Motorcyclists are heading down Main Street in Homer over the next few days, marking the end of the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge, a fundraiser and a nearly 10,000-mile endurance challenge stretching from Florida to Alaska. KBBI’s Simon Lopez spoke with the participants on August 15 as they reflected on the journey through a hurricane and intense heat to reach Alaska.
Larry Patten: Larry Patton. I'm known as “Not Paco” in the crowd, so that's my rider name. I'm an old guy, and every now and then you gotta take on a challenge and and push yourself. In Georgia, the rider behind me was riding with me, and then I noticed his lights weren't there anymore. I went back and he had gone down. And he had a concussion. The cool part is, that he's going to be here today. He got his bike fixed up, and he's making the ride.
Yosnay Fiallo: We face high winds again on the mountains, high temperatures on the desert, like 110 degrees. We've encountered many animals on the road at night, so extremely dangerous. Plus the fatigue that you experience on long-distance riding, riding for 18-20 hours or 22 hours, and sleeping only two or three hours at times.
Shell Feddersen: I was sleeping about six hours a day the first few days, and then lessened it to four, about three, and then the last night I didn't sleep at all because I was pretty close to the front and wanted to be top five.
Yosnay Fiallo, Jamner Moreno: My name is Josnay Fiallo, Mine is Jamner Moreno. “It doesn't matter how much is the bike, or how expensive it is, or what accessory you have, you are experiencing the same thing, the wind, the freedom, the smell, the rain, and that's what you’re taking home.
Jamner Moreno: It was a personal challenge. We both have done other challenges. This one, we have always heard that it's one of the most challenging challenges. We are both really competitive, and we wanted to try this one. We knew we could do it, it was just going to be a big challenge for us, that's what made us sign up for it.
Jamner Moreno: If you can do it in less than 14 days, it's great, but it's okay to do it in 18 days, 20 days, whatever it takes you, just to be a finisher is the most important.
Yosnay Fiallo: Doesn't matter what year the motorcycle is. I think the major concern is a breakdown. Because the rest you can kind of control what to do, but if you break down in the middle of nowhere with no signal…
Patrick Cornell: “You gotta have the stick-to-itiveness, to get through whatever they throw at you. The hurricane was part of it. We're in the southwest, I call it, grandma's kitchen because they slow-roasted us all day at 108 degrees, and then at night they threw us in the refrigerator because it was 48 degrees and was time for bed.
That was KBBI's Simon Lopez, speaking with finishers of the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge.
