This year’s event was the 69^th edition of founder Pappy Hoel’s gathering of nine racers and a small group of spectators back in 1938 and as usual, it was a grand affair in spite of economic news that had everyone wondering if the rally would be a bust. Hell no. As far as I could tell from the number of people I saw riding in V-twin traffic jams, people watching or strutting their stuff hoping they were being watched, and in general, partying like it was 1999. Everybody’s always talking attendance figures to determine whether the rally is considered a success or not and frankly, that’s just something that personally doesn’t interest me a bit. Do a bit of online searching for previous yearly rally-goer totals (guesstimates at best, how do you come up with an exact number like 394,009 people in 2009 for instance?) and you can find just about any number that’ll fit your side of a silly argument as to whether it was an up or a down event.

All I know is that it’s a great time and having a few less people only makes it a smite easier (still only a smite) to get around on your bike or to get a tasty adult beverage and listen to some music at any of the many fantabulous Sturgis biker bars you know and love. Barnett’ Magazine’s ever smiling, ever handshaking, hard riding and hard working advertising director, Penny Osiecki, and I were very appreciative of this fact after pounding the hot pavement all day long talking with the movers and shakers in the V-twin industry. Not having to fight your way to the bar to get a cold one was refreshing and to actually be able to plunk an elbow down on the bar while doing so was even more enjoyable. Maybe not the all-out chaos bar owners would’ve hoped for, but the cash registers still seemed to be constantly ringing and the bartenders were working their asses off so it couldn’t have been too bad.

I gotta admit I was a little bit shocked when I got quite a few emails the day before leaving for Sturgis telling me that motel rooms were still available. Actually seeing quite a few vacancy signs after arriving was surprising. It did seem that the campgrounds, big and small, were doing great with people just being economically smart and the rented houses in town had every square inch of yard covered in tents too. Spreading the love and saving the cash for fun was the order of the day it seemed for the army of black T-shirt and denim-clad crowd.

Even though some bike shows were absent this year, it’s still a treat seeing what the creative minds of professional and garage builders continue to come up with. Whether it’s on the street or in a judged show, there’s always plenty of stuff floating around to see and drool over. The AMD World Championship show was such a wild array of bikes, it’s hard to walk around and comprehend how each builder took such a unique approach to coming up with an entry. Dave Cook of Cook’s Customs became the first American to win the top spot with his longitudinally mounted in-line four engineering masterpiece that couldn’t have been more different than Kris Krome’s absolutely insane (in a cool way) pivoting-frame steering, minimalist Triumph twin. Fred Krugger took third with a race-inspired bike I wanted to take home that will be featured in the next issue of Barnett’s Magazine (also featured will be Satya Kraus’s fifth-place work of art he actually rides on the road called Snatch). Over at the Metzeler show, Todd Silicatos’ Olive bike featured in this issue took Best of Show while last issue’s centerfold bike (Barnett’s #70) by Steve Iacona took second. Somehow builders just get be better and better every year and judging them is almost a disservice. Man, they were all winners in my opinion. Unfortunately I couldn’t catch The Horse Backstreet Choppers or the Rat’s Hole show, but checking out the constant array of interesting bikes on the street helped make up for that.

Sturgis 2009 may have been down attendance wise, but it certainly wasn’t a downer. If you go there and don’t enjoy the hell out of it you should probably look for a new hobby like collecting Beanie Babies or something. With the 70^th anniversary coming up next August 9-15 and everybody expecting record crowds, you better start planning now. Making the pilgrimage to motorcycling’s mecca should be on everyone’s bucket list.