Hi to all my fellow HOG members.

For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Larry Schneider and I am the token Old Guy of the Chapter--I turned 70 this year. Some of my very close friends at HOG call me something else but we will not go into that now. I am a relatively new rider, I got my first Harley ( a Heritage Classic) in September of 2005--that only lasted three months and I traded it in and now am the proud owner of an 06 Ultra with all the bells and whistles.

I recently completed a very exciting, challenging and rewarding road trip that had me riding through Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut and New York. The round trip was 3921.9 miles and I was away from home from April 26 until May 16th. I did a couple of things on the trip that I am kind of proud of and my friend, our Director, Jimmy McGill asked me to write a piece for Bacon Bits so here it is.

Actually, my “first” bike was a Honda that I had back in the 60’s I guess. I just bought it and rode it--no formal training at all, didn’t even have a license, and really didn’t know how to ride, which was evidenced by a head on crash with a school bus. I didn’t have that more than 2 months I guess when the accident happened--I was lucky, a broken wrist was the extent of my physical injuries but the bike was totaled. My wife told me she would rather have me alive so I never twisted a throttle again until September of 2005.

I was married to my wife for 46 years, but we were a couple for 50 years, High School sweethearts. I lost her in September of 2003 and for the next year and a half I did nothing but sit home every day and cry. We had 3 children, 2 girls and a boy--my son, also named Larry, has been riding all of his adult life and one day he told me of a ride he and his wife, Robyn, took from their home in Virginia (he now lives in Pennsylvania) to our daughters home in Connecticut. The ride was around 400-500 miles round trip I guess and it peaked my interest about bikes again.

I got on the Internet and found The Star Riders of Ft. Lauderdale. They are a Yamaha club and I emailed their discussion group and posed the question--was I now at 69 years old--too old to start riding again? The response was overwhelming--GO FOR IT !!!!!!!

One day I was driving up in Lauderdale and I saw Rossmeyer’s store and I went in. I just looked around but wound up going back three times. The third day we had a conference call going--I was going to buy a Heritage Classic but my son thought their price was too high so I left. He was right by the way.

I wandered into Peterson’s North store one day and chatted with a salesman named Peter Franzi and we soon had a deal for a 06 Heritage Classic--I was a Harley owner--HOORAY!!!! My daughters and my sister weren’t thrilled but my son told them--” leave Dad alone and let him do what he thinks will make him happy”.

I had taken The Riders Edge Course by that time but that just gets you your license--you really can’t ride ( in my opinion). I had heard about The Independent Skill Team headed up by Vinny Margotta. This wonderful group of people freely give their time and expertise to anyone that wants to learn to ride and improve their skills. I drove to The Millennium Mall ( in my car) one Thursday just to see what was going on. I saw a bunch of new riders there and Vinny--now known as The Pope of Pembroke Park, was teaching--smiling and yelling (all at the same time by the way) and I saw riders improving their skills--I introduced myself and he invited me back the next week and I continue to go there to this day. I guess my skills have improved a little but I am still “Cone Challenged” as my friends say--good thing there were none of them on my road trip--I would surely have hit them. Vinny has a favorite teaching expression when he teaches--it is--“Look at me--Look at m

 

Great story Larry! I hope that I am still riding at 70.

 

Hi aknoxrFXST--some say that age is just a number--I have found that aging is a WHOLE lot easier if you take all the mirrors out of your house--then you never wonder who the OLD guy looking at you is.

 

Jular2
Bored reading it? I think not! What a great post, thanks for sharing.
And at 70 and doing a 1,000 and 1,500 IRON BUTT? That makes a lot of us look like wussies. [:@]

 

Great story!

See you on the road.

 

Great post, Congrats. on your trip. Still riding strong at 60, you give all us "old guys" inspiration.

 

I now have a new Mentor!! Thanks for the great detail in your trip!! I pray I can do what you have done someday.... Ride safe my Friend!!!