Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/22485
Getting into Gear by JIM JONES New Year, new JANUARY 8 • POLAR BEAR RIDE AT RAY PRICE HARLEY DAVIDSON. 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. Ride your bike to Ray Price and spin the Nitro Prize Wheel for Prizes. Visit http:// rayprice.com/events for more info. JANUARY 9 • CAPE FEAR HOG RIDE. Leave from BP Gas Station on Bragg Boulevard & Sycamore Dairy at 10:00 a.m. (gas tanks full). Visit www. cfhog.com for more info. JANUARY 15 • CAPE FEAR HOG FUN RIDE. Leave from CFHD at 10:00 a.m. (gas tanks full). Visit www.cfhog. com for more info. PATRIOT GUARD RIDERS The Patriot Guard Riders is a diverse group of patriots from every state that come together to honor fallen soldiers at funeral services across the country. Visit www.patriotguard. org for more info. TUESDAYS BIKE NIGHT at Chili’s Grill and Bar in Southern Pines. Happy hour, drink and food specials. All bikes welcome. 4 p.m. to close. WEDNESDAYS BIKE NIGHT at Applebee’s, Cotton Square, Fayetteville, drink and food specials beginning at 7 p.m. All bikes welcome. Sweethearts Dance February 12th FREE Wi-Fi Now Available! For more information call LEGENDS at 4624 BRAGG BLVD. bike — you have to love it! Over the holidays I picked up a new bike. How about you? The first night after my purchase, I was on the Internet buying gear. I needed crash bars, skid plates, a luggage rack, tool kit, additional lights and a few other things. It was an ex- citing time trying to make something that is mass produced into something very personal and my own. After some thought I realized that every new bike is a cause that seems Wearing the right protective gear is essential to responsible and safe riding. to make us want to throw hundred dollar bills at it. Gear adds up quickly. When we start to buy gear we have a tendency to start with the bike first and ourselves last. We need new pipes, seats, a windshield and pegs and so on. Then we buy vendor-specific shirts, hats, jackets, socks and on and on. The last thing we think about is our comfort and protective gear. We need to make safety equipment our first priority! There is a lot of really nice stuff out there and there is also a lot of crap. A nice logo shirt may look good, but it falls short of protecting you when you need it. Although a clam-shell helmet looks cool it generally provides little pro- tection to your head in an accident. I am very cautious about eye protection. I lost a friend of mine when he was off road and a stick went through his eye. A $20 pair of goggles could have made the difference. I may not be very pretty but I am fond of my face and head, so I always wear a full-face helmet. As for my own riding experience, I went down hard this summer while rid- ing in rural Arkansas. My front tire hit a rut, twisted and flipped me over the handlebars. When I got to the hospital the first question the doctor asked me was “Did you have on safety gear?” The answer was “Yes!” From boots, motor- cycle pants, motorcycle jacket, gloves and full-face helmet, I was geared up. I was riding in Arkansas and helmets are optional there. The doctor told me that most motorcyclists he treated without helmets had to be flown to Little Rock because there was nothing his hospital could provide for that kind of trauma. Although I danced with an 800-pound bike, I was able to hobble out of the hos- pital with only bumps and a lot of bruises. It seems that a lot of motorcyclists’ measure their own safety by what a state’s law says. It is really a matter of how much you value your own health and welfare. To me, it doesn’t matter what the helmet law is for a state because I’m wearing a helmet. I’m also wearing as much protective gear as I can. I’ll admit that gear is expensive. Unfortunately there does not seem to be one set of gear that fits every situation. I have about five sets of different jackets and pants for use based upon weather and riding conditions. Although expen- sive, protective gear is an investment in yourself. The difference between an elbow pad and a shattered elbow is thousands of dollars in medical bills, lost work and possibly a life time of pain. When you are thinking safety equipment do not forget about any current or potential riding partner. It cracks me up when I see the guys riding in the summer all geared up with some girl on the back wearing a tank top, short- shorts and flip-flops. What are these people thinking? There is nothing worse than having a crash with a passenger. That is a life-time burden to carry if something goes wrong! No one wants to think they will crash but it happens every day. The best way to survive a crash is to plan for it. Think ahead and wear the right gear for whatever event you are riding. Protect yourself first before worrying about the bike and you will be off to a great start in the new year. If there is a topic that you would like to discuss you can con- tact me at motorcycle4fun@aol. com. RIDE SAFE! JAMES JONES, Contributing Writer COMMENTS? editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM JANUARY 5-11, 2011 UCW 19