Living in Jacksonville Fl, it’s a short ride to Daytona. So my buddy, my wife and I left early on the last Saturday of “Bike Week”. We had a couple of things on our check list we wanted to do while down there, like having our bikes blessed and seeing the “Rat’s Hole custom bike competition”. The Discovery Channel has been producing a show on the best bike builders in the world. The winner was being picked on that day, so it made it high on my to-do list. Along with the finals of the “Bike-0ff” there where about thirteen different classes to be judged as well. One of classes for judging was Sportster Stock.
In this class you could not change the frame or engine. Basically all you can do is cosmetic things to your bike. I was thinking of entering my Sporty but was more than a little intimated by the reputation the “Rat’s Hole” reputation. It’s the oldest and arguably the most prestige’s bike competition in the country. My X-wife convinced me to give it a try, by using logic on me. It cost about 10 dollars to park anywhere during bike week and ten more to get into to see the show. With the 10 dollar gift certificate and a hat for entering, it seemed like a bargin. Let me tell you all, if you ever want to see the coolest custom motorcycles in one place this is it.
As I said, my class was Sportster stock, so I didn’t compete against Billy Lane or Paul Cox or the guy’s from O.C.C. However, there were still some cool stock bikes in my class. The judging took most of the day, but I had a great time talking bikes with other Harley owners. Around 5:00 p.m. They announced the winners.
Much to my amazement I won first place! I have never won anything in my life, so to win a trophy about the size of my Sportster was a wonderful shock.
Once my feet hit ground again, I realized I had a very large trophy to haul home.After using my cargo net and some bungee cords, I had it strapped down with a goodly amount sticking out the back. As I rode home grinning from ear to ear I turned a lot of heads and got a lot of shouts of congratulations.
For my way of thinking “Bike Week” could not have been better.
For all you who “never win anything” too. Give it a try you might surprise yourself and find that other people think you have a beautiful Baby too.
–Jim
SmithJ@Bolles.org
