September 6, 2014 Bux-Mont Rattlesnake Run

Hello all,

The morning was mild, sunny with some clouds being pushed by the wind. It was a beautiful morning. We had 12 riders show up to ride and a few extra to meet us just for breakfast. I had a good breakfast meeting up with both old and new members plus some good friends that regularly ride with us. It was good meeting a couple of new folk that came and enjoying some delicious food before we rode. We came out for the riders meeting and jlasure split us into groups according to pace. Each group left the Starlite diner a couple of minutes apart from the other groups. We had to slab the first 25 miles of the route to get to our starting destination. I was leading the middle group and just before we got off the highway the back group pulled into the middle of my group, splitting it in two. I had a member of my group get ill and we stopped for five minutes before we resumed the ride. I lost two members of my group, but we were determined to catch up. The ride for the most part went well, we occasionally got caught in traffic, but not too much. Once we caught up to the back group, I lost the only guy I had with me to his group. I guess they didn't want to ride with me. So, I went to the next turn and the finally caught up to me.

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August 09, 2014 Shamokin Screamer Ride

shot of the bikes

Well it’s another one for the books! This ride tends to be our “Usual Suspects” line-up, but we broke tradition with a different set of riders today. The original ride was canceled (August 2nd) due to inclement weather (just like last year), however that is the only thing similar to this ride from last year. Greetings and thanks are extended to everyone in attendance, which includes a new friend: (Walter) that met us at our recent MCC Sport Bike Day Event, Martin G, Andy R, Sandy K, Daniel G, Mike M (and his friend Luke), Allan C, Dylan P, Larry (The XIII) S, Carl (KPilot) M, Ron (Panda) W & myself. After a great breakfast, we all gathered, I shared the “Rules of the Road” and identified the “Safety Tip” for the day was “gravel and cinders” (which later becomes key). With that, we all huddled up, I gave a prayer for protection and thanks for a beautiful day and we split up into 2 groups and we were off. We tried to wait around for one remaining friend (Mike H), but the time was slipping by and the day’s heat was on our backs so we lagged a pace on RT 78 in hopes he would see us and catch up with us – I’m sorry to report we missed him, which I was saddened about – but the show must go on, so he’ll catch us next time I’m sure. We hit our first hairpin and the ride was officially underway.

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July 5 2014 Dive into Delware Ride

some of the bikes on july's ride

The day dawned bright and clear, much different from the rain storms that came through a couple of days before. It was also cooler and less humid, a welcome respite from the heat and humidity from earlier in the week. I had cleaned the K&N air filter element on my bike the night before and had to put it back in and reassemble the bike. Well, of course, this took longer than I had planned and once again I would be late for breakfast. I stopped first to fuel up and got a bagel while I was there in the attached Dunkin' Donuts store. Then I went to the diner parking lot and greeted those who were there. I said hi to Derek from the Immortal Riders MC and Kat from Inner Circle Riders MC, glad to see both of them representing and riding with us. I touched base with jlasure on the ride group assignments and said hello to all that were there. I then went in to greet those eating breakfast, including kirchsnr with her pal Jo which we haven't seen literally in years. So glad they could come out and hang out with us. Those two went off on their own adventures for today, but we hope to see them both again real soon. We also had a couple on a black C-14 join us for the first time, so glad they joined us for the ride. I also said hey to Angie, j-mac, and andyr plus others. We then met out in the parking lot where I saw someone I have ridden with in years, Mikey!! He and his friend Luke rode with us in the morning but broke off around 10:15. Mike was one of the three chapter members that were active in the Eastern PA chapter when I took over as chapter leader, many years ago.

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June 2014 Pocono Screamer

ride group for June's ride

This month's ride had the exact opposite weather of last month's ride. May it was cool and cloudy with the sun peeking out in the morning. By afternoon at the May ride it was drizzling on the way home. This June ride was sunny with perfect temps, not getting past the mid 80's. I got up to the diner about 10 minutes after 8am. That has go to stop, because we are now in the thick of the riding season and a lot more people are coming to our rides. This month we had 36 bikes, and even a couple of pillion riders. We had some old friends show up and some new riders as well. My getting to breakfast late caused the riders meeting to start late as well as a rider getting gas @ 9:30am. We didn't leave until 9:50am with 6 groups of 5 bikes and one group of 6 bikes. Props up to jlasure for putting up a roster and assigning groups to everyone by pace. We had a few adjustments come lunch but all went well. What I meant by well, is no one crashed, and no one got ticketed either. A few groups made wrong turns or went over the wrong bridge, but everyone made it to lunch. Thanks also to Sal for lending a bike to the panda for him to ride, we needed all the ride leaders we could. A big thanks to jlasure, panda, andyr, j-mac, charles, johnric42 for leading groups and to frindle, ANLR21, kpilot, XIII, kirchsnr, and others who assisted in being the trail rider. It was good to have riders from NY, NJ, PA, DE, and VA come to this ride. This was the largest ride we have had in years and it wasn't perfect but a success, none the less.

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May 2014 Blue Mountain Run

ride group for May's ride

The day was cool but sunny with traces of clouds on the horizon. I got a late start from home and had to stop for an errand on the way up, so I didn't arrive until after 8:15am. A few riders were out in the parking lot chatting. I talked with a them a bit and went inside to meet up with the others for breakfast. We had two lieutenants with the same first name come for breakfast only, but not the ride. If you don't know who that is, you gotta come out for these events. :D

After breakfast we went over the rules for the ride and we geared up to go. There were 8 of us on that ride, including me, and no one else was prepared to lead a ride, so we went as one group. It wasn't too bad, but it was also too big, five or under is optimal. The sky was a blue and beautiful and the grass and fields were starting to green. It was so nice for it to finally be Spring. :) The riding this morning was great with the roads being mostly clear. We did hit a few spots where water was still running across the roads from the 6" of rain we had from Thursday's deluge. Getting caught behind slow drivers only happened a few times, so the roads were mostly ours. Pace was a little slower than my normal pace since some were just getting back on their bikes for the year. ANLR 21, that silver fox, was chasing me most of the day. He almost took a spill when he hit a bird carcass, but he recovered quickly. The scenery was gorgeous today from the scenic overlooks to water glistening off of rock face cliffs, it was great to see the beauty of God's creation.

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April 2014 Leap Around Lancaster Ride

ride group for april's ride

I wanted to thank everyone who came out for this ride, it was a big success. The day started cold and dreary with dark clouds looming in the distant north. I checked the forecast and it said cloudy then sunny with temps in the low 60's. Cool! Let's ride! Well, one thing I didn't see in the forecast was the wind. And windy it was, blowing and blustery. I wore my non perforated leathers but it was still chilly. I rode up, got gas, and stopped at the Starlite Diner for breakfast. We had a group of 11 by then and they put us in a private room. I really like this place for breakfast, they do take good care of us. Anyway, I was notified that another group came in and was eating in another part of the diner. We weren't sure if they were riding with though, because they didn't come to sit with us, yet their bikes were parked with ours. So, when I came out, I did the rider meeting, went over the rules and got ready to go. Jlasure went in and asked if these guys were riding with us, it turns out that they were! Bonus! So, I went over the rules for the ride again, we broke up into groups according to pace and off we went. The ride to lunch went well, we didn't hit much traffic and we even went past a group of bicyclists. The few miles we were on the highway drivers moved over for us to pass. The safety word for the day was train tracks and 45 minutes into the ride we heard the blast of the locomotive horn while we were sitting at a traffic light. We get through the intersection and we had to wait for a train, not long though because the train wasn't long and it was moving. Well, as we stopped at the tracks ANLR 21 hops off and starts to chat with another rider. Meanwhile I can see the end of the train coming, so I start blowing my horn and XIII starts revving his engine to get his attention to get back on his bike. Well, the train goes by, the gates go up and he has to do a flying mount to get on his bike and get it in gear in time. We all were chuckling inside our helmets. We arrived at the lunch stop 5 minutes before it opened, so we all hung out and enjoyed the sun, which had just recently come out, thank God.

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