Gophers and Cheese

Show Class is a fantastic magazine and I was really excited when I learned Issue 9 (aka Vol 2 Issue 3) was going to be focused on St. Paul.  I'm bummed that I missed the issue release party back in November but the issue itself is awesome and showcases many of the great bikes you'll find right here in the Twin Cities. Since I've taken my own photos of so many of the bikes featured in the magazine, I thought it would be fun to write up a "companion guide" of sorts in case you want to check out additional photos of the bikes in the issue.  If you don't have Issue 9, it's still available in the Show Class store (at least as of today) so go buy it! Here are my blog posts containing additional photos of the bikes found in Show Class Issue 9: Pages 7-9: Purple Passion Full Tilt 2012 Part 2 Pages 13-15: Clean Machine Full Tilt 2012 Part 3 Hog Feed 2012 Part 2 Pages 19-22: Weed Wacker Full Tilt 2012 Part 2 Chopper Art Show 2012 Part...

I've been a fan of Lady Hump for a while ( proof ).  Lady Hump... where their love of Sportsters is only rivaled by their love of unicorns. I entered Lady Hump's 2nd Annual Blogosphere Challenge .  The challenge is to only post original content throughout the month of February.  Since I didn't blog much in last few months of 2012, I still have plenty of photos left to post from a few rides and shows.  That's good because I don't have any winter projects going on and it's currently WAY too cold and snowy to be riding around here (unless you're this guy ).

Gophers and Cheese is now on Twitter !  Follow me @Gophers_Cheese.  If you don't have a Twitter account, don't worry as whatever I end up tweeting will automatically be posted on the Gophers and Cheese Facebook page too. Follow @Gophers_Cheese

On November 9th, I took half a day off from work and went for a ride.  I had lunch at Psycho Suzi's . It was my last ride of 2012 on the Road King.

With such a great turnout at The Joint's 2012 Hog Feed, half the fun is walking around and looking at all the bikes. For instance, here's a fantastic shovelhead with louvered gas tank. Hardtailed ironhead: Another shovel: FTW Sporty: I cannot decide if the fact this bike has Tasmanian Devil (Taz) tank graphics makes it cooler that it already is or way less cool.  I'll let you be the judge. Finally, here's an awesome hardtailed Sportster with hand shift, great tank art, and a king & queen seat. Whether you're going to Sturgis or not, don't miss the Hog Feed next year.

For 20 years, The Joint has hosted a pre-Sturgis party called the Hog Feed.  I have attended 4 of the last 5 years.  It's usually a big gathering with music, beer, free food, and bike games.  Since 2012 was the 20th, The Joint put on an even bigger spectacle than normal.  It was held on July 29th and the weather was beautiful and the event got a great turnout. The first thing I noticed were ramps set up for motocross-style jumps and tricks.  The guys put on a great show. In addition to the motocross bikes, there were sportbikes stunting too. There were multiple attempts to do a stoppie and have the rear wheel then smash a can of soda.  This guy finally succeeded. Come back for photos of bikes spotted at the event in part 2.

Riding with my wife has become an increasingly rare event with a 2-year old at home.  We managed to get out for nice trip down to Maiden Rock back in late August.  I didn't take many photos and just enjoyed the ride.

Back in August, I snapped these photos of my Sportster behind the Intermediate Arts building on Lyndale Ave.  It's a great spot since they change their murals often.

Back in September, I was out for a ride along the river and was surprised to see the I-35W bridge lit up in orange.  It has been blue every other time I saw it ( click here for pics in blue ).  I know they light the bridge in different colors for different occasions and reasons.  This was the first time I had actually seen it done but I have no idea what the reason was this day (9/1/2012).  

The 2013 26th Annual Donnie Smith Bike Show is March 23rd and 24th at the St. Paul RiverCentre .  There's a big swap meet too. I have attended the last 5 years and definitely plan on attending this year too.  For lots of blog posts and tons of pics from prior years, check out my Guide to Local Events page.

The 2013 Progressive International Motorcycle Show featured a lot of bikes and a lot of displays.  Occasionally, people working at those displays overshadowed the bikes. Let me prove my point with a game...  The Ducati Diavel is a bike that I am very interested in test riding (and possibly even owning) one day.  Which of these two photos has a Ducati Diavel in it? You may be shocked to learn that the answer is both of them.  Seriously!  Look again.  Not only that, but if you look very closely, there are Ducati motorcycles in all the photos I took at the Ducati display below.   The MotoGP experience was complete with umbrella girl. The Zero Gravity girls were at the booth and roaming around the show floor too. This post was way better than that one with the old rusty bikes, right?  Anyway, it was another great year at the show.  The Rochester and Donnie Smith shows are next up on the calendar, hopefully...