If you said, "To be jolly, fa la la la la la la la la," you are WAY too early.
I pretty much took the day off yesterday to keep my wounds clean and regularly covered with Neosporin. Joan wasn't feeling like a ride today, but I was getting a bit stir crazy. We are back into the low 90s for highs for the near term, so she sent me off with ice water and some apple slices (really helps keep one refreshed and hydrated).
No destination, just feeling the need to ride. The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally officially starts this Friday - it is very apparent that a lot of people are here to get in some riding before the big crowds roll in: LOTS of bikes on "the popular roads." For the first 40 minutes or so of my ride, I had the roads pretty much to myself. As somewhat usual, I was heading towards Iron Mountain Road. We are definitely in "the season"... the Sturgis Rally season. Out of habit, I waved at the first dozen or so motorcycles I passed... not one single return wave. I had to restrain myself to keep from waving. Before this week, almost everyone waved back; Harley riders, BMW riders, crotch rocket pilots... about the only ones who didn't wave back were Goldwing riders... and that was about 50/50. Also, it seems that riders and passengers aren't smiling. That might be because they don't know where the uncrowded roads are. ;-)
I stopped at my favorite shady spot on Iron Mountain Road and fired up my 360 camera. And, the Instamic. I thought I might do a narrated ride video on this great road. Alas, it was not to be: the Instamic popped up with: "battery is very low - save any audio files now." I definitely plugged it in last time I used it, and checked it at that time to make sure the battery was topped off. Somewhere along the way, I must have bumped it and turned it on. So, no audio track. I took a few jpg photos...
I turned on the video and let it run while riding Iron Mountain Road. A VERY long video, as I was caught behind a Jeep, who was caught behind two BMW riders, who were definitely caught behind a couple on a Can-Am Spyder (one of those three wheel bike(ish) things that looks like a snowmobile on wheels). The couple on the Spyder were going real slooooooow. That said, it was still a pleasant ride, just didn't make for much of a video, since the camera was always looking at the back of the Jeep when it was facing forward. I'll download it and put it aside to see if I can do something with it another time.
The three bikes (well, two bikes and a trike) and the Jeep turned towards Mt Rushmore at the end of Iron Mountain Road - I had a clear view in front of me the mile or so into Keystone. Yes, Keystone was packed, with plenty of bikes in the parking spots.
Once on the other side of Keystone, I again had the roads to myself all the way back to Hart Ranch. And these are fun roads... they just don't have the cool "features" like the pigtails (above), tunnels, and splits, that Iron Mountain Road offers. Even with slow traffic, I enjoy Iron Mountain Road. Oh, and there was already a photographer set up along the side of the road, taking "Rally Photos"... gotta make a buck where they can.
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Here's a video, showing some of the ride today...
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