06/16/2024
This is the third Father’s Day I’ve had without my dad, and while I’m (obviously) a dad myself now, it really just hits different for me without him. When my dad died, I inherited his Harley and decided at that time that I wouldn’t change the bike from the way he wanted it. It’s really not set up the way I would want a FatBoy, but it’s more important to me to honor his legacy than to turn it into my personal expression. I’ve put a ton of miles on his bike since I got it, but riding just isn’t the same without him and I’d give anything to have him on his bike instead of me. Fast forward to Leesburg Bikefest 2024 and I came across a vendor who immediately made me stop and recognize that there was a change I could make that would help me and honor my dad all at the same time. These guys took the portrait I took of my dad, had two separate artists hand draw my photo and let me pick the one I liked the best. They then imported that drawing into their software and laser engraved the image into a derby cover. The cover arrived last week and I was blown away with the end result. Today, I decided it was time to put my dad back on his bike. While I’ll never get to ride next to him ever again, I’ll now have him riding with me every time I take his bike out.
