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General Discussion => Trips/Ride reports => Topic started by: t120rbullet on October 02, 2013, 03:00:50 am

Title: Rally on the River in Exile 2013
Post by: t120rbullet on October 02, 2013, 03:00:50 am
Rally on the River in Exile Report

As many of you know the last and 10th Annual Rally on the River was held in 2011.
A few of us frequented many of those rally's and were left with hole in the end of the summer that the rally used to fill.  So after numerous e-mails back and fourth between the rally people Mike Baird took out a map and marked the furthest East person (me) and the furthest West person (him) and half way in between was somewhere roughly around Omaha Nebraska.
Nothing against the fine folks that live in Nebraska but if I wanted to ride straight flat roads through cornfields I could just stay in Michigan. Mike just moved out to Colorado to get away from the straight flat roads through the corn in southern Illinois.
So after a subtle hint that the Black hills were just a bit northwest of there the title on the e-mails became "Sturgis 2013". The date was set at the first full weekend of September to miss all the Sturgis rally stuff and the family vacationers.

I left at 2:00 am Sunday the 1st so I could hook up with the 9:00 am ferry to get across Lake Michigan.  It was a mix of wet fog and drizzle all the way across Michigan but cleared up real nice by the time I got to the ferry. 4 hours later I arrived in Wisconsin and had to cross that state to meet up with Bob Bezin on the western side of that state. The next morning Bob, his friend John and I headed West.  We headed a bit south and rode across Iowa on 2 lane blacktops. Spent the night in a city park/petting zoo/waterpark camped right behind the signs that said "No Camping Behind Sign".
Lot's of beer and food that night.

The next morning we took off and rode into and across South Dakota. By the time we got to the Badlands it was hot and nasty out. Couldn't get through there fast enough. Got to the cabin Bob had arranged for us Tues evening.
Lot's of beer and food that night.
 
Wed. morning we went for a ride. Took some back roads up to spearfish canyon and then took some back roads back to the cabin. I think we rode like 112 miles and it took us 8 hours or so. Lotsa twisties and lotsa pic breaks.
Lot's of beer and food that night.


Thursday everyone else showed up.
Mike from Colorado
Leonard Williams from Kansas
Dustin and Toby Fierstein from Nebraska   
Chris Edwards from Kansas

8 people from 5 different states. Pretty good showing for something that started with a few e-mails.
I also want to note that Chris Edwards rode his AVL Classic there, put a ton of miles on it while we were there and made it back home intact.  The iron butt toast was to him.
As a side note he rode it all the way from Kansas to Minnesota for the Lanesboro Rally last June.  An animal in the saddle is he.
Lot's of beer and food that night.


Thursday afternoon we rode down to Mt Rushmore and got screwed out of 11 bucks ea so we could see some dead presidents. We went, we looked, we took pics, we ate some ice cream and we booked.
Lot's of beer and food that night.

Friday, a day of riding. All of us rode down and did the Custer State park thing. The Needles Highway,  Iron Mountain Road and some others took up the better part of the day.  The Iron Mountain Road took the first casualty of the rally. Toby's Guzzi had gotten real hot on the slow twisty road and when we stopped for some pics it vaporlocked and would not start. It had started raining so he got on the back of Mikes bike and rode down to Keystone for some lunch. That rain by the way was the only real rain I saw since I left Michigan. 
There was a sign hanging on the wall outside the restaurant we ate at that said,

Iron Mountain Road  16a
17 Miles   
314 Curves
14 Switchbacks
3 Pigtails
3 Tunnels
2 Splits
4 Presidents

Lot's of beer and food that night.  And that clear stuff in the mason jar.

Saturday, another day of riding. Took some 2 lane blacktops up through Vanocker Canyon into Sturgis, went to the motorcycle museum and got some lunch at the Knuckle Saloon. Now I feel like a real biker.
Then we went through Spearfish Canyon again (going the other direction) and down 385 to our next causality of the weekend.  The handlebars fell off the overheating Guzzi (sorry Toby).  Aside from a few wobbles Toby brought it to a stop from 60 mph on a mountain road without flopping it. We walked the road back a 1/4 mile and found all the washers, bolts and rubber bits to get it all back together and continued down to Nemo Rd.     
and back into Rapid City.
That night we had a buffalo roast that Bernita the wonderful lady that owned the cabin cooked for us. And more beer. And that clear stuff in the mason jar.

Sunday, People started packing up and going home. By noon or so there was just Bob, John and myself  left. Bob was a bit burned out so John and I went back down to Custer and did the wildlife loop. Kinda uneventful after the last few days but I did have some burro try to lick off the bugs on the front of my bike. Would have let him finish but he started to scratch himself on the turn signal so I had to chase him off.

Monday, Bob and John left to go back home and from what I understand didn't make it too far when the mechanical gods pulled the rug out from under them. John had a short on the horn wire that blew a fuse and killed the bike and right after that one of Bob's coils died. After all that they made it back home intact.
I still had a week and a half left of vacation  so I left a few hours after they did and headed over into Wyoming and Montana and just kinda drifted back home.
I got home Thursday night with a total of 3,337 miles for the trip. Bought the bike right before I left and racked up 3,943 miles on it in 3.5 weeks.

Great Ride.
Great seeing all you guys.
Too much food.

Next year,,,,,,,,, Rally on the River in Exile.....Colorado.
CJ
Title: Re: Rally on the River in Exile 2013
Post by: baird4444 on October 02, 2013, 04:43:56 am
This was my 1st long distance road trip and I am hooked. It was great seeing
these guys since the LAST Rally on the River in 2011. CJ pretty much nailed it, good friends, good riding, good food, and good drinks...
            -  Mike
Title: Re: Rally on the River in Exile 2013
Post by: baird4444 on October 02, 2013, 04:49:05 am
it was an eclectic group from 5 states riding a big Yamaha Star, an Aprilla, Moto Guzzi, Honda Valkyrie, 2 Triumph T100's, and a 650 KLR.
Title: Re: Rally on the River in Exile 2013
Post by: baird4444 on October 02, 2013, 04:52:46 am
I would have to say that Custer State Park was made for motorcycles...
Title: Re: Rally on the River in Exile 2013
Post by: baird4444 on October 02, 2013, 04:56:01 am
my pics are way to big so that's why all the replies
Title: Re: Rally on the River in Exile 2013
Post by: baird4444 on October 02, 2013, 04:57:34 am
BoB....   the 5th stone face?
Title: Re: Rally on the River in Exile 2013
Post by: baird4444 on October 02, 2013, 05:00:30 am
This was a great trip. I rode up from southwest Colorado to Casper, Wy the 1st day. Then on into Rapid City S.D. on my day 2.
Title: Re: Rally on the River in Exile 2013
Post by: DanKearney on October 02, 2013, 05:01:41 am
I would have to say that Custer State Park was made for motorcycles...

+1 on that.  Did you ride the awesome 16A up to Rushmore?  How'd you like those sections where the road circles around on top of itself to get up those grades?  A fantastic area.

(http://coloradopeaks.net/PostedPhotos/Enfield/16a.png)

Cheers,

Dan K.
Title: Re: Rally on the River in Exile 2013
Post by: baird4444 on October 02, 2013, 05:09:07 am
and then after I left these guys, I headed west to Dubois, Wyoming to meet
my wife at my son's place. He had to work so that left us to ride The Grand Tetons and Yellowstone...   Beauty!! 
   Then back South to Colorado for me, 1st 5 hours riding in COLD, PISSY,
Wyoming rain....     2,400 miles for me   already making plans for 2014 and
The Rally on the River in exile....
        - Mike
Title: Re: Rally on the River in Exile 2013
Post by: baird4444 on October 02, 2013, 05:13:42 am
    "+1 on that.  Did you ride the awesome 16A up to Rushmore?  How'd you like those sections where the road circles around on top of itself to get up those grades?  A fantastic area."
  Oh yes, The tunnel just above that corkscrew is where the Guzzi died
the 1st time( sorry Toby).  yea, we really tore it up coming down that part.
Title: Re: Rally on the River in Exile 2013
Post by: t120rbullet on October 02, 2013, 10:52:46 pm
This was my 1st long distance road trip and I am hooked.
-  Mike

If your that hooked maybe Colorado is too close for you.
Maybe we should change 2014 to "Rally on the River in Exile.....Fairbanks"

http://www.motorcyclecruiser.com/rideanddest/motorcycle_riding_alaska/viewall.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YmJAWLzJBRk#t=107
Title: Re: Rally on the River in Exile 2013
Post by: High On Octane on October 03, 2013, 05:25:23 am
Come on now!  I was getting excited about it being in Colorado.   :(

Scottie
Title: Re: Rally on the River in Exile 2013
Post by: t120rbullet on October 03, 2013, 05:28:20 pm
Come on now!  I was getting excited about it being in Colorado.   :(

Scottie

OK,,,,,, Everyone seems to be on the CO page for 2014.
AK 2015   That will give me enough time to get a bike more fitting for a trip like that anyway.
CJ
Title: Re: Rally on the River in Exile 2013
Post by: Lane on October 06, 2013, 04:05:02 am
Somewhere in Wyoming...
Title: Re: Rally on the River in Exile 2013
Post by: D the D on October 06, 2013, 07:30:52 am
my pics are way to big so that's why all the replies

If you are running Windows, to resize you can right click on the file and open them in Paint or Windows Live Photo Gallery.  If you have MS Office, you can right click and choose "Open in Office" and resize them to preset formats, i.e. "Webpage, Large" or "Email, Small" and save.  Then upload.
Example, this is resized to "Webpage, Large" (640 x 480 pix):

Title: Re: Rally on the River in Exile 2013
Post by: baird4444 on October 06, 2013, 03:41:24 pm
thanks, most of them were really from my cell phone, already a pain in the
arse to move to the puter, let alone resize. NEXT time I'll give it a go.
                - Mike
Title: Re: Rally on the River in Exile 2013
Post by: boggy on October 11, 2013, 12:16:33 am
Cool pics.  Got to get to Mount Rushmore.  It looks almost unbelievable.  What kind of Guzzi is that?
Title: Re: Rally on the River in Exile 2013
Post by: barenekd on October 14, 2013, 04:40:05 pm
Quote
What kind of Guzzi is that?

One of the V11 Cafe Sport variations.
Bare
Title: Re: Rally on the River in Exile 2013
Post by: bob bezin on May 07, 2014, 08:46:19 pm
ok guys, any takers for the lanesborough replacement rally?
Title: Re: Rally on the River in Exile 2013
Post by: t120rbullet on May 07, 2014, 09:30:22 pm
ok guys, any takers for the lanesborough replacement rally?

Yup