Thunder Roads Magazine of Oklahoma/Arkansas December 2014 Issue 5 Volume 13 | Page 30

EVENTS

INDIAN LARRY BLOCK PARTY AND THE
BROOKLYN INVITATIONAL
Indian Larry has long been an inspirational
builder. His stripped down, no-nonsense choppers
have always an appeal to me. Unfortunately, I never
had the opportunity to meet the man before his
untimely passing so we decided to do the next best
thing. We loaded up the bikes and took off for a full
weekend of Brooklyn bike madness. As with most
chopper trips, planning takes a back seat to fun. A
-about 6 hrs into the trip, Erin Helvey discovered that
there was a Dice pre-party the day before the Indian
Larry Block Party. This information caused my 19
hour marathon driving session before handing off
the reigns to my partner in crime for the final 5 hrs.
I was whipped. Time to find the hotel…
After checking in and a 3 hour cat nap, we
loaded up on the bikes and headed over to the Dice
Pre-Party. It was held in a parking lot behind some
old warehouses which was the perfect backdrop for
all these old bikes to be viewed. This event alone was
worth the trip to Brooklyn. There we more amazing
actually ridden choppers in that parking lot than I
have seen in probably 3 years. Everything from
flatheads, to knuckleheads, a ton of shovelheads,
some old triumphs, even a few Ducatis and one
little CB750 that I am kind of partial to! Apparently,
Brooklyn and PA are hiding a ton of cool old bikes
and a bunch of tough chicks who were riding kick
only ironheads and shovelheads. If they weren’t riding
their own bikes, most were riding on fenders of rigid
machines! Bunch of tough chicks, it was awesome.
After filling up on some grilled corn ears and listening
to some Brooklyn country bands, we headed back
to the hotel for a much needed nights rest.
Riding in Brooklyn, well it is crazy and a
party! Full dressers would not do well there. You
really start to understand the skinny, stripped down
chopper. Splitting lanes and weaving in and out of
traffic is the only way to not get ran over. Drivers in
Brooklyn are crazy, taxi drivers are insane, and bus
drivers have absolutely lost their minds. If you are
where they want to be, they will simply move you.
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Thunder Roads Magazine of OK/AR

Once we realized that bikes in traffic really have no
rules, we began to ride like the locals and the fun
began. We split lanes, crossed in front of cars,
pushed off the sides of buses to move ourselves
along, and generally did whatever it took to get
through traffic without getting ran off the road. The
highways are a much different story…they suck. I
will never complain about Oklahoma roads again.
There was a 6 lane highway with a 45 MPH signs
that said, “due to road conditions.” That 45 MPH was
about max on those pothole filled roads, especially
on some rigid, foot clutch, and hand shift machines.