RIDING w BRENDAN

OHIO BIKE WEEK – The MIDWEST’S MOTORCYCLE RALLY

Tattoo Party, Sound Competition, Jesse James, Bike Show, Warrant, and so much more…

OH!! (rest of the crowd) HIO!!! This was a new cheer to this Michigander’s ears, but that’s what time of year it was! THE largest motorcycle event in the mid-west! Ohio Bike Week!

With the amount of fun I had in 2002 I was anxiously awaiting this year’s event. Low and behold this year BLEW away last year’s, not only was it more fun, Reasons to Ride Ohio hosted more events. 2023 Ohio Bike Week shattered records for attendance! More people came to Ohio for this event than attended Daytona this year!!!! That’s incredible if you think about it.

The day came and I eagerly packed up the bike and headed south to Sandusky and the familiar Crystal Rock Campground. The weather was perfect for the ride, one of those days where you just chill and cruise your way without a hurry or a care in the world. Upon arrival to the campground I quickly checked in and made my way to the cabin to unpack the bike. Reasons to Ride was hosting our Tattoo Show at the incredible Barrel House Saloon on the shores of Lake Eerie. This is by far one of, if not my favorite venue at OBW. The bands, the crowds and the atmosphere are unlike any I’ve experienced before. Just a real solid place. We were set up and ready to go for the event.

The Tattoo Show went of without a hitch and featured some bad ass works of art from some great artists across the midwest! The judges had a tough night with any of the entries being able to win best in show! With the voting done, the awards given out with all the pomp and circumstance the event deserved we called it a night

Brendan Farren, RTR Contributor

and headed to the respite of our beds. In the morning we had a first for Reasons to Ride, an event that is growing in popularity a Motorcycle Audio Competition, being held at Mad River Harley which is OBW Headquarters. Having had a serious (serious to me) upgrade in the system on my bike I was excited to see what others had done to theirs. Knowing that Reasons to Ride encourages all bikes to enter for the mere fun and experience of these friendly competitions I was eager to enter my motorcycle. I couldn’t wait for morning and headed to Mad River to take my ride to see the guys at the Sinister Sounds tent. I had bought the Sinister Sounds Crazy 8s set up and did the install myself. Sinister did a great job making it easy for the average person to install. That said I was entering the inaugural RTR Audio Competition so I wanted the factory boys to look it over and be sure it was at peak performance. While Jim and the rest of the guys from Sinister Sounds looked over my stuff I wandered over to find the Reasons to Ride crew the massive increase in attendance was already apparent. This was the first morning of the first weekend of the event There was an entire week of fun and festivities to come!! This was going to be big I could tell. I found Dave, Derek and Jen from the Ohio crew and started setting up while laughing about the year before and loosely making a game plan for the competition. RTR had lined up a couple of seasoned pros to not only judge the event but also to ensure it ran smoothly since they had done this several dozen times. With more and more entries entering by the minute I hurried over to see how my bike was coming along. Jim said they tweaked the amp a little and gave me the ins and outs of my system. Like the great guys they are he provided me with a usb with roughly 40 songs on it I could use for the competition. I made my way back and registered. So to my surprise while registering I learned that my Sinister Sounds set up was JUST enough to put me into the welterweight division with some really decked out, heavy hitting bikes. So while I knew I could finish near or at the top of the division I THOUGHT I would be in I had no idea what to expect at welterweight. The competition pitted bikes side by side with two minutes to strut their stuff then evaluated by the panel of three judges. As I watched the bikes go through the classes I quickly realized I was in for a big ole ass whipping from the other competitors. My bike with four speakers was put into a division that allowed up to ten per bike. Now I am not complaining, per the rules having enclosed subs like I did automatically placed me there fair and square and I have zero complaints about my set-up but these guys had $7k-$20k into the bikes and systems that’s a vastly different level. The front runner was a blue tricked out Street Glide with a guy named Eli at the helm. The second he had his volume at I’d say a two I knew I had to concede, I had nothing for him. Eli and his Street Glide took home the big prize after eliminating the others but it was admittedly closer than I expected between the last two standing. The first RTR Audio Competition was a resounding success.

Fast forward to Thursday and the beginning of the Block Party at Jackson Street Pier.

The beginning of the party was, as always the Jesse James Dupree ride which concluded right at the pier and had easily a couple hundred riders. The vendors were in full swing and the party started. Thursday afternoon I reached out to an old friend I had met from the year prior and asked if she had plans. As it turned out she was free. We met at the Barrel House Saloon, caught up on everything that had happened over the past year and shared some good laughs. Jen wanted to show me her neighborhood bar, I agreed so off we went to the Knucklehead Saloon. Jen is a good soul she likes people so I wasn’t surprised when the bartender had her drink ready and the people knew her by name, the little watering hole lit up when she came in.

I headed back to the pier after and Thursday night concluded with Saliva and Jackyl rocking the main stage.

Friday I got to meet the “new to me” girls from RTR Ohio Paige and Kayla. In less than a minute I knew I would get along well with these two. Great, great girls very cool to have them on the team. Friday was Twisted Tea Ride day with Billy G. This ride hits the Mickey Moose Stations around Sandusky and concludes at a larger station with free Twisted Tea and a fun burn out competition. Leading the way as always, Billy on his yellow Twisted Tea Bagger Street Glide.If you have never met Billy he is really laid back, friendly and always up to talk about bikes. Fun, camaraderie cumulating with smokey burn outs. The end of this ride brought a familiar face from the past, my dear gal pal Chelsea showed up and would hang the rest of the weekend with me. We were like peas and carrots (Forest Gump voice). It was definitely fun to hang with her again after not seeing her for over a year. Wandering the town I came across the best discovery ever and one I definitely was missing a coffee shop. Saucy Brew Works Coffee is a great local coffee shop close to the Barrel House perfect to grab a cup of Joe to keep the day moving. Book mark that for next year. I got back in time for me and Chelsea to catch the Sponge and Everclear shows on the main stage. I caught up with the guys from sponge after their set out in the perch tent and shot the shit with them since they are all from Michigan’s Greater Detroit Area we had a lot to chat about and they were all willing to give up their time to bullshit with little ole me for a bit which made think even higher of them than before very cool of them. Saturday was here and it was go time for the biggest RTR event of the week, the RTR Championship Series Bike Show! Bikers that had pre-registered were pouring in early and often all signs pointed to this being a big deal and that turned out to be true. The Family Health Services first aid/resting center was next to us and I had been chatting with the incredible Cora that was there for a couple day already who has a life that eerily mimicked my own but that’s neither here nor there. I wanted to tell her we may need some space for overfill bikes because of the sheer numbers that were coming in to register. Of course she was incredibly accommodating and welcomed it. As show day progressed the crowds grew and all in all I think close to a hundred bikes entered the show. We held impromptu audio competition giving away some money based on crowd applause. Low and behold a certain blue Street Glide seemed to get the lions share. The Show was a sight to behold with everything from Sugar Bear front end choppers to super tricked out viclas with the big front wheel glides in between. The show concluded and Quiet Riot and Warrant finished off the main stage shows. The crew went and had a drink together and knew we had just experienced one for the record books and had part in why this was bigger than Daytona. If you haven’t yet checked out OBW do yourself a favor and be at Mad River Harley and Jackson Street Pier for 2024 event. Tell em I sent ya. Until next time….