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ROT Rally Rocks and Roars - Biker Babes and More!

They were everywhere. If you were in town, you saw them, there was no way not to. They were everywhere. On the highways, in the parking lots, in the city streets, in your neighborhood! There they were, a few over here, and some more over there. Were they lost? Where did they all come from, and where are they going? Look, there’s another pack of bikes, riding together. Where are they going? You know the answer: everywhere!

They were everywhere!

The annual Republic of Texas Biker Rally descended upon Austin again this year on the first weekend in June. The numbers are huge: an estimated 40,000 bikers came to Austin, and spent over $36M (collectively, not each). Let’s do some math: this means each biker spent, on average, $900 during the 4 day event. Some of them stayed at cheap hotels, others with friends in town (no money spent on lodging), yet others booked rooms at the better hotels downtown. Some bikers camped at the rally grounds and cooked their meals, but most of them probably ate at local restaurants (that’s what, 9-10 meals Thurs-Sun?). Many probably did some shopping, both of the touristy kind, and of the biker kind, buying chrome and leather for themselves and their steeds (and their bikes). Every last one of them bought some gas while they were here, and virtually all of them drank some beer, that much can be assumed. So, $900 each? Sure, sounds about right, with $3-4/beer and $2.75/gal gas. Keeping man and machine fed and happy probably accounted for half of that total. It’s no wonder the city of Austin suggested to the rally organizers that they expand the Friday night party downtown, that they broadcast biker-friendly messages on the traffic alert signs along the highways, and that they provided security and road closures for the Parade. It’s no wonder the hotels go out of their way to cater to this unique clientele - I mean, do they block off entire floors of their parking garages for the musicians during SXSW, or provide them with buckets of water and wash rags to clean up with when they return from the festivities? (although, maybe that’s not a bad idea).

You know the numbers are huge when you drive around town and see hotel and restaurant parking lots virtually filled with chrome and paint and rubber, row after row after row of handle bars and front tires all in a line, all attached to a unique machine, the pride and joy of someone inside.

Carlos and Charlies hosted a few riders

There are those who ride, and those who wish. Some may wish more than others, all the way from “next year, yeah, that’ll be me, too” to “damn bikers making all that noise and tying up traffic and riding here and there and going who knows where and doing who knows what - damn bikers - look at them, doing what they want, having fun and enjoying life - damn bikers” Whatever, dude.

Enough bikes to go around

Let’s do some more math: if we assume 75% of the 40,000 bikers are riding two-up, with only 25% riding solo, that’s about 25,000 bikes. If they all got together at the same time (good luck arranging that!) and rode in standard 2-line formation, with each bike 8 ft long, and with a 10 ft gap between bikes (kinda close, but ok for slow speed, around town riding), you would see a continuous stream of bikes 42 miles long, which is about the distance from Georgetown to Buda! (of course, if they were riding on I-35, the gap between them would be closer to 20 ft, or 66 miles total). Hey, get this: a loop around Austin, that starts in Round Rock, goes down Mopac all the way to 290, cuts over to I-35, and back up to Round Rock is about 43 miles. So, theoretically, we could have all gotten together and formed one continuous unbroken ring of bikes around Austin, riding round and round. That would be pretty wild, huh?

I’ve been on some rides with friends where we might get 20 bikes together, and we generally move as one long, continuous vehicle as we navigate around town and out into the hill country. Riding like that is great fun, as I enjoy the juxtaposition of engaging in an inherently individual activity (there’s not much conversation going on at 60+ mph) in a group setting. Of course, we interact non-verbally along the ride, moving as one entity up and around the hills outside Austin, and then we’re back to being just people at the numerous stops along the way. It may be an odd dynamic, but it’s very satisfying when you’re enjoying life outdoors with people you like.

The finish-line crowd

This year I once again joined the Friday night bike parade from the Expo center to the downtown party. Talk about a continuous vehicle! This is no theory, it is a fact that there was an unbroken line of bikes from East Austin to Congress Ave. This is the ride of rides. The police blocked off all the intersections, so we got a smooth, uninterrupted flow into the heart of Austin. The route took us through neighborhoods where residents line the streets to watch the riders and hear the bikes (unspoken rule: when a kid waves, rev the engine!), down MLK to 11th street, and over I-35 down to Congress. We got a great view of the Capitol as we rode in, and if it was fun riding past the people in the neighborhoods, it was unbelievable downtown! It was like we were finishing the Tour de France, with jam-packed people on both sides and us riding between them, everyone waving and cheering. Wow - and we weren’t even tired from our ride, like Lance must have been! This is unofficially the longest bike parade in the world, and since the Guinness World Record people are reviewing the count as we speak, it may soon be official. Who would have thought that I’d have something in common with the Tour record holder? Woo-hoo!

So Friday night was a blast, seeing 6th Street, Congress Ave, and several more blocks in the area packed with people and bikes and music. Saturday was all about the riding, yet we kept it local and elected to be by the lake.

Yes, damn bikers are taking over…!

This year I didn’t attend the actual rally on the Expo grounds, I’ve done that a few years in a row already. Maybe I’ll go back next year just to be amazed how much bigger it is. It’s cool to peruse the vendor booths, they come up with the wildest stuff for your bike or for your body.

By Sunday everyone is pooped out and packing up, so it’s a slow day of recovery, both for the rally-goers and for the town. As the weekend draws to a close, normalcy makes an attempt to retake Austin. The blitti-ta-blatta of the stragglers and locals keeps it at bay, however - that is to say, keeps Austin weird, for a little while longer at least…