2012 Laconia

What I'd like to really say about this year is not printable here for fear of violating established protocol, however I am for once, a bit at a loss for words for my experience in Laconia this past thursday. One particular incident was a momentarily pseudo life changing event. I'll try to mentally walk thru the day...

Here we go....My friend Scott who is the service manager at the local dealership met me at my house at 7am. He was packing his fiancee Stephanie. My wife couldn't get the day off ( she just doesn't know how lucky she was) so I was riding spouseless.

Laconia is about 1 hour 15 minutes from my house under normal conditions so were were leaving with plenty of time. We were heading to the dealership for a sponsored group ride to the Mt Washington Auto road leaving the dealership at 9:00am:

Mt. Washington Auto Road

Initially the ride out to Laconia from my house is scenic w/ lite to no traffic, no problems. That morning the road was congested for about the first 25-30 miles and WTF construction sites with detours. I realize this is a week day and this is probably the commuter traffic I usually don't run into. We made it to the staging area at the dealership with 15-20 minutes to spare so we ran into the dealership and bought our 100% HD MOCO offical Laconia bike week tee shirt,lol.

There were probably 75-100 bikes in the parking lot when we pulled in. Me and Scott scored 4th line first in front. By time we headed out I'd say there was about 175-200+ bikes. This was gonna be interesting. I figured the smart bet was to make a bee line right to the the mountain road but nooooooo they took the round about rt3 -rt 25/302 to Lincoln,NH and rt112 Kangamagus hwy to rt 16 then to the mountain road. After about a little over an hour, the first gas stop was in Lincoln and the beginning of the Kangamangus hwy.

There, me and Scott agreed enough was enough. The mish mash of varying experienced riders was causing visable potential situations so we decided to wait until they all left and we would gas up and go about the ride on our own. Turned out to be the better decision.

The kangamagus:

Kancamagus Highway Photos of New Hampshire's Scenic Byway in NH

We got to the mountain road about noon. Man were there tons of bikes of all makes and models all over the place there. So we made a bee line right to the ticket booth, got our tickets and pushed thru to the little way station to collect ourselves,get the dust off'n ourselves and get pumped for the ride up the mountain.Plus doesn't the guy in the firing squad get a last cigarette?

After about 30 minutes we put the helmets on, started up the bikes and moved on out......

The road is 8 miles long. The first 4 miles, while a steady,winding and steep incline, was tarred and about a small one lane road. There was room for a bike to go up and a bike to come down with about a bikes' worth of space in the middle. At about the 4 - 4 1/2 mile your above the tree line, the road gets a little narrower,steeper more winding and a sheer drop off on both sides. I was scared. I mean really scared.

And when you think it couldn't get worse...the last 1 1/2 miles turns to dirt...are you f'ing kidding me? It gets steeper and narrower and now my rear wheel keeps loosing traction because its dirt. The bikes coming down are coming closer as I am sure both sides are trying to hug as close to the middle because of the sheer drop off on both sides. We're talking 6200 feet, top of the mountain, down! At this point I am not only scared sh*tless but I am involuntarily shaking. I couldn't help it. It was 1st and 2nd gear all the way up.

We get to the top and the parking lot is this softball size mess of bike dropping rocks and basketball sized boulders. Who designed this? There must have been a couple million dollars worth of bikes in the parking lot and just at that moment, never mind the whole week.

After a brief 30-45 minute time to collect our nerves(Scott had the added duress of a passenger on the back. His new nickname.."Scott the Fearless") we mounted up and started the ride down. It was scary but at least I didn't have to worry about rear tire slippage. It was 1-2 gear all the way down too. Once I hit the 4 miles to the bottom I breathed a sigh of relief. And was mentally kicking myself in the ass for dangling my life purposefully in harms way. Never again. I wouldn't walk up the road.

Once down from the mountain we joined the other hundreds of riders in the main parking lot and had a quick smoke and splash of gatorade congratulating ourselves for making it up and down in one piece. They give you a sticker about 7 inchs long and an inch wide that says "This bike climbed the Mt. Washington Auto Road" and which I placed on my bike as a proud accomplishment and a visual warning never to dangle my life purposefully in harms way again.

We then headed out to the Weirs beach and the maddening crowds that is Laconia bike week. We got lucky and found 5$ parking not to far from the Weirs. We walked up one side then down the next and then headed home.....try to be off the back roads by dark for all the deer and moose. We got home at 9pm.

What a day it was. Not sure how many miles we put on but it was a bunch. I have pictures just not a on a disk yet and I don't know how to post from the camera. When I get the pictures I will post them behind here

My club and I rode up to Laconia on Wed in the monsoons. We stayed at the Hampton in Tilton just south of the beach. Wed. eve the beach was a pleasure since so few bikers were there. Vendors were starving. We also went up Mt Wash on Thursday and since it was bikes only, yep, there were hundreds if not thousands of bikes. We had several lady riders that did it and LOVED it. Only one of the guys was scared stiff coming down. Over the years I've done it several times and with auto traffic. On Friday we did the Kancamungus and what a disappointment. Way too many bikers. I wished for the conditions 30 years ago. Back then much less a- holes on bikes riding side by side and on the center lines. On Friday after the Highway we went to the dealer, I DID NOT BUY THE $39.95 T-SHIRTS HE WAS SELLING (WTF). Avoided Route 3 and the beach and left Sat morn.
Wishing Laconia promoters didn't ruin a good thing by attracting so many there. As of Friday, four bikers dead (at least 2 crossing the center lines) and too many injured. They estimated 1.2 million came to Laconia area for bike week. Hard to believe but the TV experts there said it.

I don't know if I should believe the NH news. But it was very very crowded and I was at Daytona but Laconia seemed to be more.

We were there Thursday too...sorry we couldn't have met up. We got on the Mt rd probably about 12:30 in the afternoon. I thought it sucked and will never do it again. I'm not afraid of heights but that was treacherous and little to no wiggle room for error. Ultra's aren't made to go 8-12 MPH. The faring and tour pac tend to swing/sway gently at that speed. Saving grace for me was the infamous Harley low end torque..wheww.

I live close enough where I don't stay over night any more. I found Thursday day and evening to be easy enough to navigate around the Weirs beach area. Parking no problem and only 5$.

Sorry for not being more active here we may could have met up somewhere for a beer or even had youse over for a dinner and a beer. Next time?

The head count now is estimated 300,000 to 425,000 for the week

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk 2

Pictures

1st:My friend and his fiance in the staging parking lot at the LAconia Dealership
2nd:View of the bikes in Lincoln at the gas station
3rd:different view of gas station parking lot
4th: My bike in the small pull over just before going up the MT Road
5th:Bikes in the bigger parking lot waiting to go up or having already gone up

more pictures

1st:Me and my bike
2nd:Top of the mountain rd
3rd:another view of the top
4th:The parking lot at the top and my bike
5th:Cool looking retro paint job on a RG
6th:Nauseous paint job
7th:The Weirs sign

Ha ha heres me on the road. I may not look scart but I was:

Been there done that too! I have a 98 carbed bike and it was very unhappy bike in the high altitude. I kept stalling on the uphill part of the dirt road. Had a buddies eight year old on the back too which made me a little nervous. All in all it was worth it but don't think I'd do it again with my current bike.

Not doing it again either. I do reccomend it once. Fair warning though, as the sign says if you are afraid of heights don't do it buck,lol.

Thanks.

Thanks for the pics. My preference is to never go to any of those major bike rallies. I hate crowds, standing in lines, and rude riders. Only 4 biker deaths? I would have expected more . . . .

Me either so heres the trick that works for me...I live close enough that I pop in at around 9-10am in the morning and during the middle of the week, say preferably Tuesday or Wednesday. The crowds don't start piling in until the weekend starting Thursday evening and on. Also the drunks and trouble makers are sleeping too. Its not crowded and parking is a non issue.

I been going to Laconia since forever so its not a big deal but I do like to pass thru since I live so close (60 miles away)to see whats new in the industry and pick thru some of the parts mongers like JP cycles,drag specialty and others. Not to mention the major motorcycle brands are present. There tends to be all kinds of cool stuff that way. Rallies are pretty much all the same. Ya seen one ya seen 'em all. Cash grabs for the most part. However those who make it a week do so with the majority of the time touring New England and that my friend is wicked cool. Some of the best riding in the country if you know where you're going.

We got the Mohawk trail, the Presidentials, The Kangamangus, the Mt Washington Auto road,Mt Greylock to name just a few off the top of my head.

If you can overcome your fear of north of ther Mason Dixon you'd be pleasantly surprised. The way North and the way South have too much in common. Country music,NASCAR,hunting and fishing are New England staples. And don't think for a minute that the Aholes in NYC are exclusive to just us..ya'll got more then your share too!