Life in Motion with Rodney Myers and his motorcycle

January 1, 2006: For the third New Year's Day in a row, it looked as though I was going to be able to throw my leg over the saddle, and hit the road on two wheels! I know a lot people probably think "Big Deal", but in Indianapolis, being able to get out on New Year's Day is cause for a celebration. Now I am probably going to hear it from people further north, and how much worse their winters are than Indiana's, but I am talking about motorcycling here. For the entry for the 2004 New Year's Day Ride, click here . For the entry for the 2005 New Year's Day Ride, click here . Here it is the first day of 2006. Around Christmas Day, I checked the long range forecast, and it was calling for showers on New Year's Day. By the time the day had come, the showers where postponed until evening, or even the next day. I woke up around 7:45, with an appointment to meet some other cyclists at Shapiro's, Downtown. This group meets every Sunday, usually at Sha...

Saturday, October 15, 2005 I know, every state proclaims there is nothing like it in the fall, and all the colors. I have not been in many other states in the autumn, but I have spent a lot of time riding through the amazing colors of Indiana. I have to say, there is nothing like the color in Indiana. Like a slow motion grand finale of a fireworks display, the trees burst with color. If you live in Indiana, and it is Fall, then Brown County State Park is on the tip of your tongue, and the fold of your map. Well, we are about to embark on a trip to this famous state park. Your first thought may be to head right down State Road 135, and yes it is a beautiful way to get from the capital city to the rolling hills of this preserve. However, I look at State Road 135 as the "super slab", or Highway Path to Nashville, Indiana and its adjacent scenery. Notice I don't even mention Interstate 65. We are going to start today's trip outside the circle city, fueli...

February 5, 2005: From the last day that you go for a ride, when you live in a area with a riding season, you start thinking about the first ride of the next season, and as the calendar winds down to end of another year, you wonder when that next ride might be. So with a forecast of sunny skies and temperatures near 60 Degrees, it doesn't long for spring fever to get to me. On the invitation of Ron, extended to all of Reed's Eaters, I embarked on the second ride of the year. Reed's Eaters is a underground name for the group of riders who gather every Sunday, usually at Shapiro's in downtown Indianapolis. Mr. Reed is in charge of the e-mail list, so he gets the name, but not the naming rights. I was the first to arrive at Dreyer Honda, a Motorcycle Shop located on the West Side of Indianapolis. I believe the West Washington Street Dealership is the oldest in the United States. I got there early to pick up some Honda Spray Cleaner. I do mention the cleanerr by name,...

January 1, 2005: The first day of 2005 was not a pretty day. I sent out an e-mail telling anyone that was interested, to meet me for lunch at Sero's in Cumberland, and we would ride someplace. I think it was about fifty degrees, gray and foggy. I waited for 15 minutes past the meeting time, and decided that no one else was showing up. I couldn't blame them. it was ugly out here. I decided for a quicker lunch, and was the first customer of the Cumberland Subway for 2005. I'm sure I wasn't going to be the last, and I wasn't even going to try to be their last customer. There were no balloons, no fanfare, just a good sandwich created by the sandwich artist. I took off on US 40, The National Road, toward Greenfield. I fully intended to ride out further, as I wanted to check out some roads that I had mapped out with Streets and Trips. I already knew that Old Spiceland Road was a good, twisty road, but I was looking for others in the area. By the time I got to Greenfie...

January 1, 2004: I was joined by about five other guys. It was sunny, the streets were clear, and our ambitions were high. We started out thinking we would ride the whole first day of 2004 away. After a about 50 miles in the 40 degree temperatures, and having cold fingertips, we decided to cut the trip short. I know we road State Road 39 North from State Road 67, as we dined at the Wendy's south of  Danville. Most of us rode US 36 back to Indy, each rider pairing off at their exit. I would have been the last one riding, as I live on the east side of Indianapolis. I was on my 2000 Honda Shadow Sabre then, but by the end of the year, it would have Honda VTX 1800c as a partner in the garage.

Saturday, June 22 to Sunday, June 23, 2002 Just a note, I rethought of this trip in 2006, after I started this blog, and now in 2013, I am re-writing and posting this story. According to Wikipedia - The "moderated newsgroup" that led to Blogs was started on August 7th, 1987 - my 19th birthday! They were called online diary's at first, and the term Web Log came about at the end of 1997. The term was shortened, made a verb, etc. in 1999. It would take about five years before I would catch on to it. Some Like the Turns, Some Don't So now it was Saturday, and time to make the two day trek back home again to Indiana. We would begin with myself, my brother, and a couple sharing a bike from the Terre Haute Chapter. She seemed very enthusiastic about the mountain roads we were returning on. He wanted to take it slow, and enjoy the ride. That was until we really got into it. Handling a bike with the extra weight of a passenger can be a blessing and a curse. It's ni...

Wednesday, June 19 to Friday, June 21, 2002 Just a note, I rethought of this trip in 2006, after I started this blog, and now in 2013, I am re-writing and posting this story. According to Wikipedia - The "moderated newsgroup" that led to Blogs was started on August 7th, 1987 - my 19th birthday! They were called online diary's at first, and the term Web Log came about at the end of 1997. The term was shortened, made a verb, etc. in 1999. It would take about five years before I would catch on to it. Surely You Meant to be Somewhere Else? it is always funny to me how people take things for granted. You live long enough anywhere, and the place becomes dull. Large or small, when you are new to a town, everything is exciting because it is different. So when we ventured out around Farmville, here was a typical conversation. "Where ya'all from?" In which our answer was Indiana. "Where ya'all headed? And we would answer honestly, "Here". ...