MotoGP Indianapolis 2K11

NOB attended MotoGP this year. We had a small but intrepid group of riders. Bert, Mallory, Erskine, Edmund and me rode to Indianapolis for MotoGP. This year we had the pleasure of riding with Mark Michaels. He is much improved since the days of riding with a broken gear shift in loafers.....Mark actually looks like a rider these days. Thankfully we had no accidents. The weather was great and the fellowship was even better. I like to thank all of those who attended MotoGP this year. Our group "hung out" in downtown Indy after the time trials on Saturday night. It was a hot and muggy night with 1000's of bikes and freaks.....A fun time was had by all. We hope that next year Indianapolis will play host to MotoGP. If so, we will be back in Indianapolis next year. Enjoy the fall riding season. Soon it will be time to put the bikes up for the season. Ride safe.

Happy Father's Day

Greetings:

We just returned from a great 2K11 Americade Trip! From Syracuse to Montreal, Canada!!! For those of you who attended this year's trip thank you. I really enjoyed our time on the road together. For those who were not able to attend, you missed some really beautiful rides this year. Unfortunately, Americade is really changing. I think it is a combination of a poor economy and a change in the demographics of the type of riders that are attending Americade. When NOB first went to Americade in 2002, Americade was primarily for Tour Riders, i.e. Goldwings, Sport Touring and Beemers. This was reflected by the types of vendors that were present at Americade. What Americade has morph into is a more universal rally with 50% of the riders there on Harleys and metric cruisers. With the Laconia Rally taking place the week after Americade in Laconia, New Hampshire, you have a lot of the cruiser crowd going to Americade. I hope that Americade will survive. I think about the Honda Hoot (rip 2008), Honda Homecoming (rip 2007) and various other motorcycle rallies disappearing because of the lack of interest or the poor economy.

Anyway, this being our 5th trip to Americade we have become somewhat familiar with the roads. This year we went up the the top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire. Likewise, Erskine found Vermont Route 100. It is one of the most scenic state highways that I have ever been on. I will follow up this post with a more details and pictures.

Upcoming events-Wing Ding, Knoxville, TN. July 6, 2011 through July 9, 2011; BMW Nationals July 21-24, 2011 Bloomsburg, PA. Other rides TBA.

Happy Father's Day to all of the Fathers out there. Again, thanks for riding. As always, ride safe.

Jp

New Riding Season 2K11

Greetings Riders,

As we are about to start a new riding season, I just wanted to let everyone know what we are planning for the first part of 2011. The upcoming rides are Litchfield Honda Open House May 14-16, 2011. For those of you that have not been, think of a mini-Americade! There will be a number of vendors and music and a whole lot of motorcycles. Litchfield, IL is located on I-55 approximately 45 minutes south of Springfield, IL or 45 minutes north on I-55 of St. Louis, MO. Next ride will be Americade in Lake George, NY. That trip will be June 4-13, 2011. We will be leaving Chicago on June 4, early, i.e. 5 a.m. riding to Syracuse, NY. From there we plan on going into Canada and to Mount Washington, NH. We will then ride back down to Lake George and spend a few days at Lake George, NY. It will be a nice time. After that, some non-NOB trips with be the Wing Ding, July 6-9, 2011 in Knoxville, TN, and BMW Nationals in Bloomburg, NY, July 21-24. One of my friends Roc Shannon is a co chair of this event this year. More information to follow for those that are interested.

As always, ride safe and I hope to see all of you on the road this year.

God Bless,

Jp

Mid Winter ride in D.C.

Tonight it’s cold outside and raining ice. A far cry from the beautiful weather we had earlier this week. In fact it was so nice on Thursday I decided to take my bike out and go play in traffic. I rode down town and stopped by to see POTUS. Security there stopped me before I could get within a quarter mile of their big old house. “Where’s POTUS”, I asked. “He’s on punishment”, the officer said, “FLOTUS caught him smoking in the boys room again”. “I thought he quit I replied”. “Yeah we did to. Apparently those two boys, Phillip and Morris told him it would make him look cool”.

So I rode up the hill to see if anyone there wanted to play, but everyone was already busy playing games. Some were playing “Pin the Blame on the Donkey”. Others were playing “Pass the Buck”. POTUS was there in the corner pouting because he was on punishment. He was bored so he started playing “Balance the Budget” all by himself. His new friends on the other side of the isle turned out not to be so friendly. Some of them were having a tea party but would not let others play. The rest were playing Simon says “No!”. One of them named John was on his way to the emergency room. Apparently some girl named Nancy poked him in the eye. Normally he would just go see the nurse, but he did not have any health care. Something about a pre-existing condition.

I decided to leave the hill and head on home. At least it was a nice day for a ride, even if no one could come out and play.