Rideout Any Excuse For A Moto Party!

This past Friday and Saturday our local Harley-Davidson dealership hosted a "Grand Reopening". What the celebration was designed to usher in was a change of the dealerships name from Harley-Davidson of Tucson to Saguaro Harley-Davidson. They called it a "grand reopening". I'd call it a moto-party. And...any excuse for a moto-party! Honestly, one of my primary objectives in attending was to go to the Wall of Death show. More on that later.



Hubby Steve agreed to join me on Saturday for at least a couple of hours and we also met up with our good riding buddy, Russell. I was on my Low Rider ST and Steve was on his Road Glide Special. Russell showed up late on his new Street Glide Special and got a nice parking spot WAY in the back of the parking lot in the sun.



We arrived early enough to get some sweet parking spots under the breezeway in the shade where our bikes could stay cool and watch the show, too.



Since I have a Triumph and since I'm posting on a Triumph forum, I always have my eyes peeled for a Triumph in the crowd. Here's the one I spied on this day.



And on the other end of the spectrum.....



The event flyer promised food trucks and there were two--one for coffee drinks and other beverages plus some pastries, the other had pasta bowls.

While I was looking at bikes, this was the first place Steve aimed for.





A local FM country-western radio station had a table in the breezeway...and a giant inflatable cow in the parking lot. We stopped at the table to spin the prize wheel. For some reason, Steve was bound and determined to spin Winner so he could pick the prize of a Chap Stick to give to Russell. WTF? So Steve took a spin and landed on "Sorry". He complained that there was only one "Winner" space on the wheel so they begrudgingly gave him a second spin. Double "Sorry". So I stepped up to try my hand. And, yep. "Winner"! Of course Steve immediately grabbed a Chap Stick from the prizes available and handed it to Russell. Actually that was fine with me because Chap Stick was about the best prize choice available to choose! I did suggest that with my good luck we should immediately get back on our bikes and ride directly to Las Vegas but that idea was quickly shot down.



There were also some other outdoor activities available including a bag toss game which didn't seem particularly popular--I thought a little friendly wagering might have generated more interest--and a live band which started playing after lunch.





Continued in my next post

 

After checking out everything outdoors we went in to look around inside the dealership. There was a photo booth, lots of balloons, folks getting tattoos, and dessert!







Around noon there was an announcement that the first of three Wall of Death performances would start in 30 minutes at 12:30pm. By this time Steve told me he was done for the day and rode home. Russell agreed to join me for the Wall of Death show so he and I started making our way across the dealership to go out and line up for the show.



Folks started lining up in earnest about 12:15 and we people watched and chatted about bikes while we waited for the cue to go up the steps and onto the viewing catwalk. And we wondered about the giant inflatable cow.



The rest of the photos in this thread are ones I took inside the Wall of Death during the show. This kind of event reminds me that I really do need to learn how to take good video because if a picture is worth a thousand words, in this case a video would be worth 10,000 words! Though I didn't take any video, I did found a YouTube video that you can check out to get some perspective on how fast these guys are riding as well as the size, height, and surface (wood) of the wall. I really enjoyed watching these guys and find it truly amazing what they are able to do aboard motorcycles. And old motorcycles at that!







The first guy on the wall was from Payson, Arizona, a town we've ridden to and through many times. He was aboard a go-cart and looked like he was having a blast!



The Ives Brothers



Riding for tips!



What a fun day! I always find it wonderful how motorcycles draw people together with a common bond no matter what--or how--we ride.

 

Yep, it was great fun, Tony! I suspect you're right about the physics behind being able to ride "the wall" like those guys do. I heard a little interview with one of them and he talked about the G forces they feel and how they use the momentum they generate. That said, I'm content with just being a spectator!

Breezeway. Hmmm, it's a term that's common in Arizona but not where I grew up in Minnesota. So that made me think of the specifics of what the word refers to. It's really an open air hallway of sorts but that is covered on top. Lots of the schools I work in have breezeways. And the whole front of our local H-D dealership is built like this. A breezeway provides shade yet is still somewhat open to the elements. Sort of an indoor/outdoor space.

And I agree with you...every day's a school day!