Laurie Amundsen of Menomonee Falls prepares for an evening ride from the Washington County Fair Park on Thursday.

The bikers at H.O.G. Haven got a welcoming taste of Wisconsin weather Wednesday night.

After the sun went down and the Skynyrd concert wrapped up, the temperature at the Washington County Fair Park took a dive. According to the National Weather Service, the temperature in West Bend dropped from 71 degrees at 7 p.m. to a low of 55 degrees at 1 a.m.

Nancy Justman, fair park director, got questions about the weather from the attendees.

"A lot of people from the southern states were like, 'Wow, it gets cold in southern Wisconsin!'" Justman said.

This has been nothing like a typical year for the state for weather, she told them. On Monday, the temperature around Tomahawk and Land o' Lakes dropped to 32 degrees.

It was no more than Greg Smith of Salisbury, Md. Expected.

"I was ready for that," Smith said. "I know Wisconsin's had a cool summer to begin with here."

He packed a sweatshirt and sweatpants just in case. Other people noticed the cold too, Smith said, but maybe they didn't feel it right away.

"To tell you the truth, they had a lot of anti-freeze in 'em last night," Smith said, chuckling. "They didn't notice until this morning that it was chilly."

Pete Peterson of Algona, Iowa takes Midwestern weather in stride.

"Warm in the day, cool at night, it's perfect riding weather," Peterson said.

Bill Denemy of Petoskey, Mich. has learned to prepare for any kind of weather while riding. He never leaves home without his rain gear, he said.

"One of the decisions I have to make is whether to put my rain gear on or not. If you're at that stage, you put your rain gear on," Denemy said.

The stakes are too high to be caught unawares by weather on the road, Peterson said. You don't get to say "whoops" on a motorcycle, he said.

Peterson hopes a bit of cold air is the worst the bikers have to endure in what has otherwise been good weather.

"If we can get away from the rain tonight, it will be a hell of a nice weekend," Peterson said.

"You think it's going to rain?" Denemy said, looking up at a threatening grey cloud.