Port Charlotte and Englewood Beach

My Aunt and Uncle were in town this weekend so I wanted to ride with James to

my house to show them what I have been learning and doing on the weekends. My Uncles birthday was that following Monday so he got to ride on the back of Jame's motorcycle as a passenger, whether he really enjoyed it or not.

This would be my last ride before my weekend vacation up north to see some relatives so James had planned a longer trip then our previous few trips. We totalled about 150 miles on this trip and covered some familiar and some new areas along the way.

Through just past the Port Charlotte airport we got buzzed by a Blue Angels Jet as it made it's way back to the air field for the air show taking place that weekend. Riding past the airport we saw one of the stunt planes doing its tricks.

We ended up eating at a local biker bar for lunch, it was crowded with riders from all over the area. It was a great meal and interesting to see all the riders out today. From there we headed out towards Englewood beach our final destination of the day. The Englewood beach is actually a pretty nice place to ride to for a day trip or picnic, I will definitely have to remember that place in the future.

It all turned out to be a very good day to ride. We saw some stunt planes and Blue Angels jets, spring breakers enjoy their picnics down by the beach, part of a baseball game as we got stuck in the traffic trying to park in the stadium, and some fantastic weather all day.

You can subscribe to my posts by clicking here SUBSCRIBE!

Please leave a comment, I appreciate them!

Colby Butler aka Kingkole02

Ride to Fisherman's Village part 2

Today we have planned another ride to Fisherman's Village except this time my riding partner and mentor brought his wife along for the ride. She had mentioned how she loves to ride, but never get time off of work to ride. She obviously likes to be passenger more as I am riding her bike to learn.

After saturday's downtown Fort Myers bike night we were looking for a nice ride together again. It is always fun to have company for the ride. You get to meet more people and talk about more things.

It was a much better day then our last trip out this way and the weather was far better. Still a bit windy but for the most it was calm and nice.

You can subscribe to my posts by clicking here SUBSCRIBE!

Please leave a comment, I appreciate them!

Colby Butler aka Kingkole02

Downtown Fort Myers Bike Night 2009

James had mentioned that there was a bike night this saturday and that he said I was qualified to ride into the event. This was my first time going to an event on a motorcycle. Linda came with us as well to enjoy the ride. It is nice to see Linda enjoying herself as much as James and I do. I also had some friends meet us with us who happen to live in the area.

Qualified means that I can participate based on my skill level and hours/miles of riding experience.

This would be a very short trip compared to what I was used to, average of 60 miles each trip and tonight was only about 10 miles total. However it was a good trip, we got to park in a good location and enjoyed the show a lot. Meeting new people is always a fun thing to do with a common interest.

Here are some photos of the event.

We all had a lot of fun.

You can subscribe to my posts by clicking here SUBSCRIBE!

Please leave a comment, I appreciate them!

Colby Butler aka Kingkole02

New Riders

I have noticed a lot more people have started riding recently in my area, I being one of them.
(Don't be like these two dorks in the photo, atleast one rider is wearing bright colors)

One thing I remember well from my training is that you must always wear protective gear.
Yet I see a lot of untrained or unskilled riders who don't wear protective gear. I know of many horror stories about a simple 10-15 mph incident that left a rider in the hospital for many weeks.
Don't be one of them!
Wear your gear!

Gear typically consists of:
Heavy boots
Long pants, prefrably jeans or leather chaps over jeans
Gloves, protect the hands
Long sleeve shirt
Jacket
Leather vest
Helmet whether full face, half, or 3/4 helmet

Some options for hot weather are available such as a Kevlar shirt by Draggin Jeans (dragginjeans.com)
Or a Cordura mesh Vest with padding. There are also some Cordura mesh jackets available on the market as well and are much better then a regular tee shirt.
While Kevlar is the best material to wear period, it may be too much money for most people and this is where people opt for leather.
Leather holds an abrasion strength much higher then any of the standard fabrics on the market in it's natural form, much more so if the leather is backed with padding or Kevlar.

While a helmet may not be required in your area, a helmet is a good idea just in case something was to happen. For instance you fall at 7 mph turning a corner and your head hits the ground first, what normally would be a concussion or worse is avoided because of the helmet. Believe me it could happen at the blink of an eye dirt or debris not seen could cause some problems.

The best safety gear above all is taking a safety course offer by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (http://www.msf-usa.org/). The knowledge which you can learn from one of these courses can be life saving.
Knowlege is power.

You can subscribe to my posts by clicking here SUBSCRIBE!

Please leave a comment, I appreciate them!

Colby Butler aka Kingkole02

Trip to Bonita and Fort Myers Beach

So this Sunday we have prepared a nice ride to Bonita and Fort Myers Beach. This is the opposite direction then we typically ride as we normally go north where there are more open roads. Today we where getting into more traffic to give me some traffic experience.
On our trip to Bonita we have a guy on a sports bike fly by us at 70 mph while we were at 50. On his back he have what looked like a duffel bag which was blowing in the wind, shorts and a T-Shirt on. I couldn't help but to think if that duffel bag would catch something he would have fallen and gotten really messed up from the road.

It was at the point of sitting in the traffic on the Beach that we each remember that it was spring break for tourist to come to our area. While I like to see pretty women in bikini's, every straight guy should, I could do without the traffic because I roasted in my full face helmet and black Cordura jacket as we sat. These motorcycles are air cooled and require movement to cool down.

Anyhow we have a fun trip and got some riding time in. It was an eye opener for me to start thinking about summer gear and what I want to get. As I will not ride in shorts or a T-shirt I need to find some gear which is a good fit for myself.

You can subscribe to my posts by clicking here SUBSCRIBE!

Please leave a comment, I appreciate them!

Colby Butler aka Kingkole02

Ride to Fisherman's Village

So after last Sunday's spill I gathered my head together and spent about 15 minutes in the driveway giving myself some friction zone lessons.


Friction Zone: Where the clutch is released just enough to the get the motorcycle to move forward while giving the throttle just enough turn to keep from stalling.

This Sundays was a horrible day. Its was cold lower 50's and overcast/drizzly during some parts of the days. Lucky for me I have a padded jacket and full face helmet which keeps me pretty darn warm.

I also did myself a favor after last weeks spill and got some Kevlar lined and CE approved padded jeans for my riding which helped keep my legs quite warm during our 55 mph trip. At 55 mph the wind temperature can be a minus 10 or more degrees then the ambient temperature, so it was like riding in lower 40's weather.

If you don't know what Kevlar is, Kevlar is a textile material which is a strong para-aramid synthetic fiber, that is five (5) times the strength of steel on equal weight basis.

So from now on in the event that something might happen while I'm riding and I have to lay the bike down again, my legs and rear will be protected much more so then in a standard pair of jeans.

My Gear so far consists of:
Full Face Helmet
Cordura w/ CE approved elbows, shoulders, and back protection jacket
Baggy Red Route (cyclegear.com) jeans
Boots and Gloves

What a crappy day. We got to Fisherman's village and it was windy and cold at the wharf restaurant. However we stayed to play some pool on the dollar tables and when we left the sun was finally starting to show a bit.
All in all it was a successful 100 mile round trip.

You can subscribe to my posts by clicking here SUBSCRIBE!

Please leave a comment, I appreciate them!

Colby Butler aka Kingkole02