Well -- now that we all survived the election (thank you Elon), here's what I'm planning for Unbound '25. The Black Hills in South Dakota has some awesome motorcycle roads (i.e., epicenter for Sturgis which I did back in 2002) but I've never been able to incorporate it into a typical 7-day ride-loop because it's so far away (about 500 miles) from anything else. We'd have to burn at least two full 500 mile days to/from Montana, Wyoming or Colorado through some very desolate eastern Wyoming topography.
So, this year I'm planning on a quasi-Sturgis type of ride where we simply anchor ourselves in the greater Rapid City area and just do day-trips. While this may not satiate the "journey" aspect of a typical Unbound ride, it certainly makes the logistics a lot easier. It would also make it easier for someone to join us if they couldn't take the entire week off.
NOTE: Given the fact we will be camped out in Rapid City area for the duration, Riders will need to make there own hotel reservations. This gives folks some flexibility to overnight at some different hotels in the area or book their preferred hotel chain with points and takes me out of the loop.
ALSO -- Note that EagleRider has two locations in Rapid City -- i.e., a small satellite at the airport, and their main rental site in Vale, SD. The EagleRider outlet we want is the one located in Vale, SD next to the Full Throttle Saloon about 40 miles from Rapid City. So everyone should fly into Rapid City Saturday afternoon/evening and then I'll arrange for a shuttle bus to take us up to EagleRider in Vale, SD Sunday moring when they open. We'll reverse the procedure when we return the bikes -- i.e., plan to return the bikes by EOD Friday so people can fly-out Saturaday moring. The logistics/distance of where Eaglerider is located and the airport, and flight options in/out of Rapid City make the START/END of this ride a little different than other Unbound rides.
Here's a rough itinerary of what I'm thinking. NOTE -- each of these are day-rides out of Rapid City, so they don't need to occur in this order, but each day-ride was designed to cover as much of the Black Hills as possible. You'll notice the daily distances and overall length of the ride is considerably less than a typical Unbound ride. This is because we'll be spending more time at stops (e.g., Sturgis, Deadwood, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse; and attractions) and the posted speeds on some of the roads is below the average of past Unbound ride routes:
Day 0/Sat 16th -- Everyone should plan on flying into Rapid City, S.D. the 16th in the afternoon/evening so we can pick-up bikes first thing Sunday AM
Day 1/Sun 17th -- Group/bus shuttle from Hotel to EagleRider; pick-up bikes and do Sturgis, Deadwood & Spearfish Canyon (120 miles +/-)
Day 2/Mon 18th -- Devils Tower (280 miles)
Day 3/Tue 19th -- Rushmore ride (120 miles)
Day 4/Wed 20th -- Badlands, Wall Drug, S.D. Air/Space Museum (150 miles)
Day 5/Thu 21st -- Crazy Horse; Custer State Park; Needles Hwy (150 miles)
Day 6/Fri 22nd -- Free/Flex Day ending at EagleRider by EOD to turn-in bikes; Shuttle-bus group back to Hotel(s)
Day 7/Sat 23rd -- Fly-out.
Hotels -- I know we've got a bunch of Marriott-points millionaires in the roster, so "Home Base" has three Marriott hotel brands to choose from -- all within walking distance from each other.
Residence Inn -- 581 Watiki Way, Box Elder, SD*
Fairfield Inn -- 1314 N. Elk Vale Road, Rapid City, SD
Marriott Courtyard -- 580 Watiki Way, Box Elder, SD
(*) Note -- The Residence Inn has the best freebie breakfast set-up; No freebie breakfast at the Courtyard. The Residence Inn is also the cheapest.