By Lulu

Each June OB’s throws a custom bike show on their huge property. All kinds of sweet rides fill the lot and I certainly wouldn’t want to have to pick one. I neglected to get the names of the winners, so spank me when I see you next. A beauty from Jacksonville, Sandi walked away with the bikini contest cash! We pulled Rod up on stage to sit behind the girls during the contest for his birthday! If you haven’t made it out for this event or the HUGE Russ & Bob Panhead Shovelhead show in November you really must. A special thank you to Rue & Ziffra for always supporting the motorcycle community!

Winning Bike

September 2018 Twisted Evolution Motorcycle Shoppe opened its doors. Since that time, they have strived to continually improve their operations, products, and services. They have added a paved and fenced parking lot, painted the building, new signs, additional parts vendors, two additional lifts and numerous specialty tools. January of 2022, they partnered with Dunlop Motorcycle Tires to become Pro Dealers. This will ensure in the future that they will always have a Dunlop to fit your Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Twisted then in February purchased their second location. A 2800 square foot facility to start another leg of their journey. Here they intend to hold their annual Backyard BBQ and to start a motorcycle storage program. That location is at 16246 Lingle Rd., Brooksville and the date for the next Backyard BBQ is January 28th. “To continually improve and grow has always been the partners focus here at Twisted” says Fred Rudat Head of Operations. “We are excited and optimistic about this new opportunity” he added.

Join them on January 28th for the BBQ to support and celebrate their efforts!

By Marc Pica

The  9th Annual Boots on the Ground Poker Run and Concert was once again hosted by American Legion Riders Chapter 9, Flamingo Lake RV Resort and Dick’s Wings. LOCATION: 3640 Newcomb Road, Jacksonville FL 32218. To support K9s For Warriors, K9 Line, Inc., Project Vet Relief, Mission 22, The Veterans Village of NE Florida, The Florida Fallen Hero Memorial Fund and Wreaths Across America. Over 1,500 Bikers and 180 Jeepers came out to honor this Nation’s Veterans, their families and memorialize our Fallen Heroes while supporting this great cause. Live music by The Remains on Friday Night Pre-Ride Party , Saturday there were  performances by the Side Project Band Pipe and Drum, Paul Wane Experience, Metal Mucil and closing out the night was Duval County Line. The event raised over $75,000 in support of the 7 Veterans support organizations. There was thirteen separate bike routes and 1 Jeep route with a total of forty-seven different poker stops to choose from. Over forty vendors and several food vendors. The Bikes kicked up at 11am when the Dreamland Squadron conducted their flyover, that they do for this event every year. Thousands of military and first responder boots lined the RV Resort. each with a flag and a picture of a fallen military personnel KIA in OEF/OIF or a first responder that perished during 9/11. It is part of ALR Chapter 9’s “Boots on the Ground-America Remembers” Memorial. The bikes and the Jeeps paraded through the memorial as they left out. It truly is an emotional and humbling experience. This event is always the Saturday prior to Mother’s Day so mark your calendars for next year. You will not be disappointed.

So, I try not to get political here. To begin with, I am no expert on politics, secondly my opinion is just that and probably can offend some readers, particularly New Yorkers this month. I just had to send Eric Adams, the new mayor of New York City, a nasty letter; and I now need to rant about this fool’s attack on the State of Texas! How in the hell can he attack a state that has literally been under siege by illegals for years! Infiltrated by 207,416 in just June! How in the hell can he threaten their elected officials who have begged the federal government for help with this onslaught. He has been on the news daily threatening to send New Yorkers to Texas to campaign door-to-door against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott! Does he think only Texas should have to deal with this Biden made disaster? Abbott is sending them to sanctuary cities. BRILLIANT! I had supported Eric Adam’s election, thinking as a retired New York Police Officer that he would stop the ridiculous defunding of the police which has made crime the state’s main pastime. I flew to New York City this July and was afraid walking the streets near the subway. Remember I am not afraid hanging with bad ass bikers, but there is ZERO respect for

By Bill Grotto

Bike Winner: Mark Minnich
Born: Ohio but raised in south Florida since he was 7
First Bike: Honda 90 when he was 15 years old, he paid $519 for it!
How long riding: 52 years
Occupation: Retired Air Conditioning and Refrigeration tech by day and bartender by night…for 32 years!!

I tried to reach Mark a few times via email and phone but he wasn’t budging. I introduced myself and told him that out of the thousands and thousands of entries for the Twisted Tea Dragger, built by our friends at Flat Broke Chops n Rods and Cycle Source magazine, that he was the lucky winner. I mean it’s not like I told him I was a prince from Nigeria that inherited a vast sum of money but in order to access the money, I needed his bank information in order to share it with him!

With all the scams out there these days I can’t blame him for being skeptical. The last message I left was “Hey man you won this bike and if we don’t hear from you we are going to have to pick another winner at random.” BOOM! That was all it took to get him to return the call! When he told me he heard about the sweepstakes by picking up a copy of Thunder Roads Florida Magazine at Earl’s Hideaway I was just about as ecstatic as he was because both are great supporters of Twisted Tea.

You see we have these people out there called “sweepers” and their main goal in life is to enter as many sweepstakes as possible in the hopes of winning something…anything…even if they don’t care what it is! There are even websites dedicated to this unscrupulous past time that list all the sweepstakes out there. Once we had a guy win a bike from us and he didn’t even ride. Told us he planned on selling the bike as soon as he got it. It’s a free country and that guy won the bike fair and square but when he told us his intentions, I asked the guys up in the finance department if we could offer a cash option which we did…post haste!

Mark lives up in the Space Coast of Florida with his lady of 17 years Dee. In fact, she was the one who grabbed the magazine and prompted him to fill it out so you know she’s gonna get to ride with him whenever she says so! (And fellas, isn’t that always the case??)

Congratulations Mark and Dee and we’ll see you on the road!

By Lulu

I had the pleasure and honor of covering the most amazing and patriotic event of my lifetime at Daytona International Speedway. The dream of young Ben Peterson was to put on this tribute to rewrite history and let Vietnam Veteran’s KNOW their efforts and losses are known and appreciated by us all!! He certainly learned it on his own, serving an eight-year career in the Army and experiencing the trauma of war. Upon returning to the U. S., he and his comrades were feeling vulnerable and were not only greeted by family, but he also cherishes the embrace of the earlier generation of Vietnam vets that were there to greet them…so that no one would experience the homecoming that they endured. Certainly, we all remember the stories of Vietnam vets being spat on, ridiculed, and being called “baby killers” by their own citizens. During this amazing 3-day event, speakers included Lt. Col. Ollie North, Gov. Ron DeSantis, Ann-Margret, Major Gen. Patrick Brady, Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin, Mark Geist, and Chris Noel. Military flyovers, parachuters, interactive exhibits even for young children, veteran resource expos, a bald eagle flying over the crowd of veterans, Sunday a motorcycle ride and world class country stars made this a spectacular weekend. The country stars were billed as Country for a Cause, including Toby Keith, Justin Moore, and Craig Morgan. One side of the huge infield was reserved for ONLY Vietnam Vets and chairs to take home were provided for them. On the other side were vets from all kinds of conflicts. The most moving part of the event to me was when Ben had the two sides turn and face each other for a group salute and told the Vietnam Vets it was time to pass the torch of protection on to the younger generations and for them to pick up the mantle. Everyone had tears! This young man and his non-profit organization “Engage Your Destiny” did one hell of a job. Thank you, Ben, your crew and all the volunteers who treated the 10,000 veterans to this tribute and to the 30,000+ crowd that came to honor the veterans!!! I met a vet on Sunday’s ride who rode his bike all the way from Oklahoma needing an oxygen tank to make the trip! He said it was on his bucket list and that it was one of the best weekends of his life! Many more photos from Sunday’s ride and the weekend are on our Thunder Roads Florida Facebook page. Go to our Albums to find the photos.

By T. J.

If you’re looking to upgrade the stock sound system in your ride, we have the place for you. Volks Audio, at 2491 N. Volusia Ave. in Orange City is a one stop shop for all your motorcycle, car and boat stereo system needs. Karl Biancardi, a native of Brooklyn New York, has been customizing and installing competition sound systems in Volkswagens and motorcycles in Florida since 1989. People from the Volusia County area may also know him from the early days as the bar owner at H2 Bar, J.R.’s Country Saloon, and Buck Wild. Those days are in the rearview and since then, he has been laser focused on sound. Karl uses all the big-name vendors in the industry including Beyma, Sound Digital, PRV, and Ground Zero to name a few. Complete builds start at $2,500 and can go as high as $35K for the “monster” version. In the last several years, Volks has become a big player at sound competitions all over Florida and the trophies are piling up with over 20 wins in several different classes. Karl has 2 of his personal bikes, a 2006 Ultra Classic and a 2022 Road Glide, as well as many customers bikes that are collecting hardware wherever they show up. Crystal clear sound and crazy high volume is what you get with your Volks Audio system. So, if you want your tunes to drown out road noise, go see Karl and his crew. He is always happy to see you and ready to talk motorcycles and music. Let Volks Audio make your dream sound system happen. And tell ‘em Thunder Roads Florida sent you.