Sturgis trip last summer

anthonyk · 11-08-2008, 01:23 PM

I wrote this up on another forum... Can't wait till the next long trip, but it'll probably be to somewhere else. Maybe over to the Gap again?

-----
Yep, so I finally gave into the pressure from my dad, and rode up to Bike Week in Sturgis to see what the fuss was about. What a year for it, too! The weather was awesome, the crowds were small-ish, and there was superb riding to be had. Some highlights:

- 4000 miles over 9 days
- 80-something gallons of gas (not bad!)
- 50-something pictures (should have taken more)
- 9 states traversed, at least in part
- 3 days over 100 degrees
- 1 day of rain (and hail)
- 1 deer in the road
- 1 herd of buffalo in the road
- 1 flaky Harley starter relay (dad's bike)
- at least 75% interstate riding (boo hoo)
- best of all, zero mishaps!

Day 1: Austin to Tulsa - 500 miles
It was a hot one. I left at 6:30 am to try to beat the heat, but still had several hours of 103-degree riding. Thank goodness for Camelbaks! Stayed at mom's house overnight.

Day 2: Tulsa to Kansas City - 250 miles
Another hot one, but I finished riding by noon so I missed most of the heat. Spent all afternoon out in the sweltering garage helping dad get the bikes ready to go. He's got a mid-90's FXR, and his wife Jan has a late 90's 1200 Sportster. We spent a couple of hours rewiring the makeshift misting system dad installed on Jan's bike. It uses a windshield washer motor, a water bottle, and 4 tiny irrigation sprinkler heads on the handlebars. Press a button, and beat the heat with a cool spray of water. I told him he needs to market that idea!

Day 3: Kansas City to Sioux Falls, SD - 390 miles
The heat let off a bit as the three of us headed north, and it ended up being a really pleasant day. Dad's bike started acting up. It took lots of pressing the starter button to get the bike to actually turn over. We figured it was either the switch, the starter relay, or the solenoid. We figured we'd buy a relay in the morning, even though some work with a test meter made us think it was the solenoid. Easy stuff first, right? I also broke a side plate on my Arai helmet, and replacement parts would prove impossible to find anywhere in the state of SD.

Day 4: Sioux Falls, SD to Wall, SD (with a trip to Rapid City thrown in for good measure) - 400 miles
Another great weather day. We missed all the rain storms we saw, but the clouds cut the sun. I saw the Corn Palace for the first time. We stopped at a big classic car museum in Murdo. We ended up push-starting Dad's bike twice, and he decided we should probably take it on into Rapid City to the Harley dealer so they could look at it. There were 60 bikes in front of his. They said they might be able to look at it by Thursday (it was Tuesday night then). Yikes. Looks like dad's riding pillion behind Jan! We headed back to Wall, which would be our home base for the next few days.

Day 5: Wall, Badlands, Rapid City, Sturgis, Rapid City, Wall - some number of miles
Fun day! We spent the morning taking a quick tour of the Badlands. Lots of prairie dogs (apparently with plague), nice views, and fun curves. I had a wake-up call on a tight curve when I ran over a cold tar snake and had the back end step out a few inches. I did a better job of dodging the tar after that. Then we headed into Rapid City for lunch, then on to Sturgis. I quickly realized that all the hoopla in Sturgis wasn't really my cup of tea. None of the vendors catered to sport bikes (of course), and the t-shirts weren't my style. The motorcycle museum was really cool, though! Lots of neat old bikes. The Rapid City dealer called and said dad's bike was ready. Turns out he paid $110 to have them replace the starter relay. I guess we should have installed the one we bought the day before, just to at least see if it helped... Lesson learned. With everyone on their own bike again, we headed back to Wall.

Day 6: Wall, Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Sturgis (again), Rapid City, Wall - some more miles
The best riding in South Dakota was on this day. Visiting the monuments was cool, but I really had a good time on those roads. After Rushmore and Crazy Horse, we picked the twistiest road we could find (Iron Mountain road) to take back. Fun, fun, fun! It turned into a bit of a zoo with all the bikes, though. I finally had to pull off and let the crowd get some distance in front of me. I'd catch them about 5 minutes later, and do the same thing again. It worked pretty well, and I had a great road mostly to myself in between. A herd of buffalo was loitering in the road in Custer State Park. I would have taken pics, but I was trying to dodge them and all the people stopped in the road.

Dad and I headed back into Sturgis for a quick trip to take back a part he bought the day before. Then it was back to Rapid City for dinner, and home to Wall. We decided that we'd part ways the next day, with my heading over to Colorado and down south, while they cut down through Nebraska to Kansas and home.

Day 7: Wall to Denver CO - 450 miles
It was sad to part ways, but I also really like riding solo. I passed a LOT of bikes on the way out of SD, and also saw a lot who were heading up to catch the last days of the rally. I got really lucky with the weather, and managed to mostly dodge the thunderstorms down through Wyoming and Colorado. I got rained on for maybe 5 minutes, so I don't count it as a rainy day. Stayed with a college friend in Denver that night. It was great to catch up.

Day 8: Denver CO to somewhere in New Mexico - 675 miles
Thanks to asp125, I had a great route through the backroads of Colorado and New Mexico heading south to Las Vegas, NM. The sections through the San Isabel National Forest were really great. The few pictures I took didn't do it justice. I had to turn around at one point and do one section again. On a scarier note, I was distracted by horses in a field at one point, and almost didn't notice a deer standing in the road. I braked, he jumped away, and all was well. I paid a lot more attention to the road after that.

I wound my way down into New Mexico, and got rained on a bit while trying to dodge storms. I thought I was past most of the weather once I made it to Taos, but boy was I wrong. Winding up the mountain roads outside of Taos, I got hammered by rain so hard I could barely see. Then the hail started. There wasn't anywhere to pull over, so I just rode it out. The hard stuff only lasted 5 minutes or so, but it rained steadily for the next 2 hours or so, until I made it to Las Vegas, NM.

I'd planned on stopping there for the night, but the weather radar on my phone said I wasn't out of the storms yet. So, I decided to get as far south as I could. I finally stopped at a state park just south of Truth or Consequences at about 11:30pm.

Day 9: Percha Dam State Park, NM to Austin - 760 miles
The last day wasn't really supposed to be the last day. I'd planned on doing 500 miles down to Big Bend National Park, and then another 500 or so home. But my wife was sick at home, and I wasn't excited about camping in the Texas heat. So, I decided to just push it on home. With a speed limit of 80 across Texas on I-10, it went a lot faster than I thought. I was home in just about 12 hours on the nose.

Overall, it was a great trip! I found all kinds of new positions to try to make a sportbike comfortable on the interstate. I got some great backroad riding. And I finally got to see what Sturgis was all about. Pics are in my web gallery if you want to see them. They start at the bottom, with the end of the trip at the top.

http://gallery.me.com/anthony#100028

(Oh, the horse is my wife's childhood toy, who takes trips with us to add some flavor to the photos.)

Here's me in the Badlands, after dropping off most of the bike's luggage in Wall.

11-08-2008, 01:23 PM	#1
anthonyk WERA White Plate Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Austin, TX Moto: '01 Aprilia Falco Posts: 1,041	Sturgis trip last summer I wrote this up on another forum... Can't wait till the next long trip, but it'll probably be to somewhere else. Maybe over to the Gap again? ----- Yep, so I finally gave into the pressure from my dad, and rode up to Bike Week in Sturgis to see what the fuss was about. What a year for it, too! The weather was awesome, the crowds were small-ish, and there was superb riding to be had. Some highlights: - 4000 miles over 9 days - 80-something gallons of gas (not bad!) - 50-something pictures (should have taken more) - 9 states traversed, at least in part - 3 days over 100 degrees - 1 day of rain (and hail) - 1 deer in the road - 1 herd of buffalo in the road - 1 flaky Harley starter relay (dad's bike) - at least 75% interstate riding (boo hoo) - best of all, zero mishaps! Day 1: Austin to Tulsa - 500 miles It was a hot one. I left at 6:30 am to try to beat the heat, but still had several hours of 103-degree riding. Thank goodness for Camelbaks! Stayed at mom's house overnight. Day 2: Tulsa to Kansas City - 250 miles Another hot one, but I finished riding by noon so I missed most of the heat. Spent all afternoon out in the sweltering garage helping dad get the bikes ready to go. He's got a mid-90's FXR, and his wife Jan has a late 90's 1200 Sportster. We spent a couple of hours rewiring the makeshift misting system dad installed on Jan's bike. It uses a windshield washer motor, a water bottle, and 4 tiny irrigation sprinkler heads on the handlebars. Press a button, and beat the heat with a cool spray of water. I told him he needs to market that idea! Day 3: Kansas City to Sioux Falls, SD - 390 miles The heat let off a bit as the three of us headed north, and it ended up being a really pleasant day. Dad's bike started acting up. It took lots of pressing the starter button to get the bike to actually turn over. We figured it was either the switch, the starter relay, or the solenoid. We figured we'd buy a relay in the morning, even though some work with a test meter made us think it was the solenoid. Easy stuff first, right? I also broke a side plate on my Arai helmet, and replacement parts would prove impossible to find anywhere in the state of SD. Day 4: Sioux Falls, SD to Wall, SD (with a trip to Rapid City thrown in for good measure) - 400 miles Another great weather day. We missed all the rain storms we saw, but the clouds cut the sun. I saw the Corn Palace for the first time. We stopped at a big classic car museum in Murdo. We ended up push-starting Dad's bike twice, and he decided we should probably take it on into Rapid City to the Harley dealer so they could look at it. There were 60 bikes in front of his. They said they might be able to look at it by Thursday (it was Tuesday night then). Yikes. Looks like dad's riding pillion behind Jan! We headed back to Wall, which would be our home base for the next few days. Day 5: Wall, Badlands, Rapid City, Sturgis, Rapid City, Wall - some number of miles Fun day! We spent the morning taking a quick tour of the Badlands. Lots of prairie dogs (apparently with plague), nice views, and fun curves. I had a wake-up call on a tight curve when I ran over a cold tar snake and had the back end step out a few inches. I did a better job of dodging the tar after that. Then we headed into Rapid City for lunch, then on to Sturgis. I quickly realized that all the hoopla in Sturgis wasn't really my cup of tea. None of the vendors catered to sport bikes (of course), and the t-shirts weren't my style. The motorcycle museum was really cool, though! Lots of neat old bikes. The Rapid City dealer called and said dad's bike was ready. Turns out he paid $110 to have them replace the starter relay. I guess we should have installed the one we bought the day before, just to at least see if it helped... Lesson learned. With everyone on their own bike again, we headed back to Wall. Day 6: Wall, Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Sturgis (again), Rapid City, Wall - some more miles The best riding in South Dakota was on this day. Visiting the monuments was cool, but I really had a good time on those roads. After Rushmore and Crazy Horse, we picked the twistiest road we could find (Iron Mountain road) to take back. Fun, fun, fun! It turned into a bit of a zoo with all the bikes, though. I finally had to pull off and let the crowd get some distance in front of me. I'd catch them about 5 minutes later, and do the same thing again. It worked pretty well, and I had a great road mostly to myself in between. A herd of buffalo was loitering in the road in Custer State Park. I would have taken pics, but I was trying to dodge them and all the people stopped in the road. Dad and I headed back into Sturgis for a quick trip to take back a part he bought the day before. Then it was back to Rapid City for dinner, and home to Wall. We decided that we'd part ways the next day, with my heading over to Colorado and down south, while they cut down through Nebraska to Kansas and home. Day 7: Wall to Denver CO - 450 miles It was sad to part ways, but I also really like riding solo. I passed a LOT of bikes on the way out of SD, and also saw a lot who were heading up to catch the last days of the rally. I got really lucky with the weather, and managed to mostly dodge the thunderstorms down through Wyoming and Colorado. I got rained on for maybe 5 minutes, so I don't count it as a rainy day. Stayed with a college friend in Denver that night. It was great to catch up. Day 8: Denver CO to somewhere in New Mexico - 675 miles Thanks to asp125, I had a great route through the backroads of Colorado and New Mexico heading south to Las Vegas, NM. The sections through the San Isabel National Forest were really great. The few pictures I took didn't do it justice. I had to turn around at one point and do one section again. On a scarier note, I was distracted by horses in a field at one point, and almost didn't notice a deer standing in the road. I braked, he jumped away, and all was well. I paid a lot more attention to the road after that. I wound my way down into New Mexico, and got rained on a bit while trying to dodge storms. I thought I was past most of the weather once I made it to Taos, but boy was I wrong. Winding up the mountain roads outside of Taos, I got hammered by rain so hard I could barely see. Then the hail started. There wasn't anywhere to pull over, so I just rode it out. The hard stuff only lasted 5 minutes or so, but it rained steadily for the next 2 hours or so, until I made it to Las Vegas, NM. I'd planned on stopping there for the night, but the weather radar on my phone said I wasn't out of the storms yet. So, I decided to get as far south as I could. I finally stopped at a state park just south of Truth or Consequences at about 11:30pm. Day 9: Percha Dam State Park, NM to Austin - 760 miles The last day wasn't really supposed to be the last day. I'd planned on doing 500 miles down to Big Bend National Park, and then another 500 or so home. But my wife was sick at home, and I wasn't excited about camping in the Texas heat. So, I decided to just push it on home. With a speed limit of 80 across Texas on I-10, it went a lot faster than I thought. I was home in just about 12 hours on the nose. Overall, it was a great trip! I found all kinds of new positions to try to make a sportbike comfortable on the interstate. I got some great backroad riding. And I finally got to see what Sturgis was all about. Pics are in my web gallery if you want to see them. They start at the bottom, with the end of the trip at the top. http://gallery.me.com/anthony#100028 (Oh, the horse is my wife's childhood toy, who takes trips with us to add some flavor to the photos.) Here's me in the Badlands, after dropping off most of the bike's luggage in Wall.