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Visitors' Guide
ENLARGE
Motorcycle sidecar enthusiast Lisa Welch of Minden, NV. takes a spin on Thursday afternoon near Camp Richardson on a Honda GL 1200 fitted with a Champion Escort sidecar.
Hundreds of motorcycles equipped with sidecars will pour into the South Shore this weekend for the 2009 United Sidecar Association national rally.
“We expect around 250 people attending,” said rally organizer Bob Fleischer. “It's a little bit more than normal because it has not been in the West for a long time.”
Tahoe has not held a national rally since 1983, and there has not been one on the West Coast since 2005, when it was in Washington state, said Joyce Canfield, president of the national association.
Canfield has been president for four years and said one of her goals is to have a rally in every region.
“One thing I wanted to do is get rallies spread out around us,” Canfield said. “With this rally, it just about spreads them out so everyone can attend a rally.”
The rally officially kicks off today at Camp Richardson with sidecar tours around the region and seminars.
At 7:30 p.m. Carla King, author of the “Motorcycle Misadventure” series, will have a seminar at the Camp Richardson Resort.
Fleischer said if the turnout is especially large, the event will be moved to the Valhalla Boat House.
Saturday, there will be a show and shine and sidecar games at South Lake Tahoe Airport.
The show and shine is a chance for attendees to see the variety of sidecars and talk to sidecar enthusiasts.
“Everybody has something different,” Canfield said. “Sometimes when you go to a motorcycle event they all look alike. (At a sidecar event) everybody's sidecar rig looks different.”
On display will be the sidecar that broke the world speed record, going 148 mph.
Fleischer said he is unsure of the exact games that will be played at this year's event, but added that a common sidecar game is where the driver is blindfolded and the sidecar rider directs him through a course.
“There never has been (an accident),”Fleischer said. “They are done at low speeds. … Sidecars are just about the safest vehicles on the road.”
Saturday's events are open to the public for no charge, and begin at 9:30 a.m.
People from all over the nation are coming for the event, and Canfield said she knows of people who are coming from as far as Pennsylvania and Illinois.
The club has been around since 1976 and holds a national rally every year, along with smaller regional events.
Membership costs $30 for the first year and $25 for every year after that, Canfield said.
Members get a subscription to a bi-monthly magazine, information on how to contact other sidecar enthusiasts and reduced fees to different events.
“They get to see old friends and see new people and attend seminars and enjoy the camaraderie of like-minded people who like sidecars,” Fleischer said.
Each rally is put together by volunteers, and the event depends on what the host wants to do, Fleischer added.
Fleischer said he volunteered to host the event because he wanted to see it in Tahoe again.
“I don't have any expectations besides I hope everyone has good time and enjoys Lake Tahoe,” Fleischer said.
“We expect around 250 people attending,” said rally organizer Bob Fleischer. “It's a little bit more than normal because it has not been in the West for a long time.”
Tahoe has not held a national rally since 1983, and there has not been one on the West Coast since 2005, when it was in Washington state, said Joyce Canfield, president of the national association.
Canfield has been president for four years and said one of her goals is to have a rally in every region.
“One thing I wanted to do is get rallies spread out around us,” Canfield said. “With this rally, it just about spreads them out so everyone can attend a rally.”
The rally officially kicks off today at Camp Richardson with sidecar tours around the region and seminars.
At 7:30 p.m. Carla King, author of the “Motorcycle Misadventure” series, will have a seminar at the Camp Richardson Resort.
Fleischer said if the turnout is especially large, the event will be moved to the Valhalla Boat House.
Saturday, there will be a show and shine and sidecar games at South Lake Tahoe Airport.
The show and shine is a chance for attendees to see the variety of sidecars and talk to sidecar enthusiasts.
“Everybody has something different,” Canfield said. “Sometimes when you go to a motorcycle event they all look alike. (At a sidecar event) everybody's sidecar rig looks different.”
On display will be the sidecar that broke the world speed record, going 148 mph.
Fleischer said he is unsure of the exact games that will be played at this year's event, but added that a common sidecar game is where the driver is blindfolded and the sidecar rider directs him through a course.
“There never has been (an accident),”Fleischer said. “They are done at low speeds. … Sidecars are just about the safest vehicles on the road.”
Saturday's events are open to the public for no charge, and begin at 9:30 a.m.
People from all over the nation are coming for the event, and Canfield said she knows of people who are coming from as far as Pennsylvania and Illinois.
The club has been around since 1976 and holds a national rally every year, along with smaller regional events.
Membership costs $30 for the first year and $25 for every year after that, Canfield said.
Members get a subscription to a bi-monthly magazine, information on how to contact other sidecar enthusiasts and reduced fees to different events.
“They get to see old friends and see new people and attend seminars and enjoy the camaraderie of like-minded people who like sidecars,” Fleischer said.
Each rally is put together by volunteers, and the event depends on what the host wants to do, Fleischer added.
Fleischer said he volunteered to host the event because he wanted to see it in Tahoe again.
“I don't have any expectations besides I hope everyone has good time and enjoys Lake Tahoe,” Fleischer said.
