The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is coming to an end. Tomorrow, Sunday the 14th, is the last official day. Years ago, it ran from Sunday night through the following Saturday; 7 days. Now, it runs from Friday, through the week to the following Sunday; 10 days. What the city considers "official" is actually less important than what the people coming think. Having been through this a bunch of times, the first weekend has been a rapid ramp-up, with Wednesday generally having the biggest crowds... I consider that the "cross-over" day, where people who came early are heading out and the ones who plan to be here through the last weekend are just arriving.
Seems to me that there are more people staying in the area after the Rally, so they can enjoy riding these great roads without the huge crowds. It will be interesting to see what the state considers the attendance numbers... looking around here at Hart Ranch, it seems that the number of bikers, bikes, and cargo trailers is less than we've seen in the past. I have been getting out early, and the traffic has been very light.
Today, I made my last trip to Sturgis, for one last look-around. The traffic on the Interstate was busier than I've seen all week - some bikes, toyhaulers, and cargo trailer obviously packed up and leaving, and more coming in. The traffic in Sturgis seemed significantly lighter. The bikes weren't packed in as tight on Main Street.
It wasn't tough to find a parking spot... although I did have to work my way through a crowd that was standing in the intersection...
There is an event happening: a guy is going to jump his motorcycle over a truck parked in that intersection on Main Street. Yes, sanctioned by the city. I was one of the last to get through that intersection before they shut it down for traffic. I parked in the next block and then waited around to see how this was going to play out...
There was a ramp set up on on the side streets. The guy doing the jump pulled up to the top of one ramp...
I got ready with my camera...
Then waited. And waited. I moved out of the sun (it was another hot day) and into the shade. The crowd was getting tired of waiting. And then - zoom! - and it was over. I couldn't get my camera up to my face fast enough. Yes, the guy made the jump; easily. In the meantime, traffic was building up on both sides of the intersection.
I waited around for a bit ('cause I wasn't going anywhere - couldn't get out), then took a walk down to the next block...
There was a t-shirt I saw last time and decided to add one more to my collection. The place I saw it was out of them in XL, so down the street a ways to another outlet (some of these vendors have shops on every block), where they were almost out of XL and had one of this particular shirt left... well, zero left when I snagged that last one. If you wear a small, medium, or 4XL, you will probably be able to get a hot deal on a t-shirt in a couple days.
Back to the bike...
... and one more pass down Main Street and out of town. That's my wrap up for this year's Rally, but there are still concerts, bike shows, bikini bike washes, and lots of drinking happening for another day or two.
Tomorrow, we will pack up to make another move within the resort - heading back to the Meadows (Purgatory Flats) for 9 days; we're more than half way through our time here.
No comments:
Post a Comment