On Sturgis 2008

September 14, 2008 by maureen.ulrich.

Want some history on North American’s most famous rally? Here’s an excerpt from my unfinished manuscript entitled Bad Girls Go to Sturgis. The narrator is Maria Kennedy, my protagonist:
My father had explained to me that Clarence “Pappy” Hoel and the Jackpine Gypsies Motorcycle Club had initiated the Sturgis Bike Rally in 1938. Two years earlier Pappy had opened a Harley-Davidson sales and repair shop, which quickly became a mustering ground for local enthusiasts.
“The Gypsies even raced on Bear Butte Lake in the winter time,” Dad laughed. “They must have all been a little loco.”
Pappy designed the Sturgis rally in order to compete with the Deadwood and Belle Fourche rodeos. He advertised the event by touring around the Black Hills on his Indian motorcycle, dragging a converted sidecar rig carrying a Shetland pony named Topsy. Nearly two hundred people attended the racing event – a huge success by local standards.
Could Pappy have envisioned the metamorphosis of the rally into the continent’s – perhaps the world’s — largest motorcycle rally? Over half a million people invaded the Black Hills in 2004. So many urban bikers hauled their bikes in trailers and RV’s that many cynics had renamed the event “Trailer Week.”
The only time I’d been to Sturgis was 1978, the year Easy Rider magazine started covering the rally. At that time the number of participants was well under 30 000. In 1990, Steve and Nick (Maria’s older brothers) attended the event’s 50th anniversary – along with 350 000 other riders. It was before the rally was expanded to include Deadwood and Spearfish. It was before the port o potties in City Park were burned in 1982 and camping was banned in the city park. Now many Sturgis residents and residents of the surrounding area rent out their homes for over $4000 a week.
As I drew closer, I opted for the route through the small town of Newell, instead of entering the Black Hills at Belle Fourche. Wanda had told me that I should avoid the highway which bisected Sturgis – particularly at night.
“Once it took Bill and me two and a half hours to drive from Boulder Canyon to the Full Throttle Saloon,” Wanda had explained. “We would have gotten there quicker if we had walked.”
I had been surprised that I hadn’t seen more bikes on Highway 85, but as each mile clicked away on the approach to Newell, I became part of a massive migration – utterly unlike anything I had seen twenty-seven years ago. Frankly, I had thought that Wanda was exaggerating when she talked about the number of bikes. Now, I had the distinct feeling that every bike in the U.S.A. – at least every Harley-Davidson – was touring the Black Hills. And like tiny pulsating red blood cells, they were all headed down the main arteries towards the heart of Bike Week – Sturgis, South Dakota. A town of six thousand any other time of year. . .

August 2008 marked our fifth trip to Sturgis during the Rally. We were there for three full days this year, which for us is pretty much the right amount of time. The weather was super – apart from one huge cloudburst on our last night there.
We drove down in a cavalcade of nine bikes. The trip down was pretty uneventful – if you discount Derek’s problems with his clutch and quick repair in Watford City, courtesy of the Case dealership.
We arrived in Newell around 7:00 PM and were amazed at the scarcity of bikes. We knew right away that numbers must be down at the rally. We later discovered that there were only about 450 000 bikes – which is significantly down from the usual 700 000 to 800 000.
It’s still a lot of bikes. I know.
We camped at the Creekside Campground, the same place as last year. We really like the low-key atmosphere, the food, the hot showers, and the location. We can walk to concerts at the Glencoe or take a $5 shuttle into town at night.
Randy and Blaire attended two concerts at the Buffalo Chip. Blaire came down exclusively for Lynard Skynard, but I think she liked Alice Cooper even more. It was the second time she has seen Alice’s stage show, and I guess this one was particularly good. He even had his wife and two daughters performing with him. Lynard Skynard was amazing, and their encore of Free Bird was a concert highlight. I must confess I’m not a huge Lynard Skynard fan. It has something to do with the fact that it was the only CD that Randy played when I rode with him for four years. It’s not the main reason I got my own bike, but . . .
Anyway, all three of us saw Kiss play at the Glencoe Campground. The Glencoe is a great location for concerts due to the natural amphitheatre. One reason I don’t like concerts at the Chip is that – because I am vertically challenged – I sometimes hear more of the concert than I actually see. This is not the case at the Glencoe. Kiss went way over the top with their stage show. Very glitzy. Lots of lights. Colour. Fireworks. And I wonder if Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons decided years ago that wearing so much stage make-up would make it easier to disguise their ages in the years to come. The first half of the concert was a bit of a snore, I’m afraid. We didn’t recognize any of the songs – and apparently many serious Kiss fans didn’t recognize them either. However, they kicked into high gear about half way through and gave us our money’s worth.
This was my first year driving in Sturgis itself. The first day we drove the Nemo Highway, Needles, and Ironman. I never could have driven any of these (without being a nervous wreck!) if I hadn’t made the trip to BC with Randy just two weeks earlier. Curvy roads no longer bother me, but I’m still not wild about parking lots and starting out on hills. I now use my back brake to hold my bike in place when I’m starting on a hill. It’s a trick I learned about in the 2004 motorcycle safety course, but I never really tried it until this summer.
For the next two days, the driving was a great deal more relaxed. We drove to Deadwood for one afternoon and into downtown Sturgis for another. I bought a great new skullcap for underneath my helmet. It’s a 300% improvement on my old one and makes driving so much more enjoyable. Blaire picked up a vest and chaps, so she is now completely outfitted for the road.
I have been trying to upload pictures to this website, but I haven’t had any luck lately. I don’t know if I’ve just forgotten how – or what. Anyway, hopefully I can get some on here soon.
Stay tuned. It’s the UK next!

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