GoAZ/AZRATPack End of Year Awards Dinner 

by: ElChinoLoco

location: GoAZ Motrcycles of Scottsdale

It was a great time at GoAZ Motorcycles of Scottsdale for the AZRATPack/GoAZ Motorcycles of Scottsdale End of Year Awards Dinner.  I always get excited to see the AZRATPack come together in one place and enjoy time with each other.  Members came from as far away as Canada, Denver, CO and Houston, TX. I thank all the 65 members/attendees that came to share the fun.

This year GoAZ was kind enough to allow us to host the dinner on the shop floor.  This was a nice treat having the event in such a great motorcycle setting, They also participated in a jacket giveaway and held a flash sale for all people attending dinner.

This year we also catered the event with Calientes Mexican Grill.  The owners of Calientes, Abel and Maria Diaz have been long supporters of GoAZ and the RATPack.  They provided a nice grill meal that was a real treat !! We thank them for their support.

There were a number of awards to be given out for the GOAZ/AZRATPack ride series. We had a number of Aluminum, Carbon Fiber and only 1 Titanium award .

Award Catagories:

Aluminum:        Ride Three of the Day Rides
Carbon Fiber:    Ride Three of the Overnight Rides
Titanium:            Ride all six of the Ridess

This year the single titanium award went to Phillip Murat.  He received a lighted plaque and an engraved Yeti Drink Shaker.  Bravo to Phillipe !!!

We also recognized our GoAZ sponsors for all their assistance in making the ride season and end of year event a success.

This year Aileen Hammer, SLEDGE (Todd) Hammer’s daughter was kind enough to help us with some last minute artwork. She was given a RATPACK Appreciation Certifcate.  Thank you Aileen !!

As usual we then progressed to our famous RECOGNITION certificates, These certificates recognize  memorable events or behavior displayed by members throughout the riding year.  An example of this is the SALTED BIKE AWARD, issued for burying your BMW in the GREAT SALT LAKE or the GROUP PULL OVER AWARD, given to 5 people pulled over at once by a California Sherrif, seeing a GROUP PULL OVER is a rare occurance which deserves recognizing. They did not get a ticket!

The evening lasted 2.5 hours and was enjoyed by all. Please look at the pics.  If you couldn’t make it this year I hope you will be there for next years event !!

 

 

20th Anniversary Tour Recap

GO AZ Motorcycles Scottsdale

A great group of people came together to celebrate the RATPack 20th Anniversary Tour.  El Presidente assembled a route that took us to places we had enjoyed in the past. The tour ended up covering a significant number of miles visiting the states of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Nevada. The planned trip was 5 days in length covering 2000+ miles for most (look for more comments later) by the time you returned home. A number of people came from Southern California from the Southern Calif. Motorcycle Association (SCMA).  The Chairman of the SCMA (an AZRATPACK member) rode in from Houston, TX to participate..

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Mission San Xavier Ride Recap

GO AZ Motorcycles Scottsdale

Today was going to be a beautiful day for a ride through the desert to see the San Xavier Mission in Tucson. As I pushed out of the garage to start the day it was a brisk 40 degrees outside, so I cranked up the seat warmer and grip warmer to MAX in order to stay warm on the way to GO AZ in Scottsdale. Upon arrival I only noticed a few members and thought maybe others decided it was too cold to ride today, fortunately I was incorrect as many others arrived a short time later. We had John & his wife Lorraine from GO AZ joining us on the ride today as well assisting us with paperwork, which is always important..

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October General Membership Meeting & Dinner Recap

Canton Dragon Asian Bar & Grill, Scottsdale, AZ

El Chino Loco’s pick for dinner this month is an old favorite of mine and a long time haunt of ours, especially when I still worked on that side of town often going after work for dinner and sometimes even for lunch!

Over the years, we’ve gotten to know Candy the owner, Phoebe and Anna our usual servers. They serve the style of Chinese food that I grew up with living on the East Coast, so I was excited to make the trek from Buckeye to Scottsdale for this month’s dinner as it had been a while since I had been there.

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July Club Breakfast Recap

First Watch Carefree – Scottsdale, AZ

The monthly Breakfast meeting was beginning to grow even before the event began as we had over 20 pre-registered participants via AZRATPACK website! 

Friendly reminder to pre-register via the website as it lets us know how many people are planning to attend an event. This allows us the time to contact the Restaurant in advance to let them know that a large group will be descending upon them for breakfast on Saturday so they can prepare the appropriate staff.

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Route 66 Grand Tour Recap

GO AZ Motorcycles Scottsdale

Another great trip along Route 66 in the books! This year we took an easterly heading into New Mexico which we’ve only done once before. Though we didn’t log in many miles on actual Route 66, which is very difficult in this part of Arizona, we did see many of the sites people traveling the Mother Road would have veered off to see plus we managed to avoid I-40 for the most part!

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Roosevelt Lake Ride Recap

GO AZ Motorcycles Scottsdale

It’s been over a year since I’ve been on the road with the RatPack. It felt great to see old friends and new faces on our first ride of 2022! We welcomed new board members, Sebastian and Dean, and missed our fearless leader, Victor, as he couldn’t make this ride.

The ride started at GO AZ Motorcycles in Scottsdale, which as always, showed massive support for the Club. I led the rider’s meeting, and it was great to see all the eager faces ready to brave a somewhat chilly morning. With 20 plus bikes in attendance, I led the way out of the dealership around 9:45 am. Rodney and Stoops ran ahead of the group to set up some drone shots at the dam, and Dean, on his glorious Gold Wing, was the ride sweep. We didn’t know it then, but that Gold Wing, with its extremely comfortable passenger seat, would star later in the ride.

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Route 66 Tour Recap

GO AZ Motorcycles Scottsdale

This year’s running of our Route 66 Tour felt extra special, extra fun! The west to east route had been run in the past and all the stops are the same but it I’m sure it had to do with the eclectic mix of people that attended the ride. Along with the usual suspects, we had a bunch of new faces participate, along with people that have ridden our rides before, but on their first Route 66 Tour with us.

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