Two men crossed the finish line in homer Alaska together - a pact they made when the met on the road. At 4:20 a.m. Monday morning, 190 hours and 20 minutes after leaving on June 20, Frank Kelly of Prosperity, S.C., and Will Barclay of Highland, Fla., did just that, crossing at the same time under the finish banner at the Kevin Bell Ice Arena on the Homer Spit and becoming the first of 500 riders to end the grueling trip.





The Hoka Hey was surrounded in controversy as the organizer Big Jim has had some - shall we say confusing - history. There were many in the US who said this race would never go off.





The main proponent of the scam argument is a poster named John Johnston who points to a story published by the Denver city magazine 5280 about another scam reputedly perpetrated by the main organizer of the Hoka Hey. Johnston launched the charge stating that, "This is a CON folks..........how long until you all wake-up.....I guess when you get to the end and there is no "GOLD"...and Big Jim and his gang of hustlers are sitting on the reservation laughing at all of the white men they scammed.....AGAIN!!"(Examiner.com)

It all started before the 1st of the 7000 miles was ridden Sunday morning in Key West, Florida. Some reported that potential participants, before or after paying their $1000 fee to get a chance to belong to the long distance challenge, decided to withdraw after they realized that that organizer Big Jim (Jim Red Cloud, Jim Durham) was at the last minute changing the rules advertised on the Hoka Hey website. Only Harley-Davidson were supposed to participate but other brands were registered. GPS were supposed to be prohibited but many participants were equipped with them and are now reporting their postions hour after hour. At a meeting before the challenge, Big Jim was supposedly presenting the Hoka Hey as a race when the event was initially advertised as an endurance challenge because racing on any public streets and highways in America is absolutely prohibited. (Cyril Huze Blog)





While shy of the 1000 riders they wanted, organizers got 500 and for the first race of its kind and with an entry fee of $1000, in this economy - I'd say its a pretty good start. I hope they had enough corporate sponsors to help them break even because the entries were only enough to pay out the half million dollar prize in Homer...





For the sake of the Native American Community, the riders who participated, the sponsors who got on board - I hope that this thing doesn't prove out to be a scam as many seem to think it will.





No matter what happens - I hope and pray that the people who participated in the Hoka Hey enjoyed the challenge, enjoyed the ride and the camaraderie. I hope that the reported cheating and negativity around the event didn't take away for the majesty of the road...





In other news:

In the last 24 hours 6 Canadian motorcyclists have died. If you go to the 6 Canadian motorcyclists have died. If you go to the Rider Down Section on our web site you can read the articles giving you the information. My heart breaks every time I read these stories - most are incidents with reasons - very few are ever true accidents...





In Windsor ON the cops are the cops are cracking down on motorcycle noise...













Belt Drive Betty





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