Leesburg Bike Fest 1

I'm still sortin' through about a thousand pictures, but figured I'd get somthing posted as soon as possible up here.
The 2009 Leesburg Bike Fest started for us on Thursday, April 23, when we did a little ol' kick-off party at the Sportstime Bar & Grill in Tavares - or Astatula - on Hwy 561. We haven't had a Dixie Biker Party in Lake County since we had a goin' away party for Makr & Kandi at this same location a couple of years ago. Back then it was known as Dizzy's Lounge. Well, at the end of this night, we were all dizzy cuz fifteen hundred or more of y'all came out to 'git in da mood' for this year's Rally. We were very lucky to have two hot, local Lake County ladies as our cover models for the April & May issues of Dixie Biker Illustrated (and our Guide to the Leesburg Rally). And they both made it out to our kick off party. On the left is Cheezstyx with Boots, and on the right is Misti T with Monk. They can make even a fat old biker look good, doncha think?

On Friday morning my road bro Doug (and Cheezstyx's husband) and

I hit the road for downtown. We wanted to get there before the throngs showed up ...
And, if you're a local and know the 'back' roads, you ain't gotta fight the traffic on Hwy 441. We parked our bus (Thanx for the hospitality!! Y'all're awesome.) at Doug and Cheezstyx's house and Doug knows the back roads, that's for sure. This shot below is only a mile from downtown on Friday morning around 9:45. Yes, we had 'Chamber of Commerce' weather all weekend ....

We enjoyed the Funky Blues Messiah band and then hauled ass outta downtown around noon or so. It was gittin' packed up with a hundred thousand bikers and it was time to git. We rode Lake County by-ways in the afternoon after goin' back to the house to pick up the wives, and Friday night headed back downtown.

It was an absolute madhouse, what with the Miss Bike Fest contest goin' on at 9 o'clock, but, once again, not to worry -- Doug and Cheezstyx's friends Dude and Amy (below, on right) own a business in the middle of downtown and hooked us up with some reserved parking, some adult beverages, some good ol' southern hospitality, and we ended up just hangin' out there most of the night. Yeah, we ventured to the Bud stage a block away and then wandered down vendor row to the Gator Harley Main Stage, but it was a zoo -- 'bout 17 million people, expensive drinks, and Boots' leg was botherin' her, so we just headed back to Dude's shop and hung out.

Cheezstyx even took a little time to goof off on Dude's mullet smellin', alcohol fueled, bar stool racer. Nah, we didn't take it downtown -- we'd consumed way too many ABs (adult beverages) and we woulda killled somebody - either the driver or a drunk pedistrian.

The next day we just kinda chilledo out til around 12 o'clock. I went downtown early in the morning, checked out the Rat's Hole Show, the Xtreme Stunt riders, the Ride Like A Pro Demo and wandered around. It's started gittin' jammmed up around 11 so I wandered back to the Dixie Glide and rode back to Doug's to pick up Boots. We hadda head to The Hideaway on Little Lake Harris to MC their Wet T contest and Tattoo contest. And that is always a fun time.

Holy moly, was that place jammed packed! But Dan and Dave, the owners, had it all under control, even providin' tractor wagon rides from the over flow parking lot up the road. The stuff was supposed to start at 3, but at 2 o'clock, folks were already reserving their spots for the festivities ....

It was definitely sittin' room only! Holy cow. And then we had another Dixie Biker first:
It's the first time I've ever had to ask the ladies, politely, of course, to "Wouldja'll please, pretty please, put on the t-shirts we gave you so we can do the contest?!"

Seems none of the ladies wanted to get dressed. They walked thru the crowds down to our stage -- a pontoon boat (yeah, we're just good ol' southern folks that do shit different -- and we don't give a shit how you do it up north or out west) -- kinda topless. It was a bear to get a shirt on 'em to conduct the contest. But we finally got it goin' ...

... and even gave the girls time to lobby the judges - our wonderful audience ...

We had winners in two classes - stock and modified (We like to keep it fair for everyone) - and they each won over a hundred bucks, cash, plus bar tabs.

Following the wet t contest we had a ladie's tattoo contest and Doctor Kelly G - yeah, she's a doctor of psychology - won that one.

Then it was back to the bus to chill a bit before the Saturday night activities. Hmmm ...

those probably would bore you because we ended up just hangin' out at Doug and Cheezstyx's place til around 7 o'clock and then ridin' back home. Made a stop at Trader Jack's Roadside for something wet and some great fish and chips, and got back to Ormond Beach around 11 pm - probably before all teh folks in downtown Leesburg were even done with the "headliner" concert.

I ended up workin' all day Sunday to get the May issue of the magazine finished up for the printer, so didn't make any of the Leesburg festivities that day. It's kinda the slowdown day, anhow.

We had a good time - the best in a long while. I think it was because we weren't contantly "working" and event for a change. We got to hang out, enjoy ourselves and just do what we wanted to do with out worryin' coninually about whether folks were havin' a good time, if we were "on-time" and on schedule.

We'll definitely be back in 2010. And we'll get more posted as I sort through pictures, etc.