anybody going the the americade this year?

 

Naw. I'm pretty much done with rallies. Living where I do, they become same old stuff, just a change in location. But when I used to go to a lot of different ones, I went to Laconia instead of Americade. They both happened around the same time, and back in the day, Americade was more of a Gold Wing crowd. That may have changed with the popularity of H-D's Touring bikes. I'm guessing Laconia is still the bigger of the two. Both are in a nice area of the country.

 

Americade is basically an event where the Village of Lake George, NY invites as many bikers as will come. It seems that they do this so that the state, county and village law enforcement officials can fleece as much cash from said bikers as legally possible. Then you will get to the village and discover how much it is all about getting your money from you. You will pay to park, then pay to get into the vendor's area to look at the things that you wanted to spend your money on. Multiply all of the legal hassles by three if you ride a Harley that doesn't have a fairing and bags. I can be at Americade in an hour and a half or less and haven't been in close to ten years, if that tells you anything. It was a good time before that though.

 

Went over today just to do a ride and BBQ that the Lake George chapter of our club was involved in at the cigar shop. Other than the yearly party the chapter has the last weekend of Americade, I don't go to the Americade event itself.

 

Americade is a nice, laid-back gathering, particularly if you choose to go early in the week, as I did.

I mainly go for demo riding, and had some nice ones.

On Tuesday, rode an Indian Chieftan (gosh, they took off at 80+ on the Northway, but the bike just hummed along easily), a Road King, a Dyna Switchback. And one more...

Took a Road Glide Special out for two hours up Route 9n, along the lake. Yes, TWO HOURS with a full tank of gas, courtesy of HD. Not your usual demo ride with the orange arrows. Pics below show me riding north on 9n, and then back south (pics captured by the roadpics.com guy).

I could have had it for four hours, but I just wandered up to the table late before 10am. What if I tried again tomorrow?

So, Tuesday I came back for the afternoon outing, this time I came prepared with a map of upper NY state and a USB flashdrive full of music. I filled out the paperwork (4 pages worth), they gave me a temporary insurance card and a number to call if I had problems. Other than that, go anywhere I want, just be back by 4.30pm.

I took the same Road Glide Special out for about four hours and twenty minutes. Went north to Warrensburg, then northwest into the Adirondacks on Rt. 28 along the Hudson all the way to Indian Lake, then south on Rt. 30 to Speculator for a quick break, then further south to Broadalbin and up one side of the Scandaga Lake to Corinth, then back to Lake George.

A 172-mile demo ride on a brand-new Harley and they paid for the gas.
Doesn't get any better than that!

(BTW, these -weren't- the "regular" HD demos down at the lakeside. You had to know where to find them!)