Hoka Hey

[Sue]

Found this on Adventure Riders ..

Sounds like fun. Maybe the BMW MOA should do something like this. (?)
I did a solo ride like this back in '07 and it was awesome.


I did find rather amusing, the banner that "this is the world's greatest long distance endurance motorcycle event" I imagine they have never heard of the Iron Butt. (?)

Greetings, and thank you for showing your support and interest in the Hoka Hey Motorcycle ChallengeÔäó. The Hoka Hey Challenge Committee continues to work diligently on finializing the plans for this year's event and have significant news to share.



Harley-Davidson Motor CompanyÔäó Becomes an Event Sponsor

Press Release - February 15, 2011

The Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge announced today that Harley-Davidson Motor Company?« will provide marketing and promotional support for the 2011 Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge.

The Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge will present the world's greatest long distance endurance motorcycle event in August of 2011. The event, the second annual in a series, will travel through all forty-eight contiguous States and Canada to Nova Scotia. The route will travel over 10,000 miles requiring passion and determination to complete. The event is open to all riders of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Riders can ride the entire route or segments within the route.


"We're excited about what the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge represents to our riders," said Steve Piehl, Harley-Davidson Director of Customer Experience. "The new direction of being more about a personal test of touring endurance, where rider and machine stretch the boundaries of long-distance touring, appeals to us. It's a perfect match for the superior touring experience and capabilities of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. 'Hoka Hey' translates to 'It's a good day to ride!' and that is always the case on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle."

"The Hoka Hey is about being the greatest endurance motorcycle event ever held and we are very excited to become associated with the greatest motorcycles ever built," said Jim Red Cloud, founder of the Hoka Hey Challenge. "Harley-Davidson's support and guidance will certainly enhance this ambitious event."

The first twenty-five participants to reach the finish and who ride the complete stipulated route will be recognized as winners and be eligible for monetary awards. Each rider will have the opportunity to designate a selected "home Harley-Davidson dealership" when they enroll. The home dealers of the top five finishers will be eligible for awards and recognition alongside the riders.

There will be fifteen check points along the route located at Harley-Davidson dealers where participants must check in as they ride the route. In addition to being an event sponsor, Harley-Davidson is exploring hosting a check point at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.



Changes in the Route

"Diga adi??s a M?®xico"

We have carefully considered the situation in northern Mexico including riding into this area and seeing for ourselves. What we found was not very promising. It seems to us that proceeding with our plans to have the route go through northern Mexico may put our participants at substantial risk. This obviously is not an acceptable situation for us to continue to pursue. In order to avoid the situation in Mexico, we have decided to eliminate that first leg of the trip altogether and will hold the start of the event in the Phoenix area. As we are riding through a significant portion of California along the northern coast of the state, the coast to coast and California content of the route will be maintained. The ride would go from the Golden Gate to Nova Scotia.


Only One Division

We have evaluated the level of interest in the event from riders of non Harley-Davidson motorcycles and have concluded the current level of interest will not support this division as we initially envisioned. Therefore, the event will become an all Harley-Davidson, event for 2011.

We received some encouraging expressions of interest from non-Harley riders but it does not seem that the interest will result in a field large enough to overcome the significant effort and cost of producing a separate division. It was our feeling that mixing non-Harleys and Harleys in one group would result in an all out grudge race and that is the last thing we want so we discounted that format.


Contact Information
For additional information about the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge or to obtain enrollment information;

Visit the event's web site at www.hokaheychallenge.com
Contact the office at 480-649-1071 or info@hokaheychallenge.com​

 

[krpreston]

Found this on Adventure Riders ..
I did find rather amusing, the banner that "this is the world's greatest long distance endurance motorcycle event" I imagine they have never heard of the Iron Butt. (?)QUOTE]

Last summer I talked to a 2010 finisher of the Hoka Hey and I don't think "Iron Butt" and "Hoka Hey" belong in the same sentence. Those Hoka Hey guys are flat out crazy"

 

[akbeemer]

Buyer Beware

Hoka Hey passed through here last year and there was supposed to be a check point here in town. No event officials ever showed up. That, and other snafus, made it appear that there was a significant lack of competence among the event promoters. Maybe they'll do better this time. Did last year's winners ever get paid??

 

[womanridge]

Hoka Hey passed through here last year and there was supposed to be a check point here in town. No event officials ever showed up. That, and other snafus, made it appear that there was a significant lack of competence among the event promoters. Maybe they'll do better this time. Did last year's winners ever get paid??

I've heard rumors similar to that as well as other methods of cheating. One rider was quoted in the newspaper in Homer that he had gas cans buried along the way so he could fill up during the night when stations would be closed in the Yukon and Alaska,

 

[squiffynimrod]

Did last year's winners ever get paid??

Yes, but he had to pass a lie detector test to be named the winner (!?).

http://www.hokaheychallenge.com/press/HokaHeyWinnerDeclared.pdf

Buried in the website is a letter from the organizer addressing some of the problems from the 2010 event:

http://www.hokaheychallenge.com/letter_jim_red_cloud.html

They've changed the tag line from "It's a good day to die" (the literal translation of Hoka Hey) to "It's a good day to ride".

This event is not for me.

 

[Visian]

Each rider will have the opportunity to designate a selected "home Harley-Davidson dealership" when they enroll. The home dealers of the top five finishers will be eligible for awards and recognition alongside the riders.

hmmmmm, now there is an interesting idea. tie an event in with dealers.

ian
.

 

[gstom]

Last Year

Here's an article from Rapid City about the formal complaints lodged against the organizers at last year's event. Classy bunch....

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_a5b791e0-8628-11df-a447-001cc4c03286.html