Republic of Texas Rally - 2001

It would be an hour (and 60 miles) before the Sun would come up and burn away the early morning fog.

We had agreed to get an early start to Austin, so there we were almost to Eagle Lake - and there were very few cars to contend with. BikerTrash.com will soon launch a Motorcycle touring service called "Backroads with BikerTrash" and this was a chance to experience backroads for ourselves. Our route was to go out FM 1093 to Eagle Lake and then pick up FM 102 to Columbus. From Columbus Hwy. 71 would take us to Bastrop where, just west of town, we would turn onto FM 969. Following FM 969 for about 26 miles would bring us to Decker Lane - and the best part, we would never have to ride on any portion of I-10!

The route had plenty of scenery, curves, quaint little towns, horses, and flowers. This route has a lot of photo opps, so keep your camera handy. Even keeping the speed to no more than 70 mph the total trip would take under 3 hours, and it would be enjoyable and relaxing.

This was our 5th ROTRally and we were fully expecting it to be even bigger than last year's WETRally. But even with high expectations we were constantly amazed at how the Rally has grown. Vendors all over the hillside, in the banquet hall and even occupying a major portion of the show barn.

Tents were pitched everywhere, even in areas that we had never seen camping before. There were the clusters of small communities with scores of tents, and then there were the "loners" with their tents pitched among the cedars or by the small creek or off to the side of the road in the more remote sections of the Expo property. For the first time I took a riding tour all around the property and realized how massive the place was - the ROTRally will have to get much, much bigger before primitive camping space becomes an issue.

The registration area was in full swing when we arrived at 10 a.m. It was amazing to realize how many people had already signed in since 8 a.m. when the gates opened. Scores of campsites were already setup and were full of happy campers.

One of the reasons that we like to be among the early arrivals at Rally sites is because it gives us a chance to visit the vendors, talk with them about their products and take a lot of pictures before things get hectic. This year was no exception as we had a chance to visit vendors that we have known from the past and get to know some of the "new kids on the block."

We saw the crew from RichUrbanBikers.com with their line of great products to make cleaning and detailing a bike a lot easier. We have been using the R.U.B. products several months and have been very happy with them. My first reaction was that their name certainly didn't describe me, but then I realized a lot of people feel the same way about "BikerTrash" - you don't have to be "trash" to enjoy our website and you don't have to be a Rich Urban Biker to make good use of the R.U.B. products. . . . makes me wonder if anyone has a site called "YuppieScum.com"?

One of the most interesting services was XXXXX. He could engrave just about anything on your windshield, the thing that makes them different from other windshield engravers is the way that they add color to the image. The windshield on display had an Indian in full headdress engraved on it. My first thought was "neat, tattoos for windshields!" Prices are reasonable and even though you might have missed them at the Rally you can UPS your windshield to them and have the work done anytime of the year. The turnaround time - including shipping - is only about 10 days.

Several vendors had motorcycle trailers - something the BikerTrash.com staff has been looking into. (Don't go ballistic, we aren't talking about trailering our bikes we are talking about pulling a trailer behind the bike so we can carry more T-shirts, promotional items and equipment on these trips.) If you pull a trailer we would be interested in hearing about your experiences and suggestions on making a selection.

The bike was so overloaded with gear that we wanted to check in at the Sheraton as soon as possible and unload and then get some lunch. For the last 4 rallies we have always stayed at the Sheraton on 6th Street. It is a little more pricey the we feel that the convenience to 6th Street and to Austin downtown make it worth it. (We were not happy about the $2.50 per night, per person, utilities surcharge that they surprised us with this year!) Any of us who are in business might be tempted to want to tack our electric bills onto our charges to our customers but it is a cost of doing business. If your rates are too low to cover operating costs increase them but don't quote a lower rate and then "surcharge" people.

Lunch was on 6th Street at the Iron Cactus. This was summer in Austin so we asked the waitress to bring us large glasses of ice tea and to go ahead and refill them. Boy, did that taste great after being out in the heat all morning!

The BikerTrash.com staff always tries to be visible at events so that we can meet as many people as possible - it is always thrillling when someone introduces themself and tells us that the visit our site regularly!

Two outstanding establishments on 6th Street are owned by a biker - Amazon and The Daiquiri Factory - and they had graciously invited us to hang our banner at either of these places and they even provided a lot of Free Drink coupons and "Daiquiri for a Dollar" coupons. By 4 pm our banner was in place above The Daiquiri factory and we began to get excited about the parade of bikes that would roll in in a couple of hours. Joey and the rest of the DF staff were helpful as we got things organized. We had brought a supply of BikerTrash.com T-shirts and mousepads to give away and we wanted to get pictures of as many rally goers as possible to put on the website. Needless to say with tens of thousands of bikers in town our supply of promotional items went quite rapidly, but we had a lot of fun doing it.

It is a logistical nightmare to parade thousands of bikes through a city during Friday night rush hour and then get them all parked in the designated area. The people of Austin welcome this rally and, in return, the rally organizers and the Austin Police Department have to try to keep the inconvenience to the local citizenry to a minimum. To speed up the task of getting the bikes parked, the APD didn't allow any vehicles to park on 6th Street until the parade rolled in. The change was effective in making the parade more efficient and less disruptive to regular traffic although many of the bikers who tried to park on 6th Street earlier in the afternoon were frustrated by having to park their bikes on the side streets.

To a biker the roar of 15 or 20 thousand bikes rolling into town is one of the greatest sounds there is and Friday night in Austin the sound was fantastic. Although the ROTRally is definitely Harley-oriented we saw a lot of British, Japanese and European bikes and the styles ranged from dressers to crotch rockets. All bikers and all there to have a good time with their fellow bikers.

Next year the ROTRally will be held May 31- June 2. Maybe I should go ahead and reserve my room early . . . .