FATBOB's biker rally reviews
Road Rash Biker Bash 2005
Road Rash Biker Bash 2005 Ringgold, GA August 12-14th, 2005 What a difference a couple of years makes. I first heard about the road rash biker bash a few years ago, and popped over to check it out. It ended up being about 100 rowdy bikers party'ing in an old chicken barn. It was a good time, but still not what you would call a real biker rally. After missing a couple of years I decided to go check it out again, and has it ever changed! Even though it rained quite a bit they still had a about 1500 people or so show up to party, and they finally moved the rally to a much better location, the Peavine campgrounds located just minutes south of Chattanooga, TN. Lots of camping space, some shade trees, a main stage, rolling grass pastures... much better than the old chicken barn. And they had some rockin' bands, including one of my personal favorites Big Mike Griffin. Not bad at all for a little rally in Chattanooga. Friday had everybody driving in & setting up their camp gear. They had a local band playing (TZER) that was pretty good, and a pickle sucking contest after the sun went down. Of course things are never that simple... when it came time for the contest it suddenly came to everyone's attention that they were missing the PICKLES! But not to worry, bikers will be bikers and somebody raided a local garden & picked up a few giant cucumbers for the contest. You should have seen the looks on the girls faces when instead of being handed a 4 inch long pickle they were suddenly faced with a foot long cucumber 3 inches across. Some of the looked a little terrified... and others just looked like they were right at home with it. Hahahaha. That's my kinda contest! After the pickle/cucumber contest the band cranked up some more, and there was dancing, flashing, beads flying around and a good time all around. :) Saturday's events started off with the traditional poker run around noon'ish, with a bike show and some biker games in the early afternoon. Slow race, weenie bite, balloon toss, plunger race & jousting. Yes indeed, jousting! There's an old school event I ain't seen in a while. I wonder why not? It's a lot of fun, more biker rallies should include it in their biker rodeos. And you'll never guess the prizes they had for the winners of the games... a free cruise! That's right, if you won for example the slow race you just earned yourself a FREE CRUISE TO THE CARRIBEAN! Damn, prizes have definately taken a turn upwards, much better than the regular little medal you usually get for winning a rodeo event. I wonder how they're gonna top that next year? It did start pouring rain about 30 minutes after the games got started so they just put everything on hold for a couple of hours until the skies cleared up a bit. And after the rodeo games concluded they had a burnout contest down at the pit. Late afternoon they had another band playing, Chad Yates & the Embarassing Stains. They weren't bad, just a little too country for my tastes. But of course that's a personal thing, lot's of other bikers seemed to enjoy it. After dinner (supper for you yankees) they had Big Mike Griffin up on stage rolling out his blues. They don't call him ''Big Mike'' for nothing, everything about his act is top of the line. If your a fan of REAL blues make sure to catch him at a rally sometime. Like I mentioned before he's one of my personal favorites and a Class A act. After the sun went down they had their soon to be famous ''Road Rash'' Wet T Shirt Contest. The contest lasted for well over an hour, and WET was most assuredly part of this contest. A shower head on a pole up on stage that worked on & off, so (most of) the the girls could yank the handle & hose themselves off. Anybody else having FlashDance flash backs? And just in case that wasn't enough water they also had a couple of guys with super soakers in front of the stage hosing them down. And an extra guy with a water nozzle on the end of a hose. Now that's what I call a WET t shirt contest! None of this messing around with a little itty bitty cup of water here... no sirree. And of course things got a little wild, but it wouldn't be a biker rally if it didn't, would it? After the contest they had a band back up on stage, with all the regular dancing, flashing & trading of beads that you see at most biker rallies. The next morning were the Sunday morning services and everybody rolling out & back to reality. All in all it was a pretty good time despite the best efforts of the weather to drown everyone out. You know you have a good party when everyone has a great time EVEN WHEN IT RAINS. I thought this rally was well worth the trip & I've added it to my ''to do'' list again next summer. I went, I saw, and I had a good time... and you should go to. ---------------------- Campground Description : Located at the Peavine campgrounds, in RingGold, GA. Just minutes from Chatanooga, TN. Plenty of primitive camping space, some shaded areas. Gravel/dirt roads. Grass field camping spots. No showers. Small creek runs along the side of the campgrounds. Porta Potty toilets located throughout. --------------------- Entry : $25 for the entire weekend Primitive camping included RV's hookup's available Live Bands : Big Mike Griffin TZer The Tim & Reece Band Chad Yates & the Embarassing Stains Contests : Wet T Shirt contest Pickle Sucking contest BurnOut contest Events : Biker Rodeo Games Bike Show Sunday Morning services Food & other vendors on location Beer sold on location Several Hotels located within a 10 mile radius