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Friday, June 20, 2003
Part 1 - At The Hoot | Part 2 - On The Road
After breakfast and a gas-up, Blair, Mary and I headed out for the Hoot. It was amazing the number of bikes we passed on either side of the road. The bulk of what I saw was Gold Wings - old ones, new ones, big ones and bigger ones. At one point we passed a very large group of Gold Wings, all new. We decided later that must have been one of the test ride groups coming from the event.
We got to the Fairgrounds a little later than I had hoped. The only two rides scheduled for Friday had already left. As we were getting ready to leave the bikes, I noticed an interesting twist on a very recognizable logo. We made our way up to the fairgrounds building so I could register for a one day pass. I'm not sure what I was expecting to see, but it was quite an impressive site seeing all those bikes in the parking lot. Just as on the way, a majority of the bikes were Gold Wings. There were also a number of VTXs.
We spent the rest of the morning checking out the vendors. And vendors there were! The entire fairgrounds building was filled with vendors - upstairs and down. Outside on the walkway next to the lake and in the two fairgrounds areas were also packed with vendors. The vendors alone were worth the $15 day pass I got. If I had been in the market for just about anything, I would have been able to get it here. Blair and Mary were there to buy and got some good deals on a couple of tail bags and Joe Rocket riding gear from the JR tent.
We ate lunch at one of the fair-style vendors (don't get the hoagie - tasteless rip-off for a $5 sandwich!) and continued on to the rest of the vendors. While Blair and his wife were busy at the Joe Rocket tent, I got to check out the Trial Bike team. Saw the same group with a different rider in Memphis once. Very impressive stuff! Here are links to photos of the rider. Image 1 | Image 2 | Image 3 | Image 4 |
The
last thing we did at the Hoot was check out the Test Ride area. Taking
a test ride was out of the question. We were told that in order
to get on the list for a test ride, you had to be at the event as soon
as the doors opened. So we just took a look around at all the candy in
the candy store. The manufacturers I remembered that had a presence there
were Honda, Yamaha,
Suzuki, Aprilla,
Buell and Moto
Guzi. It was impressive
seeing all those bikes
lined up ready
to be ridden. Honda had about four
groups that would go out at staggered times. Honda was pretty strict
about what you had
to wear (helmet, long sleeves, eye protection, etc.)
while we noticed a couple of the other manufacturer's groups coming in
slightly underdressed.
The most incredible thing I saw in the test ride area was the Valkyrie Rune. I have seen photos and video of this thing, but neither of those does its size justice. IT'S HUGE! It is to motorcycles what Hummers are to trucks - totally impractical, but really cool to say you own one. I'm not sure what the price tag is on one of these, but I'm sure you've got to promise your first born as a down payment. Here are a few shots of the bike. Rune 1 | Rune 2 | Rune 3 | Rune 4 | Rune 5
By the time we had finished looking around the Test Ride area, we were ready to head out. Blair and Mary were going to meet their daughter and parents at the zoo. Having come to ride, I decided to take off on a short ride while they visited the zoo. Blair and I were going to try to hook up later to ride Deal's Gap together (more on that later.) On the way out to the parking lot I picked up some ride maps that Honda provided and found a short ride that would take me into some scenic areas around Knoxville.