Wheels & Waves Hits the Road and Surf

Photography by Laurent Nivalle

Imagine spending four days on a sun-drenched Basque-French beach splitting your time between surf contests, tours through the country, crazy motorcycle hill-climbing and sprints, and checking out bands and art shows along with a couple hundred of your closest friends. That’s pretty much what Wheels and Waves is.

It began in June 2009, when the Southsiders MC (a motorcycle club with six members based in Toulouse, France with a passion for classic iron) organized their first official event. That event saw about twenty participants join the Southsiders for two rides across the Basque countryside. And since then the event has gone from a couple of a days to three and now four days total. An annual trek centered around Biarritz on France’s southern Atlantic coast, Wheels and Waves has become a mecca for lovers of classic bikes, surfing, and vintage culture. Essentially it’s a four-day party just for the heck of it with like-minded people.

While the event took place in June we thought this would be the perfect way to say “bye” to the summer and welcome the autumn. It’s sort of a look back at an amazing event that celebrates the season and one we can’t we to see come around again. Time to pack up the surfboards, and for some of you the classic rides. Until you can break them out again, we’ll keep the stories coming. And if you want just another small peek at Wheels and Waves, check out more “wheels” featured last week, here.