Sidecar rally rides low in North Idaho

North Idaho, get ready for some wild hogs.

As many as 150 riders will meet at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds in Coeur d’Alene this weekend for the United Sidecar Association’s 2019 Panhandle Rally, a congregation of sidecar enthusiasts who drive the highways from a uniquely low perspective.

“[Sidecars are] really exciting to ride,” 77-year-young Billie Leonard of Twin Falls said. “No matter where you go, people always want you to give them a ride.”

Leonard, Idaho’s representative to the Sidecar Association, has been riding since she was 12, when her cousin took her for a ride on his Harley-Davidson. She’s since enjoyed crossing the backroads of America almost every minute of her motorcycle-driven life.

Almost.

“I was riding in Spokane back in 1986,” Leonard recalled. “I was living there at the time, and I went on a short ride to see my friend. A young man was hurrying to go meet his father, who was about to buy him a car, I think. The young man was going 60 in a 35 and, well, he didn’t see me.”

Leonard was thrown from her motorcycle in the ensuing accident. She broke her ankle and lost the strength to hold up a two-wheeler anymore. She spent 11 months recuperating before she hit upon a discovery: When life hands you a curve, lean into it.

“I wasn’t giving [motorcycles] up,” she said. “I love riding, and I wasn’t going to stop.”

Sidecars, she said, provided her the balance and stability to keep riding, something she enjoys to this day.

“One thing about sidecars,” Leonard pointed out, “everybody sees you. They’re really a great safety feature. They really add a lot of benefit to riding.”

One such benefit, as it turned out, was a significant other.

“Billie and I met about 18 or 19 years ago,” Dave Irvine said. “I didn’t have a sidecar back then. She more or less hooked me into it. I’ve been riding motorcycles since I was 27 years old. I’m 79 now, so that’s — jeez, that’s a long time.”

As the old motorcycle adage goes, though, you don’t stop riding when you get old. You get old when you stop riding.

“We stay pretty close together when we ride,” Leonard said. “We try to stay legal, but we don’t go slow. We can go 80 just as easy as we can go 20.”

Irvine — now the northwest director of the Sidecar Association who covers five states and five Canadian provinces — said while safety was a factor in taking up the niche culture, the visceral draw to sidecars can’t be overlooked.

“Whenever you stop at a gas station or a grocery store parking lot, people always come up to you, and they’ll say one of two things,” he said. “The first thing a guy will tell you is, ‘I used to have one of those about 40 years ago.’ But the first thing a gal will tell you is, ‘That is so cute. Could you take me for a ride in that?’ So it’s the ‘cute factor’ and the ‘nostalgia factor’ that brings people into it.”

Leonard agreed, adding that riding in a sidecar is an experience that captivates the curious from all walks of life.

“No one has ever said they didn’t like to ride in the sidecar,” Leonard said. “I remember once, [the Sidecar Association was] doing a ride for a Children’s Village charity. These two nuns came out with an elderly gentleman in a suit, and they asked if he could go for a ride. And he was smiling the biggest smile, and he was asking for me to do some cookies [a trick that spins the motorcycle and sidecar around in circles]. And when we were done, the nuns ran up to him and said, ‘Oh, Father, I’m so glad you finally got to go out for a ride.”

The couple, which organized the event, said they’ve seen every variation on the sidecar over the years, from classic antiques to modern comforts to homemade contraptions, including one converted from a cow trough. The youngest rider enrolled so far is 47; the oldest is 92. The public is welcome to come to the fairgrounds to check out the sidecars Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. before the sidecars hit the road Sunday morning. Admission is free.

“They’re a lot of fun,” Irvine said. “They ride just a few inches off the ground, so you get to see the road at a much lower level. The seats are nice and comfortable. It’s a great way to travel.”

“It’s just the feeling of being out with nature,” Leonard said. “Not being enclosed in a metal cage, which is what we call cars. The feeling you get when you’re going down the highway: You see animals, you see the sky. It’s exhilarating. It’s exciting, because you never know what you’re what you’re going to see.”