saturday at shelton's...

we weren't doing much... contemplating how we were going to spend the day when my wife suggested a ride on the bike. now what's not to like about that?? spend some time on the bike. and, more importantly, with my favorite person.

we decided to head out to shelton's. the local hog club was having their annual chili cook-off and bike show. we called up our neighbor's to see if they wanted to ride out as well.

our neighbor lead us on back roads out to durham. when we got to shelton's, the place was getting packed. they had closed the road to cars (although some knuckleheads were still driving through), and were parking bikes along the side of the road.

we parked, hopped off the bikes and started walking towards the dealership, admiring the bikes along the way. i really wish i would have brought my camera. (sure would have made this post more interesting!!!)

after making our way in, we head for the chili. they were soliciting a dollar for the tasting. unfortunately my wife and i didn't have any cash. yeah, only two bucks and we don't have it. the pitfalls of living in an electronic world. i didn't see any card swiper device near the chili table, so we passed on the chili tasting. although i don't think we missed much since there were only two pots. looked like there had been more. i don't know if people just backed out or ran out of chili quickly.

it reminded me of the time we went to ray price for their chili cook-off. we got there about ten minutes after the event started and they were already out of chili. i don't know, seems you should have enough chili to last at least an hour...

after getting dissed on the chili, we headed over to the hot dog tent. free dogs and soda. i'm there... after choking down two dogs and a water, we decided to check out the bike show.

of course they had the whole range of bikes. some really nice bikes, some average bikes, and some bikes you wonder why people even put them in the show. maybe they're hoping to win because no one else put a bike in that category. now is when i really wish i would have brought my camera.

while making my way through the bikes, i ran into hank from widow maker custom design and repair. i think he's becoming my local favorite builder. not that i've really had a favorite, but i really like his builds. i spoke to him for a bit and need to follow up with him about getting one of his work shirts.

after visiting all the bikes and casting votes in each category... well, every category except one. i can't remember which category it was, but it only had one bike and it wasn't worth using the graphite from the pencil to make the mark on the paper. i cast my vote for eMVee as best in show.

since it was getting cloudy, our neighbors decided to head home and try to beat the rain. since we had our rain suits in the saddlebags, my wife and i decided to go into the dealership so i could pick up another free neck gaiter. which i've been using more as a beanie - makes a heck of a hat.

i was a little concerned with our decision because i know my wife hates to ride in the rain and really, really hates to get cold. but we decided to head in and check out the dealership. after walking around and watching more and more people stream inside because of the threat of rain, we decided it might be time for us to make tracks home.

when we get to the bike, we start hem-hawing about whether we need our rain gear. it's only sprinkling, very lightly. and it looks like it might pass over. what the hell?? let's ride. if it gets bad enough, we'll pull over and gear up...

the light sprinkle never really let up on the ride home. it didn't get worse either. the question became whether we would be able to make it home before the rain soaked through our clothes. i kept telling my wife to let me know if she wanted to pull over and gear up. if we waited too late and our clothes got too wet, there wouldn't be much use putting the gear on. the other problem was there really wasn't a good place to pull over... so we rode...

it turned out to be a really nice ride. sure it was raining, but this riding in the rain really isn't too bad. best of all, my wife really seemed to enjoy it. or at least she didn't mind it!! i'm sure that given the choice between riding in the sun and riding in the rain, she'd choose riding in the sun. but i don't think she'd choose not riding over riding in the rain.

the best part of the day was being able to share time with my wife - which doesn't seem to happen too much when you have kids to run all over the place... i'm looking forward to spending more time with her. and maybe one day we can even get away for a trip on the bike...

3rd annual rally in raleigh...

went to the rally in raleigh a couple weekends ago... was a lot of fun. nice to see the event getting bigger. this year it was as big as the first and second years put together. there was talk of closing even more streets next year if it was big enough this year. that would be nice to see...

we left the dealership and headed over to the rally - normally a three minute trip stretched to about fifteen with all the bikes and confusion getting in... i think the original plan was to ride down fayetteville street and snake around to moore square, where the opening ceremonies were taking place. however, people started parking on fayetteville street as soon as they got there, choking the road for everyone else that was following... seemed a little odd, but the ride to start the rally was lead by one of dale jr.'s race cars. guess if i was more of a nascar fan, there'd be more of an ooohhh and aaahhh factor.



lots to see and a lot to do at the rally this year. one of the first things to catch my eye, both because of the bike and he was parked next to me was this 1947 harley. well, it wasn't just a 1947, more like mostly a 1947. the guy was real proud to talk about his bike, the miles he's put on it and the work he's put into it to keep it on the road. he's had it coast-to-coast several times and hasn't had any problems with it. of course with the amount of work he has to put into the bike to keep it running, he might not consider it broken down were the rest of us might... anyway, as with any old harley work its weight in gold, after about ten minutes sitting, there was a pool of oil forming...





another bike that immediately caught my eye was "plan b" from widow maker custom design and repair. this is the guy the build the gold school bike i liked at the first rally... i talked to hank for a couple minutes, found out he had taken it down to the smoke out this year. love his work - will have to check out his shop some time...







also talked to a marine what served two tours in iraq... thank you very much, by the way... apparently he had a sportster and his dad decided to trade it in to show his appreciation for what his son was doing. his son didn't know anything about what his dad was doing. when he returned from his second tour, his dad told him they had a problem with his sportster to lure him into the dealership. at the dealership, packed with family and friends, his dad gave him the bike. as you can see, it's been customized as a tribute to the marines and the six fellow soldiers from his unit that never returned... very interesting guy to talk to - very humble, very giving. we spoke to him for quite a while. if we had more people in this world like him, it would be a much better place... if you look closely at the picture of the derby cover, you can see the names of his six buddies that never came home...




while wandering around the rally, saw the new victory vision...



ray price and his new rider were giving out autographs...


the hero bike from homes for the troops...



various pics from the bike show... i don't know that this first "bike" should have been in the show - it was more like a three wheel car than a motorcycle.but the judges will decided that, huh?? seems like skulls were the theme this year...






not sure if this guy entered the "bike" show... guess he's a cool cat, huh??



other pics from the rally...











i guess if i was going to join a motorcycle club, this would definitely be one of the patches...

market square...

went downtown to market square for the rally in raleigh saturday... wasn't sure what the weather was going to do - it was calling for scattered showers during the day. when i took off at 11:00AM the sky was cloudy. since it looked like it might rain, i threw on my rain jacket for the ride down - figured i didn't want to start the day out wet...

on the ride downtown i didn't see a single bike - not one!!! i was starting to wonder if maybe they canceled the rally (which i knew they wouldn't) or if maybe there was a lack of interest because of the weather. as i pulled up to market square i finally saw a bike - parked in the bike only parking lot. so i parked my bike next to it and started walking around.

for an event that was supposed to start at 10:00AM i was really surprised a lot of vendors were still setting up around noon. i realize they probably got a late start because of the weather, but this late?? guess it didn't matter too much though; there weren't a lot of people walking around.

along a couple of the streets they had the usual vendors hawking jewelry, leathers, helmet stickers, hats, clothes, lights, you name it... there was one guy there that was selling motorcycles made from wire.it was pretty neat. i would have picked one up but it seemed too expensive for my blood.as you can see, fifty bucks for a small motorcycle - add thirty if you want a gecko!!!

after walking through the street vendors i decided to check out the bike builders. while i can appreciate all the creativity and talent that goes into creating these new, sleek choppers, i don't think i would really want one.

as i was walking around, the one below caught my eye. you'll notice there is no down tube on the bike... in case you don't know, the down tube provides strength and stability to the frame. other bikes have been built without down tubes, but i guess because of the other modifications that have to be made to the frame to accommodate for the lack of a down tube, they're not real popular. i ended up talking to russell marlowe for a couple minutes - he's in the background of the picture and the builder of the bike. i'll post later about my conversation and impression of mr. marlowe.

i decided to check out the ride-in bike show. i know it was still early and bikes were still entering, but there were about twenty bikes in the show already. there were all sorts of bikes, some stock, some modified, some completely built from the ground up. of all the bikes there, i was most impressed by this one. it's called "Gold School" and was built by hank thibodeau from a '79 Gold Wing!!! i ended up talking to hank for a couple minutes about the bike. this bike has a little bit of everything - honda (obviously), harely, yamaha, suzuki... i think he even said it has car parts from honda, mazda, vw... amazing... after seeing this bike, it didn't seem like any of the other bikes in the show were even worth looking at!!!

after checking out the bikes in the show, i figured i'd seen about everything there was to see, so i figured i'd head home... decided to grab a quite bite to eat before jumping on the bike. as i was sitting at a table, munching down a hot dog and gulping down a mountain dew, three guys sat down at the table with me. one guy asked if i worked for exile cycles. that was the second comment i got about the exile shirt i was wearing - the first being from russell marlowe, which i will tell you about in a later post... anyway, it turns out these guys run a web site called no rules riders. the site is put together for people who like to ride for the freedom or riding. check it out... i'll probably end up riding with these guys some time...

so, after about two or three hours at the rally, i was back on my bike heading home... can't say i was totally impressed. maybe it was the weather, maybe it was because it was the first year. maybe it will get better. i will say i'm glad i didn't travel a long distance to get here - i would have been totally disappointed!!!

okay - that's it...