About 80 motorcycles were present at the Freehold Bike Night, the vast majority being Harley’s of various hues and sizes.
With my “double-flag” flying, we rolled into the parking lot and were shown to our allotted parking spot.
Freehold Bike Night, sponsored by Budweiser. “Grab some Buds” the sign said…!!
So I followed their instructions to the letter…
More than 80 bikes turned up for the show…
And the Big Fella received his fair share of attention…
The Elk’s colours…
The Elks ladies were getting their message across !!
The old classic and the new flasher…
Some great looking bikes were on show.
Tony Arpaia’s bike stole the show from the other Harleys…
Towards the end of the evening, after we had enjoyed a light meal served up by Coleen and her ladies, Keith took the microphone in hand and began calling out the names that the judges had chosen in the various categories…
I was in deep discussion with a few guys about the benefits of breast-feeding (or at least I thought that was what we were discussing…) when I heard Keith describing my ride around the world to the assembled crowd…
“And that is why tonight, the judges have decided that Ronnie’s “Big Fella”, is the winner of the Best Metric Bike on Show…!!” he ended…
I went forward to receive my trophy to cheers from the crowd and loud whoops from my excited wife !!
And the winners on the night were… Tony Arpaia and the Gypsy Biker, amongst others…
Keith Weber, “el Presidente”, and son Kevin join me to celebrate…
Patricia with Keith’s wife Coleen, his daughter Jessica, and son Kevin.
As the festivities drew to an end, so did the balmy weather we had experienced so far that evening… It started to drizzle and that was all many of the bikers needed, to send them scurrying for their machines and roaring off into the dark night.
Patricia and I hung around for a while with the Weber family, thanking them for the evening which they had arranged and hosted, before making our own departure.
For those who did not already know…
It had been a long day for us, which had included the ride from Ithaca in upstate New York, and a raucous and enjoyable few hours, spent with our fellow bikers…
We drifted through the dark streets of Freehold, the Big Fella growling contentedly beneath us, and eased quietly into the driveway. Ken and Karen were still awake and after chatting to them for a short time, we bid them goodnight and what seemed like moments later, were fast asleep…
It had been a very long day…
©GBWT 2013
What a winner – well done to the Big Fella. Hope you bought him some high octane unleaded for a celebration!