Sturgis Rally - Friday the 13th...

 

No, I'm not superstitious... but, I am bummed.  I shot some video around Sturgis for my last trip through there for this year's Rally.  After leaving town and riding up Vanocker Canyon, I got to the intersection of Vanocker Canyon Road and Nemo Road... just as I was pulled up to the stop sign, a South Dakota Highway Patrol car pulled across the lane, blocking me.  Now, I may have pushed the speed limit just a bit, but... the officer inside the car made no attempt to get out.  As other bikes built up behind me, she got on her bullhorn speaker and said, "There is a Veteran's Ride that will be passing through here in just a moment!"

I looked at my camera and could see the battery was getting low, but figured I didn't have time to change it... the red flashing light was still on, so I assumed it was recording.  It wasn't.  So, I missed the line of Veterans' bikes rolling past.  I stepped off the Vespa and clapped as they rode by.  I was tapped on the shoulder and turned... a big gallute of a guy had something on his mind: "I just had to see what you have in this Vespa - you were riding the shit out of it!  I'm on an Indian 111 and you were pulling away from me on those curves and hills.  That was fu**ing awesome!  On a Vespa!"

I said, "It's a GTS 300, but I have been riding for over 50 years."

"That is so fu**ing awesome!  I can't believe how fast you were going!"

And then he walked back to his buddies on bikes behind me.  I looked at my camera - it was still going.  I have to say I was pretty pumped to get that on video... or, so I thought.  I tried to turn the recording off and it wouldn't... that is usually a bad sign.  Yep, when I got home, I downloaded the files and that one was corrupt.  Oh well.

I enjoyed this last trip through Sturgis, and Vanocker Canyon was relatively traffic-free... it was a good ride.  Back to life as normal once again.

Here's a couple still from today...

I do appreciate a good offensive t-shirt during the Rally.  Here is the way my Vespa looked parked on ain Street...

Here's how it looked to me...

And the video...