Today in motorcycle history, February 18, 1968

  




  

  Over 200 bikers turn out for the fourth annual Polar Bear Rally  at Randy's Triumph motorcycle shop in Sterling, Massachusetts.

  Clad in leathers, ski-masks, parkas, half-helmets with custom made face shields, some riding bikes equipped with homemade fairings, some with covered sidecars, the bikers begin their "unofficial opening day" ride.

  The ride?  Mt. Wachusetts, the highest elevation in Massachusetts.  For the fourth straight year the riders prove they're a match for the steep ride up the snow covered summit of Mt. Wachusetts.  Three of the BMW bikers came down from Rhinebeck, NY, enduring 8-degree weather and a mixture of snow/sleet stinging their faces for a hundred-plus miles.  Three Triumph riders and a half-crazy woman on a BSA Lightning came from Swanzey, NH in 6" of snow.

  "Worth every second, every snowflake.  My bike loves the cool air and, call me nuts, so do I! I loved the ride." said Alvin "Cryer" Sullivan of Jaffrey, NH, standing near his 1954 Velocette MSS fitted with one of Wilson's Watsonian sidecars.  Cryer's sidehack seemingly over-stuffed with a surplus of scarves, gloves and knit-hats.  "Just in case." Sullivan says, smiling.