The 2001 Turkey Pro National

Why fly with the Eagles
when you can scratch with the Turkey?
My girlfriend, Kate Smith, has the coolest dad in the world. Bob "Snuffy" Smith is a racer of old British motorcycles, which has got to be the coolest subculture in the whole entire world. Kate rides bikes, because her dad does, so when I started dating her I made plans to go to Motorcycle Safety School and learn how to ride. (Also, my long history as a crazy, laugh-in-the-face-of-death daredevil had something to do with it.) Now I'm the proud owner of a small Suzuki GZ450, a Universal Japanese Motorcycle that I sometimes ride on weekends.

Kate's dad has taken me along several times on the quintessential motorcycle experience: the breakfast ride, where you climb on the bike at 7AM and try to ride at least 50 miles to an out-of-the-way diner, there to meet other riders and tell lies. He's also taken me to several rallies, at which I've learned rally etiquette.

Every Thanksgiving, Bob hosts the Turkey Pro National motorcycle rally, a tradition combining the breakfast ride, the rally, and the elusive Cowboy Code.

In the following three pages, I've tried to share my learnings about motorcycle culture, then illustrate them with pictures from the 16th Annual Turkey Pro National, held in November of 2001.



(in case you're interested, here are some pictures from the 2003 Turkey Pro National, while you're at it.)
 

Back to tikaro.com