Globex Corporation Newsletter

The rally is winding down and while we all enjoy the boost to the economy the bikers bring (and as a Black Hills resident, I am required to say that), I'll be glad to have our sleepy little tourist destination back.

The problem with the rally as I see it is paradox of image. For the rally to be successful, you have to foster an image of a wild lawless region. That is an image, not a reality. Let's face it, 500,000 people would not converge in Sturgis, SD if it truely was wild and lawless, but people like the idea of being an outlaw. When ESPN's SportsCenter was in Sturgis for the rally, anchor Kenny Mayne remarked that it seemed pretty tame. Why did he think that? Because the hype is such that "anything goes" in Sturgis. That simply isn't the reality, no matter how much the hype would have you believe it.

Five hundred thousand people are going to have a huge effect any place they converge, but the fact is that there is more law enforcement per capita in Sturgis right now than in any other area of our state. If a hot chick wants to walk topless down Main in Sturgis, she's going to be arrested. If you ride you motorcycle 100 mph on I-90, you're going to get arrested. If you walk out of a bar with a beer in your hand, you're going ot get arrested. Like any festival type setting, it's impossible to enforce every law (like ridiculously loud pipes), but if you do the same things over and over again, you're going to get arrested. It's not lawless here, but since that's a big drawing point to the rally, the misconception will be allowed to live on.

Another apparent misconception, buffalo are docile animals. That big bull in the photo is simply being polite like the rest of your rally hosts, but you're riding right up to him, totally unprotected, on a bike with illegally loud pipes. When he's finally had enough, every biker in that photo is in life threatening danger. Can a Harley outrun a buffalo? You bet, but it can't accelerate or corner like a buffalo. Those bikes are stopped, that buffalo will be at full speed in a couple of strides and one biker will be dead, his attempts to accelerate and get away causing his pipes to roar louder simply enraging the beast more. Any biker buddies who attempt to intervene will meet the same fate. My advice, get out while the gettin's good. There's a story of a buffalo in Wind Cave National Park that got pissed and rammed a Volkswagen. The VW was knocked off of the road and rolled 3 times, what chance do you have on a bike. But hey, good luck with that.