Daytona Bike Week

Last year I was happy to have nothing but a rental car to drive during Daytona’s Bike Week, simply because it was so frickin’ cold all week. This year was much warmer however, and I was dying to beg, borrow or steal a motorcycle so I could enjoy a little time with the wind in my hair. Alas, it was not to happen.

The week started south of Daytona again, in the little city of Mt. Dora, which is about twenty miles north of Orlando. This might seem an odd spot to start Bike Week, but it just happens to be home to a couple of British bike collectors, and close proximity to Deland, home to the annual antique bike auction on the grounds of Stetson College.

Luckily the cops didn’t drive by while we photographed this Blackbird perched on the fountain in the middle of Mt. Dora, Florida.

The cops in Mt. Dora must be bikers at heart, because whenever I asked if we could shoot bikes at the downtown pavilion, or the little park that juts out into the lake, they said yes. Or at least they never said no. We got so accustomed to this hospitality that when it came time to shoot the ’53 Blackbird, we just hoisted it up onto the fountain and started shooting.

Eventually we moved from Mt. Dora to a spot about twenty miles east, where we photographed a very special Norton Manx. Shooting the bike with a long lens meant climbing the fence into the neighbor’s yard – which in turn meant taming the ferocious guard dog. Luckily Reggie turned out to be more pussycat than guard dog.

Most race bikes are black and silver, with lots of scars. This special Bernie Allen Manx Norton is the exception to the rule that competition bikes are all about function with no thought to form.

Mid-day Wednesday found me at the auction in Deland, photographing a modern classic - A 1995 Daytona - for the 2012 calendar. As for the auction itself, once it really got started, I was out the door. Because as far as I’m concerned, watching an auction, whether it’s old bikes in Deland or classic cars on TV, is like watching paint dry. Thus, Wednesday afternoon found me doing what I do best, having a beer in a big outdoor roadhouse. The roadhouse in this case was the Broken Spoke Saloon and for company I had none other than the Saloon’s owner, Jay Allen. Between entertaining friends, Jay works hard to entertain the folks in the bar. And if keeping everyone smiling requires doing a burn out on his FXR, so be it, let the party begin.

The party is always rockin’ at the ‘Spoke. If it’s not a rock ‘n roll band, it’s a tattoo contest – or a hellacious burnout performed by the master of ceremonies, Jay Allen.

Though the week seemed to start out a little slow, it was hard to tell by looking at the traffic on Main Street on Thursday afternoon. My perusal of Main Street included a stop at 2 Wheelers, where Arlin Fatland holds court and sells everything from T-shirts to skull-encrusted derby covers. Out in front sat a collection of Arlin’s unique creations, including Slutster, his two-wheeled expression of bad taste.

As I fly in and out of Jacksonville, I always spend my last night of non-freezing weather in St. Augustine. Though it looks like tourist central during the day, when the sun goes down St. Aug turns into a neat little city of small restaurants and bars filled with an interesting mix of locals - from college kids to sailors, and bikers who’ve spilled over from Daytona. Despite the allure of the climate, the bars, and the bright sun, I started Saturday morning behind the wheel of the rental Malibu, headed for an appointment with a certain north bound Delta flight. As I drove along the highway with pine trees on one side and a Pecan and fruit stand on the other, one thought kept running through my mind – seven days are just not enough.

If you’re going to build it in bad taste, you might as well go all the way. Those truck drivers with the “naked chicks” on their mud flaps have nothing on Arlin Fatland from 2 Wheelers.

This morning finds me crammed into one of those big aluminum tubes with a hundred or more fellow travelers, all trying to escape the Minnesota cold. For me, the trip ends in Mt. Dora, a nice little Florida city roughly half way between Orlando and Daytona. The allure of Mt. Dora is a certain collector of old Triumphs, a number of which I hope to photograph for the 2011 Classic Triumph Calendar. And just up the street so to speak, is the slightly larger city of Deland, home to the J. Wood & Company’s Vintage Bike Auction, held from March 5 to 7.

In addition to the bike shoots, there are a couple of motorcycle people I need to see while I’m here, and of course there are all those biker bars on Main Street. Thoughts of Main Street remind me of the first time I attended Bike Week more years ago than I care to admit. Suffice to say I recall taking arty pics of the rowdy bikers at night with a Nikon camera equipped with Tri-X film (makes me wonder where those prints are?).

Would I rather be on a motorcycle? Yes, but on the other hand, I’d rather attend Bike Week on 4-wheels than not at all.

Who’s Workin?
It seems business owners large and small spend a fair amount of time complaining about their employees. Not me. No, because while I wander the world, Krista is busy processing all those orders that come in off the web site – and probably sipping a chocolate martini at lunch. Hey, as long as the books go out I don’t care.

Our first musical instrument book demonstrates the fact that you can build a very nice acoustic guitar at home.

And Jacki is thrashing away trying to finish two more of our spring books. Book number one is Guitar Assembly Basics, originally intended to be a fall of 2009 book, we finally have the book nearly ready for the printer. Book number two is another long-delayed title, How to Air Condition Your Hot Rod. I’m pleased to say both will be in stock (advance copies) by mid-April.

So order early and order often. Somebody’s got to pay my tab at Lollypops. Not to mention the Vodka bill from the local liquor store.

If you’d rather be cool in your hot rod, than cool on stage with a guitar, we bring you this new how to book.