 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Pipes’ roar is Bike Week siren song
By BRADY DENNIS Clarification (3/10/01): A story in Friday's Times said law enforcement officials in Daytona Beach attributed the record number of deaths and injuries at last year's annual Bike Week in part ot the removal of Florida's helmet requirements for motorcyclists. The new law, however, did not take effect until July 1, several months after Bike Week. © St. Petersburg Times, published March 9, 2001 INVERNESS -- John Wallen is so close to Bike Week, he can smell the fumes. They are too strong to ignore. So the 50-year-old owner of Gorilla Motors, 115 N Florida Ave. in Inverness, will close his shop today, hop on his 1977 Harley-Davidson lowrider and continue a 30-year tradition of heading to Daytona Beach for Bike Week. "I look forward to it because I see a lot of my old friends," said Wallen, whose wife Marti will ride alongside on her 1980 Harley. "It's changed over the years," he said. "It's much more crowded now, so we stay away from downtown. But it's just good fun. Nothing like being on backcountry roads on a motorcycle." Wallen isn't the only local bike owner gearing up for the climactic weekend at the mecca of motorcycles, which is expected to attract 500,000 people. Jenny Provost, 29, of Lecanto, went to Bike Week for the first time last weekend. She was loading up her Honda Shadow 600 Thursday afternoon for a return trip to Daytona this weekend. "It's a lot of fun," she said. "I like all the great deals on motorcycle apparel and seeing the different types of bikes and attractions. "But I also saw an old man in a G-string last weekend. That's just something you don't see here. So I go for the deals and to laugh at some of the crazier people." Provost said she's going with a camera and video recorder this weekend. Most locals said they don't care for the raucous parties and main street cruising that gives Bike Week its rowdy reputation. "I like to go during the day and then get the hell out," said Warren Hill, general manager of the Crystal River Harley-Davidson shop. "The things I like probably are not exciting enough to print." Provost agreed. "My philosophy is, if you want to go and hang out on main street and get drunk, then you can go ahead and do that," she said. "But there are a lot of other exciting things around." To each his own seems to be the mantra of the biking masses; no one wants to cramp another rider's style. The same goes when the topic turns to the debate over helmets. "I think it should be your right to decide whether or not you wear the helmet," Wallen said. "There are situations where I would wear one, but I usually don't ride with one. I grew up not wearing a helmet; it's just my choice." Provost wears a half-shell helmet; her husband, a full helmet. But she's not trying to tell others what to do. "It should be up to the individual," she said. "I think most of the deaths are probably alcohol-related anyway." Two motorcyclists have died since the event began a week ago. Last year, a record 15 people were killed in 281 crashes involving 570 people either en route to Daytona Beach, cruising the streets there, or heading away afterward. Officials blamed the higher number of injuries on more people in the city for the festivities and Florida's removal of a helmet requirement for bikers. Still, not every motorcycle lover gets to join the throngs in Daytona this weekend. Some have to work. "When everybody is playing, that's when we're working the hardest," said Hill, who estimates 100 bikers have passed through his doors each day on the way to Daytona. "This is our first Bike Week in this location, and we've been pleasantly surprised." His store merchandise saleswoman, Debbie Abbate, left Daytona Beach early Wednesday to get back to work. No doubt, she misses the motorcycle masses. "It was crazy; it was wild," she said. "I'd rather be back in Daytona right now. My head is still a little foggy."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
|
