Modern Vespa

With the Vespa, of course.

Going to the Southern Black Hills region rather than taking a direct hit at the town of Sturgis today, will save THAT 'treat' for later in the week.

Going to Keystone, Hill City, and maybe Custer, SD, all of which will be absolutely jammed with bikes, almost all of them Harleys, and almost all of them LOUD.

I can almost certainly guarantee that my Vespa will be the only one within hundreds of miles, so at least it will stand out in the sea of black Street Glides.

Stay tuned, kids, photos will be forthcoming.

Wish me luck, and God speed!

Good Luck!

No tuba?

No trombone today, just sporting a mild B&W checkerboard theme until I get my 'Rally Legs' solidly under me. Can't rush into these things.

Just made it back home, rode about 90 miles, made stops in two towns, Keystone and Hill City, but by noon, I was already starting to show symptoms of 'Rally Fatigue' and wanted to bail out of this mess, get home, close the blinds and stare at the ceiling.

After navigating Rapid City, which must be passed through in order to get on Southbound hwy 16 towards Keystone and Rushmore, I jumped onto Rockerville Road at Reptile Gardens, and had a relaxed cruise into 'Old Keystone' and Halley's Store, where I ordered up one of their 'Okayest' hamburger baskets, with hand cut fries of course.

After lunch, I headed to downtown Keystone, which is a three block stretch of their main Street, and as such, is festooned with all manner of genuine 'tourist trap' stores and semi-quaint fudge shops, etc.

I found a spot to get a photo of the GTS along the curb, then headed over to Hill City, ten to twelve miles down the road.

Hill City was absolutely crammed with motorcycles, with only bike parking allowed on the main drag. Both side of the street were lined with bikes for blocks, and another line of them running down the center of the street.

At Hill City, while backing my Vespa into an available slot at curbside (see photo), a thirty-something guy on one of those noisy Harley-things rolled by and he loudly said "PARKING IS FOR MOTORCYCLES, NOT MOPEDS", and even though I was momentarily stunned by this display of hostile non-inclusivity, I managed to fire off an equally loud "FUCK OFF", and watched as the woman-thing attached to the backside of his machine rolled by and offered one of those universally understood hand gestures, which I graciously accepted and returned to her in equal measure.

Ahhh! but a good time was had by all, and a few lumps in life's yogurt are to be expected now and then.

The temperatures in the area for the remaining Sturgis Rally is expected to be cool, but possibly rain and/or thunderstorms are also predicted for allmost every day.

I'd like to get up to Rally Epicenter at downtown Sturgis for some photos later this week, but make no guarantees due to potentially questionable weather.

Keep it in mind when viewing these photos that Keystone and Hill City are many miles from the actual town of Sturgis (35-45) and fairly represent the density of motorcycles that are in the general area for the rally. Deadwood, Spearfish, Custer, and Hot Springs will all look similar to these shots of Keystone and Hill City. It's a two (and now, three) wheeled clusterf#ck of epic proportions.

Anyway, some images....

Sure is pretty country up there.....

I'm not familiar with "electrocution-style burger makers," but I have led a sheltered life.

That does look like fun. Not ride-for-three-days-across-the-country fun, but certainly daytrip-and-not-have-to-worry-about-accommodations fun.

Looks like fun, road out to Sturgis twice on motorcycles. Lots of good riding out there, (badlands, deadwood, devils tower, crazy horse etc.), but too crowed for me, I would like to go back again before or after the rally.....

Yes, being based right about in the middle of this...'event', lends itself very nicely to heading out into it for mercifully brief periods of exposure, then being able to high-tail back to one's own fortress of solitude, and relative silence, is priceless.

Oddly, I would miss this annual insanity if it ceased to be, but I hate it at the same time.

Even with hundreds (and hundreds?) of vendors selling everything imaginable to the Harley/tattoo/biker crowd, there's absolutely NOTHING available or offered that personally appeals to Trixie or myself.

We are observers to the chaos and racket of the Sturgis Rally, not willing participants in it.

I venture out to find interesting, ironic, humorous, or perhaps even disgusting photo opportunities related to the rally, though my enthusiasm for such things is lower this year than it has been in the past.

Also, the contrarian aspects of riding around here on a blue Vespa scooter is quite fun in itself, especially when I'm rolling right along with the Harleys down the highway at 65 mph, which is faster than almost all of them think one of these things can go....you know, being a 'moped' and all that.

"All the world's a stage...."

I knew a family that moved up to Daytona Beach when was about 18. During the 500 and Firecracker races they stayed in town and switched over to bicycles to get around during those weekends because of the traffic. During bike week, they would close up the house and leave town, too much crazy for them to put up with. I used to go up for a few days during bike week with friends. Camped at Ormand Beach, north of Daytona and ride a dirt bikes down the beach to the event. After about 10 years, my friends did not feel like driving the 200 miles north and the scene changed too much. The custom bikes on the boardwalk show were more about the testament to the depth of someone's wallet (think Orange County Choppers) than the craftmanship that went into building a custom machine. The Vintage bike section was shrinking every year as well. Just wasn't worth the hassle anymore.

Back in the mid-late 1980's, Trixie and I would attend regional BMW rallies, most in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Of course they were literally microscopic in size and attendance compared to this behemoth, but on the whole, they were genuinely pleasant and interesting to us, and several hundred decibels quieter, with zero felony drug arrests, and not even one stabbing.

Although the present Sturgis Rally is considered to be a wild and crazy event, it pales in comparison to the Sturgis Rally of the 1970's and 1980's, when it was truly a wild and crazy event, and when it actually was a bit risky to ride your little Honda down the town's main Street, the ladies would raise their tops with little to zero provocation, and the one-percenter 'clubs' were openly present (though they still are) and would occasionally find a spot on the evening news by stabbing or shooting members of their rival 'clubs'.

And here I am.

Daytona was much the same - crazy as hell and you did not dare ride a Japanese motorcycle to the event. But it was 2 different worlds going on at the same time. The races and events going on at the track, then all the crazy stuff in town, some distance from the track. Many biker events started out this way - there were the races that happened around the country and the party followed. Some just happened like Sturgis, Myrtle beach, Zion, Augusta, Indy, Bowling Green, etc... but most are gone now. Many of the local hotels, bars etc... saw a chance to make big money and got greedy to the extent it was no longer affordable to attend, at least for me.

6:30 AM this morning...the BEST time to visit Main Street Sturgis....then get the hell out.

It looks about as well attended as the Harley Davidson stand at midday.

Yes. It seems that HD is experiencing some PR 'problems' with their traditional market base at the moment.

How it effects them in the long term may be interesting.

Relief!

Oh, the sweet non-sound of thousands and thousands of unmuffled big V-twin motorcycles that are no longer here.