Day 5, 02Aug2025 - Riding the Black Hills

We come to Sturgis mostly to ride.  The riding in the Black Hills is just amazing, the Sturgis area welcomes motorcycles and during the annual rally, many towns dedicate their streets to motorcycles only. It is estimated that 700,000 motorcycles will visit Sturgis for the 85th rally.  There are bikes of all kinds here but clearly Harley Davidson dominates the other manufacturers with about 2/3s of the bikes being Harleys. We are seeing a lot of Indians this year, they are definitely on the rise, June thinks they are more pretty than the HD. 

Official Sturgis Riding Map

Here is the official Sturgis riding map, I bring it along but since we have John with us, it really is not needed. John knows all the good rides.

Saturday we rode about 162 miles, it was some of the finest riding we have ever done. The weather was perfect, the scenery was spectacular and traffic was remarkably light. We only ran into one slow down and we were told it was because the cops were doing a sobriety check, but we never saw a cop when it cleared...go figure. 

We rode a couple of the classic routes, the Needles Highway and Iron Mountain. This ride has some of the best views with tunnels, switchbacks, tight curves and pigtail bridges, it is just awesome. 

Sylvan Lake

We stopped at Sylvan Lake, it is a very pretty place.

Sylvan Lake

Perfect weather. 

Needles Eye Tunnel

It is just beautiful as you enter the Needles Eye Tunnel. 

After Needles we rode Iron Mountain, it has some serious switchbacks and pigtails, as you exit the tunnels you can see Mount Rushmore.

Spokane Creek

We stopped at Spokane Creek to stretch our legs, this sign says it all about Iron Mountain Road. 

John, with Rushmore in the background

Everyone revs their engines in the tunnel....mine is meek compared to others. 

After the twisities we rode the highways to Rapid City for lunch, it was nearing 14:00, I was really hungry.  

We ate at the famous Fire House Brewing Company, it was very tasty

We took I90 back to Sturgis, and had a siesta before going downtown for drinks and dinner. 

We met John and Terry at One Eyed Jack's, they had nice seats for us on the balcony of the second floor, in the shade with a view of the town. 

Sturgis from One Eyed Jack's

This picture even captured the Sturgis sign on the hill across the valley

We had dinner at the Loud American Bar, it was inside seating and had AC...but the music was loud. 

Sturgis from Loud American

We did get a nice table by the window with a good view of the street.  People watching is high entertainment in Sturgis. 

June nearly got taken by an Eagle on the street. 

After dinner we went across the street and had another drink on the Knuckle second floor balcony watching people. A bit after 21:00, June and I headed for DaBus and this time nailed it, no wait...straight back to camp and it was not hailing...

Sunday we are planning a morning ride since rain is forecast in the afternoon.