Long Reach Long Rides Meet and Exceed Goals

The Long Reach Long Riders announce the successful completion of their 6th annual charity motorcycle ride. The 2009 ride raised over $42,000.00 for the ESTA Foundation’s Behind the Scenes program and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, making it the second largest amount raised to date. The combined LRLR total raised since the first ride in 2004 has now exceeded $200,000.00 Donations for the 2009 ride will be accepted until September 1, 2009.

The participants; 18 motorcycles and as many as three chase vehicles, enjoyed a weeklong ride that took them over mountains, past lush farmland and sweeping vistas and through a number of National and State Parks. The 2,500 mile ride, which began in Richmond, Virginia and ended in Dahlonega, Georgia, visited 5 states and rode on many scenic highways including the
Skyline Drive, the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Cherohala Skyway. The group also tempted fate by riding some of the most famous twisting mountain roads in the USA including The Snake in Shady Valley, Tennessee and the Dragon’s Tail in Robbinsville, North Carolina.

This year’s riders and chase car drivers hail from 13 states, the District of Columbia, British Columbia, Canada and London, England. The ride was organized by Greg Williams, Alice Neff, and Moe and Christine Conn. The bikes represented were Harley Davidson (10), Honda (3), Kawasaki (2), BMW (1), Suzuki (1) and Vespa (1). The oldest bike on the trip was the 1987 K-75 BMW driven by Frank “Mr. Murphy” Stewart. The number of curves successfully navigated by the group exceeded 1,000.

Next year’s ride will start in San Francisco, Ca. For more information on the riders, joining the ride or making a donation, please visit www.lrlr.org.

ETC iRFR iPhone App – Update

We wrote yesterday about ETC demonstrating one of their latest products on the show floor of the USITT Stge Expo, the iPhone iRFR app.  We were able to get a few more images of the iRFR in action as well as a bit more information.  One of our readers, robinsta, talked with ETC reps in the booth and was able to get a price on the new app at $ 49.95.  Compared to some apps in the iTunes library, this may seem a little high, but with the features this app provides it will be well worth the money.  Then of course there is the fact that either all or portion of the proceeds goes to Behind the Scenes and Light Relief, makes it even more appealing.

We are still waiting to hear when the iRFR app will be ready for download from the iTunes store.  At the time of this writing, it has not been added.  We also have to wait for the latest version of the Eos/Ion operating system upgrade to be released from ETC in order for the iRFR app to work in conjunction with the consoles.

We have added a couple more screen shots of the iRFR iPhone app in action to the 2009 USITT Photo Gallery.