A Family Weekend
Posted by Jim Zeiser on Thursday, September 21, 2023
Years ago, when we were younger, my brother Bill and I rode motorcycles together constantly. As we got older and moved to different places it stopped. We finally got together about three years ago to do a local event after almost 45 years of not having ridden together. This past weekend we got together and made a big weekend of it. On Saturday we hopped on our bikes to do a little warmup ride around the area so Bill could see the roads that I have been raving about for years.
What made it easy for me to lead was all the rides I've done during local events. Those rides have traveled over many of the roads nearby and I stored the routes in my memory. It was only two hours but in the end we did sixty-four miles in a couple of hours. Each of the roads had various twists and turns and even the roads that were straight had gentle curves and rose and fell with the surrounding landscape. When we got close to the end Bill pulled up next to me at a traffic light and said, "This was a nice ride."
The next morning we set out for Kingston and the start of the Third Annual St. Jude's Ride. The event is done in memory of the Father of one member of the Hudson Valley Bikers Network (HVBN). I had done the event last year and since it travels through the Catskills it has really nice roads, epic scenery and impressive mountain views. Over 250 individuals signed up for the event which profited the charity with a record amount for the day. Bill and I enjoyed the pace and the after ride discussions with HVBN members that we caught up with. Bill enjoyed our discussions and joined the HVBN Facebook page becoming a member of the group when we got home. When I told people he had come down from Rochester to do the event they thanked him for coming.
The ride home was equally as pleasant and we were both smiling when we arrived back at my home. While not a huge amount we had done 177 miles together for the weekend which is more than we ever did in two days in our younger days. I expect we will try to make this an annual event. It gave us a chance to put a few miles on our bikes and relive the days of our motorcycling youth. It was a good time.
What made it easy for me to lead was all the rides I've done during local events. Those rides have traveled over many of the roads nearby and I stored the routes in my memory. It was only two hours but in the end we did sixty-four miles in a couple of hours. Each of the roads had various twists and turns and even the roads that were straight had gentle curves and rose and fell with the surrounding landscape. When we got close to the end Bill pulled up next to me at a traffic light and said, "This was a nice ride."
The next morning we set out for Kingston and the start of the Third Annual St. Jude's Ride. The event is done in memory of the Father of one member of the Hudson Valley Bikers Network (HVBN). I had done the event last year and since it travels through the Catskills it has really nice roads, epic scenery and impressive mountain views. Over 250 individuals signed up for the event which profited the charity with a record amount for the day. Bill and I enjoyed the pace and the after ride discussions with HVBN members that we caught up with. Bill enjoyed our discussions and joined the HVBN Facebook page becoming a member of the group when we got home. When I told people he had come down from Rochester to do the event they thanked him for coming.
The ride home was equally as pleasant and we were both smiling when we arrived back at my home. While not a huge amount we had done 177 miles together for the weekend which is more than we ever did in two days in our younger days. I expect we will try to make this an annual event. It gave us a chance to put a few miles on our bikes and relive the days of our motorcycling youth. It was a good time.
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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.
