Saturday 12^th Social & bike clean, at the Getters 10 a.m.

Fri./Sat. 18^th/19^th Dust Off, Westward HO, Glenebulah

Saturday 26^th Mystery Ride, start Falls McDonalds Hwy 23 & 32 9a.m.

Sunday 27^th Rain Day TBA

Monday 28^th Parade & ride TBA

Chapter J May 2012

To find a complete list of all events for this year go to www:wigwrra.com.

Now that everyone has been in full riding season a month early and May is Motorcycle Awareness month, watch out for the other guy.  Those people with four wheels seem to cause most of the car, cycle accidents, and the first thing they say is I didn’t see him.  When I’m coming to an intersection where a car is waiting, I watch the wheels to see if they are going to turn out in front of me. Always be a defensive driver.

Have a good and safe riding season.

Birthdays

4-Keary Getter

17-Pegge Schulz

28-Donna Wolf

29-Joel Schnelle

30-J’Ette Getter

Anniversaries

1-Lean & Nancy LeClair

24-Eddy & Karen Arnold

Chapter Social

Friday April 13, 7 p.m. CNC Links Golf Course CTY HWY. C, between Manitowoc & Cleveland

21- Comedy Club TBA

Chapter J April 2012

Now that we have some nice weather we can start enjoying riding our bikes again.

Starting next month we are going to be doing our socials a little different for May, June, July and August.  The socials will still happen the second Friday, Saturday or Sunday.  Details will follow as to where, so please come and enjoy the fun.

Birthdays

3-Karen Arnold

3-Chris Schnelle

13-Kathy Halloran

14- Dennis Halloran

17-Pam Gulseth

17-Rahlf Proulx

19-Dawn Bartz

Anniversary’s

4-Hal & Kay Seider

16-Randy & Pam Gulseth

Chapter social March 9^th 7 p.m. CNC Links

March 17^th First Aid Training Kohler Questions contact Jeff Schulz 920-467-2244

March 25^th Chili Dump  at Randy and Pam Gulseth at  12 p.m. Two Rivers Question’s contact Randy 920-553-8862

When you want to take the OCP training, send your name, member number and e-mail to (ironmke@wi.rr.com).  Mike Hultine will send the information to the region trainer and then the region trainer will send the instructions directly back to you.  Then you can take the course in the comfort of your own home.  I would like everyone to take this course so if you are asked to take an officer position with the chapter you have the training already done.  The office positions that have to take it are, Chapter Director,  Assistant Chapter Director , Treasure, and  Educator.

Anyone interested in visiting another chapter or finding out what they are doing you can go to (wigwrra.com).  Everything you want to know what a chapter is doing will be listed.

We sure have been having a nice winter this year and some of us diehards have been taking our bikes out on the nice days.  If you are one of the fortunate ones just remember to do your TCLOCK.

Birthdays

9-Nancy LeClair

25-Mary Lutze

Social February 10, 7 p.m. CNC Links

February 18^th Chapter J will be bowling with Chapter C, at 3p.m. at  Ledgeview Lanes in Fond du Lac dinner to follow.  Come watch us bowl and stay for dinner.

February is a busy month with everyone making plans for what to do when riding season is here.  Please check the Chapter’s websites for see what activities are being planned and make your plan to attend the various events thorough out the year.  Hope to see you are some of the events.

February Birthdays

10-Tim Wolf

24-Lynne Frank

26-Hal Seider

29-Karen Simon

Social Friday, January 13^th, 7 p.m. CNC Links Cty Hwy C

Saturday the 21^st, Game Day at Jeff and Peg Schulz’s house Sheboygan Falls  3 p.m.

Chapter J  January 2012

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year’s Eve.

This year Chapter J has changed were their socials will be.  We are having our socials at CNC Links golf course on Cty Hwy C exit 144 off I43.  When the weather gets better (during our summer months) our socials will be in held in different places and some socials will be on different days, but we will always hold the social on the second Friday or weekend of each month.

Hope everyone is exciting about riding again, especially if some members received new toys or new stuff to be put on their toys.  Over the course of the next months there will be fundraisers and many opportunities to visited and socialize with members from other chapters.  Hope everyone enjoys the many events that are scheduled over the year.  Maybe Tim and I will see some of you at these events.

Birthdays

7- Ann Proulx

30-Leon LeClair

Anniversaries

23- Randall & Carlyn Roethel

The Wisconsin District Convention is going to held August 24^th & 25^th 2012 at Olympia Resort Oconomowoc, WI.  This is the week before Labor Day weekend and two weeks before the Davis Rally.

It sure is nice to know about events happening before fall OPP’s so everyone can plan ahead.  We all are grateful for the time and effort the district team puts into getting the place where our next convention will be.

The weather this summer has been great for riding and I’m sure a lot of you have been doing just that.  I hope nobody got caught out east when Irene hit.  It’s going to take a long time to fix everything.

Fall will be arriving soon and with it the cold air and the beautiful colors will be here.  Every year Mother Nature seems to out due herself when displaying all the colors.  We must all be on the lookout for those four legged animals that also like the weather.  Hope everyone has a safe ride this Fall.

            SAFETY TIP OF THE MONTH

Don’t ride next to cars or trucks in other lanes if you don’t have to.  You might be in there blind spot.  FINE-C Choke & Clutch – Set the choke ON for a cold start.  Squeeze the clutch lever when you start the engine as a safety precaution.

For more information on safety go to wisdot.com

Chapter Social

Friday, October 14 – 7:00 – The Other Place – Sheboygan Falls

Events

October 22^{nd -} Planning Meeting, The Other Place, Sheb. Falls

October  Birthdays

10-Bonnie Delsman

11-Laddie Frank

31- Ashley Delsman

October  Anniversaries

12-Steve & Bonnie Delsman

The tank is running low so you pull into a service station next to a pump. Down goes the kickstand. The next few things you do could save your life.

1) Turn off your motor

If gasoline were to spill as you bring the nozzle to the tank or as a result of overflow or as you take the nozzle out of the tank, you risk setting it ablaze. You should be concerned not just about a hot engine or exhaust pipes, but also any electrical system.

2) Take your helmet off

If your helmet is on you cannot determine if a fire has started as easily as you can without it and, particularly if the helmet is attached to the bike with an audio system cord, you cannot evacuate the area quickly should a fire be detected.

3) Get off your motorcycle

For some reason this step seems to be ignored more often than any other. Maybe it ‘looks’ good. Maybe it’s just too much work to get off when you’re tired. Whatever, putting fuel into your tank while you’re straddling the bike is dangerous! If there is a gasoline spill your crotch will get wet. Then what do you do?

4) Fill the tank, but not to the top

Gasoline expands as it warms up. Some gas tanks are not sealed units and if you fill them to the top they can easily leak. Some motorcycles have dual (side-by-side) tanks that are connected internally. There is a ‘secret’ you should know about filling these bikes – when putting gasoline into the higher tank WATCH the level in the lower one. Since you are on your side stand the bike is leaning and overflow from the higher tank will go to the lower one. Obviously, with this kind of system you cannot fill the highest tank without overfilling the lower one. This is one reason why owners of these bikes tend to sit on them when they fill up – to keep the bike vertical so they can load as much gasoline as possible. But it’s obvious why you shouldn’t do so (odds are good you will stop and put your side stand down before you have burned up enough gasoline to prevent leakage.)

Do not smoke within 20 feet of a gas pump

Keep your ignition switch in the OFF position any time your filler cap is off your tank. (Especially do not use your CB.)

Earlier I asked what you would do if gasoline spilled onto your crotch. Actually, I should have asked what you would do if it spilled on any part of you or your clothes. This is so important I will offer my own suggestions at this point.

A) DRENCH with water!

B) Then take that article of clothing OFF!!!

C) DO NOT WALK IF THERE IS GASOLINE ON YOUR CLOTHES!!!

Static electricity can easily ignite gasoline fumes.

Allow wet clothes to dry OUTSIDE. If you happen to be at home, DO NOT PUT THESE CLOTHES INTO A WASHER/DRYER!!!!

If you can smell gasoline on them there is enough to ignite.

  ‘Skill‘ is often no more than CONFIDENCE  
By James R. Davis

Some time ago I was riding with a group down a back-country road when our group leader decided that we needed to perform our ‘mandatory’ U-turn. The road had two lanes (one in each direction) and there was no oncoming traffic.

With only one exception everybody made a ‘three-point’ maneuver. That is, we turned across the road and stopped when we could not keep going without running off the pavement, then backed up after turning the front wheel, stopped and turned the front wheel again and proceeded to complete the maneuver.

There was, as I said, one exception. This rider was on a relatively new Gold Wing and he was carrying a passenger. Further, he is a BIG man – well over 6’ tall and well over 300 pounds.

This man simply aggressively leaned his bike over and drove his bike through the entire 180 degree turn without needing to stop or running out of pavement.

The chatter on the CB was filled with compliments relative to his profound skill with his bike. Those compliments started again at our next rest stop. They were well deserved compliments. But they were misdirected.

That is, what should have been complimented, in my opinion, was the rider’s CONFIDENCErather than his skill.

Don’t get me wrong – the man demonstrated lot’s of skill. He had demonstrated a mastery of his clutch, his throttle, and his HEAD!

With even modest skill almost anyone can lean a bike far enough in a slow-speed turn to drag a peg – but very few of us want to or would even try to get close to that big a lean because we do not KNOW that we can do it successfully. Why? Because we lack confidence in either our machine or ourselves. So, we compromise and do what we KNOW we can do – we make a three-point U-turn on a narrow road.

And how is it that this BIG man developed the confidence to make that slow-speed hard lean needed to complete his smooth U-turn? He had lot’s of experience. Experience gained from lot’s of practice.

Whether you call it skill or confidence, this man handles his bike very well indeed. He deserves recognition and regard, and he certainly gets both from me. Further, his U-turn maneuver took substantially less time than mine did. In other words, he was at risk for far less time than I was. THAT aspect of the value of experience never occurred to me before – confidence can reduce time at risk.

So, schedule some time on a regular basis and go out and practice, practice, practice. Earn the respect and regard of your friends by increasing your confidence/skills. Potentially reduce your at-risk time while on the road.

Practice increases confidence. Confidence shows as skill.  Over-confidence, however, can kill. The difference between the two, of course, is that being confident means you know you can do something, being over-confident means you think you can.

Making a U-turn like my friend did may not be the most important thing you will ever have to do, but failing to negotiate a curve at high speed because you lack confidence enough to lean the bike just a bit more is simply unacceptable motorcycling.