This year marks the 65th Daytona Bike Week in Daytona Beach, Florida. If you love motorcycles and large crowds of people, then this is definitely the place to be in March.
The party started for us as soon as the plane landed, with a long drive down a very congested roadway to get into town. The streets were filled with chromed motorcycles and bikini-wearing hotties (women, that is), as well as every kind of vendor you could imagine. The first weekend started out absolutely packed. The crowds thinned out by the first part of the week, but by the time Thursday rolled around it was almost impossible to move. The traffic was bad everywhere you went, from Main Street to Beach Street, out to the Speedway, and all the way to Ormond Beach. Two things that stuck out were the number of cops around and the traffic on the way to Destination Daytona. If you planned on heading out to the world's largest Harley-Davidson dealership, you needed to do it early in the morning to beat some of the traffic and not overheat your motor because of the hot weather. Once you did get there, there was plenty to see and do.
There were also bike shows just about every day in some part of Daytona, from the Rat's Hole Show to the old-school chopper show at Willie's Tropical Tattoo, the Boardwalk show to the Harley-Davidson ride-in show, up to and including the chopper showdown at the Last Resort. And, of course, Daytona Bike Week just wouldn't be the same without people-watching. From tiny bikinis on little hard bodies to exposed painted chests, one hot sighting found everywhere was leather-leather riding gear on women, that is. Women riders were like a "V" force at Daytona Bike Week. Sure, there are plenty of female riders out there, with their numbers growing every day, but it seemed there were more at this year's rally compared to those of previous years. Whether one-on-one sharing a sportbike, straddling a cruiser, or manhandling a wide-tired chopper, women were ganging up on the roads in "the world's most famous beach," and they were obviously happy to do it. Hell, we're happy about it, too!
With some of the best sightseeing right on Main Street and the fastest bikes out at the Speedway, there was a good time pretty much anywhere you ended up.
If you missed out on Bike Week, plan on heading out to Biketoberfest in October for more good timea-there will be just a few less people around. See you there.