Love Ride 24 - New Ride, New Venue Turns Out Same Generous Riders
Glendale - This year’s Love Ride was supposed to be about the new route, new venue and new things to do as part of the inaugural California Bike Week.  All that was true.  But for the annual charity ride, which over the last two decades has raised in excess of 20 million dollars,  some things stayed the same.  Like the generous nature of bikers, who braved the threat of rain on Sunday morning to raise over $900,000 to fund local children’s charities.

“The new route and new venue worked out great,” says Love Ride founder Oliver Shokouh, whose Glendale dealership acts as host every November for the world’s largest one-day motorcycle charity event.  “We put a lot of planning into making the Love Ride and all its venues as enjoyable as possible.”

Shokouh was referring all the fund-raising events that made up this year’s Love Ride.  There was the pre-party with the Heather Combs Band on Friday night at the Petersen Museum, the auction of rare motorcycles and memorabilia on Saturday afternoon (also at the Petersen), the ride itself up Brand Boulevard through the heart of the City of Glendale, over to the Fairplex in Pomona for a BBQ lunch, an All-Star Band featuring Robby Krieger (The Doors) and the main afternoon headliner; Rock ‘n Roll Hall Of Fame recording artist Gregg Allman.  A special Love Ride 24 compilation CD was also recorded and produced for sale by the All-Star Band.  “We’re still counting monies coming in from the Love Ride merchandise sold at the Fairplex, so hopefully we’ll have more to give to all the beneficiaries,” says Shokouh.

After the concerts by the All-Star Band and Gregg Allman, the top fund-raisers for Love Ride 24 were announced.  Eric Schmoranzer set the bar by individually raising $26,324.  Jim and Kitti Carnes came in second with $5,300 while Melanie Postell and Lowell Kay finished third with $4,469.  Rounding out the top ten were Kent Vest (4th at $4469), Rod Houle (5th at $3430), Kirby Yale (6th at $2866), Scott Siegel (7th at $2501), Rick Young (8th at $2040), Gerard McKenzie (9th at $2001) and William Speeg (10th at $1950).

Winners of the bike contests were:  Rick Valusek, who took home an FLHX from the Love Ride Opportunity ticket drawing and James Deluca, who won a 2007 Fat Boy and autographed plague signed by Love Ride 23 celebs for the Signature Bike Raffle.

Beneficiaries of the Love Ride Foundation include the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Reading By 9, Providence Saint Joseph Foundation, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Special Olympics of Southern California, Cure Autism Now, Frostig Center (Learning Disabilities), Scleroderma Research Foundation, Catholic Big Brothers Big Sisters, Optimist Youth Homes & Family Services, Glendale Community College, Diabetes Institute and The Friends of Castaic Lake.

Sponsors of this year’s Love Ride 24 included HUMMER, Budweiser, Southern California Harley-Davidson Dealers Association, Event 360, KLOS, Cycle Trader and Recycler Classifieds.   For more information on the Love Ride or to purchase Love Ride 24 items, including T-Shirts and the Love Ride 24 Born To Ride Compilation CD, go to www.loveride.org.  

About Love Ride: Glendale Harley owner Oliver Shokouh founded the Love Ride twenty four years ago as a way to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy and local children’s charities right here in our community. This past August, in recognition of his achievements with the Love Ride, Shokouh was inducted into the Sturgis Motorcycle Hall Of Fame. 

High Resolution photos are available on the www.loveride.org website under the photo section of the web site.

Harley-Davidson/Buell of Glendale is located at 3717 San Fernando Road in Glendale, California 91204. For more information contact Oliver Shokouh at 818-246-5618, ext. 102.