Dune Dog Riding
Welcome once again faithful readers to another installment of the 360 Bikers Blog. The 360 Bikers are the most popular Motorcycle riding club in South Florida and the ride today was a prime reason for our popularity.
The ride to Dune Dog began at 10:00am at the Starbucks in front of the Wellington Mall. About 33 riders showed up to take the ride. Ice coffee was the way to go as the sunny South Florida weather was already well under way. After some picture taking and lots of greetings we got down to our rider meeting. I believe every make and model was represented from 250cc Rebels to 6 cylinder Hondas.
The first group was lead by our fearless leader Lee and tailed by Nick. I lead the second group tailed by our resident expert Hawk. Our route for the day took us through Wellington heading West. Whenever we ride as a group we turn heads but when you ride 25-30 bikes strong, that’s a parade. We cruised through Wellington into Royal Palm and took a slight detour for some quick maintenance on a members motorcycle. The groups flip flopped the lead and tail gunners with Lee joining the group I was leading and Hawk leading the second group with Nick Tail Gunning. The switch was flawless and we barely skipped a beat.
Our group maintained a leisurely pace along Crestwood on to Royal Palm Beach Boulevard. We headed North to Orange, West to Coconut, North to Northlake and East to Bee Line Highway. I wrote this all in one sentence because essentially we did not stop at any of these locations. We barely hesitated, catching each light or arriving just as the light was beginning to change. This makes for a great flow when riding in a group. Our ride North West on Beeline was the quickest part of our trip as the speed limit reaches 60 mph on stretches of Beeline. Traffic was light and the traffic lights were accommodating.
We headed North East on Pratt Whitney adn then East on Indiantown Road. This stretch took us back into town and what I thought would be the most congested part of our trip. Boy was I surprised. Our good luck with smooth traffic and accommodating lights continued all the way East on Indiantown Road. If any of you have ever traveled on Indiantown Road you know it is the most congested road in Jupiter. There are shops, stores, dealers, shopping malls and restaurants every 10 feet. None of those affected our ride this day. We made record time all the way to Federal Hwy or Dixie Hwy, depending on what town your in. At this point we finally stopped for more than 1 minute (just barely) at a traffic light. There was more than one rider getting up off of their seat to stretch.
We headed North for about 3 blocks to Dune Dog on the East side of the road. The parking lot had plenty of room and we were soon parked across the parking lot. We posed for a few shots here and headed inside. About 15 minutes after we pulled in the second group pulled into the parking lot and we were once again one big happy group. We found some more great friends and 360 Bikers to hang with inside Dune Dogs. Mark, Yarka, Maverick and Dale, long time 360 bikers, met us for lunch and the ride home.
Lunch consisted of Leroy Brown’s Junkyard Dog, (it was great) and Baby Back Ribs, w/hot wings, coleslaw and fries for the missus. Lunch was ordered and served in good time considering every seat in the house seemed to be taken. The pricing was reasonable and the service was friendly. We posed for some more shots after lunch and headed out.
We headed North once again to find Ocean avenue and immediately were stuck waiting on a raised bridge. After a few minutes and some more pictures we started again. We continued South to Indiantown, East to Ocean and then headed South along the beach. Back on to US 1 for a few miles then East to Ocean once again. We achieved a good flow along the Ocean with some great views. We headed West along Blue Heron Blvd and were separated by a traffic light at Australian. As my group, slowed to wait for those at the light we lost touch with the front group. We continued South on Australian enjoying the weather and the ride. At 45th street, Hawk rode to the front and suggested we go West on 45th and we soon caught the first group and passed them as they had stopped to wait for us.
We continued West on 45th, losing our second gunner, Nick, here. Love the bike Nick (Yamaha Raider). We headed South on Haverhill Road to Roebuck for our connection to Jog Road. We headed South on Jog Road. As we headed South on Jog Road, members began to peel off. We actually, left the group here, and headed East on SR 80. It was another great 360 plan and another great 360 ride. Until next time, Ride Safe!!!
GR
