Thoughts from the President

February has set in, and to offset my lack of riding, I bought a 2022 BMW G310GS.  I intend to use it to have a great little bike to throw in the toy-hauler, and to take off-road in Michigan. I have been having fun outfitting it with engine guards, risers, windshield and side carriers with Nanuk pelican style cases that are more practical in size for the baby GS than big aluminum cases. 

Registration opens on Groundhog Day (Feb. 2nd) for the BMW MOA Grand Coddiwomple scavenger hunt. Registration is free for all MOA members, and the rally consists of challenges that you complete on your motorcycle. The definition of Coddiwomple is "to travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination." In 2021, this amazing hunt took me to places I would have never found, took me down amazing roads, and gave me a reason to ride each day. I went through 19 states and visited over 189 waterfalls, 150 battle sites, 80 Humpty Dumpty statues, and many canyons and airplane crash memorials.  There were over 700 MOA participants, and yours truly placed 2nd. The contest starts April 1st and ends Oct. 31st.  Even if you only go out for two or three Coddiwomple rides during the year, I guarantee it will be the best fun you have had in years.

Our weekly TCD Breakfast schedule, February Brewery night is posted on the website, and our Planning Meeting will be on Feb. 20th at 10:30 am at the Royal Oak Senior Center.  All three will be listed at the bottom of this newsletter.  Please join us!

Jennifer Ott, 
BMWTCD President

Getting to know your new club Officers:
Larry Benitz, Vice President and Club Webmaster

I retired after 33 years at Chrysler (and all its iterations through the buyouts & mergers), having spent most of my career in Mopar Parts Marketing, but also with stints in Interactive Communications (back when that web thing was new) and Security Services handling Brand Protection Investigations, which is what I was doing when I retired in April 2018.

My motorcycle history started young with a minibike, then to Indian 70 (when they were Italian!), next to Suzuki RM125 (long travel suspension!).  My street riding started in my 20s with a Honda 500 Interceptor, which I purchased when living in Louisiana and enjoyed many a twisty road among the bayous and rivers.  When I moved back to the Detroit area, the poor roads, heavy traffic, and lack of twisty roads convinced me to sell the Honda and cease my two-wheel fun in about 1988.

After my wife of 18 years passed in 2008, I decided it was time to get back into riding and purchased an ‘09 BMW R1200R.  In 2011, I upgraded to the new K1600GT, then in 2015 I upgraded again to K1600 GTL Exclusive for more comfortable riding with my wife as pillion.  Somewhere along the way I also bought a 2003 R1200C Phoenix. (What a contrast between riding a K16 and an R12C!).  I got the ADV bug and purchased an R1250GSA in 2020 and downsized the K16 to an R1200RT, which are my current bikes – the R1200RT and R1250GSA.

I joined the BMW Touring Club Detroit in 2017, after moving from Sterling Heights to West Bloomfield. In 2019, I accepted the club role of Webmaster and began taking care of our website www.bmwtcd.org.  I became increasing involved in the TCD over the last two years, participating in, and sometimes planning, ADV and road rides, and I attend most of the Geezer Meetings and rides. With the vacancy of the Vice President position, I volunteered to accept those duties, as well as continuing as Webmaster.

I look forward to working with our new President Jennifer Ott, our new Treasurer Doug Radtke and our new Editor Marc Wilkins.  We have goals of strengthening the club and reinstituting several of the traditions that have been sidelined during Covid – the monthly newsletter, the Sunday morning breakfasts and (at least monthly) TCD Nites – as well as continuing the traditional ride schedule – Longest Day, Ohio, Indiana, Color Tour, Washtenaw & Oakland ADV, Maumee and many others.

If any member has a suggestion, a question, a concern, or an issue with the website, please email me at tcdvicepresident@bmwtcd.org.  I look forward to serving the members of the BMW Touring Club of Detroit and hope to ride with many of you in the coming year.

My bikes are in winter jail, and it just snowed about 5 inches.  I guess riding season is over for me.  So, what to do for the next 2 and ½ to three months?  Catch up on some reading, try to avoid taking up day drinking as a new hobby, and plan some rides for the coming year.  Hopefully we will have our annual TCD Planning Meeting by sometime in March, and that gives us all time to come up with some ideas that will bring us together.  The usual TCD events like Urban Ride, Longest Day, Ohio Ride, Thumb Run, Color Tour, and Edmund Fitzgerald Run will probably go on the schedule along with some Ice Cream Rides, ADV Rides and Geezer Rides.  It might be good to have some Saturday or Sunday day rides to lunch or dinner for those with limited vacation time.

Some non-club events include the MOA Rally in June, the RA Rally in Sept., and several MOA Getaways to consider.  I’ve been to a couple of the Getaways, and they make for a great weekend.  They have a limited number of attendees (100ish) and involve staying at the resort/motel Friday and Saturday night (maybe Sunday as well).  You can use Friday to get there and Saturday to ride the area.  They usually include meals both nights with cash bars, door prizes, sometimes some entertainment, and a swag bag of MOA goodies.  Local ride routes are typically available. MOA is currently offering discounts on registration.  I have done the Fontana Getaway before and the roads in the area are hard to beat.  I’m sure some other TCD’ers will be there.  There are some new ones to try, and I know some clubbies have already registered for the Getaways at Guelph, Ontario in August and Sugarbush, Vermont in September.  It would be great to see a good showing for the club at these events.  Check them out on the MOA website.

Back to the current condition.  There is no shame in driving your car to a monthly night out or a weekly breakfast meeting with the TCD at a local brewery or restaurant.  You can still have lively discussions on what oil or tire is best for your two wheeled ride.  Check the website for upcoming events.  If you are privileged to be among those of us that have been paroled from the daily grind or have a flexible schedule, you can attend a Geezer meeting at a local coffee house.  Anyone can attend, but if you try to sign in to a work zoom meeting while there, I guarantee some sort of embarrassing situation will occur.  Geezer meetings are typically in the mid-mornings on weekdays.  While drinking coffee and munching on a pastry, we are working on all the world’s problems, especially involving motorcycle oil and tires.  Also, since the southeastern Michigan area is full of engineers, auto techs and others with an interest in technology gizmos and farkles, someone can probably help with pairing devices to your bike or with creating routes for your GPS.  Opinions on other subjects should be pursued at your own risk. Again, watch the website for the next Geezer event.

If anyone has any other ideas to beat the winter doldrums that don’t include getting cold outdoors, home maintenance projects, or general house cleaning please bring them up.  Also please let it be known what kind of rides you want to do, and someone will probably join in, and we can work together in include everyone. 

Stay warm and stay safe.

Update & Events