The Northwest 200!

This is what Chet has been waiting for the whole trip (and the reason our trip was scheduled for May)! The Northwest 200 is a motorcycle road race in Northern Ireland where races occur and racers get up to 200 mph on quaint Irish country roads.

Road racing is not very prolific in many parts of the world due to the high liability involved... think about riders going 200 mph on roads with curbs, unexpected conditions and people lining the race course in yards, fields, etc. There have been racers injured or killed in these races before. Sound like fun? It is actually quite a bit of an adrenaline rush watching the crazy riders fly around the roads!

In this area, the Northwest 200 is "the event"!!! There were tons of motorcyclists, families, and more... the roads were packed with vehicles and people were camping in fields. Think concert at the Gorge meets a sport-bike version of Sturgess.

Our friend, Greg, from church has gone to the race for multiple years. His friend Motz lives in Portstewart, only a few blocks from the race course. So we met up with all of them at his house and they showed us the "ropes" of watching the race. Luckily, the weather held out for us and it only sprinkled a little bit... I guess a pretty rare occurrence in the area in May.

Motz had connections so we were able to watch the race from a yard on the course... the racers were just accelerating out of a sharp corner in Portstewart. Only a sidewalk separated us from the racers... but we had plenty of exhaust and dirt flung in our eyes by the bikes!

First lap of one of the races... they start off close and then things begin to spread out. There is a definite roar as they approach around the corner!

Us at the race. Please note Chet's HUGE grin! He was having an absolute blast!

Here is a brief video to help you understand the actual speed of the bikes and the sound. It is hard to envision with only still pictures.

Anyways, if you need a conversation starter with Chet in the next few months, this would be a good one! He is already scheming of how to go back in the future!