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| March 2009 | Louisiana MSTA Newsletter | P.1 |
MILESTONES....As I am sure you have heard by now our club has a new name. Although the name has changed once before, seperating ourselves from the Honda brand is a true milestone. It has been a long journey for both our club and Honda and we and all motorcyclists have much to thank the company for. Honda has been instrumental first in making the motorcycle something mainstream America has come to accept as suitable transportation for "nice" people, and second, the development of the hobby of Sport Touring. Yes, other companies built sport tourers first but Honda, with machines like the Sabre, VFR and ST made them more affordable, reliable, better looking and .... well, just better. But time marches on and now Yamaha, Triumph, and Kawasaki and others all offer excellent (and many, including me, will argue better) sport tourers. And some even question wether Honda has its heart in motorcycling at all with its lack of new models for 2009 and its emergence as a major player in the automotive arena.
Im my opnion it was time for a name change. And although I am not thrilled with the new name I am thrilled with the fact that our club is no longer misnamed. Our new name may or may not reverse our declining membership trend of the past few years but it does renew my enthusiam for recruiting new members. I once again look forward to telling every biker I meet about our great riding club and how much fun we have!
And speaking of VFRs here's a personal milestone. My 1999 Honda VFR turned 100,000 miles last month (no snide comments about the dirt, please). This machine has taken Stacie & me on many wonderful journeys and holds a treasure trove of memories, including Sport Touring Rendesvous in Hot Springs AR, Mammoth Lakes CA, Lexington KY, Avon CO and Asheville, NC; and too many regional events to remember. Most of you know we now tour on a Kawasaki Concours 14 due to the greater comfort but the good times on the VFR will never be forgotten and I still ride it regularly.
One more "milestone" I would like to mention. Milestone Racing School started operation in January at Louisiana's No Problem Raceway Park just 35 miles south of Baton Rouge and is the only track based riding school in Louisiana. Roadracer D. J. Ricks, Jr and MSF instructor Renée Green can provide individual coaching for both the experienced and beginning rider and are as nice a couple as you can hope to meet.Check out the Milestone Racing School website for more info.
Well, it is already March and I am late with the newletter as usual but I feel we are off to a good start, with two good lunch rides so far and more planned. We lost a few members last year but gained a few and importantly they are active members. Tim Cundiff of BR has become one of the regulars and I had the pleasure of meeting new member Eric Babcock and his son Derrick on the February lunch ride. I look forward to seeing more of both of them. We now have an active core of riders in the NOLA area once again and we will look at adding an occasional lunch ride centered on that area in addition to our monthly BR area rides. If you have an idea for a ride, let's hear it! All we need is a meeting place and a destination.
Later...
Bob
Seven riders got together for the January lunch ride. HSTA members Tim Cundiff, Kevin Yeats and Bob Chappuis were joined by for non members. These included Rick Spiller, FJR 1300 and David Webster, Concours 14 and there two friends Paul and Buzz. Buzz also rides an FJR 1300 while Paul rides a classic Concours 1000.
We all met at Starbucks Saturday morning and followed a route suggested by Rick to Madisonville, LA via Prairieville, Port Vincent, French Settlement and Springfield. The weather was perfect for a ride and we maintained a mostly sedate pace enjoying the scenery. It was near French Settlement that Paul picked up a Performance Award form a Livingston Parish Deputy. He caught up with us in Springfield to tell his tale but spilt from the group for a poker game while the rest of us continued to Morton's Restaurant on the Tchefuncte River. We enjoyed a nice meal, tasty food and friendly service. After lunch we split up in different directions
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Our February Lunch ride enjoyed a good turnout despite less than idea weather with 9 riders (7 members) braving some damp roads and chilly temperatures (for Louisiana) COG member David Webster joined us again on his Kawasaki Concours 14. Four of our New Orleans area members showed up, including new member Eric Babcock on his Kawasaki ZZR1200 riding up with BMW riders Dennis Hedrick and Dave Dickson. These three are all neighbors in a Westbank suburb and have gone in together to purchase a No-Mar tire changing rig to support their avid sport touring habits. Kevin Yeats, from the lower end of de Westbank took a direct route and met us in Inedependence. Eric's son Derrick, rode in from Watson. Bill Ellis of Baton Rouge was waiting at McDonalds when I arrived and Tim Cundiff, also Baton Rouge was the last to roll in, just in time for our 10:30 departure.
Our lunch destination was the Bar-B-Q Station in Independence, 
LA located at the intersection of LA 40 and US 51, is just 40 miles as the crow flies from out starting point in Zachary, LA so our route there was anything but direct and covered several scenic and curvy byways in the East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, St. Helena and Tangipohoa Parishes. We traveled East to Baywood, Northweest to Clinton then North to Norwood where we stopped to let Tim and David swap mounts and to make gear adjustments as the temperature had dropped from about 62 to 52 degrees rather quickly. Those who had them added extra layers. We got some directions from Lionel, (known as Frog by all his friends) a local who refused to believe we were not lost when we explained we were on our way from Zachary to Independence for some BBQ. I asked Frog why he was called "Frog" and he replied, somewhat impatiently: "because that's my nickname!".
After a lenghthy break we saddled up and headed East again on 422 and 432 to Chipola and then 38 to Kentwood. Due to the chilly weather I broke off the final 60 mile loop through Stoney Point and Folsom and instead blasted South on I-55 directly to Independence. Kevin Yeats was sitting outside the Station, chatting with Jimmy, the owner. Jimmy is a fellow track day rider and had recently re-opened the restaurant after the previous owner's retirement. The place is an old service station and has been remodeled into a nice restaurant with automotive décor and the old gas pump island serves nicely as a bikers only parking area. Bu most importantly, Jimmy KNOWS how to smoke meat!
As we waited for our food we got a little Sicilian emigrant town history from Jimmy and an invite to the upcoming Italian Festival and Poker Run. Several lively biker conversations, including upcoming riding plans, continued for some time after the tasty meals were devoured. Everyone agreed to the was good. My rib plate was delicious with nice meaty ribs and Dennis raved about his Brisket Burger and I plan to return soon to try one.
Considering the still falling temperature and cloudy skies I discarded my planned after lunch route and everyone departed in different directions.
It is great to start the the new year off with two good lunch rides even before the real riding season has arrived. Thanks to all for riding with MSTA and we will see you next month!
| Specifics on all of the above will be posted on www.lamsta.com and e-mailed to our monthly ride list as soon as they are set. If you are not currently getting these messages send me you current e-mail address Bob at LaMsta dot com. |
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Photo Contest: STAR 87 in Cruso, NC. How many members can you identify? |
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That's all for now.
Keep riding & smiling and don't forget to visit WWW.RIDEMSTA.COM often!
Bob Chappuis, State Director
