Tweet
Our chapter, The Bear Mountain Chapter is a relatively small chapter. I believe back when we formed the chapter, the rides we had had at the most 23-24 riders. Now, 5 yrs later, the average is 8-12, maybe 15 on a good day. Here in NY we are able to ride our bikes as there are no restrictions on that, thank goodness.
Unfortunately one of our members had a M/C accident about 6 weeks ago and did not survive. Our normal meeting place has been shut down due to the issues out there. I was lucky enough to be able to use the large open air pavilion at the facility we have for our swap meet in Sept as a place to have a "Safety Discussion" as we called it, and always do prior to any ride.
The ride was to begin at 11am, our usual start time. I usually get to the kick-off spot an hour early, long before anyone else. I was quite surprised to see anyone there before me. When I arrived there was already one person there. I parked the bike and they immediately started rolling in... As the hour progressed up to the departure time, the last count was SEVENTY-FIVE riders!!! We also had about 20 attendees that arrived in cars or trucks. We had a mandatory mask wearing requirement, minimum 6ft. between attendees, etc, etc, (Thank goodness for the size of the pavilion). I had already cleared the ride with the local authorities and the location.
NEVER in my wildest dreams could I anticipate the number of riders that showed up. Everything went off without a hitch thanks to all the members that have experience in riding in large groups, traffic control etc. We were able to pay our respects to a fallen member which was our goal. I attribute it to the pent-up frustration of not being able to socialize with any assembly of groups of people.
Ride on Carlos, we will miss you.
Unfortunately one of our members had a M/C accident about 6 weeks ago and did not survive. Our normal meeting place has been shut down due to the issues out there. I was lucky enough to be able to use the large open air pavilion at the facility we have for our swap meet in Sept as a place to have a "Safety Discussion" as we called it, and always do prior to any ride.
The ride was to begin at 11am, our usual start time. I usually get to the kick-off spot an hour early, long before anyone else. I was quite surprised to see anyone there before me. When I arrived there was already one person there. I parked the bike and they immediately started rolling in... As the hour progressed up to the departure time, the last count was SEVENTY-FIVE riders!!! We also had about 20 attendees that arrived in cars or trucks. We had a mandatory mask wearing requirement, minimum 6ft. between attendees, etc, etc, (Thank goodness for the size of the pavilion). I had already cleared the ride with the local authorities and the location.
NEVER in my wildest dreams could I anticipate the number of riders that showed up. Everything went off without a hitch thanks to all the members that have experience in riding in large groups, traffic control etc. We were able to pay our respects to a fallen member which was our goal. I attribute it to the pent-up frustration of not being able to socialize with any assembly of groups of people.
Ride on Carlos, we will miss you.