Mark ‘Bulldog’ Esola
Head Road Captain
It is with great pleasure that I have the opportunity to welcome you to the Santa Maria Harley Owners Group. The Santa Maria H.O.G. Chapter has a great group of members and we are sponsored by what I feel is the Best Harley Davidson dealership in the State of California and I have been to a lot of them. They have a great supportive staff that are always eager to help H.O.G members.
It is also a pleasure for me to be appointed as your Chapter Head Road Captain once again for 2024. Please take a few minutes to look at our 2024 ride schedule so that maybe you can pick out some rides that you would like to join us on. Our Webmaster has spent several hours getting things posted and the calendar is packed. There are a lot of Day Rides on Saturdays and Sundays, Overnighter’s and Events scheduled for 2024 with more being added all the time. It is a very fluid schedule. There are always rides added and some have to be canceled due to various reasons. We had some great rides in 2022 that included breakfast, brunch, lunch, and late lunch rides, as well as some great overnight rides that included the Death Valley Ride, the Mystery Ride, Polar Bear Rides 5 and 6, and the Lake Tahoe Ride. We also supported our dealerships Bike Nights during 2023 and we are waiting to see what 2024 will bring us with this event. I really hope that 2024 will be great for the Chapter and that you can get out and go on a lot of your favorite rides. Our chapter members always have a great time wherever we go! So I hope to see you on some of our rides or at some of our events.
The Chapter has a great group of Road Captains that I am proud to be associated with and they are here to ensure that you have a great ride but also a safe ride. Road Captain’s are not automatically carried forward from year-to-year. They are selected and approved upon by the Head Road Captain’s recommendation with the approval of the Chapter Director each year.
This year’s group of Road Captains that will be assisting me consists of:
- Phil Rietz – Rain Man
- Richard Oberly – Dragonslayer
- Laurie Reifsnyder – Deerslayer
- Robert Thompson
- Robert ‘Duane’ Purser – Pappy
- Jim Collentine
- Paul Emrick
Candidates
- None at this time
Please take some time and review the Chapter’s Safety Handbook that can be found on the Safety page. You may be a seasoned rider or you may be new to riding but in either case you need to ride your own ride and ‘you’ are ultimately responsible for your own safety.
I hope to see more chapter members on some of the Chapter rides and events this year.
Ride Rating System: Ride Rating
Scenic Drives
Plug in Your Destinations and Get Detailed Maps and Directions. Harley Map Creator
Read more about duties of a motorcycle Road Captain by clicking here: Road Captain Guidelines
Road Captains Sign-In log for rides: 2024 Sign-in Log