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/659038
MARCH 30 - APRIL 5, 2016 UCW 21 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM APRIL 2 • SANDHILLS N.C. BIKE BLESSINGS PANCAKE BREAKFAST at Vander Civic Center. 7 a.m. Find out more at www. freedombikerchurchfayetteville.com. APRIL 23 • 2016 HOGS & RAGS MOTORCYCLE RALLY Visit Hogs&Rags.com for more information. APRIL 23 • NC BUFFALO SOLDIERS M/C OF FAYETTEVILLE 6TH ANNUAL PONY EXPRESS CHARTY RIDE at Fort Bragg Harley Davidson. This is a charity motorcycle ride, police escorted, to raise funds to benefit the community. Registration 9:30 a.m. Kickstands-up 10:30 a.m. $15/ riders and $5 passenger. For more information call 494.4513. MAY 7 • BLUE KNIGHTS 6TH ANNUAL HOME GROWN HEROES/FALLEN OFFICER MEMORIAL RIDE to benefit N.C. C.O.P.S. and other local charities. Registration at 9 a.m. Ride starts at 11 a.m. Find out more at www. fayettevilleblueknoghtsXIII.org. MAY 7 • ALS CHARITY MOTORCYCLE RIDE in Sanford. Registration at 9:30 or online at www.Alscharityride.com. Lunch, DJ music, People's Choice Bike Show, silent suction, 50/50 raffle and more. Benefiting the ALS Association Jim Catfish Hunter Chapter www. Alscharityride.com Brian Weaver Dreamweaver8@embarqmail.com 919.542.6102. 4624 BRAGG BLVD. $1.00 Domestics ($2.00 or $2.50 beer only) $2.00 well drinks (excluding red bull and juices) $1.00 Domestics ($2.00 or $2.50 beer only) $2.00 well drinks (excluding red bull and juices) t ra d e keyst ro ke s for p u tt i n g st ro ke s . Log on. Search some courses. Get the fun rolling. NC Tourism_Ad Layouts_4C_NEWS_9.88x5_FINAL.indd 4 6/4/14 4:48 PM JIM JONES, Motorcycle Enthusiast, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910.484.6200 It's spring and motorcyclists across the region are hitting the road, hooking up with old friends, and sadly, some of them are heading for trouble. When we ride, many of us wind up at a bar for a little fellowship and for a break to wash away those aches and pains. Of course, many people will have a drink or two while there. After the beverages are gone, we hop on our bikes and hit the road again. During those moments while enjoying those refreshing beverages, things changed: like the news, the traffic and your ability to ride. Your body and your motorcycle do not understand what "the legal limit" is or what "0.08 blood alcohol content limit" means. Before you start saying having one or two drinks is O.K., consider this: hospitals, safety organizations, insurance companies and government agencies are doing a better job of collecting motorcycle statistics. It now appears that the BAC below the legal limit is contributing significantly to a higher number of accidents and fatalities. When we drink alcohol, it hits the stomach, quickly gets into the blood stream and acts as a sedative to the brain. It relaxes our mental functions such as inhibitions, concentration and judgment. The first effect is that warm feeling we get as it goes down and then you get a happy feeling. That happy feeling is because you start to lose your inhibitions. It also degrades your physical functions like speech, hearing, pain, coordination and balance. The more you drink the more you degrade these abilities. I know many riders that have a two-beer limit or one stiff drink. What does it matter? According to David Hough, the author of More Proficient Motorcycling, a 1-ounce shot of 90 proof bourbon contains 0.45 ounces of alcohol. A 4-ounce glass of Burgundy at 11 percent contains 0.44 ounces of alcohol. In addition, a 12-ounce lager beer at 3.2 percent actually contains 0.384 ounces of alcohol. Two beers are 0.768 ounces of alcohol (almost an ounce of alcohol). The British Columbia Medical Association (BCMA) conducted a study that suggested impairment begins around a BAC of 0.035 percent, or two drinks. The BCMA study also suggested that people lose enough sufficient driving skills to be a "menace on the highway" at a 0.05 BAC. The best practice is to never drink while operating a motorcycle. But let's face it, where there are riders, there is usually alcohol, too. So what to do? Different people react differently to alcohol. Alcohol burns off at an almost perfectly precise rate of .016 BAC per hour, about equal to one standard drink each hour (depending on your weight). Nothing speeds up the process of burning off alcohol. Drinking coffee, water or taking a shower to sober up do not work. So what does all this mean? Remember that part about being a "menace on the highway" with only 0.035 percent BAC? Using an online BAC calculator, a 225 lb. man that has two beers needs to wait 2.5 hours to get back to zero BAC. This means that if you come into a bar and drink two beers, you will need to wait 2.5 hours to be back to the same level as you came in. Why does this matter? According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), forty percent of the 1,897 motorcycle riders who died in single-vehicle crashes in 2013 were alcohol-impaired. Sixty-three percent of those killed in single-vehicle crashes on weekend nights were alcohol-impaired. Eleven percent of fatalities were not legally impaired but had a BAC limit below the 0.08. The only way to squash these statistics is to put on the peer pressure to your friends to find other ways to enjoy riding other than drinking. Operating a motorcycle requires an enhanced level of focus, coordination and balance, so compromising your skills by drinking alcohol and riding can be a deadly decision. You are not only putting yourself at risk on the road — you are risking the lives of other road users. If you plan to drink at all, leave your motorcycle out of your plans. Designate a sober rider or secure a safe place to store your motorcycle and arrange for a safe ride home before you have any alcohol. If there is a topic that you would like to discuss you can contact me at motorcycle4fun@ aol.com. RIDE SAFE! The Drink by JIM JONES