Getting a Feel for the Rhythm of Rallies
Friday, April 1st, 2011
I’ve been to enough motorcycle rallies now that I’m getting to have a feel for their ebb and flow. They’ll say they start on one date but there’s a whole lot of activity in the days leading up to the first day, and then on the first day there’s kind of a let-down. You look for the crowds to come flocking in but they don’t. Basically they start with a rumble, not a roar, and then that rumble builds and gets louder. Literally.
So I got down here to Scottsdale for Arizona Bike Week on Monday, while the actual rally started yesterday, Wednesday. (This photo is sunset over West World, where the rally is held.) That was a good plan because I’m camping and I figured if there were any choice spots with shade that those spots would be taken first. I wanted to be one of the takers. Turned out there is one big tree in the middle of this detention pond area and I was the fourth tent, taking the last prime spot.
It is a detention pond, by the way. It’s green and grassy, but if we had a heavy rainfall we could all drown.
So Bike Week opened yesterday but it was still pretty quiet around here until about 6 p.m. That’s when the bikes started pouring in the gate. That probably had partly to do with the fact that the Miss Arizona Bike Week Pageant began at 6 and partly because it was locals who had gotten off work and had now ridden over to check out the rally and catch the performance by Skid Row. Not a lot of people with gear packed on their bikes.
That’s the other thing I’m coming to see. Rallies seem to divide into two classes. You have the big ones that take over a town, like Sturgis or Daytona, where there’s no fee or anything, you just show up. Then there are the ones like Arizona Bike Week where all the action is within an enclosed space and you have to pay to get it. The Sturgises and Daytonas are definitely the most interesting.
Doesn’t matter. I’m here, I’m actually able to relax a lot more than I normally do at these things, and it’s a hugely welcome relief from the day to day routine imposed by winter. Plus, it’s great riding weather.
Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Arizona Bike Week begins with a rumble, with photos
Biker Quote for Today
“The idea of putting a jet engine on a motorcycle is so stupid it appeals to me.” – Jay Leno
