STURGIS - Pepper Massey didn't flinch when she was thrust into the Sturgis rally director's job six weeks before the start of the huge event.

"It feels like I've been training for this my whole life," Massey said during a brief break from her duties overseeing the rally.

For almost 25 years, Massey has ridden motorcycles, attended the Sturgis rally and worked for several motorcycle organizations. She even has a nickname, although the "Pepper" moniker has no motorcycle connection.

But she admitted some of her friends questioned her sanity in taking on the job of pleasing several hundred thousand bikers and the city of Sturgis.

"It has been challenging," Massey said. "But one of the reasons I was happy to participate was because I was looking forward to the challenge."

Massey became interim director on June 25 after former director Lisa Weyer resigned to take a job in private business.

Massey said she has had a lot of help from her three-person staff, Mayor Maury LaRue and other city departments.

And she has a long background in motorcycling and motorcycle organizations.

Massey became director of the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, a motorcycle-rights advocacy group, in the mid 1980s, about the same time she began riding motorcycles.

As director of the coalition for 11 years, she traveled extensively, attended motorcycle events and met a lot of people in the motorcycle industry.

She worked briefly as an office manager for a Harley-Davidson dealership in California before moving to Sturgis in 1997 to head the National Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame. That museum later moved out of state.

Massey later worked briefly for the Sturgis Chamber of Commerce and as publisher of the Meade County Times.

In 2001, she joined the board of directors of the new Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame and became its director in 2003.

She became known there for bringing in exhibits showcasing motorcycling pioneers, including women.

Born in Rhode Island, Massey grew up in Ontario, Canada, before moving back to the states to attend high school.

She first started riding in California in 1985, back when some people looked askance at women riding their own bikes.

She started on a 450 Honda. She admits she didn't know how to take care of that bike, but it kept running, anyway.

"The only thing that killed it was a Cadillac on Ventura Boulevard," she said, laughing. The Cadillac made a left turn in front of her, and she crashed into it. "After I healed and had knee surgery, I took the motorcycle-safety course," Massey said.

Now, she owns a 2000 Harley-Davidson Dyna Super Glide. "I ride when I can," Massey said. "I'd do it a lot more if I had the time."

Massey was named interim rally director to get the city through this year's rally as it goes through the formal selection process for the permanent position appointed by the mayor. But she plans to apply for the permanent job.

"It feels pretty good to me," she said. Massey credited her staff, and the rest of the city government, for making the transition work. "I get a lot of face time on this, but all of the departments, the whole city, really steps up to the plate. It's a pretty well-oiled machine. Everybody works real hard. We have a good team during the rally."

Massey has attended every Sturgis rally since 1985. At that first rally, she said, "It was all I could do to keep my jaw from dropping open."

Now, nothing surprises her.

She said despite all the publicity on the rally over the years, people coming for the first time are surprised. "As much as you describe it, see it on TV, until you actually get here and experience it, I don't know that you could ever understand it."

Massey said that despite the long hours, endless organizational details and the rare crabby person, she is enjoying the job.

"The best part about the job is working with the people. People who come to the rally - motorcycle people - are good people. They're happy people," Massey said. "It is great fun."

Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com