Thursday North Central ROMEO Lunch Ride for 2-25-16

[Richard]

Guys - Take special note of the day this week. It's Thursday!
All the forecasters are saying it's going to be a nasty rainy day tuesday and with our normal wednesday just next door, I'm asking myself what if they get it wrong? So, I've built myself a little buffer so to speak. I backed it up..er, upped it back...well you get the drift. Anyway, if the weather guy just misses the forecast by a day....we're covered and good to go. Not only that but we gain a degree in temperature. See the mental struggle it takes to do this job for you guys! Sometimes I feel Like Rodney Dangerfield...just get no respect! We'll see who laughs last this week!
I have a few longer distance places to go similar to the miles we covered going to last weeks lunch but I'm actually saving them for a nicer warmer day. See.....there I go again....looking out for 'ya again!
By the way, I want to thank Terry Powell for the heads up on this neat little place. I think he frequents it quite regularly.

Here's the time...........................................12:30 pm

Here's the place......................................Somewhere Grill
Downtown Tescott
785-283-4488

As always........................ride careful, ride safe and I'll see you in Tescott. Richard
http://bit.ly/1uLkbOc
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Guys - This group is nothing if not exciting! Glad to here you made it Kai! Just wished you had been there today -- on the right day! Bet you'll check the day closer next time, huh. Really sorry we missed 'ya though. Bet you had a more comfortable day of riding though than we did!
I thought I would outsmart the weather guy this week and it turned out to bite me. We had a good time together anyway even it it was a bit chilly. Chilly actually may be a bit of an understatement.
I waited till way after eleven to head out to lunch today and as I was nearing the end of the street, I glanced at my odometer and it read 76 miles. No problem, I said to myself. I'll just motor along and as close as I can recall, the town is just a short ride of 50 miles. Well within range of my supposedly 6 gallon tank even at a mediocre 40 mpg. The wind was straight from the NW at about 40 mph at least and it did wonders for the wind chill. I had on my heaviest jeans with leather chaps over them and a wicking t-shirt with my ROMEO short over that and on top of that my Aerostitch windblocker jersey. Guys, you just have to get yourselves one of these. Just carry it in your bag for early morning and late evening rides. It's marvelous! But I digress----on top of that I had my leather coat. I was fixed to go fight the dragon. The dragon this day was the wind chill. Just before I hopped aboard, the weather guy had just announced temps in the 30's. Whoa...a far cry from the initial plan of 51 degrees from last week.
Not to be deterred, I decided to try something different. My hands are usually the thing that heads south on me right away so I remembered that I had a pack of the little heat pads that work chemicaly somehow, heating up after you open them and bat them around a bit. I located them and opened the pack and pounded on 'em for a little bit and then stuffed them inside the palm of my silk glove liners before putting on my leather gauntlets. This will be a test I told myself!
The leather gauntlets (HD) are near worthless in the winter time for keeping your hands warm. I think the reason I could afford 'em was they left out any kind of insolation between the leather and the felt lining. They were cheap in other words!
Anyway, as I was heading into a near gale force wind coming straight at me, my hands felt quite comfortable. Nearly hot I may even say! Not burning up hot, just a comfortable warm kind of hot! I was basking in a kind of pleasure reserved only for
air jacket spring or fall rides! WOW! These things are great, I thought! why had it taken me this cotton-pick'in long to try these things. I've carried 'em around in the trunk of the Gold Wing now going on nearly three years and just now thought to try 'em! Well, I don't like to just jump off the deep end without putting a toe in the water so to speak! Nevertheless, these things work great and would be even better with a good pair of gloves I'm sure.
I lost all concept of time on my trip to Tescott. Didn't even pay any attention to my odometer, I was just so enamoured with having warm hands, I was totally lost in my own self absorbed world. I could almost feel the warm blood flowing up my arm and down my leg to heat up my feet. Oh, come on! It's true! On a cold 30 something day what could the wind chill have been?
Yet I was really quite comfortable. I may have forgotten to mention that I had a neck wrap that kept any wind from going down my neck and I had on my Cycle Gear Balakava to help keep my head warm, but truly, the hands did it for me today.
We had 10 show up today for lunch with Delbert from Canton taking high mileage with 67 miles but since Kai came as well, only on the wrong day, with more miles, how do I handle this. Is he not in contention? I actually originally posted the ride wrong in the firat place. I had posted thursday but had a wednesday date so maybe it's my fault? See how confusing these things get. Here's what I think I'll do. I'm 'gonna say we had eleven for lunch and Kai had High Mileage. Whoops! Now Delbert is mad because he had high mileage today and was shut out by someone that wasn't there.......oh my.........I don't know what to do!
I think I'll just go on vacation!
Thanks Marty for the great photos and for being such a sport!

[kai61]

Wow, guess where I was this am for Lunch? Didn't bother looking at the date. Just got on my bike and rode out. Imagine my supprise when I was the only one there.









It was a good ride anyway, and lunch was delicious !!!

[Roadpounder]

2/20/16 Well, it finally happened. Some of you may remember my last financial venture, when I bought that GL500I Silverwing Interstate for quick flip. The Whack A Mole bike. Every problem that I fixed uncovered two more. Kind of like trying to shinny up a greased flag pole. Well, I think I finally beat it into submission. Just in time to have it ready for a prospective buyer. I had the prospect take a look at the bike and they seemed quite interested. We agreed on a price and they asked me how I wanted payment. I gave my pat answer “cash works”. Being late on Saturday afternoon there was no way for them to access that much cash so they said they'd be back Tuesday with the cash to pick it up. So far no money changed hands. Although it sounds very promising, I have to channel my inner Yogi Berra and say “It ain't a done deal, til it's a done deal”.

2/23/16 We had a good world peace summit at Spangles this morning and once again saved the world for democracy. While there Richard was there he advised us that he would be leaving town for the weekend on Friday and wouldn't be able to set up next weeks ride. Then he turned to me (GULP). He left it up to me to set the ride up. Some are born to leadership, and some have leadership hit them in the face like a banana cream pie. It may be sweet but can be a mess. I'm ready to take on this challenge. I have a ride in mind, but I'm open to suggestion. In any case I'll have something set up by Sunday. Please save your pitchforks, tar, and feathers until after the ride.

Well it's Tuesday and they came through with the cash. Now my garage is a little emptier and my wallet is a little fuller. YAHOO!! I can eat EVERY day this week! I'm going to splurge and take myself out to do hand to hand combat with a prime rib dinner.


Thursday came and I managed to keep everything straight. I got to Spangles in plenty of time and was even the first one there. As time wore on I was starting to wonder if I was the only one who was going to show up. It was a bit brisk. But soon others showed and we had four from the Salina contingent. John was kind enough to loan me a pair of gloves which probably saved my fingers from frostbite. You know me. Minimalist in the riding attire. After some very short deliberation about a more scenic route, we chose the more direct route owing to the weather. We set out for 'Tescott and I guess my Carpal Tunnel kicked in early as my finger tips never did warm up til we got inside the restaurant. Richard was there when we rolled into town and got settled in. I got a few shots outside and beat a hasty retreat for some indoor heat. Once inside we met Evan Jones who chose the four wheeled option. He had enough sense to stay warm anyway. The restaurant staff put us in the back by the bar and bent over backwards to accommodate us. As I recall there was a good choice of Mexican fair to choose from, But I opted for my standard double bacon cheese burger and fries. Ya can't go wrong with the classics. With a full belly and being well heat soaked I headed back outside and joined the tire kickers. Once again I opted to head back to Salina via the most direct route. The temperature did come up a little but still hardly what one would consider warm. Diesel Dave and joined up for the ride home and I took the lead. Dangerous choice as I'm usually pretty well lost by the time we get anywhere, as some of my previous posts would indicate. But in anticipation of such an event I did pay particular attention as to where we turned on the way there. I managed to find my way back to Salina with Dave in tow. The rise in temperature helped in that my fingertips stayed warm in the gloves all the way back home. I arrived home to be greeted by two dogs that were convinced I had been abducted by aliens, never to be seen again. It's nice to know you've been missed.

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