Bike Week 2004
- Hotel Reservations
- Travel Plans
- Ride to Manning SC Wed night. No stops. (Mar 3)
- Ride from Manning SC to Daytona Beach Thu., leaving at 0700. One or two gas stops. (Mar 4)
- Return from Daytona Beach up A1A Sun (after the races) until we're tired (Mar 7)
- Finish the ride back to the Triangle Mon. One or two gas stops (Mar 8)
Our hotel room is already full, but when I made reservations (via Orbitz.com) there were rooms left at the Days Inn just down the street. I've stayed there several times and I would give it two stars. Clean, decent looking, mini refrigerators and microwaves in the rooms. And it is oceanfront, across the street from Burger King. Our current hotel reservations are at the Hilton just down the street from the Days Inn, although they may change should a better place open up at a lower price -- which is higly unlikely. Through some freak of nature, a room opened at the Hilton cheaper than the room we had reserved at the Days Inn. Go figure. Check back occasionally for updates if you are interested in staying at the same place.
If you make a reservation using an online service, call to confirm it with the hotel. Our reservation was not there for us when we arrived for the last Bike Week. They said the Orbitz reservations are requests only, not confirmations. I use Orbitz 20 times a year for business travel and never had this happen before. But Daytona Beach during Bike Week is a bad place to be with no reservation.
Our travel agenda is very direct. We plan to ride no more than 10mph over the speed limit - we plan on maintaining an actual (not indicated) 10 mph over the speed limit. We're only going to stop for gas as the tank hits reserve (190 miles or so), and a standup lunch at most. No rest stops, no lounging, no dilly dallying. The ride there and back pretty much sucks (I95), and we have stuff we want to do the second we get down there, so our plan is to get to the track ASAP. For the BikeWeek 2003 trip this was a weekend saver. Thursday was the best weather day of the weekend, and the only day that saw no demo ride cancellations, so getting there early on Thursday was a really good thing.
When we get to the track we are going directly to the Kawasaki tent to sign up for rides the next morning. We're members of the Kawasaki group and get to sign up early. Then we'll start scouting the other companies out to find out what time we can sign up, and the bikes available. There will be plenty of time to kick tires over the weekend. We're planning to go to the races on Sunday, and catch a flat track race whenever that is. While down there most of our time from 0700 - 1700 will be spent at the track test riding bikes, checking out vendors, etc. Nitelife will be played by ear, but it will include Main Street, maybe a ride up the coast, and the Cabbage Patch and No Name Saloon out of town.
We may try to make it a little more interesting for the trip back if the weather's nice by poking up A1A for a few hours Sunday evening, but there's no telling, and I don't know what anybody's up for after a long weekend.
Also - weather can be all over the map that time of the year. Sometimes it is beautiful, sometimes cold rain. We go rain or shine.
More Daytona Info
Florida has mandatory eye protection requirements for motorcycle riders. This means you must have glasses on, or your face shield down while you are riding. They can technically give you a ticket if you are riding without glasses, but have your shield flipped up. They have done this before, but they were probably looking to give a ticket for something.
As many of you know Florida has helmet use choice. Just remember, you should always wear your helmet. If for some reason you ride without your helmet you are required to carry medical insurance, and to carry a proof of insurance card. There is a requirement for a minimal amount of insurance, but I don't recall what that is.
