Well it’s the end of the first month of the Club year. Your officers have been busy making the transition from the old team to the new team, reassigning responsibilities, setting some goals for the year, and finalizing the plans for the European Riders Rally in Burkesville the third weekend in May. We had a great turnout for the Polar Bear Ride January 1, and I know a bunch of riders have been taking advantage of the generally mild temperatures to get in some saddle time during January. I was out of town for Christmas and New Year and have been pretty busy moving into my new office so, sadly, I have only been out riding a little. I did have the opportunity to chase Lee Waggoner and Kathy Schoeff around some dirt roads in Hickman County on my dual sport a couple of weeks ago on a mild and “sunshiny” day.
Come to the next club meeting to be held at Bloodworth Motorcycles on the evening of Tuesday February 7. In addition to kicking some tires and seeing some new bikes we will be doing our annual Chili Cookoff, and I will be delivering a “State of the Club Address”. The talk will address topics of significance to all of you – membership growth, activities, club communication, growing the use of our website, as well as plans to grow not only our primary rally in Burkesville but our up and coming Rally in the Fall – the Ribfest. We will also be talking about Octoberfest in Germantown and most import to all these activities, an opportunity for each of you to get involved in the planning and staging of these events.
So hope to see you all on Tuesday evening February 6.
Steve
February 3rd, 2012
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Show Me the Money
Our club is in the early part of the annual renewal of membership. The renewals are coming in well through both the website and the normal paper form renewals. If you haven’t sent yours in yet, get a move on! Through the stewardship of the Boards and Presidents who came before me, we have been left in good shape financially. Through the efforts of the SIG groups and our members we have added to our membership. In times like this we are prone to sit on our laurels. That would be, in my opinion, a mistake.
To insure we continue to be a strong club both financially and membership wise, your Board has taken a couple of steps. We have asked Steve Page, our current Vice President, to take over as Chair of the New Member committee and we have asked Lee Waggoner to continue to develop the Ribfest as a fall rally. In his position of Activities Director, Lee will also take oversight of the SIG groups.
Our goal is to have the European Riders Rally in May, which will continue to focus on Sports Touring and the Ribfest Rally in October, which will focus on GS style riding. This doesn’t mean that GS bikes are unwelcome in May and it certainly doesn’t mean riders who do not take their bike off the asphalt are not welcome in October. It is that we feel by focusing the Rallies on different riding experiences we can offer more to the members in our club. We are still a couple of years from opening the Ribfest Rally to everyone but Lee is working hard to get the space prepared and the process in place to make the Ribfest as popular as the European Riders Rally. Steve Page has proposed a few ideas that will help make us a better club and should grow our membership. He will be talking about these ideas at the chili cook-off at Bloodworth’s in our regular February meeting.
It has been so wet and cold that I haven’t felt like riding for the last few weeks. The urge has been growing, though, so I may have to take a ride between the slick icy spots if our normal winter respite of a couple weeks duration does not come soon! Looking forward on the riding calendar, we have the European Rider’s Rally coming up in May, the RA rally coming up the last of June the first of July in Wisconsin, and the MOA Rally coming up in July to be held in Pennsylvania. In addition to these well-publicized rides, we have a slew of rides organized by club members. If you are putting a ride together and are willing to take on another rider or two, post it on the web site. It is a great way to get company for a ride and make a new friend. Keep the shiny side up.
January 25th, 2011
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Andy Valentine |
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How quickly the wind blows cold! This line from Pucinni’s famous opera, La Boheme, describes my feeling about the passing of the fine Fall days we spent riding. The chill was in evidence on the Thanksgiving Ride held Friday after the holiday. The ride left Bloodworth’s at 10 am and was lead by Activities Director for the BMW Motorcycle Club of Nashville, Lee Waggoner.
Lee Waggoner is an instrumental member of the club. You may remember he “loans” his farm to the club for GS training and our club function in the Fall, the RibFest Rally. This year, for the first time, I followed Lee on the famous Hickman County dirt roads as he led us through some beautiful country. My bike has some deep scratches in the shiny red paint to prove it!
The Christmas Party is coming up very soon. See the announcement in the newsletter for the place (Logan’s Steak House in Cool Springs) and the time (December 7th). Every club member will receive a $15 meal card for themselves and their guest. There will be games, laughter and most importantly an election of Officers and Board Members for the coming year. We have a good slate of candidates (well, perhaps we could use a better President) so we can’t go wrong with these choices. Please let Polly know if you plan on attending and whether or not you will be bringing someone and participating in ‘Dirty’ Santa.
There are a lot of interesting rides on the calendar for next year so stay tuned to the webpage and make plans to attend the BMWOA Rally in Pennsylvania, the European Riders Rally in Burkesville, the various rides and rallies in the Summer and the RibFest next Fall. Be safe, have a Happy Holiday and keep the shiny side up.
December 1st, 2010
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Andy Valentine |
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I certainly had my share of ribs and more than my share of peach cobbler. If you didn’t get any, come early next time. Or if you didn’t get any because you didn’t show up, show up next time. A big thank you goes to Lee and Tom for all the work they put in on the Ribfest from its origin to 2010’s event.
Well, the Ribfest is over and it was a huge success if you go by the number of ribs eaten. It was the perfect ending to two weekends of GS style riding. The prior weekend David Bloodworth of Bloodworth Motors sponsored a GS class at Lee’s farm. It was a class I really wanted to take and, as things worked out, I was able to take it. It was cheap at $99 dollars. BMW sent an expert rider to teach the class. He started the class by throwing his bike on the ground. It turned out that this was his way of showing me what my bike would look like over the weekend. Ok, it was three times. Once in the sand pit, once in the water and once when I nearly ran over the instructor in front of the entire class. Despite the number of drops I had, the most dropped bike winner was a three way tie.
The Ribfest included the GS ride led by Lee Waggoner on Saturday. I showed up at on the square for breakfast before the ride. When it came time to make the ride I elected to stay on the pavement. I was suppose for a vacation week in Florida the following day and decided that my mind was not right for the ride. I was nervous, tense and unsure, all of which are no help on a motorcycle ride. Sometimes you just got to ‘know when to fold them’. I had a great ride and watch the GS riders return in triumph. A twinge of regret passed my mind, especially when I found out Ron Brandt’s ten year old grandson made the entire ride successfully. However, I have heard Ron, himself; say more than once that the right attitude when riding was a most important safety consideration.
Thanks, again, riders, cooks and organizers for a great time. Speaking of great and organizers, we have a great slate of officers that will be proposed by the nominating committee at the November meeting. That meeting is also the time that the club accepts nominations from the floor. If you have a desire to be of service or know someone who does, this is the time to make it known.
Ride safe.
November 1st, 2010
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Andy Valentine |
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The last month has brought, we hope, the end to the miserable hot weather of late summer and some cooling breezes to the week-end riders who could not take off during the peak heat for cooler climes and heights. Every time I would head for the mountains it seemed like I had two to four hours of sweltering inside my mesh jacket before I got to the lower temperature, higher elevation relief.
Currently we are enjoying some magnificent weather to be picking our line through the curves. And that brings me to another subject. Our club is growing. As the new members have come on board it has been a pleasure to see the members of longer standing take them under their wing, set up rides and spend some time coaching the newer members who may have questions about the way we ride. Terms like ATGATT (All The Gear, All The Time) are familiar to us but not the motorcycle community in general. Etiquette of a group ride is something else we pass on to new members. Bike maintenance and pre-ride checks are being taught. Riding tips are shared. In short our club looks and acts like a club that wants its members to be safe and have fun. This happens because you guys are willing to bring everyone “up to speed.”
I recently took the ERC from the Learn to Ride group. This is a great group and I highly recommend some course of continuing education for everyone who rides. The luck of my draw in instructors and classmates was below what I expected and below what others have shared about the quality of the course. About half the class DID NOT HAVE THEIR MOTORCYCLE LICENSE, AND SEVERAL HAD FAILED THE TEST TO GET IT. Now they were in an Experienced Riders Course getting a certificate so they could skip the State of Tennessee Test! Why the ERC rather than the Basic Course? It is about $100 cheaper. I am all about saving money and time but not where a lack of skill or knowledge could lead to someone’s serious injury or death.
It made me grateful for the great riders in our club who are willing to shares experiences and tips on riding. If you want to improve your skills, find someone in the club to ride with—or come show us a safer, faster, more thrilling way to have fun.
October 1st, 2010
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Andy Valentine |
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Well, if you missed the SIG (Special Interest Group) Tech Session on August 28th you missed a fun session, good food and entertaining afternoon ride. The morning opened with cooler weather than we have been having. I notice my interest in riding is inversely correlated with the heat index. In the winter I can put on enough clothes to stay warm but I have never figured out how to take enough clothes off to stay cool and safely ride my motorcycle.
About a dozen or more club members gathered to watch Steve Lissner show us how to properly check and change the oil on a variety of bikes. Then several of the attendees worked on their own specific problems with coaching from both Steve Lissner and Steve Page. I was watching closely as one member checked his bike and added oil. Unfortunately, I was not watching closely enough. I did not notice that he had failed to replace the oil plug until he fired the motorcycle up and it slung oil over me and the concrete floor! What I found interesting is that three of the newest club members came to the tech session. This participation by new club members is a good sign that we are still on the road to being an active and viable club.
We cleaned up and headed down to Sonic for lunch then embarked on our ride. Steve Page led the way in a brisk turn through Williamson County. One of the newest club members was making only her third ride on a motorcycle since she got her license. What did Steve do? He leads us down Old Hwy 96. Hwy 96 is a fun road with some curves and changes in latitude through bucolic country scenery. Except it was under construction and we had about a mile of rough gravel to transverse on the big touring bikes. The newest rider hung in there and made it safely through the rough stuff without dropping the bike. Good thing, too, ‘cause the bike was borrowed from Steve!
Don’t forget the Ribfest and club meeting next week. Thanks to David and Virginia Bloodworth, we will be meeting at the BMW dealership. Come check out the new bikes and programs David has added for his customers. Look forward to seeing you there.
September 1st, 2010
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Andy Valentine |
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When the midsummer heat closes around us like yellow rubber gloves, and we give up any thought of riding unless it’s toward a mountain, lake or river, it’s easy to turn our thoughts toward the cool of October and the Ribfest Rally. This year the Alabama club is making the Ribfest Rally their monthly meeting so they should be out in force. I know there are several people coming from the BMW clubs in Louisiana and Indiana so we should have a good group to ride the dual sport rides. We will also have those who, for whatever reason, prefer to ride paved roads. There will be plenty of riders going that direction.
We had a few people who made the ride to the BMWMOA Rally in Redmond, this year. We will have a report from them at the August meeting. Your president rode west but only as far as Colorado. I met my brother, Jay, who rode up from Louisiana to meet me in Oklahoma City on his new R1200RT. He has been a Harley Davidson owner for years but he is totally sold on the RT. Every bike has its good points but Jay says he would have been a lot less comfortable riding the Harley with the long hours we put in the saddle. The mountains were wonderful. After putting over 4,000 miles on the clock we still had places to see. Oh well, maybe next year.
The Executive Board did not have a July meeting due to all the vacation schedules but we will meet in August to continue the business of the club. We have now been incorporated in the State of Tennessee as a not for profit association. We also have our tax number from the Federal government and can now begin to work on our tax status and Board insurance. None of this is as much fun as riding but it is a very important step for the club. A big thank you to all the members of the Executive Board who worked on this protection for the club members.
In August, the Executive Board will address the question of our Charitable Donation from the Rally proceeds. These Board meetings are open to members of the club. If you are interested in attending, please do so.
Ride safe, stay cool and come to the August club meeting. Polly will be sending out the information.
August 2nd, 2010
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Andy Valentine |
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I will be posting here from time to time. Check back to see if I have anything new.
May 18th, 2010
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Andy Valentine |
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Looks like the posting works so let’s take a minute to talk about the recent European Riders Rally. Someone suggested we change the name to Rainy European Riders Rally since we seem to always get at least a shower or two over the weekend of the rally. This year, 2010, was no exception! I rode up to the rally in Burkesville, KY early Friday morning on “Lilith”, my 2003 anthracite K1200 LTE, under cloudy skies. As I was parking, a couple of drops of rain fell from the first of several showers on Friday. As riders arrived, I asked them about their experience of the rain on the way in. It varied from “Wow, we rode through a storm!” to “not a drop, just the threat”, depending on the time and direction of the ride.
Saturday, however, turned warmer and, while humid, stayed sunny most of the day. Bob, the Rally Chair, made the call to have the band set up inside rather than in the amphitheater and good thing. About the time the band kicked off at 7pm the skies opened up for a couple of hours. We danced to the Bicho Brothers in dry comfort while rain fell. About nine o’clock it was clear once again and we didn’t get much the rest of the rally.
Sunday we got a drizzle for our ride back to Nashville, No problem, just enough to keep us cool. Thanks to everyone who made the trip–enough of you guys to set a record for attendence and a special thanks to the volunteers who made the rally possible. I will get with Steve (our amazing webmaster) about posting the pictures of the rally. Be safe and remember ATGATT.
May 18th, 2010
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Andy Valentine |
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