Milward's Millennium Motorcycle Ride

Today from Huntington Beach world biker Simon Milward publishes the 2002 Millennium Motorcycle Ride calendar. He will ride his handmade motorcycle to events throughout the nation from Los Angeles to the East Coast and back again, before he heads South to Mexico and beyond. He appeals for assistance from the American motorcycle fraternity to help him fill in gaps in his 'virtual world tour' Powerpoint presentations calendar. If they are within riding distance of his schedule, there is no formal charge and he is self-sufficient in the electronics department (thanks to CTXintl.com). Check it out and email for more info.

With latest corporate donations, notably from the Motorcycle Industry Council and San Diego Harley Davidson, the total amount raised is $60,000. Most of this is being spent on the Motorcycles for Flowers initiative, whereby small motorcycles are being integrated in rural Asian health deliveries on the island of Flores. Yamaha's fleet of twelve cut-price machines along with free Yamaha helmets and jackets for the health workers arrive in March. The remaining is destined for Doctors Without Borders. Corporate support starts at $200.

Hello Everyone

I'm putting the important bit first.

MillenniumRide CALENDAR 2002

You and me probably met somewhere along my ride in the USA. Can you organise a date and venue with 30+ people for me to make my presentation to during my second lap of the US? Do you know anyone else who can? Check out the 'Book Me' dates. Were you expecting to organise something and I haven't contacted you indivually? Please ask me. Do you know anyone who may be willing to host me at Laconia in June? European organiser for intensive Autumn/Winter 2004 events also required.

MARCH California
3rd Born to Die Ministry, 7142 Thomas St., Buena Park,
6th ABATE Local 14, Alameda, Bay Area
7th MMA, VFW Hall, 345 West Kentucky Ave., Woodland
8th Capitol City Motorcycle Club, Sacramento
14th Montgomery St MCC, San Francisco
18th Santa Barbara BMW Riders, Sizzler, Goleta, 7.30pm
22nd Slash X Ranch, Barstow 6.30pm, 8 miles, Highway 247 East, Nick 760 253 4736
26th MMA Los Angeles, Teacher 818 362 0090
27th ABATE Local 19, Round Table Pizza, Indian Hill, Pomona, 7.30pm
30-31st Best Ride, Palm Springs, bestrideusa.com, 1-2pm daily

APRIL California - Iowa

April 6th, am + pm at Glendale Harley Davidson, 3717 San Fernando Rd, Glendale
BOOK ME April 11th to April 26th, en route from SoCal to Iowa. Can you host a presentation in Las Vegas or anywhere en route?
April 26th-28th Heartland STEAM Seminar, Iowa

MAY Illinois - New York

BOOK ME April 29th to May 3rd - riding to East coast so I can fly back to UK for few days or weeks, depending what type of visa arrangements can be made. Can put in several week evening presentations en route in IL, IN, OH, W.VA, PA, NJ or NY.

Arrive back in US 17th May.

BOOK ME 18th 23rd, events in Virginias, NC. Perhaps Murtle Beach in SC probably not unless easy to get something organized, no contacts.

24-26th Rolling Thunder Rally & Run to Wall Washington DC.

BOOK ME May 26th 31st, Virginias, South PA, MD, NJ.

31st Square Route BMW Rally, Thurmont, Maryland.

JUNE North East USA

3-8th Americade, Lake George NY, tourexpo.com
5th Hudson Valley H.O.G. , NY
9th Worcester HOG, MA, ride and presentation, Sheldons Harley Dealer

BOOK ME 10-11th NY, Conn., MA, VT, NH, PA.

12th Motorcycling Doctors Assn., Lake Placid, NY. BOOK ME
13th 30th, NE USA all States, possibly SE Canada. JULY Indiana, Illinois, Ohio

BOOK ME most of month in IN, IL and OH. Towards end of month to MN, Iowa.

4-6th South Suburban ABATE Helmet Roast, IL.
19-21st The Boogie, ABATE IN

AUGUST Heartland, Mid West & North West

5-11th Sturgis, South Dakota (fingers crossed for daily presentations!)

BOOK ME: Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, Oregon,

SEPTEMBER West and South

BOOK ME: California, possibly Arizona, NM & Texas.

And then, MEXICO! No third lap of the US.

Yesterday the Motorcycle Industry Council (mic.org) donated $1,000. With $500 from SanDiegoHarley.com (who said New York Myke didn’t have a soft heart?!) we've made it to $60,000. Well done everyone. Most recent donators are choosing Health for All as their nominated charity so this means that they are all helping motorcycles to save lives. Through associating with the MillenniumRide they are promoting global aspects of motorcycling and transport solutions.

I’m busy contacting members of the motorcycle industry here in Southern California, simply because most of them are based here and fundraising through presentations doesn’t happen like it does elsewhere. This means telephone time at Chateau Billy Gordon and the Blue Rockers band in Huntington Beach. I am staying most of the time with Simone and Renee at Silver Lake, LA. I had met Simone, an Italian researcher, riding his BMW in the Yukon, he was nursing a bent GS after throwing it down some gravel tracks. We rode together for a day or so.

Ron Wood Racing, the best known and one of the biggest dealers of my 604 engine in the USA has been very helpful. Ron himself is a bit of a wizard, his Wood Rotax machines have been winning all the flat track races in their class for the last 20 years, and after half an hour with my carburettor he got it running great. So for my second lap of the USA my engine will tickover. What joy! It’s the simple pleasures in life that make it all worth it. Now I seem to have fallen into the habit of blasting round everywhere checking that the acceleration is always just as smooth! Those engines are brilliant. Wood Racing also have a stator on order because mine quit, thankfully just an hour or so from this place. Amazing, this is a world tour you know. Rotax are being so helpful by supporting me with parts they are a great company. John, who seems to spend 90% of his time riding around Southern California, lent me a Honda 160 for a day, and I feel really awful because I seized it up. I'm sorry John. Does this mean I can't use the BMW?!

The other day I could have been stranded in Mexico with a broken bike in the USA, had life not conspired to straighten out a couple of small hick-ups in my itinerary. I was just a mile from Mexico in Southern California when the timing belt broke (my fault) and my engine died. I found somewhere safe to park it and walked to the border to plead my case for another three months stay in the good ol’ USA. The immigration official was having none of it saying I had to return to the UK before coming back to the US. I still had 48 hours, so I figured I’d try in the morning with different staff who took a far more humanitarian approach. Next time round I may have to fly back to Blighty for 5 minutes, 5 hours or 5 days. With the help of a U-haul one way truck rental and Ron Wood Racing in LA my bike was back on the road. As I learned much earlier in my trip, to every problem a solution exists nearby.

So it’s back to fundraising again then. I forgot where I’d left off in my last email update, and I can’t check because the Psion crashed and I lost a lot of emails (if you are expecting to hear from me and haven’t, please send a reminder). Presentations were made at Monterey HOG (the place reminded me of Torquay!), the AMA District 17 Banquet in Illinois, a chilly one at the Zeitgeist, the ABATE Locals 1, 8, 44 and Contra Costa ABATE became a Corporate Sponsor. The ABATE of Oregon STEAM seminar was pure joy, we raised over $1300 from those generous folks up there and even did a down-home presentation on the Saturday night. The $1,000 days are really worth living for and I'm hoping to get back to Oregon in latish August.

The digital projector donated by CTX (CTX.intl.com) is working magnificently. It is small, lunch-box size in fact. It’s light enough to ride with it slung over my shoulder to cut out vibration. It works with a range of laptops, gives crystal clear imaging, spot-on color reproduction and the screen projects to an amazing size of 24 feet (or 7 metres) tall. Hardly believable but true. I was unaware that projectors could be so versatile. I can now zoom in to the rain water cascading off the dome-shaped Uluru in Australia and the intricate carved details of Anchor Wat in Cambodia. Book me for your 1,000 strong audience, I’m serious it’s that good. The folks at CTX are really nice too.

I spent a week in Silicon Valley where the Works Gallery in San Jose hosted a presentation amid a tattoo art show, thanks to Leigh Weimers at The Mercury and Jane of the Quilt Museum and her husband Mark. Silicon Valley is emerging from the economic doldrums so it was hard to find a laptop donator, though Ravee was generous with his $200 deal on a second hand Toshiba. I am now self-sufficient in the presentation department. Book me, wherever you are.

If you want to see some of the press clippings from my US jaunt so far take a look at MillenniumRide.com ‘Press’. This shows that millions of Americans and others around the world are being reached by the Millennium Ride. If your corporation wants to reach 50 million people over the coming few years, buy the rights to my massive 11.5 gallon fuel tank for a $30,000 charitable donation. I can prove it let’s talk.

My last update (sorry they are a bit sporadic, but it’s only worth reporting news) contained a short report from Wili in Flores. I asked him to send them regularly. It was a bit of a shock to find those statistics wasn't it, are we on the same planet? So you see I haven’t been making all this up! It’s nice to know that motorbikes are helping to save the world anyway.

The best time of day to ride round LA is late at night when the freeways are relatively clear. During the day they are race tracks. I don't see many other bikes out there. It's superbly warm. This must be the best time of year with the scent of fruits and flowers in the air.

Ride Free

Simon Milward
Huntington Beach, CA

Donate to Doctors Without Borders or Health for All at www.millennium-ride.com . It is secure, you get a special pin, email updates as it happens including South America and Africa (be patient) and you help fellow human beings!

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