Gophers and Cheese

Heavy Thursday kicked off its series of 2026 bike nights at 331 Club in Northeast Minneapolis.  This bike night moves around so you need to follow Heavy and pay attention to where it will be each month.  I rode my 2004 Sportster.  Later this year, this bike and I will be celebrating 20 years together, which is crazy.  Time flies!

The first bike night of the year was on Cinco de Mayo at Forgotten Star , hosted by The Litas Twin Cities .  Sadly, there were no tacos to be found but it was the big release of their beer, Margalitas, and there was live music and lots of bikes so I suppose I'll forgive them.  I brought my Harley-DavidSchwinn chopper bicycle and parked it right up front.

Here are the rest of the photos I took Saturday at Vintage Torque Fest 2026.  I managed to get a few shots of my 1978 Harley-DavidSchwinn chopper bicycle on the dirt track while Torque Fest was in between racing events.  I did ride it around the track a bit, but didn't do the full oval as half was still muddy and tore up from the demolition derby.

Last month, I packed up my 1978 Dodge van with my freshly-complete 1978 Harley-DavidSchwinn chopper bicycle and headed to Dubuque, IA to Vintage Torque Fest for the first time since 2022.

Nope, this post has nothing to do with college basketball... the blog turns SIXTEEN years old today.  The blog is old enough to drive by itself now.  It could have gotten its learner's permit last year.  Crazy.  It's grown up so fast.

Here's my last batch of photos from the 2026 Mama Tried Motorcycle Show  at the Rave / Eagles Club in Milwaukee:

Here are lots more photos from Mama Tried 2026 in Milwaukee, WI...

I headed to Milwaukee just over a week ago for the Mama Tried Motorcycle Show .  It was my 7th time attending.  This year, I skipped a lot of the "official" events including Flat Out Friday and checked out different things.  Don't get me wrong, the official events and Flat Out Friday are great, but I wanted to explore and see more of Milwaukee.  I also love stopping in Madison for some quality time at  Aftershock Retrogames on the drive out.  While in Milwaukee, I went to Lilliput Records , checked out some punk rock bands at X-Ray Arcade (while scoring over 600K on Galaga), played even more arcade games at Up/Down , and went to 2 tiki bars ( Wauwatiki and Foundation ).  It was a really fun whirlwind of a weekend.

Shortly after buying my first motorcycle, the first local motorcycle event I started regularly attending was the Progressive International Motorcycle Show and I went for 14 years straight.  I took all the photos I posted from that show over the years and put each year into a photo slideshow and uploaded them all to YouTube.  Together, the 14 slideshows total about 90 minutes of run time.  Go relive one year or all the years over on my YouTube channel .  Look for the Progressive International Motorcycle Show playlist to find them all grouped together.

At one point, Tom Rad was hosting two really fun motorcycle shows per year.  One was Ma Rad's Rumble on the Deck in Stillwater, MN and the other was just across the river at Bass Lake Cheese Factory in Wisconsin.  While I missed a couple, I attended most of the ones between 2010 and 2016.  I'm still really happy with the cheese-shaped awards I managed to take home at Extra Sharp.  Photos I took at both of those events have been added to video slideshows on my YouTube channel .  The slideshows pair nicely with a little wine and cheese so go check them out.

Continuing to dig deep in the photo archives and revisit long past shows... This time, we're heading back to Stillwater and the first time I attended Ma Rad's Rumble on the Deck Chopper Show.  It was the 15th annual, held July 8th, 2010 at The Freight House.  My original blogpost ( here ) was brief, and photos were in black-and-white.  Let's jump into some expanded full-color coverage.

Scooter Trash was an annual event that only occurred 4 times.  I attended the last two in 2013 & 2014 and all the photos I took are now available in a pair of video slideshows on my YouTube Channel .  You can still see my original blogposts here .

I have attended the Donnie Smith Bike Show more times than any other local event (16 years and counting).  I have taken all the photos I have posted here on the blog and put them into video slideshows on my YouTube channel .  You can find them all in the Donnie Smith playlist.  Watching them all back-to-back would take about 2 hours.  If you prefer clicking and scrolling, you can read all the original blogposts here .

There was a solid turnout at Pokey Tire 2026 including cars, bikes, planes, and assorted death traps. 

Pokey Tire Ice Racing 2026 was held on German Lake at the Beaver Dam Resort in Cleveland, MN on January 31st.  I went last year and had a lot of fun, so I was planning to return, this time with a different vehicle.  January has been difficult here in Minnesota, especially in and around Minneapolis.  I've lived in this state longer than any other, and the last month has been a roller coaster mix of heartbreaking, infuriating, and inspirational.  It was nice to get outside and enjoy just a little bit of fun in a way that felt very Minnesotan (though I know other nearby states have fun on frozen lakes too).  I brought my 1970s SnowCo Tri-Scat.

I bought my first bike (2004 Sportster) in October 2006 and the first big motorcycle show I attended was the Progressive International Motorcycle Show at the Minneapolis Convention Center in February 2007.  This was 3 years before I started the blog.  I was pretty active on the xlforum at the time (trying to learn and contribute) and was excited to share photos of the debut of the Harley Davidson Nightster.  I think this was one of its first public appearances.

The 2008 Progressive International Motorcycle Show was held in Minneapolis at the Convention Center February 2, 2008 and it was the second year I attended the show.  Harley debuted the Cross Bones at this show.

We're back in the pre-blog days now... Here are never-before-posted photos of the 2009 Progressive International Motorcycle Show at the Minneapolis Convention Center.  I like how they had artwork in the background but wish I got down lower to take these photos.  My photography skills were not as good back then.  I was also taking photos with flash, which makes the photos feel even more dated.

I never posted photos from the first four years I attended the Progressive International Motorcycle Show (2007-2010) as they all occurred before I even started the blog.  I would go on to attend every year through 2020, which was the last time it was held in Minneapolis.  Here we go!