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What is up with all these So-Called “Biker Lawyers” all of a Sudden showing up with Booths at All of the Motorcycle Events?

California Motorcycle Accident Attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez

California Motorcycle Attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez, Photo courtesy of the American Bar Association Journal, and photographer David Newhardt

Well with Palm Springs American Heat I have finally had enough with what I think is a disgusting advertising practice by what in my opinion are bottom feeder personal injury lawyers.

In Palm Springs a certain so-called Biker Lawyer group had some scantily clad young girls aggressively coming up to people who were walking by saying that they worked for a lawyer who actually rides, as they tried to force feed passerby’s their business cards, and cheap novelties and trinkets.

I told the girls who came up to me, “Sorry, I am a Biker Lawyer who actually rides.” They kind of had a shocked look on their faces.

You see, I actually ride to many motorcycle events all over the nation. This year was no different.

All of a sudden there are a certain group of the same personal injury lawyers showing up at events calling themselves “Biker Lawyer” and “Lawyers that ride” at motorcycle events.

To me a Biker Lawyer and a Lawyer that rides, is someone like me who is a lawyer and who also is a biker that rides motorcyles. It is a real simple concept, not some bullshit marketing slogan!

I think that I may have been the first Biker Lawyer to coin that term back in 1997 or so, because I am a lawyer who really rides. Once I started putting it out there on my website and on my blog, all of a sudden I saw other lawyers claiming the same thing.

Well now all of a sudden there are groups of lawyers showing up at motorcycle events all claiming to be “lawyers that really ride.”

It is not that I do not mind competition, hell I think it would be great to find a group of lawyers that actually ride motorcycles, hell I would like to go ride with them and make some new friends.

But what I really think is going on is a marketing gimmick aimed at bikers, and the way I see it, showing up at a motorcycle rally with a booth telling people if they crash their motorcycles, to call them, is disgusting and despicable to me.

In two words it is “Bad Karma.”

At the Las Vegas biker rally a few weeks ago, as we were walking by one of these booths, some guy sitting on his ass in the booth looked at my wife’s hat and said in a smart ass way, “who is the biker lawyer?” (The hat said Biker Lawyer, www.bikerlawyer.net on it) I told him I was. I also told him that I don’t sit at booths at motorcycle rallies; I actually ride to the rallies.

He had a stunned look on his face because I was actually in my biker garb because; yes I was riding, unlike him.

Curious about what it actually takes to be a Biker Lawyer with one of these organizations that has started up in the last couple of years I believe; I contacted one who I think was based in Arizona if I am not mistaken. They sent me a bunch of literature. At the time I contacted them, they had some firm based in San Diego as their only California firm.

In researching them, I saw no indication whatsoever that anyone from the firm listed for California at the time rode motorcycles. Matter of fact, I never even heard of them! Now it could be that someone from that firm actually rode motorcycles, it all seemed fishy to me.

Basically, I was told that if you pay at the time I contacted them, approximately 10k or so yearly fee to the organization I am referring to, you can be a Biker Lawyer with their group.

They would advertise for cases for you, and send you the cases in your territory. Very interesting!

Now the casual person looking at this group would think that it is all the same organization. Well it is not. It is a marketing vehicle that attorneys pay to be a part of.

Nowhere on the application did it ask if you actually ride motorcycles. Further, they hold themselves out to be Lawyers that really ride.

I think this practice is very misleading. I think consumers and bikers should be notified that lawyers pay a fee to be a part of this organization, and I think each of their lawyers should actually ride if they are going to advertise that they are lawyers who ride!

My next question is that most States require you to be licensed in that particular State to practice law in that State. You can apply to represent an individual in Court on a one or two time basis if you are an out of state lawyer, however, you cannot do it all the time.

So I wondered, how do the now 3-5 groups of lawyers that show up at all of the biker rallies, and that advertise in all of the biker rags, actually practice law in all 50 states legally.

The answer is that they cannot. It appears to me that these groups of lawyers that are advertising nationwide either have some kind of fee splitting deal going on with lawyers in the different States so the main lawyer will advertise and get cases for them, and then they will share the attorneys fee with the guy in the State actually doing the case, or they have some kind of marketing scam going on, where the attorney pays a fee like the organization I contacted, and the main attorney will advertise, and then send cases to the lawyers who are paying their franchise fee.

I think this entire practice is misleading, and despicable.

I saw American Chopper last night where even another group that I have never heard of before has popped up. It appears to me to be another marketing setup where they have created a website to target nationwide the “niche” market of motorcycle riders.

After digging deep into their website, it looks like the main law firm sponsoring their “Biker law” marketing campaign is based in Pennsylvania, and they too are claiming that they are lawyers that ride. I have no clue how this site or law firm work, but again, unless they have attorneys licensed in each state, they too must have some kind of fee splitting or franchise type of deal going on.

They do not limit themselves to just one State on their website.

On the TV show, they had a guy who they represented to be an attorney come in and order a custom bike to honor the firefighters or something to that affect. Somewhere it stated that he was the “lead counsel” or “managing counsel” of the biker law end of the firm. What the hell does that mean?

Anyway, at the end of the show there were a bunch of people in t-shirts with the biker law website address on it.

I almost threw up. You got to admit these people are marketing geniuses. They get an hour of TV advertising for what looks to be new operation, and all they had to do is pay (probably overpay) for a custom chopper from Orange County Choppers.

In the end there sits us real bikers. What are we supposed to believe is true?

First, I think that no lawyer should be going to motorcycle events and advertising for motorcycle accident cases. People are at the events to have fun, not to have the fact that they could crash shoved down their throats by a bunch of marketing hacks.

Second, I think that all of these firms should be forced to disclose the truth about their organizations, i.e., whether they are a fee splitting shop, whether lawyers pay them to have cases sent to them, and who in fact is the real biker lawyer in their organization.

I personally know at least two major attorneys in the so-called biker lawyer nationwide marketing scam, and neither of them rides motorcycles. One of them even stated in the Los Angeles Times in an article that he does not ride; because he wants to see his grandkids grow up. The article featured one of their new associates who had just got a Sportser, who had ridden for less than 6 months. (This guy has since left and opened his own bike lawyer shop)

So here I sit a humble real California Biker Lawyer who actually rides motorcycles. I am the friggen real deal. I am not playing some marketing scam on my clients. They know what they are getting when they retain me.

If you are in California and want the real deal call me; 800-816-1529 x.1.

For the rest of you there is a saying; Caveat Emptor, which is Latin for let the buyer beware.

Finally, you can have a say so if you also don’t like these bottom feeders showing up at our motorcycle rallies, simply don’t call them if you have an accident.

With a little research you can find someone like me who actually ride’s and is not part of some marketing operation geared towards bikers!

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Palm Springs American Heat 2011 Motorcycle Rally, a Review.

Written on October 19, 2011 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, Editorial, Events, In The Wind, Just BS, Norman Gregory Fernandez Ride Reports, Travel, Videos

This year Liz and I have ridden to motorcycle rallies all over the western United States. You can read my many reviews about these rallies here on the Biker Law Blog.

The key word that you will notice in the previous paragraph is “ridden.” I have never caged and/or trailered a motorcycle to a motorcycle rally. I always ride, and I will continue to do so long as god lets me.

The reason I mention this is that when you watch the video below taken by me at the rally, you will hear me confronting bottom feeder so-called biker attorney’s representatives at these rallies. Don’t worry, I will write a complete article on this subject coming up.

So let’s talk about the Palm Springs American Heat 2011 Motorcycle Rally.

Palm Springs is approximately 125 miles from my house plus or minus a few miles one way.

I really wanted to attend this rally because I am going to have what I am told is an extremely painful surgery that I have been putting off on October 28, 2011. The surgery and the recovery therefrom will take me off work, and put me out of the saddle from what I am told, for at least a month.

Further, this motorcycle rally marks the last major motorcycle rally on the west coast for the season.

The last time I went to this rally, I actually laid my motorcycle down to avoid a careless motorcycle rider who turned directly in front of my while I was leading a pack of motorcycles. The result was minor injuries to me and my motorcycle. It would have been much worse had I t-boned the idiot that pulled in front of me. Further, right after the accident, I lost my ATM card at a gas station, and when I called my bank to report it, I was informed that my account had been cleaned out. This is a whole other story. I was basically stuck in Palm Springs with just the money in my pocket. The experience kind of ruined the rally for me the last time I was there.

This year was much better.

I was actually going to ride to the rally by myself this year, however, due to Liz being able to find someone to care for our dogs and puppies; I was able to take her with me. We will give away the pups in the next few days so we will not have to worry about this issue anymore.

The ride to the rally took about 2 hours, and it was a real good ride. The weather was basically in the mid 90’s the entire time. Eat your heart out, mid 90’s in the middle of October, which is warm this time of year, even for Southern California.

The new Harley Davidson I have has a built in intercom, with the speakers and microphone setup mounted in our modular helmets. It is really cool being able to listen to tunes clearly while on the road, plus have a conversation with Liz while riding.

However, we still like to be quite most of the time while we ride, it is just habit.

We pulled into Palm Springs in the afternoon at around 2pm. It was about 100 degrees out and hot. We decided to cruise the strip before we got something to eat.

The strip was full of the roar of motorcycles, and of course many motorcycles. I have been to hundreds of motorcycle rallies, but I always get excited when I see this many motorcycles and hear the roar. For me it is addicting.

They had the main drag blocked off for pedestrians and vendors. We cruised around once, and then decided to hit Denny’s to get some chow before we came back to the rally location.

After lunch we rode to the rally location on the main drag. You can see from my video below courtesy of my GoPro helmet cam, the ride from the Denny’s to almost the rally location. Due to my not having fully charged batteries on the GoPro cam, I was only able to get a little bit of video from the Denny’s to the main rally location. However, the rest of the video with my hand held HD camera shows the main drag.

Once we got to the rally location, some guy with a custom and what must have been a 400 tire on the rear of his motorcycle, asked me about my GoPro cam, we had a short conversation, and then Liz and I did our thing.

Most motorcycle rallies at least to me, have basically become shopping malls with mostly girly type of jewelry and other stuff. Palm Springs is probably worst of all because it appeared that the local merchants were out with totally non related biker stuff, also selling their wares. I can understand it.

We had a good time walking the main strip looking at merchandise, and buying some merchandise, listening to the band, the stunt entertainment, and looking at all of the people.

We did not leave until dark. It seemed to me that it kind of got real weird after dark. There were a lot of cops at the rally, and they seemed to me to be more aggressive and more visible when it got dark. They were doing some pull overs and they were all over the place.

Hell I am an attorney and a law abiding citizen and to be frank, I felt real uncomfortable with what I saw going on at night.

Liz and I decided to head over to the Morongo Casino to try our luck. She lost around 300 bucks, I won around 200 bucks, and then we called it a night.

The next day, we did our traditional Joshua Tree – Pioneer Town run, and then rode home.

All in all I enjoyed the Palm Springs motorcycle rally. To be frank it was better than Reno and Las Vegas combined this year. I just enjoyed it more for some reason.

Now for me the 2011 motorcycle rally season is pretty much over since I am having the surgery on 10/28/11, and will be out for a month.

I am going to try to get a ride in this weekend, because the surgery is next Friday. Fun fun fun.

Check out the video of the Palm Springs American Heat Rally 2011 I shot below. Tell me if there is a problem with the audio. The master tape has no problem with the audio but it seems like YouTube may be screwing up the audio.

By California Motorcycle Accident Attorney, and Biker Lawyer, Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., © October 19, 2011

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Tags: biker attorney, biker law blog, biker lawyer, biker rally, denny's, electra glide, morongo, motorcycle rally, norm fernandez, norman fernandez, norman g. fernandez, norman gregory fernandez, palm springs american heat

The Ultimate Motorcycle Ride

Written on March 20, 2011 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, Editorial, In The Wind, Just BS, Norman Gregory Fernandez Ride Reports, Other, Travel

Biker Lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez at Yosemite National Park in California (picture edited to cover back-patch)

I was recently thinking about all of the motorcycle rides I have done on my motorcycle over the years, and what rides I would like to do in the future.

Sure it is fun riding to events like the Laughlin River Run each year, but in the end, it is always the same each year.

I was thinking, what would be the ultimate motorcycle run.

I have read a couple of books by guys that have ridden around the world, however, why ride around the world just for the sake of riding around the world. Besides with the current political climate, and the fact that we are now in 3 wars, (Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya) it would probably not be possible to do a round the world motorcycle run, especially with the whack jobs around the world not liking American’s right now.

So what would be a great motorcycle run? Then a thought came to my mind; one of the best rides I have ever done in my life was through Yosemite, then down the Tioga Pass south to north, then up to Carson City, NV, and up to Lake Tahoe in one marathon 19 hour day.

I have also ridden through some other National Parks as well, not really as a goal, but to get to another destination. Every one of those motorcycle runs was a great ride.

I wonder what it would be like to ride to and through if possible, each National Park in the United States? That would be some great riding right?

Why not ride to each National Park in the United States of America?

Due to my being a personal injury attorney and biker lawyer, there is no way I could do it in one run, let alone during one riding season, because I have to work.

However, if I made it a goal to ride to and through every National Park in the United States of America if possible, I could probably do it over a matter of years.

So there it is; one of the items on my bucket list of life is to ride to and through every National Park in the United States of America.

You have to understand, I came up with this idea this weekend, (March, 19-20, 2011) while looking out of my window at the rain coming down.

I have just decided that instead of always doing the same repetitive motorcycle runs every year, that riding to and through every National Park in the United States would be a great life experience; something that you could write a book about.

I have not even begun to plan or map out how to achieve my goal. I found a website that is simply called National Parks, located at http://www.us-national-parks.net/ that lists all of the national parks, and has website links to each. This is a private site, but it looks pretty good.

Here is the listing of National Parks on that site with their respective website link:

Acadia
American Samoa
Arches
Badlands
Bandelier
Black Canyon
Big Bend
Biscayne
Bryce Canyon
Cabrillo
Canyonlands
Capitol Reef
Carlsbad Caverns
Channel Islands
Crater Lake
Cuyahoga Valley
Death Valley
Denali
Dry Tortugas
Everglades
Gates of the Arctic
Gettysburg
Glacier
Glacier Bay
Grand Canyon
Grand Teton
Great Basin
Great Sand Dunes
Great Smoky Mountains
Guadalupe Mountains
Haleakala
Harpers Ferry
Hawaii Volcanoes
Hot Springs
Isle Royale
Joshua Tree
Katmai
Kenai Fjords
Kobuk Valley
Lake Clark
Lassen Volcanic
Mammoth Cave
Mesa Verde
Mount Rainier
Mount St. Helens
North Cascades
Olympic
Organ Pipe Cactus
Petrified Forest
Point Reyes
Redwood
Rocky Mountain
Saguaro
Sequoia / Kings Canyon
Shenandoah
Theodore Roosevelt
Valley Forge
Virgin Islands
Voyageurs
Wind Cave
Wrangell Saint Elias
Yellowstone
Yosemite
Zion

I figure that this summer I can knock out all of the California National Parks, and maybe even get in the Nevada and Arizona National Parks. I may even be able to do more!

I will be in Hawaii in September so I can knock out the Haleakala, and Hawaii Volcanoes National Parks. Obviously, I will need to rent a Harley while on the Islands.

The national parks in Alaska will probably be the biggest challenge; we will see.

So there it is; I think that I may have found a way around the dull drum of riding to the same events every year.

I will let you all know more about my plan to ride to and through each United States National Park as it comes up. I will report in detail on each ride. I will also take pictures and shoot video as much as possible.

See you on the road.

By California Motorcycle Accident Attorney and Biker Lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez, © March, 20, 2011

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Tags: biker attorney, biker lawyer, california motorycle accident attorney, carson city, Haleakala, Hawaii, Hawaii Volcanoes, lake tahoe, motorcycle accident lawyer, motorcycle rides, national parks, norm fernandez, norman fernandez, norman g. fernandez, norman gregory fernandez, Tioga Pass, yosemite

A Simple Friday after work Motorcycle Ride to the San Andreas Fault, California

Written on June 19, 2010 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, In The Wind, Just BS, Norman Gregory Fernandez Ride Reports, Travel, Videos

San Andreas Fault California

I am sure all of you bikers and motorcycle riders know what it is like to get a bug up your ass to take a ride after work at the end of the week.

Well on Friday, June 18, 2010, 2 days before my 47th birthday, I decided to take my Harley Davidson Electra Glide out for a little ride after work, to the world famous and infamous San Andreas Fault.

If you do not know what the San Andreas Fault is, it is basically an earthquake fault that runs the length of California. They say that in a few million years, Los Angeles will pass San Francisco on this fault. The experts also predict “the big one;” a catastrophic earthquake that is overdue on this fault, that could destroy Los Angeles. Anyway…

Being a native Southern California boy, I know places to ride where I can literally be alone in or near a geographic area where millions of people live.

That is what I decided to do after work on June 18, 2010.

I am sure that many of you in all over the United States can also find great places to secret yourself for a little solo motorcycling without any other traffic interfering with your ride, however, if you are in Los Angeles County, you better know where you are going, otherwise you are not going to find solitude, that is for sure.

San Andreas Fault California

Now I do not mean to brag, but I will anyway. I literally have some of the best motorcycle riding roads in the world right in my back yard. I can go from desert, to sea, to alpine mountains with a flick of my throttle wrist.

My motorcycle ride on Friday took me from the foothills, to the desert floor, to the base of the north side of the Angeles Forest. It was one hell of a nice Friday after work little ride.

No women, no friends, just me, myself, and I, and my Harley Davidson Electra Glide.

As you can see by the videos here, I wore my Gopro helmet cam for the ride.

Since I did not even get to Pearblossum Highway until 7:30pm or so, it was already just after sunset when I started filming. However, I still got some good video.

Since Youtube.com only allows up to ten minute videos, I had to drastically edit the videos down to 3 clips, but you can still get the effect of the ride I am sure.

Video 1 and 2 are shot with my helmet camera, except for a surprise just past the middle of video 2, and video 3 was shot by me with a standard HD camcorder at the actual San Andreas Fault.

You will notice on this ride going from the Mohave desert floor to the foothills of the Angeles Forest, Joshua Trees and cactus, turning into chaparral and scrub brush.

It was dark by the time I finished the ride.

You will notice when I am leaving the San Andreas Fault in video 2 of 3, that I got on my motorcycle quite quickly. Well up in the area where I was riding there are animals such as Rattlesnakes, Brown Bears, Mountain Lions, Coyotes, etc. As it was getting dark, and I was parked next to the San Andreas Fault sign, I heard a big animal stirring up the brush behind me. Hell I have camped in these parts and had nothing with me on this ride except for a 3.5 inch folding pocket knife.

I could sense that I needed to get the hell out of there. I am not stupid enough to wait around until a mountain lion pounces on my ass. It is amazing how sometimes you can sense danger. Only a stupid man waits around to see what is going to happen when he senses danger, has no weapons so to say, and you just know a big animal is in the brush behind you as it is getting dark. Get the picture?

I got my ass out of there, and pulled over about a couple of hundred yards down the road so I could put my gloves on and zip up my hoodie.

All in all it was a great after work Friday ride. I only wish I got there earlier so the video would have had more sunlight.

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Tags: Articles, biker lawyer, california car accident attorney, california motorcycle ride, gopro video camera, juniper hills, motorcycle accident lawyer, norman fernandez, san andreas fault

Just another Sunday Ride; NOT!

Written on May 29, 2010 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, Editorial, In The Wind, Norman Gregory Fernandez Ride Reports, Travel, Videos

My GoPRo Video Camera on my Modular Helmet

Last Sunday, May 23, 2010, I decided to take a bit of a ride here in Southern California.

The ride was not only for pleasure, but I wanted to check out my new Rush Slip on mufflers, my new Sony HD Stereo, and my new GoPro helmet camera. (I will write reviews about all of them later on)

My plan was to meet some of my friends in Chatsworth, CA, ride to Simi Valley Harley Davidson in Simi Valley, CA, and then ride with them to Bartels Harley Davidson in Marina Del Rey, CA. I ended up doing a local 300 mile all day ride minus the time I spent at Simi Valley Harley Davidson.

My ride started out early Sunday morning on May 23, 2010. I got on my motorcycle at around 8:30am to take a bit of a ride before I met my friends. I captured the vast majority of my ride on my new GoPro helmet cam, a picture of which you can see to the left.

I have the helmet cam mounted on the side of my helmet rather than the top of my helmet, because I have a modular flip up helmet and the top mount would not work with the flip up aspect of my modular helmet. I will discuss this more when I review the camera.

Suffice is to say, it was a great day. My total riding hours in the saddle riding last Sunday was around 9 hours plus, and I have plenty of video footage of my ride. I am showing 30 minutes of the ride here. It was very hard for me to select which video footage to show here.

I met my friends in Chatsworth at around 9:45am after taking about an hour ride. We then rode together to a little event at Simi Valley Harley Davidson. There was a band, food, and vendors at Simi Valley Harley Davidson.

I took advantage of being at Simi Valley Harley Davidson. It turns out on the ride over there, I discovered that my left spot light was out, plus I needed some bushings and bolts for my removable Tour Pak. I was able to get all of the parts I needed at the dealership which made me very happy notwithstanding the fact that I paid $57.00 for a spot light replacement, two bolts, and two bushings.

I decided to replace the spotlight in the street while I was there. It was probably a good idea, because once I got the spot light off, I could not figure how to get it back on. There is a rubber strip, a backing that the spotlight goes into, as well as a metal ring. I walked the separated parts up to the service desk, and even though they were closed, there was a guy in there who obviously worked there, who packed the rubber back into the housing, and showed me how to put the pieces back together which I did. Repair completed right there in the street.

My friends and I walked around a bit and hung out at the Harley Davidson dealership until at least noon by my estimation. I purchased a $5.00 lemonade – 5 friggen dollars for a large lemonade. After complaining a bit about the price, the guy agreed to give me a free refill. I don’t know but if I was putting on one of these events, I would talk to my food and drink vendors to ensure that they were not gouging my customers and guests. This is a whole other story.

At some point, the guys decided to take off. When I got on my motorcycle to leave with the guys, I found an electrical problem from my earlier spotlight fix, and my motorcycle would not start. I waived my friends off and told them I would meet them later.

I opened the spotlight back up and everything seemed OK. The light powered up when I put the ignition switch to the run position, but the bike would not start. Then I had a stupid me moment, I engaged the kill switch before I did the repair which I forgot about. Once I disengaged the kill switch, the motorcycle started. I then buttoned the motorcycle back up and was ready to roll. It was by now a half hour later or so. I knew my friends were probably already very close to Bartel’s in Marina Del Rey.

By this time I was hungry. I had not had breakfast that morning, I did not eat the food at the Simi Valley event because I did not want to have acid reflux all day, so I decided to take a detour off of the 118 to go to Jerry’s Deli on Ventura Blvd. in Woodland Hills, CA to get some Matzo Ball soup and some Kosher Dills. I knew if I rode to Bartel’s in Marina Del Rey, they would probably have the same greasy spoon type of food that they had at Simi Valley Harley Davidson, and that I did not want to wait to eat.

I rode to Jerry’s Deli which is a San Fernando Valley hotspot eatery where many celebrities can be seen from time to time, and thoroughly enjoyed my meal, although it took quite a time to get my meal. There is nothing like Matzo Ball soup when you are on a run where the weather is kind of cool. It will open up your sinus every time. Matzo Ball soup is a Jewish remedy!

By the time I finished my meal at Jerry’s Deli, it was already around between 1:30 and 2:00pm, and I did not have my friend’s phone numbers with me, so I decided to skip Bartel’s Harley Davidson. I figured that by the time I rode there with traffic, I would not make it until around 3pm or later, and to be frank, I wanted to ride rather than sit around hanging out at another Harley Davidson dealership, so that is exactly what I did, I rode; I rode my ass off : )

I decided to ride to the Rock Store by way of Topanga Canyon to Mulholland Highway, the long twisty route. You can see some of the video from my GoPro here. It was a fanfuckentastic run. You see we absolutely have the best and most beautiful riding in the world right here in Southern California. It does not get much better than this anywhere in the world. Most Angelinos (Los Angeles Residents) have no clue about the beauty just outside of the concrete jungle here. We have great mountains, great coastline, and twisties that are just as radical as any in the world here.

As I approached the last stop sign before arriving at the Rock Store, I ran straight into a friggen road block. You see the Tour De California Bicycle race was also being put on this weekend, and the Rock Store was on their route. I was a bit pissed. I wanted to visit the Rock Store and then do my hidden route behind Mulholland to some of the best 1st gear twisties, ending up at the coast. I ended up turning off my motorcycle and watching the bicycle racers, the fans yelling like screaming Durban’s, and the helicopters overhead, not to mention the bicycle rider chase trucks, and chase motorcycles on the route. When a CHP officer told me the route was to be closed all day, I flicked a U’ie and rode back to Malibu Canyon Road. I rode to Pacific Coast Highway, and ended up doing a straight coast ride all the way up to Neptune’s Net. I stopped at my old surfing grounds before Zuma Beach and cruised the coast a bit. I have some great memories on this strip of beach.

It was a great day to ride on Sunday. The coast part of my journey was fanfuckentastic to say the least. Look I love riding with my friends and my brothers, but I also like riding solo as well. There is no pressure to stay in the pack when you are riding solo, and you can ride wherever the fuck you want with no one bitching. It is freedom.

I rode real easy up to Neptune’s Net. I had many cagers waiving at me, and honking at me. I presume this was because of my helmet camera. I assume these people probably thought that I was filming for some kind of Hollywood movie or something. I literally had people in Mercedes Benz’s, Ferrari’s and beater cars all giving me the thumbs up. It was unique and I got many of it on the helmet cam.

When I finally got to Neptune’s Net there were a bunch of bikes and bikers there just like every Sunday. For me it is the same old thing, kind of like a routine if you know what I mean. I had a bunch of guys come up and ask me about the camera on my helmet. One of the guys was this Euro type who claimed to have shot all of the pictures for Harley Davidson’s new motorcycle line that was coming out. He was very interested in the specs for my camera and the mount. I ended talking to these guys for a half hour, exchanging business cards and what not. This is the good thing about being a biker, it is easy to meet and greet with new people. Something that cagers will never really get to experience. It is a biker comradery.

At this point is was around 4pm plus or minus an hour : ) I had a choice, I could take Kanan Dune, or Malibu Canyon to the 101 Ventura Freeway, and ride home, or I could cruise Pacific Coast Highway up to Santa Monica, then take the 10 to the 405 and cruise up to the snow via the Antelope Valley back route. Hell this time of year it stays daylight until at least 8pm; what would you do? : ) Well what do you think I decided to do? If you guess take PCH to Santa Monica and then cruise up the snow by way of the Antelope Valley back route you would be correct.

Look, my wife is in law school, she was at home studying for some freaking test, it was a great not too warm sunny day by this time, and I had nothing better to do. I was one of those great days where I could have rode 24 hours straight, all around my favorite spots.

So there I did it, I rode PCH all the way to the 10. It was a great costal ride. I noticed that there are many more homes along the coast which is a real bummer. When I was growing up, it was straight coast all the way up, now there are homes blocking the view for a substantial part of the trip. No biggie, it was a great ride. I got on the 10 to the 405 north. There it was bumper to bumper traffic; a good excuse to get off before Getty Center Drive, get some gas, and then take Sepulveda up the canyon until the traffic opened up. Once I got on the 405 I took it to the 14 east and then got off at Sand Canyon Road for a bit of dinner at Coco’s Restaurant.

In Coco’s a young 20 year old kid named Shane who was sitting with his absolutely fine girlfriend 19 year old girlfriend Tammy, and his 25 year old friend Steve, introduced themselves to me and shook my hand, they sat directly in front of my in another booth.

I had a good meal and good conversation with these folks. Hell we talked about everything from relationships, to career, to riding motorcycles, you name it. It has been a long time since I had such a good conversation with young folks. I thought to myself that these kids ought to be more careful about opening up to strangers like me the way they did because there are many assholes out there that might do them harm just because they were so nice. I did not have enough time to tell them what I thought, but I thought it as I saw them leaving. These were some good kids. They showed me respect which is unique these days. I think their parents raised them right.

After a really good steak dinner, I got back on the road. I took the 14 to Pearblossum Highway, to my secret turn off on the 138 and headed up to the still snow covered mountains.

At the turnoff I decided to change the batteries in my Gopro cam, and to check the memory card. Turns out I needed to replace both. The batteries were dead, plus I had already used up an 8GB SD card which records 6 hours of video. Whoops. I put in new batteries, and a 2 GB SD card to record this aspect of my ride.

To give a short summary I owned the road, I was basically all alone form the desert to the mountains. I rode to my spot where the San Andreas Fault line is, and then up to the Juniper Hills and beyond up to the snow. By this time I was freezing my ass off, and the sun was going down, so I decided to ride home.

When I finally got home, my wife bitched about me being gone form the early morning to the evening and wondered what I did for so long. I let her see the video’s of the day. I know the real reason that she was upset; because she did not ride with me, and spent a beautiful Sunday by herself studying all day. Been there; done that.

Unfortunately I lost the 2 GB SD card of the final part of my journey in my home office somewhere. Once I find it I will post some video from it.

So there it is, one hell of a great Sunday Ride in Southern California, from the desert to the sea, to the mountains.

Maybe I may take one of my lucky readers on this same ride someday.

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A Little Ride Video to Las Vegas

Written on April 30, 2010 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, In The Wind, Just BS, My Harley Davidson Electra Glide, Norman Gregory Fernandez Ride Reports, Other, Travel, Videos

In December 2009, I took a little ride to Las Vegas. I was supposed to meet up with some friends along the way, but I ended up not meeting up with them until we got to Nevada.

Now I know some of you cannot ride in December due to snow and weather. Well here on the South West Coast we basically have year round riding. The below video proves it.

For me as a true Biker Lawyer and Motorcycle Accident Attorney, just give me an excuse to ride and I will be there. Unlike some other poser attorney’s out there claiming that they are “Motorcycle Attorney’s.” I am the real deal.

I have literally met up with hundreds if not thousands of Bikers and Motorcyclist from all over the United States and Europe. I love riding my motorcycle just like you do.

I love riding my motorcycle to Las Vegas, Nevada. Not necessarily because I like going to Las Vegas, but I flat out like to ride my motorcycle, and Las Vegas is another excuse to ride.

I shot this video during a ride to Las Vegas in December 2009. Some of the video was shot while riding my Electra Glide, with me holding my HD camcorder in my left hand, while holding the handlebar and throttle with my right hand.

Toward the end of the video, I took some video of me riding with my friends in a pack. This video is unique in that you can get in the saddle with me and see what it is like ride an Electra Glide solo and in a pack.

I am planning on taking many more videos of my rides in the future.

Enjoy!

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Tags: baker, biker lawyer, california motorycle accident attorney, california personal injury attorney, electra glide, interstate 15, las vegas, Noise Laws, pack riding, ride video

Lucky to be alive after the Laughlin River Run 2010; however, we still had a good time!

Written on April 27, 2010 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, Editorial, Events, In The Wind, My Harley Davidson Electra Glide, Norman Gregory Fernandez Ride Reports, Product Defects, Riding Your Motorcycle, Tires, Travel, Videos

California Motorcycle Accident Attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez at the Laughlin River Run 2010

See Videos Below

Well the title says it all, my wife and I owe our lives to god after this years Laughlin River Run. I will explain below.

If you did not know it, it is said that the Laughlin River Run is the largest motorcycle rally in the western United States, and some people say that it is the second largest motorcycle rally in the nation next to Sturgis. It is a great time.

You can read an article I wrote about a previous Laughlin River Run that I did by clicking here.

This year’s run began when we packed up my Harley Davidson Electra Glide to go to the Laughlin River Run 2010 on Friday, April 23, 2010.

Since I had to be in Court early Friday morning in Victorville, CA, we could not leave for the Laughlin River Run until Friday afternoon. Many of my friends left on the Thursday, the day before, but I could not go with them because I had to be in Court.

Therefore my wife and I planned on riding alone to Laughlin. By the time I did my pre-ride routine, and we got the motorcycle all packed up, it was very late. We did not get out of dodge until around 7pm; it was already dusk. I had to make a couple of stops along the way before we got on the road. Read the rest of the article below the videos.

By the time we hit the Pearblossom Highway, it was almost dark. We made good time to Victorville and onto the I-15 east. We stopped at Denny’s in Barstow and had dinner because we knew we would not get into Laughlin until around 1am or so according to the GPS.

Once back on the road we made good time from the I-15 to the I-40 split. If any of you have ridden on the I-40 between Barstow and Needles, you know that this is amongst the most isolated and desolate places in the United States. This is the Mohave Desert and there is nothing there except Rattlesnakes, Scorpions, and a couple of gas stations along the way.

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The Yuma Prison Run 2010; a Great Time

Written on April 20, 2010 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, Editorial, Events, In The Wind, My Harley Davidson Electra Glide, Norman Gregory Fernandez Ride Reports, Travel, Videos

California Biker Lawyer and Motorcycle Attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez with wife at the Yuma Prison Run

California Biker Lawyer and Motorcycle Attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez at the Yuma Prison Run

*** 4/21/10 Update – See the Short Video Below!

Living in Southern California we are blessed with year round riding. However, when April comes along there are several west coast biker rallies that take place every year. The Yuma Prison Run is one of those rallies. This is my review of this years rally.

This year the Yuma Prison Run was scheduled for the weekend of April 16-18, 2010. You can check out the Yuma Prison Run website by clicking here now.

The Yuma Prison Run is put on by the Norwalk Motorcycle Club, and has been an ongoing charity event since 1961; two years before I was born! The run is in Yuma, Arizona, and is located at the Yuma County Fair.

I decided to ride to this rally months ago. The rally location is approximately 300 miles from my home one way, or around 600 miles round trip, not including the miles I put on at or near the event once I get there. I consider this to be a medium distance sleepover run.

If any of you have read my blog, you will see many articles where I mention my fiancé. Well since we got married on January 31, 2010, she will now be referred to as my wife. I am still getting used to saying it! We have been together for 9 years, but wife is a new term in my life.

As usual, I started getting anxious and excited the night before we took off for the rally. I have been riding for many years, but it does not matter. Any of you who ride like I do know exactly what I am talking about; biker rallies are analogous to going to an amusement park when you are a kid.

There are not too many things that adults can look forward to that are fun and exciting like a good old fashioned biker rally. Unlike vacation travel, riding to a biker rally is different. It involves physically getting on your motorcycle and riding to and from the event. It is a much more involved and physical experience than just jumping on a plane and going somewhere. I am not going to even mention the ubiquitous trailer queens who don’t actually ride to an event; they are not worth mentioning!

My wife and I packed up my Harley Davidson Electra Glide on the Thursday before the Yuma Prison Run. The Harley Davidson hard saddle bags and tour pak really makes it much easier to pack up and go then in the past where I have had to squeeze everything for two into special motorcycle travel luggage. (Which I still have)

Since this is a 3 day, 2 night rally we try to pack as light as possible. As usual, I had reservations at one of the two Motel 6’s in town. Motel 6 is set up with laundry rooms, so worst case scenario; you can wash your clothes if you have to. What this means is that you do not have to pack as many clothes, which saves room on the motorcycle.

Hell if you are like me and are toting along your wife, you will need the extra room, because she will use it up

Basically we had the motorcycle mostly packed up on Thursday night, the day before we left.

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On the Lighter Side of Things; Some Great Riding.

Written on September 27, 2009 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, In The Wind, Just BS, My Harley Davidson Electra Glide, Norman Gregory Fernandez Ride Reports, Other, Travel, Videos

You may have noticed that the last couple of articles on here have dealt with horrendous motorcycle accidents and crashes. Unlike most of you; my dealing with motorcycle accidents on a daily basis as a biker lawyer and motorcycle accident attorney takes its toll on me mentally, meaning sometimes I think of my clients and their accidents while I ride my Harley Davidson Electra Glide. It is kind of like a mind fuck.

However, after a few miles the bad thoughts leave my mind and I enjoy the ride. Handling motorcycle accident cases throughout California makes me extra careful when I ride, but that is a story for another article.

Lately I have been caught up with both my parents having serious medical issues, my fiancé starting law school, and then herself having a potential serious medical issue pop up, and of course working my clients cases here at the firm. I have not had as much time to ride this summer as I usually do.

However, over the last couple of weeks, I have managed to squeeze in a couple of really decent rides. Last weekend, I jumped on my Harley and rode from Chatsworth, to Palmdale, and then to Lompoc, CA to participate in a Karate Tournament with Grandmaster Vic LeRoux in Lompoc, CA. It was one hell of a long one day turn-around ride, and a great ride if you know what I mean.

The Lompoc run is a great run. Lompoc is above Santa Barbara near Vandenberg A.F.B. off of Highway 1. The only problem with this run that is that lately the traffic has been real bad south of Santa Barbara. They are doing construction or something. I have had to split lanes every time I have done this run all summer on the 101. It really kind of sucks, especially when a big rig truck driver purposefully cuts over so that you cannot pass him in the split. I discussed what happened in an article I wrote below.

Last night; Saturday night, I rode with my fiancé to Hollywood to attend a benefit for a friend in need of surgery. Although it was not a long ride, it was a fun ride, except for being followed by a Los Angeles Sheriffs cruiser for about a mile and a half on Santa Monica Blvd. Hell here I am a law abiding attorney, nothing at all to worry about if I am stopped, I am clean and sober, no tickets at all on my record, and this Sheriffs cruiser is following me for no reason at all other than the fact that I am a biker on a Harley Davidson in Hollywood at 2:00am. I wanted to pull over and just ask him “what the fuck,” but obviously I am not that stupid.

On the way to Hollywood, I ate crow a few times to get out of the way of asshole tailgaters who got way to close to me from behind. Unlike some, my ego is not so big as to put my ass on the line and stay in front of a tailgater who is behind me, just because I have the right of way. In any car v. motorcycle scenario, the motorcycle loses. Yes, I was pissed, but I let the car drive by after I switched lanes, took a couple of deep breaths, and everything was good.

My fiancé and I cruised my old stomping grounds in Hollywood. I lived in Hollywood for about 10 years, including my entire time in law school. I must say that there seems to be many more clubs and much more foot traffic on Hollywood Blvd. then there used to be. I think they have cleaned it up quite nicely.

We ended the night or I should say morning at the world famous Jerry’s Delicatessen on Ventura Blvd. in Studio City. There is nothing like Matzo Ball soup and coffee to end a great evening on. If you want to see celebrities, this is the place to go.

Unlike non bikers, we bikers and motorcyclist have a secret that the rest of the world only dreams about; we have our motorcycles to give us therapy. When shit hits the fan in our lives, all we have to do is jump on our trusty motorcycles and take a ride. I am not talking about posers who jump on their bike to ride a few blocks to a bar, or to ride a few miles to hang out at some event and pose, I am talking about really riding.

Riding a motorcycle at least for me, is one of the most pleasurable things I have in my life. I only wish that god will continue to give me great health and faculties so that I can continue to ride motorcycles for the rest of my life.

At the top of this article you can see a video I took with my fiance’s phone at the Roxy Theater on Saturday night on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, California. Unfortunately the audio got jacked up by the phone. You can however see that it was a great time!

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Tags: biker lawyer, california motorycle accident attorney, california personal injury, fiance, hollywood california, jerry’s delicatessen, karate, karate tournament, lompoc, motorcycle ride, motorcycle rides, News, Santa Barbara, vandenberg air force base, Vic Leroux

Is Las Vegas, Nevada a Dying City?

Written on April 7, 2009 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, Editorial, In The Wind, News, Travel

Las Vegas Strip

*** 7/10/09 Update – I am going to insert a comment from a Biker Law Blog Reader named Sam below. I feel that his update is succient and to the point. Here it is:

Comment from : sam [Visitor]
i just wrapped up a trip that ended up in las vegas for a week recently. we have been going to vegas for the past 15 years. the last 3 years i have seen the slow decline in service,decreased payouts-or tight slots, lack of people filling up the machines. etc. the taxi drivers are dying a slow death trying to keep their escalades and limos on the street-practically begging for tips each time you enter their vehicle.
At the circus circus they lived up to their ‘circus’ name recently. all the elevators were down, off and on for three days we spent there. people were stranded in elevators that would not open etc. we waited over 30 minutes a couple times to get on an elevator only to get stuck ourselves. i’ll never stay there again. its the same old run down room in the west tower it was 15 years ago. carpets are filthy, brass is nearly worn to the nickel plating, painted areas are filthy…at the mandalay bay had backed up toilets and sinks for a couple days. service is also lousy.
if you look at the skyline you will see at least 10 cranes proudly standing in the air that have not moved since october last year! thousands of construction workers have been layed off-and if you look around long enough you will find a completed casino–but the doors have never been opened.might as well wrap the casino up in plastic wrap like they are doing to the empty condominiums right now.
will las vegas make it out of the recession? yes. but it will entail alot of bancruptcys and mergers.
beaware saudi arabia owns the new city center the great mgm started. every time we spend a dollar in vegas you may as well send it to the saudis.i think there are only 3-4 stand alone casinos in vegas now that is not somehow owned by the saudis…..something to think about.
if i were to visit vegas again today i would stay at new york, new york or the mgm. they are much cleaner, service is nice, and for the location you will be closer to everything else you want to do there…..good luck all

My fiancé and I visited Las Vegas last week for a little mini vacation. I was absolutely shocked at what I saw. Basically, Las Vegas was empty. There was still the ubiquitous building on the strip, and tourist walking on the strip, however, it was not the same.

The casinos were empty and basically dead, the slot machines were as dead as doornail’s, the excitement that used to permeate the Las Vegas strip is gone. Hell, there is more excitement at the local casino in Temecula.

Before we went to Las Vegas, I heard that Las Vegas was the emptiest city in the country with respect to vacant houses. This report was confirmed when my fiancé and I went looking for a few houses for investment purposes. We actually saw a really nice three bedroom house that could be had for $69,000. The same house previously sold for around $300,000. Imagine, being able to buy a house for only $69,000.

Watching local news in our room, we heard reports about the Hooters Casino being able to make their payment and stay open, but other local businesses losing thousands of jobs. The doom and gloom of our economic crisis is certainly in the air Las Vegas.

On a good note, I observed many bikers and motorcyclist riding all types of motorcycles. Unfortunately, I was stuck in my cage for this trip. It always bums me out to see bikers, motorcyclists, and everything on two wheels passing me by while riding in my car. I guess you can’t ride your motorcycle all the time.

At least I can say that I contributed to the Las Vegas economy; I dropped about $500 to the blackjack tables, and slot machines. My fiancé lost about the same amount of money.

This is one of the few Las Vegas trips, where I was really happy to leave. The Las Vegas of old is gone. I am not that old, however, I can remember the good old days, going to Las Vegas, dressing up for a night on the town, and being treated like royalty at the Desert Inn. We did see a few people formally dressed at the Venetian; however it is all tank tops and shorts.

If you want to buy a really cheap house, go to Las Vegas, Nevada. However, I am not quite sure that Las Vegas Nevada is going to survive. Let’s hope I am wrong!

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Tags: biker lawyer, california motorycle accident attorney, casino, las vegas, las vegas nevada, las vegas strip

A Motorcycle Ride With a Friend to Solvang California

Written on August 28, 2008 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, Editorial, In The Wind, My Harley Davidson Electra Glide, Norman Gregory Fernandez Ride Reports, Travel

California motorcycle accident lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez discusses motorcycle trip to solvang California A couple weeks ago my old lady, and a friend and I rode our motorcycles to Solvang California. I thought I would write an article about the ride to Solvang.

As usual, I found myself on a Friday night contemplating where I could ride over the weekend.

One of my favorite rides has always been to Solvang California. Solvang California is a Danish town just off of the Pacific Coast Highway, approximately 114 miles from where I live in Chatsworth California. You can read about Solvang California by clicking here now.

Not only is a ride to Solvang usually an excellent motorcycle ride, there is some great food and partying once you get there.

I called one of my good friends on Friday night to see if he wanted ride with me and my old lady to Solvang. He said yes, and we agreed to meet on Sunday. My old lady was a back seat rider. I met my friend where the 118 freeway meets Topanga Canyon Blvd, in Chatsworth California.

solvang motorcycle accident lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez We then jumped on the 118 freeway and rode to Simi Valley Harley Davidson, because I wanted to pick up a quart of oil to keep in my saddle bags just in case. You can see a picture of my friend and I in the upper left corner, at Simi Valley Harley-Davidson. Please note that my friend did not want his picture publicized to the world by way of the biker law blog, I have therefore smudged his face to conceal his identity.

Once we left Simi Valley Harley-Davidson, we proceeded on the 118 freeway, to the 23 Freeway, to the 101 N., and proceeded to roll to Solvang.

The weather was absolutely fantastic, and in the upper 80s with not a cloud in the sky.

The traffic however, was another matter. The traffic was absolutely horrible. As a matter of fact, it seems to get worse and worse every time I ride the 101 N. We ended up having to lane split pretty much from Camarillo past Ventura, and along a good stretch of the 101 before Santa Barbara. Once we got past Santa Barbara the traffic subsided.

The lane splitting was so treacherous, we ended up stopping for a rest in Carpinteria and grabbed a quick cup of coffee.

Once we got past Santa Barbara it was a great ride up the coast to Solvang. Both my friend and I were able to open up our throttles with the Pacific Ocean to the left of us, and enjoy the ocean breeze and the excellent views on this run.

biker attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez discusses motorcycle ride to solvang California When we eventually got to Solvang, we stopped at the first gas station to top off our tanks. We ended up seeing a whole bunch of bikers at the gas station. I assume that they were in some riding club because they were all riding together.

My friend and I then cruised the short distance to Solvang. At this point none of us had eaten anything all day. We had a short debate as to what type of food to eat. We were all hungry. We decided to eat at an out of the way Mexican restaurant in Solvang that ended up having excellent food. Solvang is not noted for its Mexican food, so it was kind of unexpected treat.

At this point my friend informed me that he had to be back in the San Fernando Valley by 6:00 PM for a meeting. My old lady and I wanted to check out the Chumash casino, which is an Indian casino just down the road from Solvang. We ended up parting ways so that my friend could go to his meeting, and my old lady and I could check out the casino.

Once we got to the casino, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they had a special section right in front set aside for motorcycle parking. I parked my bike and we were ready to roll.

motorcycle lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez We went into the casino and walked around a bit. As usual, my old lady wanted to borrow money so that she could gamble. It seems she never has money of her own when we travel. I gave her $40 to play on the slots. Literally, within five minutes she had won $600. I knew full well that she would gamble the entire $600 away in short order. I told her, “Let’s take the money and go.” At that point she continued to press the maximum bet button. For the first time ever, I walked up to the machine and pressed the cash out button, so that my old lady would be able to leave the casino with some money. The machine printed a ticket, and my old lady walked out of the Chumash casino with approximately $600. She was even able to pay me back the $40 that I loaned her. She was ecstatic to say the least. She knew in her heart that she would blow the money if she stayed at the casino, and was probably grateful to me for cashing her out, but she insisted that she would’ve won at least $10,000 had she remained at the machine. I have seen this lady at Las Vegas, ya right.

At this point it was getting late and we decided to ride back home. Instead of taking the scenic route around the Solvang area through the mountains, I decided to take a straight route to the coast. South on 101, to the 23, to the 118 freeway, to Chatsworth California.

We had a great ride home. The weather was cooling off a bit, and there was very little traffic. At around sundown, we decided to stop by the side of the road, and take in the view of the Pacific Ocean. We took a couple pictures which you can see here.

When we arrived at home, I parked my motorcycle, we got changed into our swimsuits, then jumped into the pool and later took a Jacuzzi. This was the end of a great ride and a great day.

The ride to Solvang which is approximately a 250 mile ride round-trip from my home is an excellent short local trip, and one of my favorite local rides to do on the weekend. Maybe as you read this article, you will want to ride to Solvang on your motorcycle too.

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Hollister Independence Day Motorcycle Rally, 2007; a Nightmare!

Written on July 11, 2007 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, Biker and Motorcycle Law, Biker Rights, Editorial, Events, General Legal, In The Wind, News, Other, Travel

Biker Lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez discusses Hollister 2007 This is not your usual ride report from me. I was unable to ride to the newly revamped Hollister Motorcycle Rally this year; thank god. This ride report is a first hand account of the rally from a very good friend of mine who rode to the rally for the first time, with his old lady.

First off, I have ridden to the Hollister Independence Day Motorcycle Rally for many years, excluding last year when it was cancelled by some very idiotic town leaders. They were idiotic because they probably lost millions of dollars in revenue by cancelling the rally, which is why they brought it back this year.

In the past the rally was an awesome 3 day event. All of the motorcycles were parked on both sides of San Benito Blvd., and in the center, all the way down the main drag. There were the usual vendors, bands kicking ass not only on the drag, but at houses past the commercial part of San Benito Blvd. It was a laid back rally with plenty of partying and fun for all. This has all apparently changed.

It seems the newly revamped rally has turned into a law enforcement nightmare from hell that for me makes the event no longer palatable.

The first hand account that I received from my friend who I will refer to as XYZ here, was given to me today.

When he arrived at the rally with his old lady, (It was his first and last time doing this rally) he found the main drag completely closed off to motorcycles. I have never heard of a motorcycle rally where they close off the main drag to motorcycles. That is like having a tattoo convention closed off to people with tattoos!

Biker Lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez discusses Hollister Motorcycle Rally 2007 XYZ noted that he has never seen so many law enforcement officers, from so many agencies, all in one place at the same time. He said that many of them seem to be decked out in full combat gear. He said it was bizarre. Furthermore, he stated that the entire time he was at the rally, there were multiple Police helicopters in the sky the entire time. The sound from the helicopters was so bad that you could not even hear one another talking in the street.

He and the other bikers and motorcyclist were directed to parking lots off of the main drag, and onto side streets by what he described as hordes of law enforcement personnel from multiple law enforcement agencies.

Now I am a law abiding guy, as well as XYZ. Neither of us has a criminal record, or anything to worry about from law enforcement. We respect the law, and we both just ride because we are bikers and like to ride our motorcycles.

As XYZ explained to me, he was directed to park along a side street by law enforcement when he arrived. There was an area that was coned off, with a bunch of other motorcycles parked in the coned off area. No big deal, he parked his custom Softail with the other motorcycles.

Within 5 minutes of getting off his motorcycle and walking to the main drag, he was confronted by a law enforcement officer who told him that he had to surrender his 3 and 1/2 inch folding pocket knife. Just so you know, pursuant to California State Law, you are allowed to carry a concealed knife with a blade that is no more than 3 and ½ inches, otherwise the knife has to be carried openly in a sheath and not concealed in any way.

Just for the record XYZ is not in any motorcycle club, and was just wearing a T-Shirt, jeans, and riding boots! He presented as an ordinary biker and motorcyclist.

XYZ knows a thing or two about the law and politely asked the law enforcement officer what law gave him the right to confiscate his pocket knife when he had done nothing wrong. The law enforcement officer told him that a temporary law had been enacted in Hollister for the weekend prohibiting anyone from having any kind of knife.

XYZ knowing that this was a flat out lie, asked the officer to show him any sign that advised the public that a temporary emergency law had been enacted to prohibit anyone from carrying any kind of a knife. The officer then asked XYZ if he was an attorney or something. XYZ said no, but that he knew the law. The officer then changed his tune and said that he would not confiscate his folding pocket knife so long as he did not clip it on the inside of his pocket, and that he must put it all the way in his pocket, and that if any other law enforcement officer approached him during the event, he would have to tell them that he had a pocket knife in his pocket.

My astonishment upon hearing this story was of amazement. I will get into this more later.

Rather than further argue with the officer and potentially risking being arrested or something, XYZ complied with the officers order and put his 3 and ½ pocket knife all the way in his pocket rather than clipping into the inside of his pocket.

XYZ and his old lady then walked the main drag on San Benito, (no motorcycles parked there at all) checked out the vendors, and a local watering hole.

They then decided to split and ride to their hotel which was about 10 miles out of town. When they walked to where they were directed to park by law enforcement, all the bikes that were parked where the cones were laid out were gone and there were no cones.

He was shocked just as anyone would be. He called the Hollister Police Department to find out if his motorcycle was stolen or towed. He was told that his motorcycle was towed and that he would not be able to get it back until Monday morning.

Imagine going to a motorcycle rally, being told to park somewhere by law enforcement, only to be told on a Saturday that your motorcycle had been towed, and there would no way to get it back until Monday morning, especially if your motel was 10 miles away! I could not imagine it.

XYZ and his old lady then walked to the Police Station to see what they could do. They begged, argued, and did everything that they could to get their motorcycle out of the impound lot, while at the Hollister Police Department for 5 hours to no avail. A lady officer told them that they would not even get the necessary paperwork for the impound of his motorcycle until Monday because of the rally, and because they did not have the resources. She was extremely rude. XYZ was told in no uncertain terms that if did not leave he would be arrested for obstruction.

Then to make matters worse XYZ tried to call a cab so that he and his old lady could get back to their hotel, only to hear a recording that there would be no cab service during the rally weekend.

What could they do; they proceeded to start walking the 10 mile distance to the motel. He was wearing motorcycle boots, and she was wearing high heels.

If anyone of you has ever been to Hollister, you have to realize that it is a tiny town in the middle of no where. Literally once you get off of the main drag, there is nothing but farmland and open land. There is nothing there!

They were about two miles out walking on the road, when of all people, a tow truck driver stopped and offered to give them a lift. Apparently the tow truck company made a killing for the town on this weekend. The tow truck driver told them that he had to go tow another motorcycle, and then he would pick them up on the way back, which he did.

They got back to their motel, and were basically stuck waiting until Monday to get the motorcycle out of impound.

California Biker Lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez discusses the 2007 Hollister Independence Day Motorcycle Rally When XYZ got to the impound lot, both of his motorcycle tires were flat, and there was a scratch on his custom paint. He asked the impound people why his tires were flat. He was told that they did not know, but they would probably be OK if he just put some air in them. Sure enough, when he put air in the tires, they were OK. Apparently the impound lot let the air out the tires on purpose. After some discussion XYZ and I figured that they probably let the air out of the tires to make it harder for someone to roll the motorcycle out of the impound lot. With respect to the scratch, it was there and there was not a damm thing he could do about it.

XYZ finally made it home from his nightmare first and last Hollister Independence day rally late Monday night. He missed a day of work because of the BS he was put through in Hollister.

I have been to literally hundreds of rallies in my years; so has XYZ, I have never heard of such a horror story. XYZ was rousted for no other reason than the fact that he is a biker, had his motorcycle towed because he made the mistake of following law enforcements orders on where to park, he had to wait two days to get his motorcycle out of the impound yard, and his custom paint was scratched to boot. XYZ states that he will never ride Hollister again.

My take on Hollister 2007, is that they brought the rally back, and then proceeded to roust and rip-off unsuspecting bikers. The parking and tow thing sounds like some kind of scam to put money into the city coffers. The unprecedented law enforcement turnout was way out of line. Above all, what kind of motorcycle rally prohibits motorcycles from parking on the main drag?

With respect to law enforcement basically lying to XYZ about carrying a pocket knife, all I can say is that this cannot be tolerated whatsoever. I am sure that many unsuspecting bikers gave up legal pocket knives because of the BS they were being told by law enforcement. I myself always carry a legal folder when riding, or doing almost anything. A good pocket knife always seems to come in handy, and they are legal.

We cannot have police officers or the government lying to the public about the law, and their rights. This seems like a worsening trend since Bush II took office. However, I am not going to discuss politics in this article.

Suffices is to say, I am glad that I did not ride Hollister this year, and unless I hear that they have brought back the rally like it used to be, then they will not be seeing me or my money again. I trust XYZ’s account of what happened. I am not going to ride 800 miles round trip to be subjected to the same kind of BS that XYZ and his old lady were. When I ride Hollister, I usually stay 20-30 miles out and sometimes more. I can only imagine what BS it would have been if it were me.

This is a true account of Hollister, 2007. No matter what you read to the contrary, this is how it really was this year.

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A Motorcycle Road Song by Audioslave; Show Me How To Live!

Written on May 8, 2007 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, In The Wind, Just BS, Norman Gregory Fernandez Ride Reports, Travel, Videos

I thought that I would lighten things up a bit on the Biker Law Blog by posting a Music Video by Audioslave. The song is called Show Me How To Live. The video is brought to us courtesy of youtube.com.

Who says a Law Blog has to be boring!

During my ride to the Laughlin River Run 2007, I had this song jamming on my Harley Davidson sound system, riding through the same kind of desert scenery as in the video.

As for me, this song just makes me want to jump on my Hawg and ride to Laughlin again. I am sure my fellow bikers will understand exactly what I am talking about!

Enjoy the music while you are reading the Biker Law Blog.

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Laughlin River Run 2007; A Spur of the Moment Thing!

Written on May 1, 2007 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, Education, Events, In The Wind, Norman Gregory Fernandez Ride Reports, Travel

California Motorcycle and Biker Lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez at the Laughlin River Run 2007 One of the largest Biker and Motorcycle Rallies in the west is the Laughlin River Run. You can check out the official website for the run by clicking here.

On Friday after a very rough week, I knew that I had to get away for some stress relief. My doctor has actually ordered me to take a vacation and to take it easy. He actually wrote me a prescription to take a one week vacation! Being a lawyer is a very stressful career choice to say the least, and I am a class AAA personality all the way. Suffices to say, I have not been able to get away from the office for a straight one week in a very long time. Saying that I care about my clients is an understatement!

For me the best stress relief of all is to do a very long motorcycle run. Getting on the open road and clearing the mind keeps a good lawyer sane.

Getting back to my decision to get away for some stress relief; I was contemplating riding to Mount Whitney which is the highest point in the contiguous 48 States, until I saw all of the bikers on the road headed for Laughlin. I instead decided to ride to Laughlin. What the heck right? It is not where you are going it is the ride that counts! This would be one of my famous 2 day runs with a one night stay.

I knew that every room even remotely close to Laughlin had already been sold out for many months prior to the event. Going to the Laughlin River Run website confirmed that everything in town was booked. I did not even bother to try the other online reservation sites, because I knew everything would be sold out! It did not matter because I knew that my favorite Motel 6 in Kingman, Arizona would have rooms. I got online and booked my room. I then called the front desk to confirm my online reservation. This Motel 6 has never let me down in over 10 years.

Kingman, Arizona is the best kept secret in Arizona. Most people literally just drive right by it on the Interstate 40 and not even realize it is there! For the past 10 years, maybe longer, I have always stayed at the same Motel 6 in Kingman, Arizona, while doing runs such as the 4 Corners Rally, now known as the Rally in the Rockies, Sturgis, the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley Utah, and other runs in that direction. You can say that I am a creature of habit when it comes to certain things. The people in Kingman are all very nice, and there is a great restaurant right next door called Calicos that serves up some of the best old fashioned American food that you will ever want.

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A Motorcycle Ride to the Grand Canyon; The Good and the Bad!

Written on March 18, 2007 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, Editorial, In The Wind, Norman Gregory Fernandez Ride Reports, Travel

Biker Motorcycle Lawyer Attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez with Fiance I must admit that I am a spoiled biker when it comes to be able to do good motorcycle rides. Living in the Southern California presents me with opportunities to do some of the best local motorcycle riding in the world without having to travel too far. Nonetheless, there are times when you just want to get on your motorcycle and take off on a long distance run.

My fiancé and I love to take off on out of town motorcycle trips whenever possible. She is a free spirit and will literally be packed up and suited up for a ride on a moments notice. She loves to ride shotgun on the back of my motorcycle and has literally ridden over 100k miles with me over the years. Not to brag, but my friends and brothers only wish that they had old ladies that wanted to ride like my old lady.

One Thursday during the summer, at around 5:00pm, I asked her if she had ever been to the Grand Canyon; she said no. I asked her if she wanted to take off that night on a little motorcycle run to the Grand Canyon. Her eyes lit up, she gave me that smile of hers, and I already knew the answer. (YES OF COURSE) I told her that to beat the heat in the California Mohave Desert, and the Arizona Desert, it would be better if we took off around midnight or 1:00am.

Before I get into the story of this particular motorcycle run to the Grand Canyon, I wanted to mention briefly that there are basically 3 types of motorcycle runs at least for me. One type of run is where I just take off on my motorcycle alone, and ride wherever I want. The second type of run is where I ride with my old lady (fiancée) on the back (shotgun) of my motorcycle and we take off on a run to wherever. (It is not the destination that counts; it’s the ride that matters!) The third type of run is where I roll on my motorcycle with my friends or brothers who also have their own motorcycles. (Group run)

Not that I do not love rolling in a pack with my friends and brothers, or even alone, however, my favorite runs of all are when my old lady and I just take off and do our own thing! There is no pressure and we can do what we want without having to accommodate a group of motorcycle riders. The best part of all is that can find those little spots off of the highway or road for a little extra curricular activity if you know what I mean . Anyway getting back to this particular ride report…………..

After we both decided to do the run, I promptly inspected my motorcycle for anything loose; checked the air pressure in the tires; and checked the oil, while she packed the T-Bag for the run. The good thing about being together for so long is that she knows just what to pack for a run like this.

We planned the run for 4 days which was not set in stone. We could do an extra day or two if we wanted. I hate doing runs like this on a deadline. The best runs for me are spur of the moment with no time constraints. I will write more about this later.

I strapped the T-Bag onto the luggage rack on the back of the motorcycle and did some other prep work to get ready for the run, i.e. getting someone to cover for me at the office while I was away, notifying family and friends of where I was going, etc.

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