I am a firm believer that every so often you should just pack a bag, hop in the car and head out on holiday. We all need to get a away from the day to day rigors of life every once and a while.

Now I must tell you that the last time I did this, I ended up in Vegas baby, Vegas. I also ended up reducing my net worth a little more than I would have liked. So I knew Vegas for sure this time was not going to be my final destination.

This time, I found myself in Phoenix. I hit the Phoenix metro area just after ten o’clock at night. Not bad considering I had left L.A. a little before 5 pm. The weather was warm and surprisingly comfortable. The outside temp was around 30 degrees C or about 89 degrees in F. I brought up hotels on my navigation and found myself a nice little hotel to rest my now road weary body and sleep.

Now some of you by now may be saying, what the hell does this have to do with motorcycles? Well I promise you I will get to that shortly.

I woke in the morning and headed out to get some breakfast. It seemed that I had found myself in a very nice little resort over by a mountain appropriately named for the desert, Camelback. I finished up my breakfast and like any good tourist headed out to see the sites.

Now here’s the part where I get to the Motorcycles. Like any good tourist I had packed my camera. I was prepared and ready to venture out and see what Phoenix had to offer.
Now I am a big american football fan. Just can’t get enough of it. So finding myself in Phoenix I had to plan at visit to the city of Glendale, AZ to get a good look at the stadium that Superbowl XLII was played in.

I arrived over at the University of Phoenix Stadium in the early evening after spending much of my day in Scottsdale. I must say that the stadium is quite grandiose. From the freeway it looks like a giant space ship that has landed to begin some kind of alien invasion. I pulled off the freeway exit and headed towards the entrance. As I looked in my rearview mirror I noticed some bikes coming up behind me.

They were moving pretty quick and proceeded to pass me by. The riders all had mow-hawk adorned helmets. Their bikes were all tricked out with custom paint and three of them had extended swing-arms. Some also had neon lights with big fat extra wide tires, and GP style exhausts. They where now in front of me as I pulled into the facility entrance.

It seems that we were all headed in the same direction, I figured I would just follow. We proceeded past the never ending rows of parking spaces and closer towards the buildings adjacent to the stadium, the bikes came to a stop at a traffic signal and made a left.

We were now headed directly towards the buildings that were located adjacent to Jobbing.com arena. As we proceeded forward I could see the road coming to an end and more and more bikes. I reached the end of the road and now sat directly in front of the buildings. I could go no further. Directly ahead of me were just hundreds of bikes. All driving into the plaza and past the concrete pylons that protected the pedestrian walk way at the end of this road.

The bikes that I have been following also proceeded into the main pedestrian walk way past those same concrete pylons and into the main shopping plaza. So I parked my car, grabbed my camera and headed in.

I walked across the parking lot as still more bikes just kept driving past me. I entered the pedestrian walkway passing the pylons and was absolutely amazed at what I saw.

There had to be at least a thousand or more bikes parked everywhere. The sounds of motors revving filled the air. The smell of pump gas, and race fuel scented exhaust, along with the sound of live music. A vast open air shopping center spread out in front of me, filled with Euro bikes, Jap bikes, American bikes, and custom bikes. Shops, restaurants, vendors, promo girls, spectators, giant lit billboards and neon lights. All of it like overwhelming eye candy that entertained the senses.

I grabbed my camera and started to shoot. It was like a Mecca of color and sound. All on brilliant display. I have gone on many road trips but I have never been as surprised as I was right now. I decided to methodically walk through the rows of bikes, so not to leave any bike unseen.

I walked down each row with the look and gaze of a small child in a candy store. Everything my eyes came across made me want to see more. I talked, I asked, I mingled, I learned, and I took photos, lots of photos.

It had come here to see a football stadium, but instead found myself in the middle of motorcycle bliss. As I made my way through row after row of bikes. I found that this gathering of two wheeled bliss was a weekly event. I have been to my fair share of bike nights but I have to admit that I have never seen one on a scale such as this. Every shop, restaurant and vendor embraced the spectator and participants as if they were family.

As I walked by each of the wonderfully back lit gastronomia’s I could here the sound of conversation and song inviting me in like the warm embrace of a beautiful and mysterious dark haired women. So comfortable and relaxing was the atmosphere that you felt as if you knew everyone. All, friendly, accommodating, and polite. A gathering of kindred souls all sharing the same passions and interest of all things two wheeled.

Who ever says its hot in the desert was not kidding. Though the hot I saw at Westgate City Center had nothing to do with the temperature and everything to do with one of the best times I have had out at a bike night in some time. So if you find yourself on holiday in Phoenix, AZ it is defintly worth while to spend an evening at this event.

Where: Westgate City Center 6770 North Sunrise Boulevard, Glendale, AZ 85305. Appropriately named as it is located on the western side of the Phoenix metro area. They started having bike nights here back in April of 2009. That first year it ran from just April to May. For 2010 they decided to push it out until June. Keep in mind by the time you hit July in Phoenix the 110 degree + heat drops out door activity significantly.

David Lowell

MS&S Assoc Editor