As we brought the 15th anniversary of our Bike Rally to a close, it goes without saying, it was the best ever. It would appear from all accounts that over 10,000 bikers rolled into town. The Malecon was wall to wall bikes as you can see from the pictures. We opened registration on Thursday Nov. 12th to a line and it continued all day until nearly 6 pm. On Friday morning they were waiting for us at 8:15 am and so it continued throughout the day. Besides registration, they could buy their official shirts, etc. and they had a chance to sample “fish” tacos created by the Culinary school here as well as cold beer supplied by Tecate. It was like a giant family reunion as they found themselves meeting up with friends they had met at previous rallies.
We had bikes from as far away Key West, FL and Alaska and every place in between. They came from Cabo, La Paz, Tijuana, Juarez, Obregon and many other cities in Mexico and Canada. They were all so happy to be in Puerto Peñasco with the warm sun shining down on them and the friendliness of the people that are here and it was amazing how many people had been here before and were already looking forwards to returning next year.
On Wednesday, we had the opening reception at Playa Bonita with a concert by Matthew Farris and his Twisted Metal Band. Matt who is from Parker, Arizona and has a huge following here. Concerts continued at Banditos, Boo Bar and other venues around the city. Matt also performed on Saturday on the Malecon in front of 1000’s of bikers and locals as well. Saturday was also parade day with bikes lining the route and tossing candy to the kids. From the looks of the video of it, it appeared to be like years gone by, stretching for miles.
We really “dodged the bullet” so to speak as when Saturday came to a close, the skies became overcast and it rained during the night and on Sunday it was breezy. On Monday as we bid ado to the last of our bikers we found ourselves with 28-30 knot winds or about 45 hours winds with sand blowing in all directions. It would appear that God was looking over us not only with the weather but with the fact that we had no serious injuries. When you get this many bikes on narrow streets, we non bikers probably worry more than the bikers.
Calle 12 and 13 were bustling with bikers, trick riders and concerts and also the Miss Rocky Point contest held at SouthSide Jillz.
While the bikers were in town, they had many activities to choose from. Included in their registration package was a Anniversary wrist band which gave them free passage on the Pirate Ship Friday and Sunday, a condo Poker run as well as a Poker run from the US, a guided Pinacate tour (volcanic biosphere visitor center), golf and fishing. The restaurants were packed as well as the bars. There was standing room only on the Malecon on all nights with a lot to do and see. It is always fun to go down to the Malecon and people watch and check out all the beautiful bikes. We had several contests on the Malecon on Saturday with proceeds going to a scholarship fund.
On a personal note, I would like to thank the volunteers who came out an donated 2 days of hard work at registration (but we always make it fun) They are Bill Arrowood and myself, Robyn and Gary Montgomery, Ron and Judy Ridgway, Marcia and Harry Florian, Judy Singleton, Randy Magi, Randi Alcott, Terry Urbas, Bill Bingham, Rick Busa, Liv Faucett, Janet Green, Diane Crossgrove, Robin Winters, Linda Smith, Emilia Cota, Linda Plate, Bob Feinman and Adiranne Savoy. Also to the City of Puerto Peñasco for rolling out the Red Carpet to all who came to this little fishing city. Thanks also to all the businesses who made everyone feel welcome and if someone had a bike problem, we always were able to refer them to someone that could help. Also a big thanks to Law Tigers and all the other businesses that sponsored the items in the registration bags.
If you come back next year, I would encourage you to register to receive your official patch and pin as well as so many goodies and remember all money goes to our 7 charities. Watch four our on line pre-registration next year. We will let you know here when it goes live in 2016.
Until then please enjoy all the pictures and look forward to seeing you next year. In closing, We would like to let you now we reached the $20,000 mark, thanks to you all. Hopefully next year we can reach $25,000- $30,000 as we know we have a lot of bikes who don’t register.
