MARCH 2014 The views expressed in this newsletter are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of the editor, St. Leger HOG officers, HOG, Harley Davidson Motor Company, their agents and dealers or St. Leger Harley-Davidson. None of the contents may be reproduced without the permission of the author.
MEET THE TEAM PRIMARY OFFICERS DIRECTOR ANDY COE Email - director@stlegerhog.org.uk ASSISTANT DIRECTOR IAN PASTOOR Email assist@stlegerhog.org.uk SECRETARY MALCOLM GODFREY Email - secretary@stlegerhog.org.uk TREASURER SHEILA LEMASURIER Email cash@stlegerhog.org.uk DISCRETIONARY OFFICERS MEMBERSHIP & EDITOR KEVIN BEALBY LADIES OF HARLEY LESLEY BEALBY HEAD ROAD CAPTAIN MARTIN COPLEY ACTIVITIES & CHARITY LEE GILBERT SAFETY & ACTIVITIES ADY VILES HISTORIAN DAVE GURNEY page 2 PHOTOGRAPHER ROBERT BRIGGS PHOTOGRAPHER KAREN ELLIOT
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March Ride-Out News General News Whooooo not long to go now, and by the time you read this we will have started the 2014 ride-out pro- gramme, and about time too. If the weather is fine then the first on mass ride I suspect will be to look at the new rally venue at Skirlington, but this will not be an official rideout, but the week before was the safety day and a few of us had a trip up to Bradford to show a very hopeful potential new rider her new bike. We once again will try and get you lot to enter the Chapter Challenge, don t panic it s not complicated and I ll sort it out, all you have to do is put your HOG membership number, Vin(chassis) number, your current mileage and your name on a form and get a dealer to stamp it to authenticate the details, as we do ride every Sunday and a few of us do some foreign miles they mount up fairly quickly. Once this is done they get posted off to HOG and then we do it again at the end of October, a ride has been planned to take in a dealer on the second ride of the season so as the little meercat says simples, someone will point the way, hopefully as good as this. Safety Day The safety day was a little rushed but the message got across I hope, and the lads from the fire service were really keen and had loads of info sheets for us, some of which involved courses on bike riding which will be passed on when we get the details. If you do a course and pick one thing off it then that may well stand you in good stead for the future, any riding tips are a good thing to have in your arsenal and I think HOG do a good job in keeping us safe, but that can t be done without a decent set of riders. Here is an example of good and bad group riding page 5
Rally News Planning is very much in full swing for the rally, the Sunday rides look all sorted, and the Saturday ride and park up has been taken on board by one of our members local to region, many hours go into this and I m sure they will pay off, thanks will be posted when it s all sorted, phone calls and e-mails seam to do the trick but you can t beat the recce ride to iron out any problems and tricky spots. The usual call to arms will go out for a helping hand at the rally from our members and I m sure we will put on a great rally programme for our visitors, and with your help we will get them to the destinations safe and sound. End Bit That s all for now, if you want to take a ride then get in touch and I ll sort something out, if you want a go at back marking then same again, just give me a nudge, one or two new faces may be on the ride-outs this year so give them a good St Leger HOG greeting and make em welcome, now where s my polish can t have that Clive bloke getting one over on my shinny motor, oh and the Bluebell Wood ride has got fantastic reviews off Gillian so we have more rides in the planning, so help with pillions would be great once again, ride safe, Martin Joke What s the difference between a Harley rider and a sports bike rider, about forty miles an hour. page 6
Race Night - 1/3/14 Many Thanks to all of you that supported the recent fund raiser at the Glasshouse, the evening was a huge success raising nearly 850.00 for Yorkshire Air Ambulance. Thanks to all the sponsors that made the event possible, special thanks to Sue O Grady and her enthusiastic support & ticket sales, also to Pauline & Chelle for their 'Tote duties' not forgetting Kaz for the entertaining lap top hiccups! St Leger entered into the spirit of the event with many Ladies wearing their best 'Race Day' dresses & hats with Sue O Grady winning the best dressed Mare competition! She was duly treated to a lap top dance from a topless George Clooney!! The fun games included a version of 'Play Your cards Right' with Caz Evans winning 75 by somehow following the rules and working her way through the higher & lower game. Sue Farmer & Kaz won the 'Audience Participation' race with an impressive riding action! Tamara Dove O Hara won the final race pocketing an huge 150! The now infamous 'F*** O** Bingo was a huge success with the lucky winner grabbing 90.00 Martin Copley decided to give his version of a topless belly dancer! Numerous prizes were won in the mystery raffle including 50 cash and a pair of my underpants! A great night was made possible by a fantastic audience! So well done to you all! Clive page 7
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The Pastoor New Zealand Trip 2014 I wont bore you with the family side of our trip just the bike related parts. After we had had a few days with my family in Auckland, I soon realized if I was going to get a bike, it would have to be soon as there were lots of other plans being made. So of to Amps Harley Davidson on Kyber Pass Road in Auckland I went. It was great to be recognized by a few members of staff, and after a brief chat I found out that the Germans were arriving soon and hiring 18 bikes. So I did not panic but arrange to hire one for Monday morning while Wednesday morning. The cost was pretty much what I expected $3000 bond and 150 per day including any riding gear you may need. I went home and told Sue the good news lol, after a quick chat with my Niece Claire I asked her son Cadern if he wanted to come along. He was over the moon and plans for our road trip were arranged, Monday morning arrived I kissed Harley and Sue good-bye and off to the dealers we went. The hire guy there a guy called Colin, was very helpful and sorted Cadern out with his riding gear as I had took my own. My bike was a 2009 Ultra classic, but not a screaming eagle version. page 10 It was only a few hundred yards to the motorway so getting out of Auckland was not a big deal. Our route was state highway one on the Southern motorway for about an hour before turning on to highway 2 towards the sea and some great roads. We stayed on this road all along the Bay of Plenty as far as Taurang. Where we had a great feed at one of the many cafes along this route. We
traveled a little further to Whakatne where we turned on to highway 30 towards Rotorue. The route to Rotorue and Lake Taupo was amazing so green reminded me of Scotland on a red-hot day. All though the smell from the thermals reminded me more of Bob. We had already covered a long distance some 350k on some awesome roads but Cadern was loving it that much we decided to push on to Napier on highway 5. This was an awesome road, long stretches with out seeing a sole or a petrol station, woops. For about 50k this bike had been trying to keep up with me and when we eventfully stopped at some road works the mysterious biker told me he was a relative new rider and hoped I didn t mind him tagging along. I said no problem so he said it s a lot easier because I ve got radar. I just laugh to which he said Oh shit and slowed down after that for some reason. Napier is an awesome town all the buildings are themed around the 1930s so some of you would feel at home lol. page 11
The only straight route back was towards Lake Taupo, again this is a massive lake surrounded by mountains and active volcano's you just cant pick a bad road around this area. We then took highway 5 and eventually highway 1, where we stopped at the dealers in Hamilton. Not before a cop did a u-turn and gave us a ticket for doing 124kph in a 100kph zone. The cost was $170 but no points; Sue was ok about it when I told her, it was half that price because we were from the UK. page 12 It was only another hour and a half back to Auckland so we were home about 3pm. Harley was overjoyed to see me back as was Sue till I told her about the ticket. So to make up for it I took her into the city that night on the bike for a romantic dinner by the harbour. This is a great country with some of the best roads in the world, save up and go is my advice. Tune in next month for the NZ Hog rally.
2014 sees a new venue for the St Leger Chapter Iron Horse Rally. Due to administrative changes at the former home of the Iron Horse, Bainlands Country Park in Woodhall Spa, the rally committee along with the assistance of some members have been striving to find an alternate location that would match the facilities available at Bainlands. After much searching the result is a new venue back in their home county of Yorkshire at Skirlington Leisure park at Skipsea on the East Coast. The team are satisfied that this will surpass the previous location and has room for development in future years. On site accommodation will consist of luxury static caravans, with an area set aside with electrics for camping, tourers and motor homes. Modern shower blocks are within yards of the area. Additional accommodation is available at nearby Skipsea Sands or local hotels. There are over 70 acres of parkland adjoining open countryside and the sea, with the Towbar complex featuring 3 bars, the "Hollywood Diner", the "Stardust lounge" and "Planet Party". The site also features a supermarket and fish and chip shop. Other facilities include, Swimming Pool, Gym, Sauna and Steam room. For the more adventurous you could try your hand at fishing in the well stocked fresh water lake or test your golf skills on the pitch and putt course. There will also be a large Sunday market on the edge of the park. The rally will run from the 16th to the 18th of May and will maintain the traditional St Leger fun packet weekend, including live bands, chapter games, bike show and new ride out destinations. We will be pleased to see you there and share this experience of a new location. Visit www.ironhorserally.co.uk for further details page 13
Minutes of St. Leger Chapter Social Evening 17th February, 2014 Present: 39 Members and Associates Andy thanked everyone for coming and asked Malc to open proceedings. Merchandise Wall planners, which include ride out details and Chapter events etc. are now available for 3 each. The usual merchandise also available at bargain prices. The new HOG logo rockers will be ordered if there is a demand. Activities 1.3.14 Clive gave details of the Race Night. 7pm start. 5 per ticket to include pie and peas. Members tickets will be refunded on the night on production of ticket and valid membership card. There will be 9 races and there will be a prize for the best dressed Race Wear 29.11.14 Christmas Party. Malc gave details of his visit to the Holiday Inn with Ian. They decided the Hall was too small to take our party and it will now be in the big function room through the glass corridor. The room is big enough to take live entertainment and will be set out with round tables. While Ian is on holiday Sheila will be taking deposits. Ride Outs Andy reported in Martin s absence, due to work commitments. All ride outs are on the planner! 10.8.14 Photo-shoot which it is hoped will be at the Fire Station. A safety day is being organised for the 9th March this year. Ady is waiting for confirmation from the team that will do the presentation and the Glasshouse has been booked provisionally for the morning. More details will be put on the website to confirm this event. 17.3.14 A Chapter group riding refresher presentation at the Social Evening. Andy asked for Road Captains to attend. Tea and coffee will be provided. Website No problems were reported. Newsletter page 14 Kevin asked for articles for future editions as he is hoping to continue with newsletters each month. Membership 2 new members have enrolled this month. Kevin asked members to welcome any new members at events and ride outs.
Malc asked members to encourage larger people to join so he could sell some XXXL T shirts this caused much merriment! Kevin reminded everyone all members and associated must be HOG members. Andy asked if everyone was receiving the newsletter, there were no comments. LOH Lesley reported there are 10 Ladies of Harley going on the Spa overnight stay at Forest Pines on Friday. More events are being planned for the future. Charity Lee was absent due to work commitments. Sheila asked for donations of prizes suitable for the rally tombola in aid of Air Ambulance. The copper collection is on-going. Rally All the caravans have now been sold. Sheila has spoken to Skirlington and they are hoping to source some more caravans from their own residents. Arrangements can be made directly with Skirlington and their phone number is on the rally section of the website. Tickets should be purchased separately through PayPal or from Sheila. The Sunday short ride will be to a Cold War bunker about half an hour away from the rally site. There will be a charge of 5 per person with a maximum of 40 and will only be open to rally wristband wearers. The alternative ride for Sunday will be to Goathland. It has been decided not to do the meal tickets. It is felt the options available in the Hollywood Diner will be sufficient and the evening buffet would be difficult to police. Finance All ok. There were no questions. Andy asked if anyone would be interested in a presentation about the Director s meeting and Pete asked if it could be put on the forum for all to see. Michelle won 27 with ticket no. 306 in the Winner Takes Half The weigh in took place and Andy lost this month and paid 5 to Chapter Funds. page 15 Thanks to everyone for coming see you all next time.
Leeds Harley-Davidson Wellington Road Industrial Estate, Wellington Bridge, Leeds, LS12 2UA Tel - 0113 245 2499 Fax - 0113 242 3247 Opening hours page 16 Sales Mon to Fri 9 am till 6 pm Sat 9 am till 5 pm Sunday 10 am till 4 pm Service Tues to Fri 9 am till 6 pm Sat 9 am till 5 pm Sunday closed Motorcycle drop off and collection is available on Sunday Monday by prior arrangement with service staff.