Sturgis 2015 !!!

[laatsch55]

[According to campground and room reservations and other indicators officials estimate 1.1 million people are going to Sturgis this year. Last year was 550,000. 1.1 million would be twice the population of Wyoming......should be interesting./B]

 

[Fishoz]

That's gotta reek havoc in Gillette also....I imagine all bikers coming from the southwest have to go right thru Gillette?

Didn't even feel the need to pass thru Sturgis. Guess its not my thing.

 

[Lazarus Short]

​I would not go to Sturgis if I lived there.

 

[laatsch55]

It is indeed a mess....

 

[62vauxhall]

I rode there in 2010. TV and magazines cannot do it justice, you gotta see it for yourself. 2010 was the 70th year and the count I think was 603,000. This is the 75th year so maybe a diamond anniversary turnout?

 

[laatsch55]

That's what they are saying Gary....the 75th should be big. Starting the first week in August there is a constant stream of bikes going east on the interstate, then the 2nd week they are going both ways....

 

[Web Police]

I would have been interested in going when I was 25, but now I don't want to be anywhere near that event.

 

[orange]

If they had a giant antique and classic motorcycle show to go with it, maybe it would be better...it has been more or less a sloppy drink and t!tfest for so long that the crackdown was almost too late.

Should be some more emphasis on the families that ride, not just bearded old guys looking for hooch and cooch. Guys that like that look around here aren't really outlaws, they just adopted that look with their rides. You couldn't find better dudes generally. The girls think it's neat and basically Santa Claus in black often.

 

[laatsch55]

There's all that and more at Sturgis...

 

[62vauxhall]

In February 2010 just after a bunch of us decided to ride there, the woman who looked after finding us accommodation ordered a copy of the Sturgis Rally Guidebook - 208 pages in a 3 ring binder. Cost her $75 and she made copies for all of us. It says quite clearly what's tolerated, what's not, what you can't do, what you can do and where you can do it.

Despite her starting to look 7 months ahead for a place big enough for the 7 if us, we wound up in Hill City about 50 miles from Sturgis itself at a place called Quail's Crossing. We only had 4 days so spent all of it riding around here and there. By mistake, I wound up leading us to the Crazy Horse memorial and wanted to turn us around to go somewhere else. That got overruled and it turned out to be a real highlight for me. Since it's existence is not well publicized, I though it would be lame but it was the complete opposite. Supposedly, since it's been privately funded since the 1930's, I heard then that the preferred form of donation is dynamite and earth moving equipment over cash.

A bit of a bummer though because in that 4 days, I did not set one foot in a Sturgis event. No Ozzy Osbourne, no Axl Rose, no bob Dylan etc. I was 57 then and would LOVE to do that ride again and see all the Sturgis stuff I missed in 2010.

 

[laatsch55]

It is quite a spectacle...

 

[Jimmy]

I grew up in the Northern Black Hills and lived in Sturgis for most of my childhood and part of my adulthood. The locals dread rally week. It is impossible to go anywhere, and that's in a normal year - anniversaries are much worse (I was there working in a restaurant during the 50th anniversary). However, I lived on Main Street in Sturgis for a couple years after I finished college - I was right in the center of the circus and didn't notice it as much as when I lived on the outskirts of the town.