Archive for February 2025
Yogi’s Garage Holiday Hoedown at Rhonda’s Neighborhood Bar
By Lulu
Rhonda’s Neighborhood Bar in Sanford has a really cool yearly event put on by Yogi. It is a ride in Chopper Show held in her bar’s backyard. Live music was by Rewind, a cool rockabilly style group. This is a great bar in the Sanford area, and they feature a second first Friday bike night with live music and food trucks from 8p-12a, the February one will be February 14th 7th. They are located at 2617 W. Orlando Dr. Find their music and events on Facebook. Say hi to Rhonda for us!
The Boat’s Monthly Mystery Ride
By Lulu
Each month The Boat Bar in Port Orange hosts a Mystery Ride with a 50/50 at the end and food. $5 is the cost and some lucky duck goes home with half the stash, the other half pays for your dinner! This month, Glenn won the cash! It was exceptionally chilly, but we were happy to see a bunch of our long-time Mystery riders back in the saddle after recent medical stuff kept them off the road! For the first time ever, Jack, who is known for riding in sleeveless attire regardless of the temp, had long sleeves! First stop was Lost Lagoon on US 1 at the New Smyrna Airport. Great Bloody Mary’s! Our stops included a new beer & wine/motorcycle shop in Edgewater called Good Fellas Beer & Wine, owned by bike builder Jim Lynch of Bike Show Mafia fame. We then took a great ride across Maytown Rd. to Foxhead Lounge. Next, Royce and Lorie won the Christmas Sweater Contest at Sorry Charlie’s where Crashrocket was playing. Then we headed to dinner at The Boat Bar. If you are looking to make some riding friends, the monthly ride ALWAYS has great peeps riding along with us. Next ride is Sunday, February 16, no longer on Saturdays since NFL season ended! Get on your bike and join us. KSU 11am at The Boat Bar on US 1 in Port Orange.
Pony Tales Feb 2025
Just finished a great weekend at Cotee River Bike Fest, the coverage of that event will be in the April issue as the Bike Week (March) issue always fills up with Bike Week event ads, etc. But the fall rally was rescheduled due to the west coast’s hurricane damage and the weather forecaster predicted rain all weekend, but it ended up well attended and decent weather. Tina and Steve Farrell are the organizers behind this charity rally and put their heart and soul into this each year. Gator Ken and Jeani joined us for the first time as she is retired now. They really seemed to enjoy New Port Richey’s downtown area and couldn’t get over the number of bars! This event is two main stages of music for 3 days and 2 side street stages with music too. It is a nice rally on a beautiful downtown river area with a poker run that benefits Fire & Iron and the entire rally benefits charity. Not sure whether they will schedule the next one in October again or change the whole thing to January in the future but should know by the event article. Thunder By the Bay is up next and hope to see some of our friends there in Sarasota!
On another subject, I promised a lady that asked me recently to mention how important screening for prostate cancer is for our motorcycling men! As a cancer nurse from my life before publisher of Thunder Roads Florida, I know that early diagnosis of this is critical for the best outcome. If you are over forty-five, you should ask your doctor about a PSA blood test. My brother is a primary care physician and was diagnosed at age 48, and with robotic surgery he is cancer free and has no post-surgical complications. A test for kidney stones found his cancer very early. Mostly they only tell you to have the test after 50, I think it should be forty-five! We hear all the time how important breast cancer awareness is, how important pap smears are, etc.! Well men, pick up the phone and ask your docs to order a simple blood test. Be safe…not sorry! The old rectal exam fears use to keep men from getting checked for this and the blood test doesn’t come with that worry.
Have fun at bike week, ride a new road and don’t forget your sunscreen.
Rockin’ in the New Year at Boot Hill Saloon 2024
By Lulu
Known for great rock and roll, Boot Hill Saloon is the oldest party on Main Street in Daytona Beach. The perfect spot to toast in the New Year. The street was closed to traffic, the New York City-like ball drop at midnight is iconic and then fireworks off the pier at the end of Main Street was a perfect way to toss out 2024. Boot Hill was slammed, and the bartenders were in the weeds quite a bit as Main Street Station was unexpectedly closed for business! Everyone was patient and just enjoyed the two bands of the evening, Greye and Vermillion. It was a bit cold, so we headed home after the ball dropped. Boot Hill has big plans for Bike Week 2025 including a Twisted Tea Bikini Contest at 3-5p on Sunday the 2nd and great bands during the whole rally. If you are in the greater Daytona area, “The Boot” also does Bike Night on Wednesdays so ride in for the fun!
Biking Business Tri City Cycles
By TJ
One of the main indicators of a solid, successful business is its longevity. One such business is Tri City Cycles in Bunnell. 27 years ago, Scott McNitt purchased the motorcycle shop in Flager Beach that had been in operation for 20 years prior. Since then, he has continued to serve the motorcycling community in Volusia and Flager County. Seven years ago, Scott moved across the bridge to 306 N. State St. in Bunnell. As far as we can figure, Tri City Cycles is the longest operating service and repair shop in the area. According to Scott, his formula for success is being fair and honest with his customers while doing good, reliable work. Tri City employs two full time mechanics, Kyle and Larry, that share four lifts. In many cases, your job is completed, and you can pick up your bike on the same day. Normally they have 200+ tires in stock and a huge supply of batteries on the shelf. They also carry genuine Harley parts. Oil changes, fluid flushes, tire installations and general maintenance is performed on all makes and models at reasonable rates. Harleys, Metrics, and Indian are all welcome. Tri City is a Dunlop Pro dealer, and he is happy to notify the customer about factory rebates when they are available throughout the year. Thunder Roads Florida is proud to say that Scott and Tri City is one of our longest ad clients and have been with us since the beginning, 18 years ago! We consider him not only a client but a longstanding friend. Shop hours are Mon-Fri 9am-6pm but during Bike Week they open on Saturday and Sundays too. Pick up is available if you are stuck. When you need help with your bike, call Scott and tell him Thunder Roads Florida sent you 386-437-7000.
Amber’s Annual Poker Run
By Lulu
We were not able to make this event as we were scheduled to be out of town. But Sheldon called me about the loss of their bartender, Amber, who died in a car accident after leaving her shift at The Hideaway Bar & Grill last year. She was a mother of a young child, Grayson. So, Sheldon and Lisa owners of The Hideaway and the local bar community are hosting a yearly event to benefit an education fund for Grayson. Lots of locals spent a chilly day riding from The Hideaway to Idle Awhile Resort in Georgetown, Longs Log Cabin in Welaka, Oasis in San Mateo, Cow Catchers in Pomona Park and back to The Hideaway Bar & Grill in Pomona Park. This will be a yearly event in the beginning of January. Get ready to ride! Thanks to all involved for caring for Amber’s son! I must admit I snatched the photos from several Facebook posts to shine light on the good work of the biking and bar community!
Twisted Tea Bike Night at Boot Hill Saloon
By Lulu
On Wednesday nights at Boot Hill Saloon, you will always find great music. At our Twisted Tea Bike Night in January “the Boot” featured the band Alias and they kept the place rockin.’ Twisted Tea sampling was done by our beautiful friend Katye. And the peeps were happy to get Twisted giveaways like koozies, shop rags, sunglasses, or bandanas. Boot Hill’s bike night starts later than most kicking off at 8pm! Ride in for one and have a rocking fun time! Our February Twisted Tea night will be at OBs in Deland on February 12th with live music by Deadlanders starting at 6pm. Come on out and play!