2nd Annual Alaska USCA Campout

This weekend was the 2nd Alaska get together of the U.S. Sidecar Association (USCA) in Talkeetna. I had gone down last year and it is a very unstructured, Alaska type of non-event. Just an opportunity to sit around the coffee pot and talk. In this case, much of the conversation would be centered around motorcycles and sidecars. This photo is from the Parks Highway Monument again just outside of Fairbanks.

At the McKinley View turnout at the southern end of the Denali State Park, I stopped to see if the mountain was visible. All except the peak could be seen but some of the closer peaks are just as spectacular. Plus it was a good opportunity to stretch out and relax my arm and back muscles. Even though the alignment is pretty good, the rig still takes quite a bit of effort to turn expecially the sweeping left turns when cruising at the speed limit.

While parked here at the turnout, a number of tourists were looking at the rig when I returned from picture taking. They had all sorts of questions about sidecars and many had quit riding once they got older. After about 15 minutes, their bus started it's engine and they rushed back so they wouldn't be left by their tour group.

When I arrived late Friday afternoon, there was only one other sidecar there. Dan, the Alaska USCA rep with his Yamaha Venture and enclosed sidecar. We spent the evening being entertained by his daughter and her friend setting up their tent and other activities. And the music from the next campsite which continued into the night. Thank goodness for ear plugs.

The next morning, I went on the search for a coffee stand and walked all through the small town of Talkeetna. There were lots of tourists getting off of the train and tour busses at the edge of town as well as locals attracted to the craft markets, art shows, live music, softball tournament and other activities going on in town during the holiday weekend.

Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day for wandering around town and stopping in the shops. I managed to not buy anything (except coffee) and even managed to ignore the home made ice cream and fresh baked pastries. There were lots of bikes rumbling through town. I think that many came up early for the ride to the Alaska Veterans Memorial on Sunday.

Shortly after returning to the campground, two more sidecar rigs joined us. Bob and Sharon on the R1200GS with DMC sidecar (with all of the options!) and Dieter and Karen on their BMW which redefines the work "hack". We went into town to have lunch at the Wildflower Cafe and do a little more wandering with the tourists before returning to camp. Be sure to follow Bob and Sharon's trip this summer along the Pacific coast with their GS rig. They posted quite a few photos of the get-together on their blogpost.

Here is the 4th side car rig. The frame is from an R60/2 with engine and transmission from an R90S and though you can't see it in this shot, the side car is a Ural. Other items are Harley mufflers an a modified leading link front end. It was modified to clear the front of the engine as the R90 engine and transmission is a bit longer than the R60 it replaced. I think the conversion was very nicely done though he mentioned that the BMW purists cringe when they see the rig. The /2 is the last BMW that came with side car mounts from the factory.

It had rained most of the way back to Fairbanks on Sunday so no pictures and I had forgotten to charge the GoPro remote so no additional videos either. I'm not sure that I would survive a long road trip with the sidecar as after only 250 miles on the road, my arms, fingers and upper back were pretty stiff and sore.

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