Long Island BMW Riders Club

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Author Archive %s Long Island BMW Club

Nettesheim Museum updates

By Long Island BMW Club

The Long Island BMW Riders Club is blessed to have the great Peter Nettesheim as a long-time member of our club. Peter is very active in the BMW world and if you have not heard about him already, just wait, you will.

In this blog post we will follow Peter on his various adventures in order to share his knowledge and love for all things BMW with the world.

Please come back and visit this page often as we will be updating it frequently.

November 2019 updates:

Rally in the Bellows 2019

By Long Island BMW Club
On Labor Day weekend 2019, the Long Island BMW Riders Club held their very first Rally! After 22 years of the club being together, it was voted on during a business meeting earlier in the year to hold the first ever Long Island rally . . . . . And boy oh boy did we! With Rob leading things off and investigating what it would take to pull it off, others jumped on board quickly to help! We had to locate a destination, investigate how much it would cost, put those plans out at other business meetings (to make sure everything was ok with the club members as we moved forward) and carry on with offering lodging (tents), food, campfire supplies, chairs, insect repellant, figure out some rides for those who attended and generally “Make it Happen”. We decided on the dates for the Rally; August 30th thru September 2nd, 2019. The place chosen for the rally was in Flanders, NY. A Suffolk County Park named: Sears Bellows County Park. It was quite secluded and had a pond with row boats and plenty of shade under the trees. The light breezes were pretty constant and would keep us all comfortable during the event. Temperatures couldn’t have been better! Mid 70s with low humidity during the day for excellent riding weather and low 60s in the evening for great sleeping!
At LIBMWRC we try to be as democratic as possible and we offered choices for food and took a vote for each item. The usual breakfast fare of eggs, bacon, sausages, breads, coffee/tea, orange juice and then hot dogs and hamburgers for lunch. The fun stuff started in when it was time to offer dinner meal ideas! Saturday evening was deep fried Turkey in peanut oil. Deserts were warm pie with whipped cream and other delights. Then our President, James Dubarry, offered to cook a whole pig for a Sunday evening feast! I know I left out some foods, but you get the idea; We didn’t go hungry! With the logistics of food and a place for the rally behind us, all we had to do was load up all “the stuff” and head east to the park and what became known as The Rally in The Bellows.
Most members who helped with setup decided not to ride out and as I had offered club members extra tents I drove with bike in tow. I packed up my Chevy Suburban and an open trailer with just a few items, such as my K75RT, two cocktail tables, a few tents, cots, chairs, a large fan to circulate some air at the site if things got stagnant, and so much more. Jim D, Mike C, Rob VB, Achim, Bernadette and John Z set things into motion to get there for Friday early afternoon to set the campsite up for the members.
Upon arrival to the park, we all got to work and everyone was busy doing something. I emptied my trailer and started setting up what I had. Two tents, one two man and one eight man tent. There are cots, fold-up chairs and some lighting in each tent. We also set up my family “Circus Tent” as the main event tent for gathering for our meals and conversation. It was a good size, ranging 20’ wide by 30’ in length. Rob VB was a character for sure as he even had a blow up “sectional couch” on a rug out in front of his tent area. Go Rob! We set up some fun areas too to include horse shoe throwing and a bean bag toss.
Because food always features in everything we do, we had a full food tent with a quite sizable kitchen setup. Numerous grills and stoves, tables for serving the food to the masses and even a separate pantry! Go figure: “Those BMW People”!
Then, with the main tent up, we placed park benches underneath and Mike C put up his lights all along the perimeters for effect and lighting for the evenings. We also set up a nice area with a burn barrel and many folding chairs and recliners to enjoy the usual camp fires in the evening. Those were great for kibitzing and picking on Harold. Friday was a long day of setup and getting ready for the main event to start the next day. A few more members came and stayed the night.
Saturday we greeted members of the club as they stopped by to hang for a while, grab a bite to eat and drink and off they would go. Some stayed the night, whilst others day tripped for the weekend. Our members are great, and many would jump right in and start cooking and thank goodness for them doing that! Food is the center of what we do but each evening the fire pit would light up and we had a great time with Mike C leading the way! Our members can be quite eclectic at times and Harold was his usual self and kept “passing wind”. JD was not having it. He said “Keep it up Harold and I’m going to douse you with that pail of water!”. Harold continued and he got drenched!
Sunday afternoon eight of us decided to take a short ride over to The Duck in Flanders for a group photograph. Extremely busy Route 24 made for a tough setup for the picture, but we made it happen. Then we went to some backroads such as Red Creek Road into Hampton Bays for some ice cream at Gemelli Gelato. We got there about 45 minutes before they opened up, however, the owners were there and said they would open up early for us! After we enjoyed some great ice cream we rode back to camp as the traffic was not conducive for enjoying a ride anywhere. The pig was done so we started having dinner by midafternoon on Sunday. That pig didn’t stand a chance! We devoured it in seconds and to say it was fabulous is understating how good it was! During the Sunday late afternoon food fest, we presented some raffle gifts to club members who participated in the Rally. A few shirts were given out and then a custom wall clock in the style of our original, and favorite, club logo was won by Ron B. Ron then gave the clock to club president Jim D for his shop. A very nice gesture by Ron B! We then raffled a BMW Navigator VI GPS, valued at $1,000, which was given to the club for our first rally by Gold Coast Motorsports of New Hyde Park, NY. The Nav unit was won by Ray M. Ray couldn’t believe it and said he never won anything in his life! Well, good for you Ray and a big CONGRATULATIONS on your winning prize! Ray can now find himself to the Nautilus diner on the weekends.
The next morning, Monday, we began the breakdown task of packing everything up and loading up our trucks and trailers in order to head home before a good sized storm hit later in the afternoon. We were all home safely by then! It was one heck of a fun weekend with some fantastic people.
Those who were there said they would absolutely do it again next year.
Those who were not there, well . . . . . . All we can say is you missed one hell of a time with the brethren.
As I write this we are already in October, the kids are back in school, the days are getting shorter and cooler and, for some of us, the riding season is coming to an end. Not for we BMW riders though, as we ride all year long!

Until next time. . . . . . Ride Safely and Stay Alert out there!

Regards,

LIBMWRC 2019

Jacques weekend, Hunter NY

By Long Island BMW Club

Hunter, NY is a beautiful location in both the winter and summer.  In the winter it is packed with skiers looking to have fun on the slopes and in the summer there are those who are enjoying the sheer beauty of the area.  A Long Island BMW Riders Club member, Jacques, owns the Gardner Inn and he graciously opens it every year for many years for the LIBMWRC members to enjoy.  It is a beautiful place and a great Inn and the fact that he offers this opportunity to the group is fantastic.

The outing was scheduled for the July 4th weekend and on July 5th we headed North as a group to visit the Inn.  The ride North was along many twisty roads and included several stops.  Jim and myself (James) went up separately to make sure the Inn was ready for the main group to arrive.  Thanks goes out to Eric and Jill for bringing the truck and trailer up with all the food and coolers that we would need, and his bike in tow.  Once Eric and Jill arrived we unloaded everything and were quite ready when the main group arrived.  We love to eat at LIBMWRC events and the amount of food was overwhelming.  The executive committee does a great job of planning and seriously outdid themselves for this event.  

The main group took their time coming up and enjoyed the day.  Since it’s so nice to be behind the traffic, the ride to Jacques left Roslyn around 10:00 am.  Riders included Mike C and Rikke, John C and Dana, Achim and John Z who all met at Roslyn.  On their way to the Whitestone Bridge they stopped by the Little Bay Park parking lot, just off Bell Blvd, to pick up Roman K and Joe N.

 

With a group of only six bikes and knowing they had decent weather looked to be a pleasurable ride up.

After the usual “get off the Island route”, the Whitestone Bridge to the Hutch to the Cross County to the Sprain Brook turning into the Taconic Pkwy, they took the Bear Mountain State Parkway. This led them through the roundabout and onto Route 202 which snakes its way up through Hudson Highlands State Park and then down to the Bear Mountain Bridge.  It’s a very nice route.

After crossing the Bear Mountain Bridge they headed north on route 9W for a few miles until they reached what is clearly the best chunk of road between Long Island and Jacques. Route 218. It may be only a few miles long but it is an extremely fun few miles. So fun that when we got to the end and parked for lunch, and when we did John C was “forced” to back down and do it again.

The lunch stop was at Painters restaurant in Cornwall.  A pleasant little place introduced to the club by Mike C a few years ago. This little hideaway boasts a very decent menu and even better beer choices, should you choose to partake.

After lunch they jumped back on 9W north until they passed over 84. From there they took route 32 northwest to route 44 west. This allowed them to bypass the busy town of New Paltz. Although the first portion of route 44 is fairly straight the second portion twists and turns itself up into and through Minnewaska State Park.

The next portion of the ride was a nice relaxing scenic stretch, on route 55, along the Rondout Reservoir. A quick ride on route 17 north, to make up a little time, then onto Beaver Kill and Barkaboom Roads which took them thru the western edge of Catskill Park up to route 28.

At this point it’s just a short ride along the Pepacton Reservoir and they popped out onto route 28. Heading east on route 28, along the northern edge of Catskill Park, to route 42, a nice little winding stretch of road. Route 42 took them to their last road, route 23A. Minutes later, around 5:00 pm, they were pulling up to Jacques and the welcoming committee.

We all settled in for a relaxing first night at the Inn and we had great fun and enjoyable moments.  We were able to fully relax and enjoy our time away from our hectic lives for a few days.  The LIBMWRC are a group of very friendly individuals that believe heavily in having fun and forming. a community.

The next day the group went for rides throughout the upstate region and visited several very interesting sites.

 

That night we had another great dinner and some fun as well! Eric parked his “flying brick” out front and several members decided it would be extremely funny to take vegetable oil and put it under his motorcycle as well as spread some on the underside of the engine.  See pictures (as evidence of whom was involved) below.  Eric came out and we all made a big deal about it.  We didn’t let him fret for too long and we all had a great laugh about the prank.  Eric is a great sport about these things and laughed out loud with us as well as being happy that there was nothing wrong with his beautiful historic motorcycle.

The next morning it as time to head home and we all went together as a group.  Riding as a group is important and our training for group riding came in handy this day.  The LIBMWRC takes proper riding in a group very seriously and we follow strict group riding rules.  The traffic was a bit slow but we were able to make good time and got home in the early afternoon.

As a first time attendee at the yearly event I must thank Jacques and everyone on the LIBMWRC board for making the weekend a wonderful one.  The fact that a member would offer their whole Inn to the club membership is just fantastic and shows the camaraderie and closeness that the whole club has created.  The bonds and friendships are the thing that stands out to myself each and every time I am with the group.

Thank you Jacques and the LIBMWRC for a great weekend!  See you soon…

Long Island BMW Riders Club Holiday Party

By Long Island BMW Club

Honu Kitchen

The Long Island BMW Riders Club 2018 Holiday Party was held at Honu Kitchen & Cocktails in Huntington, NY on December 8, 2018.  We had a great showing of well over 40 participants.  The food was fabulous and the atmosphere at Honu is just great.  They hosted the club in the upstairs loft where we had a private room and our laughter did not upset other customers.  

The President and First Lady

The evening started with a few drinks and a cocktail mixer hour.  Each member and spouse had a chance to talk to all the others in the room and it was very lively to say the least!

Enjoying the company!

The awards presentation started and we handed out achievement awards for the year. We held our always enjoyable mileage awards presentation hosted by Mr Price and then had our raffle between appetizer and dinner.  The mileage awards are always a highlight of the night and it did not disappoint for 2018.  The club as a whole rode 141,819 miles for 11 months as the competition was cut short by 1 month due to a change of schedule.  We had 15 people ride over 5,000 miles and 5 with well over 10,000 miles this year.

There were many recipients of awards this year and we gave out several new and exciting awards for “Ambassadors”, “20th Annual Event” and “Excellence in Service” to name a few. As usual with the LIBMWRC group it was a lively series of presentations with many laughs and jokes throughout.

After the awards were given out dinner came at just the right time and we all enjoyed dinner, desert and some great conversation!  Honu does a great job with the menu and there was something for everyone.  The smiles on the faces of the people told you how good the food was and no-one walked away hungry.

Thank you for everyone who made this happen in the club leadership and all the club members.  It is a vibrant membership that makes a great club.

Short-ish but oh so sweet ride to Hoodoo BBQ

By Long Island BMW Club

The Long Island BMW Riders club rode again yesterday (Saturday September 9, 2018) to the northern reaches of Connecticut.  First we rode up through New York and then back down to Kent, CT on some extremely beautiful twisty back roads.  We stopped in Kent for a break of some coffee, gas and camaraderie.

After our stop in Kent we proceeded (via backroads once again) to our food stop of Hoodoo Brown BBQ in Ridgefield, CT (just south of Danbury).  The food at Hoodoo Brown is extremely good and we had a great time as well as having great food!  You must try the Bacon!!!

After we engaged in extreme overeating it was time to turn our front wheels south and head home.  We took the main roads on the way home and as a group we arrived on Long Island!

All in all, I clocked 8.5 hours, most on the motorcycle, and almost 300 miles in total.  We had sun, rain and beautiful roads with nice corners!  It was once again a great day with the Long Island BMW Riders Club!  Remember you don’t need a BMW to come have fun!!

Arthur also made a great video of some nice parts of the day including the covered bridge which was really nice.

Fathers Day 2018 ride

By Long Island BMW Club

Some came from afar, others had a shorter trip, but we all had fun for the fathers day 2018 ride.  The breakfast was held at the Country Corner Cafe in Southhold NY and it was amazing!  23 participants enjoyed the festivities including mothers and children. The fathers enjoyed the day with their family as well as friends.  We all celebrated fathers day together.

After the breakfast we all took a ride through the North Shore of the North fork and the views were beautiful.  We stopped at a lovely beach and took some pictures!

We can’t wait for the next outing!