2012 Hoka Hey Is On The Road!!

After a successful send off from Las Vegas, our riders are on their way!!  We have had a great time in Las Vegas with Sam's Town as our host hotel and Las Vegas HD hosting our starting line! 

Registration began on  Friday morning and, with the help of our volunteers and supporters, everything from our kick-off party that evening to our Rider's Briefing on Saturday went seamlessly!!  We had 88 riders register and now they are heading for the first checkpoint at Doc's HD in Kirkwood, MO. 

By checking the US Fleet Tracking map on our website (www.hokaheychallenge.com) you can see where the riders are and how they place in the field.  The tracking program seems to work best on Firefox, Safari or Chrome so, by using one of these browsers you can view the map which is located on our home page.  Once there you will find a block with the Hoka Hey logo on it where you can select a rider.  Or, you can scroll all the way to the bottom of the list provided and select "All Riders".


I hope you all will enjoy the ride with us!
Beth

Rider #	First Name	Last Name
5	KARL	NETHERLAND
8	Daniel	Buis
9	Roger	Buis
50	Robert	Crawford
67	Michael	Conner
83	Lee	smith
85	Chuck	Marble
91	david	lutes
92	David	Mauser
116	Jim	Herold
139	Alex	Hood
164	Gary	Trumper
168	jeff	kOhn
186	greg	shafer
190	Richard	Drake
207	Milton	Vincent
290	Walter	Ledig
264	Terry	Meyer
319	Marion	Ezell
323	dale	martin
341	Robert	carlo
342	William	Reynolds
348	MARK	HODGE
373	Terry	Smith
375	Brian	McDonnell
383	Eula	Rose
600	Shaun	VanBeber
601	Michael	Fox
605	Mark E	James
610	Dave	DuBord
618	Kenneth	Aston
636	Stanley	Hoover
646	Thomas	Schmidt
648	George	Liebel
649	kc	withers
650	JANE	BIXBY
652	Schatzi	Brown
653	RON	WARREN
654	James	Howatson
664	Elvin	Angel
665	Daniel	Dowell
670	TIM	MENZIE
680	Frank	Trevino
685	Wendy	Battles
691	Newton	Pereira
706	Thomas	Hunter
707	thomas	paff
708	Darrin	Knode
709	Bradley	Mathews
712	David	Neef
713	Robert	Nichols
714	John	Parrish
715	Dennis	Elings
717	Jeffrey	Ausnow
718	RONALD	MCARTHUR
719	Agabail	Van Vlerah
720	James	Van Vlerah
721	Joshua	Brace
722	Bret	Walters
723	MARTY	KOSTAWICH
724	Arthur	Pond
725	Richard	Griffith
726	James	Peterson
727	Donald	Trimble
730	Kelly	Quinn
731	Dominick	Zappola JR
732	Daniel	Certa
733	William	Buskell
734	Philip	Meintel
735	John	Levins
736	Billy	Fultz
737	John	Anderson
738	William (Bob)	Terrell
739	Frank	Zygela
740	Tommy	Collins
741	John	Lyles
742	David	Sanders
743	Christopher	Cowden
744	James (Jim)	Carlson
745	Michael	Pulkkinen
746	Carl	Hubbard
747	Robert	Kumpe
749	Wayne	Fields
750	George	Jackman
751	David	Elizondo
752	Mathew	Klebe
753	DANE	AXEN
754	Daniel	Thibodeaux
Non-Compete
467	James	Red Cloud
729	Dennis	Elsasser
655	Robert	Scott

Then Came Bronson

I have been riding for 42 years and obtained my MC license on my 16th birthday. That year, 1970, I bought a Honda 305 Super Hawk and road the Oregon and California coast Highway 101. I was extremely motivated by the show Then Came Bronson "Where you headed? Where ever my bike takes me..." I was also motivated to live my life before 18 and a likely Vietnam draft. Slept next to my bike with only a cheap sleeping bag and no tent or tarp, the clothes I was wearing and $2.35 in my pocket.  So I encouraged tourists to take photos of me and my bike for a donation. It worked; I received money, food, clothing, lots of advice and many life stories of personal adventures. A few of the people said "I wish I did this when I was your age". I had 3 flats on the back tire and I was offered help within minutes each time.  In those days, no one passed you by if you broke down.

A friend called me in early 2010, telling me about the Hoka Hey Challenge. After reading about it, I knew this was for me.

2010 start date of 6/20 was my daughter's birthday. I could not make 2010 or 2011 but I am doing the 2012 as rider #729.

I want to challenge myself to complete this and prove I still have the Warrior Spirit in me. Last week, on a practice run to Reno Nevada, I threw down a tarp and bag in the desert and had the best night’s sleep in years.

Thank you Hoka Hey Challenge for this opportunity.

Hoka Hey!!

The Movement

As we are in the middle of post production on the film featuring last years Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge and Beth and the riders are gearing up for this years challenge, I wanted to say a few words...

Last year’s event was a huge technical feat to film and our crews pushed themselves to the limit as they tried to keep up with the riders and all the stories on the road. Now as we are in post production, we have hundreds of hours of beautiful footage of the amazing roads the challengers took on their journey, we have many of their stories and countless moments testifying to the resilience of the human spirit. We feel honored to have been invited along on their journeys, we feel blessed to have seen the beauty of our country and we feel responsibility to be the example of the change we would like to see in the world.

As we watch the footage of last year’s ride each day, we are overwhelmed by the stories of strength, brotherhood, perseverance and personal challenge. There are so many that we wish we could include them all but unfortunately that would make our film hours long! 

As I read many comments coming into this years Challenge, it seems that many of the riders echo the sentiments we feel as we try to make this film something we are all proud of; this ride is not about the money, it’s about the journey those involved go on as people. The Challenge is set up to push you physically and mentally to a place where you have a choice, it brings you to a point where you directly come face to face with some things about yourself and the world that may need changing. If you are open to it, it has the potential to make you a better person and in turn make the world a better place. I have seen my own judgments about people dispelled in the light of the change that the event brought about in them. I have had my faith in the human spirit crushed and rekindled through my own experience with the film. Sometimes the changes might not be dramatic but I believe every subtle movement within the human condition for the better is priceless. 

The heart and soul of our film is the riders. The riders who ride for the love. The riders who stop to help. The riders who open their eyes and hearts to see the suffering of themselves and others and have the courage to do what they can.

Along with all this, we have been eternally grateful to the Red Cloud family and the people of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation for their honesty, love, generosity and wisdom as we have filmed on the reservation and tried to learn about the conditions and challenges that they face. At first, I was overwhelmed at the injustice and suffering but their unwavering strength and hope for a better world has taught me a lot about what human beings can transcend. We hope that this film unites, as Jim Red Cloud says; "This is not a race issue, this is a human issue". We hope that this film brings awareness to the reservation to help them achieve their goals. 

As a mother, I cannot close my eyes. Just one of the statistics would not be tolerated by society if it where found anywhere but the reservation and my heart is heavy knowing that the beautiful native people of our country quietly endure them all. So, with this film, we hope to spread awareness about the reservation, to amplify their voices. 

We have many times felt that we too were going on our own endurance ride to the finish. Many times we have wanted to give up, turn back and pretend we didn't see what we saw.

Motorcycles, money and ego drove us straight into the heart of the human experience. It's a beautiful and powerful place and I believe, the things that one learns there, can possibly help to change the world out here. 

Ride safe,

Satya Cacioppe