Bike Week 2008

This year I went to Bike Week alone, not a whole lot of fun alone. I got up at 6am and headed over to Daytona, about 80 miles away.  First off, the wind was really bad, gusting to 25 mph.  I didn't think the wind was to start until the afternoon. I rode over in my raingear as it was in the 50s.  As soon as I arrived, I went looking for the Buell demo rides to sign up for the new 1125, but they had closed down their rides and where gone, along with allot of other makers. It seemed that about half the brands had shut down and left by Saturday.

So I headed over to Triumph.  I signed up to demo a Daytona 675 (what I ride) and a Street 675.  I had a 9am ride on the Daytona. As soon as I started it up, I knew it had a aftermarket can, which sounded really nice. The ride was pretty lame, the lead Triumph rider was very nervous about the wind and the ride was generally at 45 mph.  About 2/3 through the ride, we rounded a right turn and I decided to hit it. Nothing extreme, nothing I don't do every day on my own 675 every day. To my surprise the front wheel came right up.  I let off the gas and it came back down again. The Triumph rider directly in front of me slowed down and made that "no no no" sign at me. After the ride she came up to me and told me my day was done :(  I tried to explain that in over 30 years of riding, I had never got a wheel off the ground, I ride a 675 and I wasn't trying to get it up, it just happened. I asked if the sprockets were stock and she claimed the bike was stock except the exhaust. So demo rides for the day were over.

I then rode over to Bennett VA home where I met my fellow PGR members for a planned visit. We wondered the halls of the facility and talked to the Vets and family. I must have been asked a half dozen times by different people when we were going to ride through the halls.  Apparently other groups like Rolling Thunder have ridden their bikes inside the facility. We couldn't find the proper administrator to ask permission, so it didn't happen this trip.  After the visit that lasted about 90 minutes, we cruised Daytona main street (waste of time, too many cars in the traffic, just one big traffic jam). After that I headed to the track.

I got to the track about an hour before the race. There were some SuperBikes warming up for a later race, which was postponed because of the wet track and high winds.  I realized real soon, I couldn't see the bikes. My contacts just wouldn't focus on the bikes. So I took over 300 pictures in hopes I could find the Triumphs once I got the pictures on the website.

The race was nice, but it wasn't too much fun alone. I had a corn dog, peanuts and coke. I sat pretty high across from the first turn so I could see the horseshoe and most of the track.  At the start of the race, the winds were really bad, I think in the 35mph range, it was extreme at the top of the stands. By the end of the race, I was in all my riding gear and rain gear as it was getting colder. I was at the point I felt like putting my helmet and gloves on too :)

The 200 ended around 4pm and the SuperBike race was going to start at 5pm. It was a short race, but if I waited for it to run, I would have had to ride home in the dark and it was getting really cold (down to 39 by the morning). So I packed up and headed home. I saw my only other Daytonas right before I left, although they were older models, I have not seen another 675 in the wild yet :(   

I had camera issues, with the first 30 pictures being bleached out, so I had to delete them, sorry.

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