880 Champlain Ave.

( 401 & Thickson Rd. )

Oshawa Ont. L1J 7A6

905-434-6550 or

1-800-668-5828

www.mackieharleydavidson.com

Director: David Vella

Asst. Director: Darrell Day

Treasurer: Annie Burke

Secretary: Lisa Arnott

LOH: Mary Roberts

Membership: Sarah Collins

Public Relations: Mike Coulas

Activities: Joe Fournier

Asst. Activities Mike Coulas

Safety Officer: John Archer

Photographer: Lisa Arnott

Road Captain: Bill Groen

Historian: Marshall Crotin

Webmaster Bob Burke

News Editor: Phill Tsolakis

MEETING ROOM:

Thank you to the

Stone Cottage for

the FREE use of the

meeting room twice

monthly and also

for the quality ser-

vice. you provide.

# 9 2 4 5

Scarborough H.O.G.®

www.scarboroughchapter.

F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 5

Director’s comments:

I Hope everyone had a great New Year, and wish you all a happy and healthy 2015. I look forward to working with this year’s executive and planning for a new season of riding. I would like to thank Teddy and Al for all their work as Director and Asst. Director . Thank you to all members and families that volun-teered to work the chapter booth at the 2015 Motor-cycle Super show. There was a great turnout for our first chapter brunch of 2015. I’m looking forward to the next one. We had the biggest group ever to the monthly poker night it was a lot of fun. I look forward to see-ing everyone at the upcoming pool tournament on Feb 8th at Shooters. I know it seems like a long time away but be-fore we know it riding season will be here. I would like our members to suggest some rides that they would like to do this season. We will start planning them at the March executive meet-ing. Dave Vella, Chapter Director

Dave called meeting to order at 7:35pm.

He welcomed new members Steve & Genevieve. They ride an Ultra Glide and

Road King.

Karen from Cedarbrook brought the calendars. $15.00 each. Karen picked up

the tab tonight for our drinks at the Stone Cottage. Big round of applause.

She would like to make this an annual event. Scheduled for June 20. Would

love to have us participate again. The residents still talk about it. Karen will

let us know times at a later date.

Dave wished everybody a Happy New Year and thanked all who helped at the

Bike Show. We had 30 members help out, including Teddy & Sarah’s kids,

Clayton’s grand daughter and Rob’s daughter. The kids were a huge help in

selling tickets and getting donations for the popcorn.

Dave made mention of Rick & Sue who travelled from Indiana to visit our

booth.

Dave thanked Clayton and John Anderson who braved the cold for riding to

and from the Bike show.

Joey gave his report for Mackie H-D: Anybody that upgrades to new bike will

receive in store credit of $2,000.00 till end of March. Great financing at 0.99%

for certain bikes. Speak to Joey for further information.

He congratulated us on our booth for getting a runner-up award. Our booth

was always busy and family oriented.

Joey mentioned that LiveWire (Harley’s first electric bike) will be coming to

Canada soon.

The Street 500 & Street 750 is getting a lot of attention. Any questions, call

Joey.

Dave told the group that we won a plaque for our booth. Rob Benson won 3rd

in Domestic Street. We had a total of 6 bikes in the show.

Teddy once again reminded us about the HOG’s on Ice Curling event. To be

held on February 28, 2015. You don’t need to know how to curl. If you wish to

participate in this, will need 4 people and can have 2 spectators. Curling event

is held in Fergus. This Curling Club is the oldest continuously operating curl-

ing club in Ontario. Established in 1834.

Dave (on behalf of Bill Groen) handed out Road Captain patches to: Bill, Clay-

ton, Mike, Joe, Nobby and Darrell.

Dave gave Nobby his 20 year pin. Congratulations to Knobby.

con’t...

January 6th, General Meeting Minutes 2

Dave thanked Teddy and Al for their hard work as past Director and Ass’t

Director. *Round of applause*

Darrell thanked Clayton’s granddaughter and Rob’s daughter for awesome job

at the Bike Show. The show was a complete success.

Darrell would like to know how the point system works at the Bike Show. Ap-

parently if you bring the same bikes back year after year you lose points. We

need to clarify how this works for future shows.

Annie explained to the new members, Steve & Genevieve how the Mystery

Prize works.

Phill would like story’s and pictures to fill up the newsletter.

Lisa discussed pictures from the Bike Show are on Facebook (Scarborough

HOG Chapter 9245) as well as our website: Scarboroughchapter.ca. Click on

the Picasa link to see all pictures. Anyone that has Facebook, please request

to be added as a member.

Mike has planned a buffet lunch at Super Buffet for January 18 at 1:00pm

$15.99 per person.

Pool is planned for February 8th at Shooters (Victoria Pk & Lawrence). Cost

will be $27.00 per person. This venue is much better than VIP Pool. Better

tables/food/atmosphere. We will need min of 20 players. The more the better.

Mike will plan a bowling event in March.

Joe has given most members raffle tickets to sell for the Christmas Party. 1st

$40 will go to our group and 2nd

$40. will get you a free ticket to the Christmas

Party. Prizes are great this year: 40” Sony T.V., two tickets to a Leaf Game,

Walking on a Cloud gift certificate and another gift cert. (to be determined).

Stan will have his monthly poker game on Jan. 15, 2015. Registration for

7:00pm, game starts promptly at 7:30. Cornerstones (Ellesmere &

Birchmount).

John Anderson said that most people think he is a fair-weather rider. (He did

try to get his bike to the Show on a trailer, but was too costly, so he opted to

ride.) He rode out with Clayton to the Bike Show and to show his appreciation,

gave Clayton a gift.

Darrell mentioned that if you need any patches, he will look after. As well, if

you would like a Cedarbrook Calendar, to see him.

Draws: 50/50 – Stan $65, Mystery Prize – Howard, Piggy Pot – Barb $10.

Meeting adjourned at 8:30pm Lisa

Activities

Hello everyone, hope you’re all doing well. Our first HOG chapter event of 2015 was held at the Super Buffet on Sun-day January 18th. We had a great turnout with 20 people in attendance. Everyone enjoyed the company of each other and the Chinese food was good as well. We were there for almost 2 hours and everyone left full. Thanks to everyone who attended.

Our next event is our annual pool tournament located at Shooters Pool Hall. (Victoria park and Lawrence.) on Sunday February 8 @ 1pm till 5pm. The cost is $27 per player and includes food. Cost for food only is $10. Please remember to RSVP me no later than Sunday February 1st and let me know if your playing pool or just coming for some food as I have to let the venue know. Thanks,

Mike Coulas

Assistant Program Director and Public Relations Officer

647-391-9866

Executive meetings: General meetings:

January 27 February 3

February 24 March 3

March 31 April 7

Chapter Meeting Dates at the Stone Cottage 7:30 pm

4

Stan’s January Poker Night 5

We had a good turnout with 14 players., a

dealer and Annie watching. We had two ta-

bles with Rick, Cody, Dave, Mike, Lisa, Car-

men, Daryl, Joanne, Joe, John, Bob, Nicolle,

Bill & myself were playing. To everyone’s sur-

prise, Carmen collected the bounty on me, as

he came in third. The final two players were

Joanne and Mike with Mike taking home

$100. It was a good time for everyone with

the game going a little longer than usual. The

next game is on Feb 12 at Kornerstone Bar.

Registration is at 7:00 with the game starting

at 7:30. Be there for some fun and a chance

to make to make some bucks.

Stan W Grasser

A little something nostalgic

It was mentioned at the last meeting about Clayton and John Anderson riding to the Bike Show and then home again and how cold it was! We did an annual New Years Ride back in 1992; a couple of years before Scarborough Chapter. I included an article and pictures from HOG Tales May/June 1992. Bob B.

6

The rain was pouring and there was a big puddle in front of the pub. A ragged old man was standing there with a rod and hanging a string into the puddle.

A curious gentleman came over to him and asked what he was doing. 'Fishing,' the old man said simply. 'Poor old fool,' the gentleman thought and he invited the ragged old man to a drink in the pub. As he felt he should start some conversation while they were sipping their whisky, the gentleman asked, ‘And how many have you caught?'

'You're the eighth,' the old man answered Grizz

From Grizzly, the joke guy

Knobby gets his

20 year Chapter

pin

Some of the 2014

Road Captains

received their

patches

I would like to thank the following for their contribution to this issue of the Newsletter and do apologize if I missed anyone:

Sarah, Lisa, Mike, Cody, David, Stan, Brooke, Marshall, Darrell, Clayton, Grizzly, Bob and Annie .

Phill

Mackie H-D news 8 Below is a list of the upcoming events that we are holding:

- Valentine’s Day special: Saturday February 7th 9:00 am – 5:00 pm (storewide

savings & complimentary sweets)

- Pipe Night and Chili Cook off: Thursday February 26th 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

(storewide savings, chili tasting, pipe demo)

- New Rider Boot Camp: Saturday March 7th 10:00 am – 12:00 pm (informative

seminars put on by our sales, parts, service and motorclothes teams)

- Ladies Night: Thursday March 26th 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm (storewide savings,

complimentary snacks & refreshments, informative seminars)

Please rsvp to brooke.mackie@mackiegroup.com if attending.

Please also add that we are selling tickets to the MMIC show that is happening from

Feb 20-22 at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto. Tickets are $18 at the door and are

$14 if purchased at Mackie’s

Thanks!

Brooke

Just a reminder about the Cedarbrook

Lodge calendars for sale at the cost of

15.00 each. We also have order the Can-

ada rockers and they should be in soon.

We need to know how many people want

them. We also have the other rockers for

sale. I will bring them to the next meeting.

Thanks again.

Darrell Day, Assistant Director

Darrell with our Chapter members Rick &

Sue from Indiana at this years bike show.

Cedarbrook Lodge Calendars still available

Bike Show 2015

I just want to thank everyone who helped out at the Bike Show. I also want to let eve-ryone know that after all the donations were counted up the Chapter ended up making $25.00 after all expenses. This is a first! at least in my history with the Chapter. Scarborough Hog ROCKS!!. Thanks, Annie - Treasure

A special thank s to both Tynye (Clayton & Mary Lou’s granddaughter), and Katelyn

(Rob’s daughter) for doing a great job with the pop corn & donations for the pop corn.

Nice

vest

Tynye

Rocky Mountain High in Colorado In July of 2014, Dave Vella, Cody Vella, our friend Gabe Sardi and I travelled to Colorado to explore some of the best motorcycling roads in the U.S. We trailered the bikes to Loveland Co. to save time, money and boredom when compared with riding across the plains.

In Colorado, we base camped for three days in Loveland and travelled the Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park, the highest continuous paved road in North America at 12,183 feet. The ride up was spectacular through a deep, twisty canyon, watched over by mountain goats and inquisitive elk. Because of the elevation, it generally rained in Colorado for some part of

each day, but the lightning bolts were of more concern. Highway #14 out of the mountains proved to be an excellent, challenging route through the Little Colorado River canyon but, as luck would have it, Dave forgot to turn on his camera. On the second day we drove up Mount Evans at 14,270 feet, the highest paved road in North America, to be greeted by 45ºF temperatures and light snow at the summit. As the temperature varied from 90ºF to 45ºF, we had to don summer and heated clothing,

often the same day. This road was the closest to European Alpine conditions that we have encountered. A mandatory Stop at “The Farm” a legal marijuana outlet in Boulder, was an interesting highlight during our outing. (you can’t get any “higher” in Colorado!)

We left eastern Colorado to travel to Avon via Leadville, which is the highest city in North America at over 11,000 feet. If you visit, be sure to have breakfast at the Golden Burro Cafe and see the 1878 saloon where Doc Holliday (of the famed “Gunfight at the O.K. Coral”) met his end. On the way to Avon, we crossed the Eisenhower Pass, on interstate 70 where I faced the most frightening ride of my life.

It was sunny and warm on the east side of the Eisenhower Tunnel which marks the top of the pass. However the dark clouds over the western side of the mountain prompted me to insist on stopping to don rain suits and leathers. We no sooner than emerged from the tunnel, when we were struck by a severe downpour followed immediately by 2 inches of hail! As we slowed to traverse the interstate from the passing lane to the right shoulder, the bikes slewed sideways and were nearly impossible to brake, even with ABS. Dave and Gabe received fat lips from pea sized hail. I couldn’t get off my bike because of the slippery hail stones, and a semi went into the guard rail in front of me. Meanwhile a truck and trailer jackknifed on a curve in the passing lane and then was “T” boned by a pickup only 50 feet behind Dave! The mayhem was magnified by the unprepared drivers, some with convertible tops down, flying around the accident at high speed and skidding past me only 3 feet away! It was all over in half an hour and miraculously no one went down or was injured.

The next day, as we travelled to the Black Canyon Of The Gunnison National Park via Independence Pass. Gabe Sardi missed a 10 mph hairpin and crashed his Gold Wing into a ditch. After seeing him safely transported to Aspen hospital with a broken arm and torn rotator cuff, we reluctantly and sadly pushed on at his insistence. These episodes serve to remind us that mountain riding is a risky business and requires 100% focus by even the most experienced riders.

The Black Canyon is 3400 feet deep and the road down to the Gunnison River at its base descends a 16% grade

over 1 1/4 miles, making it one of the steepest paved roads in America. It is truly awe-inspiring, while the easier northern leg of the road affords great viewpoints and excellent surfaces.

Our travels took us to Durango where we rode the Mesa Verde National Park, a great 50 mile ride up to a plateau with wonderful curves and panoramic views as well as ancient cliff dwellings. During our drive across the desert, I was reminded of my my own warning to fuel up together even with 3/4 tank in hand. We were forced into a 140 mile detour to avoid heavy rain over the 10,200 ft Lizard Head Pass, and as a result I ran dry three miles from the only gas station on the detour. Fortunately Dave was carrying a 1 gallon gas can that I insisted he buy for Cody’s Sporty, but I was the only one to need it (as Dave never failed to point out!).

Also at Durango, we discovered the joy of riding the oldest and highest steam railroad in the Western Hemisphere to Silverton, Colorado. Here, after a spectacular 3 hour ride, we visited the highest Harley dealership in the world, at 9318 feet. The owner added 2 stairs to climb from the street level so that the building was 3 feet higher than the dealer in Quito, Ecuador. We repeated the climb from Durango to Silverton, and the Swiss-looking town of Ouray, by motorcycle along the Million Dollar Highway. This is a must for any biker when in southwestern Colorado as the 11,00 foot elevation,

curves and views are amazing.

Our time in Durango was well spent, with good accommodations at the Best Western and excellent Italian food. Not to be missed is the restored 1888 Hotel Strater with its antique furnishings and superb carved mahogany woodwork (the most in any building in America). The roaring wood fireplace in the antique saloon with swinging doors is a great place to spend a cool Rocky Mountain evening.

Our final port-of-call was Colorado Springs at the base of Pike’s Peak. We discovered a great highway route (165, 96, 115 via Florence, Colorado), to our destination in the Springs. Here we visited the spectacular “Garden of the Gods” and the picturesque town of Manitou Springs, but were declined permission to see the U.S. Airforce Academy and Norad Headquarters in Cheyenne Mountain. Apparently, terrorism is a real concern, and one look at Dave convinced them that their concern was justified!

A ride through Blackhawk on scenic Hwy 119 took us back to our truck and trailer near Denver. Blackhawk is a unique town built on the site of an abandoned mine smelter which has been converted entirely into a huge casino, and worth a stop if you have time.

We loaded our bikes and, after two days hard driving (including a near tornado!), returned to Toronto. We all felt that this 11 day ride was only an introduction to Colorado, and plan to return in the near future to discover more of its impressive byways.

Story: Marshall Crotin Photos: David and Cody Vella