Volume VI Issue V

Trails End Minutes by Stan Viets

March 2007

The following members attending our April meeting, Floyd Nunnelee, Russell Higgins, Paul and Dian Talkington, Rick Totty, Hubert Gross, Doug and Kim Pauley, Terry and Mary Carole Scott, Hildia Max, Larry Cole and yours truly. We had no visitors but welcomed Hubert back after his abstinence. Everyone reported having a great Easter. I flew Southwest out of Little Rock to San Antonio and visited with my brother and family for Easter, saved approx $1000.00 over a Memphis departure.

Billy has developed a neat presentation of the 2007 Ride schedule with comments on Power Point and will periodically update and email current versions.

We will have 3 Birthdays in May, Louise reeves on the 3rd, Paul Talkington on the 12th and Juanita Cole on the 14th. We will have 3 Anniversaries, Eldon and Louise Reeves on the 11th, Dick and Fran Salveson on the 15th and Larry and Juanita Cole on the 24th. Happy birthday, congratulations and best wishes to all.

Our current bank balance is $ 201.98.

As noted in the newsletter Eddie talked to Jim Ashe after our March meeting and Jim really appreciated receiving the MTR newsletter. We are sending him our newsletter every month.

Please continue to keep Jim Ashe, Ann Branch, Dick Salveson and Hubert Gross in your thoughts and prayers; y’all get to feeling better. Sandy is now back riding his new ST 1300.

Reminder to everyone that had a Time Warner email address please send your new Comcast address so we can update the MTR web page and keep our email list current. I understand you have until the end of the year to make the change but the sooner the better, assuring current information gets to you.

We still have several MTR antenna flags available for $15.00 each.

The MTR annual membership dues of $24.00 were due in April, thanks to all that have renewed to date, we trust all will renew however if you are not, please let me or Hildia know.

The Long Ranger Award Winner: Buck and Donna Permenter-19,370 miles, I have their plaque and will get it to them later.

The Award statistics for 2007/8 will be handled by Dan Randall; hopefully you have given him your mileage, if you participated last year, Dan already has your mileage.

April 21st the 51st annual Old Time Bluegrass and Fiddlers Jamboree, Holladay, TN was a great success, nice ride, good music and enjoyed by 11 MTR members. See pictures on our web site.

Rick reported on his accident and the details of how it all went down. Fortunately he was not injured, thank goodness but his bike was, it will be repaired hopefully, by our May meeting. We all need to be extra careful when passing a big trailer truck making a right hand turn and watch out for folks using a cell phone while driving.

Event dates for help in planning future rides/events that will happen before our June meeting, details will follow:

The April 14th Crowley’s Ridge Ride to Jonesboro, AR, was postponed due to weather and is rescheduled for June 23rd.
May 12th MTR Lambert’s “Home of the Throwed Rolls” Sikeston, MS
May 19th MTR Dinner Ride to Yocona River Inn, Oxford, MS
May 19th Bikers for Babes, Scavenger Hunt, proceeds to benefit Heart to Heart, leave 10 AM from Bumpus H-D (info call 901-476-6528)
May 22nd Rolling Thunder Veterans Ride from California to Washington, DC, the Ride will stop at Bumpus H-D, the time to be announced.
June 2nd MTR AGWA Freedom Wings, Po-Boy Picnic, Mousetail State Park
September 8 MTR BB VI Cookout, Arkabutla, MS

Thanks to Dan we have a new sponsor, Cartridge World. You can save a lot of money by using their refilled cartridges. Dan uses them to print the newsletter and I have been using them for some time. As always please try to use our advertisers and sponsors when you have a need for their service.

Thanks to all for the donated door prizes, we appreciate your help.

Our next meeting will be May 10, 2007 here at Fox Ridge Pizza, hope to see you then. Eat at 6:00 PM, Meet at 7:00 PM, Gone by 8:00 PM
Riding safely is as simple as ABC... Always Be Careful!
That’s All Folks; Adjourned at 7:40 PM, Stan

Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all

Hellen Keller

Door Prizes - Win One Bring One

Donated By:	Prize	Winner
Floyd Paul and Dian Hildia Stan Hildia Hildia Terry and MC Larry	Plastic cleaner Table night light Flashlight Toasty crackers Spot light Spot light Surprise Glass cleaner	Hubert Rick Stan Doug and Kim Floyd Doug and Kim Hildia Floyd
50/50	$31.00	Floyd

Prototype First Look

Change in proposal’s price tag likely to help motorcyclists get their wish. Tennessee - Tennessee motorcyclists rolled closer to feeling the breeze blowing through their hair Tuesday when a key legislative committee narrowly passed a bill that would allow them to ride without helmets. The House Transportation Committee — which has perennially killed or stalled such proposals — passed the no-helmet bill on a 9-8 vote. If it passes a budget subcommittee and one more committee vote, it will be headed to a final vote in the House. The state Senate passed it last month. “I would like them to 4o it because I would definitely go buy me a motorcycle,” said Bill Dunn of Tipton County. “That’s why I don’t have one because I can’t stand wearing a helmet.” Not all riders view the bill, which would only apply to riders 21 and over, as a good thing. “It’s a dumb idea,” said Jim Edwards, a Hendersonviile businessman and motorcycle rider. “The thing that bothers me is that these people get hurt, and a lot of them don’t have insurance. Who winds up paying for it?” Edwards said. No-helmet bills in at least six prior sessions have stalled in a House transportation committee or subcommittee. State Rep. Joey Hensley of Hohenwald, a physician and motorcycle enthusiast who sponsored the bill, said it stood a better chance of passing this year because it did not carry a huge price tag. In previous years, legislative analysts have said the cost of care for helmet-less TennCare recipients who get injured in bike wrecks would be high. But since Gov. Phil Bredesen revamped TennCare, motorcyclists apparently have disappeared from the health-care program’s rolls, and the cost has plummeted to “not significant,” Hensley said.

Source: Tenneseean

OK, it’s not a motorcycle or a quad, but based on its ability to provide propulsion without pollution and the fact that it pops a pretty mean wheelie, I thought it was worth
taking a closer look at Segway’s Centaur.

The four-wheeler’s minimalist design betrays the intricate technology that mobilizes the machine. At first glance, you see a long, banana-style bicycle seat, similar in shape to the one on my first Schwinn 3-speed. The seat is mounted on lightweight, thin bicycle-type tubing in a compact X-shaped frame. Steering is by means of mountain bike-style handlebars that pivot on a short neck. You place your feet on small, round foot pegs while assuming an aggressive forward-leaning riding stance, similar to tucking in on a sportbike. It has four big wheels and a short wheelbase and no visible means of propulsion. Part of the aesthetic appeal of the Centaur is its clutter-free, rudimentary design.

Biker deaths debunk myths Records show riders at fault 70% of the time 8 of the 15 Volusia County fatalities in 2006 occurred in March during Bike Week. Of those 8, 1 was 23 years old. The rest were 44 to 65. Henry Pierson Curtis - Sentinel Staff Writer Posted April 29, 2007. 76% of Orange County fatalities in 2006 involved sport bikes. Only 1 in 10 of the riders who died was older than 45. In Orange County, most who died were on sport bikes, uninsured, younger than 45 and the only vehicle involved. In Volusia County, according to FHP figures, most who died were on cruisers, uninsured, older than 45 and collided with another vehicle. The lore suggests most of those who die in motorcycle crashes are young riders with a need for outrageous speed on high-performance sport bikes. But preliminary figures of motorcycling deaths in Florida’s largest urban areas last year show that sport bikers account for a little more than half of the fatalities. The other half come from the growing number of aging renaissance riders” who take to the road on their cruisers, often without proper training. And contrary to the notion that careless automobile drivers cause most accidents Involving motorcycles, last year’s deadly crashes were caused by the bikers themselves more than two-thirds of the time. The state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles will release comprehensive statewide data in June, but the Sentinel was able to review the data from Central Florida, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Miami, Palm Beach and Tampa. An analysis of the 119 fatal crashes investigated by FHP in those areas shows: 64 of the dead were sport-bike riders; 55 rode some other form of motorcycle. Eight in 10 riders who died did not have insurance. 70 percent were at fault. 41 percent were not wearing helmets; Florida has no mandatory helmet law for riders older than 21. A quarter of them did not have a license to drive a motorcycle in Florida. At least one in five was drunk or under the influence of drugs, according to autopsy reports after the crashes. The crash data have prompted at least one Florida lawmaker to raise questions about how the state regulates its deadliest form of transportation. Florida and Washington remain the only states in which motorcyclists can legally ride without insurance. Safety advocates say the exemption supports motorcycle sales by freeing riders from paying $1,000 a year or more for coverage.