Greg Mead with his V twin Harley Davidson.

Greg Mead just completed a 7,000 mile plus motorcycle race.

He is the owner of Mead's Equipment and Diesel Repair in Bonners Ferry. The event started in Key West, Florida, on Sunday, June 20, and ended on Sunday, July 4, in Homer Alaska.  

The Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge, brought people of all ages from all over the world to compete for the one grand prize of $500,000.  Contestants had 14 days to ride the designated route, which took them over back roads through the United States, Canada, and the Yukon Territory, some of which are unmarked on maps.  

This was a grueling test of men and their machines.

The grand prize goes to the first one that crossed the finish line without breaking any rules.

Some of these rules are,no use of GPS navigation system, staying on  course, sleeping next to their motorcycles as motels were prohibited, finishing on the motorcycle they started on, not getting any speeding or reckless driving tickets.

The race was limited to motorcycles powered by air cooled V twin Harley Davidson motors, making the race even tougher due to their very old technology.  

Mead rode a bike that he built himself. He used an air cooled Harley V twin which he assembled, and mated it to a 6-speed hand lever operated transmission, suicide clutch, all of which was placed into a hard tail frame, meaning there were no rear suspension components.  

Mead’s bike was one of very few bikes of this kind entered into the race, as the vast majority of contestants opted to ride new Harley Davidson touring motorcycles.  

Approximately 800 riders started the race at 6:15 a.m. that June 20, morning. Many fell by the wayside due to weather, equipment breakdowns, and unfortunately accidents.  

Mead said he had some mechanical problems which slowed his progress.  Due to vibration, his electrical coil broke from it's welded attaching point when he was in Oklahoma.  

He was able to fix the problem and continued on until he reached Montana when a small air leak caused his front cylinder to score and burn a piston.

Not to fret. Mead pulled into a parking lot, and using the few hand tools that he carried with him, tore the whole top end off of the motor, fixed the problem, and put everything back together again.  

His next unforeseen problem happened outside of Fairbanks, Alaska, about 500 miles from the finish line when the drift key holding his camshaft to the internal parts of the motor, broke.  

Again, he performed his third miracle, replaced the key by the side of the road, and pressed on to finish at 6p.m., Saturday, July 3.

At this point in time a winner has not been announced, as many factors have to be considered before the money can be given away, many of which are mentioned above. Mead stuck to the route, made all the check points, and followed every rule. Thus, he has as good a chance of winning as any of the riders that finished this unbelievable test of endurance.