My Sturgis Journey - A Newbies point of view
#12
08-13-2012 | 09:02 AM
Thread Starter
|
Road Captain
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 686
Likes: 37
From: Central Wisconsin
My review of Sturgis - This coming from a guy who doesn't like crowds, heat, obnoxious people or loud places and thought that's what the rally was all about. Well, it's some of those things.
1. Get a map of the town. My in laws tayed 4 blocks or so up from Main St. and we rode into town each morning. Taking Junction or Lazelle is not the way to go if you want to get around. Use the streets a block or 2 off the main drags and you can get around quickly.
2. We hung out at their place and met people from all over...Germany, Austrailia, Quebec, Texas and Massachusetts. When I realized that it was one large group of regular people, I just blended in and the mass of people didn't bother me.
3. I don't like shopping either, but that's how I dealt with the heat. Most shops have AC and I there was plenty of stuff to look at and buy. I just kept something to drink on me most of the time and I did pretty good in the high 90's temps.
4. There is something for everybody. We also had our 17 year old son along and we watched amature MMA fights at the Knuckle, got into Full Throttle because it was earlier in the day and since he is 6' it drew attention away from his age and we could go almost anyplace with him. We only got turned away at one bar only because he walked in just ahead of us and got checked.
5. The noise - We stayed in a small cul de sac outside of town and it was pretty quiet. Each morning as I was prep'ing the bike and waiting on the wife, I could hear the rumble from 14A and I90. It made me want to get going that much more. It took my ears a full day to finally get the rumble out of my head after we got home. After that first morning, I like the rumble.
6. Obnoxious people - Only saw 2 hammered women which the cops took care of pretty quickly. Later in the evenings, you could see some guys with that wobbly side to side walk. But overall, everybody was pretty tame, laid back and relaxed. I think the downtown area is more of a vacation spot for everyone to hang out in and the wild stuff goes on in the outskirts, but I don't know for sure. Nobody really bothers anybody and everybody just does their own thing.
As far as a vacation rating for me, I would give it a 8 out of 10. I think it would have been a 10 if we would have gone a few days before the rally and left mid week. It was a little overwhelming at first especially for a new rider and a gradual build would have suited me better.
1. Get a map of the town. My in laws tayed 4 blocks or so up from Main St. and we rode into town each morning. Taking Junction or Lazelle is not the way to go if you want to get around. Use the streets a block or 2 off the main drags and you can get around quickly.
2. We hung out at their place and met people from all over...Germany, Austrailia, Quebec, Texas and Massachusetts. When I realized that it was one large group of regular people, I just blended in and the mass of people didn't bother me.
3. I don't like shopping either, but that's how I dealt with the heat. Most shops have AC and I there was plenty of stuff to look at and buy. I just kept something to drink on me most of the time and I did pretty good in the high 90's temps.
4. There is something for everybody. We also had our 17 year old son along and we watched amature MMA fights at the Knuckle, got into Full Throttle because it was earlier in the day and since he is 6' it drew attention away from his age and we could go almost anyplace with him. We only got turned away at one bar only because he walked in just ahead of us and got checked.
5. The noise - We stayed in a small cul de sac outside of town and it was pretty quiet. Each morning as I was prep'ing the bike and waiting on the wife, I could hear the rumble from 14A and I90. It made me want to get going that much more. It took my ears a full day to finally get the rumble out of my head after we got home. After that first morning, I like the rumble.
6. Obnoxious people - Only saw 2 hammered women which the cops took care of pretty quickly. Later in the evenings, you could see some guys with that wobbly side to side walk. But overall, everybody was pretty tame, laid back and relaxed. I think the downtown area is more of a vacation spot for everyone to hang out in and the wild stuff goes on in the outskirts, but I don't know for sure. Nobody really bothers anybody and everybody just does their own thing.
As far as a vacation rating for me, I would give it a 8 out of 10. I think it would have been a 10 if we would have gone a few days before the rally and left mid week. It was a little overwhelming at first especially for a new rider and a gradual build would have suited me better.
#13
08-13-2012 | 10:23 AM
Tourer
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 338
Likes: 41
Yep, I'd say you learned a bunch of good info on that trip.
My #1 rule about wrenchin' is that you NEVER do anything to your bike that might affect it's reliability within a week before a long trip........you do that way ahead of time so you can work out the bugs. 'Course sometimes that's just not possible but most of the time good planning is the key.
My #1 rule about wrenchin' is that you NEVER do anything to your bike that might affect it's reliability within a week before a long trip........you do that way ahead of time so you can work out the bugs. 'Course sometimes that's just not possible but most of the time good planning is the key.
#15
08-13-2012 | 11:23 AM
Tourer
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 348
Likes: 2
From: eastern Iowa
1st here for bike week, I've rode the black hills several times but don't like crowds so always stayed away during bike week. It's also the first time trailering. How did it turn out? We had a great time and will go again.
Last year a buddy of mine's band played there, he was only able to be there 3 day's and didn't have a bike. This year he bought a ultra 1 month before, and was going this year know matter what. He called on tues. night and said he was going to buy a camper, was going and was hoping to find someone to go with him. I was a little worried about him going by himself with limited riding experence so said yes. I also knew of a 33 foot '86 motorhome in descent shape for 5k so we bought it spent wed. & thursday cleaning and going throught it machanicly, and left friday morn.
Although the riding is great it is much better on a different weeks, as the leader I think I spent more time looking in my mirrors watching out for him and others so we could hit the pull offs to let the faster bikes by than sight seeing.
But I learned bike week is not so much about the riding as the party. What a great time. The quality of the entertainment was something that I wasn't thinking about. And just people watching was fun.
We had a great time and am already planning next year. I told the wife we would do more solo riding and if anyone goes with us we will break into small groups no more than 3 to 4 bikes. We will also do more relaxing and hanging out at the pool so we aren't so burnt out at night when the good bands and fun starts.
Last year a buddy of mine's band played there, he was only able to be there 3 day's and didn't have a bike. This year he bought a ultra 1 month before, and was going this year know matter what. He called on tues. night and said he was going to buy a camper, was going and was hoping to find someone to go with him. I was a little worried about him going by himself with limited riding experence so said yes. I also knew of a 33 foot '86 motorhome in descent shape for 5k so we bought it spent wed. & thursday cleaning and going throught it machanicly, and left friday morn.
Although the riding is great it is much better on a different weeks, as the leader I think I spent more time looking in my mirrors watching out for him and others so we could hit the pull offs to let the faster bikes by than sight seeing.
But I learned bike week is not so much about the riding as the party. What a great time. The quality of the entertainment was something that I wasn't thinking about. And just people watching was fun.
We had a great time and am already planning next year. I told the wife we would do more solo riding and if anyone goes with us we will break into small groups no more than 3 to 4 bikes. We will also do more relaxing and hanging out at the pool so we aren't so burnt out at night when the good bands and fun starts.
#17
08-13-2012 | 12:03 PM
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 2,062
Likes: 4
From: Boca Raton, FL
i would just add one more point to you list of things to make sure you do
along with never pass up the opportunity to take a bathroom break
never pass up the chance to top off the bike, if you have to be in the gas station for any reason, that is usually a good enough reason for me to top off (within reason of course)
with the 6 gal tanks on the trouning bikes almost everyone else has to stop for gas more often, when you look and only see 1/2 tank gone and think no problem I can make it, you may just be the reason everyone else has to stop the next time.
along with never pass up the opportunity to take a bathroom break
never pass up the chance to top off the bike, if you have to be in the gas station for any reason, that is usually a good enough reason for me to top off (within reason of course)
with the 6 gal tanks on the trouning bikes almost everyone else has to stop for gas more often, when you look and only see 1/2 tank gone and think no problem I can make it, you may just be the reason everyone else has to stop the next time.
