Made It To The Bastard Bash! Friday Night Was a Blast!

So we rolled in Friday night after riding the Dragon to get to the Resort. After getting some food and starting to feel human again the fun started. We all hung out, talked trash, and generally had a good time. Some of us had a better time than others, it seems our friend from Canada had started the party early and was having a nice time with a bottle of Rum. It also seems that said bottle of Rum had the usual effect of causing Justin to crash. Too bad he crashed early and in an unlocked room ;-)

Hanging out, having fun at the Deal's Gap Resort. We took over that place and ruled it all weekend.

Since our fine Canadian friend gave us such a great opportunity we of course took advantage of it. We all got to sign his back, then of course we drew lewd pictures on his various exposed parts. He even ended up with a curly mustache and a monocle before we were done.

Our names preserved for posterity.

After we had our fun with the Sharpie we went back to partying outside. This year we also decided to do the raffle draw on Friday night so that some folks who had to leave on Saturday could get some cool swag too. There were some great prizes given out such as the Biltwell helmet I ended up with, the cool fullface helmet and a couple of riding jackets and pants from Icon and of course t-shirts from Lowbrow and other places including some shirts from the wonderful blog you're now reading.

Hanging out, having fun. The guy in the doorway was one of our too many casualties this weekend. We ended up with a total of 6 bikes going down over the weekend. Matt here was the worst of the bunch. He broke his collar bone and tore his knee up.

Of course after we got our prizes and did a little more drinking it was decided that our fine Canadian friend needed to come out and play with us. So....... some folks went in his room, picked up his mattress and carried him out to a picnic table under the "tree of shame". We had some more art class, took a lot more pictures including a group shot of us. If you want more details you need to build a badass Sportster and join the forum ;-)

Taking him out to join the party. I took pics right in his face with the flash and he NEVER woke up.

It was back to more fun and game as well as just enjoying the company of people we only get to see once a year. I love these people and can't wait to do all of this again. The rest of the night was pretty normal and the rest of us slowly drifted off to bed. The next morning was set up for a ride over to the "Wheels Through Time" museum. I'll tell you more about that tomorrow.....

More hanging out.

Rob and the a bunch of others always get Room 1 and it becomes Bash HQ

Hollie even "planked" him and he didn't wake up!

Stay tuned for the rest of the weekend!

36 Hours To Make A 6 Hour Ride!

Yep, you read that right, we left Thursday morning to head out to the Bastard Bash at Deal's Gap Resort and didn't get there until late Friday. In between Thursday morning and Friday evening we had a lot of adventures as you'll see. Thursday started out great, I met Loaf at the McDonalds in Pelham, He had ridden up from Montgomery, AL already and his bike was running fine. Ed called me and said he would meet us in Attalla on the way up to Chattanooga. We proceeded to eat some breakfast and get on the road. The plan was to ride Hwy 11 to Chattanooga and then other roads from that point on.

Our bikes outside McDonalds before we left.

We got to Trussville and already Loaf needed to adjust his clutch. That done we headed out again and made it all the way to Ashville, AL at the same crossroads where David's bike broke on the way back from BMR. This corner is cursed because Loaf's clutch let go right there. Luckily it was an easy fix (damned Ironhead clutch ramps), but it took an hour.

The cursed intersection and the tree we worked under

Loaf's pretty new clutch and the scars left by the ironhead clutch ramp.

Back on the road we go until we met up with Chopper Ed and continued on our way. We stopped for lunch in Ft. Payne and when we were ready to leave my battery was low. I figured I must have had a loose wire or something so we push started the bike and took off. About 10 or 12 miles later I hear a couple of bangs and pops and the motor dies. I went ahead and just pulled over because I knew the battery was gone. I was HOPING it was just a screwed battery so I decided to call Michael Lewis since he owns Violent Choppers and has a shop there in Ft. Payne. Luckily he answered, said he had a battery and came to my rescue. We replaced the battery and decided to check the charging system and as we feared the stator was dead. We called around and no one had a stator not even Micheal's Dad Rick at Rick's Cycle Parts. If Rick doesn't have one NO one does. I called back down to Pelham and Heart of Dixie HD had one in stock, but that was a hundred miles away. SO we loaded up the bike and headed for Micheal's shop.

Outside the Jack's restaurant in Ft. Payne, AL where we had lunch
The are no pics of when I broke because I was scrambling to get stuff worked out. I'll have a post just about Violent Choppers later this week so you can see the pics I took there.

It was then decided that we could borrow the shop truck and take the bike back to B'ham to fix it. We left Loaf's bike at Violent Choppers and hit the road. Of course it was too late to get the parts that day so we went to my house, ate some pizza, drank a few beers and watched old Biker movies on Netflix. Next morning we were at HD to get the stuff and went on over to Garage Company Customs where Larry came through and let me borrow a lift and tools to do the work. Since I have never replaced a stator I drove Spenser and Mundy nuts with questions but we finally got it done, loaded in the truck and on  our way back to Ft. Payne.

Violent Choppers in Ft. Payne, AL, home of my rescuer Micheal.

Once there we dropped off the truck, picked up Loaf's bike and were back on the road. Since we were already behind we took the interstate and made good time except we ended up going up and around to come down the Dragon on the way in instead of from the South like we did last year. About 3 or 4 o'clock we headed down 129 and even got our pictures taken by one of the photo websites. Once we got there after our 36 hour 6 hour ride we find out that all kinds of stuff has been happening and our story isn't even that impressive anymore ;-) That's OK, we had a great time and I'll tell you more about that tomorrow.

Our group photo around our passed out friend Justin from Canada Friday night.

I need to thank some GREAT people who made the story so far happen. Micheal from Violent Choppers is good people and knows what this lifestyle is all about. If he hadn't rescued me then let me borrow his truck this story would not be continuing. Larry and the guys at GarCo as usual came through for me and let me use all of their stuff. And Loaf, my new best riding partner and damn good friend. We went through a ton of crap and still had the time of our lives.

Stay tuned for the rest of the story......

Weekend Spent Riding, Camping And Riding Some More!! (Part 1)

This weekend while most of you were hanging out at home, at the bar, on the couch or whatever boring stuff you were doing WE were out having a blast! Some of the guys came up with the idea to go camping over in the Talladega Nat. Forest so we loaded up and took off. Larry closed the shop around Noon then we headed over to Ross' house since he was running behind from working to get some serious BBQ meat cooked up and ready to take with us. Lucky for us Ian's transmission isn't done yet so he volunteered to drive his truck. Chopper Ed's bike was down too so he rode shotgun. The rest of us piled on the bikes and we were off.....

Leaving Ross's house. Did you really expect us to use the driveway like normal people? Gotta love Larry's riding gear, I'm diggin' those socks.

David and Stewie getting out of the grass.

Spencer is stoked for the ride!

Ian's All Terrain Monster Truck (Taken over my shoulder with the camera upside down)

We stopped in Talladega for lunch at Beverly's. My burger was pretty good!

Riding through the countryside.

Bill riding through the farmland.

David blasting up the road. David just got some new pipes made for the bike and they sound SWEET!

Riding the curves.

Going through the little towns. I LOVE to ride back roads, Interstates are boring.

Heading into the woods.

Does this bike make my ass look fat? Larry proving once again that Dixie Wrecked ain't no show queen!

I Told You I Would Get Some Work Done!

Finally starting to LOOK like I'm making progress at least. Some people will tell you that motorcycles are optional or not that important to this lifestyle, if you see one of those folks call them out for the poser they are. Without Bikes there would be no lifestyle to live. Making a bike your own with the help of your best friends is what makes life right. Anyone with a decent job can buy a bike, not everyone can make a bike truly their own. Gotta remember though that when people help you with your bike whether it's welding on a tab, making an axle or even just giving you some parts, you need to acknowledge that help. No one can do it all by themselves, we all pitch in to help each other so that we can rack up those miles together. So with that in mind I want to thank some folks for helping me. First off, Boozer for starting this project and gathering the parts. He got off to a good start, but for whatever reason he had to let it go, the great thing is that he's more than willing to give me the background on anything he had a part in. Ed bought the pile then sold it to me for a great price and with a great deal. Larry has been invaluable on this deal, between shop space to work, letting me use the tools and supplies, helping me move the damn thing around and especially for just being a Brother. Spenser, what can I say, he's a creative genius and a damn good welder. He makes the stuff stay attached and rescues me from my own screw ups. And I gotta mention Bro. Roadside Marty, he is the supplier of the gas tank you see here. I didn't ask him for a tank, but he knew I needed one and he made it happen for me. There have been many others helping me on this one like Bill, Chopper Ed, Ian, Zoom and my favorite machinist Ross. When I am done I will do a better job with the accolades. In the meantime, check out the progress and get the hell out there and make that bike your own!

Mocked up with the fender, gas tank and the beginnings of the sissy bar. The seat belongs to Zoom, he brought it in to be used on his project, but since it is exactly what I plan to use he let me borrow it for the pics.

Looking down, better view of the seat. I've liked this style ever since I saw one on Snow's old yellow Shovelhead back in the old Ironhorse days. He put one of these on after he took the pogo seat off. (Yeah, I've been in this scene for a few years )

Making sparks, cutting the tabs to mount the fender.

Cut, grind, round, repeat!

Back in the fab room, the front of the tank is set up, the main fender mount is fabbed and the bike is starting to look like a bike .

Another view. I am really digging this beast!

The Dixie Roundup Was A Blast!!!

The FIRST ever Dixie Roundup is history now and it will be remembered for a LONG time to come. I took almost 400 pictures yesterday so it'll take some time to get the good ones edited and posted. I figured in the meantime I would throw up a post of some of what happened.

I took a bunch of pics of the ride from the show to the Dice party at Mathew's downtown. This one was an accident, but I liked it. One of only a couple of pics that I actually got to be in. The joys of being the photographer.

As you can see there was a packed house. This isn't the whole lot, just all that would fit in the shot.

Dixie, the trike riding poodle and the Belle of the Ball. I didn't catch the guys name, but it seems that Dixie LOVES to ride and pretty much goes with him everywhere. She is a sweetheart of a dog and everyone loved her. Gotta love the doggles she has on.

Even the Drew Carey Fan Club made it to the show!

And the award for the best "In the Spirit of the 70's" goes to Duane and the Weed Steed. If I made this shot black & white it could almost be one of those old Life magazine shots.

Larry hanging with the legendary (in his own mind) Roadside Marty.

The Brain Trust that brought us all together. Larry, Spenser and Nick talking about strippers or beards I think.