The 7 "P's"

Being as close to Fort Drum, NY as we are, there is allot of military influence in the area. For example: the 7 "P's" comes from a military term and they are: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

When it comes to planning a trip or even an event for the B.O.B. sisters, not too much goes into it. That's not to say we're completely disorganized- we've planned for the gist of it: what, where, when, why and, of course, who!!

We plan what to bring- rain suits, etc. for inclement weather. We plan the general direction of our travels- an end destination. We've planned how much time- the majority of us have paying jobs that we've still got to apply for vacation time and, unfortunately, when we'll be back to work. But when we're on a trip, the actual day to day stuff- how are we getting there, where are we stopping, where are we spending the night, etc.- isn't planned out prior to our departure.

There are so many variables on a trip, let alone a motorcycle trip, that if you try to stick to a rigid plan you're just destined for failure. First- and again we're dealing with another military term: you're only as strong as your weakest link. When riding in a group, you've got to take into account the riding skills of everyone- especially those riders who are *new to the sport. Second- say you've made hotel reservations in advance but due to weather, or a breakdown, or traffic/road construction your group isn't able to make that particular stop.... Now you're paying for the hotel cancellation fee on top of everything else.

There is no timeline, other than the initial this is where & when we're going to meet on the first day. We don't have a pre-ordained time of when we leave in the mornings, or when we stop in the evenings. There is no GPS- half the time they're wrong anyways. We've all brought maps and most of us have smart phones- so, if the need urgently arises, we can figure out how to get there from here.

Not to mention, if you attempt to plan every detail, in my opinion, you're missing out on part of the fun on a motorcycle trip! As the old helmet sticker says: It's the journey, not the destination. Riding your bikes with your friends is the most important part of the trip!!! Part of the fun is getting together, sharing the experiences  as you stop for gas & plan the rest of the route, deciding on where to stop for lunch and then the night. For the *new riders, it gives us confidence in our riding skills- that we can ride with these experienced ladies & keep up. For the rest of us, it solidifies our camaraderie and continues to build our bank of experiences!!

And in keeping it loose IS what it's all about. When you don't have plans, you don't become disappointed when they don't come to fruition. When you don't have plans, you're free to live all the experiences that you encounter on the open road. YOU ARE FREE!!! What better way to live??? That's what we the B.O.B.s believe in anyways and if you haven't tried it, we highly recommend it!!

Occupy B.O.B.s!!!!

Think of Alex Trebek, host of the TV game show 'Jeopardy!', as he reads the following answer: "The B.O.B. Sisters - aka the Battery Operated Boyfriends." And the question is: "What's the BIG deal??!!"

You see, locally there's another group that also call themselves the B.O.B.s - but their acronym stands for something else and NOT Battery Operated Boyfriends. And we, the B.O.B. Sisters are ok with that, but apparently they are not. It seems that they're upset over the fact that our B.O.B. group has started a Facebook page and this blog.

Why would they be upset? What could the big deal be all about? Honestly, I don't know. As we say both on this blog and our Facebook page, we're not the 'other' B.O.B.s!! They only thing I can think of is that they may be a bit jealous.... We started our group first and we were born out of the Road Sisters (from Ohio); we're a very select group in that you MUST BE invited to ride with us and if you survive the ride, you'll be inducted into the group. The only whining allowed is in a glass of wine and the only drama allowed is what we see on TV, the movie screen or up on the theater stage.

Perhaps they're mad at the fact that we occupied the name 'B.O.B. Sisters', even though we're different from them. Perhaps that we exist at all is what disturbs them.... They might be the kind of controlling women as I talked about in my last blog: The Good, The Bad and The Women. Well, IF that is the case, then in my opinion they are not true biker women!! 

We the B.O.B. Sisters (Battery Operated Boyfriends) know that it's a wide open road out there, big enough for everyone. We don't wish to crowd nor do we wish to be crowded! We embrace the life on the road riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, ready to experience whatever comes our way!! 

Our lives are very similar to the Steve Winwood song, Roll With It:

When life is too much, roll with it baby.

Don't stop and lose your touch, oh no, baby.

Hard times knocking at your door, I'll tell them you ain't there no more.

Get on through it, roll with it baby.

Luck will come and then slip away, you've gotta move, bring it back to stay.

Now that's a way of life our B.O.B. Sisters can ride with!!! That's the kind of life WE wish to 'occupy'!!!

The B.O.B. Sisters @ our Christmas Party!! L to R: Nancy, Julie, Dawn, Kim, Wanda & our
Battery Operated Boyfriend!!!

B.O.B. Sisters made the Watertown Mayor's blog!!! Check it out at: Mayor Graham Blog

The Good, The Bad, and The Women

When it comes to the 'Biker Culture' as viewed by the, I'll call it 'civilian' world, there's basically three types: The Good, The Bad, and The Women.

The Good are the quite obviously nice guys- they ride with their friends and/or brothers in their motorcycle club, doing charity rides and taking their wives as the passengers as they travel around town or even across country.

The Bad are pretty easy to spot by the civilian world- the 1% motorcycle clubs that make a living through selling guns and/or drugs. Their rough lifestyle is too far out on the fringe. Their 'balls-to-the-wall' lifestyle is very foreign and frightening to most of us. Yet they have the mystique and allure that's similar to that of the vampires on Twilight - but that's another blog....

Last but certainly not least, we have The Women. And within this group, there are two sub-groups: controllers and the cool ones.

The controllers are, in my opinion, more interesting - at least to me. They're not interested in much outside of attempting to control their husband/boyfriend and keeping themselves '#1' in their significant other's eyes. "Before I can get a Harley, I have to run it by the wife...." - I work at a Harley-Davidson dealership and have heard that more than once. Another favorite is: "My wife/girlfriend said I can't get a bike....."

It begs the question, what are they trying to achieve? Safety? Yet trying to keep a loved one 100% safe 100% of the time is impossible. Even if it's achievable, the loved one being sheltered does not get a chance to get out and LIVE their life. Control? But the power of having that kind of control is stifling for the other person and ends badly.

A few weeks ago, we had a customer share with us an experience he had as a boy: His dad used to ride his '62 Sportster to work everyday. And everyday he'd take his lunch with him on the bike to eat while on his lunch break at his job. One day he forgot his lunch so called his wife and asked her to meet him half way between his work and their home with his food. So she packed the kids and his lunch in the car. They got to the halfway point but he wasn't there. So they traveled on until they were stopped by police for- you guessed it- a motorcycle accident that involved their dad. He was ok, just a few bumps & bruises, one broken collar bone. The ambulance showed up and was preparing to take him to the hospital. Before they left, the dad/husband asked his wife to, "Make sure the bike gets taken care of!"  Sure enough, after the ambulance pulls away, the wife promptly asks to the crowd of onlookers: "Does anyone want to buy a bike??" She received an offer of $25 there & then... and took it!! Our customer said his parents very nearly got divorced over that incident.

The controlling women will read that story and conclude that yes, the bike was taken care of.... it was off the side of the road, it was in good hands - that of a new owner, and they didn't have anything else to worry about. But, despite his injury, the dad had a part of his freedom taken away. And the way it had been done, to a Harley lover, it is akin to ripping a beloved baby right from his arms. It was humiliating as well as insulting.

The cool women will read that story and think - what a tragedy! They understand the passions of life and going out to LIVE them. They know that a truly happy life is OUT THERE- beyond the control of any one person.

I'm so happy to be part of the B.O.B. Sisters- one group of very cool women who love to live life to the fullest. We are always there for each other, helping each other live the life worth living!!!

My first ride with the B.O.B.s - August 2011

Our theme song!! F*ckin Perfect!!!

A big thanks goes out to my B.O.B. Sister LoLo for suggesting this song!! P!nk's lyrics are so perfect for our group: So I'll cash my checks and place my bets and hope I'll always win... Just f*ckin' perfect!! If we were to ever run across Pink in person, I'm sure she has what it takes to be a B.O.B. Sister!!

Click on this link to see the video of her live at Wembly Stadium: P!nk - Cuz I can

Big girls don't cry, but tough ones do...

The common way of thinking is that women motorcyclists are tough as nails, don't let any emotions show, and are sometimes accused of not having any emotions at all. Well, I'm here to tell ya different and to hopefully set the record straight.

Speaking about the B.O.B. Sisters, I can say that while we're not 'cry-babies', we're also not at the other end of the spectrum either. We don't feed off of drama, nor do we try and create it, but we're not unfeeling robots. If there was a scale measuring such a thing with '0' as crying all the time, and '100' being Mr. Robot-O, I believe the women I knew in this group would land close to '75'.

Jules & Kim celebrating life while trying new foods.

We get hurt emotionally just like most people... I just think that maybe we roll with it better. Maybe that's why it seems as though we don't 'show it' on our face. With my B.O.B. Sisters, we have a lot of the same experiences, so chances are at least one of us has gone through it before and help the other through it.

Then there's the fact that when riding a motorcycle, the rider must constantly be playing the "What if??" game- what if that car pulls out in front of us? What if there's a deer around the next bend? So since we're looking into the future like that, we've already made some plans on what we're going to do. Once the situation has become our reality, we immediately look for the solution, continuing to move on, going forward, usually with the help of our friends, until we're through it.

However, I wonder how the early women motorcyclists handled when they got emotionally hurt.... I'm sure they encountered it- the world isn't all that different today. How did Dot Robinson and Bessie Stringfield handle the tough days?? (For those who don't know, Bessie was not only a women motorcyclist before & during WWII, she was black- having been born in Jamaica. She crossed the lower 48 states, but due to discrimination, the only place she found a place to sleep was on her bike at gas stations. Dot Robinson rode all across the US in 1939 on the lookout for fellow female riders & bike owners, eventually forming the first women's motorcycle club: The Motor Maids.)

How hard was it for Dot & Bessie back in the day when women wore skirts, were domestic goddesses of the home, rarely ventured out without their husbands or a chaperon? Today I'm very greatful to have my B.O.B. Sisters to lean on; to help prop me up when I've got tough times- they are my strength when I need a little help and vice versa. But back in the 30s & 40s, when women motorcyclists were few & far between, who did Dot & Bessie turn to for support?? Maybe they were tougher back then.... maybe on the scale they were closer to a 90 or even a 95....

But I like to think not.... I think that they're friends both male & female, fellow motorcyclists and those who didn't ride were there for Bessie & Dot during the rough roads, so to speak. Like I said, the world isn't all that different today, so perhaps they just let their bikes be their therapy - as they still are - and the pioneering women of motorcycles just road on through it....

Women riders attending a race, early 1930s

Aaahhh- the weather....

I probably jinxed us earlier in the week when the weather forecast was saying 55F with cloudy skies and only a 20% chance of rain.... As I make this blog, the rain is moving in from Lake Ontario, the wind is up and the B.O.B. Sisters have gone ahead and called it a 'no-go' for riding. However, as anyone can tell you, we're all happy that there's been no significant snow accumulations around here!!

The Dyna B.O.B. Sisters ready for the weather!

And that's not to say that the B.O.B. Sisters only ride in the warmth & the sunshine- there's been many a time we've been caught out in the rain or even, as in the case of our trip to Maine this past summer, started out in it. The trick is being ready for it & having the proper gear!! A rain suit is a must, especially on a long trip, and one made for motorcycle riders as they usually have heat shields that protect the suit from melting onto the hot exhaust of the bike. Because the rain suit is waterproof, that also means it's windproof, so not only will it keep you dry, but it will help keep you warm too. If you wear a half helmet (like most of us in our group do, since New York has a DOT helmet law), you need a neck gaiter pulled up over your nose or a bandanna to protect your face. Gloves & goggles too. Bottom line is, the more we're ready to face the elements, the safer we'll be since we're not fighting the elements while riding our Harleys!!

So even though I'll not be out & about on my Harley today, that's ok- it leaves me with time to get to know this website a little better, clean my bike a little more, hang out with my 2 teen-aged kids and maybe even get the Christmas decorations for the house going.... Besides, part of being what I consider a 'true' biker is that we go with the flow. Sure we'll make plans but we're also flexible too. We're not set out to have a specific experience, that way we're not disappointed should that not happen. For us, the joy truly comes from the journey, and - in most instances - when we reach our destination as well.

My First Blog Ever

I'm actually blogging as part of a group- the B.O.B. Sisters. We're a group of women who love to live, love & laugh - especially while riding our Harley-Davidson Motorcycles!! B.O.B. actually stands for Battery Operated Boyfriends and we are evolved from a group called the Road Sisters from Ohio.

We're a dynamic bunch, and I thought that others would like to read about our adventures, possibly even live vicariously through us. We're not the first group of women riders- that would be the Motor Maids- and I doubt we'll be the last.... there's even more than one group with our name, but their B.O.B. stands for Bitches On the Back or Bitches On Bikes. However they are different from us! WE RIDE OUR OWN!!


We do have our own Facebook page as well: http://www.facebook.com/pages/BOB-Sisters/292652594100789

So anyway, this blog is an attempt to follow our adventures, both on and off the bikes. We do live in Northern New York and in the best of weather, we usually get 7 months or so of riding time.... as I'm blogging this, we are all extremely lucky and appreciative to be riding this late in the season! Normally we've put our bikes up for hibernation until March, more often than not, April.

Since the weather forecast for Sunday is in the 50s and mostly sunny with only a 20% chance of rain, so I'm thinking that we'll be able to get on the bikes and ride. The number one rule is there is no whining and the second is there is no plan except to have fun! For right now we're just planning on meeting up and then deciding where to go and what to do.