For almost a year I kept reading threads on the various VTX boards about a picnic that some guy in Fredericksburg, VA throws every June. Well I had just missed the one for 2008 so I read with interest the developments for his 2009 bash. Jason (Bulldog) had put out an open invitation to every VTX biker who could show up. There were guys from all over the East Coast and as far away as Texas who were chatting on the boards saying they were planning on coming. As the date approached Jason started to try to get a tally of how many were actually going to show up. Oh and by the way, everything was being done at no cost to those showing up. Jason wasn't selling tickets or in any other way telling people that they'd have to pay. His family was helping cook enough food for what was now appearing to be close to 200 people showing up. Everyone on the boards started to point out that it was only fair for those coming to chip in to help defray the cost. People started mailing Jason money before hand and there was a donation jug at the party, but even with that given all that I saw there was no way that he didn't eat some of the cost of throwing this gig.

Early on the Sat. morning of the picnic I met up with John (XTRM), Carla (CarlaX) and her husband Jim at the nearby Safeway. From Rockville we took the back roads thru Laurel over to Bowie where we met up with a large group coming down from Glen Burnie.

After a little bit of meeting folk and gawking at the 1300 that this young guy Brian was riding. We saddled up and started heading down Rt 301 to VA. Going thru St. Charles was a bit tough due to the size of the group and the amount of stop lights. The group got broken up quite a bit at this point and those of us that had been at the front had to pull over and wait a good 10 min. before we got everyone back together again.

One of the guys wasn't too hot about riding over the Harry Nice bridge into VA. The bridge is only 2 lanes with jersey walls running down both sides and in the center the bridge goes up pretty high over the Potomac River in order to allow ships to pass underneath. Another of the riders told him to just keep his eyes on his bikes tail light and not look any where else. He assured him that if he just kept his focus on that one spot he'd be fine. Given the general stereotypes that most people have of bikers (especially those on cruisers) it was nice to see this display of cammaraderie and fellowship. No judgements being passed by anyone, just an attitude of we'll get you thru this and let's go have fun.

The ride over to Jasons was a bit hairy as I'd never ridden with a group this large before. I believe the final count was something like 189 motorcycles. We had a number of guys playing 'blocker" (they would ride up to the next intersection and block traffic) to keep us all moving. These pics, from the ride over, are ones that Mike (MadHtr) took while from his bike.

Once we all got to Jasons it was time to party. Jason had a great area out back of his house with lots of seating under tarps to keep the sun off us. He and his family had a huge spread of very good food and lots of cold beer and sodas to drink. The conversations at the tables were hilarious and it was a blast getting to meet people that I'd chatted with on the forums for the past year but had never met. Jason also had a free raffle going with tons of items that vendors had sent in or had brought with them since several were in attendance.

Later that evening a large group of us rode back over to the Maryland side of the Potomac and had dinner at a crab house.

A fair number of us spent the night either camping at Bulldogs are in a nearby motel, and met in the morning to go for a ride. We headed West towards Skyline Drive and we were planning on crossing over the parkway and then heading North but things didn't quite work out as intended. Heading West on Route 211 we started the climb to go over the parkway. Thar are some nice twisties on this section of road and a number of us were itching to scrape some pegs (or floor boards). Based on this lovely sign we weren't the first to feel this way and quite a number who'd gone before us found out what the physics of hitting a 10mph hairpin doing 40mph created. But hey you only live once and I knew my bike wasn't a pocket rocket. I'd have my fun but keep it within a safe margin of insanity. So right after we saw this sign Jason (who was leading the parade) waved those of us, who were itching to twist the throttle to go ahead.

John (Sniper) ripped on by me like he had a fire to get to and I decided to take off after him. Well for the next few miles I was staying in second gear, taking her to redline and then jumping on the brakes. There was no way I was going to catch up to John on his 1100, heck I just wanted to try not to lose him all together as I used up every inch of the two lanes I had, going as fast as my 800lb bike would allow. John and I crested the intersection with Skyline Drive and shot down the other side, but because of the sudden wall of traffic in front of us, pulled over to let them get ahead of us, and to allow those behind us to catch up. So there we sat laughing about how fun that little romp was but none of the other riders were showing up. After 5 minutes I questioned whether we were supposed to be up on the parkway but John assured me that Bulldog had said, "meet you at the bottom". We waited another minute and decided something wasn't right, so we headed back up. No one was up on top of the drive so we continued to head back down the way we'd come. We were almost back where we started when we saw what you never want to see - one long row of bikes parked along the almost non existent shoulder, extending all the way around the first hairpin turn that we'd hit.

A younger rider by the moniker Buttnekkid didn't make it around the first turn. He has just installed forward controls on his bike which reduced his turning radius. He came into the turn to hot and when he tried to lean her over more the left forward control dug into the asphalt and started to lift the front wheel off the ground. At that point he was running out of realestate and was heading for a guard rail. Well God was with him, because we could see from his skid marks that he missed the end of the guard rail with mere inches to spare as well as threading the needle between two trees.

We all thank God that Buttnekkid actually came out of this accident with only a bruised back.

I think the following two comments really sums up the event.

It was a heart stopping moment. I don't think I've ever stopped a bike, parked it and then hurdled a guardrail running into the woods as fast as I did on Sunday. I was expecting to get to him and see a frightening mess of blood and broken limbs. Thankfully, GOD was with us that day and had his Hand on the situation. To see it in person and see the guard rail he missed by mere inches and the two big trees he ended up right in between you can't not believe in God. So glad he was and is ok.

From Buttnekkid:

I for one have learned that severe back pain can completely hide the pain of a cracked molar for 2 days. I went down because I overrode the limits of the bike. I knew that the accutronix (forward controls that don't pivot like foot pegs) had severely limited my turn radius and I thought I had compensated enough for this. Thats what I get for thinkin huh? I really could have made it alot farther around the turn than I did but I figured wood and dirt to be a little softer than gaurdrail so I took it off-road. Judging from the size and shape of the bruise on my lower back, I think a majority of the damage to the sissy bar came from me and the worst part is now my kids know I'm not superman. Thanks to everyone for the prayers and well wishings I'll be in touch again soon, can't sit at the keyboard for long

I mentioned earlier about the riders that I've seen and met not matching the stereotype that most people have. After the accident a number of guys started collecting parts and money to help this young guy get his bike put back together. Here is his comment on their effort.

Thanks again to any of you that have kept me in your prayers. Many of you have done much more than that, and for that I am very grateful. As Hick mentioned, I carried only liability ins. and still owe on the bike. If it weren't for the kind actions of some of our members I may not have had any chance of fixing my bike. I'm sure that some of you think I'm just stupid for only carrying liability ins. but I was saving over 1250 a yr and trying to save my house. The day after my accident I got a call from the mortage co giving me my options, attempt a short sale on the home or be foreclosed on. So hopefully I can find a decent place to rent and maybe scrounge enough $ to get the X at least rideable. Thanks again for everyones concern and help.

How many people do you know that would be this generous to a complete stranger?

You DO meet the nicest people on a Honda!