Spyderfest 2013 recap
I don't think I can ever remember an event that has taken me so long to recover from. I'm not sure if it was all the anticipation leading up to the event or the event itself but I'm just now starting to feel like I'm getting caught up with the rest of life that was on hold for so long. I've been going to Spyder events since 2008 and they just keep getting bigger and better. The turnout for this event was huge with well over 1200 registered attendees. Folks from all over the country made their way to Springfield MO for a week long event hosted by a brand new dealership. As a matter of fact the event started on Pit Bull Powersports seventh week of being in business. To pull this off they needed the support of the MOgang and many others including the town of Springfield. I would say they exceeded everyone expectations and if it wasn't for the crazy cold and wet weather we had it would have been just about an perfect event.
Everyone that made it to Spyderfest has their own take on what they liked and didn't like and what the highlights were for them. This is my take on Spyderfest and you're welcome to add yours.
I rode my new 2013 ST-S with trailer from my home in East TN on Sunday to Springfield MO for the event, just shy of 700 miles. The days prior I drove to Erie PA to have some custom graphics done for Spyderfest, right at 1200 miles. The week before that I had some paint work done before doing the graphics so you can see why I was a little burned out. So from the time I got the ST to the time I headed to Spyderfest I had just under 2000 miles in two weeks. That's not much if you're just riding but I was doing a bunch of work to the ST too.
Ready for Spyderfest with new paint, graphics and new Corbin/Lamonster seat.
A guy on SpyderLovers that goes by NCSpyderRT (Dan) asked if he could ride with Ron and I to Spyderfest and we always welcome riders that want to ride with us. Sometimes they never want to ride again with us but most of the time they enjoy the pace we set. We don't eat much along the way and we don't stop long for fuel. We pretty much just get fuel and go. I could see that Dan was not use to this pace and was pretty much just going with the program. He told us as much when we got there.
We made good time getting to Springfield but it was Sunday and by time we got there everyone had left.
As I always do on a trip like this I headed right for the carwash to clean the bugs and grime off my bike. I can't stand a dirty bike very long. That night we checked in to the host hotel and then met up with Spyderpops and his crew for dinner at Lamberts.
It was a nice day all and all. The weather was good and after 700 miles on the ST with the new seat my butt still felt good and I was ready to ride some more. You know it's a good day when you put those kind of miles on and you still feel good.
Monday we made our way over to Pit Bull and they had the registration booth setup and folks were already getting their ride bags. The event didn't officially start till Wed. but there were plenty of early birds there. Little did I know this was the calm before the storm. It really got crazy soon after this.
The next big event was the River Walk and man was that a sight to see. Spyders everywhere and the line for food was about a 1/2 mile long. I know this because my mailbox is a 1/2 a mile from the house at it was pretty close to that. Even thought the line was crazy nobody seemed to care. They were all talking and having a good time with each other.
I'm not sure how many folks they fed but my guess was well over 1000. There was plenty of food and drinks for everyone and once again you got to see what planning went in to all of this and the hard work all the volunteers were doing. They worked their butts off but never complained and always had a smile on their face.
That night they had a huge bonfire with fireworks. This is also when the Pit Bull crew presented Seth with his new Spyder. Len and the Pit Bull crew did all the work on the bike and got a bunch of vendors to donate product Seth was going to need for his new ride. As it happened I was shipped two Corbin seats before I came to Spyderfest by accident so I brought the spare with me to see if Len could sell it for Corbin. This was the first Lamonster seat produced by Corbin besides mine and because it had a fuel door built in it was just what Seth needed. Len asked me if I thought Corbin would donate that seat and I really wasn't sure but I made a call to Mike Corbin and told him the situation and who it was for and he said I think that would be a good thing to do. That was pretty cool and now I know I didn't get that extra seat by accident. Thanks for support Mike.
When Len rolled the Spyder out of the trailer and gave it to Seth pretty much everyone there had a tear in their eye. It was great to see the SpyderLovers family come together to help another member. This is just one of the great things that has come out of this club. You can see the joy in Seth's face. He really needed a new Spyder too after riding his for over 80,000 miles in all sorts of bad weather. This guy is one hardcore rider for sure. This was a great way to end a great day.
The next big event was the Spyder Drag Racing. When Len told me he wanted to do this I said I doubt there will be many folks who would want to race a Spyder and even less folks who would want to watch. Boy was I ever wrong about that. This event was a big hit with the attendees and I got to tell you I had a blast myself. I'm use to running bikes that are running low 12's and mid 11's and the Spyder was running 14's but it was still a blast to run down the track. I had more fun burning off my tire at the start but that's just me. we had all classes including a trailer class racing and there were plenty of gals on the track too. This turned out to be one of my highlighted memories.
This has already turned into a book so I'm going to cut it off short and you can add your thought about the event if you like but I'm going to tell you the best part of the event for me, it was the people I got to know during the event. The weather got ugly toward the end and it forced many of us to stay in our hotels or hangout at the Vendor Village or Pit Bulls but that turned out to be a real blessing for me. I got to really know some folks here in a much deeper way than ever before. I laughed with many and even cried with a few. I hope the folks I got to spend time with at Spyderfest got as much out of it as I did. The relationships I made with other SpyderLovers will last a lifetime. You are a very special group of people and I'm thankful to be a small part of your life.
Click Here to see all the pics I've collected on Facebook of Spyderfest 2013
The faces say it all.
And from the man that put this all together with a little help from his friends. Thanks for everything Len
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... You're making want to point the RT West again already! 
Ryder... 
Originally Posted by Yazz
"Smiling All the Way"
