Submitted by Tuscadero
Date of Ride: March 21, 2009
Picture Album
This was my second ride with LAMA Sarasota, after Mo' Money had kept in touch with emails and a couple phone calls. No pressure, just letting me know I was welcome and could ride to any event with them.
A couple weeks prior, I looked around and noticed that for the first time in my life I realized my friends were "bland" . There were no multicultural people in my life that I could call a friend, and that I had somehow lost touch with the more flavorful part of living.
Well, a check on the LAMA Sarasota website and I see that they are planning to ride up to Tampa. Okay, I don't own a Harley, but hey, a chance to test ride any bike is an invitation I don't pass up. That coupled with the assurance that it was going to be a good time based only on the one chance encounter almost four months ago, I emailed Mo' and let him know I'd be there.
Ride to Tampa was good, organized and safe. Perfect day for riding, good group to ride with, can't ask for much more than that...or can you?
How about good music, great food and tons of other people sharing the same passion of riding and not feeling like a stranger in a group of people you just met? Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about!
Harley Davidson/Buell of Tampa was a great venue and did a superb job of hosting the LAMA Event. There were Chapters from Sebring, Central Florida, Orlando, Tampa and others from all over Florida that filled the parking lot. Tents were set up for the DJ (killer job with the discs, kept everyone boppin' all day). There was also a tent for kid's activities and another tent for signing up for the demo rides. Sylvana Golzman, who organized and ran the kid's tent almost single handedly all day, was a kind and generous person and well suited for the task.
Ah yes...the Demo Rides! The girls at the table were pleasant, the charts for signing up were prepared and the bikes were sitting there ready to roll. During the five or six demo rides I took, I got to know the instructors and talked with them a bit. They admitted that they were a little aprehensive about offering Demo Rides at first (I think it was the first time some of them were escorting), but felt very comfortable with any rider or group of riders wearing the LAMA colors. They noticed very quickly how disciplined LAMA Members were when it came to riding, a little wilder when enjoying themselves in the parking lot, but serious when on the streets.
I really enjoyed it so much that the following Monday evening I went to the LAMA Sarasota Chapter meeting and signed up. This is a great organization, just look at the previous and upcoming events and notice how many charity events they attend.
Life is good...and getting better every day.
Oh yeah, I was the first name called in the first drawing and got a pretty nice bag of prizes, all bike related and all useful. (It was hilarious to hear my name being called out over the loudspeaker, it didn't sound spanish!)
