There were nine of us at lunch today. We ate lunch at Gabriel's Pancake House, as usual, and six of us rode north to Roann through Wabash. We rode through the covered bridge at Roann and then headed west on IN 16 to Denver (Denver, Indiana that is!) It was time for a break so we rode to McDonald's north of Peru on U.S. 31. After a cup of coffee, we left the McDonalds/truck stop and rode to the exit where it enters US 31. The light was red and we must have sit there for 5-6 minutes with no light change. I tried a "trick" I'd heard about, which was to turn off the motorcycle engine and then restart the engine to get the traffic light to change. The idea is, that starting the engine over the pick-up loop in the pavement will produce an electromagnetic pulse (current to the starter) that will trigger the pick-up. I restarted my bike three times ( I couldn't see any pick-up ring in the pavement so I don't know where the rings were) and I don't know if the last time did it or the traffic light timer finally "saw the light" (pun intended) but the light changed. Meanwhile, Merle suggested I turn right (I was leading the ride) so we could get away from the stuck traffic light. No sooner I had turned right than the traffic light changed. So, I rode north to Rochester while the rest of the guys went across US 31 and turned south. I turned around at the first "cross over" and rode south, where we got back together.
On a side note: I read that some states were passing a law that states if you're riding a two wheel vehicle and you are sitting at a traffic light for over five minutes, if the way is clear, you may proceed. I believe Indiana needs such a law. There isn't enough metal in most bikes to trip traffic lights.
Anyway, we rode home on U.S. 31 to IN 218 to IN 19 and home by way of Converse.
It was a nice ride to break the winter chill. It got up to about 60 degrees and with it being sunny, made for a nice ride.
Riding today: Merle Combs, John Nave, Jerry Cole, Larry Davis, Larry Miller, and Charles Thomas.
I rode 91 miles.
Ready to ride!
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