Part of our mission is to promote motorcycling as a sport and a lifestyle. Our goal is to introduce more people to the sport we love, and to bring motorcyclists and their families together. One way to accomplish that is to let other riders know when and where rides and races are taking place.
Use this resource to discover what's taking place in the greater Peoria area; Illinois and the surrounding states; and in some cases, across the nation. If you know about a great place to ride, a swap meet or any other motorcycle-related event that others may be interested in knowing about, please send a note to webmaster@peoriatt.net
PMC Members Finish Well in AMA District 17 Competition
PMC has a long history of having members who do very well in Enduro competition. Two of our senior members, Larry Williamson and Bert Sanders, have racked up a lot of miles and awards racing dirt bikes in the woods. Our club actaully hosted an annual enduro many years ago, back in the Bruce Walters days (see the Who We Are page for more info). It's no surprise then that some of our members are still cranking out great Enduro results.
Final standings for the 2011 District 17 Enduro competition include these PMC members:
Open A - Micah Statler, 3rd overall
Open A - Steve Mourisse, 11th overall (To his credit, Steve only ran two events, finishing 4th at Geneso.) Vet A - Roger Devore, 3rd overall
Vet B - Brian Fore, 8th overall
Masters - Ray Poston, 4th overall
PMC members also finished well in District 17 Trials competition in 2011. Here are the final standings for trial riding members:
Sportsman - Dan Schaidle, 1st overall
Sportsman - Jim Schaidle, 7th overall
Intermediate - Steve Reed, 8th overall
Senior - Jim Schaidle, 1st overall
When you see any of these riders, be sure to congratulate them on a great 2011 season.
If you know of other PMC members who finished the year strong in any form of motorcycle competition - D17 or other, any format or class - please let us know and we will post it.
SOMETHING FOR THE WINTER MONTHS: Since there aren't many rides taking place right now, we will use this space for stories about famous rides or riders. This month's story is an article taken from a book titled "Hell's Angels - A Strange and Terrible Saga", author - Hunter S. Thompson, Random House, copyrighted 1966,1967, by Hunter S. Thompson, pg 274 & 275.
"So it was always at night, like a werewolf, that I would take the thing out for an honest run down the coast. I would start in Golden Gate Park, thinking only to run a few long curves to clear my head . . .but in a matter of minutes I'd be out at the beach with the sound of the engine in my ears, the surf booming up on the sea wall and a fine empty road stretching all the way down to Santa Cruz . . . not even a gas station in the whole seventy miles; the only public light along the way is an all-night diner down around Rockaway Beach.
There was no helmet on those nights, no speed limit, and no cooling it down on the curves. The momentary freedom of the park was like the one unlucky drink that shoves a wavering alcoholic off the wagon. I would come out of the park near the soccer field and pause for a moment at the stop sign, wondering if I knew anyone parked out there on the midnight humping strip.
Then into first gear, forgetting the cars and letting the beast wind out . . . thirty-five, forty-five . . . then into second and wailing through the light at Lincoln Way, not worried about green or red signals, but only some other werewolf loony who might be pulling out, too slowly, to start his own run. Not many of these . . and with three lanes on a wide curve, a bike coming hard has plenty of room to get around almost anything . . . then into third, the boomer gear, pushing seventy-five and the beginning of a windscream in the ears, a pressure on the eyeballs like diving into water off a high board.
Bent forward, far back on the seat, and a rigid grip on the handlebars as the bike starts jumping and wavering in the wind. Taillights far up ahead coming closer, faster, and suddenly ---zaapppp--- going past and leaning down for a curve near the zoo, where the road swings out to sea.
The dunes are flatter here, and on windy days sand blows across the highway, piling up in thick drifts as deadly as any oil-slick . . . instant loss of control, a crashing, cartwheeling slide and maybe one of those two-inch notices in the paper the next day: "An unidentified motorcyclist was killed last night when he failed to negotiate a turn on Highway 1."
Indeed . . . but no sand this time, so the lever goes up into fourth, and now there's no sound except wind. Screw it all the way over, reach through the handlebars to raise the headlight beam, the needle leans down on a hundred, and wind-burned eyeballs strain to see down the centerline, trying to provide a margin for the reflexes.
But with the throttle screwed on there is only the barest margin, and no room at all for mistakes. It has to be done right . . . and that's when the strange music starts, when you stretch your luck so far that fear becomes exhilaration and vibrates along your arms. You can barely see at a hundred; the ears blow back so fast that they vaporize before they get to your ears. The only sounds are wind and a dull roar floating back from the mufflers.
You watch the white line and try to lean with it . . . howling though a turn to the right, then to the left and down the long hill to Pacifica . . . letting off now, watching for cops, but only until the next dark stretch and another few seconds on the edge.
The edge - there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. The others - the living - are those who pushed their control as far as they felt they could handle it, and then pulled back, or slowed down, or did whatever they had to when it came time to choose between Now and Later."
AMA Events
District 17 Schedule - for Dirt Track, Enduro, GP, Hare Scrambles, Hillclimb, MX, SX, Trials
AMA "Riding" Page - for National Road Rides, Rallies, Dual Sport and Off-Road Events
AMA "Ride Finder" - Enter the location, type of ride and date range you're interested in.
Local Road Rides The events listed below are local, meaning the starting point is within a 30 to 90 minute ride from Peoria. The three links shown here, take you to websites with more information about organized road rides in Illinois.
Off-Road Events and Riding Places The events and facilities listed below are some of our favorites. PMC's off-road riders and MX racers put these on their calendars every year as "must-do" events. The parks listed here are well worth the drive, especially if you have a good group of riding buddies making a day of it.
