ROAD REPORT: October 17, 2004
We had a beautiful, crisp and sunny day this year. The turn out was terrific (we quadrupled our participation!) and everything went smoothly. The PAPD M/C Unit was in fine form at the helm of Sergeant Richard Ruiz and our hard working road captains assisted in getting all 245 of us up to Bear Mountain and back to Hogs' smoothly and safely.
Ron Peters, the Bear Mountain State Park Manager, was generous and spirited (as always) and encouraged us all to take a free ride on the famously restored and magnificent carousel at the Park. That was fun, to see so many men and women clad in black leather with great big goofy grins on their faces enjoying some good old-fashioned fun.
BMW of Manhattan supplied this years amazing raffle prize of a brand new 2005 BMW 650 CS in silvery blue. What a fabulous bike!
The lucky winner was Jennifer Kohns. What made our lucky winner even more special was that A) it was a woman and B) She had a dream of learning to ride a motorcycle and to one day purchase a bike of her very own! Two of Jennifer's dreams came true on Sunday, October 17th!
The Hogs & Heifers Block Party, BBQ, Auction and the Arms Length Raffle were all huge successes. NY Myke returned as our Auctioneer this year from all the way from San Diego, California where he owns and operates San Diego Harley Davidson. Myke rocked the block as he managed to up the ante and get folks to bid big and raise lots of money for LOVE.
And here's the great news: We managed to raise $30,000!! Thanks to all of you folks who came out and celebrated women in motorcycling, the youth of LOVE and the motorcycle community as a family.
We also must thank Manhattan BMW for their generous donation as well as the bike. We could not have had as successful a day without their supportive and loyal staff all led by the very wise, kind and hard working Steve Sergi. That includes beautiful Jane (the greatest saleswoman at Manhattan BMW) and Sharam, for bringing the bike to the Gotham Motorcycle Classic on the Intrepid, hanging out at Hogs' every weekend with the bike to help sell raffle tickets and riding it up to Bear Mountain the day of the ride.
Another big thank you goes out to Leslie Kirschenbaum who designed all of our posters, fliers, flags and written materials and for being downtown at Hogs' at the crack of dawn to help register folks. Another designer who we could not have pulled this off without is Jim Pace. Jim managed to keep those JPEGS flying from his office to the printer at a moments notice!
We will never be able to thank the men and women of MANYS (Motorcycle Association of NY State) enough for their dedication and support to the LLR. The director Mike Melis spear headed the crew with Ramon Perez, Joe Aiello, Ed Barrett our Military Liaison and Chief operations Manager, Ed's sweet heart wife Nancy Cass and ZaZu the wonder dog! Each and everyone from MANYS were beyond helpful with their very cool 18 Wheeler, the huge sound system, awesome rock n' roll, hot coffee and high spirits.
A shout out to the ENTIRE staff at Hogs! You are amazing! They donated their time, energy and tips, working all day from 7:00 am until. and smiling all the way through it!
Another thank you to Shelly Hirshon, our brilliant attorney, whose legalese, smarts and love kept us all in line and focused. Barbara Goldstein, the President of LOVE, who kept the LOVE portion of the event organized and rallied the youth for whom this day honored along with the women who ride. Ariel and Yaniv Schulman, thank you both for filming the entire ride with the Biker-Cam (gotta' love that) Rel for driving the big red Hog's truck and Nev, please wear that Lady Liberty costume again this year.
Here's to the Lady liberty Ride 2005. Bring more friends and family!
Register right now and we'll see you all on September 25th!