♠ Motörheadster ♠: Tuesday Night Ride

A friend invited me to join him and group of guys who meet every week to crack the throttle and damage some eardrums. The guys refer to it as the 'Tuesday Night Ride' (TNR).

Paul and I were the first to arrive. That's his Fat Boy in Denim Black. I absolutely love that colour, and the paint scheme fits the bike rather well.

My tank is in the way, but Paul changed the pipes and put on Vance and Hines big radius 2-into-2. Great sound to em'.

The TNR begins here at Le Garage Cafe in the French quarter. We're supposed to leave between 7:30 & 8:00. The only problem, the boys were no where to be seen. So, I ordered food. Hey... the menu said they serve quote: the "best poutine ever!"

(not the poutine I had)

And they were right, it was damn good. This from a guy who's enjoyed poutine in the motherland. My first dish was in a small community club hockey rink in Drummondville Quebec. Le Garage has awesome fries... that's the secret.

Sorry I digress... back to TNR.

So.. while Paul was speed dialing to track everyone down we got to chatting.

He's a professional musician (bass player) check that, award winning... who's toured with some big name bands including Doc Walker.

(Paul is in the back right)

He's currently laying down some tracks with (I believe I heard him correctly) Glenn Drover.

Yup, the Glenn Drover formerly of Megadeth.

Ya... tell me that ain't frickn' cool! Paul, nothing against country but uh... I gotta hear those tunes once you're done man! Anyway... the speed dialing payed off because Dan and Ray arrived shortly after followed up by Jason.

Ray was on an (I believe) 06' Victory, the new American Motorcycle. Sweet lookin' machine.

The lines on the bike are very clean, a place for everything and everything in it's place. The factory pipes really had a cool bark. The rims are kick a$$ and apparently pretty pricey.

Dan rolled up on a CB750 Honda cafe racer. A wicked lookn' scoot.

The bars, gauges and 4-into-1 exhaust (header) and muffler were rad.

The gold frame, black tank and rear seat cowling really worked. Finally, someone else who has to lift his a$$ off the seat when they hit railway tracks!

The view from the front says it all, classic cafe. So.. it was bout' 9:30 or so, still no Joel and Justin. No shows! The guy who invites me out and he leaves me hangin'. But as it turns out... I had met Ray before through a mutual friend T.K., yup the same T.K. in other posts (The 1983 Motörhead T-Shirt & AC/DC Concert).

So we head out to an older, established pub. As soon as I put the kick stand down, I can smell a familiar scent you know... the smell you always notice at those darn heavy metal rock concerts. And right next door... a custom motorcycle shop. We couldn't resist takin' a peek.

Sorry Jason this is the only snap I took of your ride. It's a H-D soft tail with a springer front end. Nice up sweep exhaust with a very distinctive growl. The H-D factory springer (in my humble opinion) is still one of the coolest on the market! I love the position of the shock, between the springs and the light up nice and high.

So, I don't know if it was the band that night or if there was a full moon or if that's the typical clientele... but we walk through the bar and out to the patio and it was like we walked through a time warp.

I swear, I saw these guys sitting at a corner table.

One of the guys said later it was like the scene out of 'Star Wars' when Luke and C-3PO walked into the Cantina.

Remember...

So.. it was back to the bikes and off to another watering hole.

Curt, another friend of Ray and Dan's showed up as well. Curt (another well known professional musician) spent the day at the beach so his sprayed-on baked look, was quickly dubbed 'George Hamil-TAN'.

But still no Joel or Justin... and that's when some other new nick names emerged. Joel (the guy who knows all the women because of his business, Oxfords) and Justin (Night Train) may somehow be forever linked to Goose and Maverick from the movie 'Top Gun'.

Why? I'm not really sure... but it may have something to do with the beach volleyball scene.

As for Dan, his moustache provided tons of material for Curt which of course led us to envision images of these guys.

Hey... I thought Dan looked like D-Day, the guy on the motorcycle from Animal House.

And what was D-Day riding... an Iron head Sporty, bates seat and no front fender... cause' that's the way we roll!

Hey, that's what the kids say.

All in all, it was a blast. Riding in TNR was a breath of fresh air. Didn't matter what you rode, as long as you rode. Cool.

And I don't know if the others noticed this but I sure did, we were all wearing sneakers!!! Holy crap, that's like going to a golf course and meeting up with your four-some only to realize you're all lefties! What are the chances?

(turns out I do have another pic of Jason's ride and there's a shot of Paul's Vance and Hines)

Now, I may be a rookie in the TNR group but I say... if you miss a night without a valid excuse (Ray & Dan's dad underwent heart surgery and they made it out), you buy the first round.