Bike Week Adventures
By Tim Roberts

You'll notice that the lead for this column is "adventures" not adventure. Actually, Bike Week is a series of small adventures. It's like the longest weekend of your life. If you consider yourself a motorcycle enthusiast of any kind then you need to go to bike week at least once. Hell, if you consider yourself a beer enthusiast then you should consider going to bike week. Bike Week has something to offer everyone. If you can't find something to keep you entertained at bike week then you need to check your pulse.

To really do bike week right, you need to be there all week and both weekends. However, if you can only go for a few days, well, any Bike Week is better than no bike week at all.

Things to do:

First, you have to get there, but the long boring 10-hour drive is definitely worth it. Once we got there and set up camp the first order of business presented itself: "Beer Run". I made the first of many trips to the local Publix to lay in a supply of "Silver Bullets" (the choice beer for all of bike week).

Next on the agenda was a ride down Mainstreet. Words cannot describe the sights that you will see on a trip down Mainstreet. Mainstreet was meant to be done on a motorcycle, so if you're considering going to bike week, try and secure some form of street legal bike.

Once you get into the bike week swing of things, you will develop a routine that will include going on rides, drinking beer, going to the beach, drinking beer, going to the track to spectate, drinking beer, going to the motorcycle show, drinking beer. You get the picture.

On Tuesday, we loaded up and headed for the GNCC race in Okechobbee. Little did we know that it was so far away from Daytona. Bob, George, Jimbo and his crew all went on street bikes while Joe, Big George and myself followed in the chase truck with all the beer of course. We got there shortly after the main event started. The track was a combination of a long motorcross track and wide whooped out jeep trails. Joe and I walked to the back of the track and spent most of the day watching riders try to negotiate this nasty little mud hole/creek crossing. Guy Cooper came through and jumped the whole thing.

Fred Andrews smoked everyone beating Ty Davis by over a minute. This was quite impressive considering two things. First, Andrews flipped his bike end over end twice in two different high-speed get offs. One time he was tangled up in a barb wire fence. In spite of all that, he set a blistering pace. Second, Fred and Ty have switched teams. Last year, Davis took the win on a Kawasaki. Now Davis rides a Yamaha, and Andrews took the win on a Kawasaki. Plenty of great riders were in attendance including Michael Lafferty, Jeff Fredette, Kevin Hines and the GNCC regulars like Summers, Plessinger, Hatch and Rodney Smith.

It's not hard to see how the GNCC series has gotten so popular. The race seemed to be extremely well organized and promoted. All in all, in spite of the long ride, it was fun to see. And, it gave us another opportunity to drink a few beers.

We were up early Thursday morning to get over to the Alligator Enduro. The following contestants represented BT&T: Bob Schlemer, Jimbo Mitchell, Ed Bowen, Tom Saunders, David Crane, and me (Tim Roberts). The course was shortened to just 37.5 miles due to the heavy rains the week before. Hey, we weren't complaining. We rode about 7 miles of power lines and two tracks to get to the first test. Once we checked in to the test section a few things became quickly apparent. First, the Daytona Dirt Riders have never even seen a machete or any other device use for trimming branches and limbs. Trying to ride through the tights woods was like going through a car wash and you can forget about seeing what's up ahead. You could see maybe six feet in front of you. Second, I learned about the Palmetto Roots that everyone kept telling me about. The Palmetto bush has a root that is somewhere between a softball and a bowling ball in size and they are everywhere. The trail just runs right over them. Third, once we got out of the woods to the clear-cut area the trail turned into nothing but one muddy slot. At least you could attempt to parallel the trail through the brush if you didn't want to ride in the slot.
At the reset after the first check, I pulled up next to Tom and Ed to chat. I looked over to my left and saw Michael Lafferty, Guy Cooper, Randy Hawkins and Kevin Hines comparing scores. COOL! I was glad when it was over. Tom was thrilled. He finished 2nd Sr. B and got an Alligator Trophy. Dave Crain also trophied and vowed that he could now stop riding in the Alligator. Mike Lafferty overalled the event. In 200A class action, Jimbo was unable to beat fellow KTM rider Guy Cooper. Coop finished 2nd overall by riding on the same row with Lafferty. Can you say "Sandbagger?" Once the 'Gator was over, more adult beverages were consumed by all.

By now, things were in full swing and we kept ourselves busy with riding, going to the beach, making trips down Mainstreet, and consuming "Silver Bullets" at a AA pace.

Friday night, we made the first of two trips to Municipal stadium to watch the Dirt Track races. This is something to see and they put on a great show. We kept things interesting by placing wagers on all of the races even when we didn't know who any of the riders were. Did I mention that they sell Beer at the stadium? Imagine that.

Saturday arrived and we walked over the track to watch the Daytona Supercross. Unlike other Supercrosses, this one is an all day event. And, it's the most demanding and entertaining track on the circuit. In fact, television does not do justice to this track. You gotta see it live. The whole Birmingham crowd sat together on one long row of seats in the Winston Tower. This gives you the best opportunity to see the whole track. I put my money on McGrath, and in the end it paid off.

After spending all day at the Supercross, there was only one thing left to do, go back to the dirt track. Saturday night is the main event in the opening round of the AMA Dirt Track Series. In a very Dale Earnhardt fashion, Scott Parker took home his first ever Daytona win.

Everything at Bike Week leads up to the running of the 200 on Sunday. I had to be at work early on Monday so I bailed and came home on Sunday. All of the die hards stayed for the race and saw Russell win his record 5th Daytona 200. Next year, I'll take more vacation days and stay for the big event.

So, as you can see, Bike Week has something to offer to everyone. (Some of what it has to offer can't be written here.) If you like motorcycles or just want to have a good time, you can't go wrong at bike week. One thing's for certain; Bike Week '99 is already marked on my calendar. See you there.