Second Suicide Prevention Ride
August 5, 2024
Every year at the end of July I have attended another Suicide Prevention Ride out of Poughkeepsie. This year was no exception, Starting at a local Bar and Grill the ride has used great routes and an exceptional barbecue at the end to top it off. Most of the time I have ridden the ride the route follows roads I have seen before, but not this year. After using the usual streets we suddenly turned onto a couple of roads that surprised me. Wide open pastures with tight curves and rises and descents were ahead of us. My big Kawasaki handled them easily and I was on my toes handling the turns and watching out for the riders around me. We even used a road I had never ridden before and imagine my surprise when we were suddenly back in Pleasant Valley just outside the center of Town.
Frim there we were back in Poughkeepsie before we knew it and the smoke of grilling filled the air. My first thought was to get my leather jacket and helmet off as quickly as possible. The air temperature was near 90 and suddenly stopping seemed to raise the temperature inside my jacket about thirty degrees. There was a live band playing oldies and doing a good job of it. I was singing along as I waited to get to the buffet and loving every minute. Approaching the head of the line I saw a wide assortment of tempting foods. I grabbed two cheeseburgers to take home for me and Linda for lunch and loaded them into the carrying bag on the Kawasaki.
After an equally enjoyable ride home I was still feeling a slight buzz from the day. The Kawasaki ran well, I felt comfortable shifting and taking curves easily and happy that everything went well on the group ride. There were many different brands and types of motorcycles at the event so it was nice to walk around to see the collection. My favorite, as always, was a Blue,1975 Kawasaki Z-1. It was a fearsome 900cc, four cylinder rocket in its time and still capable of rapid transit today. It was a fabulous occasion and a Sunday well spent.
Frim there we were back in Poughkeepsie before we knew it and the smoke of grilling filled the air. My first thought was to get my leather jacket and helmet off as quickly as possible. The air temperature was near 90 and suddenly stopping seemed to raise the temperature inside my jacket about thirty degrees. There was a live band playing oldies and doing a good job of it. I was singing along as I waited to get to the buffet and loving every minute. Approaching the head of the line I saw a wide assortment of tempting foods. I grabbed two cheeseburgers to take home for me and Linda for lunch and loaded them into the carrying bag on the Kawasaki.
After an equally enjoyable ride home I was still feeling a slight buzz from the day. The Kawasaki ran well, I felt comfortable shifting and taking curves easily and happy that everything went well on the group ride. There were many different brands and types of motorcycles at the event so it was nice to walk around to see the collection. My favorite, as always, was a Blue,1975 Kawasaki Z-1. It was a fearsome 900cc, four cylinder rocket in its time and still capable of rapid transit today. It was a fabulous occasion and a Sunday well spent.
Posted by Jim Zeiser.
If you wish to comment my e-mail address is h1500e@hotmail.com. I'd like to hear anything-good or bad-that anyone would like to say. As they said in college, we're all lifelong learners.
