Daytona-2024
So… knowing about my annual trip to Daytona, Thunder Roads Michigan asked me if I would mind writing a few words on my experience. I’m not gonna lie…. With dirt season getting an early kick off and all the Michigan tracks opening for an early season it’s been hard to think of Daytona bike week as being anything more than a distraction to me – lol.
For the last several years, I have gone to Daytona to work for the first event of the year, Daytona Bike Week. As much as I love motorcycles, when you’re not going to play, it doesn’t matter much if you’re in Florida or Michigan, it’s just not as exciting as it sounds. Yes, I’m there, but not to play…. Do u know how many motorcycles I have to clean and move throughout the day while I’m working the event?! And the consumers I have to help…. some are great!!……some are not! All the standing and managing crowds and swarms of people, at the end of the day I am just done!!
I remember the first year I attended, I was that eager, overly anxious tourist trying to get everything in that I possibly could! It being a new event for me, I wanted to see and experience as much as possible!! But, working 12-hour days before, after, and through the whole event quickly led to burning out. Although I’m grateful, I’ve just not been as excited as I used to be about the adventures I get to go on. I have to make the point and share that the last couple years at Daytona were extra special in a way I did not anticipate!!
My passion for motorcycles, that I thought was fizzling out on me, has been completely reignited! Not only do I get to reunite every year with an amazing group of people who have become family over the years, but I had the chance to take my oldest son to work with me! Not only does he share the eager excited feelings of being surrounded by some of the fastest hottest rides around, but how cool is it to be able to introduce your baby to something you yourself have had a passion for your entire life!
Not only is Daytona Bike Week the first big rally of the year but is also the kickoff to so many on and off-road competitions. It is host to the first AFT pro race, first amateur Flat Track race, as well as Sprint car racing, Arenacross, Hillclimb and then of course the King of the Bagger races at the speedway. Along with Supercross and so much more!
With all this racing going on within only a few miles of us Devin, my son, took full advantage of it! He got a chance to cheer on friends from home who were there to compete in the ATF pro races and watch and meet the pros who were performing at the level that he is reaching for. He got a chance to meet some big names and to kick it with some celebrities, being 20 years younger than me he didn’t mind the long days of work that made this opportunity obtainable for him.
I want to give a huge shout out to my work family who took my son under their wings. We all took turns going with him to events to help make sure he got in as much as he could in the time allotted.
Now that my son is at that age, where he just doesn’t wanna hang out with mom on a regular basis anymore, I love knowing that he looks forward to these events. Which in turn makes me excited to be there too. I love the phone calls leading up to the trip, and I love the time and adventures I get to spend and share with him! I even loved the 18-hour drive. We had so much time to catch up with each other! But most of all, I love that my son brought back a passion I thought I had lost! I am grateful to be able to share my adventures with one of my most favorite people on this earth! I am completely geeked for our next adventure!
