Harley Owners Training - Day 3

Day 3 of our trip was actually the first day of training...bright and early.  Breakfast was served between 7-8am so everyone wanted to be there at 7.  We agreed to meet in the lobby at 6:45...I set my alarm for 5:30 so I wouldn't be late.  Even before my alarm went off, my phone's text tone was going crazy...several of the group was already down in the lobby.  Of course, I once again thought I had overslept.  I got dressed as fast as I could and went to the lobby only to have to wait until 6:45 to walk over to the convention center.

Following breakfast at 8:15, the training kicked off with a general session and hyped up H.O.G. personnel getting the crowd jazzed up.  They began by driving two motorcycles onto the stage, to everyone's delight.  The short video they showed was very well done.  The theme of the training this near was "No Boundaries".  Every time we heard that phrase, we were supposed to respond with "Let's Ride".  Of course, the two speakers tested us several times over the first hour.

After the general session, everyone broke off to attend the breakout sessions.  These sessions ranged from risk management to designing rides to H.O.G. finances.  The same sessions were given twice each day so if you heard about one that was really good you could show up.

There were about 1100 attendees, ranging in age from 20-something to 70-something and experience levels from fairly new riders to riders with 30+ years riding.  The dress among the attendees ran from one end of the spectrum to the other, from shorts and t-shirts to leather jackets with patches all over to tie-died shirts.  However, no matter how a person dressed, they were all there for one thing...to learn about Harley Davidson, H.O.G. and chapter activities.

The conference was very well run with corporate trainers, a professional media staff and good food...although a little fancy for my taste.  However, for the most part it was tasty...and, it was free.  Friday night, the first night of the conference/training, H.O.G. put on a dinner and party afterward.  The food was good...and free...and anyone who wished to imbibe could get free drinks.

After dinner a band from Chicago began playing...really loud, but that didn't seem to deter folks from hanging out and dancing.  I didn't drink or dance and eventually left the party early so my ear drums could adjust back to normal.

Overall, the first day was pretty amazing.  Wonder what day 2 of training holds.

Harley Owners Group Training...Day 2

Day two was to begin at a more reasonable time...9:00am departure.  However, as with most thing, our ETD was subject to change.  Our plan was to meet for breakfast in the hotel lobby around 7:30-8:00 so I sent my alarm for 6:45am.  At 6:30, I received a text message saying that some of the group was in the lobby, ready to eat.  My first panicked thought was that I had overslept or maybe I had failed to adjust my alarm for the new time zone.

I hustled to the shower, threw my stuff in the bag and headed out the door only to meet the guy next door.  He said that a couple of our friends were early risers and were chomping at the bit to hit the road.  I figured since I was dressed and packed that I might as well adjust my thinking to the new departure time.  I load up the bike and headed for breakfast.

While we ate, I heard the latest on the weather in the Albuquerque area...very high winds in and around the area.  At that point we could only adjust our departure so much, so we left 30 min early...not early enough as it turned out.

We decided that the route suggested by the retired NM Highway Patrol Officer was the way to go...avoiding a lot of trucks on I-40 was a good idea.  The road out of Clovis was two-lane and not at all smooth...typical of New Mexico State roads I'm told.  After about 45 minutes heading due west we came to our first decision point...turn north and hit I-40 about 100 miles out or continue on the road we were on.  Several cars and motorcycles behind us turned...we opted to continue west.

The road was still a narrow two-lane and two large oversized trucks, with escort vehicles were in front of us...no passing for us.  The speed limit on this part of the road was 55...slow going for sure.  Luckily, the trucks turned off not too far up the road...headed down a dirt road that appeared to go nowhere.

Now I thought our problems we'd behind us and we'd have smooth sailing (riding) on into Albuquerque...boy, was I wrong.  The wind had been hitting us from the south but shortly after the trucks turned off, the winds started to get stronger.

The scenery along the route was pretty bad...rundown houses, crumbling barns and other structures and an occasional lone cow or two.  After riding through 3-4 1 house "villages", we came to Fort Sumner, the resting place of Billy the Kid.  Had the weather been better, we might have visited hie grave site or the museum.  As it was, we just wanted to get to our destination and get out of the 30-40 mph crosswinds.

We had been on the road for about 1 1/2 hours and coming up on our planned refueling stop pretty soon.  Almost immediately after leaving the city limits of Fort Sumner, the winds increased yet again...now they were 40G45.  We were really having to fight the wind to keep from getting blown off the road...and there was no shoulder.

We arrived in Vaughn, NM and pulled onto the first gas station we came to.  It was such a relief to be stopped.  We got our gas and something to drink and it was back on the road, still headed almost due west and the gale force winds accosting us from the south.

Another 50 miles or so, we came to our second decision point...turn north towards I-40 or keep going west, up into the mountains and hitting I-25 going north...the recommended route.  Our leader, who by the way had gotten us this far without the benefit of a GPS, turned right by accident.  Rather than u-turn, we decided to continue north.  The good news was that the high winds were at our backs...no more howling in your ears or sand hitting you in the face.

Our respite was short lived...30 or so miles north we came to I-40...only 30 miles from Albuquerque...piece of cake, right?  Well, wrong again.  We quickly discovered that the next 30 miles were going to be hazardous to say the least.  If we thought the crosswinds we had on the little two lane road to the south were bad, now the winds increased to 50 or more.  We slowed down to 55-60 to help with handling but this didn't help much.  Cars no trucks passed us in the left lane, the wind not affecting them quite as much.  When a big rig would pass, the wind would stop but when the truck was past, we sort of got sucked into its wake momentarily then we would get hit with the crosswinds again.  This happened over and over the entire 30 miles until we got into the city limits then the winds subsided somewhat, probably due to higher slightly higher terrain to the south.  Finally, we found the hotel and checked in very glad to be out of the wind.

Harley Owners Group Officer Training

After being a member of the local HOG (Harley Owners Group) for a few years, I finally got invited to go to the officer training...although the newsletter editor isn't technically an officer.  Nonetheless, I got invited to ride to the training in Albuquerque and I said, sure.

We left Bryan/College Station on Wednesday morning just after 6:00am, March 22...our destination, Clovis NM, about 550 miles away...probably a 12-hour day.  The weather was forecast to be a bit cool but sunny all the way.  For once, the weather man was correct...it was 67 and cloudy (and dark) when we pulled out.  Our plan was to travel north on Hwy 6 until we intercepted I-20 just east of Abilene.

Our volunteer Road Captain took off...without a GPS...and didn't stop for two hours in Meridian for gas.  By the time we stopped, the temp actually dropped two degrees, even though the sun had come out.  In fact, the temperature stayed around 65-68 until we almost reached our final stop.

Back on the road after a quick stop, we headed towards our second stop near Eastland on I-20.  This was another 15-20 minute fuel stop.  We got on the interstate and headed west towards Sweetwater where we were turning northwest on Hwy 84 towards Lubbock.  Being lunch time, we decided to eat before leaving the interstate.  We had a quick lunch and we're back on the highway in about 30 minutes.

Hwy 84 between Sweetwater and Lubbock isn't much to write about...stockyards, tumbleweeds, a few oil jack pumps and a bunch of wind generators.

About two hours later we entered the city limits of Lubbock.  We figured we were running ahead of schedule so we detoured to Wild West Harley Davidson to look around.  I didn't buy  anything...mostly because I had been there and done that.

Back on the road and headed to Clovis.  I forgot to mention we were traveling with one of the owners who had made reservations in Clovis, so Clovis was set in stone...barring any unforeseen event.  Well,the unforeseen event didn't occur and we coasted into Clovis about 4:30pm...11 1/2 hours of riding.  Even though the weather was good to us, we were still tired.  BUT, not too tired to go back up the road about a mile to the High Plains Harley Davidson.  I was a good boy once again and only bought a poker chip.

The best thing we got at the dealership was information.  One of the stall was a retired NM Highway Patrol Officer and he gave us a tip on how to bypass I-40 and all the trucks.  A little while after getting back to the hotel, we walked a couple blocks to a great Mexican food place.  Bellies full, I headed to the room and ended going to bed at 9:00pm...Mountain Time.  Still, I had had a long day.