A Hoedown For The Books: Hooligan Hoedown No. 8

what started as a small group camp out among friends and friends of friends nine short years ago has evolved into an annual event, featuring many familiar and new faces. it’s the event we look forward to all year long. the Hooligan Hoedown brings folks from all walks of life who share a common bond around two wheels and good times in the outdoors. and this year’s hoedown did not disappoint.

we met people from all over, coming from as far away as Europe for a weekend of riding, games, vendors, live music and good times, high in the Sierra foothills under that California sky. this year’s event was extended to two nights, allowing a more relaxed pace to a fun filled weekend.

the main Bandit Town arena was the site of the legendary Hooligan Games on Saturday afternoon. our friends at REVER Moto put together a few group rides Saturday morning, leading groups through Yosemite and the surrounding mountain roads. Super73 supplied the steeds for the Hooligan Relay race, which involved teams of four racing a slalom course to a hay stack, stocked with hidden cans of 805 Beer and a $250 gift certificate from our friends at Biltwell. each rider had to shotgun a beer before returning through the slalom course to tag their teammate, who would repeat the process. needless to say bedlam ensued, to the joy of the crowd.

the next game was appropriately called Pandemonium. the rules were simple. two teams of ten on opposite sides of a short field and a pile of various objects, including rubber chickens, motorcycle inner tubes and a few blow up sex dolls for good measure. the object of the game was to work with your team to deposit as many as said objects as possible into the goal barrel at the opposite end of the field. imagine a group of 20 people fighting over random, stretchy objects in the middle of a field. Pandemonium.

finally, the crowd favorite and main event, mini bike jousting brought the games to their glorious highpoint. the men’s and women’s brackets were both filled with worthy gladiators battling it out for bragging rights and a trophy to commemorate their victory. the crowd cheered on their favorite competitors, who jousted bravely on the 50cc minis.