10 th Annual I Remember Click Dice Run

By: Wally Wersching

he first time I

met “Cli k”

Baldwin and his wife Dianne was when they bought the small Harley-Davidson dealership on Franklin Boulevard in Gastonia, NC. I think that it was one of the smallest dealerships in the country. I was a charter member of their Harley Owners Group (HOG), and during the meetings we had to stand between the clothes racks because there was no room for anything. That was in the late 1980’s.

Since then, “Click” became a highly respected member of the Harley-Davidson family. I could go on writing about him but if you really want to know about “Click”, and how he died on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 in a motorcycle crash in Montana, Google him. It’s all there!

In 2006, I worked for him as a Rider’s Edge coach at Carolina Harley-Davidson (his incredibly large dealership) – one of the biggest in the country. It was fun! He was a great boss.

The Carolina Thunder Club honors him every year during the last weekend in July. This year was a little different than previous years. Due to Cavendish Brewing’s recent collaboration with other national brewers introducing a Black is Beautiful beer with a percentage of sales supporting Black Lives Matter, the Carolina Thunder changed the venue for the start and end of the Click Dice Run to the Carolina Thunder Clubhouse at 116 Codylan Trail in Dallas , NC. Carolina

Thunder does not encourage funding to American terrorists or racial hate groups such as Black Lives Matter. It is their commitment to foster a brotherly love with all people and support the fact that everyone matters.

On Saturday, July 25th, I was riding “Miss Vickie” east on Rte.74. I exited at Rte.161 and turned left to go through Bessemer City. I turned left onto Rte. 274, and then merged right with Rte. 275 through Dallas. In town, I turned left onto Oakland Street. After passing the school, the road changed to Philadelphia Church Road. I was watching and saw the sign for Codylan Trail on the left. I turned into the narrow drive and followed it to a very beautifully landscaped yard where many bikes were already parked.

After I parked “Miss Vickie”, I walked to the clubhouse. I was surprised when I walked in. It was air-conditioned with many biker artifacts on the walls. It was a very comfortable place to spend time with friends.

I dropped off a stack of The Carolinas’ Full Throttle magazines, and saw the women collecting the money for the dice run. All money collected went to support the Webb Street School - a public, separate school serving students grades Kindergarten through 12th grade, and beyond with cognitive impairments in Gaston County.

I looked for “Red” – the president of the club. We had a few words of greeting, then he had to go to check all the stops of

the run to make sure that there was a Carolina Thunder club member to record the rolling of the dice.

The first stop was Metrolina Motorsports in Kings Mountain, NC. The second stop was Joker PowerSports in Blacksburg, SC. The third stop was at Burnt Mill in SC. The fourth stop was Hwy 55 Country Store. The fifth stop was at 4-Lanes. The last stop was back at the Carolina Thunder clubhouse for hamburgers, 50/50 drawing, and door prizes. With every

registration, every participant was given a sheet with detailed directions on how to get to the stops. It’s a great way to go down roads you’ve never been on, and not get lost.

After “Red” left, I stayed outside talking with some of the bikers. We talked about our memories of “Click”. I didn’t know him as well as many of the other bikers, but all were good memories. I even wore my old “Carolina Harley-Davidson” t-shirt for the occasion. “Click” gave it to me many years ago at one of his large parties. After a while, “Cuzz”, and other members of the Guardians of the Children club rode in. We talked for a while as we walked to the clubhouse so they could register. After 11am, people had been leaving to go on the run by ones, and twos. – not the single large group that some rides have. At about 11:30, I headed out to go back home. I stopped at Showmars in Shelby to pick up a to-go order to share with Cindy. After eating, I stayed home to work around the house the rest of the day. It was a great way to spend time visiting with friends.