Well, finally got out of the bloody prairie to where I could ride and scrub a bit of rubber off the sidewalls. My neighbor Mike fired up his gorgeous Beemer and we headed out from Sioux falls for a day of riding at Custer State Park in the badlands. Both bikes ran flawlessly even during the boring slab of hours and hours at
90+ the speed limit even on an 80+ degree day. The 80mph speed limit in SD really does make a difference and save some time.
We camped in a state park cabin Saturday, very nice and cheap ($50). In the morning after a wonderful breakfast at the BlueBell Lodge which I emphatically recommend we had a glorious day of riding the twisties. Some really fun good quality roads with corners marked anywhere from 10mph to 35mph. Some wildlife and this time of year the tourist traffic was very tolerable.
I am definitely getting more cowardly as I grow older, I only scraped pegs on the Norge twice the whole day (ok, one time was prolly just the centerstand on a left corner). It could also have been that the scenery was so gorgeous I really didn't want to focus so tightly on the road and miss all the beauty. I was really glad to have the new PR4 on the back of the bike. The Pilots behaved perfectly, never giving even a hint of instability.
Coming around a blind corner right in to a one lane tunnel was an interesting experience.
OK, I did say pictures..
This was one of the more tame corners
View from the Needles Highway, easily the most scenic ride in the park and a great motorcycle road.
Some of the local Fauna
OK, so I was a little overloaded
One of many tunnels along the road
You can see a bit of road through the trees
An artists representation of the future Crazyhorse monument pointing to the actual work in progress.
I found this more impressive than Rushmore
