Daytona Beach Bike Week 2012
A weekend trip away is one of the
premier bike events in all of the US, Daytona Bike Week. Being down
in this neck of the woods one should put this on their “bucket
list”. We did and made the trip last weekend, spending a 4 day
weekend at Bike Week 2012 wasn't enough time but it's all we could
manage this time around. We ended up heading out Friday morning, the
sun glistening off the water on the roofs and cars in the driveways
of our neighbors, the temp a mild 60 degrees (hey it is mid March)!
We point the bike south on I-75 and pray for limited traffic, after
getting around Atlanta on I-285 (if you can use the beltway around
the city) we keep going south on I-75. The plan is to use all
Interstate for this trip as time is of the essence. Nothing major
happened along the way, although I was stretching the fuel mileage a
bit to try and make a fuel stop just inside Fla so we can remove the
brain buckets that GA makes riders wear (interesting thoughts on that
which I'll leave for a not so distant future entry). We were about 2
miles from the state line and she starts to cough a bit, sputter a
little more when we are 1 mile from the line. That is when I reached
down and switched to reserve, first time ever on this bike I've had
to do that (after 43000+ miles not too shabby). I keep watching the
mile markers go by and the signs for exits and what services are
available. I hate when they don't put services on a sign for an exit
and when you pass the exit just beyond the trees is a nice new gas
station. How hard can it be to put a sign, even a temporary one,
saying there are services at the upcoming exit? Anyways, we fill up
and are back on the road in 15 minutes, without the helmets! The
rest of the ride, even on I-95 is pretty easy and pleasant.
We arrive at our friends house at
exactly what we estimated, good job to the wife for that estimate. A
quick unload of the bike, a look around the house and a nice talk on
the enclosed patio of their house completes our arrival. Kinda like
what the landlords did in Sturgis, our friend hands us a garage door
opener and off we go to Main St. We go down Atlantic Blvd which is
the main drag along the beach, the line to get onto Main St. isn't
too bad, about a 5 min wait or so.
Main St during this week is like a
parade, all kinds of vehicles go up and down the street at a crawl
and sometimes stop, some do it to show off what they have, don't have
or are just cruising the street. We saw all kinds of vehicles from
bikes, cars, trucks, bicycles to homemade trikes. The cameras and
video cameras are out in full force, keep it by the ready as you'll
never know what is going to come next. The sides of the street are
line with bikes parked, on lookers watching the parade on the street
and those just hanging out and enjoying the scene. There is another
parade of people on the sidewalks, sit back (or stand) and watch the
people just like the watching the vehicles. You'll see all kinds of
makes, models, sizes and types; but please don't bring your younger
kids with you, they will see some things you probably didn't want
them to see. We found a spot to park the bike right on main street,
from what we've been told that was lucky as parking is premium on
main street. There is off street parking, however it would cost
about $5.00 to park in those lots. People make a few bucks by
charging for people to park their vehicles in their yards. Walking
the street we got to see most of the interesting people and vehicles,
ending up at the beach and the Atlantic ocean. There is a little
eatery right on the beach which was priced very well, compared to
others we saw on main street. Unfortunately we weren't aware of this
place so we ate before, paying about $10.00 for a sausage sandwich.
It was good but not worth the money. The prices at these things are
so jacked up that you either have to head outside the event area to
get normal prices or bite the bullet and pay. We opted for the
latter as we didn't feel like getting back on the bike after the 463
mile ride. Spending some time just watching was nice, seeing things
you don't see on a normal day is a nice change of pace.
A good night's rest in a nice location
(friend's house) and we were ready to roll again. This time our
friend's joined us for the days ride and acted as our tour guide. We
rode the loop which is a two lane blacktop that winds through some
state park/national park type of areas, trees build a natural canopy
over the roads, what looks like some swap land, maybe a small
forest, some housing areas and of course the beach scene. We saw
some houses that were rather large and expensive, right on the water.
I am not the type for the larger houses, too much to maintain for my
taste, nice to look at though once in a while. A break from riding
was taken at a waterside restaurant which had a pier for fishing and
docks for boaters to tie up to. Just of shore was a long sandbar,
people pulled their boats up to that and either were sun bathing on
the sandbar or some were playing with their dogs. That was an
interesting to see, people enjoying the “beach” out in the middle
of the water.
Another good night's rest and we were
ready to go again. This time we ventured to outskirt types of
places, the cabbage patch, iron horse, 1st turn grill and
back to main street again.
The cabbage patch is a little ways
outside the beach area, it used to be a cabbage field, hence the
name. A little house like building is the bar, the remaining items
they have are temporary outside vendors. These vendors create a
large square around what look like a cattle pen in the middle, this
pen is about 150ft x 150ft with a large mound of dirt in the center.
Yep, that is where they do the coleslaw wrestling, we were there at
midday on the last day of the event, no wrestling for us to watch.
We were told it can get a bit crazy and definitely crowded when the
wrestling takes place. We walked the vendors, got a couple of items
then settled down for a cool drink by the band playing. There was a
lady with the band who sang just like Janis Joplin. Back on the
bikes and off to the Iron Horse Saloon.
There was a larger crowd at the Iron
Horse, where after you pull in you park mostly under the boardwalk
which is approximately 20 ft overhead. You can walk around on the
ground level where there are plenty of merchandise items for sale,
bars to get a drink from, bikes to admire or a stage to listen to
live music. We ventured up on the boardwalk first, two or three bars
one of which is made out of an old school bus. We checked out the
merchandise then headed across the street to other vendors to see
what was there. Coming across some guys packing up some older bikes,
a 1917 military Harley to a 1954 vintage Harley and an old Indian
(not sure of the year). There used to be a bar on this side of the
street however it had burned down a couple of years prior. Never
having the money to rebuild the bar never went back up, they did
however have and extra building next door and used that during the
two bike events, the bar stools were old toilets. Like most areas at
bike events this location was setup for some type of live music with
a stage and sound system in the back of the property. Back at the
Iron Horse we stayed for a few songs from David Allen Coe and his
wife, still does a good tune.
We had lunch at the 1st Turn
Bar and Grill, named due to the speedway and Daytona's association
with stock car racing. A sports bar which during bike week add
outdoor bars, seating and vendors. A stage for live music was in the
center of the outdoor area. We opted to eat indoors with the air
conditioning as there was little to no activity outside.
We ended the day with another evening
of people and vehicle watching on main street. This being the last
day of the bike event we were seeing more spring break type of people
on main street. What we call kids in bathing suits walking the
streets with a bunch of bikers was yet another different scene we
hadn't seen before. Of course some of those young college girls in
bikinis could have picked a better place to parade their stuff.
We ended up back at the house for the
night, sitting in the covered porch chatting with our friends about
the days activities and just life in general. We turned in early as
the next day was to be another 460+ miles of riding to get back home.
The trip back was uneventful and free of major traffic, leaving the
day after the event ended was actually a smart move, we heard the
freeways were jammed with bikers and trailers heading north but our
day was pretty clear of that mess.
All in all a good trip, our first time
to Daytona Bike Week and we enjoyed it. Sights to see, people
watching and of course some really nice riding made the four day
weekend complete. If you ever come across one of these events I
recommend you at least experience it just to see what it is like and
what kind of screwballs you can see cuz you will definitely see some.
They say it takes all kinds of people to make the world go around,
get thousands of bikers together and you'll see plenty of those
kinds.
Take it easy.
