Captain Jim: 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...