Bike Week - Friday, February 27

This morning I headed north to Flagler Beach to drop off the March issue of DBI at Tri City Cycles and then just rode around to get the feel of what was happenin'. I was pretty surprised about the number of bikes here already. Traffic was okay along A1A (Oceanshore Blvd. or Atlantic Avenue, depending where you are), but man it was a bitch gittin' over the causeways across the Intracoastal Waterway. I was ridin' the Dixie Glide and comin' over the bridge to US Hwy 1 when the bike started suckin' air and sputterin' a bit. "Damn, what in the hell is wrong now? I wondered to myself. "Just what I need - a cranky bike on the first day of Bike Week.
I ain't a wrench so I figured I better not take any chances so I just hung a left to head south instead of headin' north on Hwy 1 as was the original plan. My local shop. Crank 'n Chrome Cycle is in Holly Hill so I figured I'd better head there. I pulled up and Bryan says, "Man, that sounds like crap. Might be exhaust intake seal of head gasket."

"Wonderful," I thought while walkin' in the shop to talk with Barry, the owner. "What bad timing. And all their lifts were fulluva bikes, and four mechanices workin' hard. Long story short ... Barry comes out listens to it and says, "I think it's the head casket, bro, but we can't check it til it cools down. That'll be a couple of hours, but if that's the problem, we'll get it fixed.
"Okay," I replied, "But I ain't gonna be able to get it til Sunday. We got our party tomorrow at Trader Jack's in DeLand. Is that okay?"
"No problem." he said. "I'll give you a call later today."
And he did - definitely a head gasket. Gonna cost me about 400 bucks. But that's what ya gotta do when you ride around on a wore-out 1990 FLH with over 200k on the odometer. Dang. Luckily, Phil had been down in New Smyrna - Edgewater delivering the magazine to advertisers so he could swing by and pick me up and take me home to pick up the Sportster to continue my day. While I waited, I figured I might as well take som pictures of traffic on Hwy 1 ...

Above - you see more 'n more Sport Bikes every year in Daytona at Bike Week. I think it's kinda cool, but lotsa ol' skool Harley riders ain't too happy about it. To me it's about Bike Week gettin' back to it's roots. After-all the original reason for Bike Week was to race on the beaches, and hang out with each other after the day's races were finished. Now there's a couple of hundred thousand motorcycles in Daytona for Bike Week, but probably only 5 or 6,000 race fans at the Speedway for the races. Anyhow, I like to see the young folks, men and women, on the sport bikes. When I was their age I had a '72 XLCH, but I also had one of those Kawasaki Ninjas. As I got older and the sport bikes got faster, I migrated to the FLH and the cruiser market. I still like the Sport bikes only I'm smart enuff to not ride 'em. I know I'd still get that "need for speed" and roll the throttle a lot more than I should. I'll just be like the gray beard below, cruise and enjoy the wind in my hair ...Below - Traffic's a bitch on US Hwy 1 and folks just keep using it as their primary way to get north to south or vice versus. That's crazy. Two blocks to the east is the continuation of Beach Street and it's relatively traffic free. The speed limit is 25 mph in Holly Hill, but it goes to 35 mph in Ormond Beach, plus it's a pretty ride along the river, is only two lanes (no semis or SUVs blastin' past you), and has only one traffic light and zero stop signs between Seabreeze Blvd. and Granada Blvd. A much better choice to get from North to South than either Hwy 1 or Hwy A1A.

After Phil picked me up, I headed home, got our subscriptions done and mailed off then loaded up the pick up truck with all our gear for our Parties at Deadwood Saloon and Trader Jack's Roadside. Boots and I went over to Deadwood Saloon for their Friday Night Kick Off party and there was a pretty good crowd already on hand when we got there around 4 o'clock ...

Lotsa vendors showin' their wares and assets ...

And, once again, a traffic nightmare on Hwy 1 - below. Deadwood Saloon is right across the street and just north of the Iron Horse Saloon. The traffic in the picture is all on that side of the street with folks tryin' to jam in to the IHS ...

... while the east side of the Highway, where I was standin' at the entrance to Deadwood for the picture below, is clear sailing (Look at the traffic behind the bikes in the southbound lanes - holy moly). Why would folks sit in traffic to pull in to the IHS (and pay higher prices for drinks and food?) instead of pullin' in here, grabbin' a cold one and scopin' out the hot barmaids or vendors? Guess I'll never be able to figure that one out.

Smiles for everyone ...

One of our awesome local bands, The Double Barrel Band, was crankin' 'em out on the backyard stage ...

and did a couple of requests from folks enjoyin' the evening.

Mid afternoon temperatures were around 70 or so, and there wasn't a threatening cloud in the sky. It was a great day to be in Florida, that's for sure.

I'd seen this ol' panhead chopper while wanderin' around the back yard at Deadwood Saloon and then was lucky enugg to catch the dude as he rode out later on. Nice ride. And loooong.

During Double Barrel's next band break, I wandered around front to check on Boots at the bar and to see what was happenin when I hear, "Yo, Monk! Over here!" I turned around and met John and Jock, a couple of readers from Jacksonville. I snapped a picture, wandered over shook their hands and we shot the shit for awhile. "Y'all gonna be at the Party on the 21st at the Smokin' Beaver," I asked as I put my camera away?

"Hell, yeah! That's gonna be a parttttttttttttty!"

"I'll see ya there, then. Thanks for readin'."

I rounded up Boots and headed back to the car parking area since we were in the pick up truck, and folks were hangin' doin' what we do ....

But Boots was hurtin' since she didn't listen to me and bring her wheel chair. "I'll be fine with the walker," she insisted. "I don't wanna stop you from doin' your picture thing by havin' to push me around in a wheel chair all day"

Well, it was probably too much too soon and she wasn't a very happy camper, that's for sure, as we headed to the next stop on our Bike Week adventures ...

Tomorrow, Saturday, February 28th is our tradional Bike Week Kick Off Party at Trader Jack's Roadside in DeLand. And if the past is any indication, we'll have our huge crowds. We're excited, forecast is for copious sunshine and temps near 80 degrees. Yeee haw!

I hope to have some stuff posted for you on Sunday about how that went.