plastic jug; needless to say, you'll need to exercise caution while traveling with auxiliary fuel. Careful with those ciggies!

Retrofit an extra capacity tank

If you've got long distance ambitions but don't own a touring bike, look into the aftermarket before you trade-in your ride. There are plenty of reputable companies that manufacture higher capacity tanks; investigate your options and find out if you can retrofit your ride with a bigger tank.

What to do if you run out of gas

Some motorcycles are equipped with petcock valves, which enable you to switch to a reserve portion of your fuel tank for a few extra miles of range. They're usually located on the left side of the bike below the tank (so your right hand can stay on the throttle.) If your bike has a petcock valve, it's a good idea to acquaint yourself with its position ahead of time so you can quickly switch to reserve if your engine starts to sputter.

If you don't have a petcock valve and you run out of gas, you'll have to act fast. Your immediate goal is to get to the shoulder or median—whichever is closest. Use your turn signal as well as your arm to signal that you're changing lanes. Surrounding traffic may not be able to anticipate your urgent need to get off the highway. If you don't take initiative when your bike shows signs of fuel starvation, you'll be caught stranded in the middle of the road—a very dangerous situation to find yourself in.

Once you've successfully coasted to a stop on either side of the road, activate your hazard lights, step away from your bike, and stay as far away from traffic as possible while you use your cell phone for roadside service or signal for help.

If you decide to abandon your bike and walk to a gas station, ask for a fuel container you can fill up and take back to your motorcycle. If the station doesn't sell fuel cans, buy a bottle of water and drain it. You won't want to let a drop of water into your fuel supply, so rinse the empty bottle with fuel before filling it up; that way, you can ensure nothing but gas gets back into your tank.