Good Ol Fashion Chopper Party In NC

Article And Photos By: Panhead Jim

or years, people have marked Daytona Bike Week as the start of the riding season. While I agree that Daytona Bike Week f is an important event on most calendars, for me, the real start of the riding season begins the first weekend in May with the Backroad

BBQ Run in Trenton, NC. This grassroots chopper event has been hosted by Luke and Ronnie

Woolard since 2018 and unlike a lot of corporate events when you attend the Backroad

BBQ Run it’s like coming home. If you don’t show up already knowing half the people there, you will know at least that many by the time you leave. Luke and Ronnie like to call it a “family reunion” and that is really a good way to describe it.

It is especially true if your family reunions include a weekend long camping trip with hundreds of choppers, thousands of free beers and a half day competition which crowns the Chopper King!

We have all heard “location, location, location” when it comes to everything from buying a house to starting a business. Well, the Backroad BBQ Run definitely has the location part locked in. It takes place on a 30 plus acre wooded campground

bordered on one side by the Trent River and on the other by wide open fields. The fields are perfect for bike games or just ripping around on your scoot and the river can be refreshing if you are not too scared of snakes and snapping turtles…

Technically the run starts on Friday, but as the event has grown, people have started showing up a day early just to get a prime camping spot. Not wanting to miss out on one minute of the action, I went ahead and rolled in on a Thursday afternoon and the campground was already filled with tents, choppers and dogs. That’s right, this is a pet friendly event, so everyone was encouraged to bring their favorite fourlegged friend along. I admit I wondered if that was such a good idea, but there were no issues all weekend and everyone was a responsible for their own pets, so it turned out pretty cool. As you can imagine, Friday was basically a constant stream of motorcycles rolling in, tents going up and people wandering around seeing who showed up. There’s a good half mile of dirt road that leads to the campground and as each pack of bikes pulled in you could see the dust kick

up in the distance announcing their arrival before the sound of their exhaust hit your ears. Friday night quickly ramped up into dozens of parties spread throughout the woods as campfires were lit and those free PBR’s started filtering through the crowd.

No matter how hard you partied on Friday night, the smell of fresh coffee wafting through the campground on Saturday morning was enough to get everyone on their feet and stumbling toward a food truck aptly named Mari’s Hella Fat Food to get some hot breakfast. Since “run” is actually in the name of the event, we started things off with a nice relaxing group ride through the local countryside. I grew up in eastern NC, so rolling past freshly planted fields brought me right back to my childhood and made for a great start for what was going to be a long day.

Once we got back from the ride and had the chance to grab some lunch, it was time for something a little different than your typical afternoon motorcycle events. This year Luke and Ronni decided to take things up a notch and crown someone the “Chopper King”. The idea behind the Chopper King contest was to find out who was really the best all round rider, with the coolest chopper and the strength to back it up. To narrow down the field of contestants, points were given if you rode your bike to the event, how you performed in the bike games and where you placed in the bike show.

The top 8 finalists battled it out in an arm-wrestling tournament for the title of Chopper King. Without a doubt everyone enjoyed this part of the event, whether they were cheering from the sidelines or actually going head-to-head against other riders. Of course, no one had a better time than Chris Boyce who was crowned the Chopper King and took home a ton of prizes. Event sponsors donated the prizes which included parts from Lowbrow Customs and Holland’s Super Cycle, a custom helmet from Dave’s Paintworks and Custom Destruction, a tattoo from Black Dog Tattoo and of course a fistful of cash which came from the entry fees.

There was also a special trophy

given out named the “Local Legend” award. This was another new tradition which honored someone who has really given back to the local chopper community. This award was given in memory of a true local legend named Papa Joe who sadly passed away this year. The first year, the award was presented to Gorgeous George, creator of SmuttButt Magazine and literally the nicest guy you’ll ever meet on two wheels.

Next up it was time for the BBQ and thanks to the hard work of Grillin’ and Chillin’ BBQ, everyone got to load up on pork bbq, chicken and all the fixins’. Then it was on to the raffle which was jammed packed with great prizes from more than 60 sponsors. There was even a “women’s only” raffle with prizes donated just for the ladies.

When the raffle finally wrapped up, the sun was getting low in the sky, and everyone was ready for that last night of partying. Walking through the woods I could see that every campfire was surrounded with people sharing stories, talking about that next upgrade and just having a good time. Don’t get me wrong, I had a great day going on the ride, watching the Chopper King event and not winning a thing in the raffle, but for me the best part of these events is the time spent talking with fellow riders.

Somehow Sunday morning always seems to arrive a few hours too soon, but like everyone else I was rolling up my sleeping bag and getting ready to head out well before I had planned on waking up. People said their goodbyes and hit the road, turning the campground back into an empty stretch of forest well before noon. Luke and Ronnie work tirelessly each year to put on an event that really takes you back to why you started riding bikes in the first place. If you are tired of the overblown “trailer week” style events, there’s a place for you around the campfire at the Backroad BBQ Run in 2022.