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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Sturgis is a long ride for those on the densely populated east coast, particularly Floridians, but there is another bike festival coming up, Biketoberfest in Daytona Beach Florida on 15-18 October.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>A month ago the Daytona Beach mayor called it off, with the comment:<br><br><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"proximanova-regular-webfont",serif;color:#042D4D;letter-spacing:.45pt;background:white'>“…it's a definitive no at this moment in time, unless things drastically turn around…</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Well, OK then. I haven’t heard if the covid results from Sturgis are considered a drastic turn around by the good mayor, but also note that Daytona Beach is not way the hell out in the middle of nowhere like Sturgis. He can’t order the constables to arrest anyone riding a motorcycle in Daytona. They can’t really arrest people for camping on the beach (homeless people do that and no one bothers them.) The Daytona Beach mayor can order the restaurants closed, but even if he did and they complied, the bikers can have dinner in the city of South Daytona (which is separate from Daytona Beach (different mayor (happy to have the bikers’ patronage))) and Port Orange and Wilbur and Holly Hill and Ormond Beach and Tiger Bay and of course the usual fine dining establishments at every exit on Interstate 95, Interstate 4, state roads 92 and 40, all of which love big-spending bikers.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>So… the mayor of Daytona Beach can call off Biketoberfest if he wishes, but the show will go on. He will be blameless. But he will also be credit-less for having tried to stop the rally if it turns out that the rally crowd is healthier than their stay-at-home neighbors.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Shall we start a betting pool? If so, I would wager that the Biketoberfest crowd will be healthier than the stay-at-homes, even if I will be damned if I can figure out why. I can’t think of a single plausible explanation for why the Sturgis crowd did so well, but whatever that was, I would bet the same mojo applies to Florida.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>