LACONIA — So, what do bikers do when it pours rain all day long?
Get wet. Very wet.
In the bathrooms at Patrick’s Pub in Gilford yesterday, bikers were taking off their boots and pouring rain water into the sink, and using towels to pat dry their faces and raw hands. Then it was time to belly up to the packed bar.
At the Gunstock Hillclimb where several thousand motorcyclists stood in puddles watching riders attempt to ascend the steep and muddy ski jump, they just whooped it up when a downpour came through to saturate them even more.
“Crusty” Jacobs and Tom Kennedy of Martha’s Vineyard stood happily in the rain and 50-degree temperatures and admitted there was still about 40 percent of their bodies that were dry.
Out on Lakeside Avenue in Weirs Beach, where earlier this week bikes were sandwiched in tight among each other, there was plenty of space and the only thing really selling in the vendor tents were warm leather and hot coffee. By the evening though, the sun broke out and vendors who had closed for the day rolled up their plastic walls and opened again for the evening, with the fireworks going off without a hitch at 10 p.m.
With more than 100,000 motorcyclists in the state yesterday for the halfway point in the 79th annual gathering, many found refuge from the rain at highway underpasses and took to the roads after downpours had subsided.
But some wondered how many didn’t come or would not come because of the weather forecasts.
“I cannot stress how disappointed we are by the weather,” said Charlie St. Clair, executive director of the Laconia Motorcycle Rally and Race Week Association, which promotes the event nationally.
While the event, which began last Saturday, has been blessed by mostly sunny weather, rain is in the forecast for the coming weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
Today’s weather is expected to be fair, but by tomorrow morning the clouds will roll in and rain is expected to develop in afternoon, said Jim Hayes, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine.
Saturday is expected to be rainy, he said and “possibly even a rainy Sunday. The rain could end at some point in the day but it is really a little too far out to be sure,” Hayes said last night.
Rain could mean millions in losses to the region’s economy if the event’s last major weekend is washed out, officials said.
An estimated 350,000 are expected to come to the state over the nine-day event.
Still, rain for people who are here can mean they spend more money.
Rob Moak of Albany, N.Y., was not going to let a few rain drops stand in the way of a good day of entertainment at Gunstock, where he and thousands of others spent $10 to see the slippery Hillclimb.
He admitted it is even more fun to see the event in the rain with all that mud being spun up under the tires.
“I am getting really wet though,” he conceded.
Sporting a small multi-color umbrella for a hat and dressed in full Harley Davidson attire, Scott Mason of Litchfield didn’t let the raindrops stand in his way either.
At Patrick’s Pub, Ted Lasala and Mike Macedo of Saugus, Mass., admitted they were pleased they had a truck to drive around in as well as bikes. Like many who come to the event from far distances, trucks are often the transport vehicles for the bikes.
Lasala and Macedo were up partying until 2 a.m. yesterday morning and decided to stay on the couch rather than head to the Hillclimb. At about 2, they headed for the bar and expected they would begin spending money again.
Jenn Anderson, director of the Rally and Race Association, said with wet weather, the area’s established businesses often get more business than they might otherwise get, and the emphasis is on warmth and comfort.
St. Clair said he has been fielding calls from all over New England asking about the forecast for the weekend, which he said is impossible right now to predict based on weather models.
“If it is gloomy like this, I am afraid it is going to have an impact,” he said.
However, today looks like a promising day and more than 100 riders are expected to leave from Weirs Beach and travel to the summit of Mount Washington on the Auto Road.
Among those who seem to like the rainy weather pattern are those in public safety, who said there tend to be fewer problems in general when it is cold and wet. The event has been very quiet and uneventful for those in public safety so far, they note, even with the terrific weather last weekend.
