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The Wheel Thing: Sturgis Motorcycle Rally may draw 1 million
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Jul 30, 2015
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The Wheel Thing: Sturgis Motorcycle Rally may draw 1 million
The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally kicks off next week. An insider's view of what it likes hanging out with half a million bikers.
A cyclist performs a field sobriety test near the site of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally
A cyclist performs a field sobriety test near the site of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally
(
Jerry Reynolds Photography
)

The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally kicks off next week. An insider's view of what it likes hanging out with half a million bikers.

Every August, the population of South Dakota almost doubles, as legions of rubber-burning and sometimes hell-raising bikers descend upon the tiny town of Sturgis.

It's always a bit of a madhouse, but this year's festival, which begins next week, is the 75th anniversary, and some expect record-breaking crowds.

Our Wheel Thing emcee, motor critic Susan Carpenter, is a veteran.  She's been to Sturgis twice, and she explains the what and the why, along with the how - how do you get as many as a million people to a remote town in South Dakota?