Gophers and Cheese

Yep, I've dug back into the archives for another one.  I went to the Donnie Smith Bike Show in 2010, just a few days after starting this blog.  My early blogposts contained a lot fewer photos and I posted everything in black-and-white.  You can see my original coverage of the 2010 Donnie Smith show here .  Fast-forward 15 years and here we are.  I wanted to revisit some of these shows from the past, post color photos, and eventually put them in YouTube slideshows ... for reasons unclear to everyone including myself.  Enough back-story, let's start the new year by re-living 2010!

I originally posted some photos from the 2009  Donnie Smith Bike Show  when I first started the blog in 2010  here but it was just a few and they were in black-and-white.  I decided to take a fresh look at all the photos I took that day and take a fresh pass at editing a larger amount of them.  They're not the best angles and I don't always get the full bike in the frame, but I was still new to motorcycle photography.  With those disclaimers out of the way, here we go!

I've been attending the Donnie Smith Bike Show  every year since 2008, 2 years before I even started this blog.  When I did start the blog, I posted all my photos in black-and-white.  In part, it was artsy, in part, it was different, and in part, my camera & software weren't very good and I could hide a lot more in black-and-white.  Eventually, when my daughter was born, I got a better camera and I've been posting in color ever since.  My photography and editing have also improved with time too.  Since I'm on a slideshow kick, I wanted to make slideshows for the Donnie Smith show and, before I did that, I figured I should re-work my black-and-white 2009 & 2010 show photos ( here and here ) and include never-before-posted 2008 photos.  So let's step WAAAYYYY back in time and relive 2008 starting with David Polgreen's "King Diamond" (and check out the vintage CoC shirt in the background).

Another throwback blogpost... I took these photos, edited these photos, and just never posted them for some reason.  I don't remember why.  Anyway, here's a bunch of photos from the Donnie Smith Bike Show  in 2017 and one photo from 2018.  2017 was the 30th anniversary of the show and 10th consecutive year that I attended.

The Bearded Lady lives on... well, in slideshow form.  Once again, I took all the photos I've posted here on the blog for the six years I attended the Bearded Lady Motorcycle Freakshow (up to the very last one) and put them into video slideshows.  You can find them all on  my YouTube channel  in the Bearded Lady playlist .  It's about an hour and 15 minutes of total runtime.  There's no audio, so play your own music, grab a beer, put on a fake beard (if you don't already have one) and a dress, and relive the freak show!

I took all the photos I've posted here on the blog, from the very first Full Tilt in 2011 to this year (2025), and put each year into its own video slideshow.  You can find them all on my YouTube channel and they are organized into a convenient Full Tilt Boogie playlist  to easily find and play them.  By simply clicking Play, you can relive every year of Full Tilt with total running time over 4 hours!  There's no audio, so just put on your own music, crack open a beer, sit back, and enjoy!

10 years ago, the very last Bearded Lady Motorcycle Freakshow was held in Northeast Minneapolis on July 18, 2015.

Continuing coverage from the Bearded Lady Motorcycle Freakshow (BLMFS) 2014, only 11 years late!

Remember the Bearded Lady in Northeast Minneapolis?  That show was so good!  Back in the early 2010s, Ma Rad's Rumble on the Deck, Full Tilt Boogie, and the Bearded Lady Motorcycle Freakshow would occur within the span of 2 weeks.  I always took a ton of photos at each of them and then got overwhelmed trying to edit and post them to the blog while still trying to enjoy summer.  The photos I took in 2014 and 2015 have just been sitting on my hard drive, not seeing the light of day... until now.

Do blogs and websites require too much clicking and scrolling?  Do you tire of watching videos with moving people & objects and having people yell at you to "smash that like button and subscribe"?  Would you prefer to relive the golden age of digital photo frames like it was the early 2000s?  Do you want that digital photo frame to be filled with cool motorcycles and vans?  Do you yearn for a little peace & quiet, or maybe just want to listen to your own music instead of some royalty-free and/or AI-generated knock-off?  Well, get on board the ambient slideshow train!  Hear me out...

Almost 2 months ago, on October 4th (10-4), Twin City Vans took a cruise along the river between Minnesota and Wisconsin.  We met up in Point Douglas Park on the Minnesota side before crossing into Prescott and heading south on the Wisconsin side.  It was a beautiful day, and we got a good turnout of members and friends.

The last bike night of the season at  Forgotten Star  was hosted by  The Litas Twin Cities  on October 7th.  The days may be shorter now but the weather was nice and dry so the resulting turnout was strong.  I brought the Evil Monkey, my Honda Z50 that's now sporting a new 125cc Lifan motor.

The Evil Monkey got a fresh upgrade!  I've had my 1976 Honda Z50 for nearly 10 years.  It came with the original 50cc motor that I bumped up to 88cc with a big bore kit quite a few years ago.  I've had a brand new Lifan 125cc (4-speed auto) motor sitting around that I was planning to use for another project.  I decided that I'm probably not getting to that other project for a while so I might as well put the motor to good use.

The second-to-last bike night of the season at  Forgotten Star  was hosted by  The Litas Twin Cities  on September 2nd.  Cooler weather and some threats of rain may have kept some people home, but the turnout was still quite strong and it was a fun time as always.

I missed the first two Heavy Thursdays of the year but was glad to catch the last one at 331 Club in Northeast Minneapolis.

August ended up being another very nice night for bike night at Forgotten Star , hosted by The Litas Twin Cities .

One last giant photo-filled blogpost from Full Tilt Boogie 2025 is about to begin.  With the bike show and most of the bike games out of the way, the bands started up.  Way too many people started leaving at this point.  The bands were great and played well into the night.  If you didn't stay and camp, you messed up.  Maybe next year???  First up was " The Region's Premiere Van Halen Cover Band ".  Yes, that's the band's full name.  These guys rock and are really fun.

Full Tilt Boogie coverage continues... It wasn't my first bike rodeo so it wasn't my first time seeing a weenie bite competition, but it's always entertaining and really fun to watch.  More on that in a minute...

I have a lot more photos from Full Tilt Boogie to share so let's get after it.  Vitzy Boys had Time Slip and the Highland Acre Shaker there.

Full Tilt Boogie 2025 coverage continues with bike games.  The benefit of having all the grass and lawn area was that a few biker rodeo-type games could be played.  I somewhat regret not throwing a bike in the back of the van to participate but after a week at the Van Nats, I wanted to keep things simple.  Custom belt buckles, knives, and other awards were at stake for the games and bike show.  First up was plank ride.