Category Archives: Motorcycles
Riding with gestures
There was an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune the other day about new technology that could enable drivers to operate cars with hand gestures. Google has apparently already purchased a company called Flutter that makes software that allows people with webcams to operate Netflix and other apps by making signs. The article didn’t offer many specifics as to how this new car technology would work. Point left to turn left?
Motorcycle riders have been making signs for ages, especially when they ride in groups. Leaders use hand signals to tell others in the group to slow down, watch out for road hazards or stop for refreshments. The signals are fairly standard from group to group. The Motorcycle Safety Foundation has a downloadable chart on its website that demonstrates the gestures far better than I can describe them.
I can’t imagine (but I could be wrong) that the day will come when motorcyclists drive their bikes by gestures. Although the bigger cruisers can be equipped with cruise control, most of the bikers I’ve met are “hands on” types who like to do their own mechanical work and stay in control of the bike at all times.
There’s one gesture that I know will never be replaced by an “app.” It’s the biker-to-biker greeting like the one we received on our trip around Lake Superior last summer.
You Meet the Nicest People
Back in 1963, Honda Motorcycles ran an advertising campaign that proclaimed, “You meet the nicest people on a Honda.” I’d like to amend that to “You meet the nicest people on a motorcycle.” Period. It doesn’t matter the make or the model, bikers are some of the nicest people I’ve run across in a long time.
I stopped out at Indian Motorcycles in St. Paul today and dropped off some copies of Ride Minnesota. Although owner Art Welch wasn’t interested stocking the book, he has graciously allowed me to snag a little counter space in his beautiful store. Can you believe it, almost every motorcycle on his show floor has been sold? There’s a lot of pent-up demand for Indians (Polaris has done a good job of marketing them). I hope the long winter and pent-up feelings extend into book sales, too.
I also stopped next door at St. Paul Harley Davidson. The folks there haven’t yet decided whether or not they’ll take the book, but John in the parts department invited me to a seminar on motorcycle touring that he’s giving in April. I’m already booked that day, but I appreciate invitation and the enthusiasm. In fact, so many people involved in motorcycling have been so helpful and encouraging.
I saw some bikers on the road today, and there were quite a number of folks buying parts and new batteries for their bikes to get ready for riding season. The temperature hovered around 45 degrees, but the weather was an ever-changing mixture of sleet, snow, sunshine. It’s the annual wresting match between spring and winter in Minnesota. Still, it won’t be long until the rumble of a well-tuned motorcycle is heard again.
Living in the Past, Thinking About the Future
I’ve been living the past for a couple of days now, re-tracing routes that Ralph and I drove last summer. I’ve written about a couple that I want to include in a new version of Ride Minnesota (don’t get excited, it’s long ways off). I’m also trying to make something out of our tour around Lake Superior. It was a completely different trip and didn’t fall into the same pattern as Ride.
While I’m studying road maps and Google satellite images and recalling what I saw, felt and experienced, I’m also trying to stake out my territory in motorcycle dealerships for the upcoming riding season. While I haven’t heard the rumble of a bike in my neighborhood yet, I have been visiting bike shops in the Twin Cities area.
The Indian dealership on I-94 in St. Paul said I could bring in a few copies of the book to sell. They don’t want to run it through their inventory, but they’ll put it out on the counter and collect the money for me. Fair enough. Fury Motorcycle in South St. Paul invited me to its open house on April 26. Justin Olmeim tells me they had 2,000 bikers at their event last spring. It’s an offer I can’t refuse! Northway Sports in East Bethel, one of my first and best supporters, has an open house the same day. Somehow, I’ll have to find a way to attend both events. King Solomon, where are you?
The generosity of the biking community in allowing me to hang out at their places of business, to carry my book and encouraging me to get out and push totally defies the tough-guy image that leather, studs and loud bikes proclaim.
Waiting to board the ferry to Madeline Island.
Signs of Spring
I am so sick of this long Minnesota winter I could chew roofing nails! It definitely was a lot more fun when I was a kid and played in the snow and didn’t worry about breaking my bones. Ah, but there are signs of spring, despite below-zero temperatures (at the end of February? Ya gotta be kidding me!).
The first sign is a review of Ride Minnesota in the March issue of Thunder Press, a tabloid that reaches some 60-70-80,000 Harley Davidson owners. I can’t wait to see it.
As a result of that review, I received a call from Audrey Johnson, who organized the Motorcycle Life Expo that Ralph and I attended earlier this month (in a snowstorm). She’s got a booth at the upcoming Donnie Smith Motorcycle Show at the St. Paul River Centre, and asked me if I’d like to join her and sell my book at her booth. Would I! I’m already checking my booth supplies. I think I’ll need to order more books.
The third sign is an invitation to do a reading of Ride Minnesota at Eat My Words Bookstore here in “Nordeast” Minneapolis. I’m so excited that Scott and his son, Peter, are hosting this event. It happens at 3:00 p.m. on March 22. The store already has copies of the book on consignment, but I’ll bring more copies.
I’m revving my book marketing engine. By the time the snow melts and Ralph and I can get on the highways, it’ll be in high gear.
Creeping Toward Spring
Like many Minnesotans, I am really tired of the meteorological roller coaster we’ve been on since, well, Christmas. It’s been so cold for so long even the icicles have stopped growing.
There has been some relief on the weekends when the temperature slowly wiggles its way up to 15 degrees. This past Saturday I took time to visit a new bookstore in “Nordeast”, Eat My Words. It’s on 2nd St. and 12th Ave. N.E., across the street from Dangerous Man Brewing (their chocolate beer is wicked) and kitty-corner from St. Cyril & St. Methodius Church. Eat My Words deals in rare and used books and books by local authors. The owner took three copies of Ride Minnesota on consignment, and we talked about doing an event in March.
The days are slowly getting longer, if not warmer. Bikers are definitely thinking about spring. Ralph and I are heading to another motorcycle show this Saturday, the Motorcycle Life Expo, at the National Sports Center in Blaine. I’ll make more book marks this week to hand out as we mingle with the bikers.
Spring’s gotta come sometime!
Googling Myself
Okay, I admit it. This is work-avoidance at its most digital. I was looking up information on an attorney in Texas and decided to see what comes up these days when my name is typed into Google. I found this blog, my website, mentions about organizations I belong to, references to my out-of-print books and this review of Ride Minnesota from Clutchandchrome.com. Trolling further, I found myself in the newsletter of the Viking Chapter of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America. It’s nice to know my PR efforts yielded some fruit.
At -1 below zero, only a true nut would ride a motorcycle today (if it would even start! Ours is up on a stand for the winter.). It’s a good day to stay close to the fire (or the radiator, in our case) with hot chocolate and a book. Preferably one on motorcycling in Minnesota…
Buttoned up and hunkered down
It’s been damned cold in Minnesota this past week. Snow and ice and sub-zero temperatures have definitely put a halt to motorcycling. Our Victory has been lovingly washed and polished and stored for the winter, its battery removed to a warm indoor place. God knows when it will next cruise the highways and byways.
Now’s a good time to sit by the fire (or in our house, the radiator) and read. And what better book for a motorcyclist to read on a cold winter’s day than Ride Minnesota? The book is a great gift item — a stocking stuffer! — for the motorcyclist in your life. And, from now until December 18, I will gladly sell you a signed copy for just $8! Talk about a cyber deal! That’s 20 percent off list, and unlike the one you can order from Amazon, it will be personally inscribed with the biker’s name and an appropriate message.
You have 10 days to take advantage of this offer. Why just 10 days? I gotta make a deal with Santa to pick it up and deliver it to you by Christmas!
If you’re looking for the perfect gift for the biker who has everything, Ride Minnesota is it. Email me at the address below to order. And yes, I take credit cards.
cynthia.sowden@gmail.com
Merry Christmas!
Last Rides
Snow fell earlier this week, pretty much ending the motorcycle season for most sane riders. There are still a few diehards out there dodging the slick piles of leaves (the trees are finally letting go!) and braving the cold winds. On Tuesday, when the evening commute was accompanied by a mist of snowflakes, I passed a woman riding primly on a scooter. She wore a visor-less helmet and had a lap robe draped across her knees. The fringe tossed in the soggy wind. She looked like a granny minus her rocker. She had to be uncomfortable.
I just received a notice from the Hosanna! Bikers were cancelling their November ride because of the weather. Time to batten down the hatches.
Ralph and I celebrated our October wedding anniversary with a ride along the Mississippi River to Reads Landing, where we had lunch at Reads Landing Brewing Company (great sandwiches, local beer). The trees were just beinning to turn color then, and the weather was a little on the cool side, but not uncomfortable. If you had told me 34 years ago that I’d be riding on the back of a bike at age 60, I would have laughed my head off. Now there are times when I’d like to make it a way of life.
After lunch we drove a couple of miles further south to Wabasha and crossed the river to Wisconsin. We were immediately passed by a posse of crotch rocket dudes. Heads down, speeding through the curves, they clearly weren’t interested in the changing leaves or the tall limestone bluffs along the highway. Time will come when their testosterone levels drop and they’ll want to slow down and actually see where they’re going. By then, maybe, they’ll be ready for a book like Ride Minnesota.
October was a good month for the book. I sold 21 copies in one day at the Twin Cities Book Festival. The owner of SubText Books in St. Paul dropped by and said she wanted to sell the book in her store. And I learned the name of another place in Cambridge that may be interested in carrying it. The following weekend was not quite as successful–I sold just 13 copies at the Home Improvement & Design Expo. But that’s more than I would have sold had I stayed home. And, I learned about a Dunn Bros. Coffee initiate called coffeeandbooks.com that I have to check into a little more thoroughly. The month ended with word that Hennepin County Libraries had ordered the book.
Reads Landing Brewing Company graciously offers motorcycle parking.
Once is Never Enough
We’ve heard a lot lately about bikers showing off–popping wheelies and performing dangerous stunts in traffic. Perhaps the worst is the gang-banging that took place in New York last week. Authorities there are still trying to sort out what really happened, but it sounds like a minor bump from the SUV to a motorcycle spiraled out of control. And then there’s the Minnesota woman who was drunk and drove into a man and a woman on a motorcycle. They’re dead because she cross the center line. I have a T-shirt from a recent book siging at Northway Sports, It’s from Allstate Insurance and it says, “Once is never enough. Look twice for motorcycles.”
You won’t have to look twice for me tomorrow at the Twin Cities Book Festival. It’s at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, in the Progress building. (That’s the north end of the fairgrounds. The Salem Lutheran Church Diner –where you can buy Scandinavian egg coffee during the fair– is just in front of the door.) The festival runs from 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., and there are author lectures and book signings going on all over the place. My table–111–is on an outside row, across the aisle from Rain Taxi’s used book sale. I couldn’t be happier with my placement. I’ve signs and a big poster advertising Ride Minnesota. I have my Square for credit card sales, which I’m eager to try out. The biggest temptation will be to refrain from visiting all the other tables and coming home with a big load of books. (So many books, so little time!)
I hear the weather is going to be good tomorrow, if a little windy. If you’re out riding, come in a browse some books. If you’re a bookworm like me, well, you know what to do!
Ride Minnesota 