I’ve been hearing that Laconia was a big success this year, despite crummy weather. So glad to hear some good reports for a change!
Press release:
Record breaking crowds, sizzling entertainment and thousands of dollars raised for local charities marked Laconia Bike Week 2009 at The Lobster Pound. Visitors from across the globe converged on The Lobster Pound and the newly remodeled Laconia Roadhouse for the 86th Annual Laconia Bike Week.
The Roadhouse, a 15,000 square foot entertainment complex together with its recent 7000 square foot full service restaurant addition complete with a roof deck bar and dining area, was at the center of the action and saw as many as 40,000 visitors during the nine day event. Blues Legend, James Montgomery packed the complex along with the Tom Dixon Country Band every night.
The Lobster Pound
Wild Turkey girls
Visitors enjoyed a number of giveaways from sponsor Wild Turkey and their famous Turkey Girls. All State Insurance also set up shop complete with models and famous custom bike builder, Dave Perewitz. The crowd-pleasing Jack 94 Rum Custom Bike Build Off boasted four custom bike builders who built four choppers from scratch while competing for a grand prize of $5000. The entertainment culminated with Una and her motorcycle dare devil show. Complete with mid-air flips and twirls, at one point her assistant hung from the bottom of the bike while 60 feet in the air.
Bike Week also boasted a jump in philanthropic activity this year, raising over $10,000 for the Have A Heart Children’s Cancer Fund. USA Lock and Load also raised $2,500 for Operation Home Front with funds going to assist veterans returning from combat with Russ from Wild Turkey getting the crowd to dig into their pockets and buy raffle tickets.
The 86th Anniversary of Laconia Bike Week proved itself true to its roots. Nine days of food, incredible entertainment and custom choppers confirmed that Laconia Bike Week is well-deserving as one of the longest lasting and largest events of its kind. Ultimately leaving visitors counting down the days to next years’ festivities.
The Weirs Beach Lobster Pound property was originally the site of one of the first Howard Johnsons in the country. A fire destroyed the Howard Johnson and Gandy Dancer Saloon 37 years ago. The Lobster Pound was then built and is in its 36th year of operation, The Lobster Pound has been a participant in the Laconia Rally for 27 years. The property was purchased from Lou Gaynor and Harvey Chernin by the Ray family three years ago. Major improvements were made when the Ray family purchased the property including a new 7000 square foot restaurant, an improved 15,000 square foot Roadhouse entertainment complex and becoming a corporate sponsor of the Laconia Race and Rally Association.
Like many of you, there are times when I ask myself “Why do I live here“?
Those times come mostly in the winter once that holidays are over and it starts getting really cold and snowy. It’s compounded when the local news is showing ice storms and power outages where I live and my friends that live in the south are talking about how great their H.O.G chapters are or how fun the Galveston Rally was.
With all the subtlety of former WWE champion and current UFC heavy-weight champion Brock Lesnar, my husband has been filling the DVR with shows like Road Trip: Mount Rushmore to Yellowstone, Motorcycle Mania: Sturgis and any other road trip programming he can find.
I fire up my computer and in the browser is a google maps trip plotted from here to the Black Hills and back. I find articles about the Fly & Ride program that just happen to be left out on the table for me to discover. Sigh.
Those of us who live up north and don’t have the luxury of riding all year round get our fix in throughout the winter by working on our bikes, whether it’s adding more chrome, perhaps a new paint job or plotting out our good weather riding.
As you know I own a 2004 Suzuki Volusia and over the winter my project list includes:
a new air filter
new exhaust pipes (I can’t decide which ones, though)
maybe some additional lights
new pegs
maybe new grips
My husband, on the other hand, is focusing on where he wants to ride this year:
What’s the latest on the Myrtle Beach Rally?
Sorry, hon. That rally is a matter of history.
Do you think I can ride to Florida for a weekend and be back to work on Monday?
Umm…good luck.
Can we take a detour to Yellowstone on the way home from Sturgis?
Yes? I guess so…
How much vacation time does he think he has? How much vacation time does he think *I* have?
It’s only just January and I’m wondering how I’ll get through the rest of winter. I figure I’ll get to read a few books about motorcycles. Last year I read some of Sonny Barger’s books, but this year I’d like to focus on a few books by female authors. Sasha Mullens has a few books out that I’m interested in, if you know of any good reads let me know or send one my way and I’ll do a write up on it.
So how do you get through the winter? Are you like me, reading the catalogs and looking for just the right pipes and braided cables? Or maybe you scour the web looking for off-beat locations to ride to? Do you anxiously await your next biker magazine to show up in the mailbox? Something else?
What keeps your motor running through the long, cold winter?
I managed to get a ride or two in the past few weeks before the weather turns really cold (hey, I mentioned before that I’m a total wuss when it comes to riding in cold weather! If it’s under 70 degrees I start to whine and complain!). We stayed pretty local, but the great thing about where we live is that we don’t have to venture far for some really beautiful scenery.
This will be mainly a photographic post. I gathered some of the images that I think represent what autumn feels like in New England.
Salem Common, Salem MA
carved jack-o-lanterns
somewhere off the Kancamangas Highway in New Hampshire
in the mountains in NH
mountain view
colorful corn at the Topsfield Fair
gords
hubster checking out large, prize-winning pumpkins
KISS pumpkins! These RULE.
me freezing my butt off on a charity ride
Hubster & me enjoying a frosty beverage in a toasty Irish bar after a day of riding
It’s Halloween week and as most of you know, I live in Salem Massachusetts. The Witch City. Spookytown. Halloween Central. Home of Haunted Happenings and Festival of the Dead.
I’ve lived here for quite a few years and I’m sure it comes as no surprise that it is the mecca for all things Halloween. It is a haven for tourists who want to learn a little bit about history, maybe to learn what actually transpired during the Witch Trials and to be able to walk around wearing a witch hat, a cloak or a top hat without feeling self-conscious about it.
I am not exaggerating when I tell you that it’s absolute pandemonium on Halloween. The city shuts down all of the major streets to accommodate all of the people, the police recruit help from neighboring towns and traffic is backed up for hours at a time.
Here’s a video that was shot of last year. It’s a bit long but you don’t have to watch all of it to get the gist of what it’s like here.
While it is both an amusement and a burden to live in Salem, I do love seeing all of the various costumes people come up with. While it’s always been my favorite holiday, I was never one for dressing up in costume until recent years. Here are two of my recent costumes.
With Halloween being this Friday, I cannot imagine what this year will hold for my quaint, little historical town. It will surely be insane. And I will be out there in the middle of it all.
While the anniversary was actually yesterday, I just want to take a moment to mention that five years ago I almost lost the love of my life to a motorcycle accident. This time last year I wrote an extensive post about that day.
While I’m reminded daily just by looking at his scarred body, there is something about this time of year that especially reminds me how lucky he is (and I am) that he is alive.
one month after the accident
I generally try to keep my personal life away from my blogging life when it doesn’t relate to anything motorcycle specific, but this particular instance is where I think the crossover is important to acknowledge. When I think about how much our lives have changed for the better in the past five years, I am grateful that things didn’t go the other way. My life would not be what it is today.
autumn riding in the White Mountains, NH
It’s easy to take your loved ones for granted until something unfortunate happens. Whenever I think about the accident any time of the year, it makes me give my man an unexpected hug or a smooch to let him know how much I love him.
So for us, October 15th is now the day we celebrate that a day of near tragedy paved the way to a (hopefully) long road of happiness.
As I mentioned in Tuesday’s video post, I managed to get away to New Hampshire for a few days last week. My parents have a little summer cottage up there so it makes for a convenient (and cheap) getaway.
We took our usual leisurely way up there, riding 1A north the entire way. While my husband is not a “beach guy” he did indulge me and spent a couple of days on Hampton Beach with me. I absolutely love the beach and could stay there from sun up to sundown as long as I have a lot of sunblock, a cooler with drinks, lunch and snacks and am near the bathhouse!. He, on the other hand, feels that sitting all day on the beach is a waste of time and could find a 100 other better things to do with his time-especially if there’s riding to do! So, it was a big deal to me to get some beach time in!
We rode locally around the Hampton/Rye area on most days. Riding the Hampton Beach strip is always a trip for me. I get lots of catcalls and thumbs up from dudes who aren’t used to seeing girls riding on their own motorcycles. Sometimes I actually get legitimate questions about my bike’s engine size, make and model, which is always nice because it means that people are actually getting over the fact that girls do ride and might even know a thing or two about motorcycles!
On a particularly mild day we decided to take a ride up to York, Maine. We packed a lunch, jumped on the bikes and rode 1A to 107 up the coast on some wonderfully winding roads. The ride was relaxing and enjoyable, the kind where you can see and smell things you normally wouldn’t be able to if you were in a car. It took us about an hour and half to go up the coast to our final destination: Nubble Light.
We’ve done this particular ride a lot since we’ve been riding together but that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. First of all, the lighthouse itself is so cool looking. It’s like being alive inside a postcard. The weather was also completely agreeable, being up on those rocks with the wind coming off of the water is so refreshing and is the essence of summer in New England. I probably sound very cliche, but these are the little things we look forward to when we’re knee-deep in snow in January.
The 85th annual Laconia Bike Week came one week late this year, but was still chocked with what we’ve come to expect of bike week; bikes, rain, heat, rain and more rain.
We could only spare time for day trip this year (my stinky new job is eating into all my fun “me” time) and it was just a tease. If we plan on spending the whole week (or even just a few days) up in NH we usually take a nice leisurely, back-roads ride up to the Lakes Region. However for day trips we just hit the highway and blast up 93N for 100 miles until we reach the Tilt’n Diner.
Once making it to the diner most people shed their leathers and helmets and prepare themselves for the 13 mile trek to the Weirs Beach. It’s a nice scenic ride that can take up to 3 hours on the busy weekends.
Our first stop was the Belknap Mill. This old mill has a gallery that houses motorcycle exhibits during the rally each year. This year the exhibit was of some sort of acrylic-type paintings with a water color feel by local artist John David O’Shaughnessy. It was like line drawing meets forced impressionist. The show paled in comparison to my friend Art Biker, who had a show a few years back. But I might be slightly biased.
From downtown we headed to the beach, finding parking spots near the very end. We did the typical stroll, down the entire beach up to the drive-in area to peruse all of the vendors. After buying some swag, we were on our way back to our bikes when the skies opened up and we were nailed by the first downpour. Seemed like the perfect time to duck into a local watering hole and wait it out.
As we were hanging out I noticed that there weren’t that many customized motorcycles that knocked my socks off this year, but there was an abundance of photographers. In addition to my favorite motorcycle photographer (again, I might be slightly biased) we saw Michale Lichter and probably 10 other photo crews running around desperately shooting whatever they could find.
When the skies cleared we took the opportunity to jump on the bikes and rode the loop up the the Antler, back down past the Fun Spot and finding our way to the highway. While we were gassing up we got caught in a tremendous downpour and, along with hundreds of our closest friends, decided to hang out and wait for it to pass. Forethought told me to bring my rain gear, but I wanted to travel light (because my rain gear weighs so much?) so I left it at home on the table (perfect place for it, huh?). An hour later it finally stopped and was a bright sunny day again.
Here is my (very late) post about last weekend’s trip to Americade.
Did I ever tell you how much I hate riding in the rain?
I have some emotional reasons behind it, but mostly it just sucks. I don’t like not feeling in control and not being able to see very well, knowing that cagers are flying around me and might not notice I’m there.
This is what i was thinking as I headed out the Mass Pike last Friday morning at 6AM on my way to Springfield, MA to have breakfast at Cracker Barrel. My husband has this thing about starting a road trip with a Country Boy breakfast.
After we dried off and filled our bellies, we headed north up I-91 to route 2 where we got on the Mohawk Trail and the rain finally stopped (although it continued to be overcast). We meandered our way across the ass-end of MA, then cut the corner of VT up into NY. Riding through NY we rode through a plethora of farmland.
We pulled into our campground (ugh, camping) in Lake George, NY around 3PM. After unloading the bikes and setting up the tent, we made a beeline for downtown to scope out the activity. Having been there a few years ago, we knew the layout and the weird restrictions that the town has on bikes so we went to the Holiday Inn to get a parking pass (yes, you need a pass to park at this bike rally!) Once that was taken care of, we got a good parking spot and grabbed a much needed beer.
Around sundown the clouds finally burned off and there was a bit of blue sky. The temp dropped to about 80 degrees and the humidity went down a bit, too. About 10PM we were really pooped, so we got back on the bikes and hit the 8.5 miles down winding Rt. 9N (everything is route 9 up there, WTF?) and into our little home away from home. After battling the mosquitoes for space in the tent, I got as comfortable as I could and stared at the roof of the tent while my hubby fell fast asleep. The temp finally dropped around 3AM to a reasonable 50-something (and damp) degrees. In true camping fashion, we were up with the sun and back on the road.
Our first stop was the Harley-Davidson area over at the Ft. William Henry at 8AM. It was already 85 degrees out. A quick swipe of the HOG (Harley Owners Group) card and my man had his first ever HOG pin to add to his leather vest. Then we rode down to the convention center and we were the 3rd and 4th bikes parked. I guess we expected things to open a bit earlier than they did!
We hit the vendors at the expo center then took the shuttle bus to the beach, where we spent all day looking at vendors in 95-100 degree heat. It was brutal. That afternoon we went back downtown to get some food and people watch (two of my favorite activities!). That night we sat on a bench taking pictures, watching bikes go by and talking to people until midnight. We gassed up before heading back to camp because we knew it would be a mob scene in the morning.
We got up again way too early Sunday morning. I went to clean up in the lovely campground bathroom facilities (with all of the mosquitoes and water bugs) while my man broke camp down and packed up our stuff. We had breakfast at 4th Lake Diner, which was a real bargain. At 9am when we left, it was already 90 degrees out. While riding it felt like someone was standing in front of us with a hairdryer blasting on high heat. We opted to head back through NY and VT the way we came because the roads were so nice to ride on. Once we got to Rt 2, we just kept on it all the way home.
All photos copyright 2008 Rippin-Kitten.com and Forrest Frazier.
The 85th anniversary of Laconia Motorcycle Week is coming up on us fast (not to mention that it’s a little late this year-starting on Father’s Day rather than ending on it)! In my neck of the woods it’s a clear sign that summer is finally here and what better way to kick it off than to gather thousands of bikers for the oldest rally in the country, in a sleepy New Hampshire town?
Even though the town itself is small, there’s definitely no shortage of events: ranging from New England-style clam bakes, lots of motorcycle demos, music, The Ride to the Sky up Mt. Washington (which I could devote an entire post to, it’s so amazing!), hill climbs and races, beautiful scenic roads to ride on and of course, lots of vendors.
Rippin-Kitten, Ride to the Sky, June 2007
Last year I was able to attend the rally for almost a week. Unfortunately I won’t have the same luxury this year, but I do plan to go up for at least a day trip. If you live or are going to be visiting a near by area, I suggest you do the same.
We finally got a NICE weekend here in New England for a change (it’s been raining for about the past EIGHT!). Despite the best efforts of the meteorologists to tell me that it was going to rain they were thankfully proven wrong.
It was nice to spend some good, quality time with my metal-baby, giving it a good detailing since I busted it out of winter slumber. I know that everyone has a different method to their madness when it comes to cleaning their bikes, but I still swear by my own method (which I wrote about in detail last year). There’s such a great amount of gratification to see all of that chrome glistening in the sun after you spend time cleaning it up (here’s the pictorial from last year so you can see the difference!).
Yesterday we (along with everyone else and their motorcycles) went for a nice, relaxing ride up the coast to Gloucester. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect (although there were those few jackasses that you see riding around in short sleeved shirts, shorts and sandals…*sigh*). We stopped off for lunch: embarking on the the first of the summer seafood season that is paramount in this region, and soaked in some afternoon sun before heading back home.
