Bismarck, North Dakota – On Saturday, the Freedom Riders Motorcycle Club held its yearly Pre-Sturgis Scramble.
This event has been hosted by the club for over 30 years. To prepare your motorcycle for the annual Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota, it first started as a method of doing so. The scramble was open to everyone, thus you did not have to be a member of the motorcycle club to take part. Previously known as a run, the scramble would follow predetermined paths. On their ride, participants could alight at any of 11 stations.
“Being a scramble, you can decide what route you want to take. Everybody takes a different route and the more spots that you stop, the more chances you have at winning the raffle,” said Marty Presler, president of the Freedom Riders Motorcycle Club.
The Freedom Riders will give the money raised by the scramble each year to a different charity. The money was going to Addilynn’s Bee-Lievers this year. It was founded in 2022 as a nonprofit in memory of Addilynn Lunstad, who suffers from a rare genetic condition caused by a CACNA1A gene variation that alters how her brain cells interact.
“Just to see everyone come out and support her and support our cause is just incredible. We always say, even if a person can’t give, just having her in their thoughts and in their prayers, I just really feel like that can move mountains,” said Toby Lunstad, mother of Addilynn.