Even if your butt’s made of iron, that may not be enough to get you through a mad motorcycle rally sponsored by Harley-Davidson.
If you’ve got an air-cooled Harley, $1,000 for an entry fee, and have a bunch of vacation time you can cash in around August 5, then you should look into the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge.
The rally runs for the second time this year and covers 16,000 kilometres, zigzagging between Phoenix, AZ and Glace Bay, NS. Organizers figure the rally should take about 16 days to complete.
Don’t be discouraged if you figure the rally is only for those wealthy enough to afford two weeks of hotels and a chase crew to keep their bike running well. Rally rules stipulate that support vehicles are forbidden, and you aren’t allowed to sleep in a hotel – or even a bed – for the length of the rally if you want in on the prize money (the top 25 finishers will split a cool half million).
Gas tanks are limited to 6.2 gallons (24 litres), and jerry cans and aftermarket fuel cells are forbidden. Don’t plan on an Easy Rider-style road trip fuelled with amphetamines to keep you awake, either — there will be drug testing to ensure everyone plays fair. The route will mostly follow secondary roads with few interstates, and dirt roads only when unavoidable.
Still interested? Check out hokaheychallenge.com for even more details, and if you’re a Canadian who’s going to run this event, please let us know — we’d love to hear how it goes.
^^^^ Tell that to the families of all the riders that were injured and the two riders that died last year when it was still the Hoka Hey. Why would anyone want to be associated with that?
C’mon, don’t be such a killjoy!
Since when did it become legal to race for money on public roads in any state?