Hoka Hey Challenge – 2010 Completed
The Ride is completed but we are still taking donations to support the EOD community.
Biography –
Arnie Jensen
My first introduction to motorcycles came at 8 years old when I released the clutch on a friends Yamaha YZ80 that was facing our family garage in West Michigan. Needless to say, the results were less than optimal. I ended up lying on my back facing the garage ceiling and a speechless father.
It must have made a great impression on my parents, because soon to follow was a gift I will never forget. A 1973 Harley Davidson 90. The joy of trail riding lasted throughout all of my childhood years, and was a good way to escape the needs of the 4,000 hogs on our family farm! While football, baseball, hunting, fishing, and boating were constants in my life, nothing approached the thrill that motorcycles gave me.
In my adult years I maintained a love for bikes, but didn't really appreciate the overall experience and friendships that can be associated with the sport until I moved to Beijing, China in 2004. 37 years after that first sprint into the garage, I now serve as the COO of a large commercial vehicle component manufacturing company in China and still ride regularly. Not long after settling into Beijing, I met a group of unique and adventuresome guys and gals from all walks of life and income levels that were enjoying motorcycles in China. We ride most every weekend into the mountains of Beijing, and it’s not uncommon to ride to the Great Wall and have lunch, and return like nothing happened 2-3 times per month.
The increased riding time in China motivated me to ride from Michigan to Key West in the spring of 2009 by myself, and then again from the West Coast to Michigan with three good friends that same summer.
Three of us from last summer’s ride will take part in the Hoka Hey Challenge this June in an effort to raise money and awareness for the EOD community and their families in need. I have never served in the US armed forces, and I hope this effort can give back at least a little of what so many have sacrificed for me, my family, and my fellow Americans. I look forward to helping each other through the certain challenges of a 7,000 mile ride, but mostly to the people we will meet along the way.
In anticipation,
CFC# 10119