Beautiful weekend, the good...the bad

[Venturous Randy]

We did have a beautiful weekend here in east Tennessee. I saw 74 degrees both days while riding and for the middle of January, this was record temperatures. It was good to get out and get a little seat time on Saturday with a friend that has just converted from a Goldwing to an 09 Venture. On Sunday, I rode alone and just enjoyed the day. There were a lot of motorcycles out and about everybody waved.

The bad part about about having a warm day in the middle of winter is it seems just about every time we have a local motorcycle death. This weekend was no exception. We had a 77 year old man in a Cadillac pulled out in front of two on Honda's and one struck the car and the other crashed trying to miss the car. The 28 year old rider that struck the car died at the scene and the other rider, who is 18, is in the hospital. The only information the Highway Patrol has released at this time is charges are pending.

I just wanted to take a moment and say that we all need to be extra diligent when we get out there and take those "off season" rides because many people just seem to forget about looking for motorcycles. The other thing is it seems like after not riding for a couple of months that we always want to crank it on some to clean the spider webs out.

Be careful out there.

RandyA

[Wrench]

I was in Nashville, (actually Franklin and Goodlettsville), last Tuesday and Wednesday. There were bikes EVERYWHERE Tuesday, it was in the mid-60's, sunny and nice, it rained Wednesday morning but a few were still out by the afternoon in G'ville. You're right, part of the problem is that nobody expects bikes to be out in January, and there's a LOT of people that just flat do not pay attention now. I was amazed by the number of folks I saw texting as I was driving up/down I-65 since I was sitting up high enough to see them. I was driving a big RED 26' Penske box truck and still got cut off/pulled out in front of several times. I've made it a habit to always use the spots on the bike, and the headlights and driving lights on whatever I'm driving. I also look both ways before pulling out from a stop sign or traffic light, and don't run them yellow lights in Nashville either!!