Daytona 2026
I am going to preface this post by telling all of you, right up front, that I'm not a big "rally guy". But, in my recent retirement from my payin' job, I've found myself with a lot more time to do some of the things that I haven't had a chance to do for the past quarter of a century. Things like, taking a long motorcycle road trip with my eldest son, or visiting my best bro at his house in Florida. So, when the opportunity arose this year, to do both, I jumped on the opportunity. We also had the opportunity to see one of the most iconic motorcycle races in history- the Daytona 200 and, of course, the MotoAmerica King of the Baggers race.
Pre-trip Prep
My son chose his 2007 Dyna Street Bob for this trip, and I... of course... would be taking my 2017 Road King Special because, well, ROAD KING! I swapped the seats and put on my tour pack, cleaned her up and figured I was set and ready. My son, however, needed to do a few more things to his Dyna before we left. He had been putting them off for a while, but this trip forced his hand, which isn't always a bad thing- after all, sometimes we need the right motivation to get things done, and this was definitely the right motivation. He needed to fix some wiring issues on his rear lights, his tires were toast, he needed a tune, front and rear brakes and, just for fun, his idle air control valve wasn't working properly... all things that we were more than capable of doing in-house, so he ordered his parts and we got to work. Murphy decided to apply his Law while we were working on the tires, as we quickly discovered that the wheel bearings on his rear wheel were pretty crunchy. The worst one fought a hard battle, but after a couple of hours of profanity-laced frustration, we finally prevailed with sheer determination, anger and a bit of luck and got it out of the hub. With only a couple of days to spare, I lucked out and found the bearings at an Indy shop in a nearby city. After hauling tail down there and picking them up, I got the bearings in and we got his wheels back on... just in time for me to notice that my front tire was worn down to the wear bars! I guess I missed that on my initial inspection, so with only two days left until we set out, I was on the hunt for a new front tire. My local H-D shop came through for me, so I went and picked up the tire, then hauled tail back home to mount and balance it, and get it on the bike. I won't get into the details of what happened during installation because I was in a rush and not paying attention... but suffice to say, I made a couple of stupid mistakes that cost me an extra hour or so of my time and a great deal of frustration. It all worked out though, and I was able to get my bike done with just enough time to scrub in the new tire. That same night, my son got his tune downloaded, installed his IAC valve and was able to get his tires scrubbed in, his brakes set and make sure the bike was running right with the new tune, the day before we left!
The trip
We left the house on Thursday morning and pointed our bikes East on the superslab. Since this was the longest trip my son had taken so far, we took it easy and didn't push too hard. My Road King is equipped with electronic cruise control and a six gallon tank... my son's Dyna, however... has neither, so we made plenty of stops for fuel and rest.
Both bikes were running, and riding, great though and we had beautiful weather the whole day, with the exception of a late afternoon rain shower once we got past the Florida state line. We stopped several times, taking plenty of time to snack, hydrate and stretch our legs and even stopped at a dealership to look around. We made it to Lee's house after dark, which was a bit later than we had originally anticipated, but we made it safe and he and his lovely wife had a delicious dinner ready and waiting for us! After a couple of hours of catching up, we turned in to get some rest before our next day of riding.
Bike Week (in a day)
The next day, we jumped on the bikes and headed down to Daytona for a pass through Main Street for Bike Week, just to say we did it. As I said previously, I'm not really a "rally guy." I've been to a few, and they're okay... but I'm just not into parking my bike for several hours so I can hang out at a bar and I definitely don't enjoy being in the middle of a huge crowd of people. I also don't like sitting in the stop-and-go traffic... ugh. Even with the Rekluse slave cylinder I installed a few years ago, my clutch hand starts getting tired from the constant gray zone riding needed in heavy bike traffic. Not to mention, riding behind all of the duck-walking weekend warriors with throttle tourettes makes me crazy, especially as a certified motorcycle instructor. Look- I'm not judging anyone... if you need to duck walk your bike so you don't fall over, and you need to blip your throttle every few seconds to make sure your bike stays running, then more power to you... but I don't want to be stuck behind you in slow, stop, slow, stop traffic, either.
After we made our obligatory pass down Main Street Daytona, we FINALLY got out of the traffic and were able to let our bikes breathe a bit, right before running into another traffic jam as we got closer to Destination Daytona, where most of the vendors were set up.
Now, let me take a moment to tell you that some of the riders that show up for Bike Week are asses, plain and simple. We were all stuck in the same traffic, but some of them felt the overwhelming need to try to weave through the sea of bikes, ride along the shoulders, run red lights and ride like hooligans on the streets, doing burnouts and taking off like they were on a drag strip. Again, I'm not here to judge anyone, but don't get mad at the local cops for pulling you over when you are acting like an ass on the public streets, either. Take your tickets and be glad you didn't hurt yourself or someone else. Three people died in motorcycle crashes this year during Bike Week... that is 3 families destroyed in an instant. Local law enforcement reported, a staggering, 75 crashes during Bike Week... those are only the crashes that were reported, too- there were probably at least a few dozen crashes that weren't reported. That may not seem like many, considering that the number of people at the 85th Annual Bike Week was around 500,000... but imagine being in one of those 75 crashes. Imagine being the person with your bike totalled out because some jagoff decided that he needed to do some stupid stunts in traffic and lost control and smashed into your ride. Now, imagine being the family member of one of those three that died and getting that phone call. It just isn't worth it. I'll get off my soap box now.
Destination Daytona was insane. The sheer number of vendors will make your head spin- over 120 just at the dealership alone. There must have been a skunk den nearby too, because it seemed like every hundred feet or so, we were smelling a strong, skunky, odor... so weird. We perused a few of the vendors, then went over to Houligan's for a late lunch before heading out. Traffic wasn't too heavy leaving, so we were able to get away from the crowds (and the skunks) and onto some back roads pretty quickly.
Lee has only lived in Florida for a few years, but he is an avid rider and, like me, he loves to explore on two wheels. In his time on the East Coast, he's found some incredible back roads and he took us along a few of them. If you've never ridden this area, you need to make the trip. The roads may not be very curvy or hilly, but the ancient oak trees draped with spanish moss make for some truly breathtaking scenery. Riding along the St. Johns River, we stopped at a park that was absolutely stunning. The air was fresh, the wind was blowing and the temperature was perfect. After taking in the scenery, we jumped back on the bikes and headed back to Lee's house for the night.
Off to the Races!
The next morning, we headed out early to meet up with a couple of Lee's local riding buddies, Frank and Ben, both of whom were great guys riding gorgeous new Road Glides. After fueling up, we jumped on the superslab and headed south to the Daytona International Speedway. We had free parking in the infield of the racetrack, which was pretty awesome. Going into the venue, my son and I noticed a significant difference in the crowd at the races, compared to the crowd on Main Street or at Destination Daytona. The first thing we noticed was that there were no drunks, which was nice. We also noticed that there was significantly less skunk odor in the air. The crowds were friendly and the drinks, snacks and vendors were reasonably priced.
We watched the Hooligans race first, which was pretty cool, then... the 200 kicked off. 57 laps of pure speed. The Super Sport bikes are cool, but if I'm being completely honest, I don't have the attention span to watch nearly 50 motorcycles racing for 57 laps. We were in the infield, so we got to see them coming through the S-curve, and also as they exited the pits, which was pretty impressive. These riders are practically on their elbows in the turns! They are also incredibly powerful, incredibly fast, motorcycles. Even if you're not into racing, you can appreciate the sheer power these motorcycles have and the skills that their riders have.
Next up, was the real reason that we were there- the King of the Baggers race. Nine laps. 11 motorcycles. ALL V-TWIN baggers. Now, the sound of these machines don't even compare to any of the other bikes that were racing that day. Deep, loud, tuned, powerful V-twin engines roared... absolutely roared... along the track. Each rider trying to best the other, in 9 laps. These guys didn't have 57 laps to make up time, they had to get it done in less than 10! Don't get me wrong- I know that the 200 is as much of an endurance race as it is a competition of speed, but the 31-ish miles of the Baggers race is just pure fury, right out of the gate. You can see it in the infield, as the bikes power through the S-curve and nearly break the rear tire loose on every lap, as the riders crack the throttles and let those huge, torquey mills breathe! My Indian-favoring MotoReaders got to take the bragging rights on this race, as Team Harley-Davidson's Kyle Wyman lost his winning streak, although Wyman did jump in first place for a lap or two before being overtaken by Team Indian's Troy Herfoss (1st place) and Rocco Landers (2nd place). Side note- if you watched the "Why We Ride" documentary... you may have noticed a young Rocco Landers riding with his family... and in the final scenes, mentioning how he wanted to be a motorcycle racer when he grew up. Goal achieved, Rocco... good job, buddy. If you haven't seen the film... do yourself a favor and watch it- trust your old pal, the MotoWriter, on this one.
That's a Wrap!
After leaving the races, we rode to a cool little Irish pub for dinner and a cold drink, then, after dinner, we bid farewell to Ben and Frank and headed back to Lee's house for our final night on the East Coast. We got up the next morning, had a couple of cups of coffee, then got on the bikes and headed West. My son and I made really good time heading back, since he was, basically, a long-distance pro at this point. Our stops were also much more efficient- we rode tank-to-tank, only taking our breaks during the fuel stops. A storm front had been moving East across the country and we ran into it before we reached Alabama, but fortunately, we didn't get the rain that we were prepared for- just a few light showers, instead. We made it back to the MotoCompound by late afternoon, wrapping up a nearly 1,500 mile trip over 4 days.
In all, it was an awesome trip... one that was long overdue. Even though we may have cut it to the wire before leaving, we got our bikes road-trip ready and we had a safe trip. As a matter of fact, the only close-call of the trip happened when we were on our way down to Bike Week, when a jackass in an old, crappy, Honda SUV decided to pull directly out of a side road, right in front of Lee, which forced him into an emergency, brake and evade, situation... which he handled like a pro.
Final Thoughts
If there's a trip that you've been putting off until the "right time"... let me tell you- NOW is the right time! Take that trip! Make those memories! Do it before you're too old, too broke, too scared or too worn out. Don't be afraid to get out there and explore our world. Put a few bucks aside, here and there... skip the local latte lounge and drink your coffee at home for a few weeks, pack a lunch instead of hitting the drive-thru and plan a trip of camping or staying with friends. Your life is passing you by right now. As much as I love that you're on your computer, tablet, or phone, reading this... it's time to turn off the device and turn on your motorcycle. I'll be here when you get back... now... go...
Ride safe, and make good memories!
