Passes & Canyons Blog

I’m in Sturgis for the rally but it’s not like when the OFMC did the rally in 2006. This time I’m alone, and I’m here to work. And I want to make money, not spend it, so no $500 per night hotel rooms in Rapid City this time. Sure, we split that four ways, but that’s still $125 per person per night. Ouch!

This time I’m camping. That’s my tent and my Kawi in the picture above. I’m actually right in Sturgis and it’s amazingly inexpensive at the Vanocker Campground where I’m dug in. The cost is just $15 a night and they have showers and a little cafe for breakfast. On top of that, coffee is free at the cafe and food is good as well as affordable. The one guy running the operation cooks up your order on a small stove while you sit at the table outside and chat with fellow campers. My large breakfast taco was only $3.

As always, there are pluses and minuses. There isn’t much shade, so when I arrived yesterday at about 3 p.m. I was lucky to find one of the only two somewhat shaded spots left. And if it rains hard, as is predicted for later today and tonight, camping could be fun, not to mention riding my road bike across this field.

And then, of course, there are the neighbors. I’ve always heard that it’s the campgrounds where the fun is at Sturgis, but that may be referring to places like the Buffalo Chip, where they have concerts. At places like Vanocker it’s more a matter of meeting and getting acquainted with the folks next to you. Except that guy.

There’s always a “that guy,” isn’t there? In this case, that guy is some jerk who drove his semi-sized rig and large trailer in and set himself up this morning at about 5:30 a.m. Far be it from him to just stop along the road somewhere and get a couple hours sleep, before arriving after everyone was up. No, he came right in while it was still dark and made damn sure everyone was aware he had done so. There’s something about a semi maneuvering back and forth about 20 feet from your tent that makes it difficult to get a good night’s sleep. Not to mention his Doberman, who got out and started barking. Thanks, asshole!

So anyway, I’m looking for the real Sturgis experience this year. Maury LaRue, the mayor of Sturgis, tells me they estimate rally-goers spend an obligatory 2 hours and 37 minutes in Sturgis, and the rest of the time out cruising or hanging out at their motels/campgrounds elsewhere. I’m figuring on more like 70 hours, myself. And if, unlike yesterday, I don’t have to spend it all working I may even have some fun. Wish me luck.

Biker Quote for Today

All who wander are not lost. Be a traveler, not a tourist.

These next few weeks are shaping up to be some of the busiest I’ve ever had, all relating to riding motorcycles. Let me give you an idea of what’s in store.

Today I take off on a two-day ride to shoot photos for a story I’m working on for Rider magazine. I did this ride once last fall but then found out my camera didn’t shoot in high enough resolution to meet their needs so I’ll do it again with my new camera.

Then next week I’m taking off for a four or five day ride with my friend John. We’re heading for New Mexico, hoping to spend some time there before the blazing hot weather hits.

On June 12, Judy and I are heading for the Black Hills on vacation. This will coincide, not by accident, with the Cushman Club of America’s 2010 national rally in Sturgis, SD. Their theme this year is “Come play where the big boys play,” and the visuals of Sturgis engulfed in scooters will be just too good to miss.

The following week I’ve been planning to do some coverage of the run-up to the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, culminating with the race itself on June 27. I’ve been connecting with contestants so I can cover that event through the eyes of someone actually involved.

While I absolutely will do some hill climb coverage, I received a call today from the editor of a motorcycle sport touring magazine asking me to go with him to Taos that same week for the Motorcycle Sport Touring Association’s annual gathering. If I can manage to squeeze it in I guess I’ll try to run down to Taos in the middle of the week.

Then there’s other stuff like the Hoka Hey Challenge and the latest Motomarathon event that, if I do any reporting on them, will have to be done secondhand. Hey, I’m only one guy.

So what have you got going on in June? I hope you’re going to get out and have some fun, too. Get on that bike and ride!

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Biker Quote for Today

Life is an adventure, and I refuse to live a boring one.

OK, I’m a pretty rugged guy, and I don’t mind sleeping on the ground or in less than comfortable conditions. But I met my match here in Laughlin, where I came to report on the Laughlin River Run.

Let’s face it, motorcycle rallies are expensive events. If you have buddies with you to split the hotel room rate that is quadruple what it normally is you can get by. Alone, as I am, you figure out something different. I figured I would camp.

Getting on the Web I found an RV park that offered “dry camping” for $10 per person per night. Great! I can do that. Well, I had no idea that “dry camping” is a known term for RVers who understand it means a place to park the rig with no electric or water hook-ups. And in this case, it meant a piece of dirt scraped semi-level by a bulldozer, with nothing but dirt and rocks.

OK, I’m game, I figured I’d give it a try. Of course, the wind was blowing like a banshee and by the time I got the tent up everything I had, especially the inside of the tent, was covered in a quarter inch of dirt. I’m talking serious filth.

So I slept there my first night and actually slept well, but the dirt was too much for me so I grabbed a motel room for $30 for the next night, the last night before the rates went up to $160.

Where to sleep the next day and the rest of the rally? Hmmm.

Well, as luck would have it, I found out about a state park just south of Laughlin and went to check it out. It’s beautiful! And the campground is gorgeous. And they had lots of spaces. I checked in and that’s my new home. The pictures will give you a bit of an idea of the difference between my first camping site and the new one. I don’t mind a little dirt but when you’re talking a heck of a lot of dirt, even I rebel.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Laughlin River Run 2010: Forget Laughlin, the action is in Oatman

Biker Quote for Today

The best alarm clock is sunshine on chrome.

I need desperately to get away from this computer and the Laughlin River Run is my salvation. I’ve never been to it but this rally, April 21-25, is said to be the West Coast’s biggest motorcycle event. I’ll take three mostly leisurely days getting there, spend probably four days there, and then another three not-necessarily-leisurely days getting home.

It’s going to be an interesting trip in a lot of ways. Two of my overnights will be, I hope, arranged via the Motorcycle Travel Network. This is an organization that bills itself as “The Only Bed and Breakfast Network for the Traveling Motorcycle Enthusiast.” I mentioned it once before, and now I have joined. There are members in both Cedar City, UT, and Kanab, UT, and I’m hoping to stay with one on the way out and the other on the way back. I’ll certainly report back on my experience with this.

The rally itself is kind of an unknown. There is an official site but when you click on the link for the event schedule all you get is a note that says “2010 Events Schedule coming soon!” Well, considering the rally starts in 5 days, just how soon can we expect something?

From what I can tell, a different casino has some rock band each night, and they’re all the usual washed-up old timers still beating that same dying horse they’ve been on for years. I don’t guess I’ll be hitting any of those shows.

The only scheduled events I can find anything out about are on Saturday, April 24, which appears to be the real day for the rally. These two events are a custom bike show at one casino and the actual ride that was the genesis for the rally. I guess the rest of the time is just “come relax, spend money in our casinos, and hand out with a lot of other bikers.”

We’ll see. Whatever it turns out to be I’ll certainly be reporting back on that, too.

Update on site hack

Of course, the reason I so desperately need a break from the computer is all the hours I’ve spent trying to undo the damage caused by the asshole who hacked this site. While all the malicious code has been neutralized, the jerk also created thousands of spammy links on other, presumably hacked, sites pointing to my site to dynamic .php pages their code created. This has overwhelmed my legitimate incoming links so search engines are now convinced that this site is all about this stupid drug.

This crap is killing my traffic. If it weren’t for the many legitimate links that people have created to the site over the years there would be little, if any, traffic. So if you would like to do me a huge favor, put up as many links as you can on motorcycle forums or any motorcycle-related website. The more new links I can get the more chance I have of diminishing the effect of the hack. Thanks.

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Electric motorcycles, bike theft, ABS–Bits and pieces of motorcycle news

Biker Quote for Today

For some there is therapy; for the rest of us there are motorcycles.

Oh boy, I’m excited about this one. I own a Kawasaki Concours and I just learned that the Concours Owners Group is holding their annual rally here in Colorado. It’s going to be in Frisco the week of June 2-6. I may have to rejoin the organization.

I joined COG as soon as I bought my Connie in 1999 and went for a few rides but at that point I had other buddies to ride with so I didn’t renew my membership. Now the guy who seems to have been the linch-pin in our group has moved over to the western slope and while we still go for our summer trips, the rest of us don’t get together as much to ride. I had been thinking for awhile of rejoining COG in order to find some new riding buddies.

So anyway, this rally looks like something you really have to make a commitment to. Most rallies take place over the weekend but this one is Monday to Friday. That could be the one thing that stops me from going. I’m a contractor, working on an hourly basis, and when I’m not working I’m not making money. But to be in one place with a couple thousand other folks on Connies is pretty tempting. Plus, they may be offering demo rides on the new Concours 14, the first makeover for this bike in about 18 years. All the moto-mags are calling it one of the best touring bikes you’ll find.

Don’t know at this point what I’ll do but I’m pretty buzzed!

There was the old Iron Horse Rally, and lately a slew of others, but pulling off a motorcycle rally in southwestern Colorado has proven to be a difficult thing to do. Either the authorities decide they don’t want you, or who knows what.

Well, there are some determined people out there, and coming in late August there is going to be a rally just outside of Mancos. Where is Mancos? It’s west out of Durango on US 160, a bit more than half way to Cortez. It will be at the Sugar Pine Ranch and they’re calling it the Sugar Pine Ranch Rally. Here’s the website:

http://www.sugarpineranchrally.com/

They’re billing it as “~All New Rally~All new Promoters~Permits in place!” The dates are Aug. 30 to Sept. 2. Check it out. Could be a good one.

There is going to be a lot of two-wheeling going on in Colorado this year. Just looking at the Rides and Rallies page I see:

July 1 – Colorado VTX Ride-In
July 12 – InZane 6, Valkyrie World Summit
July 13 – 34th Annual Top O’ the Rockies Rally (BMW)
July 27 – Star Touring and Riding Association

Of course there’s the Four Corners Rally in the Rockies in Ignacio starting August 30, and then Thunder in the Rockies September 1.

I’m sure there are other things going on, too, but if you don’t tell me about them I can’t get them up on the list. So hey, it’s free publicity, as well as an extra link to your site. Let me know what’s happening and I’ll get it up on the site. Thanks.