easyriders bike show – charlotte…

went to the easyriders bike show in charlotte this weekend with the family… had a good time, saw lots of cool bikes and even talked to paul yaffe about the zebra skin lining in the tour-pak of one of his baggers…. he wasn’t sure if it was real or not, but for the cost, it should be!!!

first up was checking out the centerfold bikes… our favorite bike was built with a sideways engine from tempest cycles. apparently they started to use a snowmobile engine and transmission but discovered they needed to use a v-twin engine. to accommodate the snowmobile transmission, they had to mount the engine sideways. pretty cool…

 

the other centerfold bikes – in no particular order…

john dodson’s gangster choppers

 

 skunkworx custom cycle

 

the chopp shop

 

roadhawgs

 

some other bikes around the show that caught our attention…

 

i thought behind this tribute bike is great – i just think it’s a little overboard…

 

a couple of shirts for my wife…

a skull for my son…

world’s fastest indian…

big al and hayley from caronlina cruiser tv…

and to top it all off, a couple getting married in front of three hundred and fifty of their (not so) closest friends…

chili today…

finally got around to taking my first ride of the year… ray price was having their polar bear run and chili cook-off today, so i decided to head down there…

the problem with the polar bear run, and it seems to happen each year, is the weather doesn’t turn out to be polar bear weather. which really isn’t a bad thing. it got into the 60s today, which made for some really great riding. and in hindsight, i probably should have taken a longer ride through the country rather than head downtown…

although, with the chili cook-off, i can’t say it was the wrong choice. we got to taste from eleven different entries, some really good and, well, some not so good. two or three were really bad, i couldn’t finish the small helping i had. most were average with three really standing out. i did manage to get seconds of those so i could do a final run off to make my choice. all three had great flavor, but i think it was the versatility of the one chili i liked the most. i could see myself eating it by itself as a meal or throwing it on top of a couple hot dogs…

i tried to get a couple pictures… unfortunately it was my first day with a different camera and i was having problems taking pictures. turns out i was in video mode and have a lot of footage of the ground. here’s what i was able to get…

so after filly my belly with chili, it was time to head home… wife needed me to pick up some stuff for dinner and on the way to the store, i passed one of the most beautiful (inanimate) sites i’ve ever seen…

first, some background… there’s been some new construction around one of the nearby gas stations… i’ve been trying to figure out what it could be. the footprint is very similar to bojangles, but too narrow in my opinion. so for a couple weeks i’ve been trying to figure out what it could be… of course they won’t put a sign in front to help anyone out…

and today, the mystery was revealed!!! a good ol waffle house!!

what a great day for riding it turned out to be…

2009 rides

routes:
------ 02/15/2009 - sunday ride around - little loop
------ 05/15-16/2009 - smoke out x - rockingham, nc
------ 05/22-25/2009 - rolling thunder xxii - washington, dc
------ 07/03/2008 - matthew's first ride - nc and va
------ ride to drag races (coming soon)
------ ride with wife (coming soon)
------ 10/17/2009 - saddlesore 1000 - nc, sc, ga, fl

28063

starting the year with just over 28k... i put on a little over 8000 miles last year, more than i expected. most of those came from trips that were unplanned and just presented themselves as great riding opportunities. i think those can make the best memories.

this year, i don't really have too much planned, the usual smoke out... other than that, i nothing really set. although there are some trips i'd like to accomplish. like riding the blue ridge parkway, a trip to georgia to attend a wedding, an iron butt, the world traveler to name a few. most of all, i think i would like to ride more with my wife. we always have fun...

so just sit back and let's see what happens...

it's over...

hard to believe another year has passed... i did more riding this year than i thought i would and, as always, not as much as i wanted. i guess the good side of that is i always have something to look forward to...

the weather around here has been good but i haven't been able to ride lately. i should say i haven't taken the opportunity to ride lately. between trying to catch up on stuff that needs to be done around here, traveling for the holidays and just spending time with family, it didn't leave much time for riding. maybe next week...

in the meantime, as it seems to be tradition this time of year, a little recap of this past year... in no particular order.

peace...

reunion ride...

26 October 2008

i think this will 'bout bring me up to date on the rides so far this year. and with only about two weeks left, don't know if i'll be able to squeeze any more in...

back in october, i had a chance to ride with my wife and about fifty of our closest friends... actually, didn't know too many people on the ride!! most of the riders were fairly new riders with little experience - some with no group riding experience. it was put together by one of the motorcycle instructors and was a "reunion" of students he had taught over the years. the cool thing is he's also a member of the blue knights so we kinda got an escorted ride...

the day started out a little chilly and i was a little worried about my wife getting cold, so i hooked up the 'lectric gloves before we took off. we headed off to shelton's in durham to meet up with everyone...

when we got to shelton's we were surprised by the number of people already there. and more showed up as we waited for departure. right before we left, we got a pre-ride brief...

we rode up to clarksville to have lunch at the lamplighter. good food and it seems to be a popular place to stop for two wheelers... while eating lunch, we made a couple new friends. after lunch, it was time for a group photo and the scenic ride back.

on the way back, the weather warmed up and my wife decided to try her hand at taking some pictures while we were riding... since she would have to ride without gloves to take the pictures, i was worried about her hands getting cold. thankfully it had warmed up enough that it didn't turn out to be an issue... she got tons of great pictures of people riding their bikes and some scenery...

one final stop at the dam to enjoy the view and reflect on the wonderful ride...

it turned out to be an awesome day for a ride. no incidents (other than the ol' man tipping over his bike as we were leaving the last stop).

it was great to spend another afternoon riding with my wife. i can't wait to be able to take more rides like this with her - just heading off, grabbing some lunch somewhere and sharing each others company. what a great day we had...

a final shot from the day...

(i know what all you are asking - how to the ugly guys get the hot chicks??)

early christmas...

got an early christmas present in the mail the other day from america rides maps... they were thoughtful enough to send me one of their latest maps, best roads north and south of asheville, nc... an excellent way to share the spirit of the christmas season...

what's really nice is they've been making improvements to the maps. they've added road mileage for the roads on the map. that's really nice to have when you're trying to plan out a route or two for the day. they've also improved the detail and resolution of the maps. it makes quite a difference compared to the older maps - gives you a better idea of the area... and finally, a must have for bikers, recommended places to eat. the improvement to the maps is remarkable.

i really like this particular map for two reasons. one, it joins several of the other maps, making a series on the blue ridge parkway. two, it will fit in nicely if i can pull off my plans to ride the blue ridge parkway with my father-in-law next year.

looks like i'm going to have to head over to their web site and order a couple more maps to complete my collection of the blue ridge parkway series...

whodunnit??

another test to take... whodunnit?? and in case you missed the first one, you can find it here...

how observant were you??