| If the Harley Davidson motorbike
is something of an American legend, Sturgis is the book in which that legend
is permanently refreshed. It is the world's biggest annual biking festival,
the annual get-together for America's Harley
fanatics. By Gil Eble.
 To
imagine what "Sturgis" is like, you really need to go there; words cannot
fully express the atmosphere of this small town in South Dakota (the middle
of nowhere) when, each year, it is invaded by hundreds of thousands of
American bikers.
They come from all over the USA, and from all over the
world, most of them on Harley-Davidsons. There are old Harleys, new Harleys,
big ones, small ones; standard ones, custom-built
ones, shining ones and muddy ones. The riders come to watch, to talk, to
discuss, to drink beer, and to meet friends; but most of all, they come
for the atmosphere.
It was back in 1938 that the first wave of bikers came
to this unsuspecting little town (the twelfth
biggest in the whole state of South Dakota) in the heart of rural America.
They had been invited along by J.C. "Pappy" Hoel, a native of the town
who had a passion for "Indians" (the name of a type of bike), and decided
to organize the first flat track races officially
recognized by the American Motorcycle Association.
In the year 2000 the Millennium rally brought 633,000
people to Sturgis for Bike Week, a large percentage of them on Harleys;
but though the races drew in huge crowds, the main thing most people wanted
to do was to walk or drive round Main Street and the roads around it. On
bike or on foot, there was little difference in speed; either way, it took
about two hours to cover the two miles from the town center to the interstate.
As for the Sheriff and the State Police, they are always
alarmed about the impact on the small tranquil community of the sudden
and brief invasion of hundreds of thousands of people -- many of them tattooed!
Police are everywhere, and it is said that there are over a thousand FBI
agents in the crowd, passing themselves off as
ordinary bikers. Yet now, after more than sixty years, the town of Sturgis
has learned to live with the annual event!.
The press make a lot of noise whenever bikers are killed
or injured; but there are not a lot of problems
at Sturgis - and certainly no more than one would expect to encounter among
an excited population of around half a million. In 2000, in spite of the
huge numbers of visitors, there were only ten rally-related deaths, 363
drug offenses, and 111 people sent to jail,
according to the organizers. Most bikers want to avoid trouble, and just
to meet old friends and make new ones; but in any population of over 400,000,
most of them males between the ages of 20 and 50, a week without any serious
trouble would be exceptional under any circumstances!
On the plus side, the Sturgis rally brings in up to a
million dollars each year in sales taxes and tourism taxes, for the state
of South Dakota!
From Harleys to Hell's Angels
America's own bike, the Harley, developed into something
of a cult object following the film Easy Rider, in which it starred
with Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda, riding to the music of Bob Dylan, Steppenwolf,
and other cult groups of the time. No movie captured the spirit of the
American sixties more than Easy Rider, a contemporary odyssey in
which the Harley was the symbol of freedom and of non-conformity.
Rebels, rockers and romantics took to the roads on their
Harleys, like pioneers on their ponies; they formed clubs and groups, with
names such as Hell's Angels, Outlaws, Bandidos.
Many of those clubs, founded over thirty years ago, still
exist, and the same bikers still belong to them; many of the bikers at
Sturgis are noticeably older than those at big European rallies. But at
Sturgis, the different clubs keep the peace. Outlaws, Bandits or Hell's
Angels, they do not really live up to their names.
Of course, there are other more conservative bikers' clubs
too, like the Harley Owners' Club; though they put in
an appearance at Sturgis too, they have their own meeting a few
miles away in another town. For the Harley is not only a bike for rebels,
with or without a cause; it is an "establishment bike" as well. It is the
American bike. It is the most popular bike used in almost every police
force across the United States.
In 2002, the Sturgis Rally takes place from August
5th - 11th.
Official Sturgis website:
http://www.sturgismotorcyclerally.com/
|
One of the famous Harley logos
|
| Grammar:
The pro form "one(s)":
Note this sentence: There
are old Harleys, new Harleys, big ones, small ones; standard ones, custom-built
ones, shining ones and muddy ones.
"One" and "ones"
are pronouns that can generally only be used to reflect count nouns, i.e.
nouns that refer to countable (but not necessarily concrete) objects, such
as Harleys, books or even ideas. This form is often
used with the definite article, as in:
"Among those three
bikes, which is the one you like best?"
"The one with the
American flag on it; the custom-built one".
Remember, in English adjectives
are not usually used alone. There are some exceptions (the rich, the
poor, and many superlative forms such as the best, the first),
but normally adjectives need to qualify a noun; "one" is used as
a pro-form to avoid repeating the noun.
To remember: the one or
the ones are not normally followed by "of". We can't say
"the one of Peter", though we can say "Peter's one".
A common mistake is to use
the one or the ones to take up process nouns (verbal nouns such
as growth, arrival) or attributive nouns such as height, size, following
"of". You cannot say:
I saw the arrival
of the first runner, but not the one of the other runners. |
WORDS
brawl: fight - custom built:
individually rebuilt - flat track: without obstacles - -
get together: meeting - injured: hurt - interstate:
interstate highway - jail: prison - offense:
small crime, illegal act - pass themselves off as : pretend
to be - put in an appearance: be present - unsuspecting:
not prepared for anything exceptional |
