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DAYTONA BEACH -- The thousands of bikers rumbling into your rearview mirror this week are pretty much running the same cycle: Ride. Gather. Repeat. "We'll ride, stop, ride some more, have a couple beers now and then, and ride the coast," said Mark Rowe, just one Biketoberfest visitor among the legions traversing Volusia and Flagler counties on Thursday during the fall rally's official first day. It was a rainy one, in places -- with a few herds of Harleys getting bathed in the afternoon's driving, sideways rain -- but the crowds grew anyway on Main Street in Daytona Beach, at Destination Daytona near Ormond Beach and at biker bars like the Iron Horse Saloon in between. "This is something else," said Ronnie Lane, a chicken farmer from Duluth, Ga., who was chewing on a cigar, watching bikes and women pass him by on Main Street. "I'm enjoying it for an old country farmer, it's something else to see." Lane, although he was wearing a biker's do-rag from last year's event, said this was his first trip down -- and he doesn't even have a bike. Tourism officials say the fall rally brings about 125,000 bikers to the area each year, good for an estimated $214 million economic impact. As for the visitor profile, looks can be deceiving. Take Kevin Halbert, one of the many Biketoberfest regulars covered in tattoos. His back, chest and arms are filled with images that represent a painful divorce -- a flaming serpent ("it burned me, turned me into a snake") and a phoenix rising out of the desert. But Halbert, a banker from Dallas, can hide all the ink behind a dress shirt. "What's sweet about Daytona, as opposed to all the other rallies, is you meet people from all over the world," Halbert said, a second before someone on a bike recognized him and shouted. Another banker-biker, Gerald Duboulay, was enjoying a beer with Myra Castro in the shade and taking in the smell of bike exhaust. "She could wear some Coco Chanel, and I could wear some two-stroke oil," Duboulay said of the aroma he loves. Motorcycle traffic was more subdued at the Harley-Davidson dealership in New Smyrna Beach, and bikers congregated instead at the traditional hangout Pub 44 on State Road 44. At the dealership, though, Denny Payne said just the lead-up to Biketoberfest has already been good for business. "We're pretty pleased with the overall outcome," he said. "For the most part, it's been very good for us . . . Most of our business comes from this influx from out of state, in times like this." While Biketoberfest officially started Thursday (and officially ends Sunday), the edges are blurred. The Holly Hill City Commission, for example, held a special meeting last week to declare it a 10-day event starting Oct. 7. And Mark Rowe, the biker from Augusta, Ga., who was just planning on riding the coast, said he'd been in town since Monday.

Police are preparing for hundreds, perhaps thousands of bikers expected to ride into Oak Hill Memorial Park in San Jose sometime next month to honor the memory of Jeff "Jethro" Pettigrew, the president of the city's Hells Angels chapter who was shot to death in a gun battle at a Sparks casino. There will be Henchmen, East Side Riders Car Club, Devil Dolls, Top Hatters and more. Alongside them, also paying their respects, will be members of the South Yard Heavy Equipment Crew. That is not a motorcycle club. It is the San Jose Department of Transportation's pavement repair team. They knew Pettigrew from his day job. To them, he was not the local president of a biker club that law enforcement sees as a violent criminal motorcycle gang. He was as a veteran backhoe operator who paved potholes. Hans Larsen, director of the city's Department of Transportation, said he was not even aware that Pettigrew was a Hells Angel. Nor did he care. "We have many employees who are motorcycle enthusiasts. What they do in their private lives doesn't concern us as long as it doesn't affect their work,'' Hansen said. "From what I am hearing he was a nice person with a good attitude, very professional in his work and he did it well.'' Funeral arrangements are still being made. And Pettigrew's shooting death Friday night at John Ascuaga's Nugget Casino, which has law enforcement on high alert for a brewing bloodshed between outlaw motorcycle clubs, is still under investigation. Wednesday, the chief prosecutor in Reno told the Associated Press that police have identified the rival gang member who killed Pettigrew, but he's not sure they'll track him down before rival bikers do. Investigators identified the suspect from the beginning as a member of the Vagos motorcycle gang, Washoe County District Attorney Richard Gammick said. The suspect, who has ties to the Bay Area, apparently has been in hiding since the slaying, Gammick said. "If we've been able to identify him, there's no doubt the Santa Clara Hells Angels chapter has been able to, too," Gammick said. "He's probably hiding out in a very small space." Gammick declined to provide any more information about the suspect other than the fact he may not survive to stand trial in Reno if his revenge-minded rivals find him before law officers do. "What do you think is going to happen if the Hells Angels get their hands on him?" Gammick said. For his part, Pettigrew had a relatively minor criminal record with the last conviction coming eight years ago, a misdemeanor for carrying a concealed weapon, according to court records. This week in the South Bay those close to the 51-year-old Pettigrew remembered him simply as Jethro, a cheerful one-legged, redhead. Charismatic, quick with a goofy joke or three, lusty for life, Pettigrew was relaxed on the road even as he pulled the "dragon's tail" of a large motorcycle run. His hands hooked into a big belt buckle on his Wrangler jeans, he was the guy wearing a beat-up Dallas Cowboys hat belting out a Randy Travis tune. "From Alaska to New York City he was well accepted everywhere he went,'' said Steve Tausan, a lifelong friend and fellow Hells Angel, sergeant-at-arms for the Santa Cruz chapter. "Everybody knew Jethro. He was calm, cool, collected. One of those guys that can light up a room like a (expletive) Christmas tree.'' Tearfully reminiscing about his old friend this week, Tausan sat in his San Jose bail bonds office flanked by a Victory Vision bike and decorated with photographs of himself -- with football icon Jim Brown, with Hells Angels icon Sonny Barger, with Jethro -- and a sarcastic photographic shrine to the police officers who busted him for the beating death of a man at The Pink Poodle strip club almost 14 years ago. Tausan was acquitted on the charge, but he said that the same stereotyping that he says got him into that trouble dogged Pettigrew as well. "Jethro was not a choir boy,'' he said of his slain friend. "But it's not against the law to be a Hells Angel.'' Summer Jean Pettigrew, whose name was tattooed on her father's wrist, said he was proud of his club but rarely talked about that side of his life to her. He basically forbid her to ride motorcycles. "He was always there for me -- if I broke up with someone or I lost my job or I had a flat tire or my hair color turned out wrong,'' said Pettigrew, 26. "It wasn't this big scary biker with a Tony Soprano mentality. He took me to my first Britney Spears concert. By himself. Wearing his Hells Angels stuff. And he knew the songs.'' Pettigrew lost a leg following an accident while riding. He and Tausan were coming back to San Jose from San Francisco about 20 years ago, dodging brutal traffic. Pettigrew went to go around a car, when it made an unexpected turn and caught his right foot in the bumper. His foot shattered. Later an infection set in, and Pettigrew's leg was amputated just below the knee. His daughter said he would send his used prosthetics to charities in Mexico This week, she donated her father's immaculate Road Glide Harley, with its death heads and orange flames the color of his hair when he was younger, to club members so that they could keep it in their San Jose clubhouse as a memorial. "I don't want my father remembered as a casualty of biker gang violence; he was the HA president, but also so much more,'' she said. "He was my daddy, my rock, my blood."

I’m sure many of you have heard of Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort in Tennessee. As resorts go, it’s a bit lacking in amenities. But as a Mecca for bikers, Deals Gap is the real deal — the home base for the world-famous, twisty-turny stretch of state highway 129 called the Tail of the Dragon. Now, I must confess that after more than three years here in this biker paradise, I still hadn’t ridden the Dragon. Sadly, I’ve been too busy (excuse) to get Ruby (my candy-apple red Kawasaki Nomad) out that much. I guess I’ve always been a bit afraid of our mountain roads. And I don’t exactly look the part of a real biker. In fact, when I get ready to ride, my wife calls my combination of jeans, T-shirt with skull-theme, patchy vest, boots and dew rag — my biker costume. This is a throwback to the recent movie, “Wild Hogs,” where four suburban wannabe motorcycle riders hit the open road and tangle with a menacing New Mexican biker gang called the Del Fuegos. To the Del Fuegos, these “Wild Hogs” (John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, Tim Allen and William H. Macy) were “biker posers.” Ouch, that hurts, because I know how they feel. Actually, I saw the movie on a rained-out day at Daytona Beach Biketoberfest four years ago, with one of my best friends, Doug Mercer. It just so happens that Doug recently rode into Waynesville with one of his long-time biker-buddies, Hal Eastburn. There were just three of us, but since there were no Del Fuegos in sight, we decided to conquer the Tail of the Dragon. Did you know? — The Tail of the Dragon winds through both North Carolina and Tennessee. The 11-mile stretch in Tennessee has 318 curves. Take it from me, while you are riding the Dragon there is never a time when you aren’t both negotiating one curve and setting up for another. It’s a real test of skill, although I have to admit that Hal, who took the lead, finished the ride and had time to dismount, shower, shave, change clothes and pose alongside his Honda Valkyrie, before Doug and I rounded the last curve. Still, we all made it safely and had the time of our lives. Other highlights of the day were Doug dropping his bike, while parking, at the Harley-Davidson dealership in Tennessee; Hal doing “the Queen’s wave” when our return visit took us on the 9/11 parade route in Pigeon Forge; and me accidentally leaving the group and getting lost. Since both Doug and Hal are retired educators, I had to write 25 times, “I am impatient. I should not have left the group.” The following day, we rode more than 100 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway on a clear, sunny day with Carolina-blue sky. Both Doug and Hal left WNC exclaiming, “You live in the best motorcycling area in the country.” We already knew that. I’m going to pay much more attention to the bumper sticker in my den that says it all: "Screw it. Let’s ride!"

Times have apparently never been better for bikers when it comes to choosing a two-wheeled, motorcycle vacation. Just as an example, Edelweiss Bike Travel is celebrating their 33^rd year of pulling together biker getaways, and they are celebrating by offering up a variety of motorcycle excursions. While we didn’t count all the options offered on the company’s website, Clutch and Chrome has been told there are fifty-eight tours, expeditions and trainings on 5 continents. The company has ten team members located at headquarters in Austria and 14 customer service agents in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain, Thailand and the United States of America. Along with over 40 tours guides worldwide Edelweiss Bike Travel brings together the array of motorcycle opportunities. Some of those tours are as follows; Riders Alps Challenge. The tour includes the countries of Austria, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein and Switzerland featuring highlights of the Western Alps with their great roads, beautiful mountains and historic towns. Wild West Tour. The tour includes the States Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah promising the Wild West at its best. Ride the beautiful roads of the Southwest and enjoy being a motorcyclist in a wild way. Che Guevera Tour. Riders head to Cuba toexplore the secrets of Cuba on a Harley-Davidson and learn more about Che Guevara and his grand revolution. And for some real adventure, Top of the World which takes riders from Canada to the United States and the Adventure Big Five which includes South Africa’s Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. ‘From the wild fl owers of South Africa to the deserts of Namibia, from the wildlife paradise that is Botswana to one of the world’s mightiest waterfalls in Zimbabwe – this tour offers an incredible variety’ promises the press release. Interested riders can cruise the 156 page catalogue for their next two wheeled vacation or ride on over the company’s website.

Milwaukee has certainly received its share of TV exposure lately, and now you can add another show to the list. A brand-new show about Harley-Davidson culture is filming its first episode, of course, at a Milwaukee bar. The filming will take place Thursday night at Lo-Cash Live, a Nashville-themed bar that opened last month at 124 W. National Ave., according to a news release. Milwaukean Jay “JC” Carter, a Harley owner himself, created the bar to reflect his love of “gritty Nashville watering holes,” Southern comfort food and contemporary live music, according to Lo-Cash’s website. Its motto is “Beer. Bands. Barbeque.” On Thursday, Lo-Cash will welcome Road Partners Production for filming of the first episode of “Road Partners,” scheduled to run on the ION Network this fall. The bar will open at 4 p.m., and filming will start at 8 p.m. Anyone is welcome to attend. Lo-Cash Live will offer a dedicated parking lot for motorcycle riders, and custom bike builders Insane Cycles, New Berlin, will bring some bikes of its own. Bands God’s Outlaw and Matt MF Tyner Trio will play, and the bar will raffle off an Insane Cycles leather jacket.

Kelly Ridges describes her father as “a man’s man,” a skilled tradesman who enjoys riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle on weekends. “He’s ‘Mr. Tough Guy,’ ” Ridges said of her father, Pat McCarron. McCarron is the owner of P&L Construction, a business he started several years ago after learning the construction business from his father. McCarron and his wife, Lynn, raised their family in Chicago’s West Lawn community before moving to Orland Park nearly a decade ago. He had completed hundreds of residential and commercial projects over the years until the sluggish economy led to a downturn in the construction trades. But McCarron has his three grandchildren and motorcycle to keep him busy. “(Motorcycle riding) has been his and my mom’s main pastime,” Ridges said. But McCarron’s life was significantly altered in November when an emergency appendectomy led to a cancer diagnosis. “It’s been hard,” Ridges said. McCarron suffers from stage 4 Burkitt’s lymphoma, an extremely rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He has undergone several rounds of intense chemotherapy, requiring blood infusions that made him susceptible to infections, Ridges said. His depleted immune system has made it difficult for him to see his family or run his business, she said. But McCarron’s prognosis is positive. His cancer has been in remission since May. “He’s doing really well. He doesn’t like to say much. It’s hopeful,” said Ridges, whose only brother, Patrick, is a cancer survivor. McCarron’s treatment has been expensive, and much of it is not covered by medical insurance. To help the McCarron family pay the costs, a benefit called “Pat’s Ride for Recovery” is to be held from 1 to 6 p.m. Aug. 21 at 115 Bourbon Street, 3359 W. 115th St., Merrionette Park. Tickets are $30, or $10 for individuals age 20 and under. The benefit will feature food, beer, musical entertainment, a silent auction and raffles. For information, contact Kevin Healy at (773) 386-8100 or visit patsrideforrecovery.com. Monetary donations can be sent to Archer Bank, 3435 W. 111th St., Chicago, IL, 60655 or via PayPal at www.patsrideforrecovery.com.

uly 30, 2011 - Washington It had earlier been indicated that motorcycle helmets, while protecting bikers' brains, may also contribute to hearing loss, but why this happens was unknown, until now. The distinctive roar of a Harley's engine is loud, but studies have revealed the biggest source of noise for motorcyclists is actually generated by air whooshing over the riders' helmets. Even at legal speeds, the sound can exceed safe levels. Now, scientists have identified a key source of the rushing din. Researchers from the University of Bath and Bath Spa University placed motorcycles helmets atop mannequin heads, mounted them in a wind tunnel, and turned on the fans. By placing microphones at different locations around the helmet and at the mannequin's ear, the reRead more:  The findings may one day be used to design quieter helmets, saving riders' ears for the enjoyment of hard biker rock, the researchers said. The study has been published in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.