Nothing rides like a Harley-Davidson, right? If that's your sentiment, you should probably make plans right now to participate in the seventh annual Harley-Davidson World Ride scheduled for June 22-23. Tens of thousands of Harley riders, if not hundreds of thousands, will be taking a couple of days off from their regular responsibilities to celebrate everything they love about motorcycles and the open road.
Harley-Davidson's Director of Integrated Consumer Experience, Nigel Villiers, said in a company press release that 'riding is more appreciated when you can steal time from something you'd rather not be doing'. That's why the company chose to have the ride over a two-day span including Sunday and Monday. It encourages Harley riders to take a day off from work to enjoy a bit of HOG heaven.
The annual World Ride began as a U.S.-based, single day event in 2008; an event originally dubbed as Million Mile Monday. The ride was expanded and renamed in 2012 in order to encourage riders from all over the world to participate. The first official World Ride resulted in thousands of riders logging more than 7 million total miles.
How You Can Participate
If you want to participate in this year's ride on unofficial basis, all you need do is grab your Harley and hit the road on June 22. Ride wherever your heart takes you over the course of the two-day event. If you want to be part of the official count, you can log on to the Harley-Davidson website and sign up with their web-based online mileage calculator. The website will keep track of all of the accumulated miles using a virtual odometer you will see when you log in.
Participating riders can download a World Ride certificate once they input their mileage data. Those who want to input their data in real time can do so using any mobile device with an Internet connection. And of course, Harley-Davidson encourages you to post pictures and stories directly to Facebook and other social media outlets.
The important thing to remember about the annual ride is to get out there and enjoy the freedom of the open road. That's what Harley-Davidson stands for; it's what it always tried to promote throughout the worldwide Harley-Davidson culture. If you are a HOG owner, you probably already know that.
If you do plan to go, make sure you have at least a couple of Harley Davidson patches securely fixed to your vest or biker jacket. You want everyone to know you are a Harley rider even when you step off your bike to get a bite to eat. More adventurous participants can even get some custom patches made and delivered in time for the ride if they order in the next couple of days.
This year's annual World Ride is sure to set some new records for participation. Be sure to check back with the Harley website a few days after the event for the official cumulative mileage.
