Joan and I took the bikes out for "a loop" today - there are quite a few options for a pleasant afternoon ride, with varying amounts of twisty roads with easy access from our RV park. Assuming Sturgis and all the roads north of here would be packed, we went south. We also expected Iron Mountain Road and Needles Highway in Custer State Park to be jammed with bikes.
So, Highway 79 south to Highway 36, and the main road through Custer State Park. Just inside CSP, we came across a fresh accident: a guy on a bike was down, leg obviously broke, in the middle of an intersection with the main road and the Wildlife Loop. He was being attended to, so there was no need for us to stop. My guess is someone didn't give right-of-way at that intersection... you have to be extra careful with the influx of traffic in the Hills right now.
Traffic through the rest of the park wasn't bad, and we enjoy the sweeping turns on Hwy 16A/36 through the park. At the west end of the park, we turned onto the Stockade Lake Loop - it's about a 3 mile road that takes you around the lake. There are nice views and a slow, relaxed pace.
Continuing on 16A/36 until we get to Hwy 87, the road that runs just to the west of Custer State Park. It's a good twisty road and had very little traffic... until we got to the intersection with the road that goes into the park. We continued straight and saw scads of bikes coming at us. No holdup in our lane until we got to the narrow one-lane tunnel; there was a pickup in our lane waiting for all the bikes coming at him to pass. Through the tunnel, that truck pulled off to the right to let us, and the bikes that stacked up behind us, get by. More light traffic riding until we got to Hwy 385.
We turned right and rode into Hill City. I stopped to get a camera out, knowing they'd have their Main Street blocked off for Motorcycle Only Parking. Kinda like a little Sturgis. Might as well take advantage of a HUGE built-in crowd.
We took the Old Hill City Road back to Keystone, then the usual twisty back roads to get back to Hart Ranch.
Notice anything unusual about this road...
It's the tar snakes. When they are fresh, the road crew puts some kind of white thing over them that is made from monkey snot and KY Jelly - they are slippery!
I came around a curve and my front tire rolled across one of those - it slid enough to make my ass pucker. I hate when they take a perfectly decent road and mess with it. During the Rally.
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