“I agreed to come to this thing – but I don’t even know what it is… Where are we going again?” Ha ha – priceless comment from Jamal – and I’m glad he came. We had 8 riders and a few other members who met us in Birmingham. The Barber Vintage Festival is all motorcycle event, all weekend long. If you like hanging out with 70,000 motorcyclist on beautifully maintained grounds, telling stories, seeing new and old stuff and walking through an amazing museum with racing happening non stop – this is the event for you.
“I agreed to come to this thing – but I don’t even know what it is… Where are we going again?”
priceless comment from Jamal
The ride down was straight south on 65 to Birmingham. Limiting our stops to 2 gas stops and 1 lunch / gas stop – we made it the 524 miles in 9 hours. Not bad for 6 bikes carrying 7 members. The pace was perfect and we all rode as an experienced group – even though it was the first time for some of us to ride together. The bikes included a 797 monster, 4 Multistrada 1200, a Multistrada 1100s and a K bike. Once there – the DOC hotel central providing a great base camp with a number of close by food places and a wonderful back road to the track that followed a river and supported a sporty twisting ride to the event. Riding back to the hotel after dark was an adventure including a dead armadillo legs stretched out to the sky and a fight with GPS.
The Museum
The museum was a 4.5 hour treat – and we still did not see it all. The grounds of Barber are incredible but so is the collection of Lotus Racing cars and motorcycles of almost every type. Ryan was a great docent – providing lots of knowledge as we toured the facility as to the history and the bikes we were seeing – George Barber should hire him as curator. They have Britton – one of only 11 ever made that is worth well north of $1M. (that’s an M – as in Million) Also – you can’t miss the Supermono and the replica Daytona bank and bank of day old board racing!! From the fourth floor you get an incredible view of the track turn called museum corner and my personal favorite – turn 2. This day, we also walked the swap meet finding the bike I learned how to ride on at 14 – a 1976 metallic gold Honda CB200!!! What a day.
A Day of Racing
Saturday was a day of racing. Races continued all day long. Vintage racing, sidecar racing, electric bike racing and the best – unlimited twin racing!! One great moment was speaking with Bob Berbeco – one of our members racing in unlimited twins on a 1299 and his electric bike. What an incredible experience. Saturday night we ate dinner near the hotel with many other DOCs. This was followed by a club event where we had open dialogue about motorcycling with Cook Neilson and Peter Egan.
Group Ride
Jamal organized the group perfectly, Ovid led us south with expediency, Rob and Cheyenne protected the rear and carried the tire repair kit, David was our historian with a camera and Jim provided great stories and an always positive attitude. Ryan proved to be a valuable docent for the museum at Barber. We must also thank Mike and Mary Beth Tockey for their hospitality and shrimp cocktail and Dave Edwards for some tasty margaritas.
Thank You
Riding home reflecting on the weekend – I thought about how lucky I am as President of this club. IDesmo is made up of some awesome good–natured motorcyclist – and this trip was no different than the Austin trip in that the group of men and women who make up this club are great people to call friends. For those that came on this trip and for those who will participate in the next one – thank you being iDesmo.
Photo Gallery
Article written by Greg McDaniel – iDesmo President
