| Good Times! |
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I try to do this ride each year. It is one of my favorites for many reasons. My mother and brother both suffer from Diabetes and the Rips B.A.D. Ride is an event put on and supports the American Diabetes Association. Another reason why I like to go to this event is simply selfish. I dig the bike games! ABATE chapter 20 manages the games for the Rips BAD Ride. Gill and his crew set up the cones for the Slow Ride, dangle the hot dog for the Weenie Bite and fill the water balloons for the Bike Wash.
Billy Liz and Terry met up at my house and we left around 10am to meet up with our buddies Carl and his son Eric on the way to Oak Canyon Park in Santiago Canyon. We found ample parking on the grass and got busy checking in and finding the to-dos for the event. Then they announced the beginnings of the Bike Games. Billy, Liz and I opted for the games. Billy wanted to put his sidecar rig in the show so he couldn’t play the games. They did allow him to do an exhibition run on the weenie bite contest. Liz stepped up and took that ketchup encased dog to the limit. (you will find a video of the games on our streetfire.net page). Liz then jumped on the back of my bike and requested the dog be covered with both mustard and ketchup. What a mess. I rolled slowly under the dangling dawg as she crept up and took a big enough bite for us to win 2nd place. Next is the slow race. After the first couple of sets of three crawled along the sand pit, it was my turn to roll. It was a close race with a chick named SWAT on a sport bike, and a guy on a really nice Screamin’ Eagle Heritage. I told the dude: “I’m gonna lay this bike down before I put my foot down.” Just to psych him out. I won that pass, then on the final for the 1st 2nd and 3rd place run I put my foot down and got third place. The bike wash was fun too. Liz jumped on back again and we made a couple of attempts where the second run the balloon landed on the nacelle and splashed all over the front of my bike. That my friends is why they call it the Bike Wash. Billy did well with the bike show and one the trophy for his sidecar class. Man, were we hungry. Once we got to the park, we started with the games and there was no time to see the rest of the show or get the lunch, which we had a lunch pass for. It was around 2pm when we finally went and the food was all gone. Good thing we had the VIP passes. There was still some noodles in the VIP area so we were able to fill our bellies. We sat for a bit with Larry Hagman and his wife Mai in the VIP tent. He took the stage to make some announcements with the Rips BAD Ride Ambassador Steve Shapiro. Next we enjoyed the final set from Aeromyth an Aerosmith cover band. They rocked hard with the final two songs, Train Kept a Rollin’ and the encore Sweet Emotion. I have a video of clips or the band playing on our Streetfire.net page. The event came to a close with a word from Rips daughter (who brought along her son playing on stage) and introduction of the judges for the bike contest. The Hooter Girls were there to add some candy to the stage of the “ugly dudes”. They announced the winners, shot some photos and the crowd dispersed. Our buddy Mike Faria won best Trike for his rig he built at HBMC (Huntington Beach Motor Cycles) www.HBMC.com. Good times. I kept saying to myself as we rolled a leisurely pace out the canyon. A well organized show. Plenty of things to do, the time went quickly and met up with some good friends. If you are in Southern California in June you got to make it a point to check out this show. All the money donated goes directly to the American Diabetes Association for research to cure and prevent diabetes. Visit their website at www.RipsBADRide.com to learn more about this and other events they have throughout the country. |
| Ride on. — T-Bone |