Iron Side Up: September 2015

September 13, 2015 – Ride to the Flags; it was more than a charity ride for me, it was a moving and honorable experience. I have done a few charity rides over the last few years, some loosely organized, well organized, and now, supremely organized. I was only lightly educated on the White Heart Foundation and their Ride to the Flags prior to registration but going through the process I learned about U.S. Marine Cpl. Kyle Moser, this year’s ride beneficiary and I learned enough to be moved to make a second donation. The short version is that over and above the sacrifice of having what I think of as a ‘normal’ life and serving the country as a Marine, the corporal lost both his legs to an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) in Afghanistan as well as part of a finger and a boat-load of other injuries.

For more information on Cpl. Moser use this link to the Ride to the Flags website, I suggest viewing the video about him:

http://www.ridetotheflags.com/

It was a cloudless day as the Southern California Victory Riders group met in Newberry Park which consisted of Greg Brown, Tim Robertson, Bev Hope, and myself. We were one down as we left the gas station as another of our group was unable to make the day. However, after the ride was complete we ran into David Hintz who’d first joined us for the Mamba Experience. He joined us for food, music, the inevitable people watching at a big event, and some debriefing on the day’s experience.

As we entered check-in:

Pre check-in queue:

The impact of the day grew the closer we got to the Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC) Point Mugu. With each mile more riders appeared; at first one or two ahead of us, one behind until we pulled out of the canyon on onto the streets leading to the base where riding groups funneled in to the check-in station before entering the base. It wasn’t long before riders overloaded the check-in and a line of bikes four and five across ran back to the main roads. Once we were herded in, very much better behaved than a herd of cats, we filled the non-critical roads of the camp and lined others with bikes. The organization and staging was well done and received compliments throughout the day.

The riders congregated and milled about keeping mostly to the shade as more riders arrived. It was a parade of every type of bike you can imagine; cruisers, street bikes, trikes, Can-Ams (three wheels, two in front), and one Polaris Slingshot – we would have loved having our friend Jim Liston with us in his. Jim would have been almost beside himself with the display of flags everywhere one cared to look. The menagerie of engineering styles that attached flags of impressive size to bikes was amazing, even more so because I never saw one fall off.

Fortified with breakfast burritos and lemonade purchased from base support groups we took part in the base 9/11 Memorial Ceremony – a presentation of the flags, introductions to a couple of past beneficiaries as well as Cpl. Moser, stirring invocations and benedictions that surrounded the Twenty-one Gun Salute, Taps, and wreath presentation, and a moment of silence with the tolling of the bell. The victims and our service men and women were well remembered and saluted. As a Christian though, I wondered how long our invocations and benedictions at events such as these will be signed off with “in Christ’s name”. Those that would fully separate the church from government seem to have a full head of steam in their favor.

With all the types of bikes present and with all the various MC colors flying I saw only back slapping and hugs. Not one chest was thumped, not one finger raised to bring attention to one person or group. The only colors that mattered for the day were red, white, and blue; the only people who mattered were the beneficiaries. It was a day as it should have been.

Pre KSU 360 degree view:

With our kickstands up sometime after eleven we were funneled from the various parking areas onto the main base access road at four or five bikes abreast that were shuffled down to two as we entered the public road on PCH. It took us somewhere around 20 minutes to the reach PCH, I shot two video clips totaling 18+ minutes during that stretch. And yet, the procession was orderly and not cumbersome and I don’t know how it happened. Our escorted ride took us off the base through a line of flags waved by base personnel and family members. We rode along my favorite section of local PCH by Point Mugu, Leo Carillo and Zuma beaches, Paradise Cove, and on to Pepperdine and the Malibu Bluffs Park. All along the way beach goers and other bikers waver, honked, and shot video and photos of the miles long procession.

Greg Brown with The Flags behind

Tim Robertson on PCH

The 9/11 Flag Memorial display was awesome as the coastal breeze whipped the 2,977 flags and rippled the red, white, and blue, one for each of the 9/11 victims. Interspersed with our national flags were 90 international flags for brothers and sisters from abroad who perished in the attacks. For me, the display appeared as a rushing river of our national colors swirling around the few international flags on display.

We were treated to great music from the Petty Cash band playing a selection of Tom Petty and Johnny Cash music to the folks huddled in the shade proffered by the beer tents and other vendor’s easy-ups. Our small group of Victory riders enjoyed it all until the expected raffle was awarded to another, assumingly more deserving individual.

It was successful event for the foundation with over 450 riders preregister and from the riders fundraising, the goal was more than met at over $50K, a good start to defray the cost of recovery for Marine Corporal Kyle Moser. If you would like to join in and donate you are welcome to use the following link to donate via my page: http://donate.whiteheart.org/fundraise?fcid=501273 Or, you could find the SCV Riders Group page.

I have provided links to a few more videos taken with my Sena 10C Helmet Cam, see below.

Ride with heart and keep the iron side up.

jerry

PS: Regarding the videos: I shot more than 60 minutes of video during the day and now I need to learn how to edit, cut, and splice so that I can make one representative video of appropriate length. It won’t happen overnight.

Key learnings from the Sena 10C Helmet Cam use:

- For events and one-day rides like this I’ll try to swap out my tall windscreen for the original shorty

- I should raise the angle of the camera a degree or so to get less of my bike in the video and maybe not announce just how fast (or slow) I’m going.