T.G.I.B.W. - - THANK GOD IT'S BIKE WEEK!

They're... Everywhere!

Bikes are everywhere. Cruisers, Sports, Bobbers, Choppers, mopeds... You name it, if it's on less than four wheels, you can find it here. ABM has a feeling that Americans are sick of hearing bad news. They want some fun. For the next 9 days, this is fun central. You have no idea how good it is to hear all the bikes, and feel this warm Carribean southerly breeze. Everyone's smilin' bigtime today, like for just a while, we can ditch the bad news & kick back like a rock star!

San Diego Wx: One Shower in Ten Days.

This is Florida's dry season. The ten day weather prognostication shows an overnight shower this Sunday, then sunny for the rest of bike week, through March 8. April & May often pass without any appreciable rain at all, sort of like living in San Diego, only the water is warmer, you don't have to wear a lid, & everything's a lot cheaper.

Farther Inland You Ride, The Warmer It Will Be:

Temps just 30 miles from the ocean often run 5 to 10 degrees warmer than the beach, so if we get a day or two of 60's, just go for a little ride out in the country, unless the wind is blowing from the north. At night, the opposite is true. Water temp rules Florida's World. During summer, the inlanders wish they had a room at the beach.

Kickin' Baaaack...

One Bloody Mary, please, and hold the olive? Check back soon. ABM is on the case!

(Main Street has some of T-H-E hottest bar babes in the universe, & that brunette who always wears the two little flowers takes cash outta here by the wheelbarrow!)

82 Rock 'n' Roll Degrees, Baby!

Turn Up The Heat!

Officially, the first day of Daytona Bike Week '09 begins this Saturday. National Wx Service predicting a high temp of 82, under what else, sunny sky. Although Florida frequently gets a cold front right after a hot day in the spring, the rain never lasts long. As of now, and subject to change, Daytona Bike Week '09 looks very dry. Humidity is less than 50% today, even with a strong seabreeze. The ocean water temp remains in the 60's, so land temps will be in the 60's & 70's, unlike last fall's Biketoberfest, when bikes roasted, and the babes shed their clothes like chrome peels when ya don't wax it.

Tn Dude Rides the Beaches:

Longhair riding a Harley, Tennessee Plate, cut out for the hotel row, probably basing out here for bike week. Even 50 miles from Daytona, bikers are plentiful, even though it's early. Cold wx will do that to you, especially when you have some extra time on your hands. Figure to see bikers riding in packs, going lik-it-ty split down the I-95...doin' th' southbound, grinnin' ear to ear. I can ride out to the super slab and point out 10 of 'em right off..

Oct-a-mom:

It's great to have something like a motorcycle to take your mind offfa crap like that.

All Good, No Crap..

Motorcycles-Bikes-Scoots-Rockets-Chops-Bobbers-Cruisers-Trailbikes-Trikes, all packed together, with their respective riders, like tuna in a can. Hell, Yeah.

Frosty Morning is Good--Let's Get it Out of the Way...

Cold (for us) Wx Just Won't Go Away!

After chucking logs in the fireplace last night, it wasn't suprising to see roofs covered in frost around the North Florida area this morning. For the past two weeks, temps have been below normal, but the outlook for the end of this week, (& the start of Daytona Bike Week), is sunny, high in the seventies! When I rode out to secure a 12 pack & some groceries yesterday morning, it was 40 degrees. March in Florida warms quickly.

A note of caution: Surf temps are still in the 60 degree range, even on a warm sunny day, but when I lived in upstate New York, the spring fed lake behind our home almost never got into the 70's, so we understand if you want to don your speedos & swim with the sharks...

SHARKS??

Yes. Daytona is in Volusia County, the stretch of beach where a full 37% of ALL THE SHARK ATTACKS IN THE WORLD OCCUR! Why here? A sandy, sloping shoreline, which only drops 60 feet miles from the beach. The toothy critters love it, they're not out to eat us, but if the water is a little cloudy at low tide, & you step on one, or rub up against one, or are on a surfboard (the absolute worst place to be is right on top of 'em), thrashing to get goin' and catch the next roller, they'll think you're a morsel in trouble, and take the appropriate action, which is to.... EAT YOU. 'nuff said?

Daytona Survival Guide

Official Bike Week Welcome Center

Riverfront Park, Beach Street

386.255.0981

Daytona Int'l Speedway

(if you can't find this place, you need a tom tom)

386.253.7223

Our Favorite Watering Holes

(remember, we're poor scooter trash)

BFFAR

(bikers for first amendmnt rights)

Righteous Joint Packed with Brothers & Sisters

144 Ridgewood, Holly Hill

Boot Hill Saloon

"You're better off here, than across the street"

That's because the CEMETRARY is across the street!

The one that started it all. Bikers come from all over the world to buy their tees.

310 N. Main, Daytona Beach

Dirty Harry's

Middle of Main Street

Expensive Beer, Shots, but the wet tee shirt scooter girls & beer chix are very hot.

Full Moon Saloon

Middle of Main, Across & down from Dirty's.

2 Buck Bloody Marys

(they like to premix in a construction gang's water cooler)

Wise Guys Watering Hole

Middle of Main, across the street from the Full Moon

Guys cranked up their own $2 BM special. A really hot chick attired in garters, bra, and heels mixed us up some fat drinks up on the second floor. She even took to the pole in honor of some old dude from Tn. We thought that dance was gonna send him to the ER!

This joint has a balcony in front of the second floor bar, packed on weekends, but on weekday afternoons, there's not a better place at Daytona's Main Street to people watch, as the bikes slowly roll by on the street below. Some of the Miami chix on 'busas are very droolable...

I guess you can tell ABM spends a lot of time here?

On the way up north...

US1, going north from Daytona up to Rossmeyer World (Harley), passes through Holly Hill, and then past a mini-stretch of biker bars, the Miracle Mile. Some of our favorites in this stretch, just before I-95...

Iron Horse Saloon

1068 US1 North

$4/3$ beers, live music, packed with bikers.

Roll your ride into the compound, if you can get through the tight crowd.

Smiley's Tap

1161 US1 North

Small Place, Cheap Beer, Good People, $7 all you can eat bbq buffet!

And lest we forget...

The Cabbage Patch

Samsula

386.427.8969

When mid-Saturday Arrives, just go by the speedway, follow the bikes southwest.

warning<<

2 wheeled camping available, but very tough to get in and out because of traffic.

this place has thousands of bikers, perhaps a hundred vendors.

IF GOING, READ THIS!!

Ride down to the four way traffic light (where all the cops are). Ride straight through the intersection, go down the road a half mile or so, do a 180, & come back to the light. Turn right, then immediate left into the Cabbage patch lot. If you keep going, or pull in before the turn around, you'll wind up paying to park your bike. Be careful, the place will be freakin' packed, and soon as one band take a break, the next cranks right up. Why this place is always out of Cornonas, I'll never know, but if you haven't been here, you haven't really been around. Last year, they attmpted to set a world record for the largest crowd ever to take a hit off the BEER BONG!

WORLD CLASS FEMALE COLE SLAW WRESTLING!

Honorable Mention:

(want to take a ride out into the country, away from the crowd?)

Cheyenne Saloon

Hwy 17, Palatka, just down from the Bridge

386.328.9216

A Mini Iron Horse Saloon, only wilder, out inthe country, and the Palatka girls love to come out & meet vacationing Yankees! Good place, decent food, & drink prices, and oh, did i mention the girls? Wet tees, no tees? Nah, they wouldn't do that!

This is a nice ride for bikers who tire of all the humanity & want to get away from it all. Make a loop out of it back to Flagler Beach, & ride beachside on A1A all the way back to Daytona!

Bunnell (US1 Just North of Rossmeyer's Harley World)

The White Eagle

4-5 mi south of Bunnell

Vendors, Camping, Food, Beer, Usually one Name Band

The Dog

Headed North, turn right at the first lite (there are only 2 anyway)

half mile on the right. Biker owned and operated. Nice Joint.

The Bantam

Fish Sandwich $5.99

(so big, even Linda Lovelace couldn't get her mouth over it!)

Coverage of Daytona Bike Week Feb 28 - Mar 8 on

American Biker Minute

3 Ways To Hear A New Show Every Day:

*Better American Radio Stations

* 360.282.5400 on "Cellecast"

*TWITTER.COM/ABMROCKS

Check back often. If has two wheels & rocks,

We'll be there!

Florida's Dry Season?

Inches of Rain and this is the Dry Season?

The top 50% of Florida got 100% of all available rain in the last 96 hours. Daytona's twin 125's were lucky to have not been hit last Thursday. Ditto Friday's truck race, and Saturday's (what used to be called the Busch) race. Running of today's Daytona 500 isn't shaping up like a done deal, but with Florida, you can never really say for sure if it'll be wet or dry. That's because we're surrounded by water & anything can happen. This is our "dry" season, prone to wildfires, in the usually dry palmetto thicket, which is unusually wet right now.

What's this mean for Bike Week Weather?

On a personal level, ABM thinks that the longer weather remains dry, the better the chance that it'll get wet, (although in a college statistics course, the prof presented proof to the contrary). I still don't really believe him, and am going with, "if it's wet now, maybe it'll be dry then." Temps took an early dive this year, right after Biketoberfest, then became unusually high for months, before the big freeze of late Jan/Feb. We had one of the warmest Novembers & Decembers ABM can remember.
We rode every single day, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, & New Years. People at my grocery store thought I'd sold the pickup truck. This winter really rocked, and never has there been so many bikes on the road during what is usually our "off" season.

I'td better be warm. We're going Camping!

Got the check in the mail for reservation of an rv site at 50 bucks a night. Yesterday, they had only about a dozen left, (see last blog for details). When the rv sites are sold, there's still virtually unlimited primitive camp sites available, excellent security, inside the fairground property. Hot showers are provided with the camping so you can keep yourself presentable, and in a non smelly state of hygiene! ABM used to book a Daytona hotel room for 75-90/night, until the europeans, flush with cash from the falling us dollar took over the entire beach strand, driving up prices to what can only be described as a monetary nosebleed level. What used to cost 75 now costs 160 and up. For a dude who waited 7 years to buy his first hdtv, spending 160 a night for a filthy room & an unsecure place to park the bikes is not an option. Why not simply commute? Round trip, not including screwing around Daytona is 200 miles from the world-famous, ultra-secure ABM compound, at a time when the better half is still getting her riding chops. Also not an option. So, we camp on, dude.. happy to be camping at 70% off the hotel rate. We'll spend the extra cash on Oysters, Tequila & Coronas!

ABM ROCKS ON TWITTER!

Bikers who access this blog through www.americanbikerminute.com will be happy to know we've enlisted the help of our forward thinking group of talented internet indivuals to bring you this blog, and a podcast of American Biker Minute on Twitter!
These days new technology arrives so quickly, if you don't have kids, you won't know anything about it until you see it on tv! Twitter will allow you to hear a new American Biker Minute show every day. Just go to www.Twitter.com/abmrocks to grab the podcast, read the blog, drop us a line if you wish.

What Could Possibly Be Better?

TWO VERY LARGE GIRLS WRESTLING ON A TEN FOOT PILE OF COLE SLAW!

Is this sexist? YOU BET. Who but the village people would want to see two dudes go at it in coleslaw? Ahh, Daytona Bike Week. The sights, the sounds, the... Coleslaw.
Next blog!

Daytona Bike Week 2009: Fun on the Cheap!

Bikers Want More Fun For Less Money!

One of the best ways to cut the cost of your stay in Daytona is to camp outside of Daytona. The longer you stay, the more money you save. Asking price per night at one of the local, well known campgrounds near the speedway was $100 per night! For another 30 bucks, you could have a roof over your head, cable tv, internet service, and a free breakfast!

Cheap Camping!

Go to AbateFlorida.com, and look over the website. They claim to have one of the most secure camping facilities available, due to their location being inside the Volusia County Fairground. Rates? Try $15/night, per person for primitive camping, or just $50/night for an rv with electric hookup. Downside? Located in Deland, Florida, about 20 miles to the southwest of Daytona. Upside? The Fairground is right off I-4, making your commute to Daytona's Speedway about 20 minutes. As much as we hate to stay outside the ABM prime interview area, this year might be our first to hook up with Abate.

Cheap Food!

Eat cheap. Publix supermarkets will make you a sub that will stuff two bikers bellies for five or six bucks, or grab an 8-pack of freshly fried chicken for about the same price. Need veggies? Pick up a bag of salad, dump some dressing in it, & scrape it out with a plastic fork. This area is full of drive up joints with 99 cent burgers & 2 dollar fish sandwiches.

Cheap Booze!

Four dollar beers evaporating faster than standing water in Phoenix, a good thing. On Daytona's Main Street, you'll find $3 marguritas, 2$ bloody marys & reasonably priced brew, just look around. Back at the campground, and off your ride for the night, a flask of inexpensive old red eye will get the job done as you b.s. with your bros.

Cheap Hotels?

Probably never, but the prices are a lot lower than they were last year, or the year before when some of the innerstate located one star flophouses were asking 299 a night! If you shop through some of the better known internet lodging vendors, a four star can be had for around $250, still way to high for us poor as church mice scooter tramps. (Hint: South Daytona Beach has only "1" four star, so if you bid half price, you know where you'll be staying!) The best advice we can provide for bikers who don't want to over pay for lodging is to (1) Camp or (2) Wait until the last minute to book a room. If the hotels got burnt by the Daytona 500's lack of attendance, maybe they'll come to their senses in time for bike week.


Cheapest Way of All?

You could simply stay home & live Daytona Bike Week 2009 vicariously through your friends at American Biker Minute, but listening in on all the fun pales in comparison to actually partying with hundreds of thousands of rabid bikers. Still, ABM coverage of bike week begins on your local ABM radio affiliate on February 28, and runs each day through March 8. If you miss a show, hear a new show on your phone each day, a free call with nationwide long distance!

360.282.5400

Check back from time to time. If it's a party, we'll be there!