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.

I went to the 66th annual Gopher State Timing Association (GSTA) Rod and Custom Spectacular on Sunday, April 7th at the State Fairgrounds.  The show was both Saturday and Sunday but I took advantage of the nice weather on Saturday to work on my own projects.  With all the rain on Sunday, I certainly appreciated the show being indoors.  At least it wasn't snowing.

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 7th Annual Konawerks Bike Show was held at Grumpy's in Minneapolis back in 2017.

I went to the Donnie Smith Bike Show early on Saturday and waited in line for doors to officially to open at 9am.  I like to go early to have a chance to take photos before it gets really crowded.  A lot of people who attend early on Saturday head directly to the swap meet side anyway.  I've been attending since 2008 and the show always has a good variety of custom bikes and they always vary from year to year so it's never the same.  The timing of the show also means the riding season is typically right around the corner.  We just need this weekend's snow to melt and some rain to clean off the roads.

The blog became a smart-ass teenager last year and I failed to call that out but today marks 14 years since this rodent & dairy themed motorcycle & van blog started.   1,300 blogposts containing over 20,000 photos later, it's still going.  No ads, no sponsors, no merch, no income streams, only expenses...but continuing to do it anyway... like an insane person.  Thanks for stopping by.

The Joint's annual Hog Feed is held just before everyone packs up and heads out to Sturgis.  I attended in 2017 and there was a big stunt show by Authority Stunts .

2017 was the last year that the  Rockers Spring Social  was held at Club Jager in Minneapolis.  It moved a few times since and is now held at the Eagles Club.

How about one more event from 2019...   Motosota was held at Bauhaus Brew Labs  September 7, 2019.  It's the annual "farewell to summer", hosted by The Moto Collective .

Another event from deep in my photo archives was the Rockers Spring Social .  In 2019, the event was held in May but it rained and I missed it (the event went on, bands played inside, etc.).  They held a "Redux" in July at Simply Street Bikes (now Simply Ride ) in Eden Prairie, MN.  I stopped by with my kids and, as a result, I couldn't stay long so I was only able to grab some photos early in the event.  I'm sure I missed A LOT but here's what I did see...

Looking back through my photo archives, there are still quite a few big events I never wrote blogposts about so let's start by jumping back nearly 5 years to the Donnie Smith Bike (and Car) Show , 2019.

Here's my last big batch of photos from Mama Tried 2024. 

Here are lots more photos from the  Mama Tried Motorcycle Show  2024...

After a chilly wait in line that wrapped around the block, Mama Tried opened its doors on Saturday and I headed inside The Rave for the first time since 2018.  This was the 10th year of Mama Tried and my 5th time attending (2015-2018 & 2024).  You can see all my photos from previous years HERE .

Lots more photos from Flat Out Friday  2024 in Milwaukee...

I spent most of Friday sightseeing, visiting a few of Milwaukee's museums and the Public Market.  In the evening, I headed to the Fiserv Forum for Flat Out Friday . I didn't have any special access to the events this year so I spent a little extra for a front row seat and it was totally worth it.  I had a fantastic view of the racing.

The Pre-Party for Mama Tried and Flat Out Friday kicked off Thursday at the Harley-Davidson Museum with Boonie Bike racing.  Thanks to the announcer and the guys running the event, it was also like attending a stand-up comedy show.  It was really fun to watch.

I took A TON of photos at Mama Tried and Flat Out Friday this year (unsurprisingly).  I also decided to experiment a bit, just for fun.