I headed out last week for the Smokeout Rally. Tight on time, our ride was a no frills hard on the throttle blast through some of the East Coasts great motorcycle roads on our way to the premier hand built chopper rally The Smokeout.

I made my way down to NYC where I met up with my friend Fred (@ethermix). From there we cut through NJ, PA, MD, WV into VA all during torrential rains. The rain gear I grabbed as I headed out the door ended up being my wife’s and was far to small for me. Fred was sporting some new black leather and mesh spring riding gloves. Apparently the leather wasn’t cured that well.

Freds hand dyed black

The sun finally came out in the mid afternoon as we arrived in Front Royal VA to hit the mountains at Skyline Drive. We headed south for 105 miles to where Skyline Drive ends and the Blue Ridge Parkway begins. The parkway is almost 500 miles of some of the most beautiful twisty mountain roads a motorcyclist could ever ask for. Our destination for the night was at mile 86 the Peaks of Otter Lodge.

The lodge has a decent restaurant and bar (which stop serving at 9pm) and the rooms are large, clean and all have great views of the lake and mountains.

Overnight the weather rolled back in and enveloped the mountains. We didn’t hit the road until 10am and even by 11am the visibility due to fog was only about 20 feet.

Forrest on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Our plan was to ride down to Ashville NC and shoot over to the Tail of the Dragon at Deals Gap however given the late start and slow riding we had to cut it short and make our way to Rockville NC to meet up with fellow motorcycle photographer and friend ArtBiker.

The following day was spent at the Rockingham Speedway, the site of the Smokeout, watching the races, talking to the builders and photographing bikes.

Captain America helmet on a Chop

Drag Bike

Gears in a swap box

Old skool custom bling

custom bobbers

Skull jockey shift

More photos from the 10th annual Smokeout will be posted to my flickr photostream shortly.