INSIDE DAYTONA’S BLACK BIKE WEEK 2026

Charlotte, North Carolina had just endured the second heaviest snowfall in recent memory, so the upcoming ride to Daytona Beach for Bike Week felt less like a trip and more like a long-awaited escape from the longest winter I could remember.

Not long before the journey, I purchased a 2023.5 Harley-Davidson® CVO™ Street Glide® and, like any new bike, it needed its 500-mile break-in. Under normal circumstances that wouldn’t be a challenge, but the weather back home had been absolutely brutal. Temperatures hadn’t climbed past 40 degrees in what felt like weeks.

Still, Bike Week waits for no one.

I planned to head out Wednesday during the second week of the rally and get there with plenty of time to enjoy the festivities. The ride from Charlotte to Daytona is roughly seven hours, but at 51 years old, I’m just now accepting that my astigmatism and nighttime highway riding don’t make for the best combination.

After a couple hours on the road, we decided it was smarter to stop for the night in Columbia, South Carolina.

As luck would have it, some friends of mine were only about 30 minutes away. What was supposed to be a quick overnight stop turned into a spontaneous reunion in the hotel lobby and one of those moments where the road reminds you that the journey is just as important as the destination.

The next morning we were back on the road heading south.

When we finally touched down in Daytona, my fiancée had arrived ahead of me and we were eager to go get settled in. But before I could, I knew I had to stop at Teddy Morse’s Harley-Davidson®, which during Bike Week becomes a central hub where riders from across the country gather to see the newest bikes, connect with friends, and soak up some of what makes the rally what it is.

After that quick pit stop, we went and checked into our hotel right on the beach, about a mile from Main Street. That first evening ended with one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve seen in a long time. The sky burned orange over the Atlantic while the distant rumble of motorcycles echoed along the coastline.

Friday morning started strong with a quick hotel breakfast before heading toward the Harley-Davidson footprint at Pride’s Service Center.

Crossing the bridge into the heart of Bike Week was its own experience. Motorcycles filled both lanes in every direction, from baggers and cruisers to customs and builds that clearly had countless hours and abundant love poured into them.

After a full day of bikes, conversations, and culture, the only thing left to do was get some rest. Another beautiful sunrise greeted us the next morning, but as we were pulling out of the city, the sky started looking like it had other plans.

I felt the first drop just in time to pull on my rain suit before the storm opened up, turning the next two hours of the ride home into what felt like a monsoon.

But as my partners in crime Tiffany Renee and G-Kue have demonstrated time and again, riding through the rain is just what we do. After a brief stop in Brunswick, Georgia along the way, the rest of the trip home was absolutely gorgeous.

It was great seeing Detroit, Harley Drew, Tiffany and her husband Daniel, Tall, Gears of Truth, and Shantell. What I know now and what I’ve always known is that in Daytona, Bike Week becomes a living expression of the culture, the brotherhood, and the road that connects us all.