Here I am in Ottawa, Canada, ready to head out to the BMW /5 motorcycle rally in Seneca Rocks, WV.  Little would I know that I would eventually move to WV, but at this time, the ride down will prove to be an adventurous one.

The route down, through NY and PA before I got to my friend Bob Tabasko's in Newark Delaware is a webpage in itself  Getting the "one figure salute" from Bob before we head to Gary's.  I used to live in Newark, DE and that's how I met Bob who has a beautiful dark green /5.

Gary lives in Howard County, Maryland, and is a long time /5er.  He's been riding his Slash /5 every since he first got it, new.  That is, since 1973.  Incredibly, he has done all the work on his bike keeping it running for over 150,000 miles.  Gary's place is a convenient meeting place - lots of space and a great place to hang out.  He is also on the way to Seneca Rocks for a lot of /5 riders.  Here are some group photos of us at Gary's.  Look at all the /5's.  Except at Seneca Rocks itself, you'll probably never see so many in one place at once.

This is the campsite for the /5 rally.  Lots of bikes as you can see from the balcony view from Cabin Central:

The objective here is to socialize, hang out and relax with the dudes who enjoy riding as much as you do:

Typical social gathering around the bikes.

Two Triumph Dudes who came from Michigan

The Tech Session

The purpose of the Tech Session is to give us less experienced folk, such as myself, a chance to learn more about our bikes.  Usually the tech session just "happens" as a result of someone having a problem with his bike and needing a quick fix.  For example, someone may ask "Anyone fixed a reticulated caniddling pin before?" and next thing you know there are 12 dudes standing around the bike, either there to help, or to learn just exactly what a canniddling pin is.  This year Matt had a wobble in his rear wheel, and a guy from Kansas had problems with his front forks.  The technical gurus this year were Duane Ausherman, of California and Gunther of Ohio.  Both have lots of experiences with BMWs and came to the rescue.

Duane demonstrating fork repair

Gunther inspecting Matt's wheel while Bob, Dave and Gary look on.

Matt looking up to Gunther for help fixing his wheel.

Well, it turns out Gunther made a shim of beer can to eliminate the free play in Matt's rear wheel bearing.  As far as I know, the ingenuity of this repair was enough to get Matt home. Who knows, Matt may still have that beer can shim in his rear wheel!
 

The Police Presence

Yes Gunther, West Virginia really does have a  helmet law.

For those coming from out of state (and that was just about everybody, judging from the license plates on all the bikes that came) be advised that WV does have a mandatory helmet law.  The police were certainly there to enforce that, along with speeding any pretty much anything else.  We even encountered the WV police outside of Petersburg on our ride down.  It was amusing when the officer asked "okay who was speeding?".  Uh, "it was a guy on a BMW, officer".  We all were riding BMWs of course!  I'm not sure who got the ticket, but thankfully it wasn't me.  I already got a hefty fine for speeding in Maryland just last month - I didn't need another one! Anyway, at Yokum's Gunter found out the hard way, about WV's helmet law.  He just took a trip pretty much across the street no less, and was nabbed.  Here here is, explaining himself out of that one.  Gunther comes from Ohio, where there is no helmet law (at least for those over 18).

From here...
 

Well after the Seneca Rocks Rally, I was headed to the 45th Annual ALPCA convention in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  The timing couldn't have been better.  I left Seneca Rocks Sunday, and had to be in Chattanooga by Tuesday, so I had plenty of time.  I sure ran into a lot of rain and cold weather on the way down, keeping me of the Blue Ridge Parkway for the most part, but I did get to enjoy some of it.  I'm sure some other time, I'll get a chance to do the whole thing. I made it home from Chattanooga okay, but that was an adventure in itself! Links: You can read more about the Seneca Rocks Rallies, and /5s in general on the /5 United website:  www.5united.net

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Page created Aug 12, 2001