The Tire Tracks

The new meeting place, Hickory Hollow, seems to be working out ok. I am sure there are some complaints, but so far I haven�t heard them. The positives are we have no end-of-meeting deadlines, the food is fine and we can literally park our bikes just outside the door and easily go kick tires before the meeting. So far this year there have not been many straying outside because it has been too cold.

Several members have complained to me about smoking in the meeting room and the room is obviously a smoking area. Unless you all have an uprising lets agree to make smoking off limits in the meeting area. That�s one of the nice benefits about Hickory Hollow, our meeting room has an outside door with a covered patio that just loves smokers.

If you have been to our new meeting location you noticed all the bike "stuff" on the walls. Jack Thomas has volunteered to take a large Retread patch and mount it in a frame with the statement, "Retreads meet here" or some similar words. I asked the restaurant manager and he said no problem for us to put our name on the wall. Thanks Jack for the great idea!!

The late Doc Reid�s son John Reid was at breakfast recently and wants to become active in Retreads. He has joined Retreads � welcome John.

January Meeting Notes: The last meeting was January 8^th and we had a nice group. $52 was raised for 50/50 and new member Cornell "Binky" Benkendorfer won the prize half of $26 and Mabel Abrasley won a Retreads T-shirt. A big thanks to Chuck Ehrlund for donating a very nice knife/tool combination door prize which was won by Jerry Neel.

The Check Book: The Retread�s account has $950 in it so far from renewals and the carryover from last year. The Holiday party cost the club $466, $300 of that was for the door prizes.

The meeting topic of discussion for the evening was: What makes a bike a keeper vs. one that just isn�t quite right? The motivation for this subject was my recent experience with my newly acquired 1995 Triumph Daytona. The first time I rode the bike it made me smile. It is probably slower than the GSX1100G I own and certainly not as comfortable but that bike makes me want to go ride, which is very different from the others we own. Linda has the same feeling for a Harley, which brings her that joy of riding that other bikes don�t provide her.

Most of us have different "perfect bikes" which fits in well with the Retread philosophy of riding whatever makes us happy. Often our perfect bike today changes as our riding experience, riding style, and our personal lives change. The purpose of this discussion is to help us understand what we need in a bike so we can analyze our purchase before we buy to gain some insight into our basic motives and if the purchase will meet those needs. Now, you realize that I have never bought a bike using this philosophy, but it was an interesting discussion at the meeting and coming up with the following needs:

1. Some need a bike that gets attention.
2. Some need a bike that is a status symbol, typically they are expensive.
3. A few need a bike that says I am the fastest around � try and catch me.
4. To some the bike brand is of little importance rather the bike is a means to an end - the freedom it brings while riding.
5. To many, a bike is an extension of our personality, a part of the image we are trying to portray and we cannot be happy with a bike that doesn�t say what we want it to say.
6. Some look at practicality, a bike that does everything well
7. Some are ruled by their engineering side and want a technically superior/sophisticated motorcycle
8. A few of us need many bikes, often very different � you know � a greeting card for every occasion.
9. To some, a bike is a means of transportation; it gets them where they need to go. I will generalize and say that most of those folks are not members of bike clubs.
10. As we age, our needs change and we often have to give up our old image of our abilities and ride a bike that we can comfortably handle and control.

The message I want to leave with you is that most of us have multiple reasons for why we ride the bike we ride. I enjoyed the meeting participation of several of our members who shared some insight into their motives for the bike they ride.

Ten said they were going when we were in the parking lot, but 8 of us actually left. One dropped off at Pearland and Ben Del Giorno left us at 288. The rest of us went all the way. Those game were, John McCarthy, Joe Mc Cann, Mike Murphy, David Milligan, Cliff Price, and Vince Hefley. Mike was in a hurry to get back so we ate at the El Patio restaurant in Port Lavaca. Then we boogied home on 59. Back at 4 PM. Great trip, we went down 35 to 518 to 288 to 1462 to cow creek road to 35 to Blessing then to 1862 to 35 again and on to Port Lavaca. No great incidents but the guys on the cruisers complained to it being cold, hmmm. The people that didn't go missed a lot of fun and being with great people. See you next ride chickens. -- Vince

March 5 - 11: Daytona

April 6 - 8: Concan

June 1 - 3: Republic of Texas Rally, Austin, TX

June 4 - 9: Americade, Lake George, NY

June 9 - 17: Laconia Motorcycle Rally, Laconia, NH

July 18: Ride to Work Day

August 6 - 12: Sturgis, South Dakota

Sept 10 - 13: Retread 28^th National Rally in Coffeyville

October 11 - 14: South Padre Island for Bikerfest r

October : Golden Aspen in Ruidoso, NM

Don Biasiolli 2/9

Ward Copening 2/14

Finis Turner 2/15

Diana Rogers 2/17

Mary Jones 2/21

Janet Kearby 2/25

Betty Trost 2/25

John Hibbs 2/28

1993 Honda GoldWing with color matched Escapade trailer. $!0,000 Bike has all the extras including drive-off center stand, Corbin Seat, special lighting, progressive suspension and 2 sets of horns. Call Pete Soullas at (713) 665-7566.