Publishers Corner
August was surely a month to remember. We had great riding weather for the majority of every weekend and there were some awesome rides held this month.
In the middle of August we received our helmet cam and we have started using it to shoot on-board video of the rides. You will notice a change in the magazine’s format because of this new capability. Not only did we invest in the helmet cam but we invested in some high end video production software as well. We are now to the point where we can turn out a 10 minute video in a short period of time. You will notice that most of the articles in this issue do not have still pictures but instead have a video associated with them.
We are still experimenting with this new technology (at least new to us) and will be making changes as time goes on. In this issue we have videos for Wack’s Fourth Annual Make-A-Wish Ride, The Fourth Annual Christopher Hitchcock Memorial Ride and the Biker’s For Boobies Run. These videos all vary in length from 25 minutes for the Make-A-Wish Ride to 5 minutes for the Christopher Hitchcock Memorial Ride. How long the videos are is dependent on how much footage we shoot that is worth showing and how interesting the ride and ride route are. Please be forewarned that the video for Wack’s Make-A-Wish ride is 750 megabytes in size. It is going to take some for that file to be buffered in the viewer so please be patient. These videos will be on sale in the magazines store and will be shipped to you in the form of a DVD. We would like your feedback on this change to the magazine’s format so feel free to drop us an e-mail and let us know what you think.
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce a new author to the North Country Rider Magazine family. Hi name is John DeLisle and he is a part time free-lance journalist. He contacted us and asked if he could write an article covering the 23rd Annual Kris Amorosi Memorial Bingo Run hosted by the Adirondack Riders. Since we were not able to attend this run ourselves we considered it to be of great fortune to have someone volunteer to write an article about the ride. We think it is a great article and encourage you to download the PDF and give it a read.
Last month in this editorial section I vented about the Warren County Sheriff’s Department not supporting the charity motorcycle events by providing traffic control. For that reason I was delighted to see them provide traffic control for Wack’s Make-A-Wish Ride. I was then deeply saddened to discover that they set up road blocks on Rotue 149 both East and West of the Adirondack Bar & Grill. It is apparent that these people just do not get it. If any of our readers were stopped at either of these road blocks I would appreciate it if you would take the time to send me an e-mail (efrulla@nycap.rr.com) with the following questions answered in the e-mail.
- At what time were you stopped
- At which location, East or West of the Adirondack Bar & Grill
- How many Officers were at the roadblock
- Were they courteous and professional
- Were you cited
- Did they stop any vehicles other than motorcycles
I intend to contact my Sheriff hating attorney and submit a FOIL request seeking information about these road blocks asking similar questions. The courts have already stated that it is legal for the authorities to do this but that does not mean that they should. This type of 1950’s behavior and logic will be damaging to the charity motorcycle events conducted in Warren County and it needs to come to a quick and abrupt end.
The Fury went into the shop and the new goodies are installed. I am totally impressed with the difference in power that the new pipes and fuel controller made. The new Mustang seats are very comfortable and the whole look of the bike has been cleaned up as well. Karen and I took the bike out in a 2 up configuration for Walker’s Ol’ Fall Classic on September 4th. The bike handled extremely well with two people on it. In fact, it handled better than I had ever expected. What this means is that you will start seeing more of Karen on the rides.
There is a new American Legion Rider’s Group associated with American Legion Post 964 in Chestertown. If you are a member of the American Legion and live in the northern part of our coverage area and are interested in joining give the post a call. We are trying to get more information about this new riders group and when we do, we will publish an article about the group.
That about covers this month’s rants and raves.
Ride Well and Ride Safe
Ed Frulla
Publisher