Best. Ride. Yet.

 

Pretty bold statement, considering all the riding we've done this summer.  A truly fine ride this morning.

The weasels are calling for a windy day, so I chose to get out early again; it also helps with any traffic on the fun roads.  The feature of this morning's ride was, once again, Iron Mountain Road.

"What is it about that road?" you ask.  Thanks for asking.  The road was designed to be "feature-filled."  Back in the 30s.  It is meant to be a leisurely drive, with the occasional view of Mt Rushmore.  I've listed the stats before, but here they are again...

• 17 miles
• 314 curves
• 14 hairpin turns
• 3 pigtails
• 3 tunnels
• 2 splits
• 4 Presidents

It is a fun drive... and an even more exhilarating motorcycle ride!  The curves are banked just right.  The road surface is good.  And getting onto Iron Mountain Road reasonably early in the day sometimes means you can pretty much have it to yourself.  Timing matters.  It's a great ride either direction, but I prefer to ride it from the south (Custer State Park) to the north (Mt Rushmore/Keystone).

There was a good rain in that area last night, so it smelled fresh this morning (another thing that is great about motorcycle riding: the smells).  There were a couple spots where gravel had washed onto the road from a side road, one place that had some mud that slid onto the road, and some rogue pine needles.  But, no cars or other vehicles in my lane, and fewer than 20 cars or bikes that came from the other direction.  It was a delight!  I could ride as fast or as slow as I wanted.

Yes, I have had several of these "light traffic" morning excursions on Iron Mountain Road this summer... but, for some reason, this just felt special.  The CTX is a fun bike for this kind of riding - you can ride it in Sport Mode while will give you the accelerating and shifting in a sporting manner, and still shift gears up or down as you want with the paddle shifters.  The CTX weighs about 500 pounds, but it carries the weight fairly low, due to the forward canted (62º) twin parallel cylinders.  Pushing it into the curves feels good, and no issue with anything dragging at sane speeds.

Some might be surprised to hear me say that I could take this road just as fast with the Vespa.  That's only partly true: I could take the curves just as fast, but on the straight stretches, the CTX is much faster.  I had to wrap the Vespa full out, where the CTX has more to give.  The engine braking I get with the CTX allows me to enter a curve faster with more control.  Both are fun to ride on a road like this.  People don't expect the Vespa to be as fast as it is on a technical road like this.

Oh, and people on motorcycles are waving again.  :-)

No, I did not take any photos or video of this morning's ride.  But, I did take this photo of my big furry boy this morning, out on the patio, sitting on his Momma's lap...

The long fur on his chest and belly tends to make his legs look shorter when he is standing; this shows those striped legs and white paws.  Just in case you think this blog has gone completely over to motorcycle and scooter riding.  It's still about Rufus, too!  ;-)

The Wildlife Loop Video...

 

Here's the video from yesterday's ride on the Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park...

 Set to music, no voice over, captions added.  Sit back, watch, and enjoy the ride and the wildlife.

Decisions...

 

It is going to be another warm day here in the Black Hills - a decision needs to be made: go for a motorcycle ride, or stay home and edit the video I shot yesterday on the Custer State Park Wildlife Loop.

So, after an exhilarating motorcycle ride through the twisties (😎), I came back for some patio time with Joan and Rufus.  The neighbor next to us has moved to another site (they got out of Purgatory Flats), so we now have a view while out on the patio.

Out for an "Early Bird" supper at Texas Roadhouse.  I guess I'll try to finish up the editing on that video tonight.  Maybe.

 

Trifecta!

 

Of sorts.  We took the bikes to Custer State Park and the Wildlife Loop... with the hopes of seeing some buffalo today.

A nice ride down the length of Iron Mountain Road (no, I didn't shoot any photos or video) to get to the park.  A lovely day: blue sky, puffy white clouds, and not hot.

Spoiler Alert: Yeah, we saw buffalo!

 

After we got into the park, we stopped so I could put the camera on my bike.  Onto the Wildlife Loop...

Not too far into the loop, the first of our "trifecta"...

Antelope!  Yeah, right on the road.

We rode a while without seeing much, but the road is nice...

Then, some stopped traffic ahead of us... the begging burros...

We went quite a while after that, seeing no traffic coming at us.  That is actually a good sign: it means that traffic ahead is stopped somewhere, and they are probably stopped to see some wildlife.

Yep - buffalo...

Lots of buffalo - I'm guessing a couple hundred, in two groups...

A successful outing!  And a nice stop for a picnic lunch at the Blue Belle Lodge area.  Then, a bunch more twisty roads, ending up riding by Mt Rushmore, an ice cream stop in Keystone, then Hwy 16 back to our home away from home.

A fine day of riding.  Yes, I shot some video - I will be working on that this evening and tomorrow.

 

Moving Day and One Last Main Street Video...

 

On my ride through Sturgis yesterday, it was apparent that things were winding down for the 2022 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally - fewer bikes and people on Main Street.  Here's one last video look around...

 And now we are starting the moving process once again.  Off the nice double wide paved site and back into the gravel in the Meadows.  It took 4 trips: one each for the bikes, then bringing the cargo trailer (and all the patio stuff we had packed in it), then finally the motorhome.

This is another narrow site (compared to most of the others), but it is plenty long.  With the cargo trailer in place on the site, I was glad to have Joan spotting for me as I backed the motorhome in.

Not much in the way of "edible" grass for Rufus, but I'll walk him to the newer part of the Meadows where they have sodded.  For 9 days, he can deal with it... but I know he is going to miss the site we just left (where we watered the lawn to give him plenty of grass to roam in); by comparison, this is mostly crabgrass and weeds.

And speaking of the motorhome, when we went to pull up the leveling jacks this morning, they didn't move.  Well, that's not good.  We got out the owners manual and I opened valves on each jack (at the main hydraulic pump connection), allowing the hydraulic pressure to flow out of them - they went up easy.  That will go on the list of things we need to deal with at some point.  Like boats, cars, and houses, there is always something that needs to be dealt with.

This site backs up to the cart path for the "dirt golf course" here (for those who don't want to spend the money on the really nice Hart Ranch Golf Course (that isn't a part of the RV resort).  Seems that some people use it as their "loop" when driving golf carts or UTVs... it won't be as quiet here as the spot we just left.

We are all 3 getting settled in.  Before setting up the patio, Joan spent some time with the hose and a scrub brush - seems that whoever was on this site before us left mud all over the patio and didn't bother cleaning up what looks like weeks of bird shit on the picnic table.  Joan got 'er done!

The patio all cleaned up and looking like "home" (for the next 9 days)...

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A chance to do some further editing on the videos: if you just want a quick look at Sturgis Main Street, here are a couple "shorts"...

Winding Down...

 

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.

The Big Furry Boy...

 

Yesterday, after the sun went behind the hills and the temp cooled off a bit, the 3 of us went out for some patio time.  I took Rufus for a walk.  I had my DSLR out, waiting for the full moon, and decided to get a few Rufus photos, because... not only is he a good boy, but he is a handsome boy, too.  Here are a few...

 Yes, I am probably biased... but I think he is a regal looking feline.

We watched rabbits play in that same grassy area.  They didn't seem bothered by Rufus, but they did keep a little distance.  At one point there were 5 of them; I got this shot with two of them, just chillin'...

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Yep - there it is!

I took a real camera with me on my ride this morning.  By "real camera," I mean a device whose only purpose is to take photographs.  It's not a phone or an internet device or a weather forecaster or a timepiece or an e-mail retriever.  It is used to take photos.  That's it.

However, it does have a tele-zoom lens on it, and it kicks ass on any phone camera.  I stopped at the top of the hill where I particularly enjoy the view...

Yep, there it is, just a bit right of center: Mt Rushmore...

No other photos, just enjoying the ride.  I got out about an hour later than yesterday, and thought I'd run into more traffic... not much.  I was behind a Terrain with Minnesota plates for a short time, but they pulled off at the first available spot to let me get around.  There were three photo places taking photos of bikes on Iron Mountain Road as they went by.  Less traffic in Keystone.  As many cars as bikes on Hwy 16.  I would say the Rally is winding down.

I haven't heard any estimates of the number of people visiting, yet.  If I had to guess, I would say the crowd is smaller than last year.  Still, a lot of people here.

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On the scooter forum where I still participate (I am the co-owner of an Xmax), I made this post about the Rally...

With today being Friday, the Sturgis Rally will wrap up in a couple days. There are plenty of people who stay around after the Rally to be able to enjoy the riding when it isn't so crowded. The numbers will be steadily dwindling from here, though. My riding partner (spousal unit) told me she'd rather not ride while the Rally is on, so I'll get my Honey riding with me again in a few days.

As you could tell from the videos I posted this week, a made a couple runs to and through Sturgis. I enjoy the chaos that is Main Street... as long as I don't have to be in it, and can ride away from it when I've had my fill. The RV resort where we stay (about 40 miles from Sturgis) gets a good number of out-of-state members (it is a membership RV resort) who come during the Rally... this is a family oriented resort with "quiet hours" that are enforced; certainly not the rowdy situation that is the Buffalo Chip or the other Rally campgrounds (essentially a mowed down field) that are only open during the Rally. Easy access to the good riding in the Hills, with nice amenities.

I know there are folks on this forum who have been to the Sturgis Rally, and plenty of others who wouldn't do this event. I hope you've enjoyed a bit of the look-around on Main Street, which is really a small portion of what makes up the Rally. Our first experience with the Rally was in 1978 and we've done it about 35 of the 45 years since, at least in some part. Yes, it is mostly Harley riders. No, they don't beat you up or kick your bike over if it isn't a Harley. In fact, the 4 years I rode to Sturgis with the Vespas, I got plenty of thumbs-up and waves. I am essentially invisible on the CTX... just another bike that isn't a Harley.