Meet The Rider Dean Luptak # 932

I rode my first Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge  in 2018 to celebrate my 70^th birthday. My initial goal was to just finish sometime, but as the days went by, I realized I might be able to finish within 14 days. I finished #36 in 13 days, 17 hours.

Mostly I rode my own ride except several nights when I was thankful to hitch along with other riders who could see in the dark. Two weeks after returning home, I found I had cataracts in both eyes and have had both my lenses replaced which seems to have helped my night vision.

I experienced several, of what I call, Hoka-Hey Moments during the Challenge including a swerve where I still clipping the bag leg of a deer at 5 AM dark in Wyoming; having a hawk flare in my headlights and bounce off my helmet at 11 PM the night before; dropping my parked bike downhill on a deserted road in South Dakota at 11 PM onto the tour pac latch where my wallet and phone were located; and the scariest was in the daytime on an Iowa turnpike entrance- a car going 50 passed an oncoming left- turning semi in the right emergency lane and missed my front tire by inches as I was also beginning a left turn. Just some of the normal riding events that one never forgets. But the average Harley rider rides 5000/miles average per year so my Hoka-Hey Moments were just two years of riding experiences packed into a couple of thrilling weeks.

Before the ride I was most worried about the sleeping by the bike but quickly discovered that wasn’t an issue when one is exhausted. Sleep comes quickly and you would think the alarm comes too quickly also, but I was surprised how 3-4 hours of sleep was enough when the first thing upon waking was the joy of quickly get on my Harley to discover new roads. Discovering new turns was the motivation, because it’s all about the elation of finding the next turn, for several turns in a row, and then the abject depression of realizing the last turn must have been incorrect. This elation/depression roller coaster is very addicting. Anyway, for me it must have been addicting since I’m sure I made over 800 miles in mistakes. I made mistakes every single day. I even doubled down on them a couple times. My GPS tracking map must have looked like a porcupine, but I always found my error and got back on track, elated.

In my 11 years of riding (170,000 miles) I have ridden all 50 States and 7 Provinces following GPS maps I built myself that avoided Interstates.

The best thing about the Hoka Hey, for me, was that I got to ride all those new fantastic motorcycle roads and someone else built the route. I seldom knew where I was, but I did recognize a few roads I had ridden like the Dragon, Iron Mountain and Needles in the Black Hills, etc. but my local knowledge actually got me in directional trouble in the Black Hills, so I learned to not take any turn for granted. Carefully following that spreadsheet is the only way to avoid costly mistakes.

I am so awed by the Hoka Hey organizers and riders I met. Absolute professional long-distance riders; tough, dedicated men and women warriors with integrity , honesty, compassion and respect. I can’t wait to join their ranks again in August 2020. I will be riding 2000 miles from Billings MT to participate.

My charity again this year is the Yellowstone Valley Chapter of Black Sheep Harley-Davidsons For Christ.