Meet the Riders: Eric Buskell #733

Eric Buskell # 733, from Panama City Beach, Florida, is an experienced Challenger with the 2012 and 2014 Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenges under his belt. He first learned about the event after reading about it in Full Throttle Magazine. The finish line was his most memorable moment of each of the rides. He felt like he pushed himself to get there and finds it very rewarding. It gave him the confidence he lacked to get out on his own and ride. He says, “Now I’m a guy who can go out into the world by myself.” In the 2014 HHMC, his riding partner, John Levins # 735, was injured in Canada and Eric was required to go on by himself. Getting to Alaska really boosted his confidence.  One of his scariest experiences was waking up to a police officer and a drawn gun in his face. Once the officer was satisfied with his explanation, Eric was allowed to go back to sleep. By then he was wide awake and rode on.

Smelling the breath of a moose in the Rockies and riding through Glacier National Park in Montana are two of many exceptional moments Eric experienced.  Through the rides in 2012 & 2014, Eric learned how much he had missed in the past when travelling by interstates. Since his first Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge in 2012, he enjoys the twisties and back roads at every opportunity. 

When asked if he made any new friends he said, “They are much more than friends, they are family.”

The nonprofit, Paws and Claws is a passion Eric looks forward to supporting as he rides the 2016 Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge.

Meet the New Riders: Abby Clabough #846

Abby Clabough rider #846 has wanted to do the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge ever since she heard about it. Talking with Heinz Spielvogel #332, and following his journey and then talking to Junie Rose #383 finalized the desire.  She had to do this ride. She considers herself somewhat of a “motorcycle psycho” and after retiring a softail and purchasing a new road glide thought, “How could you have a new bike and not ride 20k to break it in.”  Doing the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge this year for her is a “dream come true.” Being an avid rider, loving to just shoot across country for the weekend with her very supportive boyfriend and teaching a motorcycle safety class has helped Abby prepare for this event. She is well aware that anything can happen on the road. She loves the idea of sleeping next to her steed and looks forward to saving the money most spend on sleeping (at a hotel)  “A little scary but I think I will get use to it.”

First Gear and Bikers Choice have been supportive of Abby’s plan to ride the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge and have provided some gear for her to test. Abby is raising money & support for A Women’s Shelter in Greeley, CO. who deal with domestic violence. It is not always a popular subject to deal with, but Abby is helping in her community. She also loves the chance to support the Pine Ridge Area Chamber of Commerce with entrepreneurial efforts to create a strong economy for the people who live there.  if you want to follow along as Abby gets ready for her Hoka Hey Challenge, she has a fantastic blog at HokaHeyAbby.com.

THE HOKA HEY MOTORCYCLE CHALLENGE PARTNERS WITH PALA CASINO SPA & RESORT

We are proud to announce that our 2016 Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge will start June 21 at Pala Casino Spa & Resort in Northern San Diego County, CA.

The ride will leave the Pala Reservation and travel across the United States to the coast of Maine before ending on July 2 in the Wolf's Run on the Seneca Nation near Irving, NY.  

Pala Casino Spa & Resort is owned and operated by the Pala Band of Mission Indians. "Chairman Robert Smith, the Pala tribe and our entire casino team are proud to partner with the Challenge to help the Pine Ridge Chamber of Commerce provide educational and employment opportunities for so many deserving people. It also is pretty cool to be the starting point," said Bill Bembenek, Pala's chief executive officer.

About Pala Casino Spa & Resort:
Pala Casino Spa & Resort includes a Las Vegas-style casino with 2,000+ slot machines, 81 table games and 15 poker tables; a 507-room hotel; a 10,000-square-foot, full-service spa and salon that features 14 treatment rooms; a state-of-the-art fitness center; swimming pool with 12 private poolside cabanas, and dual-temperature outdoor whirlpool hot tub. Pala also offers 11 restaurants and 40,000 square feet of meeting and convention space. Pala Casino Spa & Resort is an AAA Four-Diamond Award winner for 12 consecutive years. Its state-of-the-art Pala Spa was named the one of the Top 10 spas in California, one of the Top 10 in the casino industry and one of the Top 100 in North America for 2014 by Spas of America. Pala Spa also was named the number one spa on the West Coast and one of the top 100 spas in the United States for 2013 by Spas of America. Previously, Pala Spa was named the 2009 Best Casino Spa by Spas of America, the 2009 Best Casino Spa by the Southern California Gaming Guide and in 2012 received a spaAward and was selected by Spas of America as one of the top 100 spas in the United States. In 2011, Pala Casino Spa & Resort was voted Best Casino in San Diego by the public in the 10News.com annual A-List poll sponsored by KGTV-TV 10 News in San Diego. For more information, visit http://www.palacasino.com/

Hoka Hey Challengers and supporters can book their room by calling 877-725-2766 and identifying themselves as being guests of the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge.  Reservations must be received no later than the 16th of May to receive the group rate.

Everyone is welcome to join us at our "Meet and Greet" on Sunday June 19th.  Even if you don't know someone that is riding the Challenge we would love to have your support!!

…said the spider to the fly.

The 2016 Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge continues to come together and is, as previous years, going to be a difficult endeavor to say the least.  If you consider yourself an adventurous person then perhaps the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge is tailor made to test your mettle.

However, considering yourself an adventurous person and being an adventurous person capable of navigating the adversities of the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge are two distinctly different things.  The Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge will entice you and promise you grand accomplishments and lead you to believe you are capable of doing anything.  The Challenge will whisper in your ear and paint a picture of you beating the odds when all others have failed.  But that is exactly what the spider said to the fly.

As you endeavor to conquer the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge, the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge will endeavor to conquer you.  That’s what it does and it is very good at what it does.  If I were a top salesman I would tell you how easy the Challenge really is and that the dialog depicting the unforgiving and unrelenting nature of the Challenge is nothing more than hype to make it seem hard.  I would tell you that because, as a top salesman, I want your money. If I don’t entice you to give me your money then I am no longer the top salesman—some other salesman, one more capable of painting a pretty picture, one comfortable with twisting the truth would take my place.

I am not a salesman.  I am a Hoka Hey Challenger and I know, first hand, just how unforgiving the Challenge can and will be.  If you stop riding for the day because your butt hurts then the Hoka Hey Challenge WILL most likely break you.  If you depend on a GPS while traveling through new areas then the Hoka Hey Challenge WILL break you.  If you are uncomfortable with the thought of being lost, then the Hoka Hey Challenge WILL break you because you will get lost—more than once.  If you do not like being alone for days on end then the Hoka Hey Challenge WILL break you.  If you cannot go a day without showering, if you do not like sleeping on the ground, if you require three meals a day (meals not from a gas station) then the Hoka Hey Challenge WILL break you—twice.  If it is a frightful thought to encounter a deer (or any creature of the forest), as it dashes across the road in front of you in the middle of the night, then the Hoka Hey Challenge WILL break you.  If riding in rain that turns to hail bothers you then the Hoka Hey Challenge WILL break you.  Most importantly, if you are not capable of making responsible decisions when you are beyond tired, cold to the bone and in physical pain then the Hoka Hey Challenge WILL break you in the worst sort of way.

There are parts of the Hoka Hey Challenge that will leave you with sights, events and memories of moments in time that you will look back on fondly for the rest of your life—but to get there you must ride through the hail storm, the dust storm, the blistering heat in the middle of the desert, and the bitter cold of snow fall; sometimes all four in a single day.  While riding the Challenge you will be amazed, irritated, excited, humbled, astonished, exasperated, motivated, inflicted upon, overjoyed, annoyed and impressed—each of these emotions will present themselves in equal measure each and every day.  Muscles and bones you never knew you had will ache and burn.  There will be many times you will be so tired and sore that dropping your bike when you stop at an intersection will be a real possibility and most likely will happen.

The Hoka Hey Challenge is not for the meek.  It is not for the person who “thinks” of themselves as adventurous.  It is not for the casual rider—in fact the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge is not for the vast majority of licensed motorcyclists.  It caters to a very small piece of the riding community.  The Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge may call your name… if you can talk yourself out of it I suggest you do.  If you cannot talk yourself out of it, if it becomes an obsession, if you have ridden thousands of miles in a few days and look forward to doing it again, if you are truly the type of person who has a gut-wrenching need to push yourself beyond your known limits, then the Challenge is designed specifically for you.  Regardless, the Challenge will do everything it can to break you and make you regret your decision to enter this unique realm.  The question is, “Who is stronger?  You, or the Challenge.”  Let the journey begin; Icimani-Hoka Hey 2016.

Who Are You?

The Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge is a long distance, painful and unforgiving test of a rider’s abilities.  It is 20% physical ability and 80% mental stamina; your body, your mind and your spirit will be put to the test.  Every mile will work hard to break you.  The riders who participate in the Challenge all leave the starting line at the same time as a group, but that’s where the “group” part ends.  You must face this ride alone; even if there is a fellow rider next to you on the highway it is a solo ride.  From that point on it is an individual ride and each rider comes out of it with a different perspective.  With some, as they ride those endless miles, the inner barriers that have been built and the façade that has been created by life’s events come crashing down because, with the pain that comes with long distance riding, the ability to maintain that inner barrier, the strength needed to maintain that façade, cannot be sustained.  Others learn just how much pain they can endure and they discover the inner strength to continue when every fiber in their body tells them to quit.  Sadly others learn they may not have the stamina they thought they had.  Truly, the test is not, "Can you finish the ride?"  The real test is can you face who you really are.  Are you comfortable with who you are?  Can you face the world after the barriers and the façade come crashing down?

To state what a person might learn about themselves or discover about their abilities during this test would be speculative at best; each person is different.  Regardless of who you are, regardless of what you think you know about yourself, this endurance ride will be an education in self-discovery.  Chances are you will learn that the person you thought you were is not really the person you are.  This is not a bad thing; to learn the truth about yourself is what must happen if your true desire is to actually be the person you want to be, the person your Mother brags about.  Learning the truth about yourself is the first step; the hardest step.

Whether you finish the ride or not is not an indication of success or failure, what comes after is the true indicator and the results are dependent on you and your level of resolve.  Do you go forward using your new found knowledge, or do you crawl back in a hole and rebuild the façade?  Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.  The Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge is just the beginning of a long and very hard journey.  Hoka Hey 2016; Icimani.

 

The Memorial Ride is Now History

 

If you find your name on the list of unfortunates who were not able to ride the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge Memorial Ride from Red Cloud, Nebraska to Hot Springs, South Dakota then the only thing I can say is you missed a pertinent piece of Hoka Hey history. Over 120 riders assembled in the Red Cloud, NE area and truly it was reminiscent of a family reunion. Many small communities, when invade by 120+ leather clad motorcyclist, might be concerned and might even act harshly towards these unknown riders. However the citizens and community of Red Cloud opened their doors and hearts to us and treated us like family. Businesses opened early and stayed open late to accommodate our needs—words cannot express the level of appreciation and gratitude.

 

The 505 mile group ride on the 31st of July went without a hitch and every rider rolled into Hot Springs without accident or incident. There were a couple of minor mechanical issues, but fellow riders stepped in to lend a hand and no one was left behind—everyone who left Red Cloud arrived in Hot Springs at the same time. We even picked up a rider in Ogallala, NE who had broken down and got him and his ride to Rapid City for repair—this rider was not part of the Memorial Ride, but he is now part of the Hoka Hey family. We made a friend that day and I feel it necessary to extend a shout out to Matt Wolf who went beyond what was expected, sat his own desires to the side, and ensured this rider and his ride got to his final destination. All that happened that day is a testament to the professional riders who were part of this great event. During this time old friendships were rekindled and new friendships were made.

On the 1st of August these same riders participated in one of only two sanctioned parades down Main Street Sturgis—which, in itself, comes with bragging rights.

Yea, I’m sorry, but you missed a great series of events that we would be hard pressed to duplicate.

To say Hoka Hey is a family is a gross understatement; I am proud to call these people family and friend.

2015 Hoka Hey Challenge Memorial Ride

The Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge Memorial Ride is fast approaching.  On the 31^st of July over 100 riders will depart Red Cloud, Nebraska for a 500 mile group ride to Hot Springs, South Dakota.  But, it doesn’t stop there.  On the 1^st of August many of these same riders and others will participate in an escorted parade down main Street Sturgis to kick off the 75th Anniversary of "Sturgis Bike Week" and that ride will culminate at the Indian Dealership.

We have all lost friends and family over the past many years.  This is our way of honoring those who gave all while riding the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge.  The Challenge is unforgiving and we all know that when we started that long ride, but it did not stop us nor did it stop them.  We will ride the Memorial Ride and accept the risk associated with it because we know it is by this effort we pay on a debt we can never repay.

Obviously this ride will not ease the pain felt by family members nor will it fill the void created by their absence, but it is fitting that we make this attempt to honor them the best way we know how and by doing so we will rekindle the friendships lost.

Never forget.

Hoka Hey!!