Since he was old enough to sit on a motorbike, the nimble vehicle has been a passion for Robert Oyler.

'This, for me, is a once in a lifetime ride,' he said in an interview Thursday afternoon outside the Takhini Arena.

That was where participants were registering for the Ride Yukon Rally being hosted by the local Harley-Davidson dealership.

While he wants to come back to the territory again, he said it likely won't be on his bike. He would probably bring his family up in the camper.

Oyler drove up from Sook, B.C. for the rally and to visit his brother. Never being this far north before, he said, it was a good excuse to visit the 'great North.

'This is the longest ride I ever done,' he said.

Despite the rain that accompanied his ride up from the Victoria area, he said, the one day of sun made the whole trip worth it.

'This is great country,' he said.

As far as the event itself goes, Oyler said he's looking forward to 'just meeting all the people' and the poker ride.

The poker ride is one of the final events of this weekend's rally. It will see the riders travel throughout the Whitehorse, Tagish and Carcross areas in search of cards. The participants will then return to Whitehorse, with awards to be given out for the best hands.

Oyler began riding when he was 16, old enough to obtain his licence.

'It's a passion, it's just hard to explain,' he said. 'You try to explain it to people who don't ride and you just can't. It's just so different riding a bike compared to driving a car or a truck.'

The lure of the North also drew Doug Ball to come up to the territory for the ride as well.

'I had never been up here before,' he said. 'I was just reading up on Whitehorse and Dawson City and Faro and all that and I come across this Ride Yukon, so I decided to get my buddies and do a trip up here.'

Those plans changed, though, and Ball decided to bring his wife up. While they'll be part of the ride, they're also spending an extra two weeks exploring the region on their vacation.

'I'm looking forward to all of it the porker run, the whole event and, of course, all the side stuff we're doing,' he said.

From Kamloops, B.C., Ball said if he was younger, he probably would have moved up, but his career kept him there.

'It's beautiful wide open, people are friendly,' he said. When his wife lost her purse when they went to Dawson City, they retraced her steps and learned someone had turned it in to police.

The couple spent five days and nights on the road camping and staying at hotels on various nights.

It was at an Edmonton motorcycle show last January where Dave Donald learned of the rally.

A booth showing off the Yukon Ride event struck Donald's attention so he took a brochure. When he saw it was 2,000 kilometres from Edmonton to Whitehorse, he questioned whether he wanted to do the trip, but decided he would see if his friend, Barry Crowley, wanted to go with him.

The longest trip he'd done previously was 500 kilometres.

Last year, Crowley had asked him if he wanted to do a trip to Montana, but Donald wasn't able to because he didn't have enough vacation days left.

'I called him and said, What do you think about going to Whitehorse, Yukon?' He said, Sure, let's do it!' '

So the pair took off from Alberta for Ride Yukon, travelling eight to 10 hours a day.

'When it rained, it was slow,' Crowley said.

On Wednesday, with the exception of a few sprinkles, the travelling was beautiful, Donald said.

Like many of the other bikers, Crowley and Donald say they're looking forward to meeting more new people during the rally and seeing more of the country.

'We had planned to go on that White Pass railride,' Donald said.

Part of today's rally events feature a ride on the White Pass and Yukon Route's Engine #73 from Carcross to Bennett Lake, B.C. This morning was the first time a White Pass train has departed from Carcross since 2000, the year the railway celebrated its 100th birthday amid huge crowds.

'Meeting people, seeing the countryside, eating different food, drinking Yukon beer,' Donald said, rhyming off a list of things he wants to do in the territory.

For Donald, riding is about freedom. When he got his first bike at the age of 16, he said, it was the freedom to venture into the woods on his small bike. The feeling of freedom has stayed with Donald from then on.

'The biggest thing it's given me is freedom,' he said.

Biking is also a great way to get away from the everyday stresses of life, Crowley said.

While the rally is obviously drawing bikers north, it's also proving a popular destination for individual riders.

Larry Cook began his journey to Anchorage from Ontario. On Thursday, he stopped in Whitehorse and went to the visitor's centre. There, he learned about the rally and decided to go check out the happenings at the Takhini Arena.

'Never been here,' he said when questioned what brought him to the North.

It's a popular trip for bikers, he said.

'If you go down the Alaska Highway, you'd be waving to somebody every 10 minutes,' he said.

Staying in Pine Mountain, north of Fort St. John, B.C. a couple of nights ago, he noticed a bike with Ontario licence plates he recognized from home.

'The bike is about 15 miles from where I live and the guy is 78 years old and he's going to the Arctic,' Cook said. 'He's having his bike flown to Russia and he's biking across.'

Rally events will continue throughout the weekend.