Still getting over the shock. (High Bandwidth)

[Boomer612]

O' yea.. a side benifit..

I lost 8 pounds on the trip and 4 more pounds while I was being exhausted...

 

[TomInPA]

I enjoyed your trip report, and wow, I pity the person on low bandwidth. I did a trip last year with my friend Jamie who drove a Sportster. We covered 7500 miles and it included Sturgis for a day. We rarely saw a day with less than 400 miles, and had many 600 mile days. It helps to have your ride partner on a reasonably equal ride, and when we returned, Jamie bought a 2006 FJR. :clapping:

 

[escapefjrtist]

FJRChooser and I ended up in Sturgis [by accident] in 2005 on the trip back from WFO-Skagit. We intended on doing some sightseeing (~!~), spending the night and taking off the next morning. After riding demo bikes for 1-1/2 days we finally left...after having *some* of the Sturgis experience!

Would I go back...nope, no reason, but it was fun to see it in action once!!

Thanks for sharing the adventure.

--G

 

[Bounce]

No wonder you weren't making time. Look at those moving:stopped ratios. Things really picked up once you went solo and didn't waste so much time at each gas stop.

Ever notice how the "biker babes" at HD rallies never look like the "booth babes"?

 

[RossKean]

Riding with someone with the same interests and riding style is critical. It is an exercise in frustration to ride with someone who wants to do 200 miles per day when you want to do 600. Or someone who makes gas stops a half hour long. Some like to run the speed limit and others want to average 10 over. Back roads or slab (I have a friend who prefers to slab it). Long lunch stops are also a real time killer (as far as I am concerned). Even frequent stopping for photo ops can be frustrating for the other guy if he has no interest in recording the details of the trip.

I'm not saying that one style is better than another but if you don't start out a trip with a riding buddy with clear agreement on all of these issues, one or the other of you is going to be driven nuts. Can be a great way to destroy a good friendship. If you aren't compatible, don't do a long ride together.

 

[FJR-RemingtonRider]

Nice report, missed it this year. I would go back every year for the roads in South Dakota.

Just riding those curves are fantastic, the scenery is priceless. The little town of Sturgis

traffic can be a brutal ride. The roads are just made for MC riding.

 

[Tanker]

Thanks for taking us along on the trip!

It can be tough not having a compatible riding partner, that's for sure.

 

[FJRPittsburgh]

Fantastic photo chronical. Loved every minute of it. Thanks for sharing your ride.

 

[not2shabby]

Nice! Coincidently, I took a trip with a friend named Ken back in 01, but we went to Daytona bike week. Once was enough for me! At least your scenery was a lot better, unless you like the ocean.

 

[mferriter]

Can we PLESAE all work together to come up with a better mounting system for Bonnie? Those pictures made me really nervous, then as I continued to read, it turns out she actually slipped off the back fender!

 

[snackbauer]

Agree on feeling nervous for Bonnie. I think if I was traveling with Ken, I'd insist the first stop of the trip would be a boarding kennel. I'd be more than happy to pay the fee.

 

[Top_Speed1]

I enjoyed your report and many pics, lots of thanks :drinks:

I'm thinking if your buddy just left the 'chick magnet' home you may have had a much better time & riding partner. And anything over an hour to pack back up (for me anyway) is too much time let alone almost 4X that! Maybe Ken was hungover? tired as a mofoheekee? if so I guess we can give him a mulligan haha.

My ex g/f always tried to bring her little Boston Terrier everywhere we went also. Sucked! One thing I wanna do (vacationing) is have it as easy and enjoyable as possible. Feck the pets, it's like jetskiing with an anchor out.

I have a 16yr old son who watches the reality show "Full Throttle Saloon" on TruTV and thinks we should visit Sturgis sometime soon. I'm game (I think? lol) and like your Ken it is on my bucket list just to experience once anyway.

So-

From your experience, (I already know NO PETS!) but what about a seat warmer (i.e. a hott g/f) or should a group of guys go as a sausage fest outing and seek r funship?

 

[SkooterG]

Can we PLESAE all work together to come up with a better mounting system for Bonnie? Those pictures made me really nervous, then as I continued to read, it turns out she actually slipped off the back fender!

+1!!! Great to see her along for the ride, but Yikes!

What a ride report! Do you think you took enough photos?

I'm glad you posted. I've not really had the desire to go to the Sturgis rally, and now I know I REALLY don't want to go.

 

[mferriter]

What a ride report! Do you think you took enough photos?

I'm glad you posted. I've not really had the desire to go to the Sturgis rally, and now I know I REALLY don't want to go.

+1

I don't see the upside of the whole deal except a really long ride. I've got no problems with long rides, but it also looked a lot of really long straight roads, and camping out in the middle fields with no shade, trees, water etc.

A lot of those biker babes looks like they were rode hard and put up wet.

 

[jmdaniel]

I was out there last year. Here is my photo collection:

 

[GeorgiaRoller]

You rode from GA to Sturgis with a dog in a cooler bungied to a motorcycle to be around copious amounts of leather clad morons drinking beer and riding Harleys with no helmets? :blink:

I feel like I'm in an episode of the Twilight Zone right now.

Daytona, Sturgis, Thunderbeach...I'll pass.

 

[Boomer612]

You rode from GA to Sturgis with a dog in a cooler bungied to a motorcycle to be around copious amounts of leather clad morons drinking beer and riding Harleys with no helmets? :blink:

I feel like I'm in an episode of the Twilight Zone right now.

Daytona, Sturgis, Thunderbeach...I'll pass.

I'm going to the EOM this year also... I'm just a glutten' for punishment...

 

[canucklehead-biker]

I was through Sturgis after NAFO I in 2008. Passed through a week before (on my way out east) and again a week after the madness (on my back west). Never saw so many Harleys on trailers (or trailers and pickups parked within a couple hundred miles of Sturgis) in my life. :blink:

Great RR, excellent pictures. :clapping: :clapping: I personally wouldn't dream of going there during the rally (or Daytona, or a Friday 13 in Port Dover Ontario, or <INSERT NAME OF MOTORCYCLE EVENT THAT ATTRACTS A ZILLION PEOPLE HERE>, etc etc), and your RR pretty much convinced me not to change my mind on that. The best parts of Sturgis and the like are places on the way there and back, and the folks you travel with or meet along the way, rather than the event itself.

Regarding the dog, I too was thinking all along that ol' Bonnie looked a bit precarious - glad she didn't get REALLY badly hurt. My dogs go to the kennel when I travel, which is better for them AND me. Tried to get one of them to sit on the seat with the bike stationary once, and she was having absolutely none of it, which just proves that dogs are prolly smarter than us and just KNOW that motorcycles are dangerous things and should be avoided

Regarding travelling with another (or several other) rider(s), often the best thing is to agree on a landing spot for the end of the day, and then have everyone ride their own ride to get there. Avoids a lot of frustration with choosing where to eat, where/when to stop, duration of fuel/rest stops, photo ops, etc, and you can still enjoy company when you're off the bike. I did that during 3 Flags a few years ago, kept meeting up with the same group of riders each night, and rarely saw them during the day. Seems to work especially well if there are different types/styles of bike involved. Hopefully some of the events you noted didn't permanently sour the relationship between you and your buddy, and you'll be able to ride together in future.

Cheers mate!

Griff

 

[jhedges]

why didn't you take any pictures of the trip?

 

[kolonial72]

(My computer's) Still getting over the (picture) shock.