bs0406-3

Boxer Shorts, June, 2004 - 3 of 4

May Meeting Minutes

by Bruce Ferguson, Secretary and Clerk

Old man winter, that old man winter, he just keeps coming, he just keeps coming in May. Well, maybe not old man winter, but certainly the young lions of March crept stealthily back, dragging cool overcast gloom and, ultimately, cold penetrating rain over our May breakfast meeting. But did we care? Heck no! We're Beemer Riders and we laugh at the rain. We had 83 bikes in the parking lot, and 88 paid breakfasts. Ah, hah, hah hah!

Among the most noteworthy bikes on display were Bill Nielson's R69S with Steib Sidecar, and Victor the Cruiser's beauteous new R1200GS in Mandarin Yellow to match Dana's riding suit. Victor generously allowed several admirers to sit upon his new steed and soak in the lightness. These two glorious examples of Germany's finest bracketed the field of airheads, oilheads, flying bricks, and thumpers that made such a fine turnout. In addition, several seeker machines were there, including a black Harley 88 Dyna Wide Glide, fast at any speed, a purple Aprilia Futura, fast even when standing still, a really red Honda ST1100, a Suzuki V-Strom, and a Kawasaki ZZR 600.

And who could blame us for coming out on days such as these? Stone's Public House put on their customary (see how quickly we decree what's customary) lavish breakfast buffet of: authentic Irish soda bread, rich creamery butter, tropical cantaloupe slices, snappy sausages, creamy scrambled eggs, Stone's signature corned beef hash, rashers of just-right cooked bacon, French (OK, so they were right, get over it) toast swimming in secret banana rum maple syrup, endless flagons of rich imported coffee, and fresh juice. The breakfast committee worked out a new serving system that allowed twice the number of hungry riders to fill their plates in half the time, and all that good food was gone by the time the last diner had wheeled through the line.

President Kit Wise began the meeting by distributing the results of the member survey and highlighting several key discoveries: We're educated, and experienced riders, averaging more than 23 years on two wheels; respondents average nearly 6,700 miles per year. People who don't attend the monthly meetings think they are too far away; we like the food, and we don't want to keep changing breakfast venues; we'd like to see more mechanical and maintenance activities; we want to ride to more destinations. We've suggested that we need more younger riders (to which Kit responded by signing up a 15-year old new rider), events with broader participation, a winter rally, and more info on the web site. Kit will have more commentary on the survey after he has had more time to digest the results.

The most important news that Sunday morning concerned several date changes in our busy schedule. The June breakfast will be at Stone's on June 13, not June 6 as it says in the YB calendar. The July meeting will be a breakfast at Stone's on July 11, not an evening buffet as scheduled in the calendar. And August will once again be the month for our weekday evening dinner buffet, on August 18.

The dinner will be at the Grill at Pinecrest Golf Club. Ze food committee isht vorking up a menu plan based on ze German spetzialties such as potato pancakes, sauerbraten, viener snitzle, bratwurst, undt bier. A tariff of approximately $30 PP is targeted.

May meeting Kit reported that the Toasty Nuts campout was a huge success with "unbelievably beautiful weather" including temperatures in the 80's, a complete absence of rain (which Kit had promised as part of his campaign) mandating T-shirt attire, and attracting 90 or so participants. By day, riders ranged far and wide, hitting such wide spread places as Maine, Canada, the Vermont notches, and the birdman in the Northern Kingdom, and the motorcycle exhibit in Albany, NY. By night, there was creative cooking on open fires, bench racing, story telling, and a joyous bacchanal.

Looking ahead to June, Kit has promised to draft up more beautiful weather for the Pemi River Campout, June 18, 19 and 20 There will be perpetual coffee, chili on Friday night, barbecue and a band, Amorphous, on Saturday, and even better beer than we had last year. All this for only $30 pre-registration, $35 at gate. (Early arrivals will be welcome on Thursday for an additional $10 camping fee, payable directly to the campgrounds) The Sled Dog Touring Team will be taking care of coffee. As always, don't forget your mug, 'cause we don't do Styrofoam. Mallory has mapped out some excellent group rides. Mt Washington will be closed to four-wheeled traffic on Thursday, and a group has started to plan a 10:00 am departure from the campground, so come early and make the climb. There's a neat bumper sticker in it for you.

The MinuteMan 1000 will be running June 12, and registration closed as of May 16. So if you know who you are, you're going. Otherwise, you'll hear about it later, from people who have had their butts ironed.

Don't forget that May is inspection sticker month in Massachusetts, so if you're going to get a sticker, you're already too late.

Kit pointed out that Victor had brought his new R1200GS, for anyone who had missed it on the way in. And he introduced a guest, TJ Inman from Wagner's BMW of Shrewsbury on Rt. 9, a new dealership selling both cars and bikes.

New members included Tom Perkins from Bridgewater who rides a K100; Sean Latham, Saranac, NY, R1150R; and Dan Main, Hopedale, MA, R75/5.

The two 50:50 raffles of $54 each went to Gary VanVoorhis and Kawie Kate Chisolm. The Long Distance breakfast hound award went to Nancy Smith from Chandler, Arizona who left her Kawasaki Ninja behind and rode the last few miles to the breakfast with Bob Blethen on his R1150RT.

See our event photos on www.photoisland.com userid yb password bmw

Bruce Ferguson

Next page Boxer Shorts index