Tuesday’s report on Sturgis 2008

The day before I had thought that I would just spend the majority of the day walking around Sturgis and seeing what was happening downtown but my plans changed. I found out that the Dakota Ride was happening at 11AM and so decided to head over to it.

For those that do not know about the Dakota Ride, it is put on by the Dakota Motorcycle Club and they do the ride as part of a military appreciation day held in Sturgis. This is a free ride and is just designed for anyone that wants to show their support of the active and non-active military. But even though it is free, they still provide free refreshments at the end of the ride. The real gem of this ride is the first couple of minutes where you get to ride on the same runway where the mighty B-1 bombers take-off and land from.

I ran a little late getting to the run because of some slow traffic in downtown Sturgis but I was able to get there just in time as the last group was being escorted onto the base. It was a pretty impressive crowd of bikers that came to show their support this year and shows that us bikers know that our freedom is paid by our military.

The first part of the ride was great until we got off base and had to travel on the highway with miles of bikers being escorted by the police. Even though the ride was escorted, it is a feat to get so many bikers through intersections just because of the numbers. After we finally made it to where the ride was really beautiful, the ride became much nicer and as with most back country roads had some wonderful scenery to behold.

The ride was short at about 57 miles and soon came to an end in Sturgis as we gathered once again to pay respect and tribute to all that are serving and have served. About 2pm we watched as a B-1 bomber made a low level pass Sturgis right over main street. The roar of the B-1 drowned all the bike noise as it flew by subsonic.

This is one of the rides I recommend that you attend because of several reasons.

1. It is free. You cannot beat a run where you get so much for free.
2. It is a good way to show your respect. No matter what your opinion of war, the men and women that choose to defend our country need to see our support and hope that they can come home safe and sound.
3. Police escorted rides are nice. Yep, one of the few times it is good to have lots of cops around is when they allow you to bypass all the traffic signals and just enjoy a good ride. While you cannot go as fast as you want, it does seem to save alot of time because you never have to wait for a light or a stop sign.
4. Free Beer! There is nothing better than a cold beer or drink at the end of even a short ride unless it is free like they had at the Dakota Run.
5. Preferred parking in Sturgis. After the ride, you can safely leave your bike in a secured parking area reserved just for the run. This is great because at 1pm, it is hard to find a good parking spot just a block away from main street without having to slow ride alot through all the streets.

After the ride I walked around Sturgis abit and found it really had not changed too much from the last time I was at Sturgis. All the t-shirts and knickknacks are available and alot of food vendors. While I am sure people to find alot of things they want, this time I did not see anything that I could live without.

Wandering back to the Buffalo Chip I made it back just in time for a severe storm to roll in. It is amazing to watch in South Dakota as weather can change at the drop of a hat. It had been clear skies and warm weather all up to that point. In less than an hour, we had the sky completely blotted out with storm clouds, chain lighting, wind and rain. Shortly after the sky turned dark, a severe weather alert was broadcasted and everyone had to run for cover.

During the storm the winds made it up to 69 mph and destroyed alot of tents and awnings at the Buffalo Chip alone. Places like Deadwood (just a few miles away) suffered nickel sized hail and even worse winds. The worst at the Buffalo Chip was the high winds and threats of lightning strikes. Many bikers tried to find shelter in the Chip’s many buildings but they were not quite designed to hold so many. I spent the better part of a hour with 30+ people packed into a storage room off one of band stage areas. When I get the photos up, you will see us packed in the room all together. Needless to say, we all got to know each other abit better during that hour.

I met some party goers that had drove from Rapid City and after the storm I hanged with them for awhile. They had not been to the Buffalo Chip in a few years and so I showed them all the major points.  Luckily for them they had not put up their tent before the storm and so they were not one of the unlucky people to lose their tent.

The bad weather finally slowed down just before the bands were scheduled to play, although it did delay them abit because they had to check out their equipment, they still went on and we had great music all night.

The nights entertainment included the bands Theory of a Deadman and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Both bands played their hearts out to a slightly chilled crowd. The rain did seem to be quite a downer when it came to women working for beads . It seemed like most people were bundled up in their biker leathers and just a few were warm enough to put on a show. While it was a great night at the Buffalo Chip, it certainly was not as wild as it was Monday night when the weather was much better in the evening.

I think the excellent music though was certainly the thing that kept everyone there sitting on their bikes instead of trying to sit in wet lawn chairs or the wet ground. With the ground so wet, at the stadium you had to watch out for motorcycles alot more because of the slick ground. Even without drinking bikers were having a harder time just riding in and out of the stadium. Not to mention that for people walking it was watching where you were stepping because when the local dirt turns to mud, it becomes quite slick.

The weather held out just long enough for Lynyrd Skynyrd to start their last song and it started to rain pretty good just at the tail end of their last song. Many bikers were already tired of the rain and were walking away to the fading tunes of a wonderful band.

I headed back and enjoyed the dry calm of my tent and had Lynryd Skynyrd’s music playing in my head as I fell asleep.

For Wednesday, I am planning on going to a ride along with Jessie James and I should hopefully have some great pictures of him for you when I upload all the photos.