Finally Laconia
After several years of hoping and waiting, through other obligations and inclement weather, I finally made the trip to Laconia for Bike Week - 2007. While only a day visit, it was no less an adventure in viewing machinery, sounds, scenery and people.
Along with my riding partner, Rob, we left central Massachusetts at around 6:00 AM. Other than being a bit chilly - Rob suffered the most, me, I have a bagger (that's a touring bike for the less informed) with a 'barn door' in the front that keeps the elements to a minimum - the ride went pretty much as planned. I missed one exit off 101, so that lengthened our ride by about 25 minutes. We arrived shortly after 10:00 and much to our surprise, traffic was not as bad as we have heard that it could be. As the day drew out and as typical for this event, traffic started to back up well past the immediate downtown area.
Tens of thousands of bikes and people and with so much to look at we could hardly take it all in. Knowing that we only had the day to visit, I resigned myself that this would be more of a fact finding event so that when I go next year, I will plan better and stay several days.
The crowds were well behaved and while I would not call this a family event, it was very entertaining. Lots of custom bikes, more T-shirt sales tents that you could possibly imagine and a fair number of scantily-clad folks, rounded out the day. The cops in the area seemed good natured and we saw regular traffic stops throughout the day. Of course, there are always the nutso people that cause accidents, as we saw several ambulances running through downtown throughout the afternoon. We bought a few token souvenirs and left shortly after 3:00. My plan was to get back on to Route 3 and head over to the north of Meredith and around lake Winnipesaukee, but the traffic was so crazy, we opted out of that plan and took some side roads off the beaten path that got us out of the area fairly quickly.
Overall, it was a great trip, a great ride, the weather could not have been nicer and still with a grin on my face and dirt in my eyes, I look forward to next year's Bike Week even more. 
