The team of MNO Photography is comprised of two people, Michael and Cynthia Odom. We actually started in the art of motorcycle photography because of a domain name purchased and put up for sale. We bought the domain name bikeweek2003.com in late 2002 and listed for sale on the Internet. As the Daytona Motorcycle Rally approached we received an offer of $10.00! The person that made the
offer was upset at my turning it down and he started a bit of mud slinging. This only motivated Mike to open the domain, do the web site design and media work. So the beginning of our digital motorcycle event coverage was underway as the team set out to document the ten day Bike Week Rally.
bikeweek2003.com
www.bike-weekdaytona.com in 2003
The first year of Daytona Bike Week worked out so well for the media team, it was decided that they should expand their motorcycle photo journalism. Because the original web site was limited to a particular year, Mike and Cindi opened up a new site that was not. The new domain and site was formed under the name of www.bike-weekdaytona.com and soon expanded into covering a second annual Florida motorcycle event held in October.
Biketoberfest ® as far as the actual event did not seem as attractive as Bike Week and the reason was quickly made apparent to the two residents of Melbourne, Florida. Because Mike had originally registered the domain name of biketoberfestdaytona.com through East Coast Blues, he was warned that Biketoberfest ® is a registered trademark of the Daytona
Beach Area Convention
and Visitors Bureau by email. So because the city was basically in charge, it shed light as to why the downtown events were so controlled, commercialized and lack of enthusiasm. We simply dropped the "fest" off the name and headed out to find motorcycles and events to photograph.
MNO at the cabbage patch bar
During the first Biketoberfest trip, in 2003 we took a short ride west to Tomoka Farms Rd. towards New Symrna Beach. It was during our first visit to The Cabbage Patch Bar that we found that it was a great place to hang out and take pictures..... lots of pictures! At this location we have found some of the best looking motorcycles, custom choppers and babes along with the events that take place like the "world famous coleslaw wrestling".We also found it was a great place for Bike Week Camping during the rally. The morning of slaw day we approached the bar owner Ron Luznar and introduced ourselves. Ronnie turned us over to the bar webmaster Frank Milo of Firecat Technology from that time on we built a lasting relationship there.
