day13

finally the day arrived and here is a pic of your humble author and his lovey on Main St. in quiet, hahahaha not today, Leesburg, Florida. The traffic was so thick that while being stopped Linda gave the camera to Darlene next to us "take a picture of us, please " linda asks and then "ooooops. let me take my helmet off first." She looks fantastic with or without helmet to me, just as long as she is with me.

We had a grand ride out there after meeting up with Dan/Cheri and then Larry, Ronnie/Darlene, Doug, Bruce and one more couple at the 7/11 at 46a and airport blvd. in Sanford. I would like to add a map, but havent figured that one out yet. I passed out the maps i made up to the groupo and gave some pointers on the roads ahead as well as a review of signals and pack riding basics, just to make sure we are all on the same page. When riding with different groups its a must to be on the same page, especially when bound for a major rally. And now it is a major no doubt. We saw more motorcycles than ever before anywhere and it was only 10:30 am when we rolled onto Main Street.

Here we are giving you the Dixie Salute, before saddling up for our 67 mile jaunt thru the jungles of florida to Leesburg. Thats SS and Larrys custom nose to nose in front of the humans. It's 9:15am and we are 15 minutes late.

Here is doug on the left and Dan/Cheri on the right crusin' into old sleepy town Leesburg on this one saturday afternoon a year that motorcyles rule the day. doug owns a fleet of trucks and dan is a building contractor and most talented. He finally passed the driving test to get his motorcycle endorsement, so now Cheri is much more comfortable riding legally with him. He went ahead and spent the money he saved by not having to take the State School program, (280 bucks) and bought new tires, which his Honda was sorely in need of. my linda is taking the photos. Old SS gets a lot more attention and i get some good pics when my lovey putts with me.

Crusin east and still 4 blocks from the center of town. we are starting to look for a parking space, watching for someone saddling up to leave, but not too seriously yet. The rumble and roar of heavy metal is awesome and rising rapidly. The business parking lots on both sides of Main St. are slowly filling up with bike lovers. Unlike Daytona i don't see "5$ parking" signs all over the place. The signs did appear closer to town tho. In DB you'll not find an empty space, lawn, alley or lot without a "5$ bikes; 10$ car" signage.
Closer to the center of this belly of the beast and the roar of thousands of iron horses is music to my ears and making this adventure worth all the work.




ron/darlene and dan/cheri follow us into a perfect parking spot in the center of Main st. just one short block from the absolute center of this Rally. We unpack and the girls go quickly to shop and eat, while i head over to the RatHole Show with the guys. following are some of the eye candy we enjoyed that afternoon...

this next shot doesn't do this bike justice. It is named "DoinTime" and is by a local personality that we've ridden with for the Chrome Angels'Breast Awareness Ride. and you know how bikers appreciate breastesses. The builer is now a preacher and he performs the "blessings of the bikes" before the groupo departures. It has among the many custom features a sissy bar cross made out of prison bar, a night stick for the suicide shift lever and hand cuffs supporting the frame to the rear fender. and of course "Death Trap" was showing off today to the delight of OLD skool bikers.
Most skulls on a bike award goes to...








Now this paint design stopped us in our tracks. Not so detailed, but works. a real iron horse.
and of course the RealRadio bike was there for the raffle ticket option to own. Nick, down at Aces Shop has a biz called viscious cycles... //www.viciouscycles.org/
did the paint job. JayZRider is the shop that designed and built the bike. They are in a small warehouse that just happened to have the brand new Seminole Harley Dealership built a monster size outlet right across the street. I asked the JZ rep. how'd they like the new business and he gave me the victorious thumbs up sign along with the dollar signs twinkle in his eyes... to be continued

practice

7:03pm. here and i've just finished my nightly news fix. I tell ya, your author is jumpin at the bit for Leesburg.
good web site also with a live web cam. http://209.208.13.215/home/homeJ.html
I did the pre ride yesterday. what a great excuse to get out and ride. 109 miles by the end of the day. Only one mile stretch with grooved, work in progress, roadway. And today i spent giving SS the loving wash job so overdue and deserved. Joey helped a little. For some reason the floor jack was a little more wobbley than usuall. So we reset it and of course i had to relearn how to work those confounded tie down mini wenches. Now some winches i like, but these, well. speaking of winches. Mine just came in and gave me a nice smackerooo. She's in an excellent mood because her mural is coming out better than anticipated.








I sent her out to the garage to snap an artstyfartsy pic of SS.So anyway, today was the wash job and tomorrow will be the wax job. I could get lost out there doing it all today, but then i'd have no time to scribble. and truthfully, i dig scribbling almost as much as i do puttin. In fact, it's sad to report that i took the cage all week to work this week, but yesterday's jaunt thru the jungle made up for it. Sometimes being off for a few days makes the subsequent adventure that much more superior.
We are meeting up with my brother and some of his hoods from brevard county. We've all been invited to Ron and Karen's Meet n Greet around 1ish. i'llbeback...

day12a

It's 9:14am and my lovely and i have just road 67 miles west on highway 46, then south on the super slab 95 to meet up with these ruffians in Rockledge. My brother Larry, is on the far left, the only one with a Honda, but his friends have good taste. lol. Thats Bob, retired ex motorcycle cop from new england area and his riding buddy Dan. It''s grand to ride with Bob, his oneness with his bike when he's in the lead is a thing to behold. He has lots of good stories, once he told us that "Daytona is nice but it's not like it was in the old days. Things have calmed down." He told us of being on duty during Laconia riding four officers to a car all carrying ready to fire shotguns. "Oh ya, we had some long nights, back then." he calmy told us. Years since those days have had their affect on those adventures of his. Both Bob and Dan are active members of the 250 strong Space Coast HOG's that is sponsoring todays main course.
The Moving Wall Memorial. http://www.themovingwall.org/
It is a replica of the real thing in DC. But wowwie zowwie. There's controversy afoot. and maybe some events given some light. After reviewing their web page i find that the event i attended today is a "copy"... Yikes? What? Well, the info is all on their page so it must be true. Politics is one thing, but copywrite enfringement is another. Now, i'm most assuredly not here to say who or what is a copy. But i want to report the facts of the day as i saw them. In order if possible...
After leaving Rockledge we putt 10 miles north to Brevard Community College parking lot to find 2k bikers ready to pay tribute. Here is a good pic of Larry with his new air filter sparkling in the perfect florida sun, on his clean metric on the way to the bcc parking area. he tells me "for the toys-for-tots run we had 15k bikes last year and filled up the whole park". Todays crowd was the largest my lovely and i have ever been in.

day 11a

It's 10:30am and we've arrived at the Ocala Shop. Thats Rick, the club historian on the left and i forget the name of the lovely shaded lady who "rides like a guy", I'm told that is the highest compliment one can give a lady rider. She likes to ride with Chopper Joe. What ever the case may be no one was in the mood to do the poker run. Rick said that if we were going to sign in to represent SCHOG, then we would have to pay the ride price. No one was in the mood to part with 15 that easily either. I was there with out my best copilot so i just wanted to ride, so off we went to breakfast... lol.

we slipped on up the road to a little home grown local joint where Sam knew everyone and they served us coffee on the sidewalk while waiting for table space for 12 hungry motorcycle lovin friends. Speaking of wash or ride. Here is BadAssBikerBrother Ron parking his ultra "just right". He just got it back form it's bi-annual "detail" job. "Ya. She takes her a q tip and gets up in all those impossible to reach areas. About 8-9 hrs. worth of time she says." he tells us proudly as we stand around just looking for a blemish, but see nothing but a "like new" finish staring back. and i think if you look real close at his center headlamp, it is smiling. It's happy to be so squeeky clean too...

day 11

yaazzz sir. the SS is home and all is well, except it is in serious need of a good washing after sitting in the busy Ace's garage. This mornings club ride left at 7:30 am., so there has not been time to scrub it yet. you know. the usual question. To Wash or To Ride? That is the question. This picture is of your author and his beautiful bitch of 26 years in New Smyrna Beach, Florida for their monthly Bike Night. We clocked 180 miles by sunset that day.Soooo, at 5:45am the radio starts rockin and hey, it's show time.
Here we are at the first stop of the day, about 50 miles north. we have a sportster with a 2.3 gallon tank that needs a top off and actually we wanted to double check the map for our 90 mile quest to Ocala Haley.

Here is Johanna who of course rides her own sled and the lady that rides that thirsty sporster. You know that next year is the last year they'll make the Sportster? History is written.
Here are Chopper Joe and his good bud Sam checking out Sam's new exhaust system. It blows flames " 3 feet out the back. Haaa." Sam exclaims. "When they get up on and ride my ass. I BACK THEM OFF real quick!" he says confidently and with a slight smile. and here of course is the "in the mirror" shot. A small groupo, but good motorcycle lovin attitudes all 'round and that made it all good. more later...

day10

another sad day here. old Snoop-Skoot is in Ace's Motorcycle Shop, but at least it's for "beautification" work and not "fixafication". I must write a hardy hail and welcome home to our wandering and now famous BikerDiaries and a huge thank you for the kind words on my scribble and dribble. You are my inspiration and have opened the door to so many writer/riders that truly my cup overflows. Yikes, it's late and time for the news then my Homeowner's ARC meeting. If these samll minded cage rats would ride a motorcylce then maybe the rest of the world would make sense to them and they would'nt be so mean, cheap, silly and small. I'll be back. also i've posted a new link to some more
bikerblogers. enjoy. ride safe...
brl

day 9

And that Theresa turned out to be the friendliest person ever and welcomed me to the group showing my how to fill out the application. That first meeting i just stood in the doorway and observed. The room was abosoutely packed with men and women wearing leather, mostly vests with all the patches from various runs and making personal statements.Lots of DILIGAF's and what really caught my eye on the more well worn vests were the "in memoreom for" patches. The more of them signaled the longer the wearer had been in the club, i figured. Everyone hugged and laughed outloud, like they had been the best of budds for ever. It turned out they were getting ready for officer elections and the shop owner had just gotten back from the HOG State Rally, with a frown from Mother Hog. "Mother Hog"?? what da fuck? I was about to learn more of the real "family" of Harley.

day 8

here is part of my story (lies?) This first pic is of the Snoop-Skoot in front of the old shop on 17-92 in Fern Park, Florida. That is where i wandered in November 2004 with enough cash finally to make my lifetime dream come true. I was going to buy my first harleyfreakindavidson. I walked up to my neighbor (Randy's) house last month when i saw him washing his Harley and drooled over it a while why introducing myself to him. I told him "you are one lucky man. to have a Harley". he agreed., Duh! Well, finally came my turn to stroll into the shop and be serious. I met Mark, could have been anyone, but glad it was Mark. he is sharp. "Look. I've got "X dollars", what can i have?" We discussed my riding level and wants. "i know a Harley when i hear one, and i want one thats black and sounds like a hog." We wander around the store, out back and finally up front and found her. Old Black Betty became her honest name, but thats a story for another day. "Sit on it!" Mark commanded, as if i needed the encouragement. "Start it up." he continued. She was a 2000 Super Glide Sport and Piano Black with 11k miles on her. When i finally worked thru my nervousness and got the key to the right position then pressed the starter, then screwed it on to let those vance/hines shorties roar. "I can see the smile in your eyes." commented Mark and he knew he had a sale. and the resst is another story. I started this piece with another issue in mind tho.
Old versus New. Now versus Then...I joined SCHOG and no that doesnt' stand for South Carolina Harley Owners Group, within the next couple of weeks. I didn';t know the shop paid for my national automatically and so i joined that too. I discovered later that membership in national is a requirement for membership in local. They meet on the first thursday of the month and here it was the first of Nov. so i drive because it's raining. The VFW in winter springs is their "clubhouse" and the parking lot if full, more of cars than bikes, but still lots of bikes. I walk right in while there are men milling about under the entrance awning smoking fat cigars and slappin each other on the back while laughing strongly. "Ah." "Real Bikers" i think to myself. What a freakin newbie i am. Being a newbie at 54 aint' rite. Rite? But right away i met Terri, Bob's wife and she made me feel right at home and took me around to introduce me to Theresa the current chapter secretary and i filled out the paperwork to become official.

day 7

I like taking the inside track away from on coming traffic. Just a habit i've fallen into after being advised to do so by Linda. "If you want me to ride with you!" she explained seriously. I started out beside jamal and his silver street rod and rode the first leg behind a young lady on a black sportster. Out of 30 bikes there were maybe 10 ladies puttin their own way to salvation. And here is a pic of one of them. thats big dave c.'s bad ass biker wife, Barb. She's been riding
her own sled now for well over 9 months and is most competent on the road. Thats Ron/Venus' motorcycle in the forground. Those Ultra's are cruisin machines. We had clear skies, light breeze and almost83 degrees by 1 pm. We had travelled southwest out of seminole county over to Astatulla, Monteverd, Minneola, Clermont, Lake Louisa State Park, Zephyrvhills then finally just 17 miles from Tampa, we pull in to the shaded parking lot and it was kickstand down time. Most folks could not wait to saddle up to the feeding trough, because of the 3 hrs and the 120 miles or so putt to get there. it was surely pushing 90 by now, in fact three of the men took off their shirts and rode topeless. the one guy in front of me took his off while he was riding. he'd be going down the road at 45-50, reach around into his saddlebags and pull out a pack of cig's and fire it up while not missing a beat. the first i noticed his riding skills was when all of a sudden he was to my left in the oncoming lane and taking my picture while riding 40 plus mph. he'd zoom over when it was clear and snap away at the riders including his wifey, that woman on the black sportster. she took off her shirt to and just rode in a red sports bra type thingy on the freeway ride home. there were 4 of them not staying to eat either and so i followed them on I-4 till the took off around International Drive. i was home in80 minutes. the end odometer says 199 miles...

SCHOGs at the RanchBranch

sat. morning 11:30ish am at the new shop, when can i stop calling it the new shop?, and about 28 members are ready to roll. we are getting our last minute directions and pack riding rules, from road capt'n Mark. we are leaving late because we are waiting for big Dave C. to get his ultra out of the service department. I've always had good to adequate service there but big dave didn't get that today. the shop had already installed parts and did it half assed and now when they had to do it right, they wanted to charge him again. "bullshit" his bad ass biking wife Barb said. She's a pip. she doesn't mind speaking up with her assessment of the situation.

and so finally we have to leave without dave, because service now tells him "it'll be another 30-40 minutes". Steve, who is the leader and designer of this ride, gives big dave the print out of the road by road agenda for the day and tips on how to catch up to us.
I'm lined up behind Ron and Venus...to be continued.

imagine

ok, here is the word.
kt found this and it is worthy of thinking about...


http://thedreamride.blogspot.com/
truthfully, the idea just boggles the mind. It will take getting high profile public figures to front it and the participation of elected suits to truly become the event it could...

day 6

ya, freaking hoooooo. it's Friday. pay the lady.

This pic. represents a real biker. You've read all the arguments over "what is a real biker"? enought to wear ones treads out, well, me too. here to me is a real biker. One who is loving riding. You can see it in their faces. Of course the fact that it was a day that had motorcycle written all over it helped. we were with the schog pack of about 17 bikes thru the backroads of Seminole County...

These men on choppers are new members and enjoyed the putt of 50ish miles to the Orlando Harley Shop for their Hogs for Paws Ride. I like the morning ride with the group and to earn my superschog point, but i was not interested in spending the day on Orlando's run, altho, yes its a good cause, there all good causes and its a day meant to ride, i really just wanted to ride home, so we got up with big dave c., his bad ass biker wife Barb, Road Capt'n Ron and his nurse wife, who just got her own bike and is now bad ass Venus...

more4206

It's early sunday morning and while the new shop is not officially opened for the day, Linda and Venus help me set up a custom shot of the Snoop-Skoot (SS). It's a shot that i've worked on in my imagination, but when it came to actually shooting it, well, it lost some in the translation, but you get the idea. During working hours this front deck is loaded with motorcycles for sale. Now it's used to capture a moment in history. We, old Black Betty and i were there for the groundbreaking. Let me see if i can find the pic... oooops, dag nabit.rrrrrrrrrr. now the old pic is on top. ok, then. That was with big Mike from my new gang the Seminole County HOG's. I was standing around taking close up pics of the shovel, which is chrome of course, when the shop owner's wife comes up and asks if we want to take a picture breaking ground. "Duh!" i respond in my best motorcycle dialect and so big mike and i shoveled it and she shot it. Then of course the second pic is now 18 months later and selling motorcycles faster than they can get them in. Da Boss (Linda Ann, my superior wife of 22 years and bad ass biker bitch of these last two years) and i took SS over to the new shop this afternoon. I'm enhancing ss's look and needed to talk to corey english about some parts i bought and didn't get. he found a receipt, but with out the buttons on it, so i told him "thanks for checking man, but i've got one with them on it and so i'll be back tomorrow." i'm going to order the parts thru PeeWee at Ace's, but if i've already paid for them at Seminole, i might as well get them... now. can i write here with these new pics? this is such a test, but now i've worked in the html portion and moved some things around and somethings working, just not sure what...

4206

april fools day was out of the way, it was a sunday morning that had "motorcycle" written alllllll over it, an the SCHOG's were ready to rumble...and so as 9ish am rolled around sunday morning with clear skies and almost 70 degrees already, away we went.