BACKLASH

Just getting around to reading the December Backroads issue this morning. As I’m reading it I’m thinking that the quality of each issue just keeps getting better (I don’t think I’m mistaken but even the thickness and quality of the actual paper feels better). I thought to myself that I should really send you guys a complimentary note; then I got to Mysterious America column and the Bohack reference (that sealed the deal). I’m pretty sure I’m not the rst to tell you that Bohack was a grocery chain back in the day but that was the impetus to actually sit and write this note. Hope you guys have a great Christmas.

As always ride safe....

Your friend, Jerry Gambella

To Backroads, I received my December issue Saturday. Really sorry to hear about the passing of your friend Bruce. Remember though that there is a little Seymour O’Life in all of us who enjoy this lifestyle. Merry Christmas and happy new year.

Drew Baskin

Hey guys, Hope all is well. Really enjoying the mag - thanks again for all your time and effort.

For some reason I think you guys are users of the Dark Sky app (and/ or website) and if so, I’m sure you are aware that its days are numbered. If not, please disregard and I apologize for wasting your time.

Have you found any websites and/or apps that you feel are suitable replacements? Dark Sky is, imho, the best out there, so I am really disappointed that it’s coming to an end. I haven’t found many others that predict, including dew points, the future as accurately as they do. Dew points are key for me as I believe they are a more accurate indicator of my potential sweat factor than humidity levels, but that’s just me When you get a chance, please let me know.

Thanks !

Michael W.

Morning Michael, Yup, well aware, as the heading every morning when we check the weather says ‘no longer supported after 1/1/23’.

The two apps that we look at are Weather Underground and The Weather Channel. WU doesn’t have the future radar, which TWC does, but they both have all the other stats that we, as riders, would look for.

Other than that, look out the window……

Dear Editors, Wow, many thanks for the “gift “of County Road 521, all the riding I do up that way and don’t know how I missed it. From central Jersey we ran up thru Hopewell to 579 to Bloomsbury, which was an awesome road all by itself, cut up main street to 519, breakfast at Zeeks place, then we hit 521. What a great road - Norman Rockwell small town vistas at every turn, lake views abound, twisty roads with multiple elevation changes, what more could a boy want? Beeped when we past your place, saw the Kaw in the driveway. Again, thanks for the heads up.

Anthony DiPietro

Hey Brian, With regard to Barn Time and uses of the magical tools you described, you neglected to mention one of the most important - The 10mm socket. It is the major reason most of get exercise during the Dark Times. Garage or Barn yoga - which results in contortions and stretches when the aforementioned predictably rolls under the tool box, bench, out the door, under the car, through Stargate or into an alternate universe - the type where by the time you nd it- you have a goatee.

Tony Lisanti

Hi Backroads’ Kids, Oh, it happened, it certainly did. June 11, about 4:30/4:45 p.m. Main Street, Warrensburg, opposite the 2nd Ave. intersection, heading north.

Right turn signal on. Double yellow line thru town, parallel parking on the right side.

Noise on our left, a bike over the double yellow passing us...BANG!!! A bike on the ef ng RIGHT!

Crunchity thump smash - “hooks up” with us and we drag each other until our bike noses the curb and we tip over, the other bike lands nose to the north on its side. So, one does an illegal pass on the left while the other one does an illegal pass on the right!?! Craptastic!

One of us had a nasty sciatic are up and required a lot of physical therapy and one of us got a cracked bula and wore a boot for ve weeks and then had physical therapy. The bike wasn’t badly hurt but the insurance battle was “interesting”.

We had ridden over 1000 miles safely that week with no complications of any kind. Until...it happened.

We are ne and dandy now and so is our bike. We got back on the road once we were healed up and ready to rock and roll again to the melody of a happy motorcycle engine. We’ve been at this for 40 years and ain’t giving up now, no way in hell.

Later, My Dudes, Sindee

WHATCHATHINKIN’

Continued from Page 4 those cell phone commercials – ‘Can you hear me now?’ – until we get them completely sorted out. Even then, we hardly just chatter, unless we are solving the world’s problems, but they are there for necessities – con rmation of direction, bathroom breaks and such. I think Brian listens to his music more than I, as I do embrace the silence of the ride and the attention to what is going on around me. I will listen to music when on those dreaded interstate drags that sometimes are necessary but I have enough going on in my head to entertain me and keep my thoughts otherwise occupied.

I wish you all a peaceful and uncluttered New Year with adventures galore. We’ll see you on the road. ,

Continued from Page 5 you remove them. Then, getting the liner back into the glove with all the nger holes lined up reduces me rst to profanity and thereafter, to tears. I have literally disposed of gloves after a considerable time of trying to get the confounded liners to t back inside.

Finally, someone told me that motorcycle seats (or saddles) are made

FREE WHEELIN’

Continued from Page 3 is a friend of ours and although he’s okay, sorta friendly to me, he is far nicer to Shira whom he once T-boned at speed in a high-end go-kart race in Austin, Texas – ending her carting career and giving her a back pain to remember the incident for months. That is what happens when you give kids toys with horsepower. (Maybe my parents were right?)

Both his websites are full of this moto porn that I gleefully scroll through each day. Nortons, BSAs, iconic superbikes from all four Japanese companies; it is a never-ending run of machines that we might remember, or not, but certainly lust after these days.

With BaT - Bring a Trailer - I dutifully follow auctions on machines that would be nice to have, to touch, to own… but, like that 12-year-old kid from Queens a half-century ago, I ain’t never gonna get.

Like that luscious blond Norwegian girl in the March 1970 issue of Playboy. See, it really is a lot like real porn… I heard. I was told. I…umm – never mind.

Oh well… we soon will ride out of this dark and cold winter and before we know it, we will all be riding the backroads. But it would be cool to do it on that Honda VFR500. I spotted one on Abhi’s site and well, it got me thinking… , to feel good when you are sitting on one in the showroom. Unfortunately, after a few hours riding, they are invariably way too soft. Most of my machines end up with aftermarket seats with rmer foam more suited to long stints in the saddle. My old DRZ-400 was particularly offensive, with a factory foam contraption that had all the comfort of a 4X4 post. I guess it was to reinforce the idea that on a dual-sport, you should be standing up in rough terrain. ,

In a special event held east of San Diego, American Honda celebrated its 30th year working with Johnny Campbell, off-road legend known for winning Baja 1000 11 times. Off-road media and personalities gathered at beautiful Chocolate Mountain Ranch to socialize with Campbell, check out several of his old race bikes, and ride 2023 models Campbell helped develop, including the CRF450X, CRF450RX and CRF250RX. As a token of their appreciation, Honda presented Campbell with the 1997 XR600R that he rode to his rst win in the SCORE International OffRoad Racing series.

“This whole event was incredible,” Campbell said.

“I’m very thankful for my relationship with American Honda, and it means a lot to be recognized for three decades of hard work, racing, overcoming obstacles, giving input for new product, and helping with rider development. I cherish all the relationships I have with the folks at American Honda, and I’m really touched, honored and emotional. It’s been an amazing career so far, but this isn’t a retirement party; there’s still plenty of work to be done, and I look forward to this partnership continuing for a long time!”

Traumatic deaths from motor vehicle crashes increase where large U.S. motorcycle rallies are held, and a Harvard-led study suggests a corresponding, dramatic boost in the number of organ donations and transplants at that time.

The researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, found that in the regions in which the seven largest U.S. biker rallies were held between 2005 and 2021, 21% more organ donors per day occurred, on average during these events, compared with days just before and after the rallies. Researchers also found 26% more transplant recipients per day, on average, during the events.

“Clearly, there are preventable deaths happening during these events, and the focus first and foremost should be improving public safety and traffic safety during these events,” said Dr. David Cron, first author of the study and a clinical fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Such rallies are generally large, crowded affairs held in rural areas or small towns with traf c infrastructure intended for much smaller populations and far less traf c, the researchers noted.

Motorcyclists, especially those not wearing helmets, are disproportionately more likely to die in a crash compared with passenger vehicle motorists. Events looked at included Daytona, Sturgis, Myrtle Beach, and Laconia.

Delight, displeasure, or distrust, the November 8 midterms meant a lot of things to a lot of people, but for motorcyclists there was at least one bright spot in New Hampshire where longtime biker Charlie St. Clair won election to the State House of Representatives, again.

St. Clair is well known to riders everywhere as the coordinator of Laconia Motorcycle Week; “The World’s Oldest Motorcycle Rally,” celebrating 100 years of rallying in 2023.

Democrat victor and former representative St. Clair previously served one term in the State House, until this past election cycle when he lost to now-incumbent Republican Rep. Richard Little eld in 2020, the same person St. Clair just defeated to now reclaim his old House seat.

As a candidate, St. Clair emphasized placing constituents above party lines and demands, saying “I always encourage people not to vote by party but on the individual.”

Ever since watching ‘The Jetsons’ on TV in the 60s we’ve been waiting for the future to get here so we can take to the skies in our ying cars, so perhaps for now we’ll settle for a motorcycle-powered ying machine, as a Suzuki-engined drone has been developed in Japan that can lift 150kg (330lb) and y for up to six hours.

Utilizing one of the most legendary sports motorcycle engines of all time, the Suzuki GSX-R1000, the ‘Kunio’ AZ1000 “Super Drone” was developed by Arase Aizawa Aerospace with the concept of the vehicle being to, literally, have a flying engine, maximizing the performance of the aircraft and the payload it can carry. The motorcycle engine was chosen due to its lightweight, high-output design.

The quadcopter stands over a meter tall (3.28 feet) with a length of over three meters (nearly 10 feet), and the mammoth 55-litre fuel tank can carry the unladen 110kg (242.5 lbs) drone aloft for an impressive sixhour road trip, sans the roadways.

Also of note…George Jetson was born this year, on July 31, 2022 in Orbit City, with Hanna-Barbera’s 21st-century cartoon series set a hundred years into the future in 2062; so maybe the future starts now?

Famous quote: “Jane! Stop this crazy thing!”

Apparently, 2022’s iteration of the largest motorcycle show on the planet was a resounding success, judging by the numbers; 1,370 brands present, representing 45 different nations, and a 38% increase in attendance at this year’s EICMA (acronym for International Motorcycle and Accessories Exhibition) hosted annually in Milan, Italy where manufacturers debut new models to crowds of over a half million.

Given the lineup of marques, in uencers and diverse ranges of advancing technology, it was only natural that the build-up of anticipation would give rise to even bigger attendance numbers.

Or – Here Comes the Handbasket – Climb on In…

The European Commission, European Parliament, and the member states, united in the Council of the European Union, reached an agreement about the emission limits for cars and vans, and following a few steps to lower the emission of the eet, from 2035 the sale of new cars that have no zero CO2-emission will be banned in the European Union.

Environmentalists celebrated this as a victory of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) against vehicles with an internal combustion engine (ICE), claiming this means a ban on gasoline-powered engines. Consequently, this would not only affect cars and vans, but also motorcycles.

Kiss our grits -BR ,

There’s a port on a western bay

And it serves a hundred ships a day…

There are songs that some like and some don’t. Then there is Looking Glass’s Brandy – the 1972 hit by the New Jersey-based band. Have you ever met anyone who did not like this tune? I didn’t think so.

Many songs have been written about real women. Layla – about Patti Boyd (then married to George Harrison, but lusted after by Eric Clapton), Our House by Graham Nash for Joni Mitchell… even The Kinks

Lola was about a real woman who was part of Andy Warhol’s entourage.

So this month let us ride along the mysterious backroads of the Garden State and see if we can nd Brandy, or at least the woman who inspired her.

Lonely sailors pass the time away And talk about their homes

And there’s a girl in this harbor town…

As beautiful as much of New Jersey is there is a longitudinal line of what I call Americanization. Heavily traf cked, and strip malli ed - it ain’t too pretty, but that was not always the case, as it was along this region that many of the very rst European settlements were made.

There was a time when the Raritan River was beautiful and a very desirable place to call home. Running 70 miles from the western hills of the state the river was a source of commerce and transportation for centuries. And at its height, it carried more cargo than the Erie Canal.

Now it is something the highways almost unknowingly run across.

And she works layin’ whiskey down

They say, Brandy, fetch another round She serves them whiskey and wine…

Today along Route 1 in New Brunswick you will nd one of many malls – this one right along the river is home to a massive AMC Movie IMAX Theatre. Across from the entrance, on the far side of the parking lot, there is a most unusual site. A chest-high black wrought iron fence surrounds a single gravestone - Mary Ellis. 1750 – 1828.

Here lies Mary and two of her family members as the movie stand on the ground that was once her estate.

After she passed and her descendants scattered, the land and home fell into disrepair and was eventually torn down.

After some time the land was sold. For years, a ea market stood on the property. When the property was put back on the market, it was purchased by a developer who wanted to keep the gravestone due to its eternal occupant’s unique story.

Brandy wears a braided chain Made of nest silver from the North of Spain A locket that bears the name Of the man that Brandy loved… Her’s is a story of tragedy and heartbreak.

Mary herself was a very strong woman. She pushed for women voting rights and often voted when she was told she could not. She was a woman that other women looked up to and many men respected.

But, she never married.

The story goes that at one time she had met a man and the two had a passionate relationship for many years when he and his ship came to the mid-Atlantic. He would bring her gifts, jewelry, and things from far away. At one time, when they parted, he promised to come back and this time to wed her.

Months went by, then years. Stories of how his ship might have been lost and her love with it reached her ears. She would not believe it.

It was said she would stand out every day, waiting for her beloved. She looked out at the river for years, turning down every proposal that came her way. He never returned, but Mary was buried near the river, perhaps so her seafaring suitor could nd her.

At night when the bars close down Brandy walks through a silent town

And loves a man who’s not around She still can hear him say

She hears him say, “Brandy, you’re a ne girl”

While the sailor may have been lost at sea, he may simply have moved on - started a new life somewhere else, Mary a distant memory. Thanks to the developer who preserved her nal resting place, now she will never be forgotten.

In 1972 the New Jersey Band Looking Glass released Brandy. The song, written by Elliot Lurie, was based a little bit on a girl he once dated in High School named Randy, but mixed with the story of Mary Ellis. Rhyming took over and Brandy owed far better for Lurie than Randy or Mary and the rest is a wonderful mix of Rock & Roll, New Jersey, and Mysterious America history.

O’Life Out! ,