Gophers and Cheese

I left bike night at Dulono's Pizza and headed over to The Joint / Cabooze for the very first Heavy Thursday .  Heavy Thursdays would end up replacing the Moto Mania bike night that was held at the Uptown VFW.  It would be about another year before Dulono's Pizza would move locations and the era of First Thursday bike nights in Uptown would come to an end.

First Thursday in June 2016 was the first one where Moto Mania / Heavy Thursday split off to a totally different location.  I started the evening at Dulono's Pizza in uptown before heading to Heavy Thursday.

Moto Mania at the Uptown VFW took place at the same time as First Thursday at Dulono's Pizza but was held in the covered parking lot of the VFW just down the street.  It had a different vibe, more-focused on choppers and garage-built bikes.  For the short time they co-existed, I always checked out and enjoyed both.  Back in  May 2016, Moto Mania 2: The Big Deuce was less than 2 months away and Dan was busy promoting it.  In case you forgot, Moto Mania (the bike night) had the same name as Moto Mania (the dirt track event in Owatonna).  Dan always liked to keep things simple.  If I'm not mistaken, I believe this was the last Moto Mania (bike night) as Heavy Thursdays kicked off the following month.

Way back in May 2016, First Thursday was still going strong at Dulono's Pizza in uptown and its counterpart Moto Mania was happening just down the street at the VFW.  Let's start with outdoor photos at Dulono's.  This particular set doesn't do justice to what a massive bike night this used to be, but you can check out my other blogposts to see what I mean if you never had the opportunity to experience it in person.

The weather for Mama Tried in 2016 was relatively warm so the official ice riding event known as Slippery Sunday was cancelled.  That didn't keep a few people from finding an alternative place to go.  It takes a long time to stud a tire and I'd understand if people didn't want that effort to go to waste.  Here are Matt & Mark posing for pics.

The Mama Tried Motorcycle Show 2024 is only a few days away but Mama Tried 2016 coverage continues right here.  We'll start with the Mama Tried Pre-Party at the Harley-Davidson Museum on Friday night.

2016 was the very first year of Flat Out Friday at Mama Tried .  Here are over 250 photos from the mains including a bunch of crash sequences.  Can a blogpost hold over 250 photos?  We're gonna find out together.

Back in 2016 & 2017, a lot of my photos from  Mama Tried and Flat Out Friday were included in a pair of ChopCult features.  It was pretty cool. So why am I am posting photos now (7-8 years later)?  Three reasons: (1) The 10th year of Mama Tried is this coming weekend (Feb 24-25, 2024) and I'm excited, (2) ChopCult re-platformed their website and all the old features I wrote and the photo galleries are gone ( click here for more info ), and (3) I took WAY more photos at these events than ChopCult wanted to use and I want to (finally) share them as we lead up to this year's show. We'll start with Friday, February 19th, 2016.  I had a press pass so I got a bit of a sneak preview during set up.  This was truly the calm before the storm.

The 3rd Annual Spare Arts Bike Show was held on August 27th, 2016 down in Austin, MN.  It was organized by Andrew of Hold Fast Motors.  Austin is a cool little town but is probably best known as the home of Spam and the Spam Museum .  If you haven't been, you should definitely go.  The show took place 2 months after Moto Mania 2: The Big Deuce so it was a bit of a reunion of sorts for many who were there.  I drove down to the show with my son and brought the Evil Monkey (my Honda Z50).  After the show we stopped at Elko Speedway for Eve of Destruction featuring (besides regular racing) drifting, figure 8 school bus races, a jet car melting another car, and a transforming robot dinosaur that ate another car.  Needless to say, it was a great day.

5 years ago, the Rockers Spring Social was held at its former location, Club Jäger.  This was before the controversy and backlash that led to its staff quitting, the bar closing, and Ton-Up Minneapolis deciding to relocate its very fun cafe-racer-focused event to other venues.  Anyway, the moral of the story is, "don't be a racist."  Seriously, don't.  Before I made my way to show, I got some nice shots of my '04 XL1200C in a field so included a few at the end of this post.  This is back when I was running a swingarm-mounted rear fender.  It hugged the tire nice and tight but it eventually cracked from stress and I switched it up to the Crazy-Frank-inspired setup I have now.

I owned a van briefly (GMC Savana conversion) but it wasn't "the right van". I customized a few things but it was a mess mechanically so I eventually gave up and sold it.  I would love to own a van again but the hard part is trying to decide what kind (not to mention finding a decent one for sale).  I absolutely love 70s and 80s-style customs but I also like the practicality of having one that could haul a bike.  I think my dream van would be a mix of both, somehow mixing wood paneling and shag carpet while somehow having space for a motorcycle.  Of course, side pipes and Cragers would be a big plus.  If anyone is holding and looking for a good home for their van, let me know.  Anyway, here are some photos from Chariots of the Gods back in 2016 along with a few shots inside the Moto Collective .  This year's show is scheduled for August 14, 2021.

Another show from deep in the archives... 2016 was the 7th and last Rad's Extra Sharp Bike Show.  The following year, it was was held under another name.  "Rad" of course refers to Tom Rad who would typically hold not one but two bike shows per year, Ma Rad's Rumble and Extra Sharp.  I would often attend both but I loved Extra Sharp because it was smaller, low key, held at a cheese shop in Wisconsin, and my wife and kids would typically attend.  I would ride but they would follow me in the car.  My '04 Sportster has taken a few awards at the show over the years and in 2016 it took first place in the Sportster class... probably only because Brett showed up too late with The Gypsy.

Well, I'm finally wrapping up coverage from the Donnie Smith Bike & Car Show from way back in 2016.  Unlike my prior posts you'll see a bit of the swap meet and car show here too.  If that's not your thing, don't worry, there are more motorcycles ahead too.  This year's show is scheduled for May 21-23, 2021.  It's a later in the year than normal so, if you're planning to go, mark your calendar.

 Continuing coverage (only 5 years after-the-fact) of the Donnie Smith Bike & Car Show 2016...

 Lots more photos from Donnie Smith Car & Bike Show in 2016...

I took way too many photos at the Donnie Smith Bike & Car Show back in 2016 to cram into a single blogpost so let's just get started...

I dug deep into my archives to pull out some photos from Dirty Rotten Bikerfest 2016.  I was attending a lot of events and getting burned out on blogging around this time so there are a lot of 2016-and-later events I never posted photos from (except for a handful on Instagram ).  It's crazy to think it was 5 years ago.  Looking back and remembering the event, it was a beautiful sunny day.  I packed my 883R (flame bike) for camping but don't think I understood that the camping, unlike the prior year, was offsite.  Since I lived close enough, I just headed home instead of the campsite.  I'm sure I missed out on some fun but oh well.  The show is scheduled to be back this year, May 1st, 2021 (no camping).  Check their website for details.

We arrived at the Franklin Tap in Franklin, IA. Live music was playing, beer was flowing, and the scene was set for another day of partying but for me the road was calling.  I had such an awesome ride down that I wanted more so I slipped away and headed back on the road... directly into more rain. Thankfully, it passed quickly and I headed toward Anamosa. I had been meaning to get down to the National Motorcycle Museum and it definitely did not disappoint.  I took a bunch of photos there that I'll have to post another time. The ride home was good.  I don't remember all the roads I took but it was a much more direct route than what I took to get down there. By the time I got home, I covered 1,044 miles and smashed just about as many bugs with my face. I hope to make a lot more memories this year as Hell On Wheels 2017 is tomorrow!!!