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Thunder in the Rockies: Bikers are Back |
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Written by Kurt Brighton
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Friday, 31 August 2007 |
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 Doctors and lawyers and nurses—oh my! And riding Harleys, no less.
This isn’t the classic picture of thuggish bikers brought to you on the silver screen by the likes of Marlon Brando and Peter Fonda. Riding a Harley these days isn’t for someone who doesn’t have a job.
The economics of riding a Harley have changed dramatically over the years—it’ll run you close to $50,000 just to get started and that’s excluding most of the bells and whistles. In other words, you’re more likely to find an attorney or an engineer astride a “hog” than an ex-con or a gang member.
Enter the third annual Thunder in the Rockies, a gathering of Harley riders, along with friends, family, and wannabes, all taking place over Labor Day weekend at the Ranch in Loveland.
This year the entertainment includes comedians Carlos Mencia and Josh Blue, as well as music by Lynyrd Skynyrd cover band Freebird, as well as the Groove Hawgs (led by the morning jocks on 103.5 The Fox in Denver). There’s also scheduled to be a traveling Harley museum, a bike-build-off, a bike show, a roller derby, and—gulp—a Rocky Mountain Oyster eating contest.
But for Harley rider Don Smith, a 52-year-old engineer from Johnstown, the best thing about the extravaganza is simply seeing what kind of bargains he can find on Harley gear.
“I like to check out the different vendors, see what different kind of deals they have,” he said. “That, and the people watching.”
It may not be Sturgis, the granddaddy of Harley events which brings 200,000 bikes to an otherwise obscure corner of South Dakota, but the nascent Loveland event is expected to draw upwards of 20,000 people during the course of the weekend.
Around these parts, that’s still a pretty big deal.
“It’s a work in progress, but it’s growing every year,” Smith said.
Smith, like many riders who are approaching AARP eligibility, has been riding since he was a kid, starting out on dirt bikes and working his way up to the big bikes.
For Mike and Sylvia White, Brighton residents and recent transplants from Bakersfield, Calif., that familiar story is true for one of them, at least. Mike’s been riding his whole life, he said. For his wife Sylvia, it has been a shorter path, so far, but one no less exciting.
“I’ve only been riding for about a year and half,” she said.
“But,” added Mike, “when we were on our way to Sturgis, there was a guy weaving in and out of traffic, just riding really unsafely, nearly cutting people off. And she sees him stopped, at one point, and pulls over and just rips him a new one for being such a jerk.”
Other riders who witnessed the newbie gamely schooling the old “pro” bought Sylvia a T-shirt with a phrase emblazoned on the back that won’t find its way into a family newspaper.
But the Whites laugh about the incident now, and are quick to add that the sense of camaraderie among Harley riders far outweighs any conflicts that arise—and indeed, they say the events are mostly conflict-free.
“You can get 20,000 bikers together and not have an argument,” Mike said. “You can’t get three women in a room and have that happen.”
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TO GO TO THE RALLY
The Third Annual Thunder in the Rockies is Aug. 31-Sept. 3 at The Ranch in Loveland. Ticekts are $10 per day, or $15 for the weekend, and include admittance to all the above-mentioned activities, except for the Carlos Mencia/Josh Blue performance at 7:30 p.m.., Friday, Aug.31 at the Bud Center. | Only registered users can write comments.
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