Ride Report - Party at the Pen

End of summer in northern California is an incredible time. We were still riding the high from Virginia City Roundup a couple weeks prior, a heatwave was gearing up, combined with some blazing fires across the western states. Me and a couple buddies had planned on making the ride up to the first annual Party at the Pen show in Boise, ID. I was really excited to ride the ION Highway for the first time, I love high desert scenery and getting into elevation during the hottest summer months is a necessary escape on an old hawg. My bud Mike Dyas once said- “I always just jet my shit lean, whenever we ride we are always going UP in elevation!” Since he told me that I have adopted the same mentality, and I love the idea of setting up your bike for miles outside your neighborhood- it almost gives you more motivation to seek the best views, the raddest roads, the most obscure bars ha.

Anyway, the heatwave was no joke- all week it had been in the triple digits, we were scheduled to leave on Thursday after a half day at work, and the weather report was pushing 110 degrees! I had changed my oil to 60W as I always do in the summer, my bike runs so much smoother and quieter. VC Roundup had been a total success as far as mechanical issues, I had pretty much been riding everyday and shaking out every little problem that could happen on the road. I felt prepared for the journey. There was a little pressure for me because I had entered my bike in the show at the Penitentiary, for some reason I always get nervous that i’m gonna jinx myself if my bike is “in the show”, I feel the same way about posting a picture of the ride before I make it to my destination. These are ridiculous superstitions that have no logic at all haha, but thats how my brain works.

The crew for the trip would be me on my ‘72 shovel , Tim on his ‘95 Dyna, and Jordan on a brand new HD softail that he rented. Jordan had been searching high and low for a shovelhead the whole month and just could not find a deal he liked. We planned to meet at around 2pm to leave for the trip. At first, we were going to leave Friday morning and ride the whole 550 miles in one day, but we decided to break up the way there to extend the trip and have it feel more leisurely. Sunday we would do the whole ride back.

We met at the gas station off 174, gassed up and hit the road. 3 exits down, Tim’s bike started misfiring under load. We pulled off at a rest stop and fucked around a bit, rode it up and down. I don’t know much about Evos but we suspected it had to be something simple. He decided we should head back to town and grab some fresh plugs. Since we were only 10 miles into the trip it basically just felt like we were delaying our departure, no prob! We were all pretty stoked to ride through the desert at sunset, we just had to make it up the summit and into some elevation to escape the goddamn heat, once we made it through Tahoe we were gonna be GOLD.

We pulled into Auburn Custom Cycle and Vince gave Tim some plugs, bike was ripping and ready. Jordan and I contemplated jumping in the American River, it was 110 degrees, sweltering heat. It was after 3pm now and we decided to get moving. I know the gas stops like the back of my hand all the way through Reno, after that I’d really need to plan accordingly because there are some long stretches, but also for time efficiency. We rode up Donner Summit, bike was running great, had my military bag tied to my sissy bar, leaning back, fists high in the air. I love Apes so much, its the most empowering handlebar style in my opinion, you just feel like you’re KING of the ROAD haha. We were blastin through Soda Springs when Tim motions to me to exit. We pull off, I was thinking he just wanted to drink a beer or something- right when we ride up into the gas station Tim fucking faints on his bike! Jordan and I are seriously shook and both jump off our bikes and try to pick him up, his hands were still gripping his bars tight, we get the bike up and he falls onto the concrete. It was legit heat exhaustion- we hadnt eaten all day, dehydrated, hot AF, and Tim had been rippin cigs like Don Draper. We got some water, a Clif bar, and sat in the shade for a few minutes. not even 60 miles in and the trip had been pretty eventful.

Luckily, the days were long, the sun wouldn’t set until 9pm that night, so we had plenty of time to get dinner and a Margarita. Anytime we ride through Reno we stop at Birtha Mirandas, its the best authentic Mexican food I have ever had, a secret spot that Tim took us to, the atmosphere is awesome too, and its right in the middle of the city. We made it to Reno and ate some good food, there was a group of veteran’s riding together that were parked out front too. It was a big weekend for bikers all over the west. We now had full stomachs and a good buzz going and I felt much better now, we had made it over the summit and out of the intense heat, the rest of the night would be beautiful sky in every direction, and pretty straight wide open highway. We were still unsure of where we’d stay the night. We figured we’d just ride till we found a motel somewhere near Highway 95.

Once we got on 80 through the desert the wind was pretty wild, I was running the Dayton Roth style deflector on my carb and honestly the performance sucks once you get out on an open highway for an extended period. I was fighting a pretty bad “flat spot” around 65 miles an hour haha. But we were feeling so good, there is nothing like riding at dusk in a t-shirt through the desert. I was wearing my favotite old 4Q shirt that is destroyed and allows lots of air through the holes ha. I snapped a pic at the gas station in Fernley and sent it to a hot babe. The sun was setting and we decided to stop in Lovelock for the night. We picked up 3 tall cans and ordered pizza to our room. Parked the hogs right in front of our door. Overall it was a pretty mellow day, just about 200 miles. I think we finally left town at 330 and got to Lovelock around 10, not a bad timeline since we had a relaxing dinner.

The next morning we gassed up, there were HA everywhere. They must have had some big run planned because we saw members riding in packs of 4-10 all the way to Winnemucca. I saw a few of them had bottom rockers from HAWAII, pretty cool to their brothers fly in for the ride. I still get anxious around them, I give the utmost respect to that culture, and to this day I always get excited when I see them on the road.

We had arranged to crash with Uncle Dave at his AirBnb in Boise, he was ahead of us in a car and texted a warning that when you break off Winnemucca and head north- “there ain’t shit!”. We were really pumped for that leg of the trip just to experience some new roads and pass through a couple states.

The further north we went the prettier it became. Big sweeping turns where you can see for miles, the weather was really nice now. Little towns like McDermitt and Jordan Valley have an “open” peaceful feeling, different than California. Blue Mountain Pass was really cool as well. I had not had any mechanical issues yet which was encouraging, I started feeling like I might make it to Boise without taking out any tools. Right before we crossed the state line into Idaho we stopped at an empty gravel lot and got some sun. We were stoked to take off our helmets and experience some red blooded American Freedom into the city.

The whole time riding through Boise I was waiting for the traffic, or congestion on the road- it never came. The city is set up so nice, its super clean, feels like a small town really. We went to the AirBnb and unpacked our bikes. It was a really nice spot that Dave had got. We got back on the bikes and rode to the pre-party at some bar. As we parked we immediately saw our friends Taylar and Brian from Orange County. I had seen them at VC and we watched Taylar play Bull Poker at the rodeo, luckily she was still in one piece.

We had a few beers then ate pizza again, there is alot of good food in Boise. Long haired Chris was being hilarious at the bar and yelling at all the sports fans watching the game on the TVs. That dude cracks me up, he was in a group from the Bay Area that had ridden out as well.

When we left the bar I kicked my bike and discovered my headlight blew out. I had to ride back to the house in the dark so Jordan and Tim rode right beside me. Kinda sketchy but we made it work.

The next morning I woke up early for bike check-in. My bike was soaking wet from the sprinklers because I parked it on the grass- I didn’t want it to leak on their driveway and get charged a fee. I was navigating the way to the Prison by myself, id leave the directions up on my phone and check it at stoplights. When I rode up to the show I was surprised to see Colby, one of my good friends from Nashville standing right there! What a small world. I had not seen him in 3 years since I moved back to California. He was living in Portland now. Colby was the first person I met in Tennessee on a bike, we met at an AMCA show in Franklin and he invited us to ride back with him and his buddies- we became great friends with all of them and I am still close to everyone today.

Check in was easy- Luke is a really nice guy, huge dude who looks kinda scary but hes really sweet and put on a smooth show. I got to put my bike in the courtyard in the Penitentiary, I was just happy to see all the different styles of bikes in one place, swingarms, hondas, sportsters, long bikes, more “bobber” style chops like Luke’s black pan, lots of different perspectives on display. The cool part was that it wasn’t really sectioned off in any order or way- there wasn’t an invited builder area or special area for showcase bikes. It felt more like a bunch of people from all over the west bringing their personal ‘riders” to one place for a party.

I drank a shitton of beer and got a tattoo on my stomach to remember the trip. The whole place was swarming with thigh tattoo girls which means it was def the place to be! There was a bunch of rad shit to see, its like a time capsule to a more primitive time in human history- the death row area where they did executions blew my mind. I shook hands with alot of people i had not met in real life yet, dudes from Canada, guys from SF, so nice to party with people in real life. It validates how useful the internet can be to bring people together.

We stayed all day and helped Uncle Dave load up his shit that night. I was super buzzed on the ride back to the house. We all rolled our bikes down a hill out of the Prison- I blew by all these dudes with starhubs and they laughed and yelled at me “WTF!” haha I was like “SEALED BEARINGS BABY! MID STARS FOREVER”.

No helmet, no headlight, not really a clue where I was going but somehow I remembered all the turns to make it back. At a stoplight I saw my bud Trevor who had the insane Blue DEATHTRAPS survivor gennie shovel in the bed, we grabbed hands as I sped off. Tim and I actually met Trevor the year before at VC as he was about to get married at the bar. We had a drink together. Funny how small this community is, we will all probably continue to see the same people around until we are in our 70s if we stay riding old choppers.

In typical fashion, I fell asleep early. I took a nice hot shower in the AirBnb and used some super good girl conditioner they had. We had a hard day of riding back to California the next day.

We woke up early Sunday, my alarm went off a 5:30 I think. It was still dark. We made some coffee and gathered our shit. We were surprised to walk outside to pack our bikes and discovered that it was FREEZING FUCKIN COLD haha. It was 46 degrees! We could not believe the temperature change. I kinda felt fucked because I get cold very easily. When I’m on my bike I am pretty good at hitting discomfort head-on. I just look at it like “ripping the bandaid off”. You just gotta go through it at full speed and it will be over before you know it. Its kinda like meditation for me, I’m totally in the moment and its like a blur.

I kicked my bike in the dark, it started easy, still running good with no problems. We got on the freeway and let the PAIN BEGIN. I still didnt have a headlight so Jordan and Tim stayed close till the sun started coming up. I sang “Little Bitty” by Alan Jackson at the top of my lungs on repeat until the first gas stop- doing anything I could to take my mind off the cold.

We figured the first 3 gas stops would be cold AF and then once we got into southern Oregon it would warm up and we’d be good to go. Every gas station we’d pound some coffee and poptarts, warm up inside, then hit it again.

The third stop in Rome, OR was so cold. It was a desolate gas station, no services for 70 miles. We gassed up and the lay inside gave us some hand warmers, we put them in our helmets on our ears. It worked really well.

About 250 miles in we met Dave at a gas station with some of his buddies from the Bay. We rode into Nevada together for breakfast outside Winnemucca. At this point we started feeling confident we were gonna make it home without, the rest of the ride was open highway with good cell service all the way to Tahoe. We said farewell to Dave and the Bay boys and continued on at our pace. The ride was pretty enjoyable now because the weather was warm and the sun was shining.

When we got into Reno there was a huge fire just north of highway 80. The sky was so gray you could barely see the sun. We had escaped NorCal for the whole weekend and apparently it had been smokey the whole time we were gone. This smoke was no joke, you could taste it when you breath. We made it over the summit, 7,000’ elevation and started dropping back down the hill. At the last gas stop we gave eachother a big hug- what a ride it had been. We had seen such a spectrum of weather, scenery, mountain roads. Jordan would break off onto Highway 20 back to Grass Valley, and Tim and I would stay together all the way home to Auburn. Overall it was a 550 mile day! 6am to 7pm. I was amazed my bike hung in there. It felt like a victory.

This trip solidified a few things for me. 1) It does not matter what bike someone rides, if they are a true friend and a good road dawg, thats all that matters- you are gonna have an incredible time together on the road. 2) Sharing this culture to new people is an important part of motorcycles to me.

I’ll be honest, sometimes I get caught up in the rat race of choppers. My head will be so far up my own ass I cant even see that this “Identity” should NOT define me. Its easy to compare yourself to other people and feel like you need to prove your dedication to this stuff. I feel like I have to present a “Hardcore” facade, don’t be a sellout, gatekeep this shit forever, stay pure- but its so much more enjoyable to just relax and enjoy the ride. Don’t be a dick! Let people enjoy it the way they want to, thats what Freedom is all about.

Motorcycles are really not what creates a good relationship for me. I really bond with people through shared values, laughter, do I have your back? do you have mine when I need someone? That is what matters.

-Tay

Written as I remember.

1,100 miles.