The drive there from Folsom is pretty easy, and no freeways needed. Good motorcycling roads with plenty of curves and great scenery of the foothills around the valley; mostly valley oak and dried grass.
Quite a lot of other motorbikes were on the same pilgrimage, and it was fun to converge on the fairgrounds in Plymouth for a fun day of live music, stunt demos, vendor shopping, custom bikes and food/drinks.
Most bikes were cruisers in the show itself, but a fair amount of variety in the parking lot if you looked hard; quite a few sport bikes along with some sport tourers and even some dual sports.
The highway patrol was out in force, and unfortunately for some bikers, it was an expensive day when they got their tickets. I saw two motorcycle cops giving out at least 7 tickets to a group of Harley riders at the local grocery store. Bummer. Bet those guys think about radar detectors as their next accessories, as mine gave me several seconds of warning before I could actually see the cops.
The attendance was apparently quite low compared to last year, and not as many custom bikes on display. But this was my first time, and any gathering of like-minded motorcyclists is a good time on my list, so I made the most of it.
Some friends from work also were there, including Sandy, Darrell, Larry and Russ, so we visited for a while which was nice. But it was such a beautiful day, they decided to only stay a short time and continue their group ride. Who can blame them? But I stayed and checked out all the happenings.
Aprilia was well-represented there, with most of their models on display. And the wicked looking CanAm Spyders were there with fun little cone track where you could take a test drive on the strange 3-wheeled machines. There was also a portable dyno setup there where you could pay $25 and have your bike "dyno'd" to see what horsepower your bike makes. I got a neat video of that with a custom Hyabusa that rated 178 HP. Boy was it loud!
Did some shopping, talked to most of the vendors, including interesting booth of custom high-intensity LED lighting for motorbikes. Lots of cruiser-style clothing for sale and a lot of women's clothing. I tried to find something to bring back to my girls, but didn't find anything really. There were some real characters there, and people watching was half the fun; the lady in the wing costume carrying the stuffed chicken was the Bad___ Biker Fairy. She was a hoot.
The highlight for me were the hourly stunt shows from Mid Cal Stunners. They were pretty good, and one guy in particular was very talented. Lots of spinning rubber and the wonderful acrid white smoke and screaming engines made things entertaining for the crowd of about 100 folks watching. I took a few pictures and then got some ok video of some of the stunts as well.
Admission was $15 and parking was only $1 if you drove a motorbike there, and I'm probably going again next year. Here is a link to more pictures... Additional Pictures
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