Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128245
Harley-Davidson 10EJth Anniversa :y Ride ....-..III~~~ nica tions Paul J ame s to see if there was a ch ance th at I coul d actu all y ride two bikes home. It w as a long shot, but a worth while one. . B y A LRoUSSEAU AND S COTT ROUSSEAU P HOTOS BY S COTT R OUSSEA U . A I Ro uss ea u : When our son Scott mentioned in May of th is ' y ear that he would be making the Harley Dav id son 1DOth-ann iversary ride to Milwauk ee, I said , "Get me a motorcycl e, and I' ll go with you ." He said, "Let me see what I can do ." Scott is manag ing e d i t o r of Cy cle News , America ' s Weekl y Motorcycle News . paper, and as such has acc ess to th e Har ley -D av id son press fleet. He ofte n gets diff erent m od els from the po ol , rides th em , and critiques their performance, ha ndling, etc... AR : After I had rnaderny request, I im me dia tely had second t houghts abo ut being away from our bu sin ess for an y length of time , but ju st as qui c kl y I decided to do wh at ev er it would take to be abl e to go. S R: I 'm glad tha t m y dad did decide to go, because chances like this only co me along once in a li fetime, and it would have been a shame for h im to m iss out. See , there are S c o t t Rousseau : To te ll the truth , my scheme for Harley-Davidso n's 1DOth-a nniversary Ride Home had been hatched much sooner than May. All along, I'd had it in my mind what a fantastic trip it would be if I co u ld bring a riding partner along. While I'd experienced enough m em ories to last a li feti me du ring the 9 5thanniversary rid e, I had do ne it alone . So m e Ctt read ers might rec all th at story , wh ich was published as a letter to my mother from th e road . It was actually the n th at I had first entertained th e thought of bringing my wife, Shawna, and my parents home with m e for th e 100th. It was worth a s hot , so I p la ced a phone call to Harley- Dav idson director of commu - 46 JANUARY 7, 2 0 0 4 ยท cue few people I know who hav e bu sted thei r ass as hard as he has to make a bett er life for his fa m ily. Here's a gu y who, at 62 years old, was still getting up at 4 a.m. every da y and wo rk ing until 8 p.m . most n ight s t o ens ure th at our fa mi ly's hydraulics bus in ess prospered . That was his th ing, and fo r as mu ch fi nan cial freedom as it gav e us, I th ink that he missed out on a lot o f good t im es al o n g the w ay , too . Motorc ycl es ar e m y th ing , and th ey ha ve been since I was 7 year s old. AR : In July , Scott toldme he was fairly c ert ai n that Ha rley- Davidson had a 2003 Ul tra Cl ass ic for m e to Story co-author AI Rousseau and h is w ife, Kathy, enjoyed a on c e-in -a-Iif et i m e experience when they Joined their son Sco tt on the Harley-Davidson 100th Anniversary Ride Home in late August. I e n eVIl's ride ' if I would wr it e abo ut the trip . I agreed in a hea rt be at. It had been quite a number of ye ars since I had own ed a motorcycl e, and I was reall y , looking forward to getting back in the saddl e. When m y wife, Kath y , found out which model it was, she wanted to go along. Th en Scott' s wife , Shawna, said that she would go too , and we had a family vacation in the ma king. It would hav e be en com p let e if our daughte r, Mi ch ell e, had been able t o g o, but h er j o b res po n si b i li tie s wou ld n 't allow it. S R : Som ewhere in a dank photo drawer th ere 's a picture of m y da d's early '60 s T riu m ph 500, the la st bike he ever owned . I used to carry that photo around with me , tho ugh h e never knew it , because I alway s thought that his Triumph was such a cool bike, because it was his, wh ich ma ybe meant that myoid man wasn 't such a square after all. I k new that it would n 't be that hard to coax him into riding if he thought he was actu ally hel pi ng to pay the ren t by contri buting to th is story. AR : Ta lk about st ran g e co incidences : In J uly I re ce ived a phone call from Richard Merschdorf, a high school f r i en d whom I hadn ' t seen since graduation. Our cla ss was plan, ning a reunion in Wabeno, Wisconsin, and he wanted to know if I would be