Motorcycle Traveling Man 06/18 & 19/10
Posted by Blogmaster in Rain Jackets, tags: 06/18, 19/10, Motorcycle, TravelingTraveling Man
06/18 & 19/10
I am back. I am going to take you on a couple of different trips today. Both will take us to and through Laconia Bike Week.
Let’s start by talking about the weather. Anyone who has been a patron of Laconia Bike Week knows that the week almost never passes without us bikers getting wet due to rain. Yes I used the “R” word, sorry. On Friday, June 18th I went to visit my “brother” bike rider who lives in central Vermont. The day promised to be in the 80′s to low 90′s, a perfect riding day. I got to his house with a path all determined and I was ready to ride. The bigger surprise was that my friend was also ready to ride. Don’t get me wrong, he loves to ride as much as I do but he is seldom ready to go when I get to his house. He lives about 65 miles from me.
I let him know of our planned route and he was questioning the plan. I asked what he wanted to do and his thought was to ride in New Hampshire so we could ride in a little more comfort ………………………… no helmet! So we decided to go to Laconia for the day and check out the crowd. Off we go!
We proceeded East on VT. route 302 to route 25. We continued on VT. route 25 and crossed into New Hampshire into the town of Piermont. From here I decided to travel NH. Route 25C, through Warren (take a look at the missile!) and then back to route 25 to Plymouth. We then went on route 135 through Ashland and continued to New Hampton. All the travel thus far has been excellent scenery and only one pretty bumpy road. If you can, try to avoid NH. Route 25C as this is like a goat path for a motorcycle. Thank goodness for my comfortable riding gear and the comfort of my custom seat.
Once in New Hampton we start to see bikes and I mean bikes! Route 135 intersects with route 103 and this is a very popular route to gain access to the bike week festivities. As we worked our way towards Laconia, going through Meredith we notice the traffic is backed up! We are surprised as the traffic we are seeing is leading away from Laconia and the bike week activities? We continue forward and get to the intersection of route 3 and Roller Coaster Road where the Broken Spoke Saloon and the world famous Tamarack restaurant are located. By this time the temp is well into the high 80′s and close to 90! We are hot & thirsty.
We decide to go to the Broken Spoke for cooling refreshments and some lunch. We enter the parking area to find even more bikes. We work our way around the lot and could not find adequate parking. We had decided to leave and try another place when I spotted two places right next to the exit. We rush and take the places before anyone else realizes they are there!
We have a nice, icy cold beer and some lunch. By now the crowd at the Spoke is growing even bigger. Bikes are now parking across the street to get into the Spoke. We look at the time of day (remember I started in Central Vermont at 10:30 am) and it well past 2:00 in the afternoon. My “brother” and I like to ride relaxed and under no pressure. This is the most relaxing and gratifying way for us to ride. We decide to start back without ever actually entering the Laconia, Weirs Beach area!
On the way out of town we remember the backed up traffic we saw when we came into town. We did NOT want to suffer through all that. I knew an alternate way to get out of the area while avoiding the traffic on NH. Route 3. We cut across Roller Coaster Road to route 106. Now here most would turn right to go to Meredith, but there is where the traffic is. I turn left to go towards the center of Laconia. At the intersection of route 106 and Elm Street and Meredith Center Road we turn Right to go towards Meredith Center. Once there we turn onto route 103 and go back to New Hampton. We again travel route 135 to Plymouth and then 25 to Warren. This time we remember the “goat path”, route 25C and decide to continue to route 25B. This route will also bring us close to Piermont so my “brother” can continue home to Central Vermont.
All in all, a GREAT ride, GREAT weather and my GREAT friend and brother out for the day. We both pride ourselves on having the correct gear and accessories for every ride we take. This trip was no exception. We were well prepared and had all our necessary leather, gear, accessories and everything a true blooded motorcyclist would want or need. To find all this and more, shop my favorite site: www.motorcycleleathervalue.com
Next Day’s Travel
06/19/10
Today is another WONDERFUL motorcycle riding day! Today my lady friend (believe this or not, I have the luck of finding a lady friend who loves to ride almost as much as I do!) wants to do a day trip to ……………………………………………… yeah go ahead and guess …………………………. Yup, that’s right, she wants to go to Laconia Bike Week! Go figure? She has never experienced a true biker event so I say why not? I mean to go to Laconia two days in a row isn’t all that bad! LOL
For this ride I want to get to Laconia as quickly as possible. My lady friend wants to see everything! Now for anyone who has ever been to Laconia for bike knows to see everything in a onetime day trip is VERY hard to accomplish. So I get her up and going and we seat ourselves on “Baby” (my nick name for my ride) for departure at 7:55 am! My lady is GREAT when it comes to riding! J
To expedite the trip to Laconia I opt to proceed down Interstate 93 to New Hampton. This is again another great road in New Hampshire, but it is an interstate. I generally do not like to ride the interstate as it is faster than prefer to ride. We make Laconia in record time and we are parking “Baby” by 9:45 am!
We spend the entire day walking, sitting and taking in a lot of fluids (it is hot on the pavement!) up and down the Wiers. One thing I start to notice is the lack pof vendors. I see areas that are usually full of vendor tents empty. The bike traffic is much less than I have seen in the past. The crowd also is smaller; Perhaps it the heat? Perhaps it is the time of year? But I think it is due to the atmosphere. If you go back in history and look at Laconia Bike Week from 15 years ago, it has changed a lot! The event is turning away from a “true” biker event and transforming into a family event. I think this is why the crowd has dwindled and the bikes are fewer.
OK, we have a good time and my lady is wiped out! We walked a lot in the heat! Off we go to travel home. This time we ride the way we prefer, slow and easy. We take just about the same route that I took the day before with my brother, but in Warren we take yet another path out. We stayed on route 25 all the way to Haverhill to route 10. We travel up 10 to Woodsville and merge with route 302. We take that back to Littleton and then onto route 135! Yes the same route 135 we traveled yesterday in the Southern part of the state! This takes us to Dalton, NH. We then cross the river to VT. And continue through Gilman to Lunenburg and home.
Another fine motorcycle riding day. Again with being prepared we had all our equipment, accessories and gear we needed for our motorcycle ride. For you to get all you need go to www.motorcycleleathervalue.com and all your riding needs can be fulfilled!
Hi I am Buzzard. I am the President/CEO of Buzzard Enterprize, LLC. I am an avid Motorcycle rider and take pride in my gear and accessories. See the intro to my web site: http://www.motorcycleleathervalue.com where I have Motorcycle Gear, Motorcycle Apparel and Accessories, and More!
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