Happy New Year, Welcome 2021

[Millietant]

Wowser....$13,700 for having a party.  Question, Are these fines a way of making a show and not really serious?  Did your legislators actually pass a law like this?   

As an add-on comment, my sister, a niece and a nephew are all serving Police Officers - we hear first hand from them about the situation and they have very clear instructions to prioritise any reports of house parties for immediate attendance and full enforcement. At our local hospital in Coventry, beds have been so short that there have been reports of patients waiting in ambulances for between 4 and 9 hours before being attended to at some times.

Keeping Covid and non-Covid patients apart to prevent the spread is making care a logistical nightmare for the staff. Part of the reasoning for not travelling and specifically for not riding motorcycles unless absolutely necessary is the shortage of ambulances and the issues at A & E depts should you be involved in a RTA.

The loading on the hospitals has been a key factor in determining which areas have tighter restrictions.

You guys who have not yet seen the real brunt of Covid are very lucky and I hope you don't get it as badly as we've had it (living more "remotely" you have a better chance of avoiding it until the vaccines are widely available).

[ribbert]

Haha, yes Fred has well and truly earned his stripes, you're right, he gets a pass on this one.

Noel

[Waiex191]

Haha, not in Australia. You wouldn't even want to try it on unless you had at least two limbs in plaster, even then they'd look at you and ask how come you didn't ride? Seriously, trailering to a bike rally here would result in an immediate cancellation of your Man Card - even at BMW rallies, although I'm not sure they know about Man Cards.

Maybe I should move to Australia. I used to make fun of my boss for trailering his HD to Sturgis. Then again I've never been to a rally, unless you count Sunday mornings at Marcus Dairy in Connecticut.

[Bill_Rockoff]

Happy New Year to all of you guys. I hope 2021 is a good one for all of us. I sure hope Boone Is Soon for us, and that we all have the year of health and happiness and riding together that we were hoping to have last year.

I have trailered to FJ rallies, and I'll do it again.

Some of my favorite rides have been to and from the East Coast rallies. The ride there and back is most of my riding most years anymore. And as much as I like seeing everyone once I get there, the ride there is part of the anticipation. I feel like I'm sort of "with everyone in spirit" on my way there, "oh BOY, this is gonna be GREAT! I wonder where everyone is riding today!" Also also, I feel like I've earned it a little bit if I've ridden a few hours to get there, like I deserve everyone's company in a different way. "This is how much you all mean to me, I rode all day to get to you." I mean, it was FUN to be sure, but it was also WORK.

However, I have trailered bikes some years. It's less fun getting there and back, but it has let me bring a second bike with me so that I can ride with someone who doesn't have a running bike at the moment. I have also carried a second bike back home for my son a couple years ago, when he had a wedding to attend in the other direction afterward and it was just easier if I carried his bike back home along with mine. That trip also served as a trial run for attending a rally with my wife, who might come with me on future rallies and perhaps even ride a bit on one of these things. (Pipe dream - if I ever get her on two wheels, we could trailer there and she could do some low-key riding up in the pretty parts.)

And, I might trailer a bike or two to Boone this spring. I have job-site visits in DC and Montreal, and if the schedule works out, I can trailer to Boone at the beginning of a month-plus odyssey of work trips and riding and remote working and vacation. I could ride with the East Coast folks in May, trailer to DC for a week of work, continue north to my family's place in New England for June, and then either drive or ride to Montreal for a few days for work there in June or July. I could take some vacation and spend a couple weeks riding motorcycles around an area I really didn't ride motorcycles around when my parents were alive.

As far as fining someone a lot of money for breaking the law? Well, that's kind of the idea of fining someone for breaking a law, it's supposed to be enough money to dissuade someone from breaking that law. Otherwise, it's not really a punishment or a disincentive, it's just a cost. That's largely how we treat a speeding ticket in the US - we try not to get, say, five of them in one weekend, but I have noticed during our rallies that we generally keep a pace that says "it's not the end of the world if we get speeding tickets." A speeding ticket costs less than a tire puncture that requires replacement; it's not a punishment, it's an expense. We are all willing to pay North Carolina or Tennessee or Georgia $125 if that's what it takes to get these bikes leaned over in a corner a little bit.

Hopefully see you guys out there.

[ribbert]

Everything you say makes perfect sense Bill and in each of the scenarios you describe, I would probably do the same.

Just as we take the piss out of Harley riders (and my favourite, BMW riders) it's all a bit tongue in cheek and a bit of fun, nothing malicious. If my comments were directed at anyone, it's the attendees who trailer for no other reason than to keep their lady parts dry and warm.

Noel

[ribbert]

The general understanding is that in less densely populated countries (such as the USA), without proper restrictions, this virus will spread more slowly, but last longer than in smaller, more densely populated countries (who will get the shorter, sharper hit).

Just to add some perspective to Dean's claim:

The population density of England  -  430 people per sq km
                                     USA        -   35     "       "       "
                                     Australia   -    2.8  "       "       "

Noel
                                         

[Millietant]

You've got it Noel   

We get hit quicker and harder because we live on top of each other here, relatively speaking.

[Millietant]

You get a Royal Pardon Bill, all great reasons for trailering 

I suppose at this point I have admit that I've trailed my FJ a couple of times, once when we moved house and I trailered the FJ and my Aprilia on one journey, the FZ1 and 2 dirt bikes on a second journey and the second FJ and the VF on the third journey.

The second time I trailered my FJ anywhere, was a trip to the Nordscleife (Nurburgring), with the FZ1 also on the trailer and 2 kids and a load of luggage in the double cab pick-up (with a bed "hood")  but the main reason for using the pick up was so that we could fill the truck bed with bottles of German wine and beer to bring home with us. 

Happy New Year to all of you guys. I hope 2021 is a good one for all of us. I sure hope Boone Is Soon for us, and that we all have the year of health and happiness and riding together that we were hoping to have last year.

I have trailered to FJ rallies, and I'll do it again.

Some of my favorite rides have been to and from the East Coast rallies. The ride there and back is most of my riding most years anymore. And as much as I like seeing everyone once I get there, the ride there is part of the anticipation. I feel like I'm sort of "with everyone in spirit" on my way there, "oh BOY, this is gonna be GREAT! I wonder where everyone is riding today!" Also also, I feel like I've earned it a little bit if I've ridden a few hours to get there, like I deserve everyone's company in a different way. "This is how much you all mean to me, I rode all day to get to you." I mean, it was FUN to be sure, but it was also WORK.

However, I have trailered bikes some years. It's less fun getting there and back, but it has let me bring a second bike with me so that I can ride with someone who doesn't have a running bike at the moment. I have also carried a second bike back home for my son a couple years ago, when he had a wedding to attend in the other direction afterward and it was just easier if I carried his bike back home along with mine. That trip also served as a trial run for attending a rally with my wife, who might come with me on future rallies and perhaps even ride a bit on one of these things. (Pipe dream - if I ever get her on two wheels, we could trailer there and she could do some low-key riding up in the pretty parts.)

And, I might trailer a bike or two to Boone this spring. I have job-site visits in DC and Montreal, and if the schedule works out, I can trailer to Boone at the beginning of a month-plus odyssey of work trips and riding and remote working and vacation. I could ride with the East Coast folks in May, trailer to DC for a week of work, continue north to my family's place in New England for June, and then either drive or ride to Montreal for a few days for work there in June or July. I could take some vacation and spend a couple weeks riding motorcycles around an area I really didn't ride motorcycles around when my parents were alive.

As far as fining someone a lot of money for breaking the law? Well, that's kind of the idea of fining someone for breaking a law, it's supposed to be enough money to dissuade someone from breaking that law. Otherwise, it's not really a punishment or a disincentive, it's just a cost. That's largely how we treat a speeding ticket in the US - we try not to get, say, five of them in one weekend, but I have noticed during our rallies that we generally keep a pace that says "it's not the end of the world if we get speeding tickets." A speeding ticket costs less than a tire puncture that requires replacement; it's not a punishment, it's an expense. We are all willing to pay North Carolina or Tennessee or Georgia $125 if that's what it takes to get these bikes leaned over in a corner a little bit.

Hopefully see you guys out there.

[Millietant]

I think the last "Rally" I went to (other than the family-oriented FJOC rallies, very civilised) was in 1983, on my CB 650.........this was a different event to what the US FJ (and U.K. FJOC) rallies are like........it was a full on "Hell's Angel" type gathering with tents in mud, much alcohol, drug abuse, naked women, setting fire to bikes and throwing "first timers" onto bonfire's or off the pier into the sea (which by midnight had retreated, so anyone thrown off the top ended up with broken legs..... I knew of 3 that were taken to hospital).

The bike "club" I joined got increasingly into that culture, which is when I decided enough was enough and quit the club/rally scene altogether.