Americade, the world's largest touring-bike rally, celebrates it's 25th anniversary.
"It doesn't seem like 25 years," rally founder Bill Dutcher said. "I can still remember the anxiety of trying to get the first year off the ground. I never expected it to grow like this. I thought it would be just a little fun."
What began as a small rally that attracted fewer than 3,000 people to this idyllic lake setting in upstate New York has morphed into the world's largest rally for touring motorcycles. Upward of 60,000 motorcycle enthusiasts will ride into town and transform this village of fewer than 1,000 full-time residents into motorcycle fairing heaven.
The rally, which once filled the economic void between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, is now the mainstay of the whole year. Past estimates of Americade's economic impact, according to research conducted by Plattsburgh State University, have been pegged at anywhere from $20 million to $40 million.
"It is our largest single week economically," longtime Lake George Mayor Robert M. Blais said. "It takes up every road and byway. People have come to accept it."
And to think it was the brainchild of a guy with a degree in psychology from Harvard.
Bill Dutcher worked for Bultaco for a decade, at first racing their bikes and then traveling around the country from trials races to moto-cross to demonstrate them at various circuits. Then, in 1975, he took a gig with AMF. During his time there, he was sent to attend a rally called Aspencade in Ruidoso, New Mexico. The experience left a lasting impression on him.
In 1981, Dutcher moved to Lake George and took a job as a marketing services manager with a valve company in nearby Glens Falls and that's when the idea for a rally struck his head like a ball peen hammer. Lake George, on the southern fringe of vast Adirondack Park, had just what he needed: motels, camp grounds, lots of beef jerky, great roads, and a fairly substantial population center in nearby Albany. Plus, there had never been anything like it.
Americade was born.
Here, it wouldn't matter if they came on a Harley or a Honda, Yamaha or Kawasaki, two-wheels or three, as long as they rode. Bikes aren't trailered here. The Americade crowd gathers for one reason - their love of riding. People like George Brown, who once rode 3,842 miles from his Alaska home. Or Borden Fawcett, who one year came solo aboard his Honda Gold Wing, riding 3,441 miles from British Columbia at age 82.
Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). www.nabd.org.uk
Here, it wouldn't matter if they came on a Harley or a Honda, Yamaha or Kawasaki, two-wheels or three, as long as they rode. Bikes aren't trailered here. The Americade crowd gathers for one reason - their love of riding. People like George Brown, who once rode 3,842 miles from his Alaska home. Or Borden Fawcett, who one year came solo aboard his Honda Gold Wing, riding 3,441 miles from British Columbia at age 82.
Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). www.nabd.org.uk
