Pee Wee Herman prepares to lead the Legends Ride out of Deadwood (Photo: Ken Bingenheimer)
Traffic hit a dead standstill at the historic Franklin Hotel in Deadwood yesterday as the dorkiest biker of them all prepared to lead the pack on the annual Legends Ride. Yes, that was Pee Wee Herman on that power-assisted Schwinn bicycle. Behind him waited a line of custom bikes and then scores more bikers on all types of machines. Then, with much fanfare, they were off.
The Legends Ride is becoming a staple of the Black Hills Motorcycle Rally, or the Sturgis Bike Rally, or whatever you choose to call it. In its first two years it has raised close to $100,000 for the charities it supports.
The ride starts out in the current day gambling mecca of Deadwood and winds through the Black Hills before ending up at the Buffalo Chip campground. Herman, aka Paul Ruebens, performed at the Buffalo Chip earlier in the week.
With estimated attendance this year of more than 600,000, the rally may be centered in Sturgis but is in fact spread all over the Black Hills and the surrounding region. Deadwood is an especially popular spot due to its lovely, well-preserved old architecture and the gambling it offers.
Just a few miles up Boulder Canyon from Sturgis, the road between the two is filled with motorcycles going both directions as they either head for rally central or into the Black Hills to enjoy the winding, scenic roads the hills have to offer.
For more photos of the start of the Legends Ride and of Deadwood please see the slideshow below.
Related articles:
Destination Sturgis: Joining the motorized river
Living with the Sturgis rally: The residents' perspective
Living with the Sturgis rally: The merchants' perspective
Sturgis rally 2010: Pee Wee Herman leads Legends Ride out of Deadwood
Sturgis rally 2010: Baddest Bagger in Sturgis competition at Full Throttle Saloon (with photos)
Sturgis rally 2010: Cruising Spearfish Canyon
Sturgis rally 2010: She rides her own (with photos)
Hoka Hey award ceremony held at Broken Spoke at Sturgis rally
Sturgis rally 2010: SD Guv rides and wins Noisy Dozen award
Sturgis rally 2010: Custom motorcycles at the rally (with photos)
Sturgis rally 2010: Trikes at the rally (with photos)
Sturgis rally 2010: Riding the Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road (with photos)
Comments
Cool pictures!
Nice article Ken! Hope you're doing well and having a large time in Sturgis.
I thought PEE WEE was still behind bars? Great article, I'm not a biker and it seems like a lot of fun.
Surreal.
Photo #18, Rat Bike...did you notice that his engine looks a lot like a Honda CB? Though most customs use a HD Evolution motor, I have noticed that several seem to use what looks like a Triumph or a Honda Engine. It would be nice to know!
Sturgis 2010: ldrlongdistancerider[dot]com/26
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