Sturgis

What can I say about Sturgis that hasn’t been said before. Not much. So what I can do is describe my week as it’s sure to be different than most.

Thursday Noon: Point the truck and trailer south, then west.

Thursday evening: Drink beer in the parking lot of Brian Klock’s shop in Mitchell, SD, as mentioned in last week’s blog.

Friday AM: Wake up in the Mitchell Best Western (great motel), shower, shave, have breakfast at Mac and Don’s (they have wi-fi), and then hit the road for Sturgis.

Friday early afternoon: Stop at the Firehouse Saloon in Sturgis on Lazelle, and drop off more Sturgis 70th books to Kimmy Cruz, who sells them over the bar.

It was a somewhat quiet week in downtown Sturgis this year – exceptions include the Broken Spoke Saloon, where Jay and Jay kept everyone entertained while Michael Lichter recorded it all for posterity.

Friday evening: Enjoy a great dinner at Roma’s in Spearfish with a bunch of Shadleys and Shadley friends.

Saturday: Start the day at the coffee shop in Spearfish (Common Grounds, more wi-fi) then head to Sturgis for reconnaissance and to collect my press passes for The Chip and Broken Spoke.

Kimmy Cruz serving beers at the Firehouse, and selling those hard-to find-Sturgis 70th books.

Saturday night: Another fine dinner at Roma’s. Yes, I’m in a rut, but when the food is this good who cares.

Sunday morning: Back to Common Grounds. Then off to Sturgis to find the famous and infamous Bean’re at The Chip. Turns out he’s hangin at the Chip’s waterin’ hole: Bikini Beach, which unfortunately is pretty quiet when I get there. I promise myself a return trip to the Beach but never do make it back.

Sunday night: Attend the American Bagger party on the west side of Spearfish. Lots of lies to tell and people to meet. Including Travis who lives near Vegas and tells me about some great old Nevada junkyards that will make great photo backdrops for my next trip to Vegas to shoot old Triumphs during the January auction. I also enjoy some very interesting conversations with “Little Ronnie” crew chief for David and Jody Perewitz’ Bonneville team. I was ready to stay and listen to Ronnie all night - until I saw the light show start in the western sky.

Registration at the Chip is slow, but when you consider the thousands of people there, it’s surprising it doesn’t take even longer.

Monday: Bean’re told me to meet him in Deadwood, at the Silverado Hotel, at 8 Am, as part of the Legends Ride. I show up at 8:15 and Deadwood is dead….. turns out the ride doesn’t really even get organized until 11. Oh well, plenty of time to drink coffee, take a few photos, and shop. I do meet Bean’re eventually, and chat with cronies like Arlen Ness and Donnie Smith.

Bean’re and pals waiting for the Legends ride to leave Deadwood.

Monday afternoon: As the Legends Ride leaves Deadwood headed for Lead, I turn the other way and take Boulder Canyon Highway to Sturgis and eventually the Broken Spoke campground, sometimes called “County Line.” A media friend asked me to take some “pool shots.” So I did just that. But the weather was cool and the crowd small, good pool shots would have to wait. I did get to say hello to GTP, George The Painter, of Iron Horse Magazine fame.

Tuesday AM: I’m up early, off to the Chip again to meet Chris Callen editor and owner of Cycle Source Magazine. We spend an hour talking about the new book: Custom Bike building Basics, by (yes) Chris Callen and Cycle Source. Chris has a ride starting later that day, so I’m out of there by eleven AM, headed for Spearfish.

Controlled chaos in front of the Franklin Hotel.

By 1:00 PM a small group of us are headed to Belle Fourche and then to the Stonehouse Saloon and eventually Devil’s Tower. Just before we arrive at the Tower, it starts to rain, so we take refuge the little log-house bar on the corner. Eventually the rain passes, we ride up to the back side of the Tower, take the mandatory annual pics and then head for Sundance and The Dime. By eight PM, after a high-speed chase down the freeway, we're all safely ensconced in the Steak house in Spearfish. Tuesday afternoon is definitely the most fun day of my Sturgis week.

Wednesday: I spend most of the early afternoon watching guys on everything from Baggers to eight-second real-race bikes, drag race on a closed off highway. This is almost as much fun as Tuesday afternoon except that they’re racing and I’m taking photos.

Back side of the Tower, with rain clouds receding in the distance.

Next stop, County Line Campground and the world’s biggest biker pool. As I walk up to the pool area they are just starting the “belly flop contest.” I can only say it’s good to see grown men doing their best to act like fourteen year old boys. Though I never have seen a fourteen year old with a beer-belly like the ones I saw descending into the pool. The resulting waves were titanic in size and scope. In fact, the first one forced me to move back lest I drown the expensive digital camera.

Some serious iron running in the street drags. Close lane Is Crazy John on his “FXR” complete with S&S 145, slick for a rear tire, and a big bottle of ha-ha gas.

Thursday morning, 5:30 AM: I tip toe out of Tom and Mary Jo’s house in Spearfish, trying not to wake anyone up. As I go out the door all I can hear is Tommy snoring. Twelve hours later (I took a break in Mankato, Minnesota) I pull into the drive. As always I have a couple of thousand images to sort through – and a lot of sleep to catch up on.

Who has more fun than Bikers?

About this time of year, most folks look at the calendar and think, “wow, it’s already mid-summer, I better finish up all those outside chores I have to do before fall.” Motorcycle people have a different perspective, for them the refrain goes like this, “Shit, Sturgis is almost here, and I still have to finish the paint job and assemble the bike.”

For all those who live and breathe motorcycles, the month before Sturgis is crunch time. Time to finish the paint job and install the new wheels, or at least get the oil changed and put in a new set of brake pads. In a hundred shops and a thousand garages, men and women toil through Saturdays and Sundays, all in an effort to get their ride in condition for Sturgis.

When it comes to meeting tight Sturgis deadlines, three heads are better than one, especially when the three have a family bond: Up front, Mark Shadley; in the middle, brother Paul; close up, Mark’s son Dean.

Speaking of working Saturday and Sunday, my current trip to work with Bobby Sullivan includes a stop at the Shadley Brothers shop in nearby Whitman, Massachusetts. And though it’s mid-afternoon on July 4th as I write this, brothers Mark and Paul, and Mark’s son Dean, are toiling away, trying to finish two brand new Victorys in time for Sturgis.

If you’re a die-hard custom bike fan, it’s tough to ride a stock motorcycle. Thus the need to customize not one, but two new Victory Baggers. One is receiving a relatively mild once over, while the other, Mark’s bike, came in for fabrication work. And because of a planned ride to Sturgis, the boys only have about two weeks to finish it all up. Like all their two-wheeled brothers and sisters, however, Mark, Paul and Dean, will indeed paint, assemble and finish the two Victory’s, even if it takes working the next three weekends. Because, like death and taxes, there are some absolutes in this world, and one of those absolutes is this: The bike(s) must run for Sturgis.

Compared to a Harley, the new Victory’s look ultra modern, with a two-piece cast aluminum backbone for a frame, no front downtube, and a solid-mounted engine that’s an integral part of the frame.

The Real Reason
The real reason for another trip to Boston is the Sullivan photo shoot. As mentioned before, Bobby Sullivan, owner of Sullivans, is also owner of an extremely nice collection of Triumph motorcycles, has decided to assemble all those bikes in one place in order to take a group photo. The plan includes not just a group shot, but individual photos of each motorcycle. All of which promised to keep me busy through the week.

So while Mark, Paul and Dean work to meet their Sturgis deadline, I work to shoot 75 Triumphs, both as a group and as individual machines. Stay tuned.

Seventy five beautiful and restored Triumph’s, representing an enormous commitment to one brand, and to restoration work of the very highest caliber.

Kid Rock

Jacki, our superbly talented Graphic artist, just finished up the Music chapter for the Sturgis 70th Anniversary book. When I looked over the images this morning, I was reminded that good fun and great music is what thousands and thousands of riders and enthusiasts enjoy in Sturgis every year. I also realized that more than just the epicenter of motorcycling, Sturgis becomes - for one week each year – the center of high quality music and entertainment.

Kid Rock was just one of many high-profile musicians to appear during Rally Week.

The book goes to the printer this week, and though the female readers would disagree, it feels a bit like giving birth. What’s left is a few more captions, placement of some photos and a final proof reading.

Among the Music acts there were some non-musical characters, like Gallagher, who makes one hell of a show out of insults and canned corn sprayed all over anyone in the first 10 rows.

As mentioned before, the other book that is waiting in the queue so to speak is Pro Pinstripe Techniques, by East Coast Artie. Both books ship to the printer at the same time, and both are available on a pre-order basis – just use the coupon on the web site. The code for Sturgis is: sturgis70, the code word for the Pro Pinstripe book is: sema. Remember, order early and order often.

East Coast Artie’s Pro Pinstripe book ships to the printer shortly, along with our Sturgis 70th Anniversary book.

My Sturgis hangover is finally over. I’ve caught up on my sleep, begun to eat real food again, and re-trained myself to postpone the first beer until 5:00 PM.

Our newest pinstriping book is nearly finished, all we need is a little help from our friends (and Artie’s friends).

What’s left in this void is work, pure and simple. Job number one is to finish the Pro Pinstripe book, a series of start-to-finish pinstriping sequences done with a lot of help from East Coast Artie and a group of his talented friends. At this point we have all the photos picked and laid out, but we’re waiting for Artie and his talented friends to get it in gear and write some captions to fill those little boxes below each photo. Anything they write is so much better than my own lame descriptions of what’s going on or why they guy used red instead of blue…. But of course there’s the wait.

Here we have Nubs of OCC fame, striping an electric guitar – just one of the sequences found in our new Pro Pinstripe book.

And between and betwixt all this Pinstriping work is the topic that’s really at the top of my list – The Sturgis Book. So far I’ve inventoried my photos, sent copies to various people like the crew from the Broken Spoke, and tried to cajole the staff from the Spoke and the Chip into putting our book on their web sites.

Ernie (he who had to stay after school one night in Sturgis) and I go back and forth with ideas for the book, and Scooter (master photographer) is on The Salt, so I can’t get all his photos yet.

The idea is to send the Pro Pinstriping book, and the Sturgis 70th Anniversary book, to the printer at the same time. All in the name of saving a buck or maybe three. The deadline looms. Christmas is indeed just around the corner. Damn, I’d better get to work.

The Sturgis 70th and Pro Pinstripe books are joined at the hip like Siamese twins, both gotta go to the printer at the same time.

I’ve said it a hundred times, the best thing about traveling isn’t the things you see, it’s the people you meet while you’re looking for all those things. Anyone who doubts the veracity of what I say need only go to Sturgis in August.

Bean’re
When it comes to the interesting folks I met this year, Kevin Bean’re would have to rate at the top. I met Kevin at Cincinnati this year, but it wasn’t until Sturgis that I had a chance to really get to know him.

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s really like to chuck the whole deal, the house payments, the car, the job and all the rest, just check with Bean’re. When I asked if he had a permanent address, he explained: “I have a post office box in Tennessee, before that I lived in Miami and before that I lived in the Virgin Islands for awhile. A real residence is just a base, a place for my stuff. But due to economy I have no stuff so I don’t need a base.”

Underneath the wild and crazy exterior is a very thoughtful and talented man. Clean and Sober for twenty-two years, Bean’re is a skilled carpenter. When funds get short he finds a job, often building and designing additions to some very nice houses. Once his part of the project is over, Kevin collects his money and hits the road again. The frequent travel gives Bean’re an opportunity to visit rallies like Sturgis, where this year he found a semi tractor with an empty sleeper compartment – his housing for the week.

We ended our little impromptu interview with a discussion of freedom and what it really means. Bean’re bought up Jack Nicholson’s little epistle on freedom from the movie Easy Rider, “they’re not afraid of you, they’re afraid of what you represent…..” (you can find the movie clip by plugging “Jack Nicholson, Easy Rider, freedom” into Google.)

Kevin Bean’re: biker, carpenter and traveler extraordinaire.

Colleen Swartz
Colleen is another free spirit, one with a bit of a split personality. When home in Milwaukee she spends her time photographing models, often in pin-up attire. But when it comes time for Sturgis or Daytona, she leaves the studio behind and packs her cameras in the RV. This year she spent much of her time at the Broken Spoke campground as the official photographer.

I convinced Colleen to sit on the back of my Bagger for a few hours one morning so we could take some in-the-wind pics. First we did a loop through Main Street, followed by a freeway run to Spearfish, and a ride down Spearfish Canyon as far as Bridal Veil Falls.

Colleen on her mighty Honda ready to tear up the track at Sturgis Dragway.

The photos from that morning are spectacular, and my own photos from the week in Sturgis aren’t bad either. The joy of the trip, however was meeting Colleen and Bean’re and Scooter’s brother Buck and the cute bar maid from the Firehouse and a dozen more.

I’m thinking the road to heaven must look a lot like the road through Spearfish Canyon, thanks Colleen.