Gophers and Cheese

Here's my last round of photos from Frankensteiners Ball 16 .  I do love vans and was happy to see a few I hadn't seen before at other local shows.  Do you like airbrushed wizards & warriors, rolling bars, shag carpeting, Cragars, and side pipes?  If not, what the hell's wrong with you?  I still hope to buy or build my very own dream van one day.  If anyone knows of a solid blank canvas out there, let me know.

Here are some motorcycles that I spotted at Frankensteiners Ball 16 .  While a lot of people rode to the show (and it would've been easier to find parking if you did), there weren't a lot of bikes inside the show.  "Quality over quantity" I suppose.  The wooden mini bike was wild and I haven't seen it before.  I love the entry form for Year & Make filled out simply as "Can't Weld".  Look closely and you'll find a bike put together with wood, bolts, steel plate, and various plumbing parts... no welding anywhere.  Turn the forks and the headlight stays focused straight ahead like a old-tyme Road Glide.  It has a steampunk vibe even though it's clearly powered by gasoline.  It's awesome.

I went to the Frankensteiners Ball 16 on Saturday, October 9th at the Isanti County Fairgrounds in Princeton, MN.  It's been a few years since I attended the show and I haven't been since it moved from the Anoka County Fairgrounds to this much bigger location.  It's a great collection of classic cars, hot rods, and rat rods with a splash of bikes and vans too.  Lots of kids attend in costume as candy is left in front of cars for a little early trick-or-treating. I'll spread the photos I took into 3 parts: Cars, bikes, and vans.  This post will have the most photos and I'll lead in with a photo that I think sums up the show pretty well.  Enjoy!

I had a lot of fun at Motosota .  While I wasn't there all day, I was sure not to miss Red Desert and JRD & The Big Mistake .  Doom metal and outlaw country go together like peanut butter & jelly as far as I'm concerned. Motorcycles are just the bread holding that delicious sandwich together.  If you have no idea what I'm talking about, here are photos... but it was better with sound.

Do you like Red Desert ?  I like Red Desert.  Did you know Red Desert played Motosota on Saturday?  Well they did.  Here's proof... and a few bikes... but mostly Red Desert photos.

The 5th annual Motosota was held Saturday, October 2nd at Bauhaus Brew Labs in Minneapolis.  It's brought to you by the fine folks at The Moto Collective .  I attended Motosota 2 years ago but still haven't posted photos yet (maybe one day...).  Anyway, Saturday was wet... very wet.  That didn't stop the show, it didn't stop the bands, it didn't stop the beer from flowing, and it didn't stop lots of people from riding in the rain to/from the show.  I drove, but I had my wife and kids with me so that's my excuse.  In 2019, I brought the Evil Monkey (my '76 Z50) but I left it home this year due to the weather.  Enough rambling, on with the pics!!!

 Here's the last big batch of photos I took at Full Tilt Boogie on Saturday.  Enjoy!

The Full Tilt group ride ended at the show held at Nordic Brewing Co. in Monticello, MN.  It was a beautiful day and the weather was perfect for both the ride and the show.

Full Tilt Boogie is always my favorite show of the year and it was the only motorcycle show I attended this year.  It started as a chopper show and has evolved into a chopper, vintage motorcycle, and van show.  I'm still sitting on tons of photos from Full Tilt 2017-2019 that I need to sort through and post.  Maybe one day...  2020 was the only year I missed the show.  Rather than wait and (maybe) post photos years after the event, how about we jump into photos that I actually took yesterday!?!?  But wait, before I share photos of the show, I have to share photos of the group ride to the show.  While I didn't attend the pre-party Friday night or camping last night, I did wake up early on Saturday to join the organized ride to the show.  We met up at a small park just in northeast Minneapolis.  I rode my '04 Sportster.  It's coming up on 15 years of me owning this bike.  I really need to finish my chopper project so I can actually r...

I haven't been riding much this year, living my best hermit life, but I swung by Chariots of the Gods yesterday as it never disappoints.  Here are some photos to prove my point.

Gophers and Cheese is 11 years old today.  I probably should have made a bigger deal for the 10th but, you know... pandemic.  Stay safe out there, keep looking forward to good times ahead, and don't lose your sense of humor.  The fact you're reading a rodent & dairy-themed motorcycle blog is a clear sign that hope is not lost. I've been pretty bad at blogging over the last few years.  I still went to a lot of shows and took lots of photos (except last year) so, over the coming weeks (months?) I will dip into my photo archives and share photos from some of the shows that I never blogged about.  Far be it from me to deny someone out there the thrill of saying "hey look, some random dude took a picture of my bike and put it on the Internet."  I doubt I'll get through all of them before getting burnt out on photo editing and blogging again but we'll see how it goes.

Here's my last batch of photos from the Polar Devils Vintage Racing last Saturday.  It was all fun and games until the vehicles started breaking down and the cops showed up.  Isn't that always the way??? I found a good spot to get a lot of the photos you see below, far away from the crowd, but found it odd when the cars and bikes stopped going by.  It was about 12:30 and the event was supposed to go from 10-3.  I walked back towards the starting line area and overheard people saying the event was shut down for lack of permits and saw a Sheriff on a snowmobile that seemed to be telling people to leave (last photo) so I headed out.  I have since heard it was due to COVID restrictions, not permit issues. I'll admit that it was nice to be out - to see, hear, and smell motorcycles and hot rods again.  Hopefully it was a small taste of things to come but, in the mean time, stay safe out there and try to look forward to fun days ahead.

While they weren't actually racing each other, occasionally seeing cars and bikes side-by-side on the track reminded me of Moto Mania.  This event actually had a bit of that Moto Mania fun-and-free-for-all vibe.  The only real restriction was trying to limit it to pre-1955 vehicles.  That didn't stop one or two newer models from sneaking onto the track but most seemed period correct.

Here are more photos from the Polar Devils Vintage Racing on Saturday.  There was a wide array of unique vehicles, all set up for snow and ice.  Towards the end of this set, you'll see Kevin Baas riding around on his knucklehead with a checkered flag.  I initially thought he was just holding it but I later saw a video where someone tossed the flag up in the air and it amazingly landed perfectly in his forks, as you'll see in the photos.  He rode a few laps like that.

After a few bitterly cold weeks here in Minnesota, the weather on Saturday could almost be described as beautiful, even though it was still below freezing.  It was sunny and felt warm(ish) but I was layered up.  The event drew a good-sized crowd, including families.  While it was outdoors, I still did my best to keep a safe distance from others.  I took most of my photos farther down the track, away from the crowded starting line.

On Saturday, February 20th, I headed just south of the cities for the first motorcycle event I've attended in over a year, ice racing on a frozen lake.  Under the banner of the Polar Devils, vintage (pre-1955) motorcycles and hot rods took to the ice for a little fun.  Over the rest of the week, I'll share a bunch of photos so check back daily.

2020 sucked. Don't get me wrong, there were some good things about it, but it was bad for motorcycle-related stuff.  Most events were cancelled, blah blah blah...  I don't have to tell you.  You know. Anyway, I went to my first motorcycle event in over a year yesterday (Polar Devils Vintage Racing) and have the itch to post some photos because I took a ton.   Look for those over the coming days.  The blog has not been well maintained (obviously) and probably won't be again.  It's extremely time consuming. If you want current stuff, just follow me on Instagram (@gophersandcheese) or Facebook.  That said, this blog remains a great place to archive and organize large groups of photos from past events so you may still see a rare post here and there (no promises).  If you want to relive local events from 5-10 years ago, then look no further - this is the spot. The store (Cheese Shop) is closed for now so I removed the links.  If you just can't...