A Ride to Remember...for a long time to come!

Saturday, December 20, 2008, we held our "routine" club ride.  However, as the day unfolded this installment of our club activities would prove to be anything but "routine". Follow along, dear reader, as I chronicle the adventure that unfolded over the course of some 11 hours as we hit the road on our trusty steel stallions.

Things started out pretty much normal for us; we met on the usual corner and exchanged some pleasantries before adjourning to breakfast.  It was at breakfast that things began to depart from the routine.  You see, at my suggestion, we decided to try a newly opened home-style-cooking restaurant in town instead of one of our usual haunts.  There was nothing wrong with breakfast, in fact, the food was great, the atmosphere was pleasant, and the camaraderie was at a high level.  I think that at this point I'll start letting the pictures help me tell the story of what was to unfold on this interesting and event-filled day of riding...

Here's Eddie and Boyd preparing to hit the road after breakfast at the newly-opened "Brick House Cafe":

While waiting to get the group rolling, I had a chance to shoot this rather artistic snap of Boyd sitting atop his Gold Wing.  Neither one of us knew at that moment that Boyd would not be returning home on his trusty Wing:

Once the group was gathered and ready to roll, we hit the back roads and headed north by northeast for Leesburg, FL. You may remember Hancock Road from a previous post; this time you're seeing it from the opposite direction of travel:

There was no shortage of great riding to be had along the very circuitous and curvy back road route that President Glenn mapped out for our riding enjoyment:

Below you see Lloyd, Eddie, and Boyd as they ride along Rock Ridge Road:

This one shows Eddie riding on Green Pond Road; notice the motion blur of the roadway and shoulder in the foreground:

On the straightaway of Green Pond Road, I was able to do a few close-up shots of the guys riding their bikes, starting with Lloyd.  Interestingly enough, before the day was over, this would prove to be the last close-up ever taken of Lloyd astride his cruiser:

Here's Eddie's close-up:

And one of Boyd, as well:

Further along Green Pond Road, Eddie made an abrupt stop on ran to the nearby fence line on the south side of the road...when you gots to pee, you gots to pee!:

Here's a nice shot of Boyd patiently waiting for Eddie to stop peeing on the fence. This shot has been altered from the original (as have many others from this point on) by adding a warming effect, some color saturation, and a touch of gradient to the horizon line:

Here's my "Red Velvet" parked alongside the road edge of Green Pond Road. Note the line of bikes approaching her in the background:

Just as Eddie finished peeing on the fence, this parade of bikes went past us opposite our direction of travel:

We continued riding generally north by northeast in a very circuitous fashion as El Presidente demonstrated his prowess at picking little known country roads:

This was originally an upside down shot that I took in the traditional "one-handed-under-the-armpit" style:

I shot this one left-handed while riding along the roadway. This one has been cropped, warmed, saturated, and had gradient applied:

Here's some more of the riding action; there were plenty of curves on those country roads to keep us entertained:

 

 

We continued our riding toward Leesburg without any further stops to pee on fences, but we did end up stopping for gas where I got some good shots of the fellas, including El Presidente Glenn:

Eddie and Boyd:

Lloyd:

And JT:

I was never able to get into position to get a good side-on close-up of Glenn riding his bike, but I did get this quartering shot:

We finally arrived at our destination for the day, Champion's Honda/Yamaha, in Leesburg.  And this is where things began to get really interesting and unusual.  First of all, right inside the entry doors they had a 2009 Yamaha V-Max on display.  Boyd was immediately stricken with motorcycle lust when he saw this amazing "naked" bike and he never moved much further into the showroom after seeing the V-Max:

Champion's had a lot of motorcycles on the showroom floor in all sorts of sizes, colors, brands, and models:

The pressure...or smell of new leather and chrome...was too much for Lloyd, as well, and he started looking around with that lustful look in his eye, too:

Before you could say "saddle up", both Boyd and Lloyd were in deep negotiations over the respective objects of their motorcycle lust:

At least Lloyd was able to smile about the whole process of negotiating and dickering:

While Lloyd and Boyd were doing the negotiation thing, this guy rolls up into the Champion's parking lot in a Ford GT500. Ironically, he was there to buy the Yamaha V-Max that Boyd was negotiating on. They only made 2,500 of these bikes for the model year, according to the salesman, so these bikes are highly-desirable as collector pieces and that is what Mr. GT500 had in mind.  He wasn't very happy when he was told that a deal was in progress and that he couldn't make an offer on the bike.  However, Mr. GT500's despair at missing out on the bike didn't stop me from seizing the opportunity to take some shots of his awesome car:

 

While Boyd and Lloyd negotiated, the rest of us hung around to lend moral support and words of encouragement. (Note the use of "Soft Focus" filtering in these shots):

Boyd went back to straddle the V-Max again, and ended up taking it for a test ride...:

...before resuming serious negotiations with the salesman:

While Lloyd and Boyd continued their high-powered negotiations, JT decided he had to head for home and the rest of us decided to go next door to the Chili's and have a late lunch:

Having finished the deal, Boyd walked over to join us. He tried to call his wife to let her know what he had just done...:

...but got voicemail instead of a live connection...:

Which led to a brief moment of reflection and consideration...:

...followed quickly by an air of confidence about a decision made correctly:

Only a few minutes after joining the rest of us at the lunch table, Boyd was thrust into the day's next adventure when the man you see just over Boyd's shoulder had a heart attack while eating his lunch:

Boyd, like a true hero, sprang into action and took steps to assist and aid the stricken man:

Boyd threw down with some major first aid, opening the airway, checking for a pulse, and providing chest compressions while awaiting the arrival of EMS:

When EMS got on scene they went right to work doing their while medical thing:

While the true hero of the day quietly returned to his table...:

The heart attack guy was loaded up in an ambulance and eventually transported to a local hospital. We don't know his condition or the outcome, but one EMT said that Boyd's actions had definitely given the guy a fighting chance at survival. Way to go, Boyd! You are a class act and a hero!:

But Boyd just took it all in his usual calm, cool stride as seen here as he watches the man being loaded into the ambulance:

With that adventure over, it was back to Champion's where it was time for some new bike deliveries to take place, starting with Boyd's brand new, limited production V-Max:

That tag says that this bike is "Not for beginners or idiots" and asks "Are you man enough?"  Being neither of the former, Boyd is plenty of the latter:

After officially taking delivery of the new bike, Boyd got in his first real ride by hitting the highway for a brief run. I caught him in the parking lot portions only for this first ride:

Here are a few factory shots of the V-Max so you can better appreciate Boyd's new ride:

Then it was Lloyd's turn to take delivery of his brand new 2008 Honda Gold Wing. Here he is walking out with the salesman and the owner's manual in his hand:

Lloyd's Gold Wing was brought around from where it was prepped and washed as part of the delivery process:

And here's Lloyd taking delivery of the keys to his new bike:

Lloyd was very happy about his new acquisition and he showed it:

All the riding up, negotiating, buying, heart-attack-hero-action-stuff, delivery, chatting, oohing, ahhing, and rubbing of new paint and chrome being over, we saddled up and turned for home...riding off into a setting sun in a most appropriate fashion:

Here's Boyd astride his new Ride:

Lloyd stayed out front the whole way home astride his new steed:

And so ended a great day of riding in which two of our buddies ended up with new motorcycles, a man's life was likely saved by one of our own, and many a good mile passed beneath our wheels with plenty of friendship and memories to go around.  Those of you that missed this one really missed one for the book of memories.