All of us have been to a bike show, right? And most of us have seen a ride-in show, right? Well, how many of you have attended a Thunder-In show? Unless you were one of the intrepid riders braving the challenging elements to get to this fall’s Thunder In The Park, you don’t know what you missed.

Lime Rock Park is one of New England’s premier auto racing venues. Tucked away in the leafy northwest corner of Connecticut, close to the New York and Massachusetts borders, the track offers 1.53 miles of hard-twisting road course racing action. Except on Sundays. You see, Lime Rock was built in the quiet hills of Litchfield County, and Connecticut blue laws prevent any racing-related noise on Sundays.

Sunday is a prime day for racetracks, and so Lime Rock Park hosts bikeathons (with bicycles), walkathons, and other events as often as possible. And for larger holiday weekends, it hosts concours d’elegance, both car and bike. Labor Day weekend at Lime Rock Park is dominated by the Rolex Vintage Festival, presented by BMW. The sights and sounds of vintage automobile racing dominate Friday, Saturday, and Monday. Sunday hosts one of the East Coast’s premier vintage car and motorcycle shows.

Last Labor Day weekend, American Iron Magazine, our sister publication, was invited to ride up with a couple of dozen classic Harleys and Indians. After the ride, the bikes were displayed as part of the American Iron RodeShow. It was so popular with riders and spectators that RoadBike was invited this year to add metric motorcycles for the 50-mile ride up scenic Rte 7. We planned for the custom, classic, and stock metric bikes to gather at the impressive Cliff’s BMW dealership in Danbury, Connecticut. We’d then meet up with our American counterparts at Marcus Dairy, the famous New England biker breakfast joint, for the first annual Thunder In The Park ride to Lime Rock Park.

Thunder morning proved to be just that. Following a long and wet night of near-hurricane conditions, the roads were wet and laced with downed trees and branches. Parts of the state were without power, yet a couple of dozen brave souls made the pilgrimage to Marcus Dairy. Just about everyone in attendance wore rain gear and put it to good use.

The 50-mile trek took longer than expected, due to the weather. Along the way, the rain lightened to drizzle. The locals stared at our ragtag group as we thundered through small communities and villages on our way north. In spite of the stunning classic street cars and racecars at Lime Rock Park, our group of mud-splattered motorcycles was the center of attention, so much so that our Thunder In The Park motorcycles were give premium parking on Pit Lane for all to admire.

Trophies were awarded as follows in the metric division: Best Custom, Anthony Valenti’s flamed 2002 Yamaha V-Star; Best Sport/Competition, Dennis Hans’ radical 2000 Suzuki TL1000R; and Best Classic, Douglas Robertson’s sweet 1972 Honda CB500/4. This year was the start of a new Labor Day tradition for RoadBike and Lime Rock Park.

We invite all metric riders to show their stuff at next year’s Thunder In The Park on Sunday, September 2, 2007. Hope to see you there! RB