The weather forecast for this year's Tulip Ride was downright scary: a front moved through the night before and left dark skies in the morning, showers expected every hour, and temperatures colder by 10 degrees. Like most Pacific Northwest Aprils, the day could wind up wet and miserable or sunny and gorgeous. We thought about a last-minute change in ride date, but that's tough because many people make plans ahead of time. So we stuck with the plan and invited folks to roll the dice and ride north.

Riders and passengers on 53 bikes braved it. They were rewarded with an absolutely fantastic day. Our police escort from the Tulalip Tribal Police got us off on a perfect start, helping our pack stay together all the way to Tulip Town. Our new destination was the best in our 9-year history. Tulip Town had easy parking for all of our bikes, indoor and outdoor exhibits, faster lunch at their cafe, and actual tulips to see!

Amazingly, we stayed dry all day long. A few raindrops fell but not enough to get us wet. As you can see in this year's highlight video, the skies improved all day long. They started out gray and threatening, and wound up sunny and warm.

Here is a photo set from the day:

We owe a huge word of thanks to some folks that helped made the day a success:

• The Tulalip Tribal Police, courtesy of Deputy Chief Carlos Echevarria and team. Thank you for the police escort two years in a row!
• Tulip Town, courtesy of Jeannette DeGoede and team. Thank you for hosting our group with great parking and an ideal tulip farm!
• Eastside Harley Davidson, courtesy of Scott Cook and team. Thank you for the bike rental prizes, gear, and for joining the ride!

Most importantly, thank you to all of the riders and passengers who joined us for the day in support of some worthwhile charities.

It's not too late to give.

You can still make a difference in the lives of people who benefit from the charities that we support. This year, we're focused on the Cheif For a Day local charity. Chief for a Day helps children who have been diagnosed with a chronic illness live a dream by transporting them by motorcade to be sworn in as Chief for a Day of a public service agency. Globally, we're contributing to the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund managed by the American Red Cross.

We will keep the Tulip Ride Store running for a week so that you can get those t-shirts and other items with our 2010 logo. 100% of the profits go directly to these charities. 100% of the funds will be matched by Microsoft, too!

Bring your photos and video.

If you shot photos of the Tulip Ride, feel free to upload them to the 2010 Tulip Ride group photo pool on Flickr. Both photos and video can be uploaded to the Facebook event page.

We'll see everyone next year - hopefully sooner at other rides throughout the season. Check back here for details on next year's ride!

Almost a decade ago, a few Xbox employees decided to go for a spring motorcycle ride. After a fantastic day riding through Washington's Skagit Valley at the Tulip Festival, we decided to do a Tulip Ride every year.

We've grown from a small group to include hundreds of riders from all over Puget Sound. Riders of all skill levels join our pack on everything from sport bikes to cruisers to freeway-capable scooters. Everyone is welcome on the Tulip Ride!

2010 Tulip Ride Info

Date:	Saturday, April 24th.
Route:	Complete ride plan is here, along with a printable PDF version.
9:30 - 10:30 a.m.:	Arrive at the Tulalip Casino (10200 Quil Ceda Blvd, Tulalip). We park by the giant Orca fountains right in front.
10:45:	Police escort to Marine View Drive courtesy of the Tulalip Tribal Police, then continue North to see the tulip fields blooming.
12:00 p.m:	Arrive at Tulip Town in the Skagit Valley for flowers and lunch. They have acres of tulips, trolly rides through the fields, a café for lunch, espresso, and more. Discounted $4 entry fee covers parking.
2:00:	Depart for a ride down Highway 20 over scenic Deception Pass, down Whidbey Island, taking the Mukilteo/Clinton ferry back to the mainland.

Tulip Town has graciously offered to reserve prime parking for all of our bikes! They have huge fields, an indoor artists center, and a café for lunch. Tulip Town normally charges $5 for admission, but in support of our charity event they're discounting Tulip Riders to only $4 including parking!

Eastside Harley Davidson has graciously offered two 2010 Harley Davidson motorcycles to lucky winners for the Tulip Ride weekend! On these free weekend rentals, you'll ride in style. To enter, all you have to do is visit EHD's Facebook page and drop a note on their wall mentioning that you're coming on the Tulip Ride, and include a link to this page (http://www.tulipride.org). On March 15 and March 31, EHD will pick random winners from everyone who has posted a Tulip Ride note on their wall. Both winners will receive a complementary motorcycle rental for the entire Tulip Ride weekend! Winner must be a licensed rider over 21 with a valid motorcycle endorsement.

Giving Back: Haiti Earthquake Recovery

Giving back to our community is an important part of the Tulip Ride. This year, we're going to focus all of our fundraising toward the American Red Cross as they bring relief to earthquake-stricken Haiti. You can buy Tulip Ride 2010 merchandise at the ride's online store. From t-shirts to coffee mugs to stickers, each item features an original logo print by Ryan Gunn, lead designer for Microsoft's entertainment products and Tulip Rider of many years.  100% of the profits will be matched by corporate giving campaigns and donated to the American Red Cross Haiti relief fund in the name of the 2010 Tulip Riders!

No matter what you ride and no matter what your skill level, the Tulip Ride will be a day of fun with good friends. We'd love to have you join us! You can RSVP on Facebook or drop a comment here with your name and your ride and we'll keep an eye out for you on the 24th.

2009 was far and away the biggest turnout in Tulip Ride history. In fact, just at our starting point we had more motorcycles that our entire trip last year! We left Redmond with over 60 motorcycles, and had 83 (our last official count; there were more) at the Tulalip Casino in Marysville.

The pack of bikes was so big that we attracted the local law enforcement: the Tulalip Tribal Police. It turned out to be a benefit to our ride, because they took me seriously when I asked for a police escort and shut down traffic between the casino and Marine View Drive so that we could keep our pack together. Sergeant Carlos of the TTP deserves a big thanks from all of the riders for making the escort happen and offering the same next year if we call ahead.

The weather for the ride was great: hazy overcast in the morning, and the sun broke through mid-day and made for a perfect ride down Whidbey Island. Temps were a little cooler than forecast, probably low- to mid-60s. Despite the crazy weather we've had this spring, we got to see flowers. Daffodils were most obvious, but we also managed to find one field with Tulips just starting to bloom. In a week they'll be even better.

Lunch was a crazy process, as we've come to expect from LaConner. We all got fed some good greasy food, and enjoyed great views from Deception Pass on the ride home. Here's some video from throughout the day:

And here's a set of photos on Flickr:

Our postponement from last weekend turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Whereas it was snowing last Saturday, today brought 70+ degree temperatures under sunny skies all day long. The tulips were just now blooming, so we picked the right weekend. The delay also allowed many more people to join us. In fact, most of the RSVPs came in Friday evening after work.

Our pack of 40+ motorcycles was quite a sight to see on the road. Some of the veteran riders that joined us did a great job of keep ing the pack together.

All of the photos have been posted to a set on Flickr, and I’ve included a few highlights plus a slideshow here:

I also shot a little video of when the south group met the north group at the Tulalip casino and we all parked along the Orca fountain. The second half of the clip is our view from lunch on the outdoor deck at the restaurant as a Kenmore Air flight took off. Days like this make you love living in the Northwest…

This year many riders went out of their way to help Lori raise money for her marathon run in support of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Thanks to every one who donated! Once again, we learn that bikers are some of the most charitable people on the planet.

We’re already talking about the next ride, and will definitely be doing the Tulip Ride again next April. Thanks to everyone who joined the ride today. It’s the people that make it so much fun every year, and with 92 octane up to $4.079 on our way home, every gallon needs to be this much fun!

-Jeff

 

This year’s Tulip Ride was an even bigger success than last year. Things were looking doubtful weatherwise: yesterday, the weather dropped into the mid-30’s and we had snow for about an hour on the eastside in Redmond and on the Sammamish Plateau. For today, all of the forecasts aligned on sunshine, and for once they were right! Since we had already postponed once, it as a good thing that we got one nice day of riding weather today.

Since digital photography has made it possible for people to snap thousands of photos on a ride like this, I’ve created a flickr group called Tulip Ride 2006 that everyone can post their photos to! I’ll include just a few example photos below; click any of them to visit the group photo pool. In the flickr photo pool, you can even draw on the photos to leave notes to others. Please feel free to add names and captions, as I can’t possibly cover all of these photos myself.

Click here for a slideshow of everyone’s pictures from the ride.

We all met up as Microsoft’s Millennium campus as planned. Willow Bay Manufacturing, one of this year’s sponsors, had hot Starbuck’s coffee and Krispy Kreme doughnuts on hand for everyone. With it being a bit chilly out, this really started the day off on a good foot. Everyone seemed happy at the starting point:

Based upon feedback from riders on last year’s Tulip Ride, we took the first leg a bit slower. It’s a good thing, as the construction in Kirkland and Everett has the road surfaces in rough shape. We arrived at the Tulalip Casion right on time, and met up with several more bikes. The eventual line-up of motorcycles was impressive, to say the least…

We took a brief break to gas up at the usual Shell station north of Stanwood. People were beginning to look hungry.

Unfortunately, the only tulips that we saw were at flower stands or in people’s gardens. The fields were apparently mowed the previous week. Same story as last year: too late in the month to see the flowers. The ride was still well worth it. We cruised through the Skagit Valley and landed in LaConner for lunch at Palmer’s, where they are always nice to large groups of bikers. Everyone had a good meal and was ready to hit the road again.

One more stop along the way down Whidbey Island: Deception Pass. Here is a shot along the way to the pass, as well as a few pictures of the incredible views from the bridge.

The ferry ride home was downright funny. Motorcycles get priority loading, and we have a pack of 35 bikes that all managed to get onto the ferry - much to the dismay of many cagers. But waiting for us aboard the boat was a state patrol car! We managed to completely surround him.

Overall it was a pretty wonderful day. We got chilly, but we stayed dry. Most importantly, everyone was safe and came home ready for another group ride. In fact, most everyone suggested that we do these types of rides more often. We have suggestions for a Mt. St. Helens run, as well as a trip to Mt. Rainier. Both are great ideas, and we want to do them this summer. Keep your eye here on The Hog Blog for announcements!

Thanks to all of our riders, passengers, and sponsors for making today so much fun for all.

Jeff

PS: A few folks have asked how they can get original-sized versions of these photos. It’s easy: Just create a free account on Flickr, and log in. Once you’ve done that, any picture that you’re looking at can be viewed at different sizes, including the original version. They’re big, though: about 4.3MB each. Enjoy!

This year’s Tulip ride was a huge success, with 30 bikes turning out for our annual run up to theSkagit Valley Tulip Festival. With unseasonably nice weather in March, the tulips had bloomed early and had already been cut, but that didn’t matter. We had perfect weather, great company, some good food, and an excellent time overall.

At the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, the weather was perfect and the tulips were in full bloom. It was a great place for a day ride. A bunch of folks from the Xbox team rounded up a few friends from ’round Microsoft and even a few local non-techies, and we all headed north together. Join our pack and travel along with us…

 

Part 1: Getting there

The first group of riders met up at Xbox Headquarters at about 09:30. We waited around for a few scragglers until 09:45 before giving up on a no-show and heading north.

^ The first bikes to arrive at Xbox H.Q., including a couple of Ducatis. We lost a couple of riders due to sickness, unfortunately.

^ We traveled north to the Tulalip Casino parking lot where we met up with our s econd group of bikers. Here a couple of alcoholics admire Jeff’s bike at the casino.

^ Everyone made it up just fine, and we took a few minutes to catch our breath.

^ Here in Marysville we were joined by Mel, Iain, David, and Bonnie. They were all aboard a couple of Harleys.

Part 2: Lunch in LaConner, WA

We headed west from Marysville toward the water. After a windy trip up Marine Drive which features views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains, we went through the small town of Stanwood, where Jeff began inadvertently leading everyone over toward Camano Island. While there is a great motorcycle loop on Camano, we turned around, gassed up, and got back on our way toward LaConner…

^ Our convoy joined a couple of already-parked bikes to take up most of the block.

^ Becca crams a change of clothes and her helmet into the map compartment on the back of her Suzuki.

^ Clinton’s ability to manage the multi-billion dollar budget of a Microsoft division is nowhere near as impressive as his ability to manage his brand new Kawasaki ZX-6R. Doesn’t even have plates yet! He tried to hide his lust for the tricked-out yellow hog to his right, but he’ll have to make due with his new rocket.

^ The tulips might be the main attraction, but the bikes do garner a few looks.

Part 3: Acres of Tulips in the Skagit Valley

After lunch it was time to walk off the food amidst the fields of tulips. It was late in the season, so most of the remaining blooms were concentrated in a few fields — along with most of the automobile traffic in Washington state. We made our way to a good spot, and parking was a breeze.

^ Flowers as far as the eye can see.

^ David and Bonnie show us that black leather contrasts nicely with colorful flowers.

^ Most of the gang in the middle of the fields.

Part 4: Heading Home

We decided to take a scenic route home, via highway 20 over Deception Pass, down Whidbey Island, and across the Mukilteo/Clinton ferry. After an entire day of sun and near-70 temperatures, we almost got rained on at the tail end of this trip! We rode into Clinton (the town, not our finance manager) about 10 minutes after a very localized squall had come through. We stayed completely dry, though we missed the ferry by about 2 minutes. They run every half hour, so we were fine.

^ Our pack of bikes at the front of the ferry headed toward Mukilteo.

^ Viewed from above, our bikes plus some strangers’ make quite a pack.

^ This is the type of weather we rode through all day. Just beautiful. Whidbey Island falls into the distance.

^ It was starting to get a bit chilly, but everyone was able to warm up for a few minutes on the passenger deck of the ferry.

We departed the ferry and after Mukilteo, we headed our separate ways toward home. All in all it was one excellent day. We’re sure to have many more of these this summer.