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<p>Good morning all!</p>
<p>I hope this holiday season found you opportunities for
celebration and "normal". I for one am looking forward to 2020
being over and done with. I've decided to look forward to 2021
and make some plans to do something! <br>
</p>
<p>There are a couple of things in the works, well, one one in the
works and one on the books. The one on the books is the BMWRSM
Down East Rally at Hermit Island. We're scheduling it a week
earlier in May than normal (the 14-16 vs 21-23) as the latter date
conflicts with the BMW RA Rally in NC. The date has already been
cleared with the campground folks so I've decided to look forward
to it. <br>
</p>
<div class="moz-forward-container">The second event that is in the
works is an open house of sorts at Barringting Motor Works in
Barrington NH. The Region 4 airmarshals have started meeting
virtually once a month to gab about and coordinate ideas for
things to do. I reached out to Ande at Barrington and he is
completely on board. We're thinking late spring or early summer.
It won't really be a tech day, more of a ride-in and meet up. We
even talked about a food truck or something. Stay tuned. <br>
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<div class="moz-forward-container"><br>
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<div class="moz-forward-container">Lastly, if you got your January
Airmail, you saw the article I submitted. I sent it to B. Jan
after the November meeting of the RSM and he wrote back that he'd
been thinking of the exact same concept for an article himself.
Apparently he decided, either for brevity or fit or simply
editorial license, to rework what I wrote and I think he cut up a
bit too much. I'm not upset, he's the editor, it's his job. But
if you're interested in what my original thoughts were, the are
below. <br>
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<div class="moz-forward-container">Happy New Year all!</div>
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<div class="moz-forward-container">Nik</div>
<div class="moz-forward-container">Maine A/M<br>
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Jan - Had this go through my head last Saturday morning while
riding to our club breakfast. <br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>As we were getting ready to leave, my wife asked (told) me "If
you and I are connected, I can't connect to Wendy." I replied
with "Fine, I'll leave mine off so you and Wendy can yak." We
were preparing for a ride to our November club meeting, taking
advantage of some unseasonably warm temps on a weekend to get in
one last ride. Our riding friend Wendy's bikes were already put
up for the winter and her partner was hunting so she asked if we
had something she could use. I managed to get the K75, the
1100RS and the Vstrom out and ready to go. We all have some
model of Sena and Wendy and Kathy like to chit chat while they
ride. The two of them rode together last year from Maine to
Lebanon TN for the MOA rally and I'm surprised the batteries are
still good! <br>
</p>
<p>So I was left alone with my Sena switched off. That was OK tho
as I don't typically listen to music much when I ride and the
sound quality of the SMH-5 is horrid, especially with ear plugs
and wind noise. We're going to upgrade, probably with the next
set of new helmets in a year or so. Being able to communicate
with my wife or son while we're on a ride is important to me as
is my elderly parents' ability to get in touch with me whenever
necessary. Anyway, it was a lovely ride, I could catch the
girls' headlights in my rear view every once in a while but for
the most part I was in my own little world. <br>
</p>
<p>The sun was still low as its rise was only half an hour old by
the time we got on the road. We were slabbing it to meet some
club friends for breakfast before the meeting, held outside in a
parking lot near the breakfast place that had been our meeting
home for a slew of years. The air was warm, cold, warm,
repeat. I wasn't over dressed or under dressed, just
comfortable and the hand warmers on the 1100 were taking the
edge off. <br>
</p>
<p>I'm sure I'm not the only one who has felt that feeling of self
awareness while riding. The feeling like you're in every single
moment, every molecule of air whipping by, every grain of
asphalt under the tire, every spark of the plug I guess it's
called "being present" by the millennial generation. There was
nothing else going on in my world at that singular moment except
what I was engaged in, the engine noise, the heat from the
grips, the cool air on my knees. There were no distractions, no
worries about work or family. For a brief time, it was just a
series of moments engaging me and then releasing me. I started
to think about how I was feeling when I caught sight of the
girls in my rear view again. I could almost hear them gabbing
on about something, who knows what. It makes me happy that they
have each other as riding buddies. But the distractions of
conversation or music overtake those moments, relegating them to
"other" status. That got me to thinking about the generations
who have been brought up with no concept of their own moments
and their place in them; they're missing out on being present
in their own moments because they are so involved in someone
else's. <br>
</p>
<p>Social media has boiled down attention spans to literally
seconds or the time it takes to read 144 characters. My family
isn't immune, I have a 21 year old. I've seen it. I used to
say to him "It's amazing how what's on that little screen is
ALWAYS more interesting than what is going on around you right
now." I sat in the drive through lane at Dunkin Donuts last
week and watched in my mirror as the driver of the car behind
me, the minute she pulled up and stopped, was on her phone. She
would glance up, edge forward and then phone. I could see her
thumb flicking pages by as she looked for something worthy of
more than a millisecond of her time.</p>
<p>It saddens me that we have several generations for whom just
being in whatever moment is engaging them isn't good enough
anymore, they absolutely HAVE to be in someone else's. <br>
</p>
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