Sunday, May 07, 2006
| Bikers do good, eat well | |||
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By Nick Pinto
Staff Writer
NEWBURYPORT — The throaty roar of motorcycle engines announced the arrival of the Star 240 crew well before they pulled off the highway. The bikers dismounting their gleaming bikes and adjusted their black leather chaps, loitering in the parking lot for a while around a stereo that was blasting Lynyrd Skynyrd. The horde then pushed open the screen door of the roadside establishment, saddled up to the counter and ordered a round of tall and frosty ice cream cones.
Forget what you may think you know about motorcycle gangs from "The Wild Ones" and Hunter S. Thompson's adventures with the Hell's Angels. Star 240's riders may look fierce in their wraparound goggles, leather vests and boots, but when they roll into Haley's Ice Cream on the Route 1 rotary every Thursday evening, they're not looking for trouble. They just want to eat some ice cream and raise some money for a local charity.
"Our group loves ice cream," said Bob Nicoll, the lead road captain of the Essex County motorcycle club. "We ride from one ice cream place to another. We have a saying: 'Ride to eat, and eat to ride.'"
Motorcycles may be the main thing that brings together the roughly 25 men and women who make up Star 240, but food is a close second. In the winter months, when their bikes are safely in the garage, they drive their cars to restaurants for shared dinners.
"It's as much a social group as it is a motorcycle group," said Star 240 President Bob Frye. "It's really just a group of good people."
The goodness of the Star 240 riders will be on display at Haley's every Thursday night this summer from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., as they hold raffles and other fundraisers to benefit the Pettengill House, a social-service agency in Salisbury that serves as a food pantry, counseling center, and educational resource center for disadvantaged and homeless members of the community.
Nicoll, a Byfield auto mechanic, has been riding for more than 30 years. He and his wife Deb Nicoll turned in their biker boots when they first had children, but once their children got older the two wanted to get back out on the road. They joined the family-friendly Star 240 three years ago, and haven't looked back since. Deb Nicoll was recently elected as the group's secretary.
"People have an outdated idea of what a bike group is," Bob Nicoll said. "We don't go to rough bars and start fights. We're a bunch of friends and families who like to get together and ride motorcycles."
The kickoff raffle last Thursday sold $100 in tickets, and Nicoll said he expects their fund-raising to increase as word of the weekly charity event spreads.
"I think it's going to take off — there's nothing for people not to like about this," Nicoll said. "You come, you eat some ice cream, maybe you win something, and it's all for a good cause."
Pettengill House Executive Director Deborah Smith said she appreciates the bikers' generosity.
"The money they raise is going to make a real difference in what we're able to do," Smith said. "But it's also good because it gets the word out to a whole other tier of the population of the need that's out there. We can't thank Star 240 enough — this is a great way for people to get together and do something fun for themselves and benefit the community at the same time."
