You Can Run, but You Can’t Hide

Death seeks us all and there is little we can do to escape its inevitable conclusion.  We can hide in a hole with the belief that our existence on this earth will be extended, but what would we gain?  We can allow fear of defeat or fear of injury or death stop us from acting or we can live a life others cannot comprehend—the choice is ours.  I have always loved that ever popular quote from “Teddy” Roosevelt and I believe bears repeating, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

The Hoka Hey riders are truly those individuals who strive valiantly, who errs and, from time to time, comes up short, but who does not let the fear of failure nor the fear of death’s inevitable dance dissuade us from our cause.  On the 31^st of July 2015 we will honor those who dared step out and dance knowing it could possibly be their last effort and, as death would have it, was their last effort.  Their souls were neither cold nor timid—their desire to be a part of something larger than themselves has painted for us a picture—a life, which we can never describe in words, but we can honor in deeds.

 

The Hoka Hey Memorial ride of 2015 is an effort that will honor the many strong souls who did not let fear of failure stop them.  Death seeks us all, by our actions we can give into fear and lay down, or we make death work hard for its prey.

 

Hoka Hey!

Join us on the 31^st of July 2015 for an epic memorial ride in honor of the memory of:

Charles Lynn (6/26/2010)

Kenneth Greene (7/4/2010)

John Anderson (6/26/2013)
Newton Pereira (7/27/2014)
As well as others who have died believing in the ideals that were set forth when the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge kicked off in 2010.

Please visit http://www.hokaheychallenge.com/pages/register.html to register.

 

Don't miss "Voices of the Badlands" in the May Issue of Cycle Source Magazine.

Sleep Deprivation and the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge Part II

In part one “sleep deprivation” we talked about the potential for sleep deprivation during the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge.  Each rider approaches the Challenge in their own way.  Some will push the envelope with the intent of crossing the finish line among the top contenders; others will meander through the course at a leisurely pace enjoying the scenery and the solitude. The Challenge is specifically designed to challenge the rider, testing the rider’s mettle while at the same time give the rider ample time to tend to their personal needs—like sleep.  A standard Hoka Hey Challenge course is 8000 miles (approximate) that must be navigated successfully within 14 days if the rider hopes to be present for the End of the Road Party—that’s an average of 571 miles per day.  A rider can navigate the 570 miles easily in a day’s ride and still provide sufficient time to sleep, eat, take pictures, meet new people—or whatever happens to catch their interest. However, we know most riders are going to exceed that 570 mile per day mark each day of the event—often times exceeding 1000 miles per day for 7 days.  To those riders you can be assured that sleep deprivation is a constant companion throughout the event.

So, how do we combat that constant companion?  Several studies have been conducted on sleep deprivation and how it affects the body.  There are stimulants available to combat sleep deprivation—some made from natural ingredients, others purely chemical based. 

The most common of course is caffeine.  It’s hard to drink a cup of coffee while tooling down the road, but slamming a cup when you stop for fuel is a viable option.  There are also caffeine pills that you can take.  Another is “Creatine” which may be a more effective nutrient than caffeine.  It can give you a boost by replacing the phosphates in the brain—a lack of which leads to sleep deprivation.  Others are Magnesium, Tyrosine and Phosphatidylserine.  Some of these listed are active ingredients in “sports drinks” like Gatorade, Red Bull and that Monster drink.  When all else fails… Try pickle juice!! (Yes… I said pickle juice.)

A point to make here is this.  All the studies show many of the listed supplements (and others) are good for the short term, but all come with an assortment of side effects.  Too much caffeine will have us bouncing off the walls and many of these others have the same effect.  Too much of a good thing is often not so good.  Every study of sleep deprivation had the same statement somewhere in the findings.  “The best way to combat sleep deprivation is to get some sleep.”

Catching a few hours of sleep eveyday during
the Challenge will enhance your experience.

Too much artificial stimulant can have the same effect on your body as sleep deprivation—loss of cognitive capability, lack of focus and slow reaction time.

Cater to your need using a responsible approach.  Riding straight for 48 hours may put you in the lead, but it will certainly substantially increase your risk of serious injury or death.  As a Hoka Hey Warrior we approach life with honor, integrity, respect and wisdom.  Which of these four attributes will you be willing to set aside to come in first place?  Disclaimer here: I AM NOT saying those who come in first set any part of themselves aside to meet their goal—not saying that at all.  It takes determination, fortitude, tenacity and courage to push your known limits.  What I am saying is this: “Don’t push to such an extent that you are endangering yourself and others around you.”  Many Hoka Hey riders will condition themselves over a period of months prior to leaving the Hoka Hey Challenge starting line.  The biggest mistake you can make is to attempt to ride 1000 miles the first day of the Challenge when you have never before attempted anything close to that.  If, during the Challenge, you push too hard and neglect the body’s need for sleep you will untimely slow yourself down and lose your edge—make a wrong turn and add hours to your day on the wrong road. 

Remember the story from that great author Aesop about the Tortoise and the Hare?  Hoka Hey Riders who reach their daily goal do so while riding steady with 3-4 hours of sleep each day. 

 

Stay hydrated, eat regular (although quick) meals, get off the bike when you fuel up and rather than slam a batch of artificial (although naturel) stimulants, take a 30 minute power nap from time to time to properly combat sleep deprivation and try to get at least 3 hours of sleep each day.  We are the Hoka Hey Family and any loss affects us all.

Sleep Deprivation and the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge Part I

We have all nodded off a second or two while driving—travelling down the road and all of a sudden we open our eyes and realize we nodded off.  That instant in time will get our attention quickly and for a moment we are readily alert—but only for a moment.  This is a clear indicator that we should pull over and rest for a while or allow someone else, someone more alert then we are, to take over the responsibility of driving.

Some might think nodding off on a motorcycle is something that seldom happens.  For those who are inexperienced in riding, or who have never participated in a long distance endurance ride, it is easy to believe nodding off on a motorcycle is something that just can’t happen.  But this is not the case.  Sleep deprivation while riding greatly increases the risk of catastrophe.

Multiple studies show a lack of proper sleep reduces reaction time and clouds perception. Lack of sleep severely affects a rider’s coordination and hampers the ability to focus.  (Not sure I would need an expensive study to determine that, but that’s a discussion for another time.)  There are two things a rider must be able to rely on while riding.  One being an escape route in the event of an unexpected obstacle and the other is the ability to recognize that obstacle in sufficient time to react—that requires focus.

As we ride we constantly scan the surrounding area often looking several hundred feet to our front as well as activities behind and beside us.  If our ability to focus and quickly process what we see is hampered by sleep deprivation then we are nothing more than an accident waiting to happen.  A slight lapse in concentration, caused by sleep deprivation, can decrease your ability to correctly determine the distance between you and the vehicle in front of you.  When that vehicle in front of you, that you are already too close to, executes an emergency stop then that same lapse in concentration will hinder the thought process that is telling you to stop—lack of proper distance coupled with lack of reaction time equals a bad day.  If you put all those parameters together in that split second of time (lack of sleep, lack of distance and longer reaction time) you will ride right into the trunk of their car.  Such an event, at best, will leave a mark on your bike or, at worst, take your life.

As a cross country endurance ride, the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge presents inherent risks.  It demands a great deal from its participants and, as a result, riders will frequently put themselves in a position where they could exceed their limits.  Therein lies the dilemma…  We all know our own limits but we also know that we might tend to push the proverbial envelope when we accept the Challenge.

The question is this…  Once we accept the Challenge we are inclined to, during the event, intentionally deprive ourselves of sleep.  Sleep deprivation will increase a person’s tendency to take risks which can cloud our judgment and give us the illusion that it is acceptable to take that risk to the next level.  We recognize that it is our obligation to act responsibly when we reach our personal limit but how do we know when we’ve gone too far?

So, we've identified the problem.  How do we combat it?  We'll talk about that next week in part II of “Sleep Deprivation and the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge.”

Best Laid Plans of Mice & Men

Not sure what that phrase means.  Mice make no plans, they act on instinct.  But we make plans and the plans for our 2015 Memorial Ride and the 2016 Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge are coming together nicely!!  We are moving forward with plans each day and will reveal all of the details when we launch a completely revised website in the coming weeks.  The new site has a totally new look and direction and is shaping up to be an exceptional product!!  Not that we want to tease you… well, maybe we do… keep your eyes open for the launch of the new website and all will be revealed. Once launched, we are confident, you will agree it was worth the wait!

In the mean time, the Board of Directors for the Medicine Show LLC also wants you to know we are working hard to create a meaningful event for 2016.  One that will not only tax us, fight us and endeavor to break us, but one that will also provide to us an indescribable set of feelings and a new way of thinking.  

To a Hoka Hey Challenger the accomplishment of crossing the finish line comes with a price.  Yes, we pay money to ride, but it is not the money I am talking about.  We are told the best things in life are free, but that is not entirely true.  In fact, the best things in life are never really free. They may not have a monetary price tag, but it will most certainly cost you in time, effort and sometimes emotional or physical pain.  

Although there will be NO entry fee for the 2015 event… It will cost you.  You’ll pay the price of time, commitment, determination, pain and discomfort.  We go into it knowing these things, but we choose to persevere because we intend to honor those individuals that lost their lives while participating in the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge.  Charles Lynn (6/26/2010), Kenneth Greene (7/4/2010), John Anderson (6/26/2013) and Newton Pereira (7/27/2014) all believed in the ideals that were set forth when the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge kicked off in 2010.   It is probable these intrepid individuals came to the starting line with one goal in mind, but it is almost certain those plans shifted long before their rides were ended...  Such is the way of the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge.

We invite all Hoka Hey Challengers and supporters on any make or model of motorcycle to join us at the Geographic Center of the US in Lebanon, KS on the morning of July 31st, 2015.  We will ride as a group to South Dakota that day and will reconvene to parade down Main St. Sturgis on August 1st where the Indian Motorcycle Sturgis store (2106 Lazelle St. Sturgis 605-206-7830), owned by our own Chris Johnson (Hoka Hey Rider #75) will welcome us with a party that is worthy of our Fallen Riders!

Registration for both the 2015 Memorial Ride and the 2016 Hoka Hey Challenge will begin when the new website is launched.

Also, we would like to include links for our Challengers on our new site.  So, if you have a personal website, you own your own business, or you have a BLOG; we would love to include a link on the new “Friends of Hoka Hey” page!  Please forward your links (and/or contact information for Hoka Hey Rider owned businesses), stories and pictures to steve.briscoe@hokaheychallenge.com if you wish to share!

Daytona Biketoberfest

The Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge tipi will be setup at Destination Daytona for Biketoberfect from the 16th to the 19th of October.  We need all available Hoka Hey Challengers to stop by if you are in the area.  We will be gathering potential Challengers for the 2016 Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge.  I will sneak in a bit of information here (without giving away too much) and tell you to get your name in quickly for the 2016 Challenge.  Due to some newly implemented policy changes for the 2016 Challenge if you do not get your name in early you may be left out.

We will also publicize our 2015 Memorial Ride.  What is the Memorial Ride you ask?  Well, I’m glad you asked.  This ride is a Memorial in Honor of our fallen Challengers.  Hoka Hey Challengers and other invited guests will assemble at the Geographic Center of the US in Lebanon, Kansas for a departure on the morning of the 31st of July 2015 for a ride to Sturgis, SD.  On the 1st of August we will be paraded down Main St of Sturgis with Police escort.  Upon our arrival and trek through town we will all gather at the Indian Motorcycle Dealership in Sturgis which is owned by our own Chris Johnson (Hoka Hey Rider #75) for a welcoming party.

This is a ride you will not want to miss and in fact your absence would be conspicuous.  More information will be provided over the next few months.  Hope to see you in Daytona and certainly hope to see you in Lebanon for a great ride to Sturgis in honor of our brothers.

We've Come a Long Way

We’ve come a long way.  For the past many decades the main stream media has painted a bleak picture of the biker.  An innumerable number of articles, movies and books have been published providing a narrative of someone’s understanding of the riding community; many times the author of the narrative has never ridden or rides only on perfect days.  But it is not often that main stream media gets it right.  In fact, history tells us, the infamous picture from Hollister, SD was a hoax, but that single picture alone spawned a plethora of negative beliefs and connotations. 

Yes, we are different.  We are prone to be outspoken when we have something to say and we do not often back down when met with an obstacle.  We are a small percentage of the riding community; we are Hoka Hey.  We ride for the enjoyment and the excitement, but these are not the only reasons we ride.  We ride for a purpose that most will never understand.  We see the oppressed and we work against the oppressor.  We see a wrong and we work to correct it.  We build our lives around Honor, Integrity, Compassion and Respect.  We come from different walks of life but we band together as a single force; we are Hoka Hey.

Persistence

More often than not if we fail to accomplish something it is due to a lack of persistence on our part.  Granted there are times when a task just cannot be accomplished due to outside forces, but the level of force we succumb to varies with different people.  There are literally countless examples of applied persistence during a Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge.   Each year there are a number of riders who exemplify themselves with a heightened level of persistence and dedication.  Chuck Marble (Hoka Hey Rider #85) is one rider who did just that during the 2013 and 2014 Challenge.  Last year Chuck found himself in a swampy ditch in Minnesota.  With the help of Matt Wolf the bike was put back upright and, after taking some time to remove the multitude of ticks acquired while wallowing in the swampy water, continued on his way.  Later during the same ride he was struck by a deer and went down in the nether reaches of Arkansas. Alone in the night he straightened his front fender and duck taped his ride to make it to the Checkpoint in Little Rock.  Upon arrival at Lander’s Harley he was taken to the hospital where it was discovered he, in addition to his road rash, had some seriously bruised ribs.  He returned to Lander’s made some final repairs on his ride and continued on to Irving; completing the ride.  During the 2014 Challenge Chuck towed a fellow rider 12 miles and assisted that rider through his dehydrated state; staying with him until he was sure all was well.  Upon his arrival in Homer, Chuck remained on station until that rider came in.  Like I say, there are countless examples of persistence and selfless service to others from start to finish of every Hoka Hey Challenge.  Selfless service and persistence in the face of serious obstacles has become synonymous with the Hoka Hey Challenger. 
  

Continue to watch this BLOG; submitted stories from our riders are coming in and bits and pieces will be placed here.  
  

Hoka Hey!!!