by: Rodent

Horse Old School
Rat's Hole
Harley Ride In
Lichters Exibit
AMD Championship

In Sturgis every two-bit promoter wants a piece of your hard-earned buck. The biggest venue, Buffalo Chip, has developed into a major stand-alone music festival that doesn't need anything, but contracted to have the homeless Rats Hole Show on its property since the Metzler Tire Company dropped the Chip as a venue. Since Big Daddy Rat passed away the show he invented hasn't had a permanent home in Sturgis and it's been bouncing around from venue to venue. Now Woody, the Chips owner, has hired Ted Smith to bring the show to the Buffalo Chip grounds. We'll see if this is a temporary or permanent home.

Then we have Robin Bradley's World Championship of Custom Bikes in a tent at Lynn's Inconvient Store, The Horse's Chopper Show at Full Throttle Bar, and this year, The MoCo's ride-in show on Lazelle Street.

There was even talk of having yet another show of all the winners from the other shows in a competition for a Grand Champion!

I wonder what would happen if a bike was only allowed to compete in one show during an event plus given an extra point IF it completes a prescribed route to prove its roadworthiness. It's an interesting concept in the era of the declining custom bike business.

by: Rodent

All they want is our money.
When I first went to Sturgis, the home folks were really friendly and accommodating. Those were the days of camping in the infamous City Park. There were a couple of vendors and the Black Pine Gypsies ran a couple of tours through the Black Hills, a North Tour and a South Tour. The cops were sort of friendly and non-aggressive. They would fuck with assholes that needed their attention and not be a conquering army with a bad attitude. Drunk riders were dealt with as they're dealt with today. Small infractions got a warning. It was laid back and friendly.
As the years went by, money rather than enjoyment became the way of the Sturgis Rally. Outside interests started buying buildings on Main Street as investments. Rows of perfectly good buildings were bought and bulldozed to make huge asphalt lots to be rented out to vendors and remain ugly and vacant for 50 weeks of the year.
The City Park camping was ended as the locals got offended by the bikers’ behavior observed through binoculars from a distance. With City Park closed to camping, private campgrounds were opened and grew into 2 week temporary cities. Now each campground competed with each other with attractions to entertain the bikers who use to entertain themselves in City Park.
More vendors came, some with needed merchandise but most with useless unneeded crap. Today there are dozen upon dozens of T-shirt vendors selling souvenirs and trinkets.
Armies of police were hired to babysit the bikers and enthusiasts.
The little village of Sturgis South Dakota had a monster on their hands and decided to capitalize on the throngs of stupid bikers who would put up with unbelievable abuse, gouging became the norm rather than the exception.
One thing I’ll say, the gouging didn't discriminate. All the visitors be vendors, bikers, enthusiasts were fair game. Camps became "resorts" and priced accordingly.
The food situation in this hick town was marginal to sub-standard from the get go and in the past 30 years has not much changed. When the best restaurant in Sturgis, South Dakota is McDonald's for the past 20 or so years, you get the idea of the gourmets that reside in Sturgis. Food vendors come in with expensive food from barely eatable to not fit for a dog.
The local market started raising prices to help the gouging and their bottom lime.
A few years ago a Super Wal-mart opened about 12 miles up the Interstate which soon became the store of choice for both the inhabitants and visitors to Sturgis. The local market was lowered to the status of a 7-11 inconvenience store.
Most tourist visitor destinations romance the people who are the lifeblood of their survival, but not Sturgis. They work overtime to kill the goose that lays gold in their pockets.

by: Rodent

Last year I was injured at the Riverview Ranch and a camera was destroyed.

This was well documented by the first aid people and I took myself to the Garberville Hospital even though they wanted to put me in an ambulance to get sewed up. The dumb doctor who sewed me up asked if I had a recent tetanus shot and I said no and they neglected to give me one.

My insurance paid part of the hospital bill and I submitted the remainder and camera replacement to Doug McCauley, the owner and promoter, to put into his insurance company. Ive got no reply. Maybe Doug doesn’t have liability insurance on an event.

Be forewarned. This has always been one of my favorite events, but..?

Im very disappointed in the promoter’s lack of response to my concern so Im forewarning anybody attending to be aware of the probable lack of public liability insurance by the Redwood Run at Riverview Ranch in Piercy, CA.