By Lulu

Denise, owner of First Turn in Port Orange outdid herself Bike Week 2020 with some of the biggest music nights in the greater Daytona area and the huge crowds proved it. The Razorbacks absolutely packed the place. And a special night was the Chris Hiatt experience with sidekicks Crash and Tommy Mac joining in for a Stevie Ray tribute night…even setting his guitar ablaze. The menu during Bike Week is pared down but delicious fare kept bikers well nourished. As soon as we get back up and running post CoVid lock down, the Tuesday night bike night will resume with dirt cheap longnecks and a bit of free vittles…so get on your bike and join us at First Turn on US 1 in Port Orange for GREAT music and a nice Tuesday evening!

By Lulu

The powers that be blessed the World-Famous Iron Horse Saloon and didn’t close down Bike Week the final weekend of Bike Week, so business was booming the entire event. Great bands including Colt Ford, Uncle Kracker and Parmalee entertained huge crowds. Yuengling sponsored a great tattoo contest emceed by Willie from Tropical Tattoo. The Wall of Death had long lines to see the trick riders snatch dollars out of their hands. David Allan Coe was able to sing his old tunes and was onsite signing memorabilia for fans. The Craiger’s Steak Tips were being devoured and the 2020 T-shirts were being donned. Iron Horse has live music the entire event from noon to midnight each day! This year Iron Horse is celebrating their 40th year in business. Drop in and toast this milestone with their crew!!

By Lulu

As soon as we get out of Corona lock down, we will all want to feel the wind in our faces. Take a ride out to the country and tour Putnam County, about a 45-minute ride to open highways and great watering holes. Renegade’s on the River is the mac daddy with a huge tiki bar right on the St. John’s river. Donnie and Lisa King, with the help of their hardworking daughter Stacy, John, and the crew work hard to keep up with the crowds that find themselves on barstools at their spot. The cabins, RV spots and water access make it accessible for all. If you have not tried their Gator you simply must! Next stop is almost across the street. The River Pub, owned and operated by Bobby and Monique, is known for great food and impeccable service. Ice cold beer and full liquor too awaits. Our friends Tonya and Waylon have Long’s Log Cabin in Welaka. A nonsmoking bar now, they do have seating outside and are full liquor and food now. A new ad client with us is Hermit’s Cove, another waterfront spot located in Satsuma. This is by far the ultimate dive bar!!! Stop in and Say hi to Gary and Pam. It is beer and wine only, but they have outside theater seating for watching the river flow by. Last stop is in Palatka with a stop at Amy and Donnie’s 3-D Saloon. We just love this hard-working couple. Full liquor and some of the best original live music from time to time.

By Lulu

I have lots of favorites for Bike Week. But my favorite spot to just sit and watch the show whether it is great bands like Hairball, bike shows almost daily, minibike races, or just people watching is the Broken Spoke Saloon. The owners have made this into a Disney atmosphere with sparkling white lights in the massive oaks, saddles swings, free peanuts, swinging smoking hot bartenders or the most buffed up male bartender in the world, this is just the perfect location for chilling! Famous Jay Allen emcees the entire Bike Week and thankfully they were spared early closure for the corona virus by the Ormond hierarchy. Look for them to open again during Biketoberfest!

By Lulu

In Port Orange, the total rebirth of The Dog House was evident during Bike Week 2020. Every time we were on the property the place was packed. Rhonda and her crew have put a huge amount of energy into making this a great destination all year long, but especially during Bike Week with bands like Confederate Railroad and Molly Hatchet gracing their stage. We helped a bit with the fun and threw a little Twisted Tea event with Baby Bottle sucking of Twisted Tea and giveaways during their kickoff party.

Bill Grotto and the beautiful Twisted Tea promo girls loved meeting the folks at The Dog House. Plans when this corona thing passes is to have a weekly bike night and rumor has it, they will be having live music and $1 longnecks. The great back yard with covered porch and huge inside bar allows for seating no matter the weather. Let’s get on our bikes and visit the crew at The Dog House as soon as we can!

By Lulu

If you haven’t shopped Skip’s Western Outfitters located off International Speedway in Daytona Beach, you are missing out on a boot superstore. Specializing in Western apparel, boots, and hats, they also have a huge selection of Harley boots. This store has over 15,000 boots with lines including Ariat, Lucchese, Roper and Corral to name a few…and of course Harley! I have never seen so many cowboy hats anywhere. The hat line includes some of the finest, Resistol, Stetson and Charlie 1 Horse. Skip’s was established in 1979 and has been adding to the lines they carry and their square footage over the last 40 years.

I got a special birthday surprise when T. J. arranged for me to go in to take photos during Bike Week of the store and shoppers…to my surprise I was one of the shoppers! Devin and T.J. told me to pick out my favorite pair and after trying on many different styles and brands, I went for comfort and bling ending up with a pair of blue and red Corral square toed cowboy boots. I happen to be a boot collector so there couldn’t be a better surprise for me! Along with the largest selection of boots, they also have belts, jewelry, clothing, sunglasses, and gifts. A second location in Osteen may be more convenient to you but when you are over in the Daytona area you simply must stop in to see this Western megastore. Their online shopping is at SkipsBoots.com.

By Joe and Pam Dunn

The 22nd Annual Thunder By The Bay Music and Motorcycle Festival in Sarasota, Florida is a great three-day event that raises money for Suncoast Charities for Children. If you have never been, it is worth the trip for a good cause. We had an awesome time listening to great bands, such as the Heart Tribute Band Love Alive, In the Light of Led Zeppelin, Ultimate Def Leopard and the headliner band, Warrant, as well as many others. The drinks were flowing, there were lots of vendors, a bike show, burnout contest, Cycle Circus stunt show and even a poker run on Sunday. Even though the rain rolled in for a bit on Friday night, it did not stop the crowd from coming. The bikes kept rolling in. The crowd even doubled on Saturday night! It is clear, that when it comes to raising money for families in need, especially children, you can always count on our biker family. They truly do have a heart of gold! For more pictures of the event go to our Thunder Roads Florida’s Facebook page.

By Lulu

Each year Heavy and Christine from Midwest Motorcycle invade the property of Beaver Bar and put on one of the year’s best attended events anywhere. The bike show trophies were off the chain! Everyone lucky enough to go home with one has a unique piece of art to go with their award-winning bike. This year Midwest was celebrating their 26th year in business. That is an awesome acheivement in this day and age. The antique and custom show was rocked by Crashrocket and Matt Oree Band all afternoon and into the evening. A special thanks to Barney’s Leather, Unleashed Jewelry, One Sexy Biker Chick, Dale Garza Radio, Squirrel Trophy’s, Cap Wilson, Euro Cycles of Daytona, Stavely Coastal Cycles, Brigit Custom Works, Pin-Ups of Daytona, Who’s Hot Online, Mark Hall Riding and Flying, Cycle Fever, Politis & Matovina, and WHOG Radio all for helping put this event on each year. A lot of hard work goes into creating an event of this size. More pictures from the days’ events are on Thunder Roads Florida Facebook’s page.

By Raven Van Pelt

It’s that time again for the pre-Bike Week car and bike show hosted by Callahan Cruisers of North Florida at Adamec Harley-Davidson on Baymeadows in Jacksonville. Live music by Bluesdog 66 rocked the place as people came out to walk around and check out all the bikes and cages. Vendors from jewelry to food were on hand as well. Raffles and custom trophies completed the day. If you haven’t had a chance to visit Adamec’s newest addition to their collection of dealerships, ride to St. Augustine and check it out.

By Raven Vanpelt

BIG ENGINE rocked the outside stage at CHOPPER’s Bar & Grill on a beautiful Sunday afternoon on Highway 17 in Oceanway. The bar served pulled pork sandwiches to the crowd. New owner, Mel Compton and his staff made every customer feel like family. Chopper’s always has a great atmosphere and great entertainment. Live music outside on their back deck makes for a perfect place to spend time with friends. Inside is a full-service bar, pool, darts and great food!! Check out their events on Chopper’s Facebook page and make this a stop on your next ride or poker run. Also, take a look at their ad in this magazine for more info.

WOW, what a mess our world is in. I had every intention in writing this to knock our mayor in Daytona Beach for making such a ridiculous decision to cut the last Saturday of Bike Week out for ONLY Main Street…totally unfair!!! Why should those bands, bars and vendors suffer when US 1 and beyond partied on?

No one went home, Saturday night Main Street was full of bikes, Iron Horse and Broken Spoke were packed, and I don’t believe they saved a life by the stunt they pulled. If it was such a crisis that one more day mattered it should have been a crisis all over the U.S. Now a few days later it is, so they say. 44 of our ad clients have had their establishments shut down with a day’s warning. No pay for bar staff, no sales for owners, no sales for the distributor, no bands paid! And this is just in our little microcosm of the world. I called everyone that was having to close due to the government mandate.

The ads in this coronavirus issue are still open currently or hope to be open by mid-April. The rest were thankful we allowed them to opt out as everything is so uncertain. Leesburg Bike Fest is cancelled. PLEASE put the 2021 rally on your list and if Thunder Beach can pull 2020 off please go!!! These vendors and local businesses are really hurting from this, particularly after 2 hurricanes in the recent past! I want to give a special thank you to the ad clients who supported us in this trying time, particularly Grandview Live who is shutdown for the 30 days. They said, “you support us, so we want to support you!” that gesture moved me to tears as it is costly to print this magazine. We pared this to our smallest issue ever rather than not print at all. There is still plenty to read in our magazine each month. We strive to make it more than just a yellow page book of ads. And figured if you are home stir crazy at least the joke page might entertain you.

We as a nation are all under stress about this. For me, more so about the economics and the fear this will hurt Trump’s reelection. But let’s not forget that for many people right now, it is how will I pay my rent? Even worse, if you happen to contract this damn thing, all the fear that comes with that suddenly becomes very real…although I still haven’t heard of one person from Bike Week that had it. Hope that stays true!

So, use your hand sanitizers, if they don’t impose Martial Law get out and ride an empty highway to nowhere and back and don’t forget your sunscreen.

By Ron Cox

The Ft. Myers based Ronin Riding Club sponsored its 5th Annual Poker Run themed “Doing It for The Kids” on Saturday, February 29th. Sidelines Sports Bar and Grill (very biker friendly) served as the starting and ending point.

Spirits were high on this crisp morning as the seventy riders set out on the ambitious 120-mile route that included card stops in Naples and Labelle before finishing with stops in Ft. Myers. Roy Rowan won the 1st place prize with a full house.

Proceeds from the day ($10,900) will go into the Ronin Charities fund and distributed as needed to agencies like Ft. Myers Florida Baptist Ministries or Ronald McDonald House of Southwest Florida just to name a couple.

When the ride was over the riders were treated to finger foods and a cash bar. There was an auction for items donated by area businesses, raffles for door prizes and gift cards.

Ronin draws its name from ancient Japan, loosely defined as “A wandering Samurai who has no Lord or Master.” Ronin’s were known in the late Muromachi
(1138-1573) and Tokugawa (1603-1867) periods.

By Lulu

Tony and Dar at The Boat Bar in Port Orange had one of the biggest crowds ever for their pre Bike Week party. The place was packed. Live music by Swamp Juice was entertaining the masses. The fiddle or violin not sure which, was awesome. And the free spread of BBQ chicken and pork filled everyone’s bellies. The weather couldn’t have been more amazing. It made for a great start to Bike Week. Thank you to Shelley and Debbie for always taking such good care of Thunder Roads Florida!

Bear

Here is my tale of one lucky old school biker. December 13, 2019, yep Friday the 13th, started like any day waking up to haul my ass to the prosthetist to get my leg fixed. When I woke it was the same routine; stretch, creak and popping of old joints. Finally, I leverage myself to a seated position on the side of my bed with my stump dangling. Now here is why I am so lucky. As I was reaching for my liner, I started to have problems gripping the damned thing. When I went to turning it inside out, I noticed my left hand wasn’t cooperating. I finally got it turned inside out to don it, steadily bitching about what the hell is wrong with my damned hand enough to wake up the ole lady. I finally got everything on, and my leg pumped up and fumbled around getting dressed. I had to get the wife’s help to button my shorts. I got to the kitchen for my protein shake. Yep I had been trying for the past year to prevent what the hell was happening by losing weight and getting my BP under control. By that time, I was slurring my words, sans any excessive drinking and dragging my left leg and prosthetic. We live not far from Mayo here in Jacksonville. I will admit I took the long way. I had a prosthetist appointment and by damned I was making it, anyway one look at me and it was “get his ass to the hospital now”. Usually the wife doesn’t go to my appointments with me, but she had better sense than me and knew something wasn’t right. She also called our son who is a paramedic fireman in adjoining Clay County, and as he was getting off shift. He was ahead of us as we were heading to Mayo.

ER went quick; triage and it was announced you’re at the head of the list to be seen. All I will say is Mayo didn’t waste any time or efforts, due to their quick reaction and care I was hooked up, MRI’d, Ultra Sounded where I could see my heart was still beating, and they were popping the medicine for stroke victims. Got my ass reamed verbally by a black lady doctor telling me I would take whatever prescriptions I was given, and she didn’t want to hear my shit. Yep, I am not one who likes to support big pharma, but I heard her loud and clear. I had to stay a few days under their care, but I think I showed them a thing or two about bikers before I was released the following Tuesday afternoon. First, I was informed. Second, I want to thank my many visitors and those who called or checked in on me, the Mayo staff had never seen any one patient have as many visitors as I had at all hours of the day and night. Third was the determination of a biker who refused to accept that a stroke or anything else was going to keep him down. That first night I was still not 100% sure exactly what was wrong other than I had a stroke type event. I’ll tell you I was some shook up, truth is I was waiting for the biggie to hit me, I wouldn’t sleep. I knew my left side was completely paralyzed, but by damn I knew I wasn’t done, not by a long shot. I knew God didn’t save my ass back in 2008 when I lost the leg when a kid in a car drove into the side of Phoenix. I still had too much living to do back then and still do. But brothers and sisters I was scared, I may not have all my parts, but I always had my strength, will, brains and I could string words together. There I laid slurred speech, couldn’t move well, weak, and not knowing what was going to happen next, just that long night of wait and see. So, I laid there and was trying and sweating my tail off trying to move stump, leg, arm, hand fingers, speak clearly, anything.

By the time doctors started showing up with their poking, prodding and not saying much, the Bear was getting his bullheadedness up. Still hadn’t had much confirmed regarding what was what, but I was in full get this show on the road. Little by little I got my hand to unclench, I got that arm to move, and I got the leg to do some moving. Sunday after being visited by rehab people, I was cleared to get out of bed with help. That didn’t last long, I got the IV out and I was making breaks for the hall, bathroom, and finally stumbling laps around the floor. It wasn’t pretty, but by damn this scooter tramp was up and moving. I pissed off one doctor when I stated my main goal was to use my left hand to work the clutch on my bike. Hey, you got to set goals! He popped off something and walked out leaving the other doctor there to explain what had happened to me as per the MRI. Stroke hit me at the brain stem and affected my left side. I wasn’t overly thrilled with the way she was looking, never liked it when doctors look concerned, it leaves you feeling downright uneasy. I do know without a doubt how lucky and blessed I am, this one usually ends much worse off, like kills you. Apparently, that is also where your lungs are controlled along with left side motor skills.

So, by Sunday. Ol’ Bear was walking a lap at a time around the fourth floor ward nurses stations, and I run into the doctors along with the smartass that walked out leaving the other one hanging, and I gave them a “good morning” as I stumbled past. The best part was when they came into my room and I was the stroke victim that came in Friday. You don’t give up, you don’t quit, and you sure don’t let anybody put limitations on what can be done. Now I am not what many would call a real religious person, but I do have a strong belief in God. I know from experience guardian angels ride with us. It also doesn’t hurt if you’re one that happens to have a lot of years of riding experience. Without God, and a streak of stubbornness and perseverance a mile wide, nothing will ever stop you so long as you have a breath in your body and a will to fight for your right to live your life as a biker. Nothing, and I mean nothing, will ever stop a biker, or old school, or scooter tramps, or even the one percenters so long as they have their belief, their code that we live by, ride by, and eventually we will meet our maker by. But until that day, you bust your butt, you don’t quit, and you sure as hell don’t listen to anyone that tells you that it can’t be done.

So, there I was with Gods help, at the end of the year, 18 days later wanting to do what I always do, New Year’s Day ride, well I didn’t make it. Test ride ended with me getting too slow in a cul-de-sac and I had to set her down. As I said, you don’t give up, you dig deeper and work harder. 38 days after my stroke on 20 January 2020 I rode down to the end of my subdivision and made the circle in the cul-de-sac, success! As my reward for perseverance and to really test myself, I rode the back by-ways from Jacksonville to Beaver Bar in Ormond Beach, and no I didn’t have a celebratory beer. I did discover work that I still need do before I get back out riding with friends and biker family. In the end, my message to all, follow your dream, only quit when your dead, but until then never, ever let any of life’s setback’s define who you are, keep the faith, if in nothing else…in yourself. For the rest remember, God never puts anything before you that he knows you can’t beat.

I will be at Bike Week 2020
Ride Hard, Live Free, Screw It Lets Ride!