Born to be Wild?

“At that moment, without waiting for a reply, Magoo turned slightly at the hip, not moving his feet and urinated into the fire. There was a loud hiss as some of the embers went black. The stench caused people to move away. Perhaps he meant it as a mating signal, a carnal gesture designed to strip away all pretense, but all it did was queer his act. The Angel whose woman was being hustled had not been happy with the situation, and Magoo’s mindless indulgence of his bladder gave the others a good excuse to drift off, seeking an upwind position. ”
-Hunter S. Thompson, Hells Angels

I just got back from Biketoberfest in Daytona Beach, Florida where an estimated 200,000 bikers met for the final big bike rally of the year. These are not the bikers that Hunter S Thompson wrote about in “Hell’s Angels”, sure some of the Angels were probably represented there , also Outlaws, Pagans and others but you’d never know where they were. They didn’t “fly thier colors”, there weren’t any fights, at least none that I saw, hell there weren’t even any fires that I saw but they were probably confined to the campgrounds where the real bikers stayed. No self respecting “scooter trash” would pay 900.00 a night to stay in the Days Inn, Daytona Beach.

Rates like that are for the majority of the attendees here: lawyers, doctors, contractors, accountants. Yep, thats what most of these bikers are, I mean who else can afford 20,000 to 40,000 or more for two wheels and a motor? And don’t think these guys ride thier scooters down to Daytona Beach, nope, they trailer them down with the wifes SUV then take them off the trailer and ride them through Main Street and Atlantic Ave. all while in full biker gear.

These days it’s all about peaceful co-existance, hell there were even rice grinders there, quite a few of them. Even if Harleys do far outnumber them. Hunter Thompson’s Hell’s Angels wouldn’t have had much use for them, and they would likely have made that clear in some unpleasant fashion.

Or maybe these rallys have run the real bikers off, like Magoo’s piss in the fire, maybe they all left to seek out a more appropriate place to be the rebels that they are.