TLCMC

In spite of it being a cold and soggy Thanksgiving weekend seven of us drove in for our monthly meeting at Timothy.
After an interesting lesson from the Lutheran Men's Network "Time To Take A Test" about Cerinthus' brand on Gnosticism, we moved on to discuss the calendar for December. We agreed to not have a meeting in December but have a short group ride on December 8th. In keeping with the discussion I plotted a route that is just short of 100 miles, that picks up a lot of scenic points north east of Canton. The ride includes a stop at the model plane area on Old Federal Highway and lunch at Amos's BBQ. Here's an approximation of the route:  https://www.plotaroute.com/route/723853

We touched on a few motorcycle topics/videos but as usual got off on other topics. As an example of our wide ranging off topic discussion  we homed in on "firefighters" and why some are assistants that aren't authorized to "lay water on a fire" while others are. This led to talk of water streaming techniques, which believe it or not sparked discussion of how toilet water drains above/below  the equator. I promised a definitive answer on the latter subject. Here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_2407455035&feature=iv&src_vid=BiBrV4Q9NYE&v=mXaad0rsV38:

Our next meeting will be on January 26th, but don't forget the ride on December 8th.

Scattered rain this morning resulted in no bikes in our parking lot, only four wheelers. Never-the-less we had five members attending, one from Athens and another from Dallas. Good show!

First on the agenda was a look into a first century heresy, Gnosticism, as described by Paul Wurdeman from Lutheran Men's Ministries.

Next we discussed if the Maggie Valley overnight trip should be rescheduled for November but it was thought best to save it for Spring/Summer 2019 when daylight is available later in the day and temperatures are warmer. For November we decided a more local ride was in order for November 10th. A proposed route and additional details will  be available as the date approaches.

Two off-road riding techniques were shown, one dealing with negotiating up/down dirt hills, the other ways of overcoming obstacles, like logs, blocking the "roadway". We saw how enduro riders used, or misused, these techniques in competitions.

A short video from MC Garage about Ducatis' desmondromic valve train shed light on the Ducati sensation of the '50s that still endures today.

Smarter Every Day provided a look at how modern day Marines learn how to cope with the up-side-down world of a ditched helicopter.

MotoTrek Adventures (remember them from their TAT trip?) have produced another fine video of a Spring time ride in Appalachia. We took a look at their episode#2 where they rode on some very familiar roads, Here it is:

Our next meeting will be on November 24th

Nine riders met Saturday for the monthly meeting at Timothy.

The meeting opened with a video from LHM's series called "What They Didn't Teach You In Sunday School" that gave the rest of the story about Paul's appearance before Felix and Festus.

From there the meeting moved on to discussion about the upcoming ride to Maggie Valley scheduled for October 19-20. Six riders are signed up but there is room for more. Larry will lead the ride. He will e-mail more details as the 19th approaches.The ride will start Friday afternoon from Ball Ground and work its way up to Morganton for an overnight stop at Dan's "cabin". Saturday morning they will ride to Maggie Valley and a visit to Wheels Through Time, a one-of-a-kind motorcycle "museum". For a look at what the museum is all about see this short video from a prior trip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=10&v=bDDLpVa2ht4

An MC Garage video about the history and make up of ABS on motorcycles led to a discussion on the advantages of ABS on pavement, and its potential shortcomings off-road.

The group viewed a few videos featuring new motorcycle models. A few were in or destined for production while others probably will never be seen on the road.

Next came a number of short clips, some motorcycle oriented others just for laughs.

The next meeting will be on October 27th, same time, same place.

Five of us got together on Saturday to discus plans for future rides and discussion of some new techniques for familiar maintenance and riding situations.

The meeting kicked-off with a selection from LHM Men's Network, that depicted some of the ways the gospel spread in the early church, even to the Samaritans, a then despised people that accepted the Pentateuch but held alien beliefs as well.

On moving to a discussion of possible routes for a May 12th ride it soon became apparent that most of those present felt there would be very few riders interested in riding on Mother's Day weekend. However, since there may be riders not at the meeting that would see the 12th okay, a ride was scheduled (called the Short Loop) that includes stops at VanZandts and TWO (aka TWoS). Addition details will be posted as the ride date nears.

The meeting opened by viewing a five minute lesson from "What They Didn't Teach You In Sunday School" that gave us interesting background knowledge about Pentecost. We'll be tapping this resource more often at future meetings.

The first order of business was setting a plan for a ride on April 14th. A possible  route to The Pocket was discussed and we settled on a route that includes a ride over the mountain on Lake Marvin Road https://www.plotaroute.com/route/586752

After The Pocket the route heads south then east to Adairsville where we'll have lunch at the Adairsville Inn. After lunch we'll continue east picking up some favorite backroads back to the starting point in Ball Ground (around 150 miles r/t)

The remainder of the meeting included discussion about riding in rain, and a look at a videoed accident that resulted from the rider being distracted.

After the meeting five of us rode up to Jasper following a round-about scenic route, for lunch at 61 Main.