Cold Wx, Hot Cats!

If there's snow where you live, you'll probably view us as "pussies", but it's been damm cold here in the sunshine state. Yesterday's high was in the forties, the low this morning bottomed
out at 29 along the oceanfront, pretty cold for riding, but for the first winter in memory, it seems like people are riding anyway. Except for the wayward cold front, Florida's winter is
usually history by the time you're done watching the Daytona 500.

ABM's had requests to repeat our observations on the free Daytona 500 motorcycle parking...

Prior to last year, we used to be able to leave our putts parked anywhere in front of the speedway grandstands, but now we're only allowed to free park underneath the palm trees
on the north end of the grand stands along International Speedway Boulevard. Look for the
long line of palm trees along the fourth turn, and you'll see bikes, (IF they haven't changed their
minds about letting us park for free), & save anywhere from twenty to one hundred bucks.

ABM's been at the Daytona 500 every year since '82, when Big E was just a beginner, and little
E was still a school kid. Driving down to Daytona is okay, but there's nothing like riding down
on two wheels, and saving enough money to treat the better half to an all you can eat catfish
dinner with the saved parking money. Our favorite joint is a little hole in the wall near Orange Park, Florida, called "Whitey's Fish Camp." The cats are small to medium-sized, lightly dredged in corn flour and deep fried. I eat 'em just like an ear of sweet corn. They're so damm tasty, just two weeks ago, I personally sent 16 of 'em to their graves! If you'll be crusing down I-95 to the big race, the detour to this waterfront eatery with docks and a boat ramp will only take ya a half hour out of your way. Call 'em for directions--Damm, I love deep fried catfish....Feb 18th,
I will make a 20 fish attempt...

Daytona Speed Weeks began last weekend, and Bike Week is so close, I can smell the
scent of sunblock and cool bikes. ABM figures the temperature should be summerlike this
bike week, because of the higher than normal ocean water temperature, some ten degrees
warmer than it was last year at this time. Sure, the weather could suddenly take a cold nose
dive, but we're betting that thousands of you will find the ocean water accomodating enough
to get off the bike and into the surf! If you don't have a lot of money, but you do have a big
desire to make the trip, we'll be scouting out a few nearby campgrounds and working-man
watering holes over the next week, so mark our website on your list of favorites, & check back
in now and then! Ride safe.

2007, Already?

January is nearly over, and for ABM, that means "Speed Weeks" in Daytona, beginning w/t 24 Hour Rolex, (or whatever they're calling it this year), and ending with the NASCAR 500 in mid-February. While the race fans bring lots of money to town, acccording to the money figures we've seen, Daytona's Bike Week, which only runs from March 3rd thru 11th, brings way more cash into the hurricane-strapped economy. Bikers love to ride, and spend money, and the better time they're having, the more money they spend. Look at Sturgis. They'd be in the stone age without bikers.

Daytona Cops: For years, we've heard the complaints about strict law enforcement by Daytona's finest, but during '06, the world's most famous beach got a new police chief, and, for the first time, ABM noticed a more relaxed atmosphere along Main Street. Yeah, screw up bigtime, and you'll still get that yellow slip of paper, but many times, minor infractions are viewed as just that, minor things like bikers having a good time. We're looking forward to this year's spring rally. ABM will be there, microphones in hand to bring you the latest biker news.

Keep checking in as the riding season heats up, and we report back on all the stories, good and not so good.