Big-Hearted Bikers Work In Concert for Worthy Cause

GLENDALE, California – November 2, 2011 – Warm sunshine, hot music and an important cause lured more than 3,000 warm-hearted fans to America’s longest-running charity motorcycle event, when Love Ride 28 rolled into Castaic Lake on Sunday, October 23.  The event topped $375,000 in pre-expense revenue this year, with proceeds going toward the fight against autism through Love Ride’s chosen charity, Autism Speaks™.

“Once again, thousands of generous riders, sponsors and friends opened their hearts and wallets in the name of helping others,” said Love Ride founder Oliver Shokouh.  “In a time when national, state and local budgets are severely strapped, these people are making a real difference.”

But the day was bittersweet as many attendees arrived to Castaic only to hear that fellow riders Romarino Zeri and Julie Cameron had lost their lives in an accident en route to the event.  “We are deeply saddened by this news and send our heartfelt condolences to the friends and family of Romarino and Julie,” said Shokouh.

Overall attendance was 3,000, without counting the hundreds of volunteers who donated their time to the cause.  Although the tragic events took an emotional toll, Love Ride celebrities and participants pulled together for the cause.  Featured artists Montgomery Gentry rocked the park with the energy of their unique brand of country music, bringing everyone to their feet.  Preceding the legendary band were several performers, including Charlie Brechtel who paid tribute to Love Ride and the Sturgis Museum with an acoustic song he wrote, Time Bomb with a strong set of golden-era rock hits, and Sean Wiggins with an all-out performance that left the audience wanting more.

The solidarity among the biker community is the heart and soul of Love Ride; its motto has always been about giving to those less fortunate, recognizing there are needs in our community greater than our own.

“We thank everyone who came out to support Love Ride 28,” said Shokouh. “Their participation in this year’s event means a great deal to me personally, but more importantly to the families who have children diagnosed with Autism.  And without our sponsors and numerous volunteers, there would be no Love Ride, so thank you for your generous support.”  

Part of the tradition of Love Ride includes “opportunity tickets,” whereby paid participants receive one ticket (with an option to purchase more on site) that provides a chance to win several unique prizes.  This year, actor Bryan Cranston rode his 2006 Harley-Davidson Softail to the charity event, placed it on stage and donated it as the grand prize.  John Radman of Bakersfield was the very excited winner. 

Paying tribute to the 60th anniversary of one of the world's most iconic guitars, Fender Musical Instruments selected the company’s Telecaster® for a one-of-a-kind creation just for the 2011 Love Ride.  This unique guitar became the second grand prize, won by Lee Danihels.
 
James Carnes won third place in the opportunity drawing, which included a Marlon Brando, limited edition mono-print by Stephen Holland.  Fourth and fifth places went to Kent Vest and Lisa Griffin, who each won a Swiss Army tool with leather case and a Pulstar spark plug set.  
 
The spirit of Love Ride is giving in the form of fundraising and its efforts go beyond the price of admission.  Fundraisers solicit families and friends to sponsor them and monies raised are monitored by a special software program that tracks every dollar an individual raises.  Every activity at the event contributes to the overall fundraising effort from food sales to concessions.

The Top Ten fundraisers compete for prizes and this year they raised a combined total of $34,712.  The Top Ten:

1. Mark Cheely
2. Jim Carnes
3. Andrew Mullin
4. Ricardo Villarreal
5. Steve Hoffa
6. Gerry Mc Kenzie
7. Kent Vest
8. Judi Flournoy
9. Mark Secrist *
9. Jack Goldstein *
* = Tie for 9th place.

Two unique prizes sparked attention to this year’s Love Ride Bike Show. The premise for entry was simple, 10 bucks to enter, 10 categories and with a bike that would run.  
Each of the winners will receive an autographed Peter Fonda trophy along with a group visit to Jay Leno's garage for themselves and a friend.  Listed are the bike show categories and this year’s winners:
Vintage Bikes   
Pre 1940:  Copper Mike
1941-1965:  No Entry
All Years
XL:  Adele Amos
FX:  Robert Karamanukyan
FL:  Joe Rocha
Best Bagger:  Terry Williams
Custom Chopper:  Ryan Self
Bobber:  Ron Baldonado
Female Owned:  Edna Clingerman
People’s Choice:  Edna Clingerman

About Love Ride:
The Love Ride, a 501(c)3 charity, began in 1984  to raise funds for children’s charities.  Oliver Shokouh is Love Ride’s founder and owner of Harley-Davison® of Glendale located at 3717 San Fernando Road, Glendale, CA, home of the Love Ride. Information about the Love Ride can be found at www.loveride.org.

About Autism Speaks™
Since its inception in 2005, Autism Speaks™ has committed over $142.5 million to research through 2014 and developed innovative new resources for families. The organization is dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism; increasing awareness of autism spectrum disorders; and advocating for the needs of individuals with autism and their families.  Autism Speaks™ has played a critical role in securing federal legislation to advance the government's response to autism, and has successfully advocated for insurance reform to cover behavioral treatments.  To learn more about Autism Speaks™, please visit www.autismspeaks.org.

Photo Credit:  Ron Howell
###
Contact:
Susan Harrison
(310) 230-5775 Office
(562) 212-5191 Mobile

Just received this recap of the 2010 Sturgis Rally from Woody at the Buffalo Chip.  since many of you stayed at or visited the Buffalo Chip in Sturgis, I figured I would pass it along...

Howdy,

It’s difficult to believe the rally was only 2 weeks ago. The entire Chip crew works all year to prepare for the coming rally. Then, surrealistically, it “suddenly” starts and the next thing we know, we need a few days’ sleep to recover. Now we’re preparing to welcome you to the 2011 rally, which is only 338 days away. Part of the 2011 preparation is a recap of the rally just experienced, so here it is.

First, thank you for the many compliments given to the crew. They deserved it. Though not without the seemingly unavoidable challenges when the human population of this pasture explodes from zero to tens of thousands, the crew really outdid themselves this year.

Second, a special thank you to those of you who sent cards thanking us for putting on the Chip. Your telling us how much you enjoy the Chip is what makes it worthwhile for the crewmembers to invest so much of their lives to make the Chip what it has become.

Third, we extend another special thank you to those who’ve already made reservations for 2011. It isn’t just that, like some of you have said, you’re the smart ones who will have paid less for two weeks’ camping and shows than someone else will probably have to pay for the day the Rolling Stones confirm. It’s really the ultimate thank you and note of appreciation for the job the crew has done.

Now, finally, I’ll review of the details of 2010’s physical stuff. Many of you have seen and heard me say when one is in a “people” business, one is really in the water, toilet and trash business. I should have added “electricity” to the list. The year of planning and preparation really paid off in minimizing the number of challenges and in having the ability to take immediate curative action. I’ll start this recap addressing the challenges the crew met.

The first challenge I’ll address is the electrical power. This worked exceptionally well throughout most of the campground’s 560 acres during the entire rally. However, the South 40 experienced some problems, reportedly related to the high temperatures experienced rally week.

The S40 power is provided by West River Electric Cooperative. WRE replaced multiple transformers during the rally, which caused temporary losses of power while the exchanges were being made. Almost everyone was out riding, so many were unaware of it. The issues were experienced on Tuesday and Wednesday, and I believe the WRE issues had been resolved by late Wednesday afternoon.

WRE engineers are presently investigating preventative measures to insure there’ll be no similar problems encountered in 2011. We will take them at their word.

The second challenge to discuss is the toilet attendants. One might suspect there are not a lot of people looking for employment as toilet attendants. That has been our experience. It’s why we were so pleased to contract with a group from Florida that performs these services at a number of other public events, including bike rallies at Daytona Beach. They did an outstanding job for the Chip in 2008 and 2009. However, unexpectedly, they let us down in 2010.

We thank those who came in to replace the contractors who’d let us down, but there was certainly a transition period when things were not up to standards. Like I said, the professionals had performed admirably for the two prior years. We had confidence they’d provide the same stellar performance in 2010, but it turned out we shouldn’t have. Backup plans will be in place for 2011.

A couple of non-functional toilets were to have been, but were not, removed prior to the Rally. Their removal was apparently just overlooked, and they’re being hauled off now. Our apologies for letting it appear there were a couple that simply weren’t properly maintained.

Now on to the trash, which was, overall, handled very well. Oh, there, too, some folks let us down, but the backup crew picked up the slack immediately and there was only one day where the trash was even slow to be picked up. The replacement crew was very impressive. Thanks, too, to Waste Connections for providing additional dumpsters and trucks, as that really helped avoid any trash problem. That leaves water.

The water supply system seems to have worked perfectly. We have 3 wells and a chlorination system that feeds water throughout the campground. The entire rally was supplied without incident or even the need for a repair. Yahoo.

The showers went quite well. The two companies that vend showers were appreciated and made private showers available at the east and west ends of the campground. The free and permanent showers at the North Shower Building worked well without incident throughout the rally. The showers at the South Shower Building, however, experienced some challenges.

The South Shower Building’s showers are heated first by a 500,000 BTU boiler and by a series of 4 large hot water heaters. The boiler broke early in the rally (nothing breaks until after the rally has started).

There simply aren’t a lot of 500,000 BTU boilers available in the neighborhood, but we found a rental and had it in place later the same day. The rental boiler, however, broke repeatedly. The rental company was not able to make it dependably and continuously fully operational until Wednesday. The 4 hot water heaters continued to work but, depending upon the time of shower, couldn’t always keep up with the demand for hot water. Luckily, it was really hot weather and a semi-cool shower wasn’t always unwelcome.

Now, let’s discuss more good stuff. The entertainment was truly exceptional. No one fell off the stage. More than 200 Chipsters got to be “extras” and can be seen in Pee-wee Herman’s biker bar scenes now on “FunnyOrDie.Com” or on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show broadcast of Wednesday, August 11. Others got to help with Schwinn Bicycle’s Biker Buddy program where 60 bicycles were assembled and ultimately gifted to The Black Hills Children’s Home.

It was a year like no other. A senior vice president at Warner Brothers Records commented that he hadn’t seen a comparable entertainment lineup anywhere in the United States for more than 5 years. We got to see Bob Dylan and Kid Rock on the same stage on the same night! Incredible!

Nothing is without challenge, however, and, again, nothing breaks until mid-rally. The Buffalo Chip is privileged to have a brand-spanking new state of the art line array system that produces sound second to none. I’d never heard anything sound so good and, when I saw folks come out of the campground just to check out that sound during the sound check, I knew others were likewise impressed.

The state-of-the-art technology included a system that prevents bands from blowing out the speakers. Motley Crue, however, seemed to have had a super high-tech ability to overcome the safeguards and blew out about 25% of the system on Wednesday. The crew reconfigured the system to provide balance and only one or two of you audiophiles could tell the entire system wasn’t working when Ozzy Osbourne performed on Thursday. Parts specially flown in from LA were in place and the entire system was back in use on Friday. No one had to perform acoustically, thanks again to a very competent crew.

Another challenge I believe to be related to the good stuff involves fans who have handicaps. We simply had more of these attendees for the Dylan show than we’d ever anticipated, which caused some inconveniences in the midst of a huge campground and concert crowd. It’d be nice if we had advance notice of special needs and preferences so we can better plan.

Another good topic is the traffic reports that indicate many more Chipsters utilized the alternate routes and avoided the traffic congestion that is the City of Sturgis. Likewise, many utilized the new road the Chip developed to assist Chipsters to exit the Chip more quickly by riding past the machine gun range to enter directly onto SD Highway 34 from 132nd Avenue. This worked really well, and it’s hoped even more folks print out the maps (available on buffalochip.com) and utilize the routes shown in 2011.

Well, that’s about it, or at least as much as I know of at the moment. Please do send us your suggestions for improvement. We take them all seriously. That said, we wish you and yours much happiness in the coming year, and simply request that you continue to

Ride Free and Take Risks.

We look forward to seeing your smiling faces again next August.

Woody & Crew