The rain last Saturday wasn’t going to stop JeanPaul from getting his 2010 Bike Week t-shirt.  We headed out at 8 a.m. for the hour motorcycle ride to Laconia, NH.   Not 15 minutes on the road, it began to rain.   After 45 minutes, we pulled over at the Tilton Diner for breakfast.  Actually, to warm up.  We were pretty cold.   A bunch of bikers, a few motorcyclists and some really jazzed waitresses made for a very fun breakfast.  I ordered eggs and sausage gravy on buttermilk biscuits – it looked really awful but tasted great!

Bike Week – there are a few distinct groups that attend every year.  There is the group of middle aged bikers who have mostly raggedy beards and bikes almost as raggedy – no ladies on the back of their bikes.  There is the group of neatly dressed middle aged bikers with fancy, gleamy machines – their ladies sport Coach purses.  Then there is the group that usually comes to mind when you think of a biker – pretty grungy.  Their ladies tend to be slender with deeply lined tanned faces and overly processed hair.  They don’t smile much and their bikes are LOUD.

My favorite group is the 30 – 40 somethings.  The guys are good looking with sharply defined goatees and their ladies are stylish in their tight jeans and tighter shirts.  Their bikes are loud but they are LOUDER still.  They shout back and forth to each over the roar of the pipes, they laugh loudly and generally seem to be having a blast – at least until they throw up or pass out.

JeanPaul’s favorite group is the 20 somethings.  The guys are all clean cut, well shaved and their ladies are half naked.  They are a very serious group and don’t smile much either.  But, they look really good, so no one minds the attitude.

So, now I will divulge the truth about bike week – the overwhelming majority of  attendees are us – weekend tourists in biker land.  We have motorcycles but we wear helmets, we also have kids at home, pets that need to be feed at 5 p.m. and meat defrosting on the stove.  All year, we look forward to going to the spectacle of Bike Week – watching all the exotic people, viewing all those incredibly uncomfortable motorcycles.

The rain kept the exotics at home this year.  I think JeanPaul was disappointed about that.  There’s only one time a year he can be flashed by young, beautiful women  AND look at a bunch of cool bikes at the same time.

He mentioned going again this Saturday.  Ostensibly because he bought a hat so I would have something on my head while we walked around in the rain – he really wanted a t-shirt.  But, I think we all know why he wants to go back…

Hopefully, the weather will cooperate.