Original publication: BikerTrash.com
Original byline: Not confirmed
By Long Dog
(C)1999
Dense fog greeted the Houston rider on November 14th as we prepared ourselves for the 5th annual running of the March of Dimes “Biker for Babies”. Fog so thick ya needed rain gear just walking from the house to the garage. But the sun came shining thru around nine and burned everything off and presented clear Texas skies and temps in the low eighties. A perfect day for a ride. A ride with a reason.
A crowd of around 500 greeted the shovel and me as we wheeled into the parking lot of City Streets (on Richmond, just down from the 610 Loop), the jumping off point for this year’s ride. Tons of volunteers led me thru the process as I signed up, paid my money and gratefully accepted a cup of java from a cute little miss that snickered when I asked for her phone number. Strike one.
Bumped into a few people I knew: Harley Colt (local DJ from 95.7) along with Mr. Harley, Cadillac Bob & Bill Dawson from the Houston Easyriders shop and Troy and Rhonda with the San Jacinto High Rollers. And then there were the 494 other leather clad folk that I had never laid eyes on before. In all my years of riding the Houston biking circuit I swear I have never been to a rally where I knew so few of the participants.
But being a stranger was nothing compared to the night before at the Biker’s Ball, also held at City Streets. Ya see, Saturday night was the kick-off party for today’s ride. The Biker’s Ball was a collection of people who are more comfortable handling stocks and bonds than I am handling the drag bars on the ol’ shovel. These folk drip money just like the scooter drips oil, steady with no end in sight. Saturday night’s entrance fee of $50.00 (ouch!) included free grub (beef sliced so thin you could read thru it), live music (the Scott Gertner band), a cash bar (no free keg for these folks) and a silent auction (where the hell do these people get this kinda money?). The auction alone netted damn near $8,000! And there I was trying to con my way in gratis with a flask hidden in my pocket.
Back to the Sunday morning parking lot… I was amazed that the only shovel in this entire chunk of asphalt was…mine! Tons of new Evos and such, but little in the way of old iron. But there was one, good-looking orange, panhead, which turned out to be one of those new Neo-Panzers outta KT’s shop. So my dirt-sled ended up being the oldest bitch there. And me with my worn down at the heels boots, my “If you can read this, I hope you didn’t run over her good parts” t-shirt and two 12-inch crescents sticking outta my back pocket, I did kinda stick out. Kinda like being the only Buddhist showing up at a Southern Baptist convention. Strike two.
We pulled out at 11:30 sharp for an escorted ride (thanks to the Houston motor cops) thru a winding course covering about 30 miles of the downtown Houston area (610 Loop, Memorial Drive, Allen Pkwy kinda thing). About an hour later most of us were back in the parking lot getting ready for an afternoon of music, games and food. Total for the ride was 750 bikes with only one scooter needing the services of “Gary’s Cycle Rescue” which served as chase vehicle for today. Gary frequently gives a lot back to the biker community by providing rescue support for the various benefits.
Got a chance to meet Rick Luebeck, owner of Polaris West out in Katy. He had brought down an impressive collection of Victory motorcycle owners, about 25 on the ride in from Katy. He also let me know they had been notified that that the shop had just made #1 in national sales. Number one national sales for the new Victory lineup “in the nation!” And from Katy, Texas! Good job.
The rest of the afternoon was spent doing stupid “people” games, being entertained by the band Romeo Dog, and b.s.’ing with friends, old and new.
Total take for the March of Dimes? In the neighborhood of $70,000! Now, although a lot of this includes corporate donations, that’s still a hell of a lot of money for a two-day event.
And will they be back next year? $70,000? What do you think?
And as far as strike three? Never happened as my little coffee serving girl ended up riding on the scooter’s luggage rack for an extended evening tour of some of Houston’s more “less known” attractions.
Live to Ride, Ride to Chase Women
Long Dog.
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