Reflections on a Rainy Saturday (February 5, 2011)

While I was enjoying my visit to Velocity Motorcycles (which by the way is doing some painting on the inside of the business, sprucing up for the upcoming riding season), I picked up a couple of "free" motorcycle publications. The first was the January/February 2011 edition of Motorcycle Times (calls itself "The Mid-Atlantic Motorcycle Magazine"). Nice publication, and has some good stuff in it. Good amount of interesting news on motorcycling and upcoming shows (magazine is regional but the majority of items seems to be in the Maryland area), riding calendar, a Biker Billy cooking article (love those), and a really good article on a ride from Weston, VA to some points in West Virginia. It was a great article and saw some really unique places in that article. Those two pages alone were well worth the "price".
The second magazine was Fast Lane Biker, January 2011, Issue 1 (and also free). Again, a nice magazine; articles, a ride calendar, and though not "Biker Billy" a cooking article (one thing I have learned from riding...bikers love to eat!).
Always like to pickup the free magazines in a local bike shop, where you can learn what the local community of riders is thinking/riding, and some of the places they go. Plus it makes for something motorcycle related to do on a rainy and cold winters day.
On this rainy and cold winters day, the Charlotte Vulcan Riders had their monthly meeting. As I noted, it is held monthly at a local restaurant (this one was at Jakes Good Eats in Charlotte, NC). As with Richmond, it was a rainy morning in Charlotte, but cleared out around noon (later in the afternoon here) and from what I read on their facebook page, they had a great time. I got an invite, but was here this weekend, and don't get to ride with them as often as I would like, but have in the past, will in the future, and have found them to be an outstanding group of guys and gals. You need to have a Kawasaki Vulcan to be a member, but not sure at all they would not welcome you to ride if you don't. Group is just around two years old, but is growing like a weed.
As for me, enjoyed my non-riding day of motorcycle culture Virginia style. This is an interesting place with a very fun motorcycle community and some fine shops and events. I am sure I will be visiting more shops (and some of the old favorites as I did with Velocity) and some fun events in 2011 here in Virginia, as well as many great rides and events in North and South Carolina. Won't be long till Spring is here, and the riding will be even better.