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Bits & Bytes of West Bank Motorcycle Club News  I've run into a little problem with the margins for some browsers that's taking me a little longer to figure out than I have time for. In the mean time you can click in this window and use the up and down arrow keys to scroll the page up and down. Wheel mouse works great. Bare with me - suggest a new layout (please do the design and testing locally before you submitting the design)... Thanks, harald 2008 - Another year to explore the roads on two wheels.
Lets make this a safe year. Our goal is zero accidents and fall downs. ---- See all of those red lines and the white space between them? ---- That space is open for contributions from the West Bank Motorcycle Club members. I'm waiting for your words of wisdom, interesting things you want to share or just random ramblings - please send them in. I'm really looking forward to seeing something other than my words and pictures on these pages this year. Let's start a tradition of sharing words. 2008.03.29 Sat Road Captain / 20 Riders meeting at The Junction. Great turn out - over 35 showed up. A dozen were on bikes (Yes, Jak was on a bike). Business was taken care of and then the serious business of getting into the spring/summer party spirit became the center of attention for most of the attendees. By dark there were only a couple of persons left tasting a new salsa concoction called 'No Bull Salsa' which may be on the market this summer. 2008.04.01 Here is the tenative agenda of business that will be brought up at the General Meeting on Saturday: Officer nominations: (in order of nomination) Secretary: Sandy Ellingson Mike Rodeck, Steve Firnhaber New Business to be voted on: To receive life patch / 200,300,400 etc. patches - No longer would you need to achieve these numbers by doing them in consecutive years. C.) Change rules to read; Life patch would still need to be 5 consecutive years of 20 rides per year. After receiving the life patch, all subsequent patches would no longer need to be in consecutive years Other Business: ? (as usual the loudest voice will be ignored.) If there are any other issues I ain't heard of them... ~hn 2008.04.05
WBMC election results
for 2008:
It was starting to look like a real light turnout before noon but by the time the meeting was over there must have been 40-45 present. There were also plenty of bikes. Once the meeting and chatting was over a few of of the members grouped up and headed out to places like Prescott for shrimp. Haven't heard if they made it. I did notice a few that just couldn't decide on when to leave or where to go. The weather remained good with the temps into the mid 50's plus. And most welcome - the roads were dry with most of the salt far to the sides. Watch out for those heaves, dips and all the large concrete chunks and rocks on the roads. The pot holes are still numerous and many are quite deep. We should mark some of the
worst and most dangerous pot holes and see how long
it takes our tax dollars to get them fixed up... 2008.04.15 You have until midnight to get your taxes in the mail - but while it's still daylight take the time to get that bike of yours roadworthy. On Wednesday take that bike down to The Junction on a test ride. Then you will be ready for the Flood Run this weekend 4/19. Intercepted the following message off of the net:
Meet @ the Boathouse 10am, shrimp & oysters for
breakfast?
It's supposed to be wheelie nice out!
I'd like to welcome a new (returning) sponsor: Roy's Repair - Right now they are having a sale that is running to the end of April. See the sponsors page, visit their web site or run on down to the shop - They are located just a bit south of The Junction. 2008.04.21 Flood Run turnout for the West Bank Motorcycle Club was pretty good with more than 13 at last count showing up for the early (by West Bankers standards) Shrimp and Oysters breakfast at Boat Drinks. I got there at about quarter to nine and there was Vern standing in the door. Within minutes there came Kevin and Brad. Then there was a rider or two every 5 to 10 minutes. Most of the group stayed down below with a few venturing up to Broad Street to mingle with the ever growing crowd. Before noon it was time to get out of town before the main mob. We stayed on 35, bypassed Diamond Bluff and made the next stop Maiden Rock. Said Hi to Dave McL and verified that he was still hosting the first ride. Hung around for a bit more and then headed on down the road making Nelson the next stop. It was real quiet what with the large number of cops in view. On to Alma where we stopped at a park just short of town for another break. Weather was still cloudy and cool. Would it rain or not was the question. We decided not to press our luck and headed back to Prescott for more shrimp. < Pictures > Hey - Hey - Hey -- Look at that countdown timer... We are coming up on that first club ride of the season which will be this Saturday, April 26th, 2008 noon leave. The destination will be to the Ride Captains home again this year. Let's not forget to thank Dave for doing all the work needed to get ready for this and putting up with the spills and 'thrills' that seem to come natural to our group.
On another note - Those looking at the ride schedule may notice that it is not up to date. We are working on this. Drop the WebMaster a note to hurry up the process. ---
It's Done. ~hn 2008.04.24 Before you do anything else take a look at the Letter from the Treasurer for the 2008 season. Then those that haven't looked at the Events page - Yes, The first ride is this Saturday. The Road Captain will be Dave M. and the planned route will be a nice, lazy
scenic round-about that will end up at his place. 2008.04.26 Sat First Club Ride. RC & host 'Hi-Ya Busa' Dave.
Global Warming?
At 6:30am it's 32F and dropping, wind west
23mph, wind chill 18F.
I I Wonder what the turnout will be? I've got my '79 BMW R100RT
on the charger just in case the temp's Now at 9:45 it's up to 35 with the sun peeking out. Looks like we may luck out; the one's riding two wheels that is. With light snow falling, along with the temperature, it's time to head down to The Junction. >>>>> Here's the link to Dave's Ride Report At The Junction I find Dave T. outside enjoying one of his humongous cigars; Vern is inside keeping warm. Wasn't long before Mark K, Davey, Steve and a couple of other riders arrived. Then, as if knowing all had shown up, Dave appears to lead the 7 of us on the 1st West Bank Motorcycle Club ride of the 2008 season. I was all for heading to
Prescott for some shrimp but Dave had
Needless to say once the
food and refreshments were out everyone settled into
a seat in the garage and it was talk; munch; talk;
munch from then on out. Pat tried to get the gang
into the basement 'play room' a couple of times but In between the eating a bunch of those that showed up on 4 wheels took a 'ride around the block' for ride credit. The snow and wind did not spoil the 1st ride of the season & party - I'm sure it just made it more enjoyable. The last of the group finally left just after 6:30. Everyone please remember to thank Dave for hosting the party. < Pictures are posted > Anyone with pictures they wish to share with the rest of us please get them sent in soon. 2008.05.02 Finally got Dave's pics from the First Ride on photo's page. Ride Schedule can now be viewed as web page (default link) or .pdf file. 2008.05.03 Wandroos or Bust - RC PaulM With the weather so nice, as in it wasn't raining or snowing, I just couldn't continue on with the Wet Noodle Run without rain so I drew a new map with Wanderoos, Wisconsin as the destination. Due to the wonderful weather we've been having this spring I wasn't able to pre-ride these roads. There were just two deviations from the map, one to bypass construction and another to go on PP instead of just Cty P'ing. I was looking for dirty corners all day. The roads were cleaner than in the summer and hopefully nobody slipped at all like myself. All the celebrities of Wanderoos were there to greet us. Tony O. came with his new ST and the Hat even pumped up his tires for the ride. What else could anyone want other than to win the lottery.
After leaving Wanderoos we stopped in Scandia. 2008.05.04 Slimey Crud Run RC: KevinM The Slimey Crud Run happens two times a year; once in the spring and again in the fall. It starts somewhere southwest of Mad City and ends up in Leland WI. But our ride started at Hwy 10 and Hwy 61. I got there at 6:15 take off time. Within minutes, having Paul, Harald and John in tow, we where off to southern Wisconsin. We tried to make time going down so we hit WI 35 and cut over to Hwy 61 at Red Wing then down to I-90; across to 154; down to Hwy 33. Hwy 33, if you haven’t rode down it yet, is a road you need to look into. It twists through Wildcat Mountain State Park. It is the closest you can get to mountain riding in the upper mid-west.
Leland is a very little two bar town and on Slimey Crud day it holds well over 200 motorcycles of all makes and models. We sat here a few hours to take in the sights and a few beers. As 3pm came we were back on the road again - then it was back up 33 to 27 to I-90 to Hwy 108 and Mindoro cut. This is a road you also need to get on to. The day was starting to get long and it only got longer as Paul took the lead in Wabasha. We turn on MN 60 - a very nice road but it sure goes south a long way before it turns to the west. We also got behind a batch of RV’s. The day was long, the ride was great.
I had 544 miles and 15 hours. Get out there and RIDE. > And here is my ramblings for this ride (why? because I can and you didn't ) ~hn Getting up at 4:40am after a Saturday ride is no easy task (for some of us). Add in an absolute 6:15am leave time from The Point and you really start to look forward to the upcoming 550 mile round trip. On this ride with Kevin were PaulM, Harald & JohnW One of the things that make it a fun endevor is that you get to scream down some very scenic and twisty roads. I did not take any prictures while driving - sorry about that.
The short stretch throught Wildcat Mountain State Park had some great scenic views but watching the road made more sense concidering we were following Kevin. No actual peg scraping but it was close on a number of those 35, 25 and 15 mph curves - we were, of course, maintaining a reasonable speed the whole time... < short write up on the highways taken is in the works - wait for it >
You can almost get a sense of the enjoyment we felt by looking at the Google Map in Satellite view. Starting at Mindoro, WI, follow 108 south, east to Bangor and down 162. When on 33 east - just keep going. You can also start at LaCrosse (our inbound route) and follow 33 east. It's a great rainy day armchair tour.
There are lots of pictures of the crowd and bikes at the Slimey Crud Run and a couple of stops on the way. Showing up in the afternoon was 'Hi-Ya Busa' Dave. We hung around, kicking tires and telling stories for a couple of hours and then headed back by way of the Mindoro Gap; back on I90 until we could head West on Hy 60 to re-enter the cities on Hy52/55. I did a couple side roads near home to get to an indicated 550 miles on the odometer for the day. 2008.05.07 Cardinal Tavern RC: FredM Jr.
A Short hop down the parkway on the west side of the river and then west on Hiawatha parkway. Wasn't long before the 50 plus 1 bikes overflowed both parking lots. The bikers quickly made their way inside, threatening to squeeze out the locals already occupying the seats. Rachel did a superb job of providing the refreshment to alleviate the dry mouth that occurs on these long runs. This also got many outside on the patio allowing others to find seating so they could enjoy the superb food. A couple of other members showed up; DaveE got a 'ride round the block' from Tracey; many new faces were in the crowd; a couple of new members were signed up and we left the place in one piece - well after dark. A number of us headed back to the Junction & Joint to continue on in a festive mood. The highlight of the late evening was the availability of getting a ride in a Race Car. Scarfy & Scott took the quick, rip-roaring trip around the Junction/Joint triangle.
It was sometime after the midnight hour that most of the members and friends heard the 'call to home'. 2008.05.10 Ride to Scandia RC: KevinM. Well I guess we now know who the real riders in the club are after this Saturday's ride. I would like to thank the 10 brave soles that came on a real great ride. Two of them, Yvonne and Mark signed up for membership on this ride. This ride ended up at Meister's in Scandia. For the most part it was dry going out. We went down some new routes that some people told me they had not been on before. The ride ended up being about 60 miles and a lot of smiles. You all do know we ride on Saturday also. Ride Eat Sleep Triumph - Get some REST - Kevin M. It was a great route around Bald Eagle Lake, up to Marine on St. Croix and then over to Scandia on really great roads that had not been traveled by most of us. The food and service was also great. This alone make this a very enjoyable ride. Now going back was a little damp but it was mostly from the road spray. ~hn
2008.05.14 Tavern On The Avenue RC: MikeG. A large group made a long, wandering ride on the parkways and streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The riders got strung out but most managed to get back into the pack around St. Paul. One (for sure) or two tried the adventure routes, also called alley's, as shortcut but this brought them adventure but not closer to catching up. It is interesting to note that these lost soles did make it to the Tavern well before the rest of the group. My best guess is that we ended up with about 50 crowding into the Tavern On The Avenue to enjoy the great service, food and beverages. Well after dark the place started to clear out with a number of people heading over the bridge to the place where Kara tends. There are plenty of open rides left on the ride schedule. Contact the to sign up for a ride.
2008.05.17 Japanese Motorcycle Show RC: PaulM. A quick trip to Kline Suzuki for a look at vintage Japanese motorcycles. Afterwards a few headed to Don's Little Bar to enjoy the sprinkles. Another small group went a bit further and ended up at Klinker's Korner Bar in Baldwin (a WBMC sponsor).
Chris Klinker, the owner, wants the WBMC members to be aware that they are having a ride on June 14th. They plan on a leave somewhere around 11:30 to cruise around some of the fine roads in the neighborhood. 2008.05.21 TangleTown RC: Mike 'Tornado' McCabe A little high speed highway, a couple of sweeping high speed off ramps - the wind wipping over your shoulders as we tour around a few lakes - ending up next to the landmark water tower near Minnehaha creek in TangleTown. - - - - More copy sent in on the 26th of May - - - - Mike McCabe's maps were gorgeous. Shame they were short on lines and big on intuition. Lost a few at Lake street and West River road, lost some more at 100 and Excelsior. The few that did make it were treated to historical tours through a bit of the University.
Harald said "Hey, it was like you knew my driving route when I was a slim and innocent University student. We even passed by my old bike parking spot at the U". Bridge and city views, high speed sane lane cruising, big sweeping right hand turns, a little regroup just off excelsior avenue and a leisurely stroll around lake Harriet to the Pop stop on 53rd and Lyndale. Hey everyone made it after all. A zippy tour through Tangletown and up to the once tallest man made natural point in Minneapolis. Stanley, Mikes’ dog showed up for a tummy rub; Smoker got to visit his boyhood home, and all is right with the world once again.
Cheers, Mike McCabe 2008.05.24 Cindy's Bottoms Up in Eau Galle. RC: PaulM When no road captain showed up by noon Paul took charge and doodled up a map sure to delight any twisty road rider and most 'normal' riders. Turned out to be a really good route according to the three new members that were in the group. Wide sweeping turns, couple of tight corners and lots of interesting scenery got us to Cindy's Bottoms Up ready for food and beverage. There was even a 'rest stop' near El Paso much to the relief of some of the riders. By 6 it was time to head to Boat Drink's in Prescott for a few jumbo shrimp. About 8 members showed up for the shrimp and I heard a couple others stopped at No Name
2008.05.28 Clover Leaf Bar, Newport RC: RichardH A nice meandering ride along the Mississippi on East River Road, on to Shepard Road and then Hwy 61 for the final run into Newport. With everyone parking in the back of the Clover Leaf a few late comers had to wander around a bit before finding the destination. Bike count tally was 55 bikes and 58 sign-in's. With this large crowd it's good that most decided to enjoy the crisp night on the outside instead of squeezing into the limited inside space. Good food and conversation kept many in the lot until well after dark. By 10 peace was restored and the cleanup crew finally got a rest break.
2008.05.31 Pickle Factory, Pepin WI RC: MikeG Sticking to the big slabs we headed out 94 to catch 61 south through Prescott and into a short rest stop at the Nauti Hawg in Diamond Bluff. A little refreshment on the newly overhauled deck overlooking the river made for a relaxing stop. Back on the road again we stayed on 35 until we entered Pepin and took the river side street to the Pickle Factory. The food was good, service good, refreshments good. That made for a good time for pretty much everyone. Wasn't long before word got out that the weather wasn't looking good back up in the Minneapolis area and a number of people sprinted back north. Others waited around a bit more until we could see the storm clouds. A couple of us took the round-about way into Prescott for shrimp (who-would-a-thought) - We missed the earlier group because of a 'where does this road go' moment; a quick stop to regroup; refreshment; back-track. After feasting on the shrimp Boat Drinks we watched the as the weather came our way and the locals kept insisting that there was hail on the way and the bikes would get beat up. After thinking about this for a minute, contemplating running the bikes up and under the overhang, we opted to order another round instead. What we got was a rain shower lasting but a few minutes and ending with a really beautiful, brilliant rainbow over the railroad tracks. Wish someone had told me I left my gloves on the bike... Checking the TV weather showed the cities getting hit hard so waiting a bit longer seemed to be in order. We had been informed there was a party going on at MikeG's but seeing what looked to be a clear slot that seemed to point towards home we sprinted on out. Everything was going real good, no rain, the bad stuff off to the east and the west still looking good. I was feeling pretty good as I entered 94 off of 61. But as all good things this too came to an end in just a couple of miles - just past Snelling the rain came down hard but only lasted until the river. Just enough to wet the pants bottoms. Things were clear again until Golden Valley where there must have been one bad dumping of rain as the road spray was pretty bad from 55 to 81. That's it from my perspective - Anyone else got a story?
2008.06.04 Sucker Creek RC: MikeMcC. Be there for the action... You'll never know if you don't show up for the ride -- Sharpen up your formation riding and corner marking skills --
More to come as I get around to scraping if off of the front page... hn
~hn |
Snow on the ground,
more is predicted to come. 
climb just a
little bit before my 11am leave. May even put the
'83 HD XLH on the charger just in case I'm feeling I
need something a bit closer to the ground so I can
use my feet as out-riggers for stability.
his mind set
on heading to his place. The road was in really good
driving condition as we headed up Washington and
then north on Broadway. He must really like stop
lights and pot holes. But it didn't take long and we
were beyond the stoplights on every block and
heading into Brooklyn Center.
Pat, Dave's wife had hot
food already lined up on the table and everyone was
more than ready to dig in.
everyone seemed quite happy in the garage.
