Cycle Connections

A lot of Cycle Connections readers are veterans, and know that the U.S. loses 22 service members per day to suicide. Sadly, there are more statistics of note for mid-coast riders and veterans: Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in Kansas and Missouri On average, one person dies by suicide every 10.23 hours in Missouri On average, one person dies by suicide every 21.84 hours in Kansas

Despite the rain and thunderstorms on May 16, 2015, which is Armed Forces Day, the 2015 Camp Valor Outdoors Patriot Ride was a huge success. Although the rain kept most of our riders from participating, we still had nearly 100 bikers complete the nearly 120 mile journey, which ended up at the Holden Community Activity Center for the remainder of the scheduled activities.

Earlier this year, I found out about a Biker Sunday that was going to be held at 2 p.m. at White Oak United Pentecostal Church in Thomson, Georgia. Mike Maddox and Pastor John D. Biggs got together to put on the first Biker Sunday at White Oak Church, which was held six days before the 13th Annual Kelsi Long Memorial Ride. Mike Maddox’s name is well known for organizing the ride for the Children’s Hospital of Georgia.

For many years, volunteers from Harley Owners Group’s Greater Kansas City Chapter have assisted Special Olympics in putting on their KC Metro Area Spring Games. This year’s event was held at Lee’s Summit North High School on April 25. Road Captain Bob Hyer led a 12-mile ride from Blue Springs Harley-Davidson to the school. Some of the volunteers met the group at North High bringing the count to eleven adults and one youngster.

The 7th Annual John Paul Magao Memorial Ride was held on March 1, 2015 at Plaza Park in Visalia, California. John was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident in 2007, and his father, James Wilfong established a scholarship fund for students at Redwood High School and College of the Sequoias, which are both located in Visalia, California. This annual memorial ride helps raise funds for the awarded scholarships.

During the weekend of February 13 through 15, Kansas City’s Bartle Hall was the venue for the 55th Annual O’Reilly Auto Parts World of Wheels presented by Weld Engineering Performance. Tickets to the show sold for $18 for adults and $6 for children aged 6 to 12. Discount tickets were available at O’Reilly Auto Parts stores. As usual, the exhibition hall was packed with high-dollar sports cars, classic cars, street rods, race cars, rat rods, and vendor booths. There were show classes for motorcycles as well as cars, but the bike count was down considerably due to the fact that,…

I’ve been looking forward to the Easyriders 2015 Bike Show Tour for several months now. This year’s event took place on Saturday, January 24, 2015 at the Charlotte Convention Center. I love the show, but I hate the lack of parking. Once you park your bike, it’s a long walk to get to the front of the building, and what I really hated the most was paying over $10 to park.

This year's Motorcycle Club Sunday was held on January 24, 2015 at the Tri-City Shrine Club Building in Honea Path, South Carolina. I’d always missed this event for some reason or another, but this year a friend sent me a flyer and told me I should go. After reading the flyer, I took Darlene Sherfield’s advice and put the event on my calendar.

Adam Sandoval and his Charming Chihuahua Scooter have embarked on a year-long 65,000 mile journey that will take them to every Harley-Davidson dealership in the lower 48. Their journey is on a 1996 Harley-Davidson Electra-Glide. Adam loves his Electra-Glide and says the motor is “bulletproof.”

If It’s Super Bowl Sunday it must be time for the annual vintage motorcycle show hosted by the Santa Fe Trail Chapter of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America. February 1 was the date, and the place was Building 21 at the Douglas County Fairgrounds in Lawrence, Kansas. The theme for this year’s show was “The Pre-20’s Motorcycles,” and the field of entries featured many fine examples fitting that description.

The Christmas for the Children 26th Annual Toy Run was held on Sunday December 21 in Joanna, South Carolina. The first ride was held by the Sons of the South back in 1988, and this ride has grown over the years to over 250 riders.

On December 20, the Valley Cycle Association (VCA) held their 2014 “Bringing Christmas Home” run. Once Again, VCA worked very hard all year to make this awesome event come to fruition.

On January 13, the ABATE of South Carolina Chapters and members from across the state join forces in Columbia, South Carolina for Lobby Day. On this day, all the ABATE members let the state senators and representatives know which bills are important to the bikers of South Carolina. The members meet at the Statue of John C. Calhoun before going into the gallery to show their unity to all the members of the General Assembly.

Saturday, January 3, began with a thick blanket of fog covering the southern part of the Kansas City metro area. In spite of the low visibility bikers sharing a passion for their religious faith as well as an enthusiasm for motorcycling found their way to the campus of Calvary Bible College and Theological Seminary for the 11th Annual Christian Biker Workshop sponsored by Cycle Disciples M/C. For the third time, the event was held in the Langmade Room, a facility well suited for a gathering like this. Coffee and donuts were provided by the host club. Attendance was down a…

For those who read the article I wrote last month entitled Biker Build-Off Team Building at Shawnee Cycle Plaza, you may recall that the management and employees at Shawnee Cycle Plaza drew names out of a hat, and divided into three groups for a fun team building exercise. Each team was given a stock motorcycle off the showroom floor, along with a budget of $2,500 (retail value) per team. The bikes were a red 2013 Honda Fury, a green and black 2014 Kawasaki Ninja ZX14, and a red and black 2015 Victory Cross Country. They had until Monday, December 22,…

Years ago, when I worked in a large corporate office, management would come up with various team building exercises to help build comradery and motivate employees to work better together; however, none of the them were near as cool as what Shawnee Cycle Plaza owner Barry Bunner and his management team came up with.

The Lost Girls MC 10th Annual Breast Cancer Ride was held on October 5, 2014 in Visalia, California. The theme for this year’s ride was “Tutus for TATAs.” This was also the first year the boys were allowed to join the girls.

If you’re a fan of the classics, the “Old Guys,” you would have loved this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. If you were part of the 70 something thousand people who were there, you know what I’m talking about.

About 100 bikes gathered at Rider’s Harley-Davidson on Saturday, September 20 for the 5th Annual Ride for the Burkett Center in Morris, Alabama. This wonderful event is sponsored by the Burkett Center P.T.A and assisted by the C.H.R.O.M.E Cross Cruisers.

I had hoped to begin my trip to Sparks for the annual Biker Halloween Party on Thursday, October 24, but my departure was delayed until early Friday morning. Bike games were already in progress when I arrived at about 11:30, so I postponed setting up camp until later in the day and instead headed for the “playground” area. Friday’s bike games and people games included plank ride, horseshoe toss, basketball shoot, potato race (with tennis balls), titty licking, buff the woody, wienie bite, keg toss (men’s and women’s), drinking and riding (Don’t try this at home.), butt darts, dizzy race,…