Gaston County CBA Spring Fling

by: Wally WerSching

was looKinG for somethinG to

do on Sunday April 18th. I looked at the Carolinas’ Full Throttle Cruisin’ Calendar and located a nearby event. The Gaston County Chapter of the CBA/ABATE was holding their Spring Fling dice run. They are part of the Concerned Bikers Association/ABATE (CBA/ABATE) of North Carolina and are the state’s motorcyclist rights and legislative organization.

The Dice Run started at the Cycle Gear store in Gastonia, NC with a ride to Blue Ridge Harley dealership in Hickory, and finishing at the Mountaineer Tavern in Kings Mountain, NC. All the proceeds from the run benefit charitable donations and expenses of Gaston CBA.

It was a beautiful day for a ride with temps in the upper 60’s when I left home. Registration for the event was to start at 1:00pm, with the ride to start at 1:45. I left home about 12:15 heading east on Rte. 74.

It was the first long ride I took on “Miss Vickie” since I changed her rear tire. I couldn’t believe how smooth she rode. Changing the tires on “Miss Vickie“ is the easiest way to make her feel young again. You don’t realize how bad the tires degrade until you change them.

I merged into I-85 and followed it until I exited at Exit 22. The Cycle Gear store is right off the interstate. The parking lot for the store is off Franklin Boulevard - behind the store.

When I was backing into my parking spot, a man was watching me closely. After I parked, we started talking. His name was Mike, and he lives in Iron Station, NC. He really liked the paint job on “Miss Vickie’ He wanted to know if it was custom or factory. I told him that it was a factory paint job – all original. We had a very interesting conversation about motorcycles. When he sat on “Miss Vickie”, he couldn’t believe how low the seat was.

Then we talked about his bike – a Kawasaki Vulcan Drifter that looked a lot like an Indian motorcycle. It even had a couple Indian badges on the gas tank. I chuckled about it being “almost an Indian”. He said that he bought it that way and was thinking about removing the Indian badges but was afraid of ruining the paint on the tank.

As I walked around, I bumped into “Panhead Red” from Carolina Thunder. He brought his celebrity bike. His bike is featured in Bob Karney’s calendar for 2021 in the month of June. We had an interesting talk. He confessed that he was wearing a full-face helmet because the wind was drying his eyes. He was hoping that the helmet would help.

I met a few more friends and had some interesting conversations about being in the military. I told them about my 4 years in the Navy, and how I was actually drafted in the Army before I joined the Navy. One man was in the Army for 20 years, and the other was going to join the Air Force if he got drafted – he didn’t.

At about 2:00, the road captain called everybody together for a brief meeting before the run and a prayer. Then, everybody went to their bikes and got in line to leave. There were quite a few motorcycles along with three Polaris Slingshots.

With a roar, they were gone, and all was quiet again. I heard that the ride went well, and all had a great time. I’ll watch the Full Throttle Cruisin’ Calendar and the Gaston County CBA Facebook page for future events. They are always a good time!