All clubs unite for indoor B.L.O.C.K. party

The Bears, the Lords, the Outlaws, the Cavaliers and the Knights joined forces for the first time ever for indoor B.L.O.C.K. party on the patio of the Phoenix on the fifth Friday in May.

It was a great opportunity for the five clubs to get together in the spirit of fellowship, do a little fundraising and have a good time together.

When word got around during the event that popular Phoenix bar manager Chuck Lance had died that day, the five clubs immediately united to donate the entire $350 proceeds from the event to an AIDS charity in his memory. It was a fitting honor for a man who always encouraged the various clubs to work together.

This All Club Beer Bust was suggested by Kent, vice president of the Knights d'Orleans, who said he was inspired by attending a similar event in Memphis where all the local clubs got together for a joint party. He contacted our local clubs and suggested that on the occasional months where there are five Fridays our clubs could get together for a common event, do some fundraising, have some fun, and socialize with each other.

Kent deftly negotiated some of the inevitable issues that came up when you try to get different groups together, but all the while remained focused on the goal: to have fun and spend some time getting to know each other better.

The event was a big success, with many officers and members from each of the five clubs in attendance. Each club brought a number of items to raffle off, including baskets of goodies, bottles of liquor, stuffed animals, and gift certificates. The raffle went on for a while until all the prizes were given away.

An event this successful at having fun, raising money, and bringing people together deserves to be repeated. Look for more of these fifth Friday events in the future.

It's official! Cavaliers meet to formalize club

The seven most active riders in our group met to formally organize the Cavaliers Motorcycle Club at a founders' meeting on May 29.

David, Poncho, Doug, Mike D., Mark, George, and Guy became founding members of the organization by enacting a set of bylaws with their vote and their signatures.

The group elected three provisional officers, including David as president, George as secretary, and Poncho as treasurer. Their terms end in December, when annual elections will be held for a full one-year term.

We have a lot of work to do to complete what we started yesterday, particularly enabling others who are interested to apply to be members of the club. We'll have more details on that process soon. We're eager to open our official membership to as many gay and lesbian motorcyclists as we can.

We also will be submitting articles of incorporation to the state, registering our trade name and logo with the state, getting ourselves an IRS number, and opening a club checking account — all the housekeeping chores necessary to make ourselves "official."

But as a group we pledged not to get too "official." We all want riding to remain our primary purpose as a club, and not get needlessly bogged down in administration or politics or fundraising. Our focus is still on friends and fun. We want to take care of business as simply as we can, and get on with the riding!

Our thanks to George who hosted our meeting last night at his fabulous Uptown home, and to Poncho who barbecued us some delicious steaks. We had a poolside feast and a great time hanging out together in celebration of our accomplishment.

Cavaliers pass 10,000 mile mark at Jambalaya Fest

The Cavaliers Motorcycle Club passed a major milestone on their ride to the Jambalaya Festival in Gonzales on May 25.

In only nine months of riding as a group, the Cavaliers have clocked more than 10,000 miles collectively by 11 riders on more than a dozen riding events.

The Jambalaya Festival ride was our biggest group yet, with nine riders, four buddy riders, and one support truck joining in the fun.

-George rode his 2003 Honda Shadow ACE
-Mark rode his 1998 Honda Shadow ACE
-Doug and Michael J. rode Doug's 1998 Honda Shadow 750
-Guy rode his 2001 Harley-Davidson Road King
-Poncho and William rode Poncho's 1996 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Classic
-Michael D. and Matt rode Mike's 1999 Honda Shadow 750
-Tedd rode his 2002 Honda Reflex, while his partner Tom followed in the support truck
-Michael came down from Jackson, MS, on his 1984 Honda Gold Wing Aspencade GL1200
-David and Michael W. rode David's 1996 Honda Gold Wing SE

We were surprised at the big turnout for a lagniappe ride that was thrown together only days before. Our regular May ride had been rescheduled twice, and obviously we were itching for a ride. Even the holiday weekend didn't seem to keep people away. All of our regulars joined us, as well as a few extras.

Our group rendezvoused at the Phoenix at 10, with the usual greetings all around. We were especially pleased that our friend Michael from Jackson was able to join us on a ride for the first time. After posing for the obligatory pre-ride photos, our group headed west on I-10 to LaPlace, where we slipped off the highway onto the old US 51.

Rather than head directly to Gonzales for the festival, we decided to take good advantage of the sunny and warm spring day and take the scenic route. Old US Hwy 51, which parallels I-55, is a pleasant ride on the narrow neck of swampland between Lake Ponchartrain and Lake Maurepas. The old road gives you a good view of the swamps and the narrow canals dredged through them, and a great view of the two big lakes on the high bridge over Pass Manchac. The old road brought back many memories to me as my family used to make frequent trips to Manchac to go crabbing and fishing when I was a boy, long before the Interstate highway was built.

Our group stopped for a break at Ponchatoula, before tackling the most scenic part of our ride. Hwy 22 runs between Ponchatoula and Gonzales, and it's 30 miles of the most wonderfully twisty and picturesque highway in southeast Louisiana. Before leaving the rest stop in Ponchatoula, David encouraged everyone to ride their own ride, even if the group separated a bit. Faster riders moved to the front, and slower riders hung back. Both were able to enjoy the great road and the lovely scenery, especially in the stretch along the Amite River near the towns of Maurepas and Catfish Landing. There was a little too much traffic and a few too many police patrolling the highway to take the road at as brisk a pace as some of us would have liked, but we had a great ride nevertheless. We were especially impressed that Tedd, who rides an automatic transmission Honda Helix, rode aggressively and more than kept up with the big dogs in the pack.

We grouped up again at the end of Hwy 22 and headed toward Gonzales on US 61, expecting to find a big sign pointing toward the Jambalaya Festival. Unfortunately it took a bit of wandering around to find the festival grounds, but after asking a local for directions we finally found our way. We parked and walked around the festival grounds, exploring the amusement rides, the food booths, the music stage, and the crafts and T-shirt booths. We even stopped in briefly at the kiddie country karaoke going on inside the auditorium, where the air conditioning was a welcome break from the heat and sun.

Mark, who had overslept and missed our rendezvous, surprised us by meeting us at the Jambalaya Festival. Seems he woke up about 11:30 and high-tailed it up I-10 to meet up with us. Mark's a dedicated rider who tries to

Unfortunately the biggest disappointment at the Jambalaya Festival was the jambalaya. Several of us bought a plate, and found it to be dry and flavorless, with unappetizing pieces of tough, greasy chicken. But much of the other festival food was really good, including the wonderfully spicy chicken-on-a-stick and the blooming onions. We had some really delicious and thirst-quenching lemonade, and several of us sampled the ice cream treats from the Blue Bell booth.

While at the festival we ran across Ms. Teen Gonzales with her spectacular tiara. We couldn't pass up the photo opportunity. But no sooner had we done snapping the souvenir photo, than we spotted Guy wearing his own tiara. Guess he was just jealous and wanted to be a beauty queen, too.

The heat of the day started to wear on us, and after a while we decided it was time to head back, this time with Poncho in the lead. We stopped for gas before leaving Gonzales, then headed to the River Road for the ride back to New Orleans.

This part of the trip was particularly nice, to just cruise along with the levee on one side and several beautiful plantation homes on the other. We saw the burned remains of Tezcuco Plantation, where sadly only the chimneys remain surrounded by the outbuildings following a May 2002 fire. We also saw the charmingly beautiful San Francisco Plantation, which is sadly squeezed into a tiny plot of land surrounded by chain link fences and a petroleum plant. The bright spot along this stretch of River Road is the Manresa Retreat House in Convent, which was built in the 1830s as Jefferson College, a private school for the sons of plantation owners.

Our only surprise along our route home was when we got to LaPlace and discovered the road across the Bonnet Carre Spillway was closed. We made a detour to US 61, and followed the old Airline Hwy into Kenner, where we returned to the River Road and followed it and Jefferson Hwy through Harahan and River Ridge as we made our way back to the city. People started splitting off from our group as they neared home.

Our official mileage for the ride was 175 miles, with nine bikes participating, putting us over the 10,000 mile mark on our group rides.

When we made it back to the city, several of us met up again a bit later at Lafitte's on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. This has become a post-ride tradition, allowing us time to hang out and tell each other what a great ride we had. If you see a row of bikes parked across the street in front of the Clover Grill, be sure to stop at Lafitte's and meet the Cavaliers. You'll find we're a really friendly bunch.

Memorial weekend beer bust draws big crowd

The Cavaliers kicked off Memorial Day weekend with a great beer bust that was crowded with plenty of locals and visitors.

The May 23 event was a huge success for the club. We had a big crowd with tons of people out enjoying the start of the three-day holiday weekend on a beautiful, mild spring night.

Locals and visitors had a great time at our Memorial weekend beer bust, including Joe from the Knights d'Orleans, and Rich from Northern California. Most photos this page by David.

Lots of locals came out including many of our friends from the Knights d'Orleans and the New Orleans Bears. We're always grateful for the generous support of our friends from our brother clubs.

We also had lots of guests from out of town, including our good friend Michael from Jackson, who rode down on his Gold Wing.

Rich from California wasted no time making himself comfortable in the warm spring weather at our beer bust.

Most of the Cavaliers were on hand, too, including Poncho, William, Mike D., Doug, George, Mark, Collin, David, and Michael W. It all made for one great big party!

And we made out like bandits, especially due to the efforts of Doug and Mark pushing those 50/50 raffle tickets, which was won by a good friend from Washington, DC, who very generously donated back the entire proceeds to the club! Thanks, Linwood!

Cavaliers Founder David congratulates Linwood on winning $84 in the 50/50 raffle. Linwood generously donated his winnings back to our club. Photo by Michael W.

All the while Poncho was taking orders for his wonderful Cavaliers T-shirts. They were extremely popular, with Doug and Mike, and Poncho and I all modeling them for the crowd. We found that one benefit of the embroidery is that people keep rubbing your chest.

Michael's famous Internal Combustion chili was a big hit, and he and I just kept on pouring beer for the thirsty throng. Amazingly the keg held out longer than we did, and we stayed open well past our usual closing time of midnight.

We also took the opportunity to celebrate upcoming birthdays for Doug and Guy. We regretted that Guy wasn't able to join us.

Word continues to spread about the Cavaliers, and the beer busts are a great promotional tool for our club. When Mark and Doug were selling 50/50 raffle tickets, they talked to John Taylor, Mr. Louisiana Leather 1995, who's getting a Honda Shadow ACE 750 in a few weeks. He emailed us after the beer bust now we're looking forward to having him join us on a ride soon.

Cavaliers prowl the Dome at Louisiana Bike Expo

While Mike and Doug were off at the AIDA run in Tennessee, those of us who stayed behind had an opportunity to attend the fantastic display of custom bikes at the Louisiana Bike Expo in the Superdome on Sunday, May 4.

We started off the morning with a rendezvous for brunch at Bywater Barbecue. Ten of us met there including Guy, Mark, Collin, Tedd, Tom, David and Michael. We also were pleased to have Doc and BJ join us for the first time. BJ even rode down from Jackson to be with us for the event. This marks the first time women have attended a Cavaliers event, and we did our best to welcome them.

We unfortunately had a very, very ... VERY long wait for our food at the restaurant, but the owner graciously acknowledged the poor service by comping all 10 of us our meals.

Six of us then headed off for the Louisana Superdome and the Bike Expo, including Mark, Collin, Doc, BJ, David, and Michael. There was lots and lots to see on the floor of the Dome.

The stars of the show were Paul Teutul Sr. and Jr. from the Discovery Channel's "American Chopper" TV show. The Teutuls were on hand, signing autographs for a long line of fans. The weren't fighting the way they do on their TV show, but as this was the third day of the expo and who knows how many nights on Bourbon Street, they were probably too exhausted.

They brought their wonderful collection of fabulous custom motorcycles, which sell for upwards of $150,000. They had the Black Widow, the NY Fire Department, and the Jet Bike on display along with other dazzling examples of rolling art. The show was worth it just to see these incredible machines in person.

But these weren't the only bikes on display. Most of the floor was filled with dozens and dozens of local show bikes, from outrageous cruisers, to trikes, to fantastic sportbikes, to classic Harleys. It was a dazzling array of bikes, each showing the owner's individuality.

There was also the Team Extreme Trials Showcase, with an array of motorcycle stunt riders, and the Ball of Steel Stunts Show, with three teenage daredevils riding around the inside of a large steel ball cage at very high speeds. It was amazing to watch, but got even more amazing when the announcer got a volunteer from the audience to go and stand on the inside of the cage as the three bikes raced around her. (The whole time this was going on, Michael W. was shouting, "Me! Me! I wanna do it! That is SO COOL!!!")

There was plenty of shopping to be done at vendor booths throughout the Dome, and of course lots of hot biker dudes and biker babes wandering around in the crowd. All in all it was a really fun show and a great way to kill a Sunday afternoon.

Cavaliers pay homage to Elvis on road to AIDA

Mike and Doug made a pilgrimage to Graceland on their way to the Tsarus leather club's annual run, AIDA, May 2-4.

The weekend run has been held for 26 years in the hills of Tennessee about 100 miles east of Memphis. Mike and Doug described the countryside as beautiful.

The guys left Wednesday and stayed overnight in Jackson with our friend Michael from the Central Mississippi Gay Bikers group. Then Thursday they rode up to Memphis, especially to pay a visit to America's premiere house of kitsch. They said it was every bit as tacky as they'd hoped. Doug even sneaked past a security guard to get a souvenir photo of Elvis's motorcycle, in an area where flash photography was restricted.

Our boys then rode from Memphis to the run site near Jackson, TN. Because of the distance, the guys trailered their bikes most of the trip, but Doug rode his Honda Shadow from Memphis to the run site. After arriving at the run site, the guys set up camp, then hopped on their bikes and rode around the rural roads in the area. They said they had a blast riding all the hills and the curves.

Mike and Doug weren't the only New Orleanians present at AIDA. Phoenix bar owner Jamie, and AIDA veteran, was also in attendance, as was Phoenix bartender Erick. Jamie hosted a *bleep*tail party during the run, and Mike and Doug donated 25 Cavaliers cups for the occasion to help get the word out about our group.

The guys spent part of Saturday doing the motorcycle events, which primarily consisted of a slow race, the winner being the person who covers the distance in the greatest amount of time without stopping.

Many other motorcyclists were on hand at the run, primarily our Texas friends in the Battalion Motorcycle Corps. Mike and Doug used the occasion to talk up our club, and the guys in Battalion seem to be very eager to plan some joint events with our group. That could really be a lot of fun.

The boys said that after nightfall things got particularly frisky, what with all those hot men around with all that time on their hands. They said that things got very kinky, but you'll have to get the details from them. Just ask about all the shocking sounds.

Our guys packed up and headed home early Sunday morning, missing the severe weather that hit the area later that day. Tornados raced through Jackson and much of Tennessee, Kansas and Missouri, causing substantial damage. Erick said that when the storms came through they caused minor damager at the AIDA run site, destroying the shower area and sucking everything out of Jamie's pop-up camper except his TV set. We were relieved to hear that none of the AIDA participants were injured. Erick said the tornado damage in Jackson was so severe the town was closed off and they had to take back roads to get around it and get home.

Our guys made it home in time for Sunday Trash Disco at Lafitte's as usual, where we plied them for tales of their adventures.