Friday morning the departure time was set for noon. We split early to a shop, Magic Touch AKA Bayou Customs. If you are ever by that neck of the woods, go visit Jim and TC. Those guys rock! They opened the shop for us and let us repair anything. This is the stuff that I really like, people helping each other out, no egos, no crowds. The yellow shirted rodents were pissed at our delay and took off for Dallas. We had a good time fixing the bikes, why rush things? While Billy fixed his belt, Booster fixed his pulley. I fixed my axle and all the other guys checked what needed to be checked and welded what was cracked. Mind you, these were all rigid choppers, bare as they can be and ridden hard, very hard. Triple digit speeds are the norm. Aaron was flying over railroad tracks and Miss Behavin' was on her second long-ass trip. No rest for the wicked! Meanwhile, the Discovery crew and Michael Lichter were having a ball with all the antics that went on. Even the guys from Klock Works out of South Dakota were hanging out. They had jumped ship on the "Hamster side".

Booster and Chucky.

After reworking my whole rear wheel, we were ready to get the hell outta Dodge. A light rain started falling and we still had a bunch of miles before we'd hit Dallas. We tried to pay, but Jim would have nothing to do with that. I want to thank him and everyone there for their hospitality and help. We left some beer money and the tallest rooster tails Shreveport has ever seen. I was wet but happy to be riding again. Life plays tricks when you think you have the upper hand. My spacers started rotating once more and I decided to call it quits before becoming a hood ornament or eating an asphalt buffet. My total riding distance of the trip was around 30 miles. Oh well, such is life outside the Tropics.

The afternoon turned into a pretty nice one, and I'm sure some of the best filming took place then. We hauled ass to Dallas, the party awaited.

We arrived in Dallas later that night. The party was in full swing at Easyriders of Dallas (now Strokers, no more Easyriders stores). We made the ultimate smoke burnin' entrance. After so many miles Miss Behavin's throttle stuck and sent Ruskin flying into a sea of full dressers. The guy managed to dodge some of them, but not all. Fiberglass and reflectors flew all over the place. He managed to stop at the back wall and assess the damage. Needless to say, there were some very pissed off Texans. But what the hell are you gonna do? The party went on and fist fights never occurred. We closed the place up, these guys deserved it. Dallas cuties were all over the place.

It was Saturday at last. The Easyriders show was full on. Both bikes were separated by the ballot table. We had a grim 60 Hamsters, to 6 Chopper riders, odds, but people seemed to like Billy's bike better. He was available all day to sign autographs and talk to people. Knowing Billy, I can tell you he is a humble and simple person. I guess that's why mere Joe's like him. They can relate, but in all fairness I can't say anything about Perewitz since I don't know him that well. The afternoon went on and at the end Billy won the Discovery Build-Off. As the sun ducked out of sight, Tornado warning sirens and hail the size of golf balls sliced the sky to the pavement. What a fucking way to end this strange, long trip. But like they say in the informercials, wait there's more.

Silver City welcomed us with open arms and hot looking chicks. I took off early since I had to catch a plane back to Puerto Rico, the plane that never happened. The flight was canceled, sending me to Miami, sleep over with no luggage, the another flight to San Juan, plus waiting six hours at DFW. What the fuck? If this shit didn't happen, I could not whine about it. Congrats Billy !

AFTERTHOUGHT

After being fortunate enough to be able to participate in the last two Biker Build Offs, I had a better view of differences and similarities. I don't want to bash anyone, but I will always say it like I see it, so here we go. Let me warn everyone, this is my opinion and my opinion only !

There's cool people and there's dicks. There were over 60 people on this ride, so the odds were greater. Although I have very good friends within the Hamsters, the group at this ride were very competitive, they seemed rallied against us. They rode a lot of dressers and Easter-egg colored bikes. We were the "kids" on choppers, including Donny Smith (a Hamster) who had a very cool blue chopper with a girder front end. Maybe not them against us, but them there, we were over here--kinda deal. On the first Discovery ride, everyone hung out together and had a great time. The group was together all the time, no bitching, no real desire to win or lose by either builder. No printed flyers with vote for such and such. At least at the end of the day we all hung out at the bar and laughed at all the antics.

I noticed that a lot more builders were in Dallas, Rumble Customs, Donny Smith, Aaron Greene, Bryan Klock, and others as well as journalists and photographers such as Beau Allen Pacheco and Michael Lichter.

The best time we had was within our small group. I heard that some people were pissed after Billy won. I was not there. There was no need for that, since we are all winners, no matter what.

I was also amazed by the number of people approaching me, introducing themselves, either for the stuff they read on Bikernet or The Horse. No one bitched at me, all were encouraging words. I'm still taken by surprise every time someone approaches me and says my name, even people thought I was Billy's brother, or saw me in the first show (and remembered !).

I can't wait for the next ride. I know it's going to be lots of fun as well. I guess this one was a lesson. Strength is not based in numbers but on tenacity and friendship. We were just extras in this movie and all the importance was for the main character. I would endure a similar ordeal, anytime, with no regrets. That's what friends are for.

Let me end this with something that Jim (from Bayou Customs ) said, (in more or less his words), "I'm glad that this shows the true brotherhood of our lifestyle, the young guns who are keeping the true meaning alive, while the old guys forget what it is all about." True indeed my friend, the old guys doing new stuff, the young guys keeping the old school tradition alive.

--- Jose De Miguel
--- chopperfreak@earthlink.net
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