Airhead #46

[Joe Bowen]

Dave Cushing and casano persons,

Thank you Dave for that beautiful tribute.

Mike Friedle especially seemed to enjoy booking the music programs for the
BMW MOA Rallies.  He seemed to know a lot about the bands, what kind of
music would be most enjoyed by the rally attendees, and he absolutely
loved planning those musical events with all the mind-numbing details,
complications, and last-minute-changes involved.

I remember him standing at the gate of the Vermont Rally two or three days
before the Rally opened, checking his list of workers for each person
arriving at the gate.  I arrived at the gate on my R60/7 behind two
rough-looking guys on oilheads wanting to crash the pre-rally working
group.

Those two were apparently hoping to camp and drink and party on the
rally-grounds despite the fact that Mike had announced in advance
seventy-dozen times in every forum available that early admittance would
be denied to anyone not working to prepare for the rally.

Those two guys yelled at Mike, told him they had ridden a thousand miles,
told him they had no place to stay, told him they had always checked in
early at rallies before, told him that he was a rotten decision-maker and
worse, etc., etc.

Mike coolly and calmly and politely and firmly told them there was no
admission, no admission, no admission.  Finally they realized he could not
be intimidated nor influenced by them acting out.  They turned their
oil-heads around (with Mike strategically located between them and the
rally grounds) and they roared off in disgust.

I came to the gate next and Mike was just as friendly and unflappable with
me as if nothing had happened.  My name was on his list and he welcomed me
in and ushered me through the gate with a smile!

The last time I remember talking to Mike Friedle was at the Saturday
Banquet at an Airheads Pennsylvania Super Tech.  Mike had a pair of big
glasses or goggles that distorted the vision to make the wearer
disoriented and clumsy like one would be while intoxicated from drinking
alcoholic drinks.  Mike was offering to everyone the chance to wear the
special glasses and try to walk along a straight line on the floor.

His main point was that we may feel okay after drinking, but we are
probably not nearly as functional as we think.

After each person's failure to walk the line -- and everyone did fail --
he stressed that it was not a good idea to operate any motor vehicle, and
certainly not a motorcycle, after drinking alcoholic beverages.

Our club has a void now without him.  All of us who met him through the
MOA, the ABC, or otherwise, will certainly miss him.

Joe Bowen
Tazewell, Virginia
1978 R60/7
1972 R75/5