The Biker Blog

Belts, belts 'n more belts

First time vendor Mario Flores made it down to Atlantic Beach's Bikefest from Fayetteville, N.C. to sell belts that feature skulls,pistols and more family friendly-fare like Dora the Explorer.

"It's been going pretty well,'' said Flores, about traffic to his booth. "What can you say about [the bikefest]? It's plenty of pretty women, the beach is good, the crowds are good. I wish it would go longer."

Worship service

Atlantic Beach Christian Methodist Episcopal Church held church service today outdoors during the town's annual Bikefest, drawing onlookers and visitors.

Couple makes Bikefest their annual vacation

You could call Chester and Angela Pridgen old pros when it comes to Atlantic Beach Bikefest.

"I've been coming since 2001,'' said Chester Pridgen, 37.

The couple rides their 2006 Yamaha R1 down from Washington, D.C., for the festivities each year.

"I plan my vacation around this every year,'' he said. "I like the atmosphere.''
The Pridgens say they usually look forward to just hanging out with friends when they're on the Grand Strand.

"We just like to mingle, just like to meet people,'' said Chester Pridgen.

Parking lots look empty on 501

Jonathon Formo, owner of Redline Power Sports on U. S. 501 in the county portion of Myrtle Beach, had a parking lot with lots of full spaces Saturday afternoon, but nothing compared to last year, he said.

The seller of sport bikes, equipment and gear, normally has a handful of vendors at his shop during The Atlantic Beach Memorial Day Bikefest. This year the parking lot seems quiet and empty, compared to the view of bobbing heads and meticulously lined up bikes that have been gaining in numbers over the last five years.

``Right at the tail end of everything the county decided to make this an overlay district, the 501 overlay district and say that no vendors would be allowed because they hold up traffic,'' Formo said. ``But they haven't enforced that for everyone.''

Formo said the county issued permits to vendors during a recent car show near Freestyle Music Park, in the old Waccamaw Mall. He said he counted about 75 vendors and was told by the county that the event was allowed permits because it was not-for profit.

``It didn't look like that to me, and we want to make sure that everyone has to abide by the law, if it stays a law,'' he said. ``It's discriminatory to only enforce it for motorcycle events, and it's discriminatory not to allow tourists who are on motorcycles into this city.''

As Atlantic Beach Bikefest begins, bikers have mixed feelings

Rocky Marsh, the president and founder of the All Throttle Motorcycle Club, based in Alabama, takes a picture of his group at the at 2001 Nightclub, which is hosting vendors and entertainment during the Atlantic Beach Bikefest.

Last year, 17 members of the II Tru bike club rode from Orlando for the Atlantic Beach Bikefest. This year, there are only six.

"We like it, but we ain't coming back," said Robert Jackson, 39, the president of the club, chafing under new restrictions passed by the city of Myrtle Beach to curtail the area's spring motorcycle rallies. "The treatment is too bad. The treatment is terrible. I've never seen a city that don't want no money."

As the Bikefest begins, bikers reported seeing fewer riders hitting the road. Rocky Marsh, the founder and national president of the All Throttle Motorcycle Club, based in Alabama, has been coming to the rally for five years. Despite some anti-biker sentiment in the area, he said he was not deterred.

"If they change the rules, we're just going to adapt to the rules," he said. "We're not going to go away."

Cycle Shoe International, a company based in Philadelphia, is putting together entertainment and vendors for the weekend at 2001 Nightclub on Lake Arrowhead Road. Last year, the company hosted 147 vendors at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. This year, there are only 30 at 2001 Nightclub.

But that didn't bother Howard Clifton Jr., the owner of DD's Custom Seats and Accessories, which has been coming to the Bikefest since 1992. Clifton said sales were actually up because there were less vendors -- and thus less competition.

He said he did not mind relocating from Myrtle Beach to the North Myrtle Beach area.

"That's where the rally started from the beginning," he said. "To me, it was a no brainer... it was just like moving back to basics."

 From left, Martis Mack, 37, Robert Jackson, 39, and Bruce Archie, 40, of the II Tru bike club, hang out outside the 2001 Nightclub during the Atlantic Beach Bikefest.

motorcycle pop-pop

Caroline Sheets of Conway, 5, wore a pink shirt with the words ``my Grandpa is a biker'' on them while her little brother Jacob Sheets, 3, waited for his Harley Davidson leather vest to get fixed at Jamin' Leather in Surfside Beach. The two who were with their grandpa Tom Kelly, of Georgetown, were an example for how many daytime events at the Harley Davidson Cruisin' the Coast Spring Rally were family and child friendly.

Tom Kelley, who is a retired from the Air Force, had his gold Harley on a hitched trailer, but he also had a customized wooden Harley for his first and only grandson Jacob.

``He loves it. He busted the handlebars, he was rocking so hard the one time,'' Kelley said.

And why doesn't the motorcycle grandpa with wordworking skills make these masterpieces to sell?

``That'd be work. Making this one, it was made from love,'' he said.

AC/DC look-a-likes and "gimme shelter"

The classic rock/hard rock vibe of motorcycle living came through Friday night and Saturday morning at the Harley Davidson's Cruisin' the Coast Spring Rally with two solid tributes to great artists. Even if they are riding through the flip-flop and Hawaiian shirt haven of Myrtle Beach, few motorcyclists would be caught dead tooling down the highway listening to Jimmy Buffet or Barry Manilow for that matter - not that there's anything wrong with ``Mandy'', but it doesn't cry street cred.

Band members of Highway to Hell, a South Carolina native AC/DC cover band, tore up the stage with straight on renditions of classic, and not heavy radio-played songs from the Australian hard rockers. It's not an easy feat to keep the majority of an audience captivated when there is a woman in a body stocking ten feet away, or scantily clad bartendresses playing baseball with twinkies. (At one point an audience member yelled, ``She really creamed that one.'' BUT, I digress.)

The band was on point and well-received, a good choice by the owners of the bar Suck Bang Blow (named after the sound a motorcycle makes-- come on, mind out of the gutter friends) at Four Corners, Murrells Inlet. 

Coincidentally, during the downpour early Saturday morning that threatened to cancel out some festivities, motorcyclists huddled under gas station awnings, listening to whatever was being played inside that was in turn being piped to the overhead speakers. In a somewhat divine moment, ``Gimme Shelter'' came on the radio. You have to love those soundtrack of your life moments, feels like the right place at the right time.

Pick up a Weekly Surge or a Naked Biker News event guide to check out some more live acts this weekend. You could be pleasantly surprised. 

Horry County citation tally: 1,831

The Horry County Police Department gave out 254 citations from 6 a.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. today, and there were six motorcycle accidents during that time, according to a report from county emergency management director Randall Webster.

That brings the tally to 1,831 citations and 26 motorcycle accidents during the Harley-Davidson Cruisin' the Coast spring rally, the report says.

The most common citation was for speeding, but they were also given for equipment violations, driver's license violations, and improper turns and passing.

Some bikers still getting ink

Managers at tattoo and piercing parlors on Seaboard Street said new Myrtle Beach ordinances have put a damper on business during this year's motorcycle rally, but the rules didn't stop one biker from getting some ink.

Sharon Ashmore, who came to Myrtle Beach from Connecticut with her husband, Lee Ashmore, got her first tattoo Friday - a red heart on her shoulder that says "baby girl" inside.
She got it for her eight-year-old granddaughter, she said.

It didn't even hurt too much, she said, before pulling back the bandage to display the tattoo.

"It wasn't as bad as I expected,'' she said.

Checkpoint irks some drivers, police give citations

A traffic checkpoint this morning on U.S. 501 eastbound at U.S. 17 Bypass had traffic backed up to at least Forestbrook Road while some disgruntled drivers wondered what the holdup was.

For two hours, about 25 to 30 Myrtle Beach police officers, state constables and officers from other agencies checked driver's licenses and vehicle registrations along the highway, which had been narrowed to one lane for the checkpoint.

Megan Marczewski, a local resident whose car slowed to a crawl near the checkpoint, said she had been waiting in traffic 20 minutes to get from Burcale Road.

Another driver said she wondered if there had been an accident.

"I have no idea what's going on,'' Marczewski said. "I'm not exactly thrilled about it. They could have given us some warning.''

It's the first year Myrtle Beach police have conducted a checkpoint in that spot for the Harley Davidson Cruisin' the Coast spring rally, Capt. David Knipes said.

More than midway through the checkpoint, which ended at noon, traffic sergeant John Bertang said some citations had been given, but the number was not immediately available.

Police also will conduct a checkpoint there from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday.

Church near speedway fishing for souls

Members of Grand Strand Baptist Church cast invisible lines of love, hope, free water and free pizza to bikers cruising past today on their way to and from the Myrtle Beach Speedway, the newest venue for this year's Harley-Davidson Cruisin' the Coast spring rally.

Pastor Freddie Young said a few have stopped, and he hopes more will show up at a tent service planned for 7 p.m. tonight. The church has multiple goals for its efforts, he said, among which are increasing its exposure to the community and saving souls.

``We've got a good opportunity to fish,'' he said as more bikers drove by. ``We've got more fish.''

Occupancy down for first weekend of bike rally

Gary Loftus, director of the Center for Economic and Community Development at Coastal Carolina University, reported today that hotel occupancy in Horry County was down 17.9 percent for the first weekend of the Harley-Davidson Cruisin' the Coast spring rally.

Loftus said it's not possible to attribute the decline to the economy, bikers protesting new laws in Myrtle Beach to discourage attendance or the absence of non-biker visitors.

He said that numbers that could get more to a reason won't be tabulated until next week. Then, staticians will look to see if there was a significant difference in occupancy at hotels and motels in North Myrtle Beach and Surfside Beach versus those in Myrtle Beach.

Pudding can be dangerous

Some bikers make their way to Myrtle Beach for the Harley Davidson Cruisin' the Coast Spring Rally for the camaraderie, some for the sales on motorcycle accessories, some just for the chance to ride the open road... and then there are those who come for the contests. Some of them push the limit, some are good clean fun, and then there are those that straddle the line.

Pudding wrestling. Two girls in a kiddie pool full of watered down chocolate pudding. Every day this week the Rat Hole has used the event to segue from innocent daytime rodeo events to the night time contests. 

Wednesday, however, there was a pause in the festivities. One contestant lost her footing and her match after she broke a rib. The Horry County Fire Rescue came to take the child protection lawyer from Walpole, Mass. to the hospital within minutes of the injury. Carol waived to the crowd from her gurney to a roar of audience applause.

Sometimes you eat the pudding, sometimes the pudding eats you.

Free pizza with ticket

Yep, you read it right. The Mellow Mushroom at 1571 21st Avenue North in Myrtle Beach is giving away free small cheese pizzas to motorcyclists who get a ticket for not wearing a helmet.

You must bring the ticket to the restaurant in order to get the pizza. As of about 3 p.m. Wednesday no one had yet to redeem the offer.

The city of Myrtle Beach, as part of its effort to rid itself of the motorcycle rallies that hit the city each spring, has instituted a number of ordinances including a helmet law.

Ocean Boulevard getting one-way pattern

As of 2 p.m. Thursday, the one-way traffic pattern that is common to each May's motorcycle rallies will be implemented in the southbound lanes of Ocean Boulevard from 29th Avenue North to South Kings Highway.

The city said the two northbound lanes are reserved for emergency vehicles, and the traffic pattern remains in place from 2 p.m. to midnight Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

During those hours, right turns from Ocean Boulevard will be allowed at 21st Avenue North, 16th Avenue North, 11th Avenue North, Third Avenue South, Sixth Avenue South, 13th Avenue South and 17th Avenue South.

--Lorena Anderson