Bikers Beware

I have had the good fortune to have spent the last three weeks just south of Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. I have been coming here every October for the past 15 years and needless to say it is one of my favorite places. This year I brought my Harley down (by trailer) and have enjoyed riding it which is something I couldn’t have done up north in the cooler weather. After observing the situation in Myrtle Beach and talking to some of the locals it appears the town has made some very large errors in the way they have treated the thousands of bikers that gather at the Beach every year for the spring and fall bike weeks. Last year after succumbing to some residents that were fed up with the overload of bikes in their community for two weeks each year along with the noise and crowds that accompany them, the Town council approved several bylaws that hopefully would drive the riders away. Well you know the old saying, “be careful what you wish for” this is exactly what happened. Laws that demand helmets within the town boundaries, decibel limits on the bike's mufflers and a variety of parking restrictions were successful in dramatically reducing the number of bikers during this season’s bike weeks. Of course this coincided perfectly with the crash of the world economy. Myrtle Beach’s economy is built on tourism and to attack a large event that brings in so much revenue has severely emptied their coffers. Unemployment is at 11.5% and doors are boarded up all over the place. The prices of golf have been reduced dramatically and every restaurant we have been in has been sparsely occupied which is making their life very tough. The upcoming municipal elections will see this issue as the key factor in the polling booths. Mayoral candidates are suggesting repealing these laws and pleading with bikers to come back. It amazes me that people take these knee jerk reactions to problems without exploring all options to see if the results they aspire to can be obtained in another manner. Surely, enforcing laws already on the books and limiting the areas bikes may travel within the town are a few that seem reasonable instead of driving the bikers away totally. The old “cutting your nose off to spite your face” saying certainly appears to be applicable here. I have been the only bike on the main road many times that I have been out riding and this is extremely unusual in the month of October. I have to believe that the efforts to rid the town of bikes has been more successful than the town realizes and other bikers who come to the beach outside of the usual festivities have decided to find other more friendly places to travel. I can only hope that the folks here realize what they have done and make corrections immediately before the bikers find another place for permanent “weeks” in the spring and fall to meet and party. We can only hope.