Weekly Winners for Week Ending May 17th, 2013

I got this email on Friday afternoon, but I had already checked out for the weekend; so my apologies for just now getting this important news out to everyone.  BikerMonkey needs to get it in gear and start visiting these Harley-Davidson Texas Independent Dealerships before it’s too late!  Looks like there might be some breathing room on the BikerMonkey schedule in June, fingers crossed.  Anyway, here is the results for last week’s winners, congratulations guys!

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BikerMonkey’s Wag The Dragon Challenge – Less Than 2 Weeks!!

I tell ya, this year is flying by so fast.  I can’t believe that we are 2 weeks away from the second BikerMonkey Extreme Challenge ride of the season, BikerMonkey’s Wag The Dragon Challenge 2,000-N-48.  This awesome 2,000-N-48 or SaddleSore 2,000 ride event is June 1, 2013, meet up at the Bass Pro / Whataburger parking lot in Grapevine, Texas between 3:00 – 3:45 AM to check-in or register; KSU 4:00 AM.  This is an extreme ride out to the Dragon’s Tail (an extreme stretch of road), before making an extreme ride back home!  I am sooooo ready for this ride!!  Of course BikerMonkey is assuming that everyone is going to ride and thought maybe a quick checklist might be handy.

Extreme Motorcycle Ride Checklist:

- Register For The Ride – If not, CLICK HERE
- Motorcycle Maintenance Good
- Clean Underwear (mom’s advice)
- Beef Jerky (main staple for extreme riding)
- Water Bottle (fiduciary responsibility, have to say it)
- Long John Silver’s Treasure Map (forget about GPS, go old school)
- Cell Phone (might want to call the better half and say how much fun you are having)
- Permission from the better half (don’t want to be in the dog house)

I hope this checklist helps.  BikerMonkey can’t wait and looks forward to seeing you on June 1st!  Ride Safe.

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Despite the oppression in Communist China, there are some very die hard bikers riding in China.  My helmet goes off to these folks that show their real passion for motorcycle riding and understand the biker mentality.  There are 18 more pictures you can check out at the bottom link; certainly worth seeing.  The excerpt below is courtesy of www.theatlantic.com and the photo here from Carlos Barria.

“… Reuters photographer Carlos Barria traveled to Zheijiang Province, China, to photograph some of the 1,000 Harley Davidson enthusiasts who attended China’s 5th annual Harley Davidson National Rally, part of the company’s 110-year anniversary. Harley Davidson only began official sales in China in 2005, and its bikes are considered to be luxury items by Chinese tax authorities, so they are taxed at extremely high rates — a 2013 motorcycle might sell for 200,000 yuan ($32,500), approximately four times the average annual salary in Beijing. Transportation authorities have also placed Harleys in the same category as electric bikes, horses and bicycles, so they cannot be ridden on highways and major avenues.”

Check out the awesome pictures that Carlos Barria took while at the rally, http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/05/harley-davidson-national-rally-in-china/100515/.

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I got the image below in an email today from Harley-Davidson….typically, I put them in the trash folder and move on.  I tell myself and others that I don’t want to be a walking billboard for Harley-Davidson, so there would be now way that I would spend crazy money to wear a Harley-Davidson leather jacket.  And it’s true, I don’t own a Harley-Davidson leather jacket simply because I am not willing to pay the money.  My FMC leather jacket, chaps and vest collectively cost me 1/3 of what a normal priced Harley leather jacket goes for in the store.  Not to mention, my FMC gear does the job.

After thinking about it though, I am a walking billboard for Harley-Davidson…..virtually all of my t-shirts I wear are Harley t-shirts, and my favorite jeans are Harley jeans.  In that regard, I am a hypocrite in my statement about being a walking billboard.  Honestly, Harley-Davidson makes great products from t-shirts, jeans, leathers, etc….. and they are worth the money you pay for them.

I have seen the statement in H-D ads, “Made by bikers for bikers.”  I believe this to be true.  Case in point, my Harley jeans fit better than my Wrangler or Levi’s when I am riding, the pockets are deeper and they even moved the little pocket from the right side to the left pocket….. why, because you can’t dig your lighter, key, change, etc…. from the right pocket, duh, it’s your throttle hand.

Suzy Q has a leather vest, leather jacket, mesh riding jacket with polar fleece lining and chaps, all made by Harley-Davidson and after thinking about how many times I have commented to her on how nice and soft the leather is or how well the construction is done on her stuff; why not advertise quality.

Now, don’t get me wrong, regardless of how nice the quality is on a Harley-Davidson leather jacket, you probably won’t see BikerMonkey buying one for himself.  LOL.  Ride Safe.

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I don’t like to ride in a car, but when I do……..

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BikerMonkey Texas BBQ Tour Current Standings

What an awesome week for Texas BBQ!  There have been 8 new submissions this week, bringing us to a total count of 30 BBQ joints reached in only 6 weeks.  As you can see, picking up a Bonus BBQ Joint here and there can make a big difference in the points.

Have to share a little bit here.  When Bryan Norton registered, he commented that he had bought a bike with the idea in mind that he would travel around Texas and eat BBQ.  The BikerMonkey Texas BBQ Tour didn’t give him this idea, it was something I think already turning in the back of his head.  Well, not only is Bryan putting in the miles to eat BBQ, he is putting pencil to paper…..well, actually words on the screen.  Bryan has just started his own blog, www.texasbbqtreasurehunt.com, so he has a place to share his experiences not only on the road but at great BBQ joints all around this awesome state we call home, Texas.  Please go check out Bryan’s site and start following him; you might get some ideas on where to take a load off and eat!

The current standings are displayed by name, actual physical stops and points, sorted on points:

Troy Martin – 8 / 20
Mike Clark – 6 / 14
Edwin Larson – 4 / 12
Bryan Norton – 7 / 11
Ron Milleman – 3 / 7
John Clark – 2 / 2

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Week Two Of Weekly Winners!

I was really excited to see the very first email from Harley-Davidson on the weekly winners in the 2013 Harley-Davidson Texas Independent Tour over a week ago.  Last week, I kept waiting on the email for the second week and was pretty bummed that nothing had been sent out.  I was thinking it would be cool to post the weekly winners in this awesome tour around Texas.  Finally, I got the email for last week over the weekend, so here it is……..

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You know it’s Motorcycle Awareness / Safety Month, I am sure you have seen all of the pictures and banners on FaceBook, Twitter, etc…..

But personally this YouTube video takes motorcycle safety to a Ho Nuth’a Level (HNL)!  I doubt this is very good on fuel economy though, lol, but certainly brings attention to yourself.

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June 1st, 2013, It’s KSU for Deal’s Gap

Did I mention that this is a weekend ride from Grapevine, Texas? LOL!  Yeah, these 1,000 mile rides in 24 hours are cute and all, but you really want to see what you are made of; then you need to come ride in BikerMonkey’s Wag The Dragon Challenge 2,000-N-48 ride.  Get yourself registered now by CLICKING HERE!

Last September we did a 2,000-N-48 ride to the Grand Canyon and back, but decided we would go east this time for a change of scenery.  Besides, who wouldn’t want to ride 1,000 miles one way just to run an 11 miles stretch of road with 308 curves!!  Yeah, this may sound BikerMonkey Crazy, but all the cool kids are doing it, why not you?  Besides the contributions from this ride is benefitting the Mansfield, Texas community via the Mansfield Masonic Lodge; such a great partner, doing awesome work!

Mark your calendar and plan on meeting us in the Bass Pro / Whataburger parking lot Saturday, June 1st between 3:00 AM and 4:00 AM to registers, it’s KSU at 4:00 AM sharp.  BikerMonkey can’t wait for this ride!

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BikerMonkey Hanging At Bear Creek Elementary – Career Day

Yes it’s true, I get to go hang out and give a 30 minute talk about what I do for a living to an awesome group of 5th graders next Friday and I am excited!!  I have been blessed with the opportunity to go every year and talk with the kiddos, gosh it’s been 6 years now.  This is exciting stuff for many reasons, 1) I get to share what I do and how it incorporates education, 2) it’s cool to see the excitement in the kiddo’s eyes when a grownup comes in to the class and shares something and 3) it’s a great way to be involved with the community and allows me to give back in a way.

Funny thing happened this year though…… see Suzy Q and I are homeschooling now and I immediately thought to myself, “man, I can’t go to Career Day!”  I was honestly bummed about this.  Well, the same week we pulled the kiddos from school, an email came out to the parents asking for volunteers to speak at Career Day.  I quickly sent an email to the teacher and she replied, “we would love for you to come and talk!”  What a big sigh of relief.  But this will be my last one.

Okay, so what does BikerMonkey talk about on Career Day?  Well, my day job (what pays the bills) is not so glamorous to a bunch of 5th graders.  I am a Chief Financial Officer (glorified bean counter) and trust me…..this is a hard career to captivate attention from anyone, let alone a room full of children that just heard from a famous radio DJ or former professional baseball player, lol.  But yes, I do talk about being a CFO and what that entails for like the first 10 minutes.  Then I go into whatever else we may have cooking as a hobby or venture.  In the past I have talked about photography, BBQ catering, professional scuba diving, you know cool stuff.

This year, like last year, I get to talk about BikerMonkey.  I was thinking I would explain the history of BikerMonkey and how much BikerMonkey has changed since July 2011.  Then bring in the whole extreme riding / charitable contribution aspect of BikerMonkey and what good it does for the community.  Perhaps then talk about where we plan to take BikerMonkey in the future.  Now the cool part, I get to tie BikerMonkey back into what they are learning in school.  To run BikerMonkey, I get read many sources of information and turn that into a blog post on a daily basis, I use math to keep the charitable contributions, inventory and bank account straight, we use technology and social media for promotion, geography for route planning, calculate estimated miles per gallon, etc…..  I emphasize the importance of math, science, reading, writing, geography, critical thinking all into a website / blog.

My goal is to get children thinking about what they like to do and how they can make that not only a passion, but a career, while stressing upon education to help them achieve their goal.  It’s crazy to think that kids are going into college right now to get an education for jobs that haven’t even been invented yet……seriously they don’t have names.  The job market, technology and world thinking are changing so fast that in four years, jobs are created while others go away entirely.  That’s college kids we are talking about, can you imagine how much things will change when a 5th grader enters the job market?

Anyway, I ramble and I am way off topic…..this is just cool stuff and I am excited and honored to hang with the kiddos.  Ride Safe.

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