The rally keeps getting smaller.
With so many years in a row where it has rained on this rally, the attendance keeps dropping off. As the attendance drops off, fewer vendors are willing to come out. Kind of a downward spiral.
That being said, I still enjoyed the weekend . I headed up on Friday afternoon, after watching weather radar from mid-morning on and waiting for a gap in the rain to get to me. I took mostly secondary highways, Route 17, Route 32, and Route 9W. Not the most senic route, but timing and minimizing rain riding dictated that route. There was a light mist, off and on, during much of the ride and road spray. The mist was not enough to cause me to break out the rainsuit - the leathers could handle the little I ran into. About 10 miles south of Kingston (30-45 minutes from destination), it really began to rain again. Definitely needed the rain suit, and the road conditions slowed me down a good bit. Arrived at the motel around 6:00, rested and cleaned up a bit. Then had a good venison dinner (venison medallions with chanterell and champignon mushrooms in a juniper berry sauce, mixed wild and white rice, red cabbage, and a nice bottle of organic Syrrah wine. It was perfect after a wet finish to the ride.
Got up Saturday morning and went over to the rally site at Hunter Mountain ski resort. Not many riders at that hour, and hard to even find a cup of coffee. Weather-wise, it was a lot of mist in the air and passing sprikles. Max BMW was there with new bikes you could take on a demonstration ride, and another vendor specializing in power outlets and electric gloves, liners, etc was set up. Hunter Mountain also hosts an Octoberfest that weekend, and the Octoberfest vedors were also setting up. I hung around for an hour or two, until the weather looked a little better. Then I headed out for a ride. The fall colors were beautiful - that may have been the peak weekend for that area this year. Lots of reds, oranges, and yellows. After about 20 minutes, I began running into scattered heavy mist in the air, getting close to the limits of my leathers. Rather put on the rain gear, I just rode and in a few minutes it would usually clear up. At one point I ran into some light rain, and really debated about putting on the rainsuit. I pulled over into a gas station, studied the sky for a few minutes, and decided to take a chance without the rainsuit and ride off in a direction that looked clearer. It worked. After that, it was just more scattered mist, heavy at times.
I return to the Hunter Mountain ski area after a couple of hours. I saw a R65 in the parking area, but did not see its owner. when I pulled in. After getting a cup of coffee to warm up, I hung around in the parking a area for a little while. Then, they had a riding demonstration by a guy on a modified S1000RR. He took about five minutes of burnouts and doughnuts, and stops to warm up his tires (I am sure there was nothing of his rear tire by the end of the weekend). Then he did a series of wheelies, and "stoppies." Wheelies were done normal style, side-saddle, standing on the seat, etc. After a while, they called a lady out from the crowd to stand at the end of the area where he was performing. He went to the other end, did a burn out and came flying towards the lady. He nailed the front brake, went up into a stoppie, and came to a stop with the forehead of helmet right at her face. He then dropped the rear down, took her hand, raised it over her head, and while holding her hand up he did a series of doughnuts around her. For his next stunt, they took a beer can and placed in the road. He roared towards, did a stoppie, and at the end of the stoppie he turned the bike 180 degrees to drop the rear tire on the beer can. Great show.
I hung around a bit, and sure enough the owner of the R65 (a member here) showed up. We chatted for a while before he left. Then, I went around to the rear of the lodge, had a couple of Spaten beers, and enjoyed some of the Octoberfest (Oompah bands, ladies in dirndls dancing with men in leederhosen, etc.).
Headed back to the motel for dinner. Another meal that could not be beat - weiner schnitzel, rosti, red cabbage, and a bottle of organic cabernet savignon. After dinner, I hung out in the bar area with the owner, and bunch people he knows from the NYC and North Jersey area. They normally ride their Harley's up, but did not this time because of the weather. They were busting my chops about riding a little beemer, and I was busting them about being wussies who are afraid to ride in the rain. It was a great group of people, and we all had a great time.
Sunday morning I went to the rally area to see what was going on. It was kind of dead. Grabbed some coffee, and talked with a few people before leaving to head home. The weather was decent, a little cool but actually some sunshine at times. Then I took some real backroads home.
