The rally is over the August 19-21 weekend with plenty of riding, fun, food and camaraderie.  Come out and meet fellow Buellers from all over and enjoy good conversation with good people.

When: August 19 – 21, 2011
Where: Northbend State Park — same place as last year!!… and the year before.. and the year before….
Why: Riding… eating… campfire… does there need to be any other reason??

We can pitch our tents at the same location as last year in the overflow camping area or if camping is not your thing… make your reservations at:

The Heritage Inn
315 E. Main St
Harrisville, WV 26362
304-643-2938

Full details are in the BadWeb Storm Fronts HERE.

Hope to see you there!

We have a fun twisty tour mapped out and scheduled for Sunday, August 7.  Kickstands up at 10:00am sharp, so show up early with a full tank of gas so you’re geared up and ready to roll out at 10:00am.  We’ll be hitting the Hocking Hills area with a lot of hills and twists, and there will even be a short (1 mile or so) bumpy, gravelly portion through the Clear Creek Nature Preserve.  No worries though, road bikes will be fine but I’m sure the Uly riders will enjoy it!

Total ride is 130 miles, half of which is pure twisty fun!  Lunch will be at the Grouse Nest around 11:30am, after which we’ll hit the majority of the ride.

Here’s a link to the Google map of the ride.

Please note that this ride is technical for much of the twisty portion, be aware of that. I would rate it a 4 on a scale of 1-5.  We want to enjoy the twists and turns while riding safely at the same time.  Newbies are cautioned against making this their first group ride.

That being said, feel free to bring a non-Bueller friends if you feel so inclined!

“…After riding it for about 50 laps at Road America, during a test session that had originally been intended for EBR racer Geoff May alone, I was almost speechless. But May, who was trying the street machine for the first time, wasn’t: “This thing is too good to be a streetbike,” he said as he pulled his helmet off after his first laps on an EBR 1190 with a headlight, turnsignals and taillight. “It’s faster than my 1125RR…”

The Cycle World article is a must read for any Buell enthusiast!

Regardless of that minor glitch, we headed off about 11:20am after a brief talk about the ride and etiquette. We made it to Zanesville without any issues, enjoying a “teaser” twisty road on the way. Some food, gas and we were on our way down 555.

Apparently sometime in the past couple of weeks the county or state decided it was time to tar and patch the road — which made for some even more interesting riding then originally anticipated. But we had a good group of riders and we made it through without incident.

At some point on our way back through Wayne National Forest, we made a turn and I neglected to follow my own riding instruction – to stop and wait at every turn. I thought I saw the distinctive lights of our “sweeper” after the turn so I continued on. My bad #2. We lost 4 riders at that turn. One caught up with us at the next turn but said the others had gone a different direction. We pulled off to wait a few minutes to see if they came along, but…no joy. The missing 3 were all very experienced riders with a couple GPS between them, so we figured they either decided to go another way or would catch us along the route at some point.

Sure enough…15 minutes later, they pulled right up behind us! Looking back at the map when I got home, I noticed that I had also taken a wrong turn after we lost them (should have continued on 93 South, not turned on to 93 North), which took us a slightly longer route around…allowing them to catch back up to us when we re-connected to the planned route.

Worked out perfectly! haha

All in all, I think it was a great ride. The curves were plenty twisty, the weather was great, the leaves were changing and barely covered the road, and we had some good company.

A very enjoyable ride, if I do say so myself.

I hope everyone that came enjoyed the ride as much as Lisa and I did!

P.S. Riding 2-up with the wifey helped me keep the speed down, the twisties a little less “scary” and helped ensure there were no “performance awards” given out. She did a great job as our guardian angel!!

Here’s a link to the Google map of the ride.

Feel free to bring a friend if you feel so inclined!

This is a MUST READ!!

Pick a copy up at the newstand — if you can find one. If not, you can download the back-issue now for just $.99 from Cycle World.

Here’s the first part of the article, along with a link to download the entire issue.

The Demise of Buell

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Roll On Columbus is a family friendly, motorcycle enthusiast focused charity event to raise money for Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

Doors will open Saturday, May 22nd at the LC Pavilion in the Arena District of Columbus, Ohio at 12:00 PM.

There will be vendors, dealers, demonstrations, live music, vintage bike show, custom bike show, The Trials Guys, The Motosphere, MiniGP racers, MSF demonstrations, fun, games, prizes, and much more. The entire day has been planned to keep every age entertained.

Let’s show our support for the children!

Mark your calendars for Sunday, May 16 @ 10am for a 160-mile loop to the east of Columbus, running from Reynoldsburg through Newark, over to West Lafayette, down to Zanesville, and back over to Reynoldsburg. We will meet in the Walmart parking lot in Reynoldsburg at I-70 and 256 (opposite side of the highway as the Motorcycle Hall of Fame).

There’s gas and food right there as well, so come early and be ready to hit the road. Kickstands up at 10am. There will be a gas & food stop mid-way through, so plan on 5-6 hrs. We’ll circle back around to where we started at Walmart for a full 160-miles.

This ride is a COBRA ride, but you’re welcome to bring along non-COBRA, non-Buell riding friends.

Here’s where we’re meeting – Walmart parking lot in Reynoldsburg:

View Larger Map

And here’s the route:

View Larger Map

This is a one-day class on your own scoot that reinforces the principles taught in BRC and ERC, and adds a few more things — like sliding your butt half-off the seat for better turning control. MSF has a FAQ about the class here.

If anyone is interested, here is the information I received about it…I’m considering going again myself (trying to take some kind of course every year).

The ARC-ST is still being considered a “pilot” course in Ohio, so it is extremely limited this year at ODPS in Columbus and at the MSF Campus in Troy.

The Columbus offerings are over Memorial Day weekend – one class each day on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (May 29, 30, and 31). There is 1 opening (as of 11.05p on 3/31/10) for the only other Columbus class – Sunday, April 18th. The Columbus classes are scheduled from 8a-5p and include an hour for lunch.

There are currently 8 openings for the class in Troy on Sunday, May 9th. That class is scehduled from 9a-5p.

To register on-line ( https://www.dps.state.oh.us/MOScheduling/MO_Ohio.aspx ), select Franklin County (for Columbus) or Miami County (for Troy). The ARC-ST classes are listed as ERC classes, but will have either “ARC-ST format” or *Advance RiderCourse* in the description.

I hope we’ll be able to expand the number of classes and sites next year (2011 season), but that remains to be seen.

Thanks for your interest in the course, and if there are any other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.