Our Riders of the Week are Steve Clay and Mark (Nuke)
Griffin
Steve is 43 yrs. old and lives in San Antonio. He currently owns 9 bikes. 3
Goldwings, two of which are for touring and 1 one with a future of getting
chopped, 1 Honda 650 Nighthawk, 2 Honda CR 250's, 1 Yamaha YZ 490, 1 Honda
CB175, and 1 Yamaha 100. Steve has been riding 32 yrs. and loves the Hill
Country roads and backwoods trails.
Both Steve and his wife love to ride, love the outdoors, and just basically
love life. All he wants is a nice sunrise, a long winding road, a nice day, and
a bright orange sunset and it doesn't get any better.
Mark (Nuke) Griffin is 43. He officially lives in Fort Worth, but is relocating
back to S.A. within a couple of months: Right now Nuke is staying with a buddy
in Helotes. Nuke was at the Institute from 88-96 and was in the old Div. 06.
Now that he is returning he is in Div. 18.
One of the first things Nuke had to do was get his bike from Fort Worth to
here. He rides a 96 Harley Davidson Heritage Softail Clasic and has been riding
since 79. He used the Heritage as his vehicle for daily commutes back and forth
to work while in Fort Worth. Winters are colder there then here so Nuke says
never to underestimate the power of a good set of leathers.
His wife and he enjoy day trips, dinner rides, weekenders, charity fund
raisers, poker runs and rallies. They rode in the 18th Annual Big Texas Toy Run
last Dec. in Dallas/Fort Worth. They say that if you have never done it, its
worth the trip. They had an estimated 55,000 bikes (as in THOUSAND)drop off
toys and cash donations at the Arlington Convention Center. They all converged
at once with 35,000 coming from the west and 20,000 from the east. The bikes
were two and three abreast on I30 as far as the eye could see. Those that
didn't ride lined the freeway with blankets, lawn chairs, picnic baskets,
American Flags, and homemade signs. The lead bike from Fort Worth arrived at
the convention center before the last bike had even left. (NOW THATS A RUN).
What is normally at 15-20 min. ride took well over an hour. Seeing the look on
the kids faces and all those bikes makes for one of the most incredible
experiences that one can imagine.