Motorcycle Views

2006 Americade Motorcycle Rally Blog - Day 7

By Walter Kern

This year I'm publishing highlights of Americade 2006, day by day in this blog. Americade is scheduled for June 5-10 this year. The blog will also include my preparation in getting ready to take the ride to Lake George, NY, my observations while there, the ride home, and getting back to normal -- before the next set of rides to the Gold Wing Road Riders Association (GWRRA) Wing Ding national rally in Nashville, TN and the BuRP rally in Maggie Valley, NC. (BuRP is a rally for Motorcycles forum members.)

The weather at Americade can be quite unpredictable. Today I expected to do my Forum Edition of the Motorcycles Newsletter and then walk up and down Canada Street taking pictures of unusual bikes. Instead, as I finished the newsletter, I noticed that the rain had started. I ran out and put the small rain covers on the trikes. I skipped lunch to catch up on a few TV shows and talk to some of the riders staying at my motel. Jane rode down to TourExpo and did some shopping and came home just in time to also see the rain starting. Since there were very few bikes parked along Canada Street, my picture taking excursion was cancelled.

About the only productive thing happening to me today was the Second Annual Vinnie Memorial Dinner in honor of our forum friend, Vinnie, who died two years ago while on a solo motorcycle trip. We had dinner at Mario's Restaurant where we raised our glasses to our fallen brother.

We are seeing an increase in trikes this year. Riders who once told me that they would rather give up motorcycling than to ride a trike, are now telling me a different story. Seems that when infirmities start limiting our riding, the brain makes a shift in thinking when the stark reality of not having a motorcycle in the garage hits us. After all, a trike is still a motorcycle and it provides us with mobility of the motorcycle kind.

Tomorrow, our last full day at Americade, we expect more rain. That means breakfast on premises, lunch across the street in a great sandwich shop just discovered today, and a rainy ride out to Roaring Brook Ranch to hear Fred Rau speak on anything -- he fills a double seminar room to capacity in any kind of weather. Others will be going on mini-tours, taking demo rides, attending seminars, watching the light show, filling every restaurant in town, and, of course, draining the stocks of the vendors at TourExpo. Americade can't be stopped by bad weather. Motorcyclists just don their rain suits and continue riding.

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