People's Place Ride
Posted by Jim Zeiser on Monday, August 25, 2025
Call me lazy as this ride was LAST Sunday and I'm finally getting down to writing about it now. I should have been more enthused about noting it as the event was an absolute blast. This was the organizations second year staging this ride and it was well done. We gathered in Kingston at the headquarters of the People's Place and the number of attendees grew by the minute. In the hour reserved for registration about eighty-five riders cruised in and the parking lot was fairly full of motorcycles. We were briefed about being cautious and staying together before being sent out for the best part of the day.
I had chosen the Kawasaki for this ride after seeing the route map on Facebook prior to the event. Besides the usual excellent roads that exist in Ulster County this route was taking us over one of the Catskill Mountains. I knew then that neither of my 250cc machines were suitable to be in a pack of large V-Twins on that route. My Kawasaki 750cc eats these roads up though. It has more than adequate power and brakes to handle steep descents. Not to mention it is an absolute joy to ride.
Using the Kawasaki proved to be a wise choice as the pace got brisk at times. Not illegal but in a large pack it demands your attention and the 750cc was in its element. In its day (1983) the Kawasaki was rated as a big bike but now its classified as a Middleweight. I didn't tell it that so it still behaves like one of the Big Boys. The climb through the hills was extremely fun even with a severe hairpin at the bottom near New Paltz.
Before long we were at the finish near Kingston at a Marina with a Bar and Grill. There was barbecued food and salads, cold drinks and to top it off a pretty good live band, I spent time conversing with some of the other participants, grabbed a couple of hot dogs and left to share the food with Linda. After a really nice ride home I arrived feeling pretty good about the day. Yes, there's no video as I promised. I was rushed leaving the house and left it there. It deserved some footage. Next year for sure.
I'm the rider on the left in the second position loving the scenery.
I had chosen the Kawasaki for this ride after seeing the route map on Facebook prior to the event. Besides the usual excellent roads that exist in Ulster County this route was taking us over one of the Catskill Mountains. I knew then that neither of my 250cc machines were suitable to be in a pack of large V-Twins on that route. My Kawasaki 750cc eats these roads up though. It has more than adequate power and brakes to handle steep descents. Not to mention it is an absolute joy to ride.
Using the Kawasaki proved to be a wise choice as the pace got brisk at times. Not illegal but in a large pack it demands your attention and the 750cc was in its element. In its day (1983) the Kawasaki was rated as a big bike but now its classified as a Middleweight. I didn't tell it that so it still behaves like one of the Big Boys. The climb through the hills was extremely fun even with a severe hairpin at the bottom near New Paltz.
Before long we were at the finish near Kingston at a Marina with a Bar and Grill. There was barbecued food and salads, cold drinks and to top it off a pretty good live band, I spent time conversing with some of the other participants, grabbed a couple of hot dogs and left to share the food with Linda. After a really nice ride home I arrived feeling pretty good about the day. Yes, there's no video as I promised. I was rushed leaving the house and left it there. It deserved some footage. Next year for sure.
I'm the rider on the left in the second position loving the scenery.
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If you wish to comment my e-mail address is h1500e@hotmail.com. I'd like to hear anything-good or bad-that anyone would like to say. As they said in college, we're all lifelong learners.
