My Pilgrimage to Sturgis, Part I

“My Pilgrimage to Sturgis” is a multi-part story chronicling my trip to the 75^th Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Week.

Part I - The back story:

I’ve been a serious bike rider for about 9 years.  “Serious,” of course, is a relative term, but to put it in perspective, during riding season, my motorcycle is effectively my only mode of transportation.  I drive when I need to carry more stuff than I can fit on the bike, and I drive when it’s raining or too cold.  Aside from that, I’m on my bike.  I also take frequent, short jaunts around the countryside on the bike.  I average 3000 to 3500 miles on my bike each year.

My bike is a 2006 Harley-Davidson Sportster 883, which I converted into a 1200 in 2012.  I am the original owner, and I treat it like one of my children.  (I love it, take care of it, and beat on it from time to time.  [End tongue-in-cheek comparison])  My two daughters, by the way, love riding almost as much as I do.  My older daughter has been a passenger on my bike since she was 13, and my younger daughter started riding with me before she was 10.  She bought her first bike at 18.

I’m not exactly sure when, but somewhere along the line, I decided that I needed to make a pilgrimage to Sturgis.  This was partly to see what all the fuss was about, a little to get back to the Black Hills, where I vacationed with my family when I was a kid, and somewhat to take an extended trip on my motorcycle… to test my endurance and find out how much I could punish my body.

Last fall, I found out that this year is – was – the 75^th Anniversary of the Sturgis Rally.  I decided this was the year to go.  I started making plans in February.  I chose to stay in Custer State Park, and even though I made reservations six months in advance, I got the absolute last site available in the park.  I talked to my wife, and even though she doesn’t ride, she agreed to go along with me.  In the end, this actually worked out quite well.  She drove our minivan, and I alternated between following her and leading the way.  We slept on a memory foam mattress in the minivan.

With the basic plan in place, I planned the overall itinerary.  I decided that riding the 750 miles from home to Custer State Park was too far to realistically go in one shot – I am riding a Sportster, after all, so we decided to stay in Sioux Falls, SD, on the way out and on the way back.  That’s almost exactly the halfway point.  We also chose to visit Mount Rushmore, Wind Cave National Park, and Badlands National park during our trip.

Tune in tomorrow, where I will talk about “getting there.”