Bikertoberfest 2007

What started out as a trip from hell turned out to be a relaxing adventure through Florida during the 15th Annual Biketoberfest Celebration in Daytona. Plans were made, changed and re-made as far back as May of this year. What was a constant throughout the planning phase was that we needed to ride at least 1500 miles on the motorcycles while in Florida!

Remember I said trip from hell? Six hours into the boring state of Illinois we were alerted by a passing motorist who smelled a strange odor emitting from our vehicle. I thought to myself, “Does she smell Dan?” Then this stranger pointed towards the ground. We pulled off onto the shoulder of I-57 and to our surprise learned a terrible fate, both trailer bearings were shot! What this passer-bye smelled was the burning of the driver’s side trailer tire rubbing on the inside fender of the trailer. To make a long story short and get back onto why we went to Florida in the first place, after thirteen hours of sitting at a gas station somewhere off I-57 we were back on the road again from the help of two great friends in Wisconsin, we’ll call them Marc and Ralph. My trailer had seen better days and we tried to replace the bearings but the spindles were too worn dry as groves had made them worthless. The trailer as far as I know is still sitting by the dumpster at the gas station. By 5:00 am Sunday, October 14 we were back on the road heading to Biketoberfest. After a total of 1320 miles and 35 hours of being away from home, we arrived at Disney’s Old Key West Resort. Because we got there so late, after 10:30 pm, we decided to change our first night’s lodging and simply stay there. The next morning we loaded the Harley’s for what was going to be an adventure on the scoots for 5 days. Good thing the wives weren’t with us, don’t know where we would have fit their curling irons and hairdryers.

Prior to getting to my sister’s in Cape Coral, we made a few stops. Since we hadn’t eaten since about noon the previous day; a stop at Perkins for a mid morning breakfast was a must. After packing on some needed energy pounds, we continued on. We stopped at Ridge Harley-Davidson. Prior to going in, I made a few laps on the Skilled Rider’s Course and reminded Dan to keep his head and eyes up as he attempted the box. Ridge HD had just opened in November 2006! The next stop was at Fort Myers Harley-Davidson. Both Dan and I purchased t-shirts from here (mine though was for my daughter). Next we arrived at my sister’s in Cape Coral after 2:00 pm. After cleaning up, my brother-in-law fired up the twin V8 IO’s and we cruised on his 32 footer to Fort Myers Beach where we had, what else, Grouper Sandwiches!

The next morning (Tuesday) we saw the break of day while traveling down Highway 41 through the Florida Everglades on our way to Key West and Southern Most Hotel. Note to self, make sure you arrive and leave prior to Fantasy Fest in Key West! Ever since I was a child and traveled the Seven Mile long bridge, I’ve wanted to do it again on a motorcycle. Just before entering the Keys, Dan and I stopped at a Waffle House, yeah the same type of Restaurant that Kid Rock got arrested in, in Atlanta a few days ago! I figured every good Harley Rider must visit a Waffle House at least once during an excursion of this magnitude! The temperatures were into the 90’s at this time. After breakfast we hit the Keys and it was a magnificent ride! Bridge after bridge we traveled further into the Keys on our way to Jimmy Buffetville. To my surprise, the seven mile bridge I remembered was still there, but no longer being used for traffic. I think the old bridge was the same one they used in the movie True Lies with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis. We finally arrived in Key West and went straight to the Southern Most marker. After waiting in line for a few minutes Dan and I took turns snapping pictures of us standing by this famous marker. Key West is a much laid back community; full of artists and strange, strange people. In one of the stores we met a man named Pete, who looked at Dan every time I asked him a question. I think maybe he was sweet on Dan!?

The next morning we left Southern Most Hotel by 7:00 am and traveled to South Beach. Using my newly purchased Garmin Zumo 450 (thanks Bill of CCHD) we were on course for Miami. South Beach was very warm and the traffic was horrendous. After a few, very few photos we were back on the road on our way to Disney’s Vero Beach Resort. Both of us were glad to be away from Miami and the bumper-to-bumper traffic at 70+ mph. We stopped at Treasure Coast Harley-Davidson in Stuart. Once again, Dan purchased a t-shirt. After dinning on coffee and popcorn we continued our journey. Sometime prior to 5:00 pm we found ourselves at Disney’s Vero Beach Resort. We originally got a room overlooking the parking lot, which the front desk graciously changed to a room on the 3rd floor overlooking the pool and Atlantic Ocean. We dined on local homemade pizza the next two evenings. When Dan wasn’t taking walks on the beach and collecting shells for Blondie, we had time to run to Space Coast Harley-Davidson. You guessed it, Dan purchased another t-shirt!

Friday morning we left around 9:00 am and headed straight towards Daytona and Main Street. Prior to arriving we stopped at The Last Resort and visited a tree opposite of Disney's Tree of Life, this tree we called Murder of the Metric Cruisers. When we arrived I was surprised to see how many bikes were there! I’ve been to Bike Week in March, which they say has somewhere around 500,000 visitors, but this felt every bit of a Bike Week celebration. I have read articles saying that Biketoberfest sees around 75.000 bikers; this day I bet there was every bit of 500,000 enthusiasts present! After leaving Main Street we headed to Daytona Speedway to pickup up the ever popular “Event Pin”. Dan saw of few gals dressed, or should I say in some stages of being undressed and ordered me to get a few pictures to capture the moment. Being a good friend I obliged. We next decided to take a run up to Bruce Rossmeyer’s Destination Daytona on I-95 and Ormond Beach. This was a mistake, as everyone had the same idea. Once we arrived we drove around in a circle along with everyone else looking for a place to park. In either direct there were miles of bikes and vehicles waiting to turn into Bruce’s award winning dealership. After trying to find a spot to park (I still can’t figure out why they allow vehicles to park during this time, especially since one car takes the space of four motorcycles), we left and headed to Disney’s Old Key West Resort in Orlando for the last three nights of our vacation.

Saturday morning we were on I-4 headed to the Starlite Diner in Daytona for breakfast before sunrise. Somewhere around Deland we ran into ran and were forced to pull over and don our rain gear. We rode in the rain for about 45 minutes. We never made the Starlite Diner, but managed to find another Waffle House, using my GPS. The Waffle House was on International Drive and was crowed and bursting at the seams. Every biker who was out this morning in the rain decided that they too, needed a Waffle House! The service was fantastic! Afterwards a ride north from Daytona up A1a was something I had rode in previous years, but Dan had yet to experience. On the way back to Orlando, we stopped at Seminole Harley-Davidson, where Dan had to purchase a shirt! When we got back to Disney and after a few loads of laundry, we found ourselves sitting at a China Buffet.

Sunday we rode to Orlando Harley-Davidson to their 1st Annual Hogtoberfest. We got here so early that I think we were customer’s number 4 & 5! Guess what? Yep, Dan got another shirt! I forgot to mention that at almost every dealership, I purchased oil dip dots for my growing collection. Someone should tell Dan that the dip dots only cost $2 verses the $30 for t-shirts. At Orlando Harley-Davidson they served an all-you-can-eat brat, potato salad and German chocolate cake from noon to 4:00 pm for only $5! Some of the attractions at the dealership were the girls dressed in skimpy, small, tight lederhosen serving what else, bier! Customers could get free 4 ounce samples of foreign beer, while others purchased 16 ounce mugs for $10 and drank all day. Being a Rider’s Edge Coach and Police Officer, I just haven’t understood why dealerships continue to mix alcohol with riding. We left the dealership mid afternoon and headed back to Disney to start packing for our ride to Wisconsin on Monday. Dinner was at Olive Garden near Disney. When we got back from dinner, Dan informed me that we had reached 1502 miles on the baggers! Ah, another goal accomplished!

We talked about doing this same very trip in three years with our wives present. Enjoy some of the sites at Shutterfly of our travels and remember to type in the password “chrome”. Until our next v-twinventure, keep the rubber side down, bearings packed, chrome side up, knees into the wind and ride safe, sober and straight!

5th Annual Ride - 2007 Silver Anniversary Ride

The 5th Annual Neidner Overnight HOG Themed Ride was a huge success! This year’s theme was “The Silver Anniversary Ride”. Thursday before the ride, Tanya dropped off four cases of special labeled water. Tanya had labeled each bottle with a 5th Annual Ride Label with Cathy and my picture on it along with the blog site quote “Ride Free, Ride Straight, Ride Sober, Ride Safe.” Fifteen couples counting Cathy and I left Saturday morning from Watertown on our way to New London. The ride took us through many small communities such as; Alto, Pickett, Waukau, Omro Winneconne and Readfield. Cathy and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary in May and wanted to share it will our close riding friends, in fact many of these riding couples will be celebrating their 25th before this year comes to a close! On a side note, Joe and Deb celebrated their 5th Anniversary of being the only couple that has made every Neidner Overnight Ride!

Staying with the theme of this year’s ride, we decided to e-mail a few WELS Lutheran Churches in the New London area to see if one of them would be interested in helping Cathy and I renew our wedding vows and have a picnic lunch for our riders. We asked a few Churches if they had a youth group whereas money raised by our riders would be matched by Thrivent to help a particular cause. One of the churches that e-mailed us back was Emanuel Lutheran Church in New London. Jack VandeGuchte responded by saying they would love to have our group stop in and money raised would go towards an outreach ministry comprised of four teens and four chaperones from the church going to Grenada in the southeastern Caribbean Sea. Jack added that Rev. William Heiges would be honored to have a short renewal of wedding vows service prior to the luncheon.

What Cathy and I had planned for was not nearly what Emanuel had shown us as we arrived! I cautioned Jack prior to our group arriving that we all would be dressed as “bad ass” bikers. We were welcomed into the church as if we were all members, and we were all strangers up until the time we arrived. After a brief welcoming, we were led into the church were Rev. Heiges held the service, along with flower arrangements and even a fresh flower bridal bouquet for Cathy! The service was brief as was planned.

After the service we were led into the commons area of the school and a wonderful meal took place. This was so much more than we ever dreamed of because they had taken the time to not only grill burgers and chicken, but decorated the tables with fresh flowers, confetti and candy bag favors. A sheet cake having the theme “Silver Anniversary Ride” had been ordered and a small motorcycle adorned the top! As I said previously, we were welcomed and felt like this was our “home church”. We were all so amazed at what the youth group had done for us; we wanted to thank them further so additional money was collected to help with their youth mission work to Grenada.

After lunch, a newly wed questionnaire was given to both the men and the women to complete. The results would be made known at dinner that night. Before leaving, a group photo was taken.

Our ride continued to Manitowoc by way of Freedom, Wrightstown, Mishicot and Two Rivers. At the next rest stop, Beth said “isn’t it funny that the first place you go to after renewing your vows is a town called Freedom!?”

Before reaching Manitowc and our hotel we rode through Point Beach State Forest and were greeted by cooling winds that brought much needed relief. After 200 miles we finally reached Best Western Lake Front Hotel. At check-in, each couple received an envelope containing an 8x10 photo collage. Each year we give the couples something to remember the ride by, this year we had collected wedding pictures of each couple without their knowledge. The collage consisted of 15 individual mini photos of all of our wedding days. Getting all these photos without their knowledge is a story of its’ own, especially after talking to Doll’s mom! Most of the riders quickly changed and met by the pool, others had other engagements (wink, wink)!

Dinner was at the hotel. A champagne toast was made and afterwards Cathy and I were presented with a card thanking us, from the entire group. Like last year, a collection was taken by the group and money was presented to us in appreciation for organizing the ride. The winner of the newly wed game was John and Tanya as they matched 9 of the 18 questions correctly! They were rewarded with a gift basket of Champagne, glasses, mints and massage oil. Each couple also received a one dollar scratch-off lottery card and Hershey kisses. After another piece of wedding cake, couples went back to their rooms, once again got their suits on and met by the pool.

Sunday morning many of us choose to have the buffet breakfast, which was very good and filling. John and Tanya were not able to ride back with us because of a slow leak in the front tire valve stem. The return trip to Watertown followed Lake Michigan and County Trunk Highway LS to Sheboygan, Lake Church, Port Washington and Mequon. A stop at a Culver’s Restaurant for ice cream was a must! Everyone commented on how well organized the ride was and the fun they had. The nine new couples that had never gone were asking when next year’s ride is. Cathy and I want to thank all of our riders, Emanuel Lutheran Church of New London, Rev. Heiges, Jack VandeGutche and the youth group, Best Western Lake Front (Sonya and their staff). For additional photos from the ride go to Shutterfly and type in the password "chrome".

To all those “new” to group riding, you guys were great! Now you can say, I’ve got group riding experience! Until next year, continue to be safe!

Click on photo to enlarge it.

Can-Am Spyder Ride

The Spyder by Can-Am is a newly created trike offering 2-wheels up front with a single wheel in back. This trike has been in production for 10 years and is currently working on the 5th generation bike. The power is gained through a v-twin 990cc liquid cooled, electronic fuel injection motor. The gear box is a 5-speed with an additional reverse gear. All this translates to 106 horsepower and 77 foot-pounds of torque! The Spyder also has Stability Control System (SCS), Traction Control System (TCS) and Anti-lock Brakes (ABS), this adds up to offer Vehicle Stability System (VSS). The VSS immediately detects any loss of traction and quickly takes steps to correct it. When cornering, should the computers detect one of the front tires is lifting, the motor will automatically be retarded, slowing the bike while maintaining maneuvering safety in the twisties. I almost forgot to mention the Power Steering and 7.13 gallon gas tank. The Spyder weighs in at a nimble 697 pounds. The nervous system of the Spyder consists of 5 individual on-board computers, Electronic Control Units (ECU) monitoring a range of functions, from wheel slippage to digitally encoded security information. These ECU send out 25 tests per second! Even Bill Gates hasn't designed a computer to react that fast! Performance times are 0-60 in well under 5 seconds! All this power equates to about 35mpg, which I feel isn't enough for the touring rider in me. Hopefully Can-Am will offer a 6-speed transmission for those highway speeds which might drop the rpm's in the range of the mid to low 3k. Price.....................($14,995) less than half the cost of a Boss Hoss and Harley-Davidson Trike. Orders are expected to delivered in mid to late September.

Rob's Performance Motor Sports in Johnson Creek, WI had an Open House demo day on Saturday, July 7 and I just had to take a Spyder out to see what all the hype was about. After only 15 miles I learned that this trike had loads of power! Yes it is very quick and the braking system was very good. There isn't a front hand brake. This took a little getting used to. The foot brake not only works the rear brake but the front as well. This is what manufacturers call "linked braking." As for steering in the corners, I still feel I had to muscle through the turns. Being a 2-wheel motorcycle rider, I like to lean into the turns. I noticed at highway speeds the tachometer was well over 4000rpm! I thought my Ultra Classic at 3000rpm was a lot! As for this being a touring machine, I don't think so. I need cruise control, a great sounding radio and lots of storage room. I'm sure it can be done, but as for me motoring the Spyder from Watertown, WI to Rapid City, SD not happening. It is a sport trike and one that can be had for an average price for the list of goodies that are standard features. For someone that is looking at getting a trike to ride, do yourself a favor.....drive one of these before going out and dropping $30,000+ on another manufacturer.

As for me, I'm sticking to my Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic. We have been together for over 4 years and I have not been disappointed.