Alls I can say about this year is not printable here for fear of violating established protocol, however I am for once, a bit at a loss for words for my experience in Laconia this past thursday. One particular incident was a momentarily pseudo life changing event.

Here we go....My friend Scott who is the service manager at the local dealership met me at my house at 7am. He was packing his fiancee Stephanie. My wife couldn't get the day off ( she just doesn't know how lucky she was) so I was riding spouseless.

Laconia is about 1 hour 15 minutes from my house under normal conditions so were were leaving with plenty of time. We were heading to the dealership for a sponsored group ride to the Mt Washington Auto road leaving the dealership at 9:00am:

https://www.mtwashingtonautoroad.com/

Initially the ride out is scenic w/ lite to no traffic, no problems. That morning the road was congested for about the first 25-30 miles and WTF construction sites with detours. I realize this is a week day and this is probably the commuter traffic I usually don't run into. We made it to the staging area with 15-20 minutes to spare so we ran into the dealership and bought out 100% HD MOCO offical Laconia bike week tee shirt,lol.

There were probably 75-100 bikes in the parking lot when we pulled in. Me and Scott scored 4th line first in front. By time we headed out I'd say there was about 175-200+ bikes. This was gonna be interesting. I figured the smart bet was to make a bee line right to the the mountain road but nooooooo they took the round about rt3 -rt 25/302 to Lincoln,NH and rt112 Kangamagus hwy to rt 16 then to the mountain road. After about a little over an hour, the first gas stop was in Lincoln and the beginning of the Kangamangus hwy.

There, me and Scott agreed enough was enough. The mish mash of varying experienced riders was causing visable potential situations so we decided to wait until they all left and we would gas up and go about the ride on our own. Turned out to be the better decision.

The kangamagus:

https://www.kancamagushighway.com/photos/index.htm

We got to the mountain road about noon. Man were there tons of bikes of all makes and models all over the place there. So we made a bee line right to the ticket booth, got our tickets and pushed thru to the little way station to collect ourselves,get the dust off'n ourselves and get pumped for the ride up the mountain.

After about 30 minutes we put the helmets on, started up the bikes and moved on out......

The road is 8 miles long. The first 4 miles, while a steady,winding and steep incline, was tarred and about a small one lane road. There was room for a bike to go up and a bike to come down with about a bikes' worth of space in the middle. At about the 4 - 4 1/2 mile your above the tree line, the road gets a little narrower,steeper more winding and a sheer drop off on both sides. I was scared. I mean really scared.

And when you think it couldn't get worse...the last 1 1/2 miles turns to dirt...are you f'ing kidding me? It gets steeper and narrower and now my rear wheel keeps loosing traction because its dirt. The bikes coming down are coming closer as I am sure both sides are trying to hug as close to the middle because of the sheer drop off on both sides. We're talking 6200 feet, top of the mountain, down! At this point I am not only scared sh*tless but I am involuntarily shaking. I couldn't help it. It was 1st and 2nd gear all the way up.

We get to the top and the parking lot is this softball size mess of bike dropping rocks and basketball sized boulders. Who designed this? There must have been a couple million dollars worth of bikes in the parking lot and just at that moment, never mind the whole week.

After a brief 30-45 minute time to collect our nerves(Scott had the added duress of a passenger on the back. His new nickname.."Scott the Fearless") we mounted up and started the ride down. It was scary but at least I didn't have to worry about rear tire slippage. It was 1-2 gear all the way down too. Once I hit the 4 miles to the bottom I breathed a sigh of relief. And was mentally kicking myself in the ass for dangling my life purposefully in harms way. Never again. I wouldn't walk up the road.

Once down from the mountain we joined the other hundreds of riders in the main parking lot and had a quick smoke and splash of gatorade congratulating ourselves for making it up and down in one piece. They give you a sticker about 7 inchs long and an inch wide that says "This bike climbed the Mt. Washington Auto Road" and which I placed on my bike as a proud accomplishment and a visual warning never to dangle my life purposefully in harms way again.

We then headed out to the Weirs beach and the maddening crowds that is Laconia bike week. We got lucky and found 5$ parking not to far from the Weirs. We walked up one side then down the next and then headed home.....try to be off the back roads by dark for all the deer and moose. We got home at 9pm.

What a day it was. Not sure how many miles we put on but it was a bunch. I have pictures just not a on a disk yet and I don't know how to post from the camera. When I get the pictures I will post them behind here.

Sounds like fun, sorry I could be there to share it with you.
I was at Weirs beach a long time ago, hope to get there again.
As for the Auto Road, sounds like a typical camping trip road to me sans the hoard of other bikes.
Always feels good to be safe and sound after a ride like that.
Glad to hear you made it back in one piece.

The MT road is a must for daredevls and the like. Come and get some,lol.

1st picture: My friend and his fiancee as we are in the Laconia Dealership waiting for the ride to proceed
2nd:Bikes at the gas station in Lincoln,NH
3rd:Another angle of bikes in Lincoln

1st :Rest spot just past the ticket booth and just before the mountain rd and my bike
2nd:Bikes in the parking lot who have either gone up or are waiting to go up or chnaged there minds
3rd:Me standing next to my bike just before going up

1st: Top of the mountain rd view to the left:
2nd View at the top to the right
3rd and the parking lot and my bike on the far right half cut out

1st: At the Weirs...I thought it was a retro paint job and liked it
2nd: Funky paint job,made me nauseous
3rd:Weirs signage

Nice Pix BI. To bad we all live so far apart would have been nice to be there. Also it's nice to see your all a bunch of fat old farts just like me.