Motorcycle Rider News, Reviews & Events

Daytona Pictures 2009

by Luuezz on 2009-05-10 06:36:34

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 awesome bikes and really cool people from Daytona.

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 Half a million bikers arrived in Daytona Bike Week 2009 in spite that our country is in a recession. Some came for the warmth, fun in the sun and just to be able to ride everyday.

 

 With the motorcycle rally in it's 68th season, local business owners said that they were off on sales. Many of the beach front hotel's and camp grounds were not filled the entire week. Even though the bikers came and cruised main street, it was shoulder to shoulder in the streets, they kept an watch on their spending habits this year in Daytona. 

 

 The first day of Bike Week, the weather was perfect, in the high 80's and sunny. By evening it was T/Shirt riding well into the wee hours of the night.

 

  By Sunday the weather had changed drastically to rain, cold, windy and did I say cold, by 5 pm Sunday the temperature dropped to 40 degrees and continued to drop to the low 30's all week.

 

 The weather surely played a big factor in the down sales for business owners. Bikers stayed in during the entire week at night. Tavern sales were way down. Food vendors didn't see the crunch, because bikers have to eat.

 

 It was definitely too cold to ride at night. We had the heat on in the condo all week and we laughed as we all sat around the TV, from Sunday night until Wednesday night. Some break!

 

 The police however never missed their heat of tickets each day. Last I heard they were cashing in $68,000.00 a day in tickets! They were hiding every where. I have never seen so many active cops in one rally as I did there. They pulled motorcycles over continuously, in one mile, one would easy see  3-4 sets of bikers pulled to the side of the road. I really thought I'd be one of them, the odds were against you. I must say this was pretty grim as I rode my bike daily, till I got out of the city limits. The Police were like cockroaches, turning the lights on the bikers. And to top things off, they have a noise ordinance law. So watch that throttle!

 

 The streets were filled to capacity with thousands and thousands of Harley- Davidson motorcycles, chrome and thunder, bumper to bumper Harley's cruising down main street. This is 10 days of parties, bike shows, men, women, bands, vendors, motorcycle races at the Daytona Speedway Race Track, bar events, bikerornot meets, Grumpy's meet at the VFW in Ormond beach, Women's MDA Ride, Limp Nickies Lot ( The Next Generation Of Bike Builders), Bikers Fusion, and the ride!

 

 Too bad it had to end so soon. One week is not long enough. I had a great time, got to spend time with my friend Rogue for a few days, before he had to ride to Texas to cover a rally event. I finially got to meet Charlie Bretchel and his wonderful wife Sabrina ~ from Bikers Inner Circle dot com, "Chickie" from Vagabond Choppers, Edward Winterhalder an ex/Bandido who now writes books, Krista Marie at www.kristamarie.com and Randy Lobek who was the orginal Sax player for the Bob Seager Band ~ Turn The Page.

 

 I met alot of interesting bikers and was busy working hard to bring you interviews and stories, which are in the making. I have been swamped in work 24/7,  since I got back. Sorry this has took me so long to get these photos up. 

 

 I hope you find your picture in the photo albums, I can't add them all but I gave it a good kick to add this many. I shot over 2,000 photos.

  While your here, stay awhile and join the Club House with us. It is free and you'll have a good time, meeting other bikers and builders. Hell, we encourage you to add pictures and show off your bike build photos in the Builders Garage!

       And we'll keep you informed of the news on Rumblenews, Coast To Coast.

 

     

 Following the White Line.....Luuezz

 

  

 

                     The faces of Daytona by Luuezz