Saturday evening I rolled the VTX out of the garage to do pre-ride checks. The plan was to meet Jon at 7 am Sunday for the rider out to Oak Harbor and the EOD Poker Run. I topped off the tire pressure; the front was a little low, I need to keep an eye on that. I checked the oil and other vital fluids. All good. Finally, a short ride to the gas station to fill the tank. Everything was ready.

Alas, the weather was not so ready. Sunday morning brought rain and a 6:30 am phone call from Jon. Ride scrubbed. We both planned to take our sons on the ride and neither of them have proper rain gear. It would have been miserable for all concerned. Instead I spent the day posting some stuff for sale on Craigslist, puttering around the house and watching Sunday Night football. (I am so glad football season is here!)

I felt bad about missing the ride but when I later learned that the Skagit Powersports Monkey Butt 300 run to Winthrop was canceled due to weather, I felt a little better. I was not the only one to wimp out.

How about you? Anybody get some miles in this weekend?

EODMU-11 and the EODMG from NAS Whidbey are sponsoring a Memorial Poker Run on Sunday, August 19. I did the last EOD run and it was very well run. Barring a schedule conflict, I plan to make this run on Sunday.

Meet at the base overflow parking lot located just west of the CPO Club (1080 Ault Field Road, Oak Harbor.) Registration is between 8 and 8:30 am. The ride will tour the length of Whidbey Island and end around 3:00 pm at Flyer’s in Oak Harbor (family-friendly).

I also want to introduce the MotoSkagit forums. This is the place to go to plan meet-ups or discuss motorcycle-related issues in Skagit, Whatcom and Island counties. the forums are at http://www.motoskagit.com/forums and they are, of course, free to register and use.

Until next time, ride safe!

Welcome to MotoSkagit; the blog about motorcycling in Skagit county. I am your host, John Davis, and I look forward to sharing with you news, events, rides and opinions about the Skagit motorcycle community.

A little about me. I have lived in Skagit since 1993 and have been riding motorcycles off and on since 1976. I currently ride a Candy Red 2003 Honda VTX1800 Retro. I ride as much as I can year-round, rain or shine. Due to time constraints (no, blogging does not pay the bills so I do have a day job) most of my riding is local; i.e. Skagit, Island and Whatcom counties.

I have been writing about motorcycles since 2005 on my other blog, NorthwestCycleNews.com. I am also a contributing blogger at MotorcycleBloggers.com. Unlike these sites, which have regional or national audiences, MotoSkagit will focus sharply on topics relevant to riders in Skagit county.

Expect to see local motorcycle news, events, and rides in this space. You will also see some opinions. Some of which you will agree with and some of which you won’t. That’s cool. I encourage you to participate in the conversation by leaving comments. I also encourage you to send me information about local events and news. Just drop me a line, my email address is: John@MotoSkagit.com

Until next time, ride safe.