Sturgis, 1997

If you’ve ever done Sturgis, you’ll understand why this was such a tough report to write. There are no words that can describe the magnitude of the experience. And pictures- well I might as well say it up front. The focus on my old 35mm malfunctioned, and out of the 7 rolls of film I shot, I’ve got only about a dozen shots that are marginally usable.

For a variety of reasons, we chose to trailer the Sporty on the back of the pickup, rather than riding out from Seattle. (Just for the record, I biked it the whole way when I lived in Minneapolis). While this was lacking in adventure, we made up for it in comfort, even purchasing a couple of new Willie Nelson CDs for the ride.

The truck, the Sporty, and the boyfriend, loaded up and ready to go. (Click for full size).

Chris and I set off early Sunday, with plans to be camped in Sturgis by Monday night. We stopped at a Kinko’s in Bozeman, Montana to get photocopies of an advertisement flier I had made at the last minute for GLHR to post in Sturgis. It started off "Gay Harley Bikers" in huge bold letters, which created some discussion among the clerks at the copy shop who ran the job.

Then, a near crisis a few miles from the Wyoming border. We were stopped at a gas station fueling up when a camper trailer pulled around the pump and swung into our new pickup and scraped its way along the entire side of the truck. Rather than stopping, the driver picked up speed, probably hoping to get away without facing an insurance claim and a couple of angry bikers. We did get him stopped and got his info (luckily, he had insurance), but he gave us the slip before the cops could get there to do the accident report and give him a ticket. The state troopers put it out on the radio, and with any luck he was stopped along the interstate. Fortunately, the truck damage was cosmetic (estimate: $1,600.00), and no damage to the bike.

We made it to Gencoe campground near Sturgis late Monday afternoon, and it was already almost full. As I stepped up to register, their computer went down. After watching the check-in people panic for a few minutes, I told them that I "do computers" for a living, and would they like me to take a look. They would, and I did. After poking around under the counter for a few minutes, I found the disconnected cable which had caused the problem, and we were all back in business.

We pitched the tent, dropped the Sporty, and took it around the campground for a look at the several thousand bikes and bikers camped there. The usual "show your tits" areas were rampant, but we also passed a really hot young biker sitting on his truck wearing nothing except a pair of chaps, with a cardboard sign up that said "Show Dick". Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to investigate further, ‘cause we headed into Sturgis for food and rubbernecking.

As you may have gathered, Chris rides bitch, a term that he’s not particularly happy with.

All of Main Street is reserved for motorcycle
parking during rally week. (Click for full size).

Sturgis was crammed with bikes, and the ground was shaking from the V-twin rumble. There’s no way to adequately describe this sight if you haven’t seen and heard it. During the rally, at any given point in time there could be tens of thousands of bikes within the city limits of this town of 5,000 people.

We hung out for a while, then headed back to a campfire and some Jack Daniels. That night there was a huge thunderstorm, high winds, and drenching rain that lasted for hours. I was concerned about the tent holding up, but it did, and we stayed dry. It was actually kind of romantic, just the two of us lying naked together in the storm.

We explored Sturgis the next day, and I could have stayed there for a week checking out the hot bikes and hot bros. But that evening we headed up to Lead, where Lee and the Milwaukee GLHR crowd put on a barbecue at their rented a condo. We met the Milwaukee guys, and Jerry/Minot, most of whom I hadn't met before, as well as a group from San Diego, who are new to GLHR. The Milwaukee dudes put on an outstanding feast, and everyone had a great time. After I obnoxiously insisted on taking pictures of everyone in front of their bikes with my malfunctioning camera, we left.

We had discovered that, just by coincidence, the San Diego bros were camped only a stones throw from us at Glencoe, so we and Jerry/Minot got together afterwards at their campfire, where we sipped Jack Daniels, smoked cigars, and talked for hours about Harleys, men, and life. I really thought it was one of the highlights of the trip.

Wednesday we biked around the Black hills the entire day, visiting Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and ending up in Deadwood for dinner.

Thursday, we checked out everything we hadn’t already seen in Sturgis, including the Excelsior-Henderson prototypes. I also spent some time at the tattoo parlors, for a couple of reasons. One is I’m planning to get inked, and I’m trying to figure out the design. Also, I think it’s pretty hot to watch, and it’s something you won’t see often on film. The artists typically discourage photos while they’re working because the camera flash messes with their vision.

Thursday night we went to the drag track to watch the Harley racing. While we were there, we met the Mayor of Sturgis, who was sitting in the stands near us watching the races. He thanked us for coming to Sturgis. Later, we got together with Peter/San Diego at his campfire.

Friday we loaded the Sportster back up, and were on our way home. We took a more leisurely pace back, stopping at Devil’s Peak, and also spending Saturday night in Spokane. At the gay bar there, a dude noticed our Sturgis t-shirts, and explained that he just lost his low rider in his divorce, but was working on getting a basket case Harley to restore. We talked to him and his boyfriend for a while, both nice guys, and I put him in touch with GLHR for when he gets the deal together.

Initial estimates indicate that this could be the largest Sturgis rally since the 50^th Anniversary rally in 1990 (which, by the way, I attended with Greg/St. Paul). Depending on which source you use, between 200,000 and 400,000 bikers attended that year. This year is projected to be a close second.