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Leather Touring Vented Bomber-Style Jacket
ON SALE: $189.95
Touring Bomber Jacket with vented front, back and sleeves. Elastic waist, full zip-out liner and durable black hardware. Analine Cowhide.
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Harley Davidson Baby Gift Box (0-6 Months)
ON SALE: $29.95
This three-piece gift set is classic Harley Davidson quality. All three pieces are in the classic black and orange HD colors and would be adorable for either a baby boy or girl. All pieces are 100% cotton and are machine washable.
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Ladies Classic-Style Leather Motorcycle Jacket
ON SALE: $114.95
Affordable Ladies Classic-Style Motorcycle Jacket with Silver Hardware. Adjustable belt, 3 front zipper pockets, 1 front button pocket and zippered wrist closures. Full lining and manufactured from quality Buffalo Leather.
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110% Sportbike Freestyle (DVD)
$22.95
Come along for the ride of your life as the top Freestyle Sportbike riders in the nation travel coast to coast. Watch them battle to see who will become the 2002 XSBA National Champion. Throughout the competition you will visit some of the world's most famous racing facilities and ride with the top teams in the country. You will be amazed by the dedication, commitment and sacrifice that are showcased during these rider's extreme stunts.
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Ladies Vertical Braided Leather Vest - X4 Series
ON SALE: $74.95
Deluxe X4 Series Vertical Braided Leather Vest with 2 front pockets and a button up front. Manufactured from Premium Drum Dyed Naked Cowhide.
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Boy's Harley Davidson Swimsuit & Beach Outfit
ON SALE: $29.95
Baby/Infant Boy's Harley Davidson Four Piece Swimsuit and Beach Outfit – Harley Davidson swim shorts printed with HD shield logos and motorcycles and are lined with a polyester mesh. There is a short sleeved t-shirt to match with a motorcycle and ‘HARLEY DAVIDSON’ printed across the front.
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Leather Chap-Style Pants with Silver Hardware
ON SALE: $129.95
Professional Grade Buffalo Leather Motorcycle Chap-Stlye Pants with elastic waist, zippered front pockets, snap button leg closures and heavy duty silver hardware.
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Polarized Sunglasses - Slasher
ON SALE: $49.95
SOS Polarized Sunglasses - Featuring one-piece MLF Multi-Layer Filtration lenses that provide distortion free, ophthalic quality and extreme eye comfort. There are no laminates to separate and nothing to degrade the polarization as with laminated films.
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Lightly Insulated Leather Motorcycle Riding Gloves
ON SALE: $22.95
Full sized lightly insulated riding gloves with elastic wrist band and double seam construction for added durability. Velcro strap wrist closures.
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Here is your chance to write an article for The Bikers' Den Newsletter. Send us your motorcycle related
articles and if we use it in our next newsletter you will receive a $50.00 Gift Certificate valid on anything we carry.
You don't have to be a professional writer and you can write about anything you
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tips and tricks, ride destinations, product reviews, etc. Let us know how your weekend ride went or the
biker rally you attended... Send your articles to The Bikers' Den Newsletter.
Rob Weeds, from Victoria, BC, Canada, is the February winner of the $50 Gift Certificate with his "Osoyoos 2003 Memorial Day Ride" article. Thank you Rob for taking the time to write and submit your article to us.
Osoyoos 2003 Memorial Day Ride
The Osoyoos '03 Memorial Day Ride was being put on by a group of riders called the Norwestars, of which I am a member. The Norwestars are a constellation group from the main Club called ISRA, which stands for International Star Riders Association. I spent many hours pouring over all the messages and emails being sent and posted about the ride. It was a large group, with riders coming in from all over BC, Alberta, and Washington State. There was even a gentleman that rode in from Couer de lane Idaho.
I originally was taking my beautiful wife Bonnie but she decided that she didn't want to venture out in the erratic weather we had been having. She as it turns out doesn't mind riding as a passenger but the weather has to be a little nicer out. I was bummed out that she didn't want to go but I was determined to have fun anyway...hehehe
Thursday night before departure day...
I had to umpire a slo-pitch game that evening, and I still hadn't packed for the trip. Arriving home around 8:00 I started to pack up the T-Bag. I was used to going camping in my Explorer and was trying to pack the same amount of clothes into my T-bag. Now it is a rather large bag but I was overpacking. I always seem to take way to many clothes. Better to have to many than not enough. After getting the bike all ready and my gear setup to slip into the next morning, all I had left to do was make a couple of last minute calls to my riding partners for the next day. Confirming our meeting places, I was ready for bed. It was 11:00 and I had to be up at 5:00 am. The ferry we were catching to get off this lovely rock we call Vancouver Island was leaving at 7:00. I needed time to shower, eat, and do the final packing for the trip. I set my alarm for 5:00, or so I thought. Fate does weird things to people and this wasn't an exception. I had fallen asleep quick enough but much to my chagrin I woke up at 2:00 in the morning and proceeded to toss and turn for an hour and a half. Finally falling asleep around 3:30, I awoke not to the preset alarm but my internal clock instead. I opened one eye to see that it was 5:15, I guess I had set the alarm ok but didn't actually turn the alarm on. I leaped out of bed, trying not to wake my wife, (as if), and jumped in the shower. I was so pumped about heading out on the ride that I didn't pay any attention to how tired I was. I had only about 4 1/2 hours sleep.
I went downstairs after getting dressed, had a bite to eat and after a big kiss and hug from the wife I was out the door. All that took me only 40 minutes. I was on the road by 6:00 am and had to be in Sidney by 6:20. Pulling my beast out of the garage I was dismayed at the weather. It was raining but only lightly. There was a big fog bank that had come in and this made for a very moist and damp ride to Sidney. By the time I reached Sidney the rain had stopped but the fog was still as thick as molasses. Pulling into the Chevron to fuel up, there was my buddy Glen's Sportster, Lee and Laura, and Tom and Linda. After a quick fillup we had to wait a minute for Glen who had opted for some greasy food at Micky D's. I couldn't figure out how he could pass up the famous Sunshine breaky on the BC Ferries. It is a lovely two egg thing with some unknown sauce that still to this day is a well kept secret.
The lineup for the ferry was incredible. I do love the fact that they tell you to go up the empty lane and then butt your way into the front of the first car to go on. This is way cool but I don't imagine the people behind us were all that thrilled. Oh well, this is one of the many things I love about being on a motorcycle. The ferry docked unloaded and away we went. All four of us, giddy in our anticipation of the ride ahead of us. Parking, blocking and securing the bikes takes all of two minutes so after a couple of pics we were off to the cafeteria. All I wanted was some coffee. I needed to wake up. the 4 1/2 hours sleep was taking its toll on me and it was only 7:00 am. With such a long ride ahead of us I was a little concerned about staying awake. I know, I know you shouldn't drink caffeine and rely on it to keep you awake but that is all I had...hehehe
The ferry ride by the way is a beautiful and picturesque trip taking an hour and 40 minutes. You travel through the Gulf Islands and then on to the mainland. Part of me despises this ferry ride because it is a vehicle for our gov't to gouge us of even more money, but in the end I appreciate it as it keeps a lot of people from moving over here. I have lived on Vancouver Island all my life and truly believe it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. After docking in Tsawassen, the four of us roared down the ramp, with smiles on our faces, and the wind whipping through our hair. We had about 40 minutes to get to Langley to meet up with the rest of the crew.
Arriving in Langley, we immediately got lost and had to phone for directions, this was not a good start to our weekend. We rolled into the KFC parking lot which was filled with every conceivable kind of Yamaha star bike. About 30 bikes were there all raring to get on the road. After some griping from a few people away we went. Half choosing the fast route straight out the freeway to Hope and the other half, our group choosing to take a more leisurely ride thru the backroads of Abbotsford, Mission, Harrison Hot Springs and then onto Hope. This was a beautiful ride with very little traffic, and some great scenery. We didn't stop along the way as we were trying to get to Hope as soon as possible. Getting to Hope we decided to stop for Gas, and have a bite to eat. Right behind the Chevron was a great little restaurant called Rolly's. If you are ever in Hope looking for something to eat then I would highly recommend Rolly's. I have eaten there a couple of times and was impressed both times. There was about 15 of us eating there and took up a large portion of the restaurant. It was incredibly muggy out and it was suppressing my appetite a little. If you have ever seen me you would wonder how this possible. All I had to eat was a bowl of Turkey soup and a bun. Oh yeah, I had a beer as well. It was very cold and went down rather fast.
After eating we all got geared up, and were on the road again. Heading east on highway 3 we were headed thru Manning Park. This is a great ride with a lot of corners and twisties. We hadn't traveled to far into the park when we noticed there was a bunch of cars pulled over and people standing on the side of the highway taking pictures. Looking over we could see on the side of the highway was one of B.C's finest bits of wildlife chewing on some grass on the side of a bank about 10 feet from the other side of the road. You might at this point think it may have been a deer, maybe an elk, or even a moose...no it was a black bear. This was freaking awesome. We all pulled over. The coolest thing about this was that the bear didn't even flinch from the pipes on our bikes, hmmm, maybe we should take the baffles out. After some pics we were off again.
The ride thru Manning park was breathtaking. We didn't get rained on at all but did see a bunch of snow on the side of the road near the summit. Stopping along the way we pulled into a little gravel turnaround. Normally a gravel turnaround is kind of non-descript but there seemed to be some very unruly boulders laying about, as Dean and Maria were to find out. His tire got twisted up on one of these as he was turning around. With Maria on the back he layed his bike down in the gravel, no damage to the bike as he wasn't going very fast but I think the shades of red coming from his cheeks and ears were enough damage...hehehe. No biggie Dean as I am sure something like that happens to all of us sooner or later.
Off we went again, Mark and I were running up front and we were pushing the bikes. I wanted to see what my big beast could do on these corners and to see what kind of torque it really had as I lumbered up some of the steep inclines of Manning Park. My roadie was running admirably but I found it still lacked a little straightaway power. I could easily overtake Mark, on his 1100 V-star, on the hills but on the flats he was having no trouble keeping up and at times passing me. Heading up the hills I would play with him a little by hitting my throttle and staying in fourth gear to let him think that he was doing ok...just as he would get up to me, I could see he was having to drop down a gear. At this point I would throw the bike into 5th gear and power on by him. All I could see was his frown and then a smile as he realized the power differences on our steeds. This was fun. Man I was having a blast, with the wind in my hair and a weekend of riding ahead of me. Our next stop was Princeton for fuel and some refreshments. I would have liked to have a beer but Gatorade was all I could find. It was getting warmer and more humid as we got closer to the interior. Fluids were essential and gatorade seemed to be the best bet. After a little rest, we mounted our metal gods of power and off we road, the anticipation of the ride and weekend ahead of us was high.
Again Mark and I pulled ahead of the group for the final blast towards Osoyoos. What we were faced with was incredible. The road from Princeton, on thru Hedley, Keremeos and then to Osoyoos is unbelievable. 75 miles of nice smooth highway, perfectly banked corners that you can do 130 clicks thru and not have to slow down. What a rush. I was able to put the Roadstar thru its paces and I truly think this was the start of a really nice love affair. All I could think about was how well the bike was running. Lots of power up the hills, in the straights and on thru the corners. As we neared Osoyoos we came around a corner and were faced with Osoyoos lake. A nice big lake stuck in the valley. It was beautiful. I think that this lake is touted as the warmest big lake in BC. I don't doubt as the temperatures there in the summer are desert like. As we finally pulled into the city, I was taken back to some small towns on Vancouver Island that reminded me of Osoyoos.
Pulling into the Hotel parking lot I instantly got a smile on my face. There were Roadstars everywhere. Guys were outside drinking beer, polishing their bikes, bullshitting, and I could hear laughter everywhere. This was going to be one awesome weekend. Getting off the bikes the first thing we did was get checked in and unpacked to our rooms. Glen had a room all to himself as he was able to get a great deal from a guy on the Norwestar's forum that wasn't able to make it. The guy had put a deposit on the room and left it. Glen was able to get one night's free stay. Pretty cool for him. Mark and I were in the same room. We got into the room and immediately thru the air conditioning on high. I changed out of my bike stuff, and jumped into shorts, t-shirt and sandals. What a great feeling to be out of my riding boots and jeans. Going outside we were yakking at a whole bunch of people. The Ottawa Senators and New Jersey Devils were playing in the 7th and final game of the Semi-finals to get into the Stanley Cup finals. We had missed the first 2 periods but we were not going to miss another. Off to the Sage pub we headed for some Hockey, beer, a free baron of beef, and did I mention beer. Unfortunately the Senators lost the game but at this point of the weekend it didn't matter. We were in Osoyoos, the sun was screaming down on us, we had beers in our hands and the pool tables all to ourselves. Life was grand. After a half dozen or so beer we headed back to the hotel for some herbal remedies. Of course this only succeeded in making the evening even better as we laughed the night away.
Getting to bed around midnight I called my lovely wife Bonnie to see how she was doing. All was fine in Victoria, and satisfied that all was ok, I said goodnight. I had set my alarm for 7:00 am. so we could get up, shower and then get something to eat before heading out on the pokerrun. The alarm seemed to go off way to early. Slowly opening one eye, and thru the haze of the previous nights drinking I reached over and turned off the damn alarm. As needed as an alarm is I didn't really need to be hearing it so soon. I jumped out of bed, with the excitement of the day's ride buzzing thru my mind and had a shower. Because I only had about 4 hours sleep the night before and the 6 or so hours of sleep I just had I was very tired still. The cold water that hit my skin had me waking up pretty damn quick. After my escapades in the bathroom I was done and ready to go. All I had to do now was wake up Mark and get him motivated. I knocked on his door and quietly said "Get the hell up Man...it is ride day". All I got was a " What For". I knew with a response like that, that he was a little hung over and probably very tired. He didn't get in till after 1:30.
I said "come on dude, we need to eat before heading out". All I heard was some grumbling and the sound of feet hitting the floor. I wanted to give him some space so I headed outside to get some fresh air. There were people milling about everywhere, Star bikes galore. People were out shining and polishing. This was so freaking cool, as here I was with 100 other people and they were doing the exact same thing that I like to do. That is polishing and caressing my bike till it blinds you. I went over to Glen's room and he was up and about and all ready for the day. The 3 of us headed out for some great breaky at the local Smitty's. The food and coffee was wonderful and we were up and out of there in less than a half hour.
As we rode back to the hotel, I noticed my excitement level rising. Maybe it was the caffeine kicking in, I wasn't sure, and I didn't care. I was about to embark on a ride with over 80 other riding enthusiasts. We had about a half hour before the ride was to start so we got our stuff together...ie cameras, riding gear, etc. We had to join a very long lineup to get registered for the run and to get our first card for the poker run. 9:30 was the departure time for the ride and I was raring to go. After some promo shots for Pacific Yamaha (yes we had to appease the sponsor) we were off and running. Mark and I rode up to the light and blocked traffic while 81 shining beasts, the sun blinding us as it sparkled off of all the chrome that each of these mighty steeds possessed, proceeded past us in formation. What a grand sight to see. We could tell by the looks of all the motorists in their cages that they wished they were the ones in our seats. The dreamy stares of people as they see a motorcycle group ride is amazing. You know damn well that they are thinking of nothing but open roads, wind in their hair and wild parties...ok so the wild parties are a stretch...wait a minute no there not...hehehe
As the last bike took the corner Mark and I were now tailgunners for this large motley crew of riders. The town of Osoyoos was quickly brought back to normal as we took the road up the mountain. Winding our way thru the foothills of this desert oasis, the motorcycle snake slowly grew as riders found there own speeds. Some dropping back while others surged forward. After a few miles we were being held back by some of the slower riders so we blasted past. First stop for all of us was the Kettle River Provincial Park. 84 bikes wound their way into the campsite. It was only 10:30 and it was already getting very warm. Everywhere you looked, there was shiny chrome. What a wonderful site. I jumped into line to get my second card for the poker run. My first card was a 10 of hearts, and when I drew my next card it was a 7 of hearts. This was encouraging. I had a possibility of a straight flush.
It took about a half hour for everyone to get their cards and we hoisted our bodies back onto our bikes and away we went. The next stop was to be the pub in Grand Forks. What a great ride from the campsite to Grand Forks. I was riding up front with Ray and Jody. These were two of the organizers for the whole event. Ray was riding a nice beamer and Jody was on his truly beautiful custom 650 vstar. We were way ahead of the pack as we pushed the bikes to their limits. What a rush it was. Not a care in the world and miles from home. Life couldn't get any better. The only thing better at that point would have to have had Bonnie with me. I think in time she will get to like riding on the bike, but for now she is content to let me explore the exciting adventures of bikedom.
Arriving at the Station House Pub in Osoyoos, we were faced with a hundred riders trying to find somewhere cool to park and find a nice frosty mug of wobbly pops. As luck would have it we headed inside and found 5 seats at the end of a very well air conditioned bar. We pulled up some seats and plunked ourselves down. Little beads of sweat dripped from our noses as we waited for the bartender to pour us our glasses of heaven. He actually did have frosty mugs for us, and as he placed them in front of us, my lips glistened in anticipation of the cool smoothness of the beer. There were chunks of ice forming in the beer from the frosted mugs which made the beer even colder. This was heaven in a glass. The sun in Osoyoos and on the road to Grand Forks was out in full force and had us feeling pretty tired, hot and drained. The air conditioned pub soon had us feeling regenerated as we polished off a couple, three mugs of beer.
Someone came in to tell us that the show and shine voting was about over and that we needed to put in our votes. We peeled ourselves from our seats and made our way outside again. Man the sun was baking. After being inside for an hour in the cool air conditioned pub our bodies had finally cooled down and now we were out in the oven again. We wandered around for a bit and then voted for the bikes in all the categories. People were blasting back and forth to the gas station in preparation for the ride back. All of a sudden a couple of the organizers jumped on their rides and we were all off again. It felt great to get the wind on our faces again as we made the ride back to Osoyoos. We stopped a few more times for photo ops, another card and some rest time. My poker hand at that point was looking pretty good. I had a straight flush happening. 3 cards, and all hearts, I was feeling lucky. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be as my next card was a spade and didn't match up with any of the other ones...damn!
Arriving back at the hotel in Osoyoos we all made a beeline for the coolers. I sat back, cracked a beer and reveled in all the bikes roaring into the parking lot. What a blast. I had a beer in one hand and a huge grin on my face from an awesome ride and my first ever poker run. We were waiting for all the bikes to get back and then we would all head off to the Osoyoos Golf and Country club for a really nice buffet and prize presentations. After some problems with the payment amounts were taken care of we sat down to a great dinner and drinks.
I ended up winning a great big Yamaha coffee cup. It is a beauty. Great for coffee drinks or hot chocolate. I was just happy winning something. After a couple of hours we headed back to the hotel for some more drinks, and yakking. I looked around for my bunkmate and he was no where to be seen. I thought oh oh, he is out partying somewhere and getting in trouble. I didn't think too much about this and headed back to the hotel room to get changed. Looking at my watch I noticed it was only 9:45. Getting into the room I looked at the door to Mark's room and it was closed. Hmmmm, I said to myself and peeked into his room. There he was passed out and snoring quite contentedly. Chuckling to myself, I quietly closed his door and headed out. I guess the days sun, the late night before and the frosty bevies were too much for him.
The great thing about being around a bunch of bikers that ride the same bike as yours is that you can yak and yak about the same things and never get the same answer twice. Much like the bikes we ride it is incredible that no two are the same. Everyone has their own ideas and thoughts about their rides. That is what makes a gathering like the one in Osoyoos such a good time. You get lots of ideas and input into what you can do for your ride.
Around midnight I decided to crash, and after calling BonBon to say goodnight I was off to bed. I was pretty tired at that point and the pillow felt pretty nice. Waking up the next morning, I looked out the window to see big black clouds and wet ground. This wasn't starting off to be very good for our trip home. We then packed up the bikes, and headed up to the local restaurant for breaky. The rain hadn't started again yet but it was threatening. We pigged out on a very well made breakfast at the local truck stop and made our way out to the bikes. The rain was starting to fall. Not hard but enough that we had to put on the rain gear. This isn't usually too much trouble but with Mark it is a production. Getting all his gear on we were on our way. The rain was then starting to come down pretty hard on us as we roared out of Osoyoos. The beautiful thing was that after about 5 minutes riding the rain stopped and didn't come down on us again for the trip home.
We stopped quite a few times on the way back to the Island for photo ops and rest times. We were in Princeton at the Chevron and Glen noticed his Sporty was leaking oil. This wasn't good as we were running the bikes pretty hard. He decided to hit the road ahead of us and meet up with us in Hope. Mark and I stayed at the Chevron for a bit to rest our bodies and take in some liquids. Hitting the road after 20 minutes, we were on our way again. The beauty of the Hope-Princeton highway as you travel thru Manning Park is incredible. I did manage to find a very accommodating bear along the way. I had my way with this bear, as you can see by the photo, and after a very satisfying rest stop we were on the road once more. Arriving in Hope we found Glen waiting for us as he said he would be. Fueling up and getting some gatorade to replenish myself I bid my two road warriors adieu. I had to be in Vancouver within the hour to visit an ailing grandfather. I rode that stretch from Hope To Burnaby pretty hard. Weaving in and out of traffic at speeds of 140-150 Kph was a bit tricky but I made it. Thank god for my loud pipes as people were accommodating to me as I found my way thru all the traffic.
All in all the Osoyoos trip was one I would do again in a heartbeat. The roads are superior to what we have here on the Island, with the twisties and high speed banked turns that you find going into Osoyoos from Keremeos. A great time was had by all and as usual you never want the weekend to end. I did end up getting home late that night, arriving around 10:00 p.m., very tired, thirsty and missing my wife. I am so looking forward to the days that the two of us will spend on the bike, touring around the country towing a little tent trailer behind us, as we find new friends, new places and great highways to run our rubber on.
Thank you to all of the Motorcycle Clubs that have agreed to exchange links with The Bikers' Den Website. We have added more than 400 clubs to our directory from all over the world and we're looking for more. If your club has a website, we'd like to include it in our directory. Please email us at links@bikersden.com to submit your club's details. Every month we will be featuring a different motorcycle club.
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Central Pennsylvania Cruisers Club
We are a family oriented motorcycle club located in Central Pennsylvania. This club is a group of people who love to ride. We promote safe, legal riding. Our club will be doing two planned rides per month. We also plan on doing several overnight trips. To make it more convenient for the members the monthly meetings will be held on the days of the chapter rides, except during the winter months. We will also be doing unplanned rides as well. We welcome all riders of cruisers and touring bikes of all makes and models. Anyone is welcome to come to a meeting or join in on a ride and meet the members before joining the club. In fact we encourage this. If you have any questions or comments you can visit our contacts page and email any of the officers.
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