Safety Meeting

[Paughco]

Got out for a nice ride today on OXCART, my trusty RS. Rode from my secret HQ in the Snoqualmie Valley down to the Rustic Cabin for a double Americano. None of the local scooter trash showed up, so it was just me sitting outside, admiring the view and watching the traffic.



At 10:00 I finished my coffee and fired her up and took off toward Monroe. West on Hwy 2 to Everett, then north on I-5 to the Chuckanut Rd turnoff. Rolled into the small town of Edison at about 11:20, just as everyone was arriving. Stopped some traffic to get this picture of our bikes lined up outside the Longhorn:



This was the first nice day after a period of snow and ice, followed by rain and wind. It was great to get out on the bike and see my pals at our weekly Hog Ridin' Fools Safety Meeting. I'm looking forward to the coming riding season.

Seeya
ATB

[802Mike]

Man, I love those bikes. The local Triumph dealer has a used one for $11k and I came really close to buying it.
I had a '96 R1100RS, fun bike !

[EricM]

Good to see folks out and riding, I’m starting to get the itch….can’t wait to start passing them new 1300GSHey’s on the road.

[Martin_D]

In your dreams ...

[Paughco]

Rode to another HRF Safety Meeting yesterday. Made my usual pre-ride stop at the Rustic. The local scooter trash were not there, so I just sat inside on the "Group W bench." I had this full-on backroadsy route in my Nav 6, via BaseCamp. By the time I got going I could see that I'd get there too late, so I hit the detour button on my Nav 6 and just rode up to Monroe, then West on Hwy 2. Blasted north on I-5. Tried to stay shielded behind road clutter while maintaining a decent average speed. Got off the freeway at Mount Vernon, and rode out to Westbound 20. Turned off at the road that goes past Skagit Airport and headed North. Got to the Longhorn Saloon in Edison about 11:20. Beecher's M1000R was there, plus this whole batch of Harleys. Beecher's bike was on the end, with just enough room for me to edge in on the RS. Andy showed up on his new S1000RR. Several other Fools showed up, but the parking in front was taken by the Harley guys. No prob. We're all brothers of the road, right? Beecher and I split a BLT sandwich (us older guys need less at lunchtime). On the ride home I just blasted back on the freeway.

I've got a new set of Metzeler M9RRs on the shelf at Mt. Vernon Cannon Works. The M7RRs should last through our upcoming ride to the Chief Joseph Rally in John Day. Then I'll get my new M9RRs mounted. Will be interesting to see how they feel.

Seeya
ATB

PS: Gotta say, "THANK YOU" to Joe for keeping this site going. Thank you, man. Keep the shiny side up and the greasy side down.

[Capnrip]

How's Beech like that M? That's just an insane bike. I mean that in a good way, the good version of insanity, not like the version I have.

[Paughco]

Beemerdate February 4, 2026. It was a Wednesday. The weather was almost perfect. My new Powerlet DIN socket was working perfectly. I really couldn't not ride up to the HRF Safety meeting.

According to my "Make Life a Ride" iPhone app, I rode 137 miles up and back, in 2 hr 35 min. Hmm. Must be slowing down. I just took the usual route: north on Hwy 203 to Monroe (touched the Mach passing three slow movers), west on Hwy 2 to I-5, then north to Exit 231.

I believe that it is good to run the bike on the freeway periodically, just to maintain some degree of proficiency for that riding mode. I managed to slow down and hide within the traffic stream when approaching the obvious speed trap points, and the man was there, alright. No blood, no foul.

Once off the freeway I followed Hwy 11 (a.k.a. Chuckanut Drive), then West Bow Hill Road to the Longhorn. Got there about 11:30 and there was no room to park the bike in front of the place, so I parked just across the street. Gotta be careful because of the minimal sidestand lean angle on the RS.

Just about everybody was there. Got a spot on the end of the long table, next to my old engineer pal Gerry. I had endless coffee and a bowl of clam chowder. Hung out, chit-chatted for an hour or so, then got back on the road. Beech had ridden his old grey and black K1300S - this is the one with about 130,000 miles on it.

Rode home on the reverse of the above route, nothing fancy. Doggone, I sure do enjoy riding that RS. The ergs are very similar to, but maybe just a skosh easier, than on my black K1300S. It feels great, tucked into the bubble, moving at the speed of heat. Well, maybe the speed of warmth.

Oh yeah - every so often I get a note from Beech on the Hog Ridin' Fools Telegram channel about how much fun he's having on the M-bike on the roads back behind Mount Vernon, WA. There's a road the runs along the south side of the Skagit River that he likes. Also Old Day Creek Road. I've been out there with him a few times. We take it relatively easy in the more populated farm areas, but there are a lot of nice stretches where there's virtually nothing on the sides of the road.

Hope you guys are all doing well.

Seeya
ATB