Sunday, September 17, 2017

A Day at the Races....

We woke to a cold, but thankfully dry, day. I was expecting to look out the motel room window and see frost, it was almost cold enough. There was radar indicated snow 50 miles away. We decided to go out and brave the cold. John wanted to ride to Sturgis and find out what time the supermoto races started. They were going to start their practice laps and qualifying at noon.

We left Sturgis and went south, down Vanocker Canyon Road. It's a beautiful, twisty road with a good surface and lots of elevation changes. Some 9% and 10% grades, with lots of 25 MPH curves and right angle corners. Parts of Vanocker Canyon Road are posted 35 MPH and 45 MPH. We enjoyed a spirited ride down the canyon.

When we got to the end of Vanocker, we turned left onto Nemo Road. Nemo's not quite as twisty as Vanocker, but it's just as fun to ride. Nemo ends at the cut off to Johnson Siding. From there, we turned around and ran back north to Sturgis. It was a great way to spend some time before the races started.

It never did warm up much. I think the high I saw was 50°F.

We spent the next 5 or 6 hours watching the races. If you're not sure what supermoto is, it's like motocross on the street with some dirt sections and some big dirt jumps. The bikes are motocross style and most of the riders were running street tires front and rear. A few were on knobbies. The course ran on several Sturgis streets, around a some buildings, across a parking lot or two... There were several classes, including youngsters riding 65cc and 80cc bikes, amateurs and vets, and a couple of pro classes, both 250cc and 450cc.

We didn't make it back to our motel until after dark and the temps were falling fast.





No racing and ALL riding tomorrow!!