The First Event
Posted by Jim Zeiser on Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Well, maybe not the first event, but the first organized group ride. Prior to this I did a bike night in Kingston but this ride was bigger. It started in Poughkeepsie and I did it for the first time last year. It was mayhem last year and I went there planning to deviate from the groups route to avoid the headache. There was another twist this year. The amount of people who came were at least double the number that were there last year and there was no Police escort this time. So picture a couple of hundred motorcycles thundering down the road, running stop lights with no one to block traffic. I planned to cut off from the groups route if I felt things were a little too nutty and the first few miles convinced me. I turned off in Poughkeepsie and rode a parallel route to the halfway point where the group would stop for a break. It was funny as when I got there people who had started ahead of me arrived fifteen minutes later.
I hung around at that location and noticed that smaller groups were leaving at a time to return to the starting point. I hopped on my Honda and set off alone having a wonderful time at my own pace on the lovely, twisty roads of Dutchess County. Returning to the event headquarters there was a very good barbecue in progress which I partook of with gusto. The ride home was equally amusing and all in all the day was quite enjoyable. Sadly, I heard later, another rider had an accident on one of those lovely roads and passed away. It put a shadow on a day that helped a good charity and a great route to traverse and group gathering.
More events are coming and it should be a good year for riding.
I hung around at that location and noticed that smaller groups were leaving at a time to return to the starting point. I hopped on my Honda and set off alone having a wonderful time at my own pace on the lovely, twisty roads of Dutchess County. Returning to the event headquarters there was a very good barbecue in progress which I partook of with gusto. The ride home was equally amusing and all in all the day was quite enjoyable. Sadly, I heard later, another rider had an accident on one of those lovely roads and passed away. It put a shadow on a day that helped a good charity and a great route to traverse and group gathering.
More events are coming and it should be a good year for riding.
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