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Just wanna ride...

The bikes are strapped down in the cargo trailer; the motorhome is loaded... we head north tomorrow. Looks like a LOT of hot weather ahead of us, all along our route. At the end of the trek: hoping for lots of good riding! See you down the road!
 
Captain Jim said:
The bikes are strapped down in the cargo trailer; the motorhome is loaded... we head north tomorrow. Looks like a LOT of hot weather ahead of us, all along our route. At the end of the trek: hoping for lots of good riding! See you down the road!
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Are you guys going to North Dakota this summer?
 
cabanza said:
Are you guys going to North Dakota this summer?
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Close... SOUTH Dakota... that's the pretty one, with the Black Hills, Custer State Park, Iron Mountain Road, Mt Rushmore, Spearfish Canyon, and all those other great riding roads in the western part of the state. North Dakota has... well... none of that. If you stand on your tip toes in western North Dakota, you can see the eastern border of the state. I'm kidding... but ND has Theodore Roosevelt National Park, and um... um... I'm sure there's something else there besides flaxseed and wheat fields and natural gas wells.

There is a bit of a rivalry between South Dakota and their neighbor to the north. Let me use a Texas analogy you'll get: South Dakota is to south Texas, as North Dakota is to west Texas.
 
We lived in the Black Hills for almost 30 years (Sturgis, Boulder Canyon, and Spearfish) - very familiar with all those great roads and always look forward to getting back there during the good riding season when it works out. Yeah, things get crowded during the Rally, but we find good riding on the "less traveled" roads during that two-week period.

For a bit of nostalgia: I bought a few Harleys from the dealer in Rapid City when it was in a quonset hut in downtown. They went upscale and built a bigger building about 6 blocks west of there. These days, the HD dealer there has one of those mega-buildings just off the Interstate where they essentially have their own rally during the Sturgis event, with over 100 vendors. Yes, I rode my Vespa there the last couple years.

In the years we have been riding (got my first motorcycle in 1967) we have had the opportunity to ride in some great places... it is the Black Hills that calls me back, though. Certainly, the character has changed over the years, but so have we. ;-)
 
We rolled into the Black Hills yesterday, and are settling in at the RV resort that will be our home base while we're here. Out on the CTX today.

This would be the first really good test of how this bike does in the twisties (the reason we are here)... how would the Dual Clutch Transmission handle some "sporting" conditions... and the really big question in my mind: Would it be as much fun as the Vespa?

captnjim.blogspot.com

So good, so good, so good...

If you said, "What the crowd sings during the Neil Diamond song Sweet Caroline: 'Good times never seemed so good...' " you get 15 bonus po...
captnjim.blogspot.com captnjim.blogspot.com

No photos or videos today. A cool, blustery day. Some back road twisties where we rarely encounter traffic; onto Iron Mountain Road (the Black Hills' equivalence of the Tail of the Dragon). If you don't want to click the link, the spoiler is: the CTX is as much fun as I had hoped. Is it as "flickable" as a Vespa GTS? Not quite, but it makes up for it with other attributes... and the Dual Clutch Transmission in Sport Mode with the additional use of the paddle (trigger) shifters to keep the RPM right where you want it is big fun.

After 3 months of owning this bike, today's ride left me with my biggest smile yet.

MotorcycleMap.jpg
 
My Honey and I, out on the Xmax and CTX today - loving these roads in the Black Hills...

Still6JoanTunnel.jpg


Still2Us.jpg


Still3JoanSplit.jpg


My plan was to shoot some short 360 video clips... wound up with 42 video clips and decided to go another way...



A one minute video "trailer".
 
Captain Jim said:
My Honey and I, out on the Xmax and CTX today - loving these roads in the Black Hills...

Still6JoanTunnel.jpg


Still2Us.jpg


Still3JoanSplit.jpg


My plan was to shoot some short 360 video clips... wound up with 42 video clips and decided to go another way...



A one minute video "trailer".
Click to expand...

I'm jealous. I had a trip planned to the Black Hills this month but had to cancel due to my wife's back problems. Surgery is scheduled this week.
 
klaviator said:
I'm jealous. I had a trip planned to the Black Hills this month but had to cancel due to my wife's back problems. Surgery is scheduled this week.
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Sorry to hear about your wife's situation - back pain is a bitch. Hope the surgery goes easy and gives her relief. Let her know the folks here are wishing her the best outcome and a quick recovery.
 
Captain Jim said:
Sorry to hear about your wife's situation - back pain is a bitch. Hope the surgery goes easy and gives her relief. Let her know the folks here are wishing her the best outcome and a quick recovery.
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Thanks. We are hoping for the best and hope to make it to the Black Hills next year.
 
Riding in the northern Black Hills today - a video clip of what downtown Sturgis looks like a month before the world famous Sturgis Motorcycle Rally; and some bonus footage of the ride through Vanocker Canyon...



captnjim.blogspot.com

Sturgis: One Month Before the Rally...

Out on the CTX again today. The plan: ride Vanocker Canyon. The "side plan": stop at the motorcycle dealer to make sure they have the ...
captnjim.blogspot.com captnjim.blogspot.com
 
THIS ALMOST NEVER HAPPENS! I got out early on the CTX today, to beat the heat. It gave me the chance to ride Iron Mountain Road with NO TRAFFIC! What a treat! I was planning on taking a few still photos, but seeing no traffic on the way to IMR, I decided to do a "one take - no edits" video of the northern half of this great riding road. All the fun stuff: hairpin curves, tunnels, pigtail bridges, splits, the occasional view of Mt Rushmore... but mostly: some great riding! Let me know what you think, and thanks for riding along!

 
klaviator said:
I'm jealous. I had a trip planned to the Black Hills this month but had to cancel due to my wife's back problems. Surgery is scheduled this week.
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I mean, its your wife's back problems not yours, I'm not seeing the problem here :ricky (Hope she gets better fast!)
 
Out for another ride today, through the northern Hills. High on the agenda: ride through Spearfish Canyon. Sometimes things don't work out. Oh, the ride through the canyon was great. The only time today I got the camera out was for that ride through the canyon... part way into it, a bug splatted into the front lens on my 360 camera. No, I couldn't see it. So, this is what I got...



A couple still images...

Canyon1.jpg


Jim1.jpg
 
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