motorcycles | Minnesota Prairie Roots

When bikers seem not to care October 1, 2015

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:00 AM
Tags: bikers, erratic driving, Interstate 35W, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Minnesota Motorcycle Safety Center, motorcycle fatalities, motorcycles, opinon, travel

AFTER WITNESSING ABOUT A HALF DOZEN motorcycles weaving in and out of traffic on Interstate 35W near downtown Minneapolis on a recent Saturday afternoon, I feel compelled to write.

I honestly feared that, instead of photographing these irresponsible drivers, I would be dialing 911 and photographing one or more of them splayed across the highway in a tangle of twisted metal and bodies.

“No wonder motorcycle drivers get killed,” I commented to my husband as the bikes zoomed in front of our van, raced around curves and squeezed between vehicles. The bikers were driving in a manner that was, without question, endangering not only themselves but others on the Interstate.

Operator safety tips listed on the Minnesota Motorcycle Safety Center advise bikers to “avoid extreme speeds and dramatic lean angles,” among other precautions. At least these cyclists were wearing helmets. Not that that necessarily guarantees avoidance of serious injury or survival in a crash. But it helps.

I’m not anti-motorcycle. My husband owned a Harley—until a teen driver pulled out in front of him at a stop sign, landing Randy in an ambulance and totaling his bike. The crash happened on a city street less than a block from work. Randy suffered bumps and bruises, but no broken bones or serious injuries.

So I understand that it’s not just how a biker drives his/her bike that can cause a crash. It’s also inattentive motorists and other factors, such as an animal on the roadway, road conditions, etc., that lead to crashes.

This year in Minnesota, the number of motorcycle fatalities—51 as of September 29—has already exceeded the total for the previous year.

I just want everyone to be safe, to drive—whether you’re a biker or a motorist—with care and regard for your life and the lives of others on roadways. We all have people who love us. Please. Remember that.

Comments (30)

Tractors, bikes & covered wagons June 25, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: charity, covered wagons, food, Freedom Ride, Friendship Wagon Train, Minnesota, motorcycles, New Richland, Red Leaf Cafe, small towns, tractorcade, tractors, transportation, travel

TIMING IS EVERYTHING. Or so they say.

Glancing out the cafe's front window, I noticed the tractorcade rolling into new Richland.

Glancing out the front window of the Red Leaf Cafe, I noticed the tractorcade rolling into New Richland.

Around noon on Saturday, just as my Philly steak sandwich, fries and coleslaw arrived at my table in the Red Leaf Cafe, I glanced out the street-side window to see tractors rolling into New Richland.

The tractors kept coming, not all under their own power.

The tractorcade, which began three hours earlier 27 miles away at Farmamerica near Waseca, was parading into this southern Minnesota town. And I didn’t want to miss grabbing some quick shots of the tractor enthusiasts and their John Deere, Ford, International, Farmall and other tractors.

Driving through downtown New Richland.

So I darted outside, fired off some frames and then headed back inside to eat.

One of the 20 or so old-time tractor enthusiasts.

Shortly thereafter, all those tractorcade participants filed into the restaurant. Timing is everything.

The BBQed rib special.

Regular diner Robert arrived soon afterward, securing the single vacant table next to the one occupied by my husband and me. But this local senior didn’t have to wait for his food. The crew at the Red Leaf Cafe knows that every Friday, Robert eats the fried fish. On Saturday he has the BBQ rib special. And on Sunday he wants chicken fried steak.

You have to love it—this small town life.

Some of the tractorcade diners.

While the tractor collectors in their worn blue jeans, tractor t-shirts and tractor caps waited to order, Randy and I finished our meals, just as a parade of motorcycles rumbled into town.

Raising monies for those in the military and their families.

Two hundred of them, by one participant’s estimate, riding on a 100-mile Freedom Ride to raise monies for Minnesota’s active duty military families. They’ve raised $100,000 in seven years.

Bikes lined New Richland’s downtown street.

Signs of support and service.

One of the hundreds of bikers.

Taking a break on the 100-mile ride.

Parking along three blocks of Broadway, the bikers, in their worn jeans and leather vests and Freedom Ride and other t-shirts, and with tattoos inked onto many arms, ambled toward a corner bar for beverages, then hung outside in the glorious sunshine of a hot and humid afternoon.

You have to love it—this slice of rural Americana, this appreciation for those who serve our country.

The Red Leaf Cafe in the heart of downtown offered an ideal vantage point to view the tractors and bikes.

In that moment, that afternoon, New Richland seemed the place to be with old tractors to examine and motorcycles to admire.

Checking out the parked tractors.

We lingered and looked. And then, when a whistle shrilled marking time for the bikers to ready for departure, we hurried to our van, wanting to get ahead of the pack heading north, also our direction of departure.

Timing is everything.

A Wagon Train participant readies to leave Otisco.

The drive to Waseca should have been uneventful. But then, to the west, I spotted covered wagons lined up in Otisco as part of the annual Friendship Wagon Train fundraiser for Camp Winnebago. We detoured off the highway, drove through the train and then turned around. A quick look with no time to dally.

Waiting to leave Otisco.

You have to love it—this gathering of horse lovers raising monies for a camp that serves children and adults with special needs.

We did not expect any of this as we set out on our Saturday afternoon drive. But that’s the joy of an unplanned day. The surprise of it all, the timing, the ability to simply enjoy whatever unfolds.

PLEASE CHECK BACK for more posts from New Richland.

Comments (19)

The patriotic pride of Harley riders August 16, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 7:06 AM
Tags: bikes, charity, Faribault, Faribault Area Hospice, Faribault Harley-Davidson, fundraiser, Harley Davidson, hospice, Minnesota, Minnesota Patriot Guard, motorcycles, patriotic photos, patriotism, photography, The Ride for Hospice

Bikers and others gather for a post hospice ride party at Faribault Harley-Davidson.

LONG GONE, at least in my mind, is the image of Harley riders as rough outlaw types roaring along our roadways, storming into towns, raising hell.

When they travel in a pack now, it’s usually for a purpose, like last Saturday’s fifth annual ride to benefit the Faribault Area Hospice.

While my husband and I missed the ride (he doesn’t have a Harley anymore, his 1977 Sportster being totaled more than a decade ago by a teen who ran a stop sign, plowed into the bike and sent Randy to the hospital), that didn’t keep us from checking out the post ride activities and bikes at Faribault Harley-Davidson.

I’ll be the first to admit that attending a biking event isn’t exactly on the top of my to-do list. But sometimes wives go along for the ride, just like husbands accompany their wives to artsy happenings that they’d probably rather skip.

As always, I carried my camera with hopes that maybe, just maybe, I’d find something worth photographing beyond the rows of bikes I knew Randy would be eying.

The Harley dress code: black leather.

Well, it wasn’t the masses of Harleys which caught my attention, but the details on individual bikes. I hope I didn’t make any of the Harley riders, who can appear intimidating in their black leather, nervous. I threaded my way among the parked bikes, bending, crouching, occasionally setting my camera onto the freshly seal-coated asphalt as I snapped photos.

The unique skull kickstand. Any significance to this skull, readers?

And as I wandered, a picture began to develop of the men and women who ride Harleys, or at least those in attendance at The Ride for Hospice party in Faribault. Except for the skulls on one bike and the boney foot kickstand on another, I found nothing particularly unusual.

The flag on the left honors SPC Mathew Kahler, killed in Afghanistan in 2008.

Rather, I discovered a common theme of patriotism among bikers who have served their country and/or want to honor those serving. It was heart-warming and uplifting to see such support.

One of two blessing stickers I noticed on bikes.

Equally pleasing were stickers I spotted on two bikes indicating they had been blessed. I expect blessings were flowing all around on Saturday as these bikers opened their wallets and their hearts to help hospice, an organization which, at some point, touches nearly all of our lives.