Motorbike season to open in Moscow

A new motorbike season-2008 will open this week. Prior to this joyful event, Motonews.ru will give details of a program to be held connected with this long-awaited day, as well as highlight certain things that should never be forgotten.

Unlike in previous years, this year there won’t be any centralized event held to mark the beginning of the motorbike season. It used to be a fantastic sight to see a huge motorcade riding through the city with no bother from the police whatsoever.

However, it appears that not everybody realized the complexity and importance of the event. A big motorcade, being part of a two-wheeled horse fellowship, is very impressive of course. We shouldn’t lose our minds however! Most of us remember when unprofessionalism and lack of discipline resulted in a multiple crash of motorcade participants a couple of years ago. No one wants a repeat of this. Well, the police won’t be letting it happen again either.

So this year, each group of bikers will be celebrating the opening of the season separately. Many experienced bikers may want to follow an old tradition and go to the Vorobyovy Hills.

Now a few words about the celebrations planned for the opening of the motorbike season. Not all of them are scheduled for April 5, but many people will still gather together on this date.

In particular, the ‘Doroga na Sever’ (‘Road to the North’) motorbike union and the ‘Veresk’ (‘Heather’) foundation invite everybody to celebrate the start of the season in the Mezzo Forte nightclub (53 Pervaya Ostankiskaya St, Moscow). The program will start at 8:00 p.m. and include: rock‘n’roll music (Alexander Chernetsky and ‘Razniye Lyudi’, ‘Rost i Ko!,’ ‘Diamond Hand,’ ‘Nekomplekt,’ ‘Nastroyeniye,’ ‘Krasnaya Ryba,’ and others), contests, striptease, and a generally friendly environment.

Members of the ‘Motorcycles’ forum on www.auto.ru will also get together on April 5. They will celebrate in the ‘Zhelezny Kon’ (‘Iron Horse’) entertainment center (7 Derbenevskaya Naberezhnaya, Moscow). They organized everything themselves and collected the money via the website. The participation fee is RUB 1,500. A week later, on Saturday, April 12, the Brotherhood MC motorclub invites everybody to celebrate the season’s opening in the Hollywood nightclub (Bld.11, 32 Volgogradsky Prospekt, Moscow). The program will begin at 10:00 p.m. and include live music (‘Kayman,’ ‘Raw Cats,’ ‘Adamant’), an erotic show and extreme striptease (‘Lady-Shock,’ ‘Niagara’), contests, prize lotteries, a Ragnar Viking-show and a disco (DJ Redindian). The entrance fee is RUB 300.

Star Riders Moscow will celebrate the start of the season in ‘Tochka’ (‘Dot’) nightclub near to ‘Oktyabrskaya’ metro station (Bld. 7, 6 Leninsky Prospekt, Moscow) on April 18. The music program will include ‘Big Fat Choppers,’ ‘Crossroadz,’ ‘Va-Bank,’ ‘Boni Nem,’ and ‘Mister-Tvister.’ There will also be a mototrial show by ‘Trial Team Party,’ striptease, contests and a disco. The General Partner of the event is Dim+Ko in cooperation with Yamaha Motor CIS. Oleg Lomovoi will be the program host and the event will start at 7:00 p.m. The entrance fee is RUB 600. A 50 percent discount will be offered to everybody with an A-category driver’s license. Free admission for the ladies.

Khirurg’s bikers will be among the last ones to celebrate the season’s opening. They traditionally do it after Easter. The ‘Nochniye Volki’ (‘Night Wolves Russia’) legendary Russian motoclub will open the season in the Sexton biker center (Bld. 110, Nizhniye Mnevniki St, Moscow) on April 20.

Motocross fans will be celebrating well outside Moscow. Red Racing Group (RRG) is a non-profit sports organization established based on the club system in 1999. It belongs to a regional public organization called ‘Automobile and Moto Sports Development Support Organization’ well-known for hosting the motor rally championship of Russia. It is worth mentioning that RRG is mainly represented by non-professional sports people interested in various kinds of sports. As Technical Director of RRG Alexey Khabirov reported, there are seminars scheduled for them: “there won’t be any special events in Moscow. Everybody will go to Sochi to spend several unforgettable days out in the fresh air. The new motorbike season-2008 will be opened there.”

We should not forget about scooters here too. There are more and more of them both in Europe and in our country. “We plan to launch the season on April 12-13. Thankfully, the weather is superb. We will have two days of celebrations. This year we decided to make it not just one day but a whole weekend. There will be something going on outside on the Vorobyovy Hills on Saturday. We will also ride around the city, have races and contests. And on Sunday, April 13, there will be a night program in the ‘Rich’ nightclub. We are planning something special for this year, we want it to be better than in previous years,” said a member of the Moscow Scooter Club’s organizing committee Sergey Dovedov.

We would like to remind to both bikers and everybody else that the season’s opening is not just for fun. It is also one of the most difficult periods in which to conquer the city’s streets and the country’s highways. Cars are their main users which haven’t quite got over the winter, when they were able to cruise around the streets with no bikers around. They might not notice you at first or it might take them a while. So, please be very careful.

Well, it seems as if car owners are not the only ones tired of winter here. The roads are too. As we all know, roads have always raised concerns in our country, especially after winter when most of them, especially the local ones, are riddled with pot-holes. Please don’t forget the ‘sleeping policemen’ either. They have always been an unpleasant obstacle for bikers, but after winter they may be damaged and have holes or even sharp edges. So, watch out on the road!

Let’s not forget about documents too. The road police and the government are working hard to establish road order. Fines have been increased. Remember to carry all the necessary documents with you all the time. Have your insurance renewed if necessary, don’t forget to pass a technical inspection. Check your driver’s license to make sure that the ‘A’ category is still there and hasn’t disappeared over the winter.

Also, always remember that helmets are to be worn by both bikers and passengers. Bike plates must be clean and legible. Bear in mind that temperatures are not yet very high in the European part of Russia and, in particular, in St. Petersburg, and they may drop below zero during night hours.

We wish you a joyful season’s opening and, as we say it ‘shaggy road.’