Kate Johnston
W
Photo by Miriam Romais
REVIEW
hen the Americade Motorcycle Rally comes around, I think, “OK, now the motorcycle season has started”. Maybe there are earlier motorcycle events around the country, such as the Progressive Insurance International Motorcycle Shows, but in the New York area this is “The One”. On June 5th – 10th, 2017, Americade celebrated its 35th anniversary in Lake George, NY. 35 years of bringing all brands together for a week of fun. Three hours from New York City is an easy ride to a week-long rally, chock full of events, rides and activities all centered around motorcycles. It is a celebration of riding, touring, cruising, adventure and vintage motorcycling. I know of no other event that does as much with so many facets of motorcycling. Sounds fun, right? Couple that with beautiful scenery and scenic roads, it is an ultimate motorcycle retreat vacation. Americade attracts more direct factory demos than any other event in the world, by far. So, go and try everything out! My home base for the first two days was the BMW demo truck; as you
can guess, I don’t need too much cajoling to hang around BMW bikes all day! BMW has a knowledgeable and professional crew that likes to talk about bikes. Led by the ever-cheery Moira, the whole team exudes an easygoing friendliness that makes you just want to hang with their gang and ride their bikes. I found myself there at the start of my first full day of the rally, just as the bikes were being warmed up. Since one can never have too much fun with BMWs, I stayed to the end of the day to make a last ride as they closed shop. I was able to ride the BMW C evolution electric scooter (Very cool! Not just your “plain Jane” scooter), BMW Scrambler, the R1200GS Rallye and the R1200GS Adventure. The demo rides worked – at least in my case. I had ridden my beloved R1200GS Exclusive to Americade, but a demo ride on the R1200GS Rallye changed the future of my riding. I was hooked and I couldn’t see my life without it. Upon my return
Carlos Braga giving a BMW Demo Team Pre-Ride Talk.
Photo by Bob Locicero 42 | ON THE LEVEL July/August 2017
Kate Johnston
W
Photo by Miriam Romais
REVIEW
hen the Americade Motorcycle Rally comes around, I think, “OK, now the motorcycle season has started”. Maybe there are earlier motorcycle events around the country, such as the Progressive Insurance International Motorcycle Shows, but in the New York area this is “The One”. On June 5th – 10th, 2017, Americade celebrated its 35th anniversary in Lake George, NY. 35 years of bringing all brands together for a week of fun. Three hours from New York City is an easy ride to a week-long rally, chock full of events, rides and activities all centered around motorcycles. It is a celebration of riding, touring, cruising, adventure and vintage motorcycling. I know of no other event that does as much with so many facets of motorcycling. Sounds fun, right? Couple that with beautiful scenery and scenic roads, it is an ultimate motorcycle retreat vacation. Americade attracts more direct factory demos than any other event in the world, by far. So, go and try everything out! My home base for the first two days was the BMW demo truck; as you
can guess, I don’t need too much cajoling to hang around BMW bikes all day! BMW has a knowledgeable and professional crew that likes to talk about bikes. Led by the ever-cheery Moira, the whole team exudes an easygoing friendliness that makes you just want to hang with their gang and ride their bikes. I found myself there at the start of my first full day of the rally, just as the bikes were being warmed up. Since one can never have too much fun with BMWs, I stayed to the end of the day to make a last ride as they closed shop. I was able to ride the BMW C evolution electric scooter (Very cool! Not just your “plain Jane” scooter), BMW Scrambler, the R1200GS Rallye and the R1200GS Adventure. The demo rides worked – at least in my case. I had ridden my beloved R1200GS Exclusive to Americade, but a demo ride on the R1200GS Rallye changed the future of my riding. I was hooked and I couldn’t see my life without it. Upon my return
Carlos Braga giving a BMW Demo Team Pre-Ride Talk.
Photo by Bob Locicero 42 | ON THE LEVEL July/August 2017
from Americade, I parted ways with my Exclusive and welcomed in my new Rallye. Another “Thank you” goes out to my “fairly fairy godmother,” Carolyn. As they say on TV, “But that’s not all!” The continuous stream of demo bikes filing through the venue is virtually a motorcycle parade; there was even the Polaris Slingshot, though the jury is still out for me on this one - not quite a car and not a quite a motorcycle . . . I’m just confused. A police precision motorcycle riding course was set up, and Harley bikes were riding it. They were making such tight turns that I was surprised their pegs were still attached to those extremely low frames! Surrounding the demo area, bikes of all kinds were lined up and on display, parked in the grass. At one point, on my way to find some food, the vintage motorcycle tent’s ‘tractor beam’ pulled me in, and I spent over an hour in the tent listening to the stories and ogling the bikes. Maine (Ted) Smith, President of the Yankee Chapter (New England States Chapter of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America) showed me the different pieces and parts, bolts included, that make these bikes so authentic as well as antique. After an hour, I was getting hungrier and hungrier, but the delay in getting food was worth it. One day, I will get a classic BMW with the black body and white pinstripes. Until
then, I will stalk them… While Lake George’s Fort William Henry Conference Center parking lot was hosting the motorcycle demos, the FWH Conference Center building was always hopping with multiple motorcycle lectures. One lecturer was Kate Johnston, who rode a unique, and unmistakably pink, F650GS. She gave a talk about her trip doing the ultimate coast-to-coast-tocoast: Key West, FL to Deadhorse, AK and then back to Key West. Crazy? Yes, crazy fun! This was just one of a series of lecture series at “Americade University”, where you can become a “Roads Scholar” (Americade is responsible for this one, readers). Some of the other lectures were: “33 Years Behind Bars,” by Mark Tuttle, Editor of Rider Magazine; “Pack Like a
One of the many small subsidiary lakes around Lake George. 2017 BMW C evolution BMW’s all electric scooter.
Ted Smith, President of The Yankee Chapter.
Chris “Teach” McNeil photo by Miriam Romais July/August 2017 ON THE LEVEL | 43
Backpacker,” by Jenny Smith, Managing Editor of Rider Magazine; “Off-Road Riding for Dirt-Curious Street Riders,” by Ken Condon, Owner and Lead Instructor of Riding in the Zone Advanced Rider Training; “Moto-Foodie: Cooking on Two Wheels,” by Ken Aiken, Chief Cook and Bottle Washer; “Building Strong Moto Relationships in 3rd and 4th Marriages,” by Jack Riepe, Humorist and Author; “Practical Intro to Cargo Trailers & Pop-Up Campers,” by Brett Bartick; and just one more of many other talks, “Legal Obstacles,” by Kristofer Reckner, of the Adaptive Motorsports Project. As I write these titles, I think that I need to clone myself to go to everything! There is too much to do at Americade, so you have to do some planning ahead. I’ve been there before, so I had a good idea of where I was going to be spending my time this year. Besides riding BMWs at the BMW booth and attending some lectures at the FWH Conference Center, I had planned to spend a few days of rally week at the DirtDaze Adventure Bike Rally located in Lake Luzerne, NY (12 miles from Lake George). DirtDaze is based at the Painted Pony Ranch, a “working” ranch of sorts (see Kevin Bushell’s article about it in this issue of OTL.) My plan was to participate in some off-road instruction and rides. DirtDaze grew out of Americade. Early the first morning at Americade, when I had introduced myself at the ticket window, the registration staff said I must meet Christian. During my first day and a half at Americade, I again heard this from a number of different people. It wasn’t until after I had registered at DirtDaze that I finally met Christian Dutcher. He is the son of Americade’s founder, Bill Dutcher. For the last 4 years Christian has organized and run the whole DirtDaze event. Wow! He must not sleep! For the next few days I lived at DirtDaze. Just as at Americade, there are so many different areas of this rally and so many events. While it could have been overwhelming, it turned out to be inti44 | ON THE LEVEL July/August 2017
mate and fun. There were four off-road courses, including a trials course for the GS’s and other dirt bikes. There were also four dirt bike demo companies located at DirtDaze. I particularly liked Beta Motorcycles’ 480 model; quite different than my R1200GS. DirtDaze also has venues for lectures and vendors. Rika de Bruyn from South Africa, a kickass off-road rider and KTM enthusiast, gave a fantastic lecture about riding in South Africa. (One of my dreams!) I saw some old friends from my first year with BMW in 2002, Eric from Twisted Throttle, and Jessica Prokup, who now works with Eric at Twisted Throttle; I think this will be my next bike trip, a visit to Twisted Throttle in RI. I found out that the Lewises were also at DirtDaze; what a terrific surprise! Heather and Jimmy Lewis were offering two courses a day: a two-hour course for beginners and a 4-hour course for advanced riders. Heather is a good friend of mine, but even if she weren’t, who wouldn’t want to take an off-road course with her husband, Jimmy Lewis, one of the best off-road riders in the world? Some of Jimmy’s achievements include: podium finisher and double-class winner at the Dakar Rally; four-times gold medalist at the International Six Day Enduro, as well as Silver Vase Junior World Champion; overall winner of the Baja 1000; and overall winner of the Dubai Rally. Most of all, though, is that Jimmy is an all-around good guy with some very cool stories to tell. Heather in her own right is a good off-road rider. In fact, I met her in 2002 when she was the off-road spokesperson for BMW. (Heather and Jimmy met off-road at District 37 Desert Racing, just under 30 years ago when she was 15; Jimmy was a sponsored rider for KTM; they have been together since. The romantic in me loves these stories.) I signed up for their two-hour course. The course began with the very basics, ones we think we know until we have to demonstrate them. One of these was learning to balance on our bikes. How many of you ever tried to balance on your bike without the throttle, kick-
stand up, of course, and with the ignition completely off? It is not something I ever thought of doing, and until that point I saw no reason behind it. However, I soon understood what an important skill it is to have. The course progressed to slow maneuvers, turns, and forced dabbing (no, not the dance move your children might show you!) I was the only one not sporting knobbies on my bike, but that was OK. After the course finished, I felt as if I’d been at the gym, but also more comfortable on my bike! I was amazed how a brief two-hour course could change my riding – that was also the consensus in the group. I hope to be able to go out and visit the Lewises in Nevada for training in the fall. (For more information: www.jimmylewisoffroad.com) When I had first met Christian Dutcher, he recommended that I sign up for one of their off-road rides taking place the next morning. I am glad that I signed up. This trip was led by Bill Dutcher, who has been riding off-road all his life; (Bill obviously had cool parents and this coolness runs through the generations, that must be why Christian has continued in the family business.) With my 1200 GS Exclusive, still not sporting knobbies, I showed up and rode the trails with the group. It was a terrifically fun ride! We had lunch at Garnet Hill Lodge on top of a hill – accessible only via dirt roads. While you might think being the Editor of OTL is all fun – and I admit there is a lot of fun with this role, there is also a public - and industry - relations part of the job (and of course lots of writing and editing). Access to industry people and products requires good working relationships with dozens of people across the nation and around the world. Thus, I had to leave the ride immediately after lunch to spend time back at the Americade vendor area, where I was to meet with the US importer of Nolan helmets (also an article in this month’s OTL). I also spent time with the folks at Cardo Systems (headsets) and Öhlins (shocks), as well as reconnecting with others.
Even over a month later, while I write this, I can’t help but reflect back on Americade and DirtDaze and how well they deliver on what they promise - motorcycles, fun, rides, education, entertainment, skills improvement, socializing, and more motorcycles. Some things I haven’t mentioned yet include the Northeast (Motorcycle) Drill Team Championship was an exciting guest at Americade and will return next year. In addition to the three main venues, there were dinner-boat cruises, BBQs, other dinners, a fashion show, motorcycle stunt shows (including Chris “Teach” McNeil, BMW Stunt Rider), parties, and contests. Off-site, Americade Rides also provided MiniTours of the local best routes, “With the freshest pavement, lowest traffic, and best vistas. The MiniTours (Unguided and Guided) all include delicious meals and prizes from motorcycle sponsors.” (Americade.com) Also, there were concerts, comedy events, and fireworks in the evenings. With such a large variety of things to do, “I am bored,” might be the last thing I expect to hear out of anyone’s mouth. (See insert for an example of a day in the life of one at Americade.) One evening has always been reserved for the annual Americade light show. This light show is really a parade of uniquely-lighted bikes slowly taking over the main drag of Lake George; it is a sight to see. During the day, it seems like there is a continual parade of bikes. Figuratively, the town of Lake George is painted with bikes; each side of the street is lined with parked bikes and the traffic lanes are filled with moving bikes. Because Americade continues to focus on touring and all its elements, which is unique for large multi-brand rallies, there is not the craziness that could, and sometimes does, ensue at other rallies. This year DirtDaze’s ‘stomping ground’ hosted 400+ people. When added to Americade, both events had an estimate 70,000 attendees. Wow! If you have never been, start planning your trip to next year’s Americade, DirtDaze, or both. Americade is June 4 - 8, 2018 in Lake George, NY and DirtDaze is June 6 - 9, 2018 in Lake Luzerne, NY. (Americade. com)
Stunt Performer, Ed Rossi by Miriam Romais
Heather Lewis, Jessica Prokup of Twisted Throttle, and Jane Schluter.
Background photo on page 44Jimmy Lewis and Chris “Teach” McNeil, photo by Miriam Romais. July/August 2017 ON THE LEVEL | 45