Lone Star Rally 2010
This years’ Lone Star Rally was much like Sturgis in the crowd seemed to have grown from the past few years. Whoever said we are in a recession forgot to tell the bikers, because they were out in force at this years’ rally. I would estimate at least 200,000 people were on the Strand on Saturday night; partly due to the incredible weather I am sure.
Our trip to the rally is an easy 75 miles which I take as many back-roads as possible. The V-Rod handles a passenger as well as any bike I’ve ever ridden and doesn’t seem to lose any power with the added cargo on the rear. I was still able to scrape my pegs in hard turns and never felt as if the bike was out of control. The weather was in the 60’s, sunny, and not a cloud in the sky.
Of course the rally had it’s fair share of Baggers again, as that seems to be the growing trend in bikerdom. I myself have not caught the bug entirely, but I can definitely see the advantages of having a dresser. It seems all the vendors have also caught on to this wave of bagger fever, as it seemed everyone was selling something specifically for your bagger. I am not too sure why the local Harley dealers’ don’t make a stronger showing at the rally, but it seems as though this place is off limits. Shit, I’d be selling everything I could with the holidays fast approaching. I can tell you, people were spending money!
The bikes we saw were starting to trend back towards actual function over form. While you could still see a Joe Martin custom or a rigid sporty on the street, it seems most riders have started to swing the way of actual ride performance. Besides baggers, I saw sportbikes, V-Rods, Dynas, and very few choppers.
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As much as I enjoy riding a radical bike and having people point and stare while you pull up on it; I can tell you riding a radical rigid isn’t as fun after having to ride it back home after a long day. While you make look cool as hell, you feel like ass when you get home and then you have to check the bike over before riding again. It seems the form over function trend is over for now.
I enjoy looking back at pics in the mags from several years ago and comparing them to what I see now. To be honest, if you’d have told me 4 years ago that I’d be riding a bike with a 36 degree rake, 250 rear tire, and 115 rwhp, I’d have pictured a custom chopper instead of my nasty black V-Rod. You know what they say, “Time will tell and shit will smell!”
The nature of the rally seemed to revolve more around fun than in years’ past. Several years were marred with either bad weather, hurricane recovery, shitty economy, or bad timing. This time it seemed everyone was there to support the rally as well as Galveston, Texas.
I was surprised to see several old friends at the rally and we had a few drinks while bullshitting about life, bikes, women, etc. Good times as we reminisced about the past and bullshitted about the future. Before I knew it the sun was going down and the temperature was dropping faster than I cared for. We loaded up and headed back home, another year’s rally ended successfully for us and I couldn’t help but feel good as we rode home.
