Ontario Guzzi Riders Rally 2008

According to the law of averages, as I understand it, if you keep on doing something long enough, sooner or later all the planets will line up right and everything will be as good as it can be. Well, this was one of those times for the Ontario Guzzi 2008 Barbecue and Campout at Anchor Bay. OK, so some things could have been a little "more right", but not many people noticed and everybody had a great time.

For once, after a long summer of rain, low temperatures and more rain, the weather was great and, more important, the forecast was just the same. For many years we've had good weather but the forecast was terrible, so people stayed home, but this year the promises held and we had a record turnout for the Anchor Bay site with 78 people showing up. Something else that attracted people was the promise of new Guzzis on site with some models available for demo rides, plus a Saturday evening meal sponsored by the Canadian Scooter Corporation, the Canadian Moto Guzzi importers.

The turnout on Thursday evening was a good indicator of things to come, as about a dozen of us enjoyed some quiet time before things got under way properly on Friday morning. As usual, Friday was spent greeting old friends and catching up on the news and getting everything set up for the weekend. George Ruffolo from Motoretta, the Toronto based Guzzi dealer, bought along a 750 Breva, a Norge and the bike everyone wanted to see, the new Stelvio with its 4 valve 1200cc motor. I managed to get the first ride on it and ended up riding for almost an hour when I got lost! That's my story anyway. The engine, gearbox and suspension are great, but I wasn't too impressed with the seat and more than once I felt my left leg getting a little hot when stuck in traffic, but overall a very impressive bike.

For the Friday evening meal we had lasagna, provided by Rose Schulz, but the numbers of people caught us off guard and we ordered some pizza to make up the shortfall. The only trouble is, by the time I'd finished paying for the pizza it was all gone! About time I went on a diet anyway. After supper on Friday we had a special award ceremony for someone who has been faithfully coming to our rallies ever since they began, but he always has to leave before the Saturday evening awards, so this year we gave a special "Mr. Nice Guy" award to Leon Karlak, from Lockport, New York. Leon's appearance is always looked forward to by the regulars, but some people might not catch the twinkle in his eye when he comes up with those controversial pronouncements that heat up the campfire discussions.

Saturday saw more people arriving, more people test riding the Norge and Stelvio and a few went on the ride led by Klaus Schulz to the nearby Peterborough lift locks on the Trent-Severn waterway, while others just relaxed in the pool or around the bikes, or went exploring on their own.

Morey Chaplick, the President of the Canadian Scooter Corporation, dropped by on Saturday afternoon just before supper to see how things were going and check on the meal he was paying for. We had a great barbecued beef supper cooked by "This Little Piggy Went to Market" and everyone seemed happy in spite of running out of vegetables due to an oversight on my part.

After supper, the awards and door prizes, again, generously donated by the Canadian Scooter Corporation, were given out.

The Long Distance Guy award went to Helmuth Kroll from Altena, Germany. It wasn't that he came from Germany, it was the fact that he rode about 3900 miles since he arrived that got him the award, even if it was on a BMW K1200GT. Laura Blake rode 491 miles from Sparta, New Jersey, on her Breva 750 to get the Long Distance Gal award, and the Long Distance Two-up award went to Ron and Judy Good from Lititz, Pennsylvania. To celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, Ron treated Judy to a 2600 mile tour on their SP III, if that doesn't deserve an award, nothing does! The Best Hard Luck Story went to Helmut Haus, from Wiarton, Ontario, who was having starting problems all weekend with his BMW R100. Should have kept the Guzzi, Helmut. The People's Choice award again went to Mike Baker from Belleville, Ontario, with his beautiful 1973 BMW R75/5 with a sidecar.

Again, it was a really good rally this year and thank you all for coming and making it a success and thanks to everyone who helped, Rose, Klaus, Lionel and anyone else I may have overlooked.

But an extra special thank you must go to Morey Chaplick and George Ruffolo from the Canadian Scooter Corporation, Moto Guzzi Canada and Motoretta for bringing demonstration bikes, for feeding us on Saturday evening and for the generous door prizes.

We hope everyone will come back in '09, August the 28th to 30th, the weekend before the Labor Day weekend, and don't forget to bring some friends with you for lots of Guzzi fun. George promised to bring more demo bikes next time and hopefully Morey will feed us again.

Phil T