What is it like at the Sturgis Rally? Part 2

   Keystone during the Sturgis Bike Week Rally.

One question you might ask about the Sturgis Bike Week rally is "Why?". Why Sturgis? I mean, Sturgis, SD, is just a small town on the prairie. What has made it the epicenter of this huge annual event.

The answer is the Black Hills. If you wanted to get a bunch of motorcyclists together to . . . do what? Ride! . . . Sturgis would be an excellent choice. It's not in the Black Hills but it is just at the mouth of a canyon that comes down from the Black Hills.

So, picking up from yesterday, the OFMC arrived in Rapid City, got settled in our hotel, and had a raucus evening. The next day it was time to ride. Having grown up in Rapid, Bill's buddy Scott, our contact here, knows all the best roads. He led us out for a heck of a ride.

First we went up into the hills but quickly got off the main highway, which was loaded with other bikers, onto a couple lesser known but still gorgeous roads. Eventually though, we got onto some busier roads and then it really hit.

There were motorcycles one right after another in both directions as far as you could see. Thousands of bikes. Every small town we came to was hosting its own rally activities and every one was crowded with bikers eating, drinking, and taking it easy. It's like nothing you've ever seen before. It makes me think of how Jews feel when they go to Israel for the first time, that is, the feeling for the first time in your life that you are in a majority rather than a minority.

Here's a question that came to mind: Bikers generally wave to each other when they pass on the highway (in town to a lesser extent). It's a recognition of brotherhood and the idea that we're all in this community. Well, when cars are outnumbered 100 to 1, do the cagers (that's car drivers for you who don't speak the lingo) wave at each other?

Of course, this business of every town having its events is another key element to the rally. The truth is, there is single rally. Sturgis and every town within 50 miles is now part of this one big gathering. Some people probably don't even go into Sturgis proper, though I suspect most feel the need to make the pilgrimage at least once during their stay in the area.

But on this first full day here we didn't go to Sturgis. We rode the Black Hills, and that's some fine riding. The most spectacular was Iron Mountain Road (U.S. 16A), which you have to see to believe. Here's a description:

The road . . . winds for about five miles to the top of Iron Mountain -- hence the name. In the first five miles drivers pass through three tunnels and over two pigtail bridges. Each of the three tunnels frames a view of Mt. Rushmore.

What's a pigtail bridge? Picture yourself crossing a bridge, then going into a hard 270 degree right turn, so that seconds later you are passing underneath the bridge you just crossed. That's a pigtail bridge. It was a necessary invention if they wanted to put a road down this hill.

So we came down into Keystone, the main tourist town just down from Mount Rushmore. It was hoppin' and we plunged into the crowd. Again, bikes everywhere and others passing through non-stop. The sound of Harleys never-ending.

Finally, we headed up for a look at Mount Rushmore and then took some more gorgeous, twisty roads back to Rapid for another night of hearty partying. Ah, life is good!

Next: Sturgis and the Full Throttle