Somebody told me that there might be a HOG Posse Ride in 2012. Anyone else heard this? I love this kind of ride, go with the group, then zig zag by myself through the country on the way back home.

 

Here's hoping there is a 2012 Posse Ride. The past two years the registered rider count has gone down from 500-800 to 300-500 in my estimate. I guess we consider this a fallout from the economic downturn. The buying power of HOG goes down when the attendance shrinks, but I'd be happy just buying a silver pin and T-shirt separately. The tour organization and special events along the ride are more important to me. But the most important are the people that I've met time after time along these rides. Sadly, Joe Dowd is retiring and Tim DeLuca has not been to the past two years of rides. Alan Fankhauser, Peggy and the rest of the HOG crew work hard and do a great job setting these things up and making sure everything runs smoothly. All the riders I've met through the past 10 years of riding these National Events are memories I treasure, as are the over 80K miles on the rides.

Corporate Harley should strongly support these HOG events, after all, a few of their multi-million dollar dealerships do get a small boost in repairs, merchandise sales and rider familiarization. I've been back to quite a few dealerships that I first visited on these rides while I'm doing independent rides.

 

Dave817, totally agree with all your comments. I was told Joe Dowd retired at the end of September 2011. He is a very energetic speaker for this type of activity. I saw both Joe Dowd and Tim DeLuca in the 2010 Riding the Ridge ride. They were not in Motoring The Mother Road, Route 66 in 2010. Kris Schoonover, Alan, Peggy and the rest of the HOG staff did a very good job for the 2010 Route 66 ride.
Here is also hoping there is a 2012 Posse Ride.

 

I rode in the 2004 & 2005 Posse Lower 48 rides. I would love to be able to attend another Posse ride next year if they are still around.

 

Browsing and looking in hope that the Posse ride will come back in 2013.

Did the 2007 Posse Great Adventure and the 2010 Rout 66 Mother Road.

Joe Dowd will be missed and Schonner had moved onto another position with HOG.

 

HD will be celebrating their 110th anniversary and HOG their 30th in Milwaukee in 2013, so, a Posse Ride in 2013 is very unlikely. I do hope they have one in 2014. I also did the 2007 Posse Ride and the 2010 Route 66 Motoring the Mother Road. I saw Schooner at the New York Motorcycle Show and he said he is now with the HD Racing division.