VJMC NATIONAL RALLY 2006

by Jim Townsend

Many of us do not recall, but from 1977 when the club was founded until 2001 there was never any kind of event which was solely for the all of the VJMC members in the USA and Canada. In 2000 the club was incorporated and that date could possibly be called the second start of the club. There weren’t very many of us then and the group of officers was really small also, but the then President of the club, Jim Townsend, decided that we should have our own event which was to be put on for the members and which was run by the members. Our first National Rally was held the first week of August 2001. While there was a rather low turnout, those of us that were there had a really good time and decided to carry on the tradition that was started.

Like the first National Rally, the second one was also held near Asheville, North Carolina. Asheville is in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains and there are a lot of very spectacular sights and spectacular roads to travel. Luckily there were some local members who knew where these roads and sights were. If you can imagine tight u-turns and hills, mountains and I can say without any exception, we all had a very enjoyable time. Raymond Amos, Western North Carolina Field Representative, was one of those local leaders.

The third, fourth and fifth National Rallies were held on the grounds of the Oak Ridge National Laboratories in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Again we were in or very near the Appalachian Mountains and the riding excellent. The current VJMC President, Pete Boody, and the chapter members in Eastern Tennessee hosted those events.

Those areas were chosen especially because 25% of the US and Canadian VJMC members live within 500 miles, or a one day rides from the event. This area has the highest concentration of members.

The 2006 VJMC National Rally changed venue to the center of the State of Michigan. Michigan isn’t known for its mountains, but it does have some very large hills and during the winter there a lot of ski lodges and ski runs open. During the Great Depression in the 1930’s, the US government recruited unemployed men for various public works projects. One of those projects was the Caberfae Peaks Ski lodge and Resort. This was the first ski resort in Michigan, but several more have been opened since then. For golfers, it also has a first class golf course.

The facility at Caberfae Peaks has a Swiss styled hotel, a large ski lodge that is two stories tall and dining facilities for about 400, a bar and many separate meeting areas. The VJMC main activities were held in the main lodge. Evenings found the club members just discussing bikes and in some places watching old 1950’s and 1960’s videos, some of which were of the famous 500 mile Jack Pine Endurance run, which was discontinued in the early 60’s.

As with all previous National Rallies, there was a bike show and judging. Needless to say, there were a lot of really nice bikes there. The judging was broken down into 3 engine size classes with another Ride Through Time judging where all participants were required to go for a ride before the judging. There was a Peoples Choice award, Caberfae Staff Choice award and the Best of Show award.

The Show results are as follows:

Under 250cc: 1 st Bill Gray, Lexington MI 1965 Yamaha YG1K

2 nd Beverly Pylman, Davisburg MI 1967 Honda CL160

3 rd Ed Macioszek, Holland MI 1982 Honda MB5

251 to 700cc: 1 st Andy Nichols, Caro MI 1967 Honda CB450D

2 nd Stewart Covington, Lunenburg MA 1964 Honda CA77

3 rd Bill Champion, Davisburg MI 1967 Honda CL77

701cc and up: 1 st Ron Pavlak, West Bloomfield MI 1974 Honda CB750 K4

2 nd Keith Scott, Thunder Bay Ontario 1976 Honda GL1000

3 rd Pete Boody, Oliver Springs TN 1975 Honda GL1000

Ride Through Time:

1 st Beverly Pylman, Davisburg MI 1967 Honda CL160

2 nd Stewart Covington, Lununburg MA 1968 Honda CL175

3 rd Keith Scott, Thunder Bay Ontario 1976 Honda GL1000

Peoples Choice: Bill Gray, Lexington MI 1965 Yamaha YG1K

Caberfae Choice: Bill Gray, Lexington MI 1965 Yamaha YG1K

BEST OF SHOW: Bill Gray, Lexington MI 1965 Yamaha YG1K

The show brought out the best and from the results, you can see that Bill Gray just about cleaned house. His little Yamaha was one of the best looking and spectacular restorations I have ever seen. He has one bike to be very proud of and his work shows what can be done. Beverly Pylman’s CL160 was another really good restoration. Beverly did a lot of the work on the Bike that was raffled off by the Michigan chapter last year. Stewart Covington probably has one of the longest trailers in captivity and he brought quite a number of bikes from small ones up to a Honda Gold Wing that he and his wife, Elizabeth, rode on the Pre-Rally Ride.

The rally really started on Thursday and went through Saturday evening, but for those of us who just couldn’t stand waiting, there was a pre-rally ride. There were 9 two wheeled motorcycles, two three wheel conversions and the van and trailer that went on the trip. The trailer was in case of a breakdown that couldn’t be taken care of on the ride and the van could take the luggage and passengers that got tired or had broken down bikes. Happily, we did not have any accidents, but two of the bikes experienced electrical problems that required more repairs than we could do on the ride. Another good thing was that Scott Timoff had taken his early Gold Wing along in the trailer, so Dan Gray, who's Suzuki had problems, could continue on the ride. An alternator quit charging on Ann Suttle’s Honda CB750, so it went in the trailer and Ann rode with her husband, Jeff, on their 1979 CBX the rest of the way.

The first day had the group leaving Caberfae at a leisurely 9:00 as they headed for St. Ignace which is just across the Mackinac Bridge in upper Michigan.

As you may know, Michigan is a large peninsula with Lake Michigan to the West, Lake Superior on the North and Lake Huron on the East side. In fact Michigan has more miles of shoreline than any other state, including Florida! The reason I mention this is because we were told to bring our swim suits in case we had a chance to go swimming. What we didn’t know was that one of the activities or contests we were going to have on the ride was a chance to get in the water in all three lakes! I am told that sometimes the ice actually melts there as the water in the great lakes is quite cold. There were three groups. Those that went all the way in; those that waded up to their knees and those that just got their toes or fingers wet.

There were two that swam in all three lakes, Scott Timoff and Norm Smith. Two went in up to their knees, and they were Joyce Langford and Jim Townsend and none of the rest even got a little wet! Michigan is known for its sandy beaches, but Lake Huron had one exceedingly rocky beach with rocks about the size of both your fists together and, in addition, they were covered with slick moss. The water in Lake Huron was the coldest also.

After seeing a big freighter go through the Sault St. Marie Locks, we thought that we had seen the highlight of the trip, but the big one was just coming. Leaving the hotel in St. Ignace after the second night, we were led by Bill Melvin down to his home and workshop on Hubbard Lake. It just so happened that Bill has a restoration shop there and it is the site of a rather unique collection of antique and vintage motorcycles. Among the bikes in his collection is a Brough-Superior S100 V-twin, various antique Indians and some really great Japanese motorcycles and also others that were unique too.

While we were there Bill and Marge Melvin had a lunch prepared for us. Bill bought out the Indian company that was in California when it closed so there are remnants of that around his shop also, but his love for the older Indians is evident by the number of antique Indians in his collection.

The whole Rally was a meeting place to renew old acquaintances and make new ones. There was plenty of time to go on the various rides planned by the Rally Committee that visited various places within riding distance. Like most areas, there was no way everyone could go on every ride, but the rides they did go on were fairly short, about 70 miles each, and they were interesting and enjoyable.

At the business meeting following the events on Friday, it was decided to have the 2007 National Rally at the same location. The site being investigated for 2008 is somewhere in the Ozark Mountains and probably in Arkansas. I hope to see you all there.