2018 Ride ’Em, Don’t Hide ’Em Getaway

By Richard Backus
Published on October 23, 2018
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Riders line up for a group photo before Sunday’s ride at the 2018 Ride ’Em, Don’t Hide ’Em Getaway at Seven Springs Resort.
Riders line up for a group photo before Sunday’s ride at the 2018 Ride ’Em, Don’t Hide ’Em Getaway at Seven Springs Resort.
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Festival Hall felt like a museum, filled with an incredible selection of bikes including a Triumph Hurricane and Laverda RGA Jota.
Festival Hall felt like a museum, filled with an incredible selection of bikes including a Triumph Hurricane and Laverda RGA Jota.
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Lovely T150 Triumph Trident triple fronts a newer Thruxton.
Lovely T150 Triumph Trident triple fronts a newer Thruxton.
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Andrés and Mary Alice Behrens brought four (!) bikes, including a stunning Ducati 750 Sport and a Bimota YB7.
Andrés and Mary Alice Behrens brought four (!) bikes, including a stunning Ducati 750 Sport and a Bimota YB7.
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Richard Backus with special guest Alan Cathcart at the Saturday banquet.
Richard Backus with special guest Alan Cathcart at the Saturday banquet.
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Joel Samick and RetroTours’ rental bikes.
Joel Samick and RetroTours’ rental bikes.
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Oh the horror! Bob Vail shields his eyes from riding pal Ray Shaw's attire.
Oh the horror! Bob Vail shields his eyes from riding pal Ray Shaw's attire.
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Joe Block got our first-ever Hagerty Motorcycle Insurance Best of Seven Springs Award for his 1950 Vincent Series C Rapide.
Joe Block got our first-ever Hagerty Motorcycle Insurance Best of Seven Springs Award for his 1950 Vincent Series C Rapide.
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Bikes lined up in front of our lunch stop at the top of the Johnstown Incline in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
Bikes lined up in front of our lunch stop at the top of the Johnstown Incline in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
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Jake Galek rode his Moto Guzzi Ambassador.
Jake Galek rode his Moto Guzzi Ambassador.
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Mark Gardner on his Ducati 900SS heading toward the Incline.
Mark Gardner on his Ducati 900SS heading toward the Incline.
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The Johnstown Incline.
The Johnstown Incline.
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The view from the top of the Incline. The old steel works visible in the background.
The view from the top of the Incline. The old steel works visible in the background.
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Landon Hall gets some help getting his Norton running right.
Landon Hall gets some help getting his Norton running right.
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Just one of the many great roads we rambled down.
Just one of the many great roads we rambled down.
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Eric Kurth tends to a loose bolt on his BSA 441 Victor.
Eric Kurth tends to a loose bolt on his BSA 441 Victor.
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Saturday's obligatory group photo with all 63 riders, taken at the top of the Johnstown Incline, Johnstown just visible behind.
Saturday's obligatory group photo with all 63 riders, taken at the top of the Johnstown Incline, Johnstown just visible behind.

When we held our first Ride ‘Em, Don’t Hide ‘Em Getaway at Seven Springs Resort in Pennsylvania in 2016, we thought it’d be pretty amazing if even 20 readers thought it would be cool to join us for a weekend riding old bikes on back roads. Eighty-three of you showed up. And you came again in 2017. Apparently, we were on to something.

Our 3rd Annual Getaway was Aug. 10-12, 2018, and like the first two it was another great weekend of riding — mixed with occasional wrenching — and lots and lots of comradery, the glue that binds it all together. Old bikes need a little extra love, and we had our share of roadside adventures, including an electrical short that temporarily sidelined my ’73 BMW R75/5. Yet those unexpected challenges are part of the adventure, and the weekend played out like a vintage bike show on wheels, with 63 riders on 58 classic Nortons, BSAs, BMWs, Triumphs, Laverdas, Hondas, Suzukis and more — including our first-ever Vincent Rapide and a Bimota! — rolling down the fabulous blacktop roads that dominate Pennsylvania’s Laurel Highlands.

Two days prior, however, we wondered if it would even happen. The local forecast called for a 90 percent chance of rain Saturday and an 80 percent chance on Sunday, but the weather gods smiled on us and the rains moved out as we gathered Friday night at Festival Hall, introducing ourselves to one another and checking out each other’s bikes as the classic motorcycle movie On Any Sunday played on the big screen TV.

Saturday’s 123-mile ride took us north to Johnstown, famous for an epic 1889 flood that almost washed the once-dominant steel-producing town down the Conemaugh River, and a lunch stop at the top of the Johnstown Incline overlooking downtown Johnstown. Built in 1891 to encourage locals to build high above the river, the Johnstown Incline is the world’s steepest funicular, with two counter-weighted, cable-pulled cars riding on rails up a 70.9 percent grade rising 896.5 feet from the river below. As one car rides down, the other rides up, a 400 horsepower electric motor keeping them in check.

An excellent lunch at Asiago’s next door to the Incline was punctuated by a fascinating history lesson on the Johnstown Flood and the Incline, presented by David Casker of the Johnstown Area Heritage Association. David’s talk was followed by a ride on the Incline, which is a truly singular experience, the cars almost silent as they rise and descend, and the views of Johnstown and the old steel works below are just incredible.

This year’s special guest was acclaimed motorcycle journalist Alan Cathcart, who made the ride on a 1973 Yamaha TX750 plucked from RetroTours’ stable of classic Seventies bikes. Never available in the U.K., it’s one of the few bikes Cathcart had never ridden. Later, Cathcart enthralled our group during the Saturday banquet with stories from his decades-long career in the sport, one that’s seen him rub shoulders with just about every motorcycle engineer, racer and luminary you can possibly imagine.

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