Cycle Connections

                     Photo’s & Article By: Christin Elders 18YRS COUNTING AND GROWING!!! Another beautiful year with some beautiful people... The precious Children, amazing bikers, beautiful car show, and so much more. Let's not forgot the wonderful food they serve each year; the Gintown Lowlife Society Family 11th year. And it only gets bigger and bigger. Such a heartwarming feeling. Not just the first time we go but every time. This is what we do and are about! Period.

  The Stars were shinning bright here in Alabama the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the Zoo Run Safari for Children's Stars that is, prompting Santa (Stephen Whitley) to make a special early appearance just to have breakfast with them. He brought the "Magic Man", Larry Moore with him to entertain the kids and make balloon creations for them.

  Once again due to Covid, the rally was on then off then back on again. But in the end the powers that be in Panama City Beach, Florida decided to go ahead with the Fall Rally much to the excitement of the rally goers who’ve been waiting to get out and ride and get back to some kind of normalcy.

  On Saturday, October the 16th, the Veterans Brotherhood was once again, the host of the Zoo Run Raffle/Booze Raffle benefiting Children's of Alabama, it was also the birthday of Brotherhood member, Ross Jones, who's girlfriend, Nikki cooked Chili to feed everyone. Alabama was plying on the big screen, which meant that the house was a buzz with excitement and activities.

                         Photos By: Christina “Shooter" Edwards This past Labor Day weekend, I was invited by my sister, Andrea “ Squeaky” Forte to ride in the 9 th annual Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association’s Fallen Brothers Ride. This was my first ride and not having participated before I had nothing to compare it to but now I know there’s nothing to compare it to. Throughout the year she and I had discussed all the pre-event planning. The planning can easily take 6 months or more for a gathering of this nature. There are a lot of nuts and bolts to put together…

  Last year, there was no Vintage Festival due to Covid, this year the Festival is on and in the days leading up to it, wouldn't you know, it's raining up a storm around here, so it would be just a little damp around the edges as people came in to set up in the Swap Meet area. But by Friday, the sun was shinning bright in the sky sending down a rainbow as if to put its stamp of approval on the weekend.

  On September the 12th, 2021, the Legion Rider's gathered at the American Legion Post #171, (to the tune of over 200 motorcycles!!) for the 16th Annual 9/11 Commemorative Ride on the 20th anniversary.

  Well God blessed us with an absolutely beautiful day for a run to the Zoo on Saturday, September the 25th, 2021. The only thing missing was our Star families. This Covid mess has really had things turned upside down for way too long now.

  On Saturday, August the 14th, the Veterans Brotherhood hosted one of their famous Chow Call's...with a twist, a Bike Wash courtesy of the girls from Gin Town Lowlife Society.

  My girls, Cindy Lou & Kelly Kimari , loaded up the truck and trailer and hit the road early Thursday morning, August the 5th, headed for the 81st Annual Sturgis Rally. We asked them to be our roving photojournalist for this trip so that we all could experience Sturgis, at least through their eyes....since not all of us are fortunate enough to get to do that experience in person. Cindy Lou is a Sturgis virgin and has been looking forward to making this journey with her good friend, veteran Sturgis goer, Kelly      

                It’s 6:00 a.m. and we’re on our way to Georgia with some of our fellow Charity Riders club members and closest friends. There are six of us headed for a weekend getaway and we couldn’t be happier! Who wouldn’t be happy to get away for some much needed wind therapy, not sure where all it will take you? There is so much beauty to be found in our great state of Alabama, and trust me, we have seen a lot, but we’re ready to see some new sights and venture upon some new long and winding roads we’ve never…

   What better way to splash into the heat of summer, than to splash into the river to shoot the rapids (sorta kinda :-) and float on your raft for a leisurely cruise down the river. And some of these rafts are quiet literally making a statement! It was like a river float parade.

  On June the 12th, 2021, The Saints and Friends of The Miracle League, hit the road leaving from the Cullman Elks Lodge #1609 (a big supporter of the Miracle League) with some of the superstars along for the ride, one of which is Brandi Story Evans son, superstar athlete Jacob. Brandi spent many months gathering all kind of special goodies for this event and she along with Lynn Gordon Jones and Tiffany Day Wilson provided the awesome pictures of the ride to share with all of you.

  On Sunday, June the 13th, hundred's of people rolled into the Moody Civic Center to honor and pay respects to a couple of their fallen hero's. It was a beautiful, all be it a little hot, (so hot, that a few of the people had issues by the end of the ride) Sunday afternoon as motorcycle after motorcycle rolled into the parking area with many jeeps and cars mixed in. The Moody police chief was on hand to speak before the ride left and afterwards when the ride returned.

  I'm glad we at least KNOW folks that get to go have some awesome adventures, also glad that they come back and share that experience with us all. Our friend Christopher Litteral with the Alabama Law Tigers group was there with his team, giving away a “glamping” experience” and brought us back some cool pictures from their time there, he also got to meet Loretta Lynn’s grand daughter…how cool is that!!

  On Saturday, May the 30th, Bad Boy Toyz Garage and Hooters in Pelham, Alabama kicked off the first "Pipes And Pints" Sunday afternoon get together. This is an event that came together as a way for everyone to just meet and greet, have a few colds ones and some good food while enjoying each other’s company. Also, Stephen Krubinski, owner of Bad Boy Toyz wanted to include "Sound-Off" contests for pipes and audio, with the assist of "Bare Naked Body Worx"  the winner receiving $250.00; pretty cool, cause who doesn't like showing off their rides and hard work, it got…

On May the 8th, 2021, the new kids on the block, "The Charity Rider's R.C", hosted their Grand Opening-Open House and drew in around 85 Bikes and probably 20 to 25 caged rides. They also had in excess of 10 other clubs who participated as well as a lot of independents. The Veterans Brotherhood was one of those other clubs who hosted a stop over during the ride leading up to the open house.

    On April, 28th 2021, as further signs of the country slowly getting back to some kind of normalcy, the Spring Thunder Beach rally kicked off in Panama City Beach Florida after being put on hold last year due to Covid. April 28th was the official start date however; many of the bikers were already rolling in to town early in the week to get things started.  For the most part, rally goers experienced beautiful weather, aside from a few brief showers early on, which didn't dampen anyone's spirits about being back at the beach.

-- We (our local CMA in Tennessee) held a Blessing of the Bikes, Saturday, April the 3rd. There were approximately 200 bikers to come out

The 2021 Season of racing for anything, has taken on a different look AGAIN this year, due to Covid, but at least there are some races taking place, which is a good thing because people are still yearning for some normalcy. Indy racing rolled into Alabama on April the 16th, 2021, to start the race season off; what better place than the coolest world famous track at the Barber Motorsports Park.