I’m originally from the small town of Livingston, New Jersey not far from New York City. I was a Union Carpenter in my early twenties with a calling for something more out of life. I joined the Navy in 1988 to become a Navy SEAL, I attended Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) Training and graduated in Class 161 and spent a twenty-year career as a SEAL Team member, retiring as a Commander. Currently I still support the Navy SEAL Community as a private contractor/owner of a small business. I’m also the owner/operator of an Indian Motorcycle Dealership in Newport News, VA (Indian Motorcycle of Southeastern Virginia). In my limited spare time I like to travel, motorcycle ride, exercise, and scuba dive.
I really enjoy racking-up mileage on motorcycles
alone, with others, and on group rides (I refer to it as wind-therapy). Through a rough couple of years with some
personal problems 2018-2022, I participated in the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge 2020 to “kind-of” clear
my head. I thoroughly enjoyed the
experience. I am blessed with great
friends and family, and this event helps me refocus and to continually grow. It is somewhat spiritual for me…
It will be nice to focus on the basics of life
while dealing with/enjoying all the challenges that will come with the HHMC. I will likely develop additional bonds
(potentially lifetime/long-term) bonds with others regarding our shared
experiences of adversity, enjoyment, and accomplishment.
Best advice: Prepare for it and enjoy it.
Physically a lot of neck/back/spine issues
(spinal fusion) and a broken back from a military parachuting accident, and
20-year career as a Navy SEAL. I almost
completely stopped riding from 2004-2013.
I’m blessed to be 100% physically able to participate again in the 2022
HHMC.
Scott Bradley (HHMC 2020 Rider #1000S), as he
was shopping for the right bike for the HHMC 2020, I learned more and more
about it and knew that this is something that I must do. As I worked for months with Scott Bradley to
identify the right motorcycle for him to purchase for his HHMC. I thought of an idea to get him and Will
Araiza (HHMC 2020 Rider #1000W) a pair of all-new Deepwater Blue 2020 Indian
Challengers. Indian Motorcycle Rentals
decided to provide two brand new motorcycles for them to use to prep for the
challenge and for participation. Everything
started to connect, I read every bit of information about the HHMC and I
realized that I needed to do it also. I felt
the need so much that I didn’t want to wait until 2022. Junie and Beth so graciously included me in
one of the Navy SEALs “The Riders 1000 Group” and the rest is history. It was
so enjoyable and an experience of really feeling alive that I will continue to
participate as long as I’m honored to be included and I am able. The challenge was more therapeutic to me than
difficult, I physically felt very good throughout the 2020 Challenge, I pray
that I feel as physically well this time also to really enjoy it even more. I am greatly honored to be selected to
participate as Rider #1000E.
The Navy SEALs Fund is one of the Mike Martin
(HHMC 2018 participant and founding President of the Frogman Motorcycle Club
that passed away unexpectedly in 2019) funds that other Riders # “1000” supported
for HHMC 2020. Ironically, Mike Martin’s
other charity was the Special Operations Forces (SOF) Warrior Foundation,
Tampa, FL, and one of my two partnered non-profit/charities that I’ve partnered
my Indian Motorcycle Dealership with since inception. Also, while still on active-duty, myself and
three other SEALs paddled two tandem kayaks from Norfolk, VA two-hundred miles
up the Chesapeake Bay into the Potomac River to Washington, DC, in the dead of
winter and through snowstorms. Countless
people said it couldn’t be done and about ten others that planned to join us
bailed out before we started. Another
ten very experienced paddlers tried to paddle the first day with us and could
not handle the storm conditions at launch and quit immediately while we paddled
away on our journey. We made it all the
way and it made the local news/newspapers and was a key part in an ABC 20/20
episode. We raised over $10,000 and
awareness for the SOF Warriors Foundation.
I’m honored to continue my support for the SOF Warrior Foundation every
time I’m able to participate in the HHMC and I do it in honor of MCPO SEAL Mike
Martin for “Mike’s other charity.”
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