Let's Diet Together!

O.K., now that I've got your attention, let's talk about dieting. No, I don't mean eating less saturated fats or cutting back on your 4x a week double whopper with cheese value added combo meal. I'm talking about cutting back on our carbon usage. Unless you've been living in the wilderness for the last several years, you have surely been hearing about the looming crisis around the use of petroleum products and how carbon is literally heating up our planet. You have also been paying dearly at the pump for getting from point A to point B in your vehicles of all sizes and types. Well, a carbon diet will help the planet live longer and save you money. This seems like a pretty good idea all-in-all. If not for you immediately, then certainly for your children and grandchildren.

How do you go on a carbon diet you ask? Simple! Reduce the amount of driving you do and/or RIDE YOUR BIKE more. (See I was bringing it back to motorcycling!) Take the cabon diet challenge. Make a committment to ride your bike to work at least one day per week. Heck, do better, ride it every day! Join people like Nancy Johnson, who packs up and rides her Fat Boy to work in Asheville each day. Think of the gas savings in both dollars and carbon usage that Nancy is able to contribute by riding her bike to work. Can't do it every day? No problem, just do it more than you are doing now and you'll see the savings mount up.

Join Kathy and I as we make this same committment. While I have been a regular rider of my HD to work for a long time, we're going to try and combine some more of our fun time and travel with our carbon diet. For instance, this weekend we are headed to Clinton, SC to see our niece play softball. Rather than taking the Ford Escape or the Ford F150, we're packing light and heading out on the Ultra. We should see a significant savings in gas money as the price per gallon has now climbed to $2.85 again and I KNOW that we will enjoy the pleasures of riding to the game.

What else can you do? Well, you can change the light bulbs in your home to more efficient newer types of flourescent bulbs. This can reduce your carbon usage by 1000 or more lbs. per year. Kathy and I have already made this change, as have some of our other friends, and we enjoy plenty of good light for reading and illumination. Lowes and most of the bigger retail stores sell these new bulbs in bulk now. They cost a little bit more but they last significantly longer and use less electricity so we end up saving in the long run. As with all great capitalist processes, the more people buy them, the cheaper the prices will become.

If you are at all interested in going on a carbon diet, check out this link: Reduce Your Carbon. This link will take you to a site that is part of Presidential candidate John's Edwards plan for reducing global warming.

Well, I'd better quit writing and start riding! It is time to get the Ultra headed to South Carolina! Keep the rubber side down!

--Cecil

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Bill to Authorize Special MC Plates Introduced

State Senator Joe Sam Queen has introduced a bill into the N.C. Legislature that would allow motorcyclists to purchase specialty plates for their bikes in the same manner as we can currently purchase specialized plates for our 4 wheeled cages. The bill (Senate Bill 1036) has been referred to the Legislative Committee on Finance and is currently being considered for passage. Passage of this bill would allow you to show your support for your favorite organization if that organizaiton qualifies for the specialize plate program. For instance, you would be able to direct some of your funds to support either the Blue Ridge Parkway or the Great Smoky Mountains.

In my opinion, this is a good government program that allows each of us to support areas that we greatly enjoy as motorcyclists. Kathy and I have a Friends of the Greate Smokies tag on our truck and I'm very pleased to send a few dollars along each year that I know will go toward the upkeep and maintenance of this particular treasure.

If you are interested in seeing this opportunity come to pass, please write to your local legislators in support of Senate Bill 1036. You may contact your local representatives from this post by clicking on their names: Senator Joe Sam Queen>, Senator John Snow>, Represenative Phil Haire>, and Representative Ray Rapp>. The current Chairs of the Finance Commmittee are listed here: Finance Co-Chairs and you may write to them from this page. A short email to them asking that they pass this bill will help them understand the public support behind this measure.

So, on this Sunday where we have a return to winter weather, I wish for you a great riding season with the rubber side always beneath you!

--Cecil

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Important Bill in Congress Affects YOU!

Well, another Spring is here although this past weekend's snow perhaps challenges that statement. It was interesting getting our biggest snow of the year on Easter weekend. It has been awhile since I've put fingers to keyboard on this blog. I've started a couple of times but the words just didn't come. Fortunately, I've been sufficiently motivated to write now because of an important bill currently in Congress that affects all of us who are motorcyclists. (It actually affects many, many more Americans who enjoy skiing, horseback riding, and riding their ATVs.)

Two identical bills have been introduced in Congress (House and Senate bills 616) that can fix a health care/insurance glitch that affects motorcyclists and some other users of recreational equipment. The problem arose from the HIPPA legislation signed by President Clinton and interpreted by the Health & Human Services Department. The intent of the legislation, among much, much more, was to prohibit the insurance industry from discriminating against various subgroups, including motorcyclists. The AMA (American Motorcycle Association) was heavily involved in crafting the original language protecting motorcyclists. Unfortunately, after passage of the law the interpretation by HHR actually ended up doing the opposite and we are all currently under rules that could allow our insurance companies to refuse coverage for injuries sustained while participating in a legal activity. As I noted, this problem covers other activities besides motorcycles such as horse back riding and skiing.

The fix to this problem is in the form of two bills currently finding their way through Congress. If you go to the Rapid Response site on the AMA’s website (http://www.amadirectlink.com/legisltn/rapidresponse.asp), you can send letters/email to our State Senators and local Representative supporting the two bills. There are two links: 1 for the Senate bill and 1 for the House bill. Please take a few moments and send the correspondence to each section of Congress. It is very, very easy to do and can yield great benefit for us as motorcyclists.

If you don’t think this is an important issue, try this:

1) Close your eyes and visualize yourself having a nice Sunday ride down the Parkway. Really get into it. Notice the fresh smells of spring and the gorgeous colors beginning to pop up everywhere. Feel the slight cool breeze on your face as you move smoothly in and out of curves. Got it?

2) O.K., now while you are there, quickly catch a glimpse of the oncoming truck and camper and see it as it clips the side of your bike sending you off the road and over the edge of the shoulder. Be aware of the pain and wonder what happened to your passenger. Uh, doesn’t feel quite as good now…

3) Move the scene ahead to where you have been in the hospital for several weeks recovering from your injuries. Oh yeah, you’re out of work and have expended all of your sick leave so you have no income at this point. Still feeling o.k.?

4) Finally, see yourself opening correspondence from your insurance company in which they DENY PAYMENT FOR ALL OF YOUR MEDICAL SERVICES simply because YOU WERE RIDING A MOTORCYCLE!

This is the exact possibility that faces you now! Your insurance company can legally do this to you NOW! It has happened many times across the country already. (The AMA does a good job of monitoring this stuff and reporting it back to the membership.) So, if you want to take steps to insure that this doesn’t happen to you, please take 5 minutes and follow the link listed above and click on “Take Action”. You don’t have to know their addresses. Everything is pretty much done for you on the website including having written the letter.

Take care and keep the rubber side down!

--Cecil

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