I got back yesterday afternoon, but needed to recover for a little while (drove straight from SD to MD nonstop). Anyway, here's the rundown...
We stopped about 300 miles from town on the way in and offloaded three of the bikes (including mine) since the weather was nice and we felt like riding. Got out on the highway and we were cruising at ~90 (fastest I've been on my bike). Unfortunately, there was also a strong crosswind the whole way that was beating me up pretty good. There were times that I had ~5 of lean on the bike for a few minutes to counter the crosswind (crosswinds suck). Stopped at a little gas station to fill up when the tanks were near empty (longest distance/time ridden non-stop). Out there, you need to give yourself a bit more buffer since the stations are pretty far between each other. One of the guys almost ran out twice (I got him a sticker that says "Check the gas dummy"
). Anyway, after topping off, I was walking the bike around the gravel parking area...foot slid and I couldn't stop the bike from going over
The frame slider helped protect the bike, but damn I felt stupid. Lesson learned: don't walk the bike on gravel. If you must, use very short strides.
Anyway, continued on with one or two more stops and finally got to Wall, SD (where we were staying the first night) and met up with one of the other guys (he rode out and took a longer, more northerly route into Canada). The guy who rode out and I went into the Badlands to try to catch sunset lighting for some photography, but we just missed it. Oh well, it was an interesting ride through there. It was nighttime when coming back on the highway (first night ride). Next day we rode from Wall to Rapid City where we were staying the rest of the time. After that, it was a bit of a blur as far as which days were which rides.
We did several hours of riding each day and only went into Sturgis itself twice (which was a bit of a PITA each time). The rides themselves were FRIGGIN AWESOME! Absolutely gorgeous landscape! Let's see, I know we did Mt. Rushmore, Needles highway, Spearfish Canyon, Custer State Park, Devil's Tower, Deadwood, and the Badlands (last ride...second time for me). On one of the days, we were racing to get back to the hotel before a huge storm hit in the afternoon. We made it before the storm, but the storm never made it to the hotel
The next day, we were again racing to get back to the hotel to beat a storm, but weren't quite as lucky. We got wet, but we did make it back to the hotel minutes before getting clobbered (first ride in the rain). Then as we were sitting around at one of the windows looking at the downpour, one of the guys says "Oh sh##! You better go get your bike!" Unfortunately, I was not wearing shoes, so he ran down and held my bike in the rain while I threw on some shoes. The wind actuallt moved my bike and a couple other bikes ~15ft! Luckily, none of them went over. I moved my bike over to the covered area where people check into the hotel (it was packed with bikes). It was still getting wet, but the wind was not as bad there. We later figured out that ALL of the bikes that moved in the wind were in neutral. Lesson learned: leave the bike in gear when you park. But be warned,
some bikes *cough*Harley*cough* do not have interlock switches that prevent you from starting the bike while it's in gear
Another first for me...I locked up my rear brake while stopping for a light.
But I responded correctly and held it locked until I stopped.
Lesson learned: more front brake, less rear brake. That rear brake locks up pretty easily.
If anyone is considering going out there for riding, DO IT! The rides are worth it. Just do it a different week. Most of the riding is not very difficult on a technical level. Needles and Spearfish canyon are the exceptions, but you can work up to them on the other rides if you are not experienced with twisties. I started off pretty timid, but I started to get some decent leans in through the turns...only about 1" of my tires are unused. If you want some of the party atmosphere, go the week before the official rally and maybe overlap the rally by a day or two. Everything gets set up before the rally officially starts, but the crowds/traffic are much smaller (according to the guy who rode out...he left/arrived a few days ahead of us). Also, lodging is cheaper then.
If you want to go for the party, I'd say go somewhere closer like Daytona. The trip there and back is long and boring. The parties are fun though...we went to the Broken Spoke and the Full Throttle. Full Throttle is HUGE! And there are some serious hotties out there...and some serious I-wish-I-hadn't-seen-that's
Oh, it got pretty damn hot out there 100+ degrees and wearing full gear sucked at times, but I did it anyway...just stay hydrated.
As for being a sport bike in Harleyville...I didn't catch any flack about it except from the guys I was with, but I did return fire
Also, being surrounded by Harley made me realize that the only one they make that has one iota of style that I like is the V-Rod. The guys were trying to get me to buy one. I even have one picked out...the 2007 Night Rod Special. Of course, $17k is a lot to spend for a little style. I test rode it...it was decent, but I don't think it would out-do the Thundercat.
That's all for now. I'll post some pics later after I go through them.
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