Want some adventure? Need some therapy? Go motorcycle camping. These Beemers beg to be loaded up and taken to the wilderness. Preparation is the key to success. If you were a Boy Scout you already know this to be true. It comes down to food, shelter, and clothing as well as how to stuff everything in and on the bike.
If you are rally camping, food isn’t as big of an issue, but I like to be prepared. Gotta have water. - More so for the ride. I use a Platypus hydration system that fits nicely into my tankbag. Coffee is a must in the mornings for me, so I pack a small gas stove and my camp percolator that yields 6-8 cups of coffee, and some freshly ground “Breakfast Blend”. I also pack a collapsible cooler filled with my lunch, snacks, and soft drinks. Get the beer and other necessities once you get to your destination.
For shelter I use a Coleman 3 man dome tent. It’s pretty cheap and packs relatively small and gives me plenty of room. I use a tarp for ground cover in case of rain, but it can be used for shade when it’s hot & sunny. An extra rain suit can come in handy if you are out in a gully-washer. A down sleeping bag packs small and is comfy… Especially if it’s on top of a Thermarest self inflating pad. While I’m plugging, I use Helen Two Wheels Packing System and in one nicely stuffed, 8 inch bag, I can put my pad and sleeping bag and strap it on to the bag that has the tent, tarp, and cooking stuff. Forget the bungees. They aren’t near as secure, and they can hurt you.
I always seem to over pack in the clothing department. Just make sure you have clean socks and underwear for every day you are gone and pack accordingly to the weather forecast. Even though it’s warm in the day, it can cool down in the evenings. A great indicator of over packing is when you get home. Remember what you didn’t use. Bag liners make for easy packing. What ever you can stuff into them will fit into your saddlebag. I still have another saddlebag, trunk, and tankbag to fill with camping equipment, camera bag, raingear, tools, and more food and drink.
Part of the fun is in the preparation, but most of the fun is the ride and the feeling of adventurism that comes with two wheeled camping.
On May 8th, Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The new rules state that an employer can’t refuse health-care coverage to an employee based on participation in legal recreational activities after working hours, but that health-care benefits can be denied for injuries suffered while taking part in those activities. While the new rule prohibits employers from refusing coverage based simply on an employee's participation in legal recreational activities, it essentially legalized the denial of benefits for any injuries sustained while participating in these activities. Health-care coverage is obviously something different than health-care benefits in the minds some. Activities aren’t limited to riding your motorcycle either. Any activity after hours is subject to this new ruling. The rules, issued jointly by the Internal Revenue Service, the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, and the Health Care Finance Administration, directly contradict the intent of Congress in passing this law. The language in the Congressional Record at the time noted that the law "is intended to ensure that individuals are not excluded from health-care coverage due to their participation in activities such as motorcycling, snowmobiling, all-terrain vehicle riding, horseback riding, skiing and other similar activities." The AMA and other groups worked hard to get that language included in the Congressional Record after uncovering incidents in which employers were discriminating against motorcyclists, leaving them without coverage when they were involved in recreational activities. The AMA noted at the time that some health plans would provide health-care benefits for employees involved in illegal activities, like driving a car while drunk, but cut off those benefits from many legal activities.
For years, the AMA urged President Clinton’s administration to finalize regulations implementing that law. Then, when the regulations were released on Jan. 5, just before Clinton left office, motorcyclists discovered that the agencies involved had reversed the intent of the law. The new regulations went into effect despite the efforts of the AMA, Motorcycle Riders Foundation, ABATE of Illinois, ABATE of Wisconsin and other motorcyclists who took the time to comment on the proposed rules, and to contact members of Congress asking that they urge the new Bush administration to change the discriminatory parts of the regulations.
"These rules make the entire law meaningless," said Edward Moreland, AMA vice president for government relations. "They open the door to the elimination of health coverage for all types of legal recreational activities, from motorcycle riding to running or walking."
The AMA now plans to join with other motorcycling organizations and recreation groups to go back to Congress in hopes of getting a new bill passed reinstating the original intent of the health-insurance bill.
Do your part and voice your concerns. Go to http://www.ama-cycle.org/index.asp and click on the AMA Rapid Response Center and send an email or letter. It’s painless and walks you through everything. I did it in 2-3- minutes. Then visit your own health care benefits department at work and ask them if you will be fully covered if you have an accident on your motorcycle.The Prez Sez
Let me start by saying that there are other things I’d much rather be doing at this moment (it’s Thursday night before Memorial Day weekend). I’ve seen on the e-group that a number of members are headed to Alabama for the Rocket City Rally. The last I knew, several of you were going to go to the Cass Rally this weekend. I’ll be heading to beautiful Hopedale, Ohio on Saturday for the re-dedication of the Motorcyclist Memorial and I ought to be making sure my bike is ready to go.
But I need to inform you about what we officers decided regarding the club’s membership requirements. We spent several hours locked in a booth at a LaRosa’s debating this subject. This will be just a quick recap of what we decided. The official wording will be presented at the June meeting as a motion. The motion must then be published in the club newsletter. A vote on the motion will be taken at the July meeting, where it must pass by a 2/3 majority of the members present.
Here is our proposal:
- Prospective members no longer will be required to be sponsored by a current member. We hadn’t used this requirement for as long as I can remember, and our potential members come to us through so many different avenues that we felt that it wouldn’t be fair to require a member to sponsor someone.
- We still will require that prospective members attend two club functions. There are no stipulated time restrictions, although it would be nice if people could attend the two functions within a year. This is not asking too much.
- We now will resurrect the membership application. This will allow the secretary to collect information necessary for maintaining the club’s membership list. When a guest expresses interest in joining the club they will be given an application. The application will provide the potential member with information about the club. The application will fully explain the membership process, including the vote.
- We still will vote in new members. The prospective member need not be present at the meeting where they are voted in. The vote will no longer be secret – they haven’t been secret for I’m not sure how long, but will still be held in the absence of the applicant.
- There will be no new associate membership. Anyone who wants can access our newsletter and our calendar by way of our website and can attend our club functions. We felt that an additional membership category would require unnecessary administrative overhead.
- We will formalize the honorary membership category. The current by-laws do not address this subject. Our current honorary members consist of the widows of two deceased members and one member who was still riding when he reached the age of 80.
We also spent some time discussing the “guidelines” for our group rides. We all know how much fun this topic can be! We decided it would be best just to remind you all of a few basic points that can make our group rides enjoyable for everyone.
- Keep track of the person behind you. When the group turns from the current road, make sure that the rider behind you sees where you are turning. If you have to wait a couple of minutes for them to show up, so be it.
- Maintain a staggered formation. If you are riding at all close to other riders, don’t ride immediately behind the rider in front of you. Alternate sides of the lane.
- Ride your own ride. Don’t ride over your head. Don’t get stupid. When everyone remembers the first point, it’s not necessary to try to keep the person in front of you in your sights at all times. They’ll be waiting to make sure you see the next turn.
- Make sure someone knows when you’re splitting from the group. Let the ride leader and the people riding near you know of your intentions to leave the group. Tell them at the stop prior to where you think you’ll leave. Wave as you split off so others know you’re not day dreaming. You don’t want the rest of the group following you home!
- Being at the back of the group often means you get to play crack the whip. Which means that to keep up, you end up going faster than you might like. Believe it or not, you’ll have a more even pace if you stay toward the front of the group. And if the leader keeps pulling away from you, he/she might eventually get the hint that they’re setting too fast a pace.
Now that I’ve got all that out, let’s go out and enjoy the holiday weekend. Ride safe!
Bob
A Motorcycle Accident
By Jerry Cummins, FF/EMT-P, PHTLS & ACLS Instructor
You are on a morning ride with your motorcycle club when one member is involved in an accident with a car. What should you do? What are your next steps? Do you stop and run to your motionless buddy lying on the pavement? Do you call 911 first? Where do you park your motorcycle? Do you remove his helmet? Does he need any first aid care while you are waiting on EMS? Do you chew out the driver of the car? All are good questions. Let me try to answer them, starting with your approach to the scene.
Consider your safety first as you approach the accident. It is best to pull your vehicle off to the side of the road, away from traffic, out of harm’s way and in a place so you don’t hinder the approach of emergency vehicles. Get off of your bike, and look carefully at the scene. Look for any dangers that could cause you harm, and that could turn you into the next victim! Power lines are often knocked off poles due to accidents. These lines carry a great deal of electricity. Touching one of them could turn an accident that involves one victim into an accident involving two. Watch for automotive fluids on the road. Stepping into anti-freeze could cause you to slip and fall, possibly injuring you.
At this point, someone should make an effort to alert approaching traffic of the situation. This must be done with care. The best method may be to wave down approaching cars from the side of the road--the safest place to stand. While placing your bike between moving traffic and the accident may seem logical, is not a good idea. Drivers may perceive it as a moving vehicle (even without a rider visible), and not be prepared to stop or avoid it. Many police officers are injured every year due to drivers plowing into the backs of their cars while they are sitting on the side of the road on a traffic stop (with their emergency lights flashing). Drivers see the back of the police car and “follow it.” As a safety measure, it is the policy of many fire departments to park their fire trucks sideways, or at an angle, when working an accident. This eliminates the possibility of drivers mistaking it for a moving vehicle; and the large trucks provide additional safety for everyone at the scene.
If you can approach your friend safely, your immediate concern should be to see if he is breathing. Approach him so that he can look at you without moving his head, and then speak to him. If he responds, you have answered this key question. Without moving him, if you are in a safe location, you should then check to see what his injuries are. Call 911 and relay the injury information to EMS.
If your friend is lying in a dangerous spot, such as in the middle of a very busy roadway, and visibility is limited, move him! If gasoline is leaking and beginning to pool around him, move him! Don’t waste time! Move the victim out of danger! You cannot effectively tend to a victim in a dangerous situation! You run the risk of getting injured yourself, and the added danger of leaving him in harm’s way might actually cause him more harm than the accident itself.
To move your victim, if he is unconscious, or conscious but complaining of back or neck injuries, use as many people as you can to move him in a way so as to not compromise his spine. In other words, keep his back flat, in a natural position, and his neck in a neutral position relative to the rest of his body (imagine a person lying down on a bed, without a pillow). Three or four people could easily reach their arms under the person, while one holds his head, with everyone lifting at the same time. A blanket could be used to drag the person over level ground. You need at least two people to log roll him onto the blanket, and one to hold his head so it moves with the body as you roll it. If you are by yourself, drag him by his legs. The goal is to prevent bending of the neck or back. If you don’t have time for these precautions because the situation is very dangerous, just move him any way you can!
Once your friend is out of harm’s way, you must consider his condition. If he’s unconscious, it is crucial to find out if he’s breathing or not. If not, you must begin artificial breathing for him, by doing CPR. In order to do this, you must remove his helmet. If you do not begin breathing for him as soon as possible, he will, and I repeat, will, die!
In removing the helmet, have someone hold his head from the bottom, trying to keep the neck in a neutral position, thereby avoiding further damage to his spine. (You must assume that anyone who is unconscious due to trauma has suffered head, neck and/or spinal injuries.) Unfasten the chin strap, then grasp the bottom edges of the helmet at the jaw under each ear. Pull outwards on the helmet to widen it at the base, and gently, but very quickly, pull it straight off the head. Sometimes the helmet alone is enough to cut off breathing. While the victim is lying on the ground, the shape of the helmet may cause his head to tip forward. This can cause the airway of an unconscious person to close off due to the bend in the neck. In taking the helmet off, and by straightening out the neck, the person might begin breathing on his own.
Once you have the helmet off, continue to hold the head with the neck in a neutral position. If the person is not breathing, you must then make sure that nothing obvious is closing off his airway, and then begin CPR. Continue CPR until he begins breathing on his own, or until EMS arrives. I’m not going to get into CPR here. If enough people in the club want me to put on a class with actual CPR manikins, I can do that. (For those of you who are knowledgeable in CPR, chest compressions begin immediately for all non-breathing victims, based on the new AHA guidelines.)
If your friend is lying in a fairly comfortable position, alert, and talking, it is best to leave him in the position he is in, pending the arrival of EMS. Do whatever you can to keep him comfortable and warm. Unless the helmet is causing problems in managing his care, leave it on. Caution him not to move his head or back. You might use clothing or whatever is available to pad around his head and under his neck (without lifting the head or neck) to help him keep his neck in a neutral position. Make sure the shield is open and that you can monitor his breathing. If he is bleeding, apply pressure to the wound in an effort to stop the bleeding. If his arm or leg appears broken, splint it in the position you find it – don’t try to straighten broken bones. Do not give your friend any fluids or food. Fluids or food can cause him to choke.
The key thing to remember is that you must consider your safety first, prior to attempting to care for your friend. You cannot give him much care if you are lying beside him after slipping on anti-freeze or after getting knocked to the ground from 20,000 volts of electricity. The single most important first aid consideration is to keep him breathing! The full-face helmet can stand in the way of this objective. You must be ready to remove it quickly, should the need arise. If anyone wants me to show them the accepted method that EMS and emergency room professionals use for helmet removal, let me know.
One last thought: most states have Good Samaritan Laws which protect you from being sued by anyone for your actions while trying to help an accident victim as long as your actions are taken with good intentions. Don’t be afraid to act and provide life saving assistance.
Motorcycle Safety Tidbits
Next to wearing a helmet, the one most consequential thing that you can do to increase your survival odds on the road is to travel with your bright lights on. For many years the thought of day time riding with the high beam on, for me, was just a novelty; Something that made you feel safer but other than tick car drivers off, didn’t have much influence on their driving habits. I was wrong on both accounts. For the past fifty thousand miles (three years) I’ve ridden with my bright lights on and kept a mental log of "close calls." I can honestly say that over that time period there were virtually no "near misses", and very few car drivers displayed any displeasure with my headlight. The best thing about all this is that you don’t have to spend a dime and it’s probably the one most important life saving techniques you can do while riding. Try it yourself. It will be the best piece of safety advice that you will ever receive.
WARNING: On overcast
days, also at dawn and dusk, you’ll have to use your dim lights with
approaching traffic or when following other vehicles.
By: Jim Hovanec
Internet
Notes as of 5/24
GCBMWC.org hit stats 714
Egroup messages 201
Egroup members 38
FTWO – Tip of the Day
"How do I get rid of small scratches in my visor?"
John L. from Australia says - I've long been a fan of Mr
Sheen - a silicone pressure pack cleaner, I believe Pledge is an equivalent USA
brand. I find it not only deals with visible cracks but also can prevent
starring of lights from the real small fry. The silicone coating also makes it
easier to get bugs off, which prevents scratches from over enthusiastic
cleaning.
Dale says - I had the same problem with the face of a watch... the trick is to
start polishing it out with good old fashioned BRASSO metal polish - doesn't
scratch acrylic... and then finish off with...... TOOTHPASTE!! I have used this
method successfully on my visors AND my watch face :-)
Don G. suggests - James could use Majuiars Mirror Glaze #17 Plastic Polish. It
is great for removing scratches from windshields and tail light lenses too.
A buffing wheel mounted on a drill makes quick work of the job. Just don't
dwell in one spot long, as it could burn the surface.
Brian M. suggests - some 3M swirl eliminator and polish the shield with that. If the scratches are deeper than this will remove, use a micro fine rubbing compound first, then the swirl eliminator.
Lee says - I have found that although I cannot permanently remove the scratches, I can keep scratches down, clear them up for a while, and clean the Plexiglas at the same time using "Lemon Pledge" and a soft rag. Spray on "Lemon Pledge" furniture polish is the only thing I use on plastic; especially clear plastic.
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6/17/01