FULL THROTTLE EXTREME

By: Steve Murrin, The Biker Lawyer

I think I’ve been to every kind of biker party, rally, event, fundraiser, funeral, wedding, poker run, drag race, track day, BBQ, iron butt, raffle, you name it.  From Laconia to Americade.  From Daytona Bike Week to Sturgis.  Big rallies and small, they all have a common theme.  The natural answer to the theme query is “the bikes” but really, it’s “the people”, Mi Familia.  This past “Great American Motorcycle Show” (GAMS) at the North Atlanta Trade Center in Norcross, GA, is for me the ultimate ‘reunion’ of my biker family.  Year after year my crew and I pack up our road show and head up I-85, to give out some T-shirts and coozies, have a few beers, see old clients and meet new ones.  I see thousands of people who all love bikes.  I see them year after year up at GAMS.  Sometimes I see them at far away rallies and runs during the course of the year.  However, seeing friends old and new at the GAMS right here locally is particularly nice, like a reunion right in your back yard.  Everyone loves bike week, but it’s still a lumpy bed, a wait to eat cold pancakes, overheating looking for that parking spot, and sand in your underpants.  I’m not complaining, but local is nice.

The GAMS show is not unlike any other biker event except it contains such a local flavor for us based in Atlanta.  Seeing all the local vendors at their ‘home-town’ event where we basically carry on for three or four days, but still sleep in our own beds at night (most of us) is endearing to me.  You can count on great music every year from J.B. Walker and the Cheap Whiskey Band.  You can count on Don at Biker’s Dream bringing his killer choppers.  You can count on Boston Billy with a great selection of t-shirts, leathers, and helmets.  You can count on Stone Mountain Harley coming out with Jan from sales smiling ear to ear, showing all the new Harley products.  Kirk and Kim at “Ace Motorcycle Insurance”, with big hugs (from Kim not Kirk) and Bubba from “Twisted Throttle Choppers”, always willing to share a cold one (or a hot one for that matter!)  Year in and year out, we all get together with the common purpose of exposing our businesses to the patrons we like to serve, and at the same time, to have a little fun.  I reminisced with Randy and Viv of FULL THROTTLE about how hard we used to party at this event.  God, how we survived some of the shenanigans over the years I’ll never know.  Those were the days.  I might be able to handle the partying part still, just not the hangover.  So I head home at 8 p.m., sober as Moses, and chuckle at the new guys who show up nauseous in the morning.  Like growing up with siblings who all learn lessons over time, I’ve seen the bikers in ‘my family’ go from stage to stage in their lives, me included.  Some learn lessons and get better; some don’t and get worse.  As for me, I keep going for the people and the bikes.  If I can’t ride because it’s too cold, or I have court Monday morning, then at least being surrounded by cool people and cool bikes doesn’t suck.

Planning on the Daytona rally in a few weeks, followed by an iron butt up to New York for the Americade in June.  Heading over the pond for the TT races at the Isle of Man in England this year too, so it should be a great year to ride, rally, party (kinda), and simply enjoy those who enjoy bikes like me.  However, the Great American Motorcycle Show right up in Norcross, Georgia is the rally I really look forward to so I can reunite with my local friends, and hopefully make a few new ones.   Hope to see you in Sturgis this summer, Laconia next fall, but more importantly, I hope to see you in Norcross next spring.  My parting advice; pass on the Jagermeister bombs and try to sleep in your own bed.

Remember, ride fun, ride safe and when life lets you, ride Full Throttle!