This year Debbie and I chose not to ride into the city to partake of the Rolling Thunder main event. We had went for several years so there was no great interest in doing it again this year. BUT I did attend a pre-Roling Thunder event and assisted our local HOG (Harley Owners Group) chapter with the marshalling of motorcycles for the police escorted ride from Frederick to the Pentagon.
Saturday was the pre-Rolling Thunder event at Washington Harley Davidson. Not only is it a collection of vendors of all types (t-shirts, food, parts and accessories) it is the site of the official Harley Davidson Owners Group Pin Stop. Harley Davidson Pin Stops are a half dozen or so events in which Harley Davidson gives out commemorative pins to the HOG members. Each one is different for each event. If you follow my FaceBook page each week I post one or two dealer or other pins and several of the pin stop pins are pictured.
While this is only a SWAG I think there were more motorcycles at this year’s v. last year’s pin stop. The parking lots were mostly full when I arrived and, unlike last year, still full when I left. The ride to the event was a Frederick Harley Davidson HOG club ride.
STORM CHASER POWERS ACTIVATE! About 15 bikes left that morning from
STORM CHASER!
the dealership under misty, overcast conditions, within 15 minutes the mist turned to full rain and stayed on us for more than half of the ride. Guess what! On the ride back we left a partial cloudy site and again got wet, although for a much shorter frame. Some days, when I ride my motorcycle, I just seem to attract bad weather.
Sunday morning I rolled out of my warm bed, shared by my wife, our dog and myself, and was out the door before 5:30AM. The HOG chapter was assisting the Frederick Harley Davidson dealership with the staging and marshaling of motorcycle going to Rolling Thunder.
There are two groups of motorcycle riders who participate in Rolling Thunder. Those that go to the Pentagon (the starting point for the parade) and those that do not go to the Pentagon. That second group seems to always be nearly identical in size to those that go to the Pentagon. This group typically rides into the city and then parks along the parade route to watch the motorcycle pass by.
By ten minutes after 8:00AM all the bikes were out and on their way to the either the Pentagon or somewhere else. There were just at 300 bikes assembled at the dealership. Nearly every bike brand was represented, I saw Triumph, BMW, Indian, Victory, Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki, there may have been others but those are the ones I recall.
It took just a bit over 5 minutes to get all those bikes on the road (see video below). A short while later we have all the signs, coffee, doughnuts and other stuff gathered and put away. The parking lot looked like nothing had ever happened. 365 days until the next Rolling Thunder.
I JUST WANT 2 RIDE!! 