Here I am nearing the end of 40…………… something. Over half of those years have found me exploring the back roads of this country on two wheels. I haven’t missed the Sturgis Rally in 20 years! Holy Mollie, it’s become a tradition! I never miss The Love Ride either, and when I heard that it was canceled this year, I got to think about what a tradition these events have become in my life. It feels like Christmas was cancelled. I look forward to these events like special holidays. They have become a ritual, for me and thousands of bikers. And somewhere, down the road, a simple motorcycle hobby became a lifestyle.
To recall the events of Sturgis and my summer travels as a new columnist for www.Bikernet.com is nothing short of a huge honor for me. I have known Keith Ball, aka Bandit for many of my riding years. I actually ran around with a couple of his Hamster pals back when Bandit was editor of “Easyriders” magazine, and I was still riding Hondas.
Back then there were so few women riders that a girl got the thumbs up just for riding her own bike. Even my Hells Angels friends overlooked the fact that I was riding a Honda, and let me tag along once in awhile. I don’t exactly know when that restless nomad transformed from riding the back roads of this vast land, alone…searching for a sense of self…to this old school biker chick with a story to tell. I still can’t claim that I’ve actually found myself, but I have covered a lot of roads looking, looking for myself, looking for answers, and looking for adventure!
As bikers, I think we all share a spirit that was born to be wild, seeking to quench an insatiable thirst for life beyond the couch in front of the TV set. In those early years, I rode my Hondas on back roads and to rallies all over the west. Often times alone, my pictures captured an overloaded bike on a lonely road. And when rain and bad weather were pounding me, I would pull over just to document my own misery and to be able to laugh at myself later!
But as the years went by I made the trek to Sturgis with many different friends, and even badgered my family members into joining in on the fun. My little sister finally gave in and bought a Harley too, and my mother still blames me for the corruption of Kathy. But whether it was alone or with a friend, on a Honda, or on a Harley, I haven’t broken my tradition of being in the Black Hills every August. Even though I’ve written my Sturgis story many times over, Sturgis is never the same trip twice. In fact, no road trip is.
Part of why I’ve made an annual tradition of traveling to Sturgis includes my past. I am a Minnesota girl, and have been living in Los Angeles since I graduated from college. My family has conveniently scattered themselves across the west, so with one clean 5,000 mile loop, I can visit them all! And Sturgis just happens to be directly on my kin path. It seemed like God’s divine intervention! So, for a couple of decades I have been making this relative loop in a lot of different ways, different friends, different roads, and different modes of doing it. But I always look forward to it, and the time away from my daily routine never disappoints me. In fact, it clears me. It clears the cobwebs of my mind, and allows me to better focus on the year to come. My Uncle David and Aunt Shelia’s horse ranch on Sunshine Mesa in Hotchkiss, Colorado is always my first stop. The bike they rode around the world back in the '70s paved the way for my obsession. I thought they were the coolest two people on the planet, and I still do! Every year my visits to Sunshine Mesa provide me with my much needed spiritual rejuvenation.
Since I’ve been in a few motorcycle documentaries, and have written for several motorcycle publications, it has changed my Sturgis itinerary. There are events I try to cover or attend, instead of just going whichever way the wind blows me, like in the past. And this year there were a lot of interesting, new opportunities, so it made it an unusual and busy year for me.
Steven Tyler was in town promoting his new bikes, leading the Legends Ride along with Sugar Bear, and putting on a concert out at the Buffalo Chip. Living in L.A., it’s not a big deal to see celebs out in public. But there is something about Steven Tyler that sets him apart. The guy is magnetic! And he’s sexy, and funny. I haven’t been to a concert like that since…well, since I saw Aerosmith when I was in high school! He is better now than he’s ever been.
Even standing next to him, it’s hard to believe the guy is 60 something? When he is out on that stage shimmering in silver threads, his wild hair blowing in the wind, the man is timeless! And that whole falling off of the stage incident was only because the sound system failed while thousands of fans waited. And like the true rock star he is, he started dancing like a wild man to entertain the sea of bodies, so wide I couldn’t see where it ended. The wilder he danced, the more the crowd egged him on. One minute he was spinning on the edge of the island, and in a single moment, he was gone. And then it was over. The concert being cut short just left us all wanting more. The whole crowd just sat in silence waiting to see if he would return. It wasn’t until the ambulance loaded him up and drove away that the mob pushed for the exits.
I never rolled out to the dusty Buffalo Chip camp in my life! Yup, it’s true. Sturgis for 20 years, and I had never seen the ominous gathering. I heard the stories, and saw the crowds, but I had always stayed away because it just seemed intimidating for a lone female rider. If crowds are heading one direction, I usually try to steer in the other. I know every back road in the Black Hills, and I can usually find my way around crowds. But once you’re committed to being inside the chaos, there are no secret paths out of the madness that is the Buffalo Chip! Or at least I haven’t found them, yet! It’s ENORMOUS! It’s self-contained.
I can see why people gravitate to the dust bowl, because once you are there, you would never really have to leave. It caters to all of the bikers' and campers' needs. Plus, with all of the law enforcement in town, and on the road leaving town, if you are going to party, it’s the best way to get-down and dirty safely. My thanks to Ken Conte of “Rise Above Consulting” for making my Buffalo Chip experience all possible!
Earlier that day I stopped for a hot cup of coffee in Rapid City, and a unique looking man came up to me and looked at my bike, and he looked at me, and he said, “Girlfriend, you are one bad Mamba Jamba!”
I said, “Well thanks, I think…” and off he went. Later that night he saw me backstage at the concert and said, “Mamba Jamba!”
I said……… “Weird coffee house boy!”
He said, “My name is Dee,” and I introduced myself. Then I foolishly asked if he played music too.
“Ahh, yes I do,”Dee Snider replied. “I’m a singer.”
I told him I was not Rock educated and a huge John Denver fan. He told me him and John were good old friends back in the day, and that he played for a little band called Twisted Sister, or something like that.
The Legends ride was packed with just that, Legends in the Motorcycle world.It started in Deadwood, and ended at the Buffalo Chip. Still, somewhere on that short jaunt, they managed to lose Steven Tyler and his girlfriend, Lorenzo Lamas and his handsome pal Chad, John Paul De Joria and his beautiful wife Eloise, and their Indian mechanic Kiwi Mike! How the heck did that happen? Nonetheless, it was a beautiful huge-group- ride on a beautiful day in my favorite place on earth. You can’t beat that! Sugar Bear led the ride, and Eddie Trotta and Cory Ness were just a few of the famous builders riding along with us.
Cycle Source magazine put on a ride & rodeo again this year that went from my buddy Jay Allen’s new Broken Spoke out past Bear Butte, to a horse ranch out in the sticks where whoever has the courage to ride the barrels, on a motorcycle or on a horse, gets to give it a go. And for anyone who really needs a face full of dirt, you can ride behind one of the motorcycles or horses on a little mat attached by a rope. Last year I rode one of the crazy horses trained to round up the bulls. He ran the barrels so fast by himself, and then crashed into the other horses. Apparently, that’s how you round up them big old bulls! This year I decided to be a spectator!
Michael Lichter also hosted a ride and shoot out to the same ranch from the Spoke. My camera and I-phone flew off of my bike during that shoot and shattered all over the road, so I had to cut out early and go back to town in search of back-up supplies. Silly me, remember a time when we didn’t have phones in Sturgis? Michael also had his annual amazing display of photography work, and this year moved that out to the Buffalo Chip grounds. All in all, the Buffalo Chip and the Spoke were the hip places to be this year. I was so busy and limited on time that I never rumbled along my favorite back roads. I rode on the big, busy highways! I hate that. I miss my out-of-the-way, curvy, uninhabited thoroughfares!
I didn’t even get to visit Wild Bill or Calamity Jane on Boot Hill this year. I missed the waterfalls in Spearfish, or the Bears in wild Bear Country, no Wildlife Loop, no Wild Horses on vast open plains, not even the buffalos out at Bear Butte State Park scattered in the Jack pines. But it was an action packed week of electric charged energy! A different kind of Sturgis for me, but no complaints here!
The rest of the trip was about family, carnivals, scooters, hula-hoops, and a video game called Weeeeeeeee? We ate Birthday cake and smores, hunted grasshoppers and fished for supper. Nothing like spending time with three, five, and seven-year-olds to remind you of how to see the rainbows, smell the flowers, and learn a whole lot about patience. Sturgis is always an outrageous experience, but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. It’s the road out adventure, fueling the saloon conversations during the rally. My family time, to and from Sturgis, is what warms my heart and gives everything else meaning.
