BACKLASH

I wanted to thank you again for posting the Motorcycle Ride we had in August in your publication. It was the rst time we had a bene t ride in years and while, the turnout was small, it was mighty and those that helped us organize it are already looking to next year’s event. Would it be alright if we stayed in contact and let you know about the ride again next year? Thank you again!

Renee, It is our pleasure and our purpose to help pass along word on such worthy rides as yours. Of course, please send us the information as soon as you have it and we will get it out to our readers/riders.

I need to subscribe. I am subscribing. I read Backroads every month, every column, every feature. Love it all so you can imagine my delight, surprise and unbelievable good fortune when I met On the Mark Mark and Betsy Byers. I am still in 5th gear excitement and am sending in my subscription in the manner that makes me most comfortable - Paper-Yeah Love you guys.

This thing kicks ass!! The Airmoto Pump in ated Keene’s rear tire from 20psi to 35 in 5 min. Read about it in the mag. We tested it out just now.

Hello Brian and Shira, I hope you are well. I’m missing my July issue and since I’m now recovering from heart surgery and will now miss the majority of this riding season I sure could use the mental ride your magazine provides me. I know you will get it to me and I thank you. I’ll also thank you both for the only motorcycle magazine I deem worthy of my subscription. Ride safe friends and I hope to see you on the road. Best Regards,

George, We wish you a speedy recovery and getting back to riding as quickly as possible. The next best thing to being on the bike is planning the next ride, and Backroads can help you with that. The issue is in the mail.

Guess where we were this weekend. Another good suggestion by the highly talented Backroads staff. Thank you.

The wife and I took a ride through VT/NH 2 week ago and spent the rst night in Arlington VT, only a few miles outside of Manchester. We were warmly greeted by the new owner, Buzz Kanter. I’m guessing you know of him. He and his partner Tabitha had taken over The Arlington Inn (www.arlingtoninn.com) that very day. We were the rst bikers to stay there. The restaurant and tavern were closed as they had license transfers, staf ng, etc. to deal with but they bent over backwards to make our stay enjoyable. He has some really good ideas but wanted me to spread the word that they are motorcycle and car club friendly. I thought it might be an interesting destination for you guys. Ride safe

On 15 August, the motorcycling world lost a great friend when Stuart Beatson, recently retired as Service Manager at Morton’s BMW, long-time instructor at Pridmore’s CLASS Motorcycle School, former Battle of the Twins Champion, loving husband to Sandra, and doting father to Erin and Stuart III passed away at home after a battle with metastasized prostate cancer. In multiple conversations after his retirement, he faced his situation with the same quiet, matter-of-fact grace with which he handled everything, focusing on motorcycles and his farm rather than his malady. I really wish he had more time to share with us. In many interesting discussions with Stuart in his position in Morton’s service department, he was always a font of knowledge, especially about boxer motorcycles on which he wrenched and raced for years. He didn’t just talk motorcycle talk: he commuted the 60 miles round trip almost every day from his farm in Beaverdam, Virginia on his F800S twin. It was Stuart who encouraged me to attend Reg Pridmore’s CLASS Motorcycle School at Virginia International Raceway and who took pains to make me - among many others - a better rider. I learned so many things from him by following his lines and listening to his quiet, gentlemanly delivery as we sat trackside. He and Mr. Pridmore had a special relationship, as Stuart was Reg’s most long-term instructor. It was not just professional, it was familial. Stuart was honored with a bon re on the evening of Saturday 3 September at his farm and by friends all over the country by raising a glass in his honor. Sandra’s only request is that the men have a prostate exam/PSA and the women make sure they do it. It’s tting that something simple, yet ultimately very useful and important is requested in Stuart’s memory: I’m sure he wouldn’t want it any other way. I think he’d appreciate the epitaph of a fellow Scot: “Home is the sailor, home from the sea, and the hunter home from the hill.” From “Requiem,” by Robert Louis Stevenson

With deepest respect, Mark Byers