It’s easy. Arrive at the Vanilla Bean Cafe in Pomfret, CT between 9AM and Noon on Sunday, November 3, 2024 and you’ll see Carl, and all his friends… well most of them. Hopefully a sunny and nice day for riding. See you there.
The Origin of Carl’s Bean Ride.
By Carl Saccoccio
I have been asked many times how the Bean ride began. It all started as a joke back in the mid-90s. A group of the Yankee Beemers started our own club call the “Sled Dogs,“ and we would ride to the Vanilla Bean in Pomfret CT after a Yankee Beemers meeting just to put on some miles and spend a nice Sunday afternoon. One day we were at The Bean, and I decided to order a quiche. Let’s say after that the ball busting began, and the slogans came at me “real motorcycle riders don’t need quiche; real men don’t eat quiche,” etcetera, all in good fun.
So, in 1998 Steve Hancock and I decided to create a yearly ride to the Bean to eat quiche. We decided the first Sunday in November would be a good day to have an annual ride there. The reason behind this was because September and October had so many events going on already we figured the turn out would not be that great. Also, the first Sunday in November is when the clocks are turned back which makes the morning temperature a little more tolerable since November can be a very tricky time of year for good weather. So, the Bean ride was established and became an annual event.
After three years Steve Hancock moved to Knoxville TN, and I decided to keep the Bean ride going at the same time and same place for the near future. So, after Steve’s move and I took over the event they decided to name it Carl’s Bean Ride. This ride has been going on every year since 1998, and the weather is always a factor with the number of riders that show up for the event. Some years it’s warm and sunny and we have a large turnout of 80 to 100 riders’ other years it’s cold, freezing, and it even snowed once, which led to a smaller turnout which is understandable.
In 2008, which was the 10th anniversary of the ride I decided to have live music. This would be a gamble because they had to play outside, and it might not happen. Friends of mine had a four-piece band playing lots of Blues and volunteered to play to make the 10th anniversary a special event. It turned out to be a very bright sunny day and warm, we had over 120 people show up and the music was great. So, for them volunteering I passed my helmet around for donations and collected $125 and I bought them breakfast, they were very happy as they did not expect any money at all. (See the photo in the gallery below) I did try to have music a couple years later, but the weather was not cooperating, and it did not work out very well and that was the last time I tried music.
As time went by the 15th anniversary happened and it was a good turnout, and we had the 20th anniversary in 2018 with a moderate turnout due to bad weather. Last year was the 25th anniversary and the weather was good, and we had a great turnout between the Yankee Beemers and the Ocean State BMW Riders.
So, this year the first Sunday of November is the 3rd, and it will be the Annual Bean Ride to mark 26 years I have been doing this ride. As I look back it’s hard to believe that so many years have gone by. It’s also hard to believe that I joined the Yankee Beemers in 1986 when we had 50 members.
