#BikeWeek

Before we got married, I took my wife to the stock car races at El Cajon Speedway, east of San Diego. It was kind of a test. I wanted to be sure she could handle my Southern, inbred hick-ness before signing on. This was back in the 1980s when there were still a lot of Chevelle-bodied cars running on America’s dirt ovals. In fact, it seemed like just about all the cars were Chevy Chevelles that night.

Of all the major motorcycle rallies in the United States, which one is your favorite?  Even if you’ve never been, we’d like your vote on the one you’d like most to attend.

Although the fat lady hasn’t yet sung – she’ll take the stage Saturday at 1:00 pm in the form of the Daytona 200 – the 75th Daytona Bike Week has begun to wind down. When you actually sit back to think about it, the event is really quite something. If you attend it, you know that Bike Week is something else – in the best sense of the phrase.

When I received the invitation to attend the Victory Octane introduction in Daytona, I was pretty stoked since I hadn’t been to Bike Week in a couple of years. Even if you’re not a big rally person, every motorcyclist owes it to themselves to experience the annual gathering of the tribe(s) – if only for anthropological purposes.

The 73rd Daytona Bike Week is now part of motorcycling history, and by all accounts it was a success, with both vendors and attendees leaving happy with the week. After a slow start, most likely due to cold weather on the first two days, the crowds picked up mid-week and reached the usual epic proportions by the time Friday night rolled around. In the latter half of Bike Week, although breezy enough to blow riders around on the interstate, the exceptionally warm high temperatures made for perfect weather to enjoy riding both in and outside of Daytona proper.