Ride of the Patriots 2023

Every Memorial Day weekend, thousands of motorcyclists ride into the local area to participate in the annual ride from the Pentagon to DC. This event used to be called Rolling Thunder, but with the demise of that organization the successor ride is called Ride to Remember. The local Harley Davidson dealer organizes a pre-ride from Fairfax to the Pentagon, called the Ride of the Patriots. I’ve photographed the Ride of the Patriots several times, including today.

I’m disappointed that my favorite spot to photograph this event is not so great anymore. While expanding I-66 to add lanes, the contractor destroyed the bridge that provided a great view of the riders as they passed underneath. The replacement bridge is in the same spot, but now there’s a fence on the bridge, presumably to prevent people from throwing objects onto cars below. I’m not interested in shooting through the fence.

The next best alternative is the top of the Dunn Loring Metro station parking garage. It’s not great.

I tried dragging the shutter this time (1/400, 1/320) to get a bit of background blur and obvious motion in the wheels as I panned with the bikes. This was super-hard with my 500mm lens, and I got only a small number of usable photos with this technique. Later in the ride I switched to 1/500 or faster. 

Here are my favorites from this year’s ride.

Motorcycles lined up with spectators on the bridge

Makeup

This guy again

One of the few single female riders

Showing the flag

Were they looking at me?

Tattoo sleeve under the sleeve

She’s holding on for dear life

Ride of the Patriots 2019

Memorial Day weekend in DC means Rolling Thunder. I've been seeing lots of motorcycles for several days leading up to the event. I made my plans to set up on a bridge over Interstate 66 to photograph the Ride of the Patriots, which is a group of riders who line up in Fairfax and who then ride to the Pentagon to join the Rolling Thunder riders. Well, I botched it:

1. I got there too late; the best spots on the bridge were taken and I had an obstructed view of the road as a result.
2. I somehow managed to get my camera into single focus mode and couldn't figure out how to get it into continuous focus mode. It's not obviously marked on the camera. No problem, I thought, I'll just look at the manual...
3. But I had left my phone in the car, and I'd lose my (bad) spot if I left to get my phone, on which I could read the camera manual.

OK, I had to improvise. I basically picked a spot on the road, then focused on that spot, then waited for motorcycles to enter the frame. I managed to get some keepers after all.

Nice Shirt

The ride is dominated by men. Almost all of the women in the ride were hanging on to a male rider. At least that's the way it has been in previous years, and this year was no exception. But, surprisingly large numbers of women rode this time. With thousands of bikes going by, I look for a few things that stand out to be worth shooting. Beards, tattoos, facial expressions, gestures, children, helmets, the rare female rider, ...

What a Beard!

Of course the cops were busy providing traffic control. So I guess you could say they were in the ride too.

Fairfax County's Finest

There are so many back seat riders using their phones, I wonder how many phones get dropped on the road during the ride...

Selfie?

Another theme this year was the number of smokers. There were lots of cigars, and a few cigarettes.

Got a light?

This guy's working on a painful sunburn. Maybe he burned his face riding to Fairfax the day before?

Red Face

This kid is hanging on to the flag and his rider, maybe his/her father? I saw lots of women riding as passengers, and a few children, and even a dog.

Hold on Tight!

I guess makeup was important for this rider. It seems most of the women riders show more skin than the men. Talk about skin abrasion if she falls.

Lipstick

And finally, here's a nice smile to end the series of photos:

Smile!

This year the riders did a poor job of keeping a consistent distance from the bike ahead, and consequently large gaps opened up. Toward the end of the ride, the motorcycles were going by really fast to close the gaps and it became hard to get good shots as they whizzed by. I eventually just put my camera down and watched the show.

The organization that organizes Rolling Thunder announced that this was the last one; they're not doing this anymore. Well, we'll see. Maybe the local chapters will figure out how to keep it going, maybe with smaller groups of riders. Or maybe the national chapter will settle their grievance with the Pentagon over costs and perceived sleights. But maybe this was my last chance to shoot these people and to hear the deep rumble of thousands of bikes.

One last bit about my camera... In spite of my issue with getting it into the right mode to follow objects while maintaining focus (and I've since read the manual and fixed that setting), I'm loving my new camera. I'm stunned by the high quality of the photographs, the ability to do aggressive cropping and still have a nice, sharp photo, and the fact that I've had it for a few months now and still haven't filled the buffer.

Ride of the Patriots 2018

It's Memorial Day weekend, which means Rolling Thunder, which means Ride of the Patriots. I went to the same spot as last year, on a bridge on Cedar Lane over Interstate 66. It was cloudy and HUMID. Here are my photos from the event as thousands of motorcyclists rode by to join the main event, Rolling Thunder, at the Pentagon.

Deserted Interstate 66

The police blocked the road prior to the first group of motorcycles coming through. An empty I66 is so unusual, I had to start with this.

Empty I66

The cops could be forgiven for having fun on the job. Here's the lead group as they escorted the main body. I don't know where this first group started; they're not part of the Ride of the Patriots.

Fairfax County and Virginia State Police Lead the Way

Out of thousands of motorcycles and hundreds of photos, I've selected a few because of unusual motorcycles, or interesting riders. Lots of passengers and riders used their phones or GoPro cameras during the ride.

Waving to us on the Bridge

 The rider in the rear has quite a beard.

Beards

 I saw only one of these.

Put your hands on the wheel!

The photos above are from a smaller group that came through before the Ride of the Patriots. Then the police let the cars through, and it was PACKED for a while as the backup rolled through.

Typical I66 Traffic

Then the Ride of the Patriots began. The motorcyclists gather in Fairfax and depart as a long convoy. Here are the lead riders with their police escort. Again the police had shut I66 to other traffic.

Ride of the Patriots

 Here's another impressive beard.

What a Beard!

 Riding and photographing...

Concentration on his Face, or Cycling and Photographing

 The guy on the right of this photo gets into the gallery because of the arm tattoo.

Quite the Sleeve on this Rider

 And this rider had the most unusual helment.

Seems like that Helment is Hot!

When photographing, it's always a good idea to at least glance at the scene behind the main event. Here they are riding away from me, toward DC.

All Lined Up

 I'd say she likes purple. And I like the pigtails on her helmet.

Purple and Pigtails

Most of the riders seemed to have a lot of gray hair. And even though most of the women participants were riding with men, some had their own rides.

Enjoying the Ride

 I was glad to see so many women among the riders.

Nice Trike

 There were more sidecars last year. This one seems retro.

With a Sidecar

 Here's another impressive beard.

Beard in the Wind

I was also pleased to see just how much the riders look like America. We may have deep political arguments but for Memorial Day you wouldn't know it. Men, women, children, and every shade of skin were represented.

A Smile and a Wave

 Here's another impressive beard.

Beard

I chose this one because she's riding a big bike and has an unusual helmet. Women tend to go for smaller motorcycles.

Odd Helmet

 For obvious reasons...

OK, Who's Driving?

 There were lots of flags.

Flag Waving in the Wind

Finally, here's the rolling road block that followed the last of the riders, presumably to keep the cars from overtaking the riders.

Rolling Roadblock

It got really crowded on the bridge as lots of people showed up to see the show. The motorcyclists would wave, rev their engines, honk their horns, and smile as the people on the bridge waved back and waved flags.

This was a lot of fun, and I expect to be back for it again next year.

Ride of the Patriots

Each year there's a Memorial Day weekend event in DC called Rolling Thunder. Riders ride thousands of motorcycles from the Pentagon parking lot on a published route along the Mall. I've never gone because crowds are not my thing.

However, this year I decided to observe a precursor event. The local Harley-Davidson dealer hosts the Ride of the Patriots, for which thousands of motorcyclists gather on the road near the dealership and at the appointed time, they all start up and ride to the Pentagon. The local police block traffic on the route and escort/lead the riders. I selected a bridge over the route and drove there, arriving shortly before the start of the parade.

About a hundred other people had the same idea; the bridge was crowded with people there to watch the riders. Fortunately I was able to find a spot to photograph. It took a half an hour for thousands of motorcycles to pass. And boy where they loud. I was surprised at how many bikes had two riders. Oh, and quite a few had their cell phones out recording their rides.

Here are a few shots.

They were neatly lined up at the beginning

Lots of riders waved, sometimes with both hands

This kid made sure we saw him

Even the dog has sunglasses

LGBT Theme?

Love the horns on this guy's helmet