Thunder Beach Rally

Since I've returned from the Thunder Beach Rally many people have asked, "Well, how was it?"  Also, since I'm now headed out on my next trip, I wanted to put a (much delayed) cap on the first one.

As is true of most things, there's the short, somewhat vague answer and the more detailed, descriptive one.  What follows is sort of a middle ground, I hope.  It's divided into three sections since there were really three different aspects to the trip as far as I am concerned.

Section 1:  My Traveling Companion

I rode on my own from Cincinnati to Murfreesboro, TN where I joined up with my friend Ron.  We first met at college when I was 17 - a long, long time ago.  While we were close friends back then, we have had only intermittent contact in the intervening years.  How we'd get along on a daily basis was an important part of the ride as we are planning to do a lot more riding together over the summer.  This was a good case of expectations affirmed - it was great to spend the time with him and the mutual accommodations required to be riding buddies were minimal and easy to make.  This bodes very well for the longer journeys yet to come.

Section 2:  The Bike

This was the first chance I had to take the BMW on a long trip.  I had ridden it 100+ miles in a day around my neighborhood, as it were, but hadn't really tested how it would be for an extended trip.  Since it was bought with that kind of riding specifically in mind, this was a very important part of the trip for me.

It did wonderfully.  It was smooth, quiet and comfortable.  It was very stable at highway speeds.  On the curves it was terrific; it was nimble and didn't wallow.  To the extent that I tested its performance on wet pavement, it seemed quite sure-footed.    The bike has a suspension adjustment feature with settings of "comfort," "normal" and "sport."  I tried them all, but I guess I either don't have enough experience or sensitivity to notice any significant difference.

The only glitch related to the bike was the tire pressure in the front tire.  It was about 2/3 of what it should have been when I arrived in Murfreesboro for no known reason.  I had to refill the tire a couple of times on the trip, but it seemed as if the leak had more or less resolved itself by the end.  (That turned out not be to true.  The valve stem was the problem, but it was easily and, hopefully, permanently resolved after a trip to my friendly, local motorcycle mechanic.)

Section 3:  The Rally Itself

Seeing as I had never been to a big motorcycle rally before, I was very curious to know what one was really like.  I'd talked to people who'd been to one (or more) and I'd seen pictures and an occasional TV or internet clip, but my suspicion was that there was more to it than that.  The way this one was set up there were a number of venues in Panama City Beach and Panama City itself (including at the Marriott!) where there were vendors and related activities.

The whole area was full of motorcycles moving from one place to another (or nowhere in particular) and parked in great profusion at each.  The vast majority were Harleys of various descriptions.  The next most common motorcycle brand was Honda, with Goldwings and, interestingly, trikes, being the preponderance of them.  We saw only three other BMWs during our entire time there.  The most interesting bikes, however, were the semi-customs and custom bikes.  There was an exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in 1998 called the "The Art of the Motorcycle" and some of the ones that we saw illustrate how such an exhibition could be conceived.  The design of the frames, the shape of the body work and the creativity of the paint all contributed.

The vendors' offerings were, for the most part, pretty uninteresting to me.  There was chrome everywhere and some seemingly unique items, but unless you are particularly into such things their wares were not very compelling.  We did, however, find a vendor selling Bluetooth communication sets and those we bought.  They allow driver to passenger and bike to bike voice activated intercom-like communication.  That proved especially handy on the ride back when a missed turn was made and quickly corrected.  Long, ongoing conversations aren't really viable because speech gets garbled with road/wind noise, but short discussions work just fine.

At one of the venues there was a small motorcycle stunt show.  The riders were three teenaged brothers and the announcer their dad - a real family circus.  Another included a vendor who made goggles integrated into a molded plastic face mask.  It was rare, however, to find something at one of the larger venues that was not replicated in some way at another.

The people were mostly what you might expect.  The majority looked to be middle-class and middle-aged.  Lots were obviously well-fed and decked out in rider regalia with the exception of protective gear and helmets.  We were by far in the minority in that we rode with both.  There was some of the anticipated rowdiness, but not being rowdy sorts and not seeking it out, we probably missed most of it.  Another thing that may have limited the celebratory aspects of the rally was the rain.  We had one good day, but the rest of the time was cloudy, threatening and occasionally pretty rainy.

In retrospect, I think that to get the true flavor of a rally of this kind will require better weather, checking out some of the more tacky events/locations (e.g., "beauty" contests and bars) and keeping much later hours that I'm used to!