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...