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If you want to try your hand at a different kind of beast,
one with a mechanical scream that flies at full throttle,
you’ll discover an international biker’s paradise
care of the Sturgis Bike Rally. The Rockies, USA is
big biking country - every summer nearly 300,000 bikers get
together for the annual Sturgis Bike Rally, the biggest rally
in the world.
American Legend Tours, based in Gilette, operate guided
bike tours in the Rockies. The tours cost $200 a day including
meals and lodging and you do have to do a bike test before
they’ll trust you with one of their precious beasts,
namely the mother of all bikes, a Harley Davidson.
The legendary event began in 1938 when Pappy Hoel, local
motorbike shop owner, came up with the idea of having a race
and stunt competition. The first event featured 19 cyclists
and dare devil stunts like ramp jumps and head on collisions
with cars! The event has grown successively larger every year,
apart from two years during World War II when the rally was
cancelled. Post war, biking became a popular recreation fashion
and over 1,000 attended the 1965 rally, and 600,000 attended
the 60 year celebration in 2000. That’s a lot of beards,
grease, leather and gasoline!
Sturgis is a celebration of motorbikes as a lifestyle, not
just a hobby for weekenders. For the millions of bikers around
the world, motorcycling is an icon for freedom and individuality,
and far more than a mode of transport. The Sturgis festival
goers come from all walks of life; doctors, teachers and other
professionals are represented, transcending boundaries of
race, gender and economy.
The Sturgis rally takes places on land where bison
once thundered over the prairie in the time before. The Sturgis
bikers are the equivalent of modern day cowboys, roaming free
over the land. Sturgis is the perfect location for cyclists,
offering unlimited panoramas of the Black Hills and
the camaraderie of the open road as the bikers ride out to
Devil’s Tower past Sylvan Lake. Part of Sturgis
Town is dedicated to motorcyclists only in tribute to the
biking history.
Many participants dress up their bikes in a carnivalesque
array of colours, flags and painted emblems. The usual bikers
paraphernalia of leather wares, tattoos, food and bike parts
make an intriguing off-the-road festival. If you need energy
food for the adrenaline rush of the ride, check out the roadside
speciality burgers like alligator and jambalaya!
The racing side of the event still includes the traditional
half mile drag, as it was in 1938, and hill climbs at Bessie’s
Knob Hill.
Sturgis is not just a typical festival, it is a pilgrimage
to the mecca of motorcycling, and for the un-initiated, the
ride of a lifetime.
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