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By Lulu

Due to a really great year of new ad clients and lots of events that we had to get in, I had to pull the photos from Leesburg Bike Fest the past few months. But summer is here and we had some space to fill. So for those of you, who have been asking for them, please accept my apology for not getting these in the magazine sooner!

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By Deborah Speicher

This year was the 75th Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and estimates had the record crowds at about one million. Regardless of whether they really hit the one million mark, the roads, bars, stores, restaurants, campgrounds and other venues were packed!

We took advantage of some of the great events sponsored by the Buffalo Chip, starting with Michael Lichter’s photography and motorcycle exhibit the “Naked Truth.” Michael, along with some of the motorcycle builders, did a great gallery talk about the motorcycles and he gave us some history on his photos. The next day we rode into Deadwood for the Legends Ride, proceeds of which benefitted local charities which included athletes from the Black Hills Special Olympics.

The very next day we headed out to The Lodge at Deadwood for the Biker Belles Celebration. This event benefitted the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame and Helping with Horsepower. The keynote speaker was motorcycle matriarch Gloria Tramontin Struck, who recently turned 90 years old! Gloria is still loving and living life on two wheels. As in many years past, she rode her motorcycle from home (New Jersey) to Sturgis and back.

There were so many bike shows, concerts, organized rides and more that you wish you could clone yourself and not miss a thing! But, since it really is all about the riding, we did spend a few days to ride to Mt. Rushmore, Devils Tower (Wyoming), Custer State Park, and The Badlands with a short stop at Wall Drug for our free water, free donut and 5cent coffee.

To sum up our entire trip to the Black Hills, the riding and views were spectacular, and what a nice break from the Florida heat and rain.

By Lulu

Shannon Register is one lucky girl! In July she won the Harley-Davidson Street 750 that Bruce Rossmeyer’s Ormond Beach location gave away on the 4th! The day included live music by Mikey Clams & the Daygos, giveaways and a huge hot dog eating contest!

Ride safe Shannon!!

By Billy “Kneecap” Braddock

I doubt that there is anybody who could forget what happened on September 11, 2001. The terrible day Islamic terrorists murdered 2977 innocent people. Every year we have ceremonies remembering and praying for these victims. At 8:46 AM we have a moment of silence. After we have paid respect to those who died on that day with our silence and prayers, we need to look at the rest of the story. It’s time to change our silence into shouts & screams.

Islamic terrorism started long before there was an Israel or the United States. As far back as the 1700s Islam has hated the West. Islam blames the crusades, the Jews, Western culture, and Christians for their fall from power. Truth is they are their own cause of destruction. They are extremely brutal and patient. They know in time that because of the weakness of our politicians they can do a lot more damage by waiting.

Let’s take a look at the damage they have done. Since 2001 we have entered into two wars with almost 7000 casualties, 52,000 wounded, and 970,000 veteran claims for disability. 2600 NY Firefighters, Police, EMTs, sanitation workers, and volunteers have had extreme health problems. Not to mention the Trillions of $.

Lately there has been a lot of talk about making “America Great Again”. America has always been “Great”. It is the politicians that are taking the greatness and throwing it in the dumpster. We spend more money on illegal aliens, than we do our Veterans. Obama has slashed more than 1.4 billion from the budget for American’s veterans. 70,000 fewer veterans will receive the VA care they need. Obama has said he wants to grant amnesty to 5 million illegal aliens, while cutting military spending to veterans by a staggering 65%. This executive action will be giving out a year’s worth of Medicaid coverage and cash, costing US taxpayers 97.8 million, money which would be taken from the VA. Obama stated, it’s important to give these immigrants a footstool to help them climb out of substandard conditions they been facing. He’s right. We need to give them a foot in the ass hard enough to send them home. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) summed it up perfectly. It’s absurd. Taking money away from veterans who served his country bravely and proudly, and handing it over to people who aren’t even American citizens. It’s insulting to know this man is still president.

Actually his actions are not hard to believe. He’s been dissing the military since he’s taken office. He skipped the funeral of the highest-ranking officer to be killed on foreign soil in over 40 years. He’s been smearing Veterans as potential domestic terrorists. He has tried making wounded Veterans cover their own medical treatment through private insurance plans. He gave terrorists at Gitmo a $750,000 soccer field, cable TV, entertainment, classes in painting, etc. while stripping away benefits for soldiers. He silenced and criminalized Christianity in the military. He’s allowed Veterans to die in secret waiting lists at VA hospitals all over the country. He endlessly tramples on the Constitution that soldiers are sworn to defend and attacking the rights they fought, bled and died to protect.

Obama has no challengers. The voters gave the GOP the House and the Senate and what did they get? Mitch McConnell the Senate’s designated liar from Kentucky and Speaker John Boehner who can’t speak up unless he’s ordering a drink at happy hour. If chastised he will start crying.

If NASA wants to send people to Mars I’ve got some real spaced out x-wives I’d recommend.

See you on the shiny side of tomorrow.

By Lulu

The folks at Space Coast Harley strive to bring great music to the dealership and it seems like almost every weekend they have something going on! I traveled down to Palm Bay in August for their 1980’s tribute. The bikini bike wash girls had bikes lined up and the music filled the lot. Everyone from the employees to the folks who rode in for the music is always so nice at Space Coast Harley-Davidson. Keep an eye on their ads each month to find out what is planned!!

By Bill Grotto

Imagine riding your bike to Sturgis and leaving with two…Sound crazy? Not when Twisted Tea is involved! This year at the Sturgis 75th anniversary Twisted Tea not only gave away one bike but TWO bikes to lucky consumers. The first bike was a 1974 ironhead Sportster that was built by our friends at The Choppin Block. The Choppin Block is a group of builders that got together to do what they love the most- build bikes! Chop Docs Choppers (From Michigan now out of Daytona) Turners Cycle Shop, Kustoms Inc and Doomtown Choppers all played a role in getting this little bar hopper going. We gave the bike away at Steve Broyle’s The Horse Back Street Choppers show at Full Throttle Saloon. What made this bike giveaway special was that it was free to enter for anyone over 21 and the drawing happened right there on the spot that day. The ballot box was overflowing with entries! When it was time to draw a name we had two (unlucky) entrants whose names were called but they never came to the stage so too bad for them! Three times a charm is true because the 3rd name we drew was Rodney Roerhig from Iowa City, Iowa and boy was he happy! As he approached the stage with a Twisted Tea in hand we knew we had the right guy!

This story almost didn’t have a happy ending…At the end of this busy day I went home and emptied my pockets of all the receipts and business cards I get all day and realized there was something missing…Rodney’s contact information! Luckily Rodney called up The Horse and they put him in touch with us…Otherwise there would have been posters all over Sturgis that said “Rodney from Iowa call Twisted Tea we have your bike!”

The second bike giveaway we did was at One Eyed Jack’s. This was in conjunction with a national “text to win” a trip to Sturgis and a chance to win the bike. The bike was a ’72 FLH shovel head which we named “Tea Bagger” because hey it’s Twisted Tea and it’s a bagger…no brainer! We had the ballot box at One Eyed all week long and there were many entries. On Thursday afternoon we picked 6 ballots out of the box and called the contestants to let them know they were chosen as finalists. One Eyed Jacks is always busy and this night was no different. With the bar packed and the crowd waiting in anticipation each contestant came up and picked one of 6 keys out of a bucket. First one…nuthin…second guy (who won the trip to Sturgis)…nuthin…Once again3 time’s a charm and the 3rd contestant Eric Hess from Buffalo New York had the key that fired the bike! Just like Rodney he was a long time Tea drinker so we knew the right guys got the bikes and nothing could make us happier than making our loyal drinkers happy!

This was the first time we did something like this and felt it was a great success. We plan on doing it again so who knows the next winner could be YOU!